Ngozi Nwosu off to the UK for treatment

Ngozi at the airport tonight with her publicist Seun Oloketuyi

The ailing actress left tonight via British Airways to the UK for a life saving medical treatment. She will undergo kidney and heart transplant in a UK hospital. God be with her!
www.http://lindaikeji.blogspot.com/

Clinton lists Nigeria’s challenges

By DAUD OLATUNJI
ABEOKUTA—Former President of United States of America, Bill Clinton, said yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, that the inability to manage the nation’s natural resources well was one of the three major challenges Nigeria was facing as a nation.
The former US president, who was speaking at the 18th Annual Awards of Thisday newspaper, organised to celebrate Nigeria’s best teachers, further tasked Nigerian leaders to tackle unemployment, brain-drain and to maximise the potential of the citizens.
The 42nd American President, who spoke in the presence of former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, his counterpart in Delta, Emmanuel Uduaghan and other notable Nigerians, said Nigerian leaders mismanaged the proceeds from oil, under-utilised technology and failed to retain its best brains.
Clinton said: “When I became President, my Secretary of Commerce did a lot of work in Africa before he was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1995.
“I said he should make a list of 10 most important countries in the world for the 21st century. Nigeria was in the list.
“Imagine the future of the entire continent if Nigeria fails or South Africa fails. So, you are a country of potential. I will say you have about three big challenges.

L-R: Teacher Emeritus and nonagenarian, Pa Dotun Oyewole; former
President of the United States, Mr Bill Clinton; and Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; during the 18th Annual ThisDay Awards to celebrate Nigeria’s Best Teachers, at the newly redesigned June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta

Oil money, economic distribution, brain-drain
“First of all, like 90 percent of the countries, which have one big resource, you haven’t done well with your oil money. You should have reinvested it in different ways. Now you are at least not wasting the natural gas. You are developing it in pipelines but you don’t do a better job of managing natural resources.
“Secondly, you have to somehow bring economic opportunity to the people who don’t have. This is not a problem specific to Nigeria. Almost in every place in the world, prosperity is heavily concentrated in and around urban areas.
“So you have all these political problems: violence, religious differences, and all the rhetoric of Boko Haram.
“But the truth is the poverty rate in the north is three times greater than what it is in the Lagos area. To deal with that, you have to have both powerful stake in the local governments and a national policy that work together.
“As you keep trying to divide the power, you have to figure out a way to have a strategy that will help in sharing prosperity.
“The third thing is there has to be a way to take the staggering intellectual and organisational ability that Nigerians exhibit in every country in the world in which they are immigrant and bring it to bear here, so that the country as a whole can rise.
“One of the people on my trip with me today, who unfortunately could not come up here because he had to go and visit his family, is a young Nigerian-American named Nnamdi. He is an all pro-quarter back footballer for the Philadelphia Eagles.
“He’s a wonderful man; he does great work in America for poor kids in Arkansas City and he became a friend of mine.
“Both his parents have PhDs. His sister has a PhD. He often says ‘I’m the failure in my family and I only have a university degree and I play football.’
“My point is: there are Nigerians who are like this all over the world. What you have to figure out is how to keep those people in Nigeria and how to ensure their success encourages others in the country.
Solutions
“So, I think solving the economic divide that is in your country will help the political divide; making better use of your resources.
“Nigeria is trying to set up an investment fund where the Federal Government will set it up and the governors are being consulted so that they can concentrate the capital. That is the problem in India.
“They have unbelievable entrepreneurs but they are not very good at collecting capital and investing it in infrastructure so that they can unite the poor part of the country with the rich part. That’s what you have to do. And then, you have to empower people with education so they can succeed at home as well as around the world.”
Speaking on the essence of education, Clinton said: “I have to explain that education is more important in dealing with the challenges facing Nigeria. On the continent and the entire world, we are living a revolutionary time, full of positive and negative forces.
“The information technology is good for people who can take advantage of it. I see this all over the world. Cell phones give farmers the access to information about crop prices and fish prices in Africa and Asia.
“It increases their income by reducing their ignorance. It is empowerment. People are using cell phones to have banking services for the first time.
“I see it even in the United States where people who thought they have no money to help others donate a billion dollars to Haiti during the earthquake because ordinary citizens use their cell phones to make transfer to an account and they had a billion dollars.
Education, globalisation
“It is an age where if we are sufficiently educated we can be empowered but with enormous challenges. First of all, with all of these new opportunities which technology had given us, we have not yet succeeded in automatically reducing poverty and inequality of opportunity in accessing education and health care.
“It is a global phenomenon. If we really want to take advantage of education, empowerment and information technology, we have to tackle this problem. The second problem we have in the world is instability as we all know.
“We have to stop this problem. One major problem of unemployment is this instability all over the world. We have not yet solved the problem of how to embrace our potential and common humanity.
“And until we do this, the globalisation of the economy, the globalisation of the society for information technology will continue to face serious trouble. We have to deal with how to maximise the capacity of all the people through education.
“We have to find a way through education, through the information technology revolution to change the way we produce and consume energy and to change the way we use local resources in a way that sustains them.
“We have to know how to do this and do it right. And in every case, education will play a major role whether in developed or developing countries. We need intelligent people to take a new way to challenge themselves.
“There is a lot of work to be done but we cannot ever neglect the role of education. So I want to end my remarks by saying two things. Every year at the opening of the United Nations, I sponsor a meeting where we invite the global leaders to come.
“We actually ask people to make a commitment to do something and we are all making progress.”
Obaigbena speaks
Speaking earlier, Editor-in-Chief and Chairman, Thisday, Nduka Obaigbena explained that the choice of Abeokuta as the venue for the 18th edition of the award was made by Clinton due to the presence of Presidential Library.
According to him, Delta, Port Harcourt and Abeokuta were the options presented to Clinton as the venue before Abeokuta was chosen by the ex-American President.
He eulogised eminent media personalities present, including former governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba, the Chairman and Publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka, among others.
Obaighena disclosed that 15 best teachers were selected by a panel headed by Vice President World Bank (Africa) and former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, from 700 nominees.
Awardees
Those who bagged the Builder of Modern Nigeria awards were Oba Otudeko; professor of musicology, Laz Ekwueme; deposed Sultan, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki; Osile of Oke-Ona, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, and Chief Rasak Okoya.
The 15 best teachers, who received N2 million each, were Mrs Victoria Jolayemi, Mrs Dorothy Ugwu and Mrs Christie Ade-Ajayi, for primary school category.
For secondary category, Rev. Father Angus Frazer, Chief D.B.E. Ossai, Mrs Yakubu Dimka, Chief Reuben Majekodunmi, Chief Dotun Oyewole, Mrs. John O. B. Adeaga, Mr. Bawa Mohammed Faskari and Hadiza Thani Muhammed were honoured as best teachers.
In the universities category, Prof. Iya Abubakar, Prof. Frank Ugiomoh, Prof. Michael Obadan and Prof. Eunice Nkiruka Uzodike, were given award.

www.http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/clinton-lists-nigerias-challenges/

Fayemi’s N5m donation tears church apart

By Gbenga Ariyibi
Ado-Ekiti—THE N5million donated to the Millennium Anglican Church, Odo Owa Ekiti by Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, is allegedly tearing the church apart.
It would be recalled that Fayemi donated N5 million to the church during the burial of its late primate, Most Rev. Abiodun Adetiloye  on January 19, 2013.
Shortly after the donation, the leaders and clergy of the church were said to have met where the issue of the donation was discussed.
Members were said to have resolved on how to utilize the money among others.

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State

It was gathered that they agreed that among others, it would be used to renovate the church, buy a bus for evangelism while N1million would be put  into a special account.
However, the Bishop of Ekiti West Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Oludare Oke, was said to have told the members including the vicar, Reverend Mike Ogunniyi, that the N5 million was deposited in a fixed Account because it was an endowment fund and not a gift to the Church alone.
For allegedly failing to heed the advice of the Bishop, the Bishop was said to have ordered the demotion of the vicar from Archdeacon to Canon for alleged insubordination.
Dissatisfied with the  demotion,  members in Odo Owa Ekiti were said to have last Sunday sealed off the Church auditorium  donated to  the town  by the late  Archbishop Adetiloye  and prevented  leaders of the church  and members from gaining access to  worship.
The closure of the church was said to have created tension in the community, prompting the  town’s traditional  ruler to intervene to forestall breakdown of law and order.
A concerned member told Vanguard that “The Archdeacon having got the support of the Church members bought a new bus at the cost of N3 million, while a sum of N1 million was used to renovate the Church. The remaining N1 million was kept in the Church’s Account. The Bishop was not happy with the action of the Archdeacon and this led to his demotion to the rank of a Canon.”
But a statement by a member of the Church Council, Mr George Ogunjeta,  yesterday  the church denied any crisis, saying “the cash donation has not created any crisis  in the Church.”

www.http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/fayemis-n5m-donation-tears-church-apart/

One killed, scores injured as area boys clash in Lagos

BY EVELYN USMAN
LAGOS — One person was, yesterday, killed and several others injured in a clash between some miscreants in Coker area of Orile Iganmu, Lagos.
The fight which started on Sunday was reportedly caused by supremacy battle between rival groups.
Dangerous weapons were reportedly used during the free-for-all which brought commercial activities in the area to an abrupt halt, as traders hurriedly locked up for the day.
Motorists plying the route reportedly had their windscreen smashed by the warring miscreants said to have also used  the opportunity to rob commuters and other passers-by.
A member of one of the factions,allegedly stabbed in different parts of the body, bled profusely and died on the spot.
Policemen from Orile Division were said arrived the scene  and made some arrests.
Contacted,  spokesperson for the Lagos  State Police Command, Ngozi Braide, said that five persons had been arrested in connection with the clash.
“At about 9:45pm, some group of thugs engaged in a supremacy battle in Coker area of Orile. Policemen rushed to the scene and on arrival, it was observed that the streets were littered with pebbles and some vehicles  vandalized.
On sighting the police, the hoodlums took to their heels,while the corpse of a man of about 27years, suspected to have participated in the mayhem was seen lying  in a pool of his blood with severe cuts on him.
“Five male suspects were arrested while some cutlasses and a locally made shot gun were  recovered. The injured victims were later referred to  the hospital and the corpse deposited at Yaba GeneralHospital mortuary for autopsy”, she said, adding however , that  normalcy had  returned to the area.

www.http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/one-killed-scores-injured-as-area-boys-clash-in-lagos/

BoT: How Anenih bounced back

By Henry Umoru
…Obasanjo absent at meeting
ABUJA— SIX years after he was removed as Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih on Monday bounced back to the position through a consensus.
Vanguard gathered that members of the BoT were not prepared for the election because the meeting was held primarily to receive and deliberate on the Professor Jerry Gana’s report to structure the membership of the board.
It will be recalled that on June 27, 2007, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo emerged the new Chairman of BoT where he took over from the then Chairman,
Chief Tony Anenih.
Chief Obasanjo was, however, absent at Monday’s meeting where Anenih whom he took over from then, was brought back to take over from him as his successor.
Vanguard also gathered yesterday that immediately after the discussions of the report, some members called for a date to be fixed for the election of a new Chairman, but this was rejected by majority of members who insisted that the election must be held immediately.
Those who were against the election being held argued that this was not the time for the party to go into an election to elect a Chairman for BoT because if an election was conducted, it would polarise the PDP. They also contended that members agreed that since BoT was simply advisory and not Executive, there was no need to go into such stress and rigour.
Having agreed to hold the election same day, Vanguard gathered that governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State was immediately nominated to be the returning officer.
It was at this point that the aspirants went out after leaders of the party had spoken with them of the need to be guided by the precedent set in March 24 National Convention where all the aspirants stepped down for Bamanga Tukur. All the aspirants for the position of BoT chairman then came in and announced that they were stepping down.
The aspirants before Anenih’s emergence were former Vice President Alex Ekwueme; former National Chairman, Dr. Amadu Ali; former Deputy National Chairman, Alhaji Shaiubu Oyedokun; Chief Don Etiebet; former Senate President Ken Nnamani; and Chief Emmanuel Iwuayanwu, among others.
After they all stepped down, the returning officer, Governor Ibrahim Shema then announced Chief Tony Anenih as the consensus candidate which was greeted with applause by members.
‘’We all agreed that there should be a consensus candidate and there should be no need for election to avoid overheating the polity and at the end of the day, all the aspirants stepped down and Chief Tony Anenih emerged and everyone was happy including the President. The whole process was smooth and very lively.” the source said.

www.http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/bot-how-anenih-bounced-back/

EFCC re-arraigns Akingbola

By Abdulwahab Abdulah & Onozure Dania
LAGOS — FORMER Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank, Plc, now Access Bank, Dr Erastus Akingbola, was yesterday re-arraigned before an Ikeja High court over alleged theft of  N47.1bn belonging to the bank.
The re-arraignment was as a result of the elevation of the former trial judge, Habeeb Abiru, to the Court of Appeal before the conclusion of Akingbola’s case.
It would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had already concluded its argument, while the defence had also opened its defence before the sudden halt of the case before former justice Abiru.
The former bank MD is standing trial alongside the former General Manager of Tropic Security Limited, Mr. Bayo Dada, before their case file was transferred to a new judge, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo.
When the matter came up yesterday, the duo pleaded not guilty to the 22 count charge read to them, while the trial judge aligned with the argument that they should continue with their bail earlier granted them by Justice Abiru.
The judge also adjourned the matter till July 10 for commence of the fresh trial.
However, at the middle of the proceedings, the defence lawyers accused the EFCC of trial by ambush, while they also condemned the arrest of the defendants, especially when their old bail granted them by another court had not been withdrawn.

www.http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/efcc-re-arraigns-akingbola/

Jonathan comes of age

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
Once derided for his hesitancy in using the instrument of state to protect his political interests, President Goodluck Jonathan may now have bared his fangs as he moves to consolidate his hold on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the polity. His challengers are scampering for shelter.
Few of the men gathered in the presidential villa that evening had seen President Goodluck Jonathan as feisty and determined as he was last Sunday. A man that had been taken by some as a weakling was before the 18 or so governors gathered in the room showing a strong hand that many had not envisaged.
By one account, the president was alleged to have sworn that he would never be humiliated out of office by the Nigerian Governors Forum and its chairman, Rotimi Amaechi.
Before now, close associates of the president like his now controversial Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, had played the game of hitting Amaechi. But Orubebe’s efforts had not made any success as he was easily dismissed on account of the failed repair of the East West road, which crisscrosses the Niger Delta.
But last Sunday with few party chieftains like the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur at hand, President Jonathan moved to divide the ranks of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF a body that had turned into a major opposition body to not just his government, but also his seeming quest for a second term.
The president, himself a former governor, was not oblivious of the power and influence of the governors. About 23 months ago at the final rally of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential campaign at the Eagles Square in Abuja, Jonathan had described the governors as the Field Marshals of the party, upon whom victory or otherwise in a presidential contest rest upon.
Perhaps in recognition of the powers of the governors, President Jonathan had conceded to them in nearly all political engagements. He stopped the e-registration of party members because of the governors, closed his eyes when Okwesileze Nwodo who he brought in as national chairman was eased out, turned the other way when several senators who pushed for his enthronement as Acting President were refused re-election tickets by the governors, and also, allowed the governors to produce all but one member of the 12-member National Working Committee, NWC of the party. The president’s only proxy in the NWC is the now embattled national chairman, Tukur, who the governors led by Amaechi were as at last Sunday craving to push out.
As such, President Jonathan had every reason to express concern as the clouds began to gather around his political future. The governors were his major nemesis. Remarkably, many of the governors were also forming linkages with another powerful one-time benefactor of the president now turned into an enemy: Olusegun Obasanjo.
Before the 2011 primaries and in the heat of the crisis that trailed the Umaru Yar‘adua presidency, nearly all the governors at that time had been united in opposing Jonathan’s emergence as acting president. But faced with the ‘Hand of God,’ the governors accepted the inevitable. Remarkably, the champions against his emergence at that time are today practically licking dust.
James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State is in jail abroad, Timipire Sylva, a former governor of Bayelsa State is out of power and fighting prosecution by anti-graft agencies, and Bukola Saraki, a former chairman of the influential NGF, is under the shadows of anti-graft agencies for alleged offences committed while in office. It is the kind of stealthy use of power that few have given Dr. Jonathan credence.
Last Sunday, the president literarily forced those among the governors and others outside to take notice that he would not just use his powers stealthily, but also overtly when and where the need arises.
President’s determination
The president’s determination to weaken the opposition it was learnt, was essentially focused on two of his main opponents: the NGF and the Obasanjo tendency in the party. While Obasanjo had found it not a too difficult task forging an alliance with some  northern governors, doing the same with southern governors had proved Herculean. It was especially difficult with Amaechi, the embattled chairman of the NGF. Obasanjo’s problem with Amaechi had to do with the latter’s bluntness in his relationships.
Amaechi it is alleged has a predilection for blunt speaking irrespective of whose ox is gored. It is a character trait that some of his associates allege may have led him to his problems with the president.
The Rivers State governor it is equally claimed, has consistently rebuffed peace gestures from Obasanjo finding it difficult to forget the hostility of the former president which culminated in him, Amaechi, fleeing the country in the twilight of the Obasanjo era. So where the two principal opponents of the incumbent president could have joined hands to fight a common ‘enemy’, the ill-feelings of the past created a divide that allowed the president to move in to decisively crush the opposition.
The presidency had started by disrobing Obasanjo of his political architecture in the Southwest two weeks ago with the dismissal of Obasanjo’s men in the NWC and in the Southwest executive of the party.
Bode Mustapha, who is generally known as Obasanjo’s Man Friday was sacked by the PDP leadership as national auditor using as excuse, the court judgment which annulled the 2011 Oshogbo zonal congress where the Southwest delegates to the national convention were chosen.
But the Obasanjo camp was quick to respond that the party’s action was selective as it alleged that applying the court judgment would have meant that all those elected at the national convention including Tukur should have stepped out of office as they were elected by illegal delegates.
Following the action on Obasanjo, the presidency launched a frontal war against the NGF. Presidency officials at the highest levels were alleged to have routinely called up governors all through last weekend on the need to remove Amaechi from office.
In some cases, audiovisual recordings of Amaechi were played to some governors who were told that Amaechi was determined to remove the president and that they must divorce themselves from the alleged plot by opposing Amaechi’s return as chairman of the NGF. Apparently determined to call the president’s bluff, the Amaechi supporters in the NGF pushed for a quick election to reaffirm their clout in the polity.

President Jonathan

It was an invitation that the presidency took up and the election fixed for last Monday. Its first move was to break the ranks of the NGF by the creation of a new group, the PDP Governors Forum at last Sunday’s meeting with the party’s governors. Remarkably, Tukur announced Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State as the chairman of the new forum even without a say by the governors. Akpabio is generally regarded as one of the strongest loyalists of the president among the governors.
Newly created forum
Other loyalists include Ibrahim Shema of Katsina, Theodore Orji of Abia, Gabriel Suswam of Benue, Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa and Isa Yuguda of Bauchi.
The next day which was scheduled for the NGF election, Akpabio made the first move on behalf of Jonathan when he invited members of his newly created forum for a meeting prior to the NGF election at the Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.
At that meeting it was alleged that Governor Shema, another Jonathan loyalist was adopted as the PDP Governors’ Forum choice as the next chairman of the NGF. From the Akwa Ibom governor’s lodge, the PDP governors proceeded to the Rivers State Governor’s lodge for the election which was to involve the nation’s 36 governors.
As the meeting commenced, Governor Babangida Aliyu, who was absent at the two meetings at the villa on Sunday and  Monday afternoon hosted by Akpabio, questioned the rationale for the creation of the PDP-GF in the continued presence of the NGF. He was immediately challenged by Akpabio leading to a shouting match among the duo that almost broke up the meeting as many of the governors immediately started packing their things to abandon the meeting.
But once reason prevailed on the combative duo, the meeting returned to order. Remarkably, the persuasion and pressures from the presidency had whittled support from Amaechi, but not sufficient to enthrone Shema. So not surprisingly the governors resolved to postpone the evil day till May.
Derobing Obasanjo: The presidency was still unfinished that Monday. Later that night, the unfinished agenda of derobing Obasanjo was completed at a scheduled meeting of the BOT where a report on restructuring the membership of the advisory body was presented to the president at the villa.
Following Obasanjo’s resignation as chairman of the BOT last year, the contest for the chairmanship of the body had turned to a proxy war between him and Jonathan. Obasanjo it is alleged, was strongly opposed to the emergence of Jonathan’s favourite, Tony Anenih as his replacement. A former chairman of the BOT, Anenih was displaced from the position in 2007 by Obasanjo and since then both men had played cat and mouse in the politics of the PDP.
Not surprisingly in the dying days of the Yar‘Adua presidency, while Obasanjo strongly supported Jonathan’s emergence as acting president, Anenih reportedly was in cahoots with the governors in opposing Jonathan. But Anenih, however, to the discomfort of Obasanjo subsequently moved in to take command of the Amen Corner of the Jonathan camp.
Potential rivals
The opportunity to derobe Obasanjo came in the early hours of yesterday after the report articulated by a former secretary of the BOT, Prof. Jerry Gana on restructuring membership of the BOT was submitted.
The report it was learnt, recommended the excision of members of the BOT who had in the past shifted loyalties to other parties. It is a recommendation that further strengthens the hands of the president on the party as it removes some of his potential rivals such as Atiku Abubakar, Ghali Na‘Abba from membership of the body.
Following the submission of the report, one of the members present, perhaps in a choreographed submission said that the vacancy in the chairmanship should be filled and Anenih was nominated and unanimously adopted. Fixing Jonathan’s future was back fully on course.

www.http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/jonathan-comes-of-age/