Friday, 31 January 2014
Ekiti 2014: 30 jostle for Fayemi’s job
The tempo of political activities has increased in Ekiti State following the release of governorship election timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Akinwale Aboluwade, in this piece, examines the countdown to the election
Politics in Ekiti State is becoming increasingly interesting with more than 30 aspirants jostling to emerge as the winner in the oncoming governorship election. Joining the fray is a former leader of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, who until lately was locked in fierce contest with incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi for the governorship ticket of the APC. Among the long list of aspirants is an aspirant on the platform of the Accord Party in Ekiti, Mr. Kole Ajayi. Already, politicians are engaging in talks, meetings and covert negotiations and scheming in view of the emerging political contest. The scramble for the highest political position in the state has intensified, following the announcement of June 21, 2014 date for governorship election in the state.
Although the Independent National Electoral Commission has yet to allow aspirants engage in campaigns, there are clear signs that the mood is upbeat. Long convoys of politicians moving round the state for surreptitious meetings are commonplace. Some politicians have defied the electoral law by engaging in different forms of campaign activities while the embargo has yet to be lifted by the electoral umpire. In a bid to circumvent the INEC directive, some aspirants hold rallies and canvass votes on different occasions in the guise of having mere political meetings.
A rally organised by the representative of Ekiti-North Federal Constituency, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, was halted by the police on the grounds that it was in violation of the electoral law. The crowd of supporters and onlookers, who witnessed the event, were dispersed with tear gas. Some members of the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria and the National Union of Road Transport Workers earlier barricaded the major road from Ajebandele in Ajilosun area to Okeyinmi junction area of Ado Ekiti, the state capital in protest against the rally.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, Mr. Victor Babayemi, said the rally was stopped because INEC had not lifted the embargo on political rally in the state. He noted that Bamidele and his supporters violated Section 99 of the Electoral Act 2011 as amended, saying that the group embarked upon political campaign and not just a rally on the occasion.
Commenting on the issue, the Labour Party in the state said that the ruling APC was creating an atmosphere of insecurity. Describing the development as a bad omen in politics, the state chairman of the party, Mr. Akin Omole, said, “It is now a crime in Ekiti for opposition parties to hold meetings and conduct their businesses in an atmosphere of peace because of fear of possible attack by party thugs.
“Today, Ekiti is being run like a police state. Opposition political parties in the state can no longer hold meetings. Our meeting was disrupted in Ilawe-Ekiti and our chairman in that council was beaten up by APC members. We reported the case but the Divisional Police Officer did not do anything. Little wonder, they were bragging around that they are the ruling party in Ekiti. This is a bad development and we will no longer tolerate all these”.
In his reaction, the Director of Media and Publicity, APC, Mr. Segun Dipe, said, “It is only LP that can explain what it means by alleging that Ekiti is now a police state. If by police state it meant that the citizens are being well-protected, we take that as a compliment and even wish to do more. But if it says it is not feeling secured, which I doubt, then the party is saying it is afraid of its shadows. LP is clueless and wants to blame its cluelessness on APC.”
Prior to the release of the governorship election timetable for Ekiti State, Feyisetan, wife of former governor, Ayo Fayose, predicted her husband’s return to Ekiti State Government House after the 2014 governorship election. The prediction is a signal that the race to the Okesa Government House might have taken a spiritual dimension. Like other aspirants in the race, the declaration by INEC has further spurred the campaign team of Fayose to action. While many hold the believe that the PDP was far from victory in the governorship, Fayose was optimistic of his return to the Ekiti State Government House, saying, “The time is up for the present government because the PDP has come to take over the administration of Ekiti State.”
The desire of the Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, to run for Ekiti State governorship is not clear yet as he appears to have slowed down on his moves. Before now, there was a rumour that he was the President Goodluck Jonathan’s choice as PDP candidate in the race. However, there were indications from Abuja that the Presidency has no anointed candidate in the Ekiti election.
If still interested, the former Military Administrator of Bayelsa State is an aspirant to look out for as one of the heavyweights in the governorship contest.
An aspirant and a leader of the party in Ekiti, Chief Dayo Adeyeye, hailed the timetable release by INEC, saying the PDP will flush out the Fayemi-led APC government in the election. He said, “The PDP is united in this struggle to get the rudderless administration of Fayemi out through the ballot. The task to get the APC out of power is a collective effort, which every Ekiti PDP leader is ready to do in order to move our dear state forward.”
However, the INEC in Ekiti State has warned politicians against the breach of the electoral law. It also advised stakeholders in the oncoming election to desist from incitement and violence. The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Halilu Pai, while addressing journalists on the governorship poll at the commission’s secretariat, said it was wrong for aspirants and their parties to commence campaign before the stipulated date.
According to him, the display of campaign billboards and posters by aspirants in the state is illegal and unacceptable. He said engaging in campaign while the commission has yet to announce the election date, would attract severe punishment.
Pai added that, “Politicians should wait for INEC’s directive and for embargo to be lifted. It has been clearly spelt out that campaign should not begin until 90days to election. We must plan very well and follow the electoral law strictly. Posting of posters and mounting of billboards at this time is illegal and tantamount to campaign for election. This can only be done not earlier than 90 days to the election as specified in the Electoral Act. Posting of posters and billboards by aspirants is heating up the polity. The honourable thing to do is to remove them and wait for the right time.”
On the level of the commission’s preparedness for the elections, Pai said Direct Data Capturing Machines would be deployed to conduct upgrading and review of voters’ status, where those that had not registered would have the opportunity of doing so before election. Recalling that no fewer than 93,000 cases of double registration were detected before the Anambra election, he said the Automated Fingerprints Identification System would be deployed where necessary.
He said, “Those with double registration would be allowed to vote after the irregularity has been corrected. But this will not stop us from ensuring that they are punished.” The REC added that efforts were on to ensure that those that relocated from their former addresses were given opportunity to transfer their registration to preferred units.
Meanwhile, a former Nigerian Envoy to Canada and Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Mr. Dare Bejide, has urged all intending candidates to play the game according to the rule and adhere to the directives of the election umpire. Bejide, who noted that the political sphere would fully come alive when PDP candidate emerges, said it was too early to determine the party with more clout. He said, “Ekiti people need a visionary and intelligent personality who can effectively pilot them into the great future of their dream. The period when people engaged in violence rather than intellectual issues aided by wealth of experience is over. We need a candidate that has wide acceptance. Our people must come together and have a mature candidate with deep depth of experience”.
Bamidele also stressed the need for all players to be sincere and demonstrate their loyalty to the agenda of the Ekiti people. In an open letter to Fayemi, he said the promise by the governor that his administration would support a hitch-free election in the state was incredible and strange to the people of Ekiti. Bamidele, who lamented his experience in the governorship contest, said, “I have taken my time to read through your New Year message of January 1st, 2014 in which you, among other things, expressed your concern for security of lives and properties in the state.
“Your Excellency, how would I and my constituents believe your professed commitment to protection of properties if I made statutory payments to the Signage Agency under your office to mount 16 billboards as an elected representative to wish people who elected you and I into office a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year on the 22nd of December 2013 and, in less than 48 hours, your political appointees destroyed the billboards?
“How will you explain the fact that you and your cronies are the only elected and appointed public servants or statesmen who can air their views and programmes on the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State?”
However, in his reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, described Opeyemi’s allegations as an outburst of a liar and mischief maker. Oyebode said, “Opeyemi Bamidele is either genuinely ignorant or is deliberately mischievious. Whichever is the case, it is important to say that his letter is a potpourri of outright lies and deliberate distortion of issues.
“MOB should be blamed for introducing violence to Ekiti politics. The rising tension in the politics of Ekiti started immediately he joined the race with his penchant for importing thugs from Ondo State to cause mayhem in Ekiti. He remains the greatest threat to the 2014 poll. But the good news is that the 2014 contest is about Ekiti development and not about brigandage which the MOB and his gang represent.”
Interestingly, the people of Ekiti are of the opinion that the governorship election in Ekiti State could be peaceful, free and fair if politicians would adopt the spirit of sportsmanship and allow the people’s votes to count.
Copyright PUNCH.
Childhood bullying still haunts Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham has opened up about the bullying she suffered as a child, saying it still haunts her, according to Express.co.uk.
The Spice Girl turned fashion designer, who is 40 this year, says she became an outsider because she was ambitious and focused on trying to become a stage performer.
She says, “I dreamed of being on a stage. But it was a difficult part of my life. I suffered bullying. I did not fit anywhere. I was ambitious, I made a great effort, I respected teachers and rules.”
Victoria, who joined the Spice Girls in 1994 after responding to an advert in The Stage newspaper, along with Geri Halliwell, 41, Melanie Chisholm, 40, Emma Bunton, 38, and Melanie Brown, also 38, explains, “After school I went to dance lessons and singing and acting lessons. Meanwhile the rest of the kids hid for smoking and that kind of thing. They pretended to be cool but I was not like them.”
But despite her eventual huge success as Posh Spice, Victoria, mother to Brooklyn, 14, Romeo, 11, Cruz, eight, and Harper, two, says she won’t return to sing with the Spice Girls again.
“It was an honour for me, being in the Olympic Games,” she tells Vanity Fair. “I was so proud of being British. It was the perfect moment for saying, ‘It was wonderful. Thank you very much, but I’m done.’
“Sometimes you have to know when to leave the party.”
Meanwhile, Victoria has been named as one of the most influential designers in British fashion, alongside Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton and Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, Marie Claire.co.uk reports.
In a new list published by manners and etiquette expert, Debrett’s, Victoria is among the 500 most influential people in Britain right now, with shortlists spanning everything from fashion, music, film, sport and charity.
The specialist title asked experts across more than 25 fields to name the individuals who are having the most impact across Britain today. And surprise, surprise, Victoria and David were top of the pack.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk
The Spice Girl turned fashion designer, who is 40 this year, says she became an outsider because she was ambitious and focused on trying to become a stage performer.
She says, “I dreamed of being on a stage. But it was a difficult part of my life. I suffered bullying. I did not fit anywhere. I was ambitious, I made a great effort, I respected teachers and rules.”
Victoria, who joined the Spice Girls in 1994 after responding to an advert in The Stage newspaper, along with Geri Halliwell, 41, Melanie Chisholm, 40, Emma Bunton, 38, and Melanie Brown, also 38, explains, “After school I went to dance lessons and singing and acting lessons. Meanwhile the rest of the kids hid for smoking and that kind of thing. They pretended to be cool but I was not like them.”
But despite her eventual huge success as Posh Spice, Victoria, mother to Brooklyn, 14, Romeo, 11, Cruz, eight, and Harper, two, says she won’t return to sing with the Spice Girls again.
“It was an honour for me, being in the Olympic Games,” she tells Vanity Fair. “I was so proud of being British. It was the perfect moment for saying, ‘It was wonderful. Thank you very much, but I’m done.’
“Sometimes you have to know when to leave the party.”
Meanwhile, Victoria has been named as one of the most influential designers in British fashion, alongside Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton and Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, Marie Claire.co.uk reports.
In a new list published by manners and etiquette expert, Debrett’s, Victoria is among the 500 most influential people in Britain right now, with shortlists spanning everything from fashion, music, film, sport and charity.
The specialist title asked experts across more than 25 fields to name the individuals who are having the most impact across Britain today. And surprise, surprise, Victoria and David were top of the pack.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk
Lagosians eating diseased cows –Investigation
The way meat is processed at the multibillion naira abattoir in Lagos may render its consumption dangerous to health as BOSEDE OLUSOLA-OBASA reveals in this report
The Lagos State Government has always claimed that beef sourced from state-accredited abattoirs are safe for food. However, findings from Saturday PUNCH’s investigation have shown that this claim might not be totally true.
Findings from successive visits to the state’s largest abattoir by our correspondent over a period of three months showed that Lagosians consuming beef may be at risk of zoonotic infections.These are deadly diseases transmissible from animals to man through consumption.
Investigations at the Oko-Oba Abattoir and Lairage, Lagos, the state’s biggest abattoir, revealed a chain of daily routine that promotes unhealthy and unethical practices that medical practitioners fear could portend risk of diseases to members of the public.
Over 200 diseased cows are killed daily
Our correspodent observed that at least, 20 out of every 100 cows slaughtered at the abattoir were distressed, bruised and unable to walk.
At least, 200 of such cows are slaughtered everyday out of the over 1,200 cows killed at the abattoir for food daily.
Often appearing to be in a coma, the cows were wheeled on wooden stretchers into the slaughter slab area from the cattle market located within the same complex.
Despite the fact that the state government has banned the slaughtering of diseased cows, Saturday PUNCH observed that the practice continued with impunity in the glare of vet doctors and other task force teams on duty, who looked the other way.
Acting like an interested buyer, our correspondent made a subtle inquiry from some cow dealers on why the cows appeared lifeless, they simply said that the animals were distressed having undertaken a long journey.
It was also discovered that the cows on stretchers cost lesser than the fit ones. Depending on the state of the animal and size, the price difference could be as high as N100,000. The dealers were usually eager to sell the sick animals in a bid to dispose of them before the worse happened.
During the first visit by Saturday PUNCH, a cow was dead on arrival, but it could not be ascertained what was done with it. However, the rule at the abattoir is that such cows should be cut and burnt.
Mature cows at the abattoir cost between N100,000 and 250,000.
Those dealing in hide and skin take the unhealthy practice further as they usually drop the unprocessed bunch on the soil outside the abattoir, close to the lairage, while waiting to load them into designated meat vans.
Some medical and veterinary doctors who spoke with our correspondent said deadly health conditions such as leptospirosis, listeriasis, brucellosis, Q-fever, anthrax, cysticercosis, tuberculosis and infection with ebola and salmonellosis viruses, could result from contact with or consumption of contaminated and infected animals and products.
Although an inquiry at Merit Hospital in the Oko Oba area could not immediately establish if people in the area had presented symptoms of some of the diseases mentioned, medical doctors warned that many of the possible diseases might not be immediately diagnosed in Nigeria. They feared that the conditions could also be misdiagnosed to be other forms of ailments. Medical doctors and veterinarians said that eating unwholesome meat and dairy products could silently further cut down on life expectancy of Nigerians, currently put at 50 years.
A medical doctor, Abidemi Shabi, said, “There are so many diseases that can be transmitted to man when sick cows are killed for consumption. Diseases could also result from contact with droppings and body secretions of infected animals, but largely from ingestion of the ‘sick’ animals’ meat.
“The most popular disease that can be transmitted to man by eating infected meat is mad cow disease, which presents in humans as Creudtfeldt Jakob disease.”
Shabi noted that all cattle to be slaughtered for food are supposed to be properly assessed by a qualified veterinary doctor for fitness as this will allow infected animals with dangerous transmissible infections to be removed from the pack, treated or destroyed.
A customer, Dayo Adesanya, who lives at the Oko Oba Millennium Estate close to the abattoir complained about the filth and stench from the daily activities at the complex.
He said he didn’t know that ailing or lifeless cows were being slaughtered there.
“If Lagos State Government wants to save the lives of residents by insisting on best practices, it won’t take time at all. It is important for the government to intervene now before it is too late,” he said.
A female respondent, who declined to give her name because she is an employee of the state, said she believed that almost all the butchers there were Muslims and knew the implication of serving a dead animal for food.
She said, “If they practise such, it is a surprise. There is however no gainsaying the fact that meat from the abattoir could be unsafe. You look at the slaughtering area.
“There is no restriction, no enforcement compelling anybody who enters the area to be kitted. Even the butchers have no aprons on. The slab is an all comers affair. This is very wrong and unhygienic.”
Preferring the slab to the slaughtering lines
Not minding their health peculiarities, the butchers slaughtered one cow after another on the concrete slab earlier stained with a mixture of dung and blood from other cows.
There was no adequate water to rinse the cows during dressing as gallons of water were bought at intervals from water vendors around the slab area and miserly used on the meat. Thereafter, the meat was packed in rusty, weather-beaten tricycles to the meat stall for public consumption.
Meanwhile, the large slab also served as unrestricted walkway for whosoever had business to do at the abattoir. Saturday PUNCH’s findings showed that these practices were capable of exposing meat to contamination by micro organisms.
Our correspondent learnt that in 1992, it cost the state N6bn to establish the Oko-Oba Abattoir and Lairage, which is reputed as the largest in sub-Saharan Africa and may account for beef meat consumed by more than 50 per cent of the 18 million residents of Lagos, according to Nigeria’s last population census .
A tour of the facility showed that it was originally built to operate mechanised slaughtering lines and not slabs. As practised the world over, slaughtering is no longer done on slabs largely for safe health reasons.
But Saturday PUNCH learnt that successive governments of Lagos State had failed in their bid to put the lines into full capacity use or make the butchers embrace the option.
Speaking on meat hygiene in abattoir, the President, Veterinary Council of Nigeria, Prof. Gabriel Ogundipe, said that all meat produced from slab slaughtering were contaminated.
He said that state governments must outlaw slaughtering on the floor in the interest of public health.
“The meat is conveyed in refrigerated meat vans after it has been contaminated. This cannot serve the hygiene purpose intended because the meat has already been contaminated by micro organisms before they are loaded into the van. The micro organisms will grow even more when it gets to the sellers, who usually expose the meat to all kinds of touch,” he said.
Ogundipe advised members of the public to cook their meat very well before eating to avoid health crisis. He said that it was the job of vet doctors and meat inspection officers to enforce the rules guiding safe meat production.
In her view, a nutritionist consultant, Stephanie Oboh, said Salmonella virus found in the intestines of cows could cause a deadly food-borne disease called Salmonellosis.
She said that the content in the cow’s intestines could contaminate the meat, thus causing diarrhoea.
She advised people to cook their meat very well before eating.
She said, “Ebola virus is another deadly virus that can cause severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks in people. It could break out by contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.
“That is what you find happening at the abattoir, the waste water from the other cowS flows freely to the one being slaughtered or dressed. For me, the best option is not to eat beef at all.”
However, our correspondent observed that inadequate number of vet doctors and meat inspection officers at the abattoir left little or no room for due diligence to be done before sick cow meat was passed on to innocent members of the public for food.
Vet doctors, meat inspectors: compromised or overwhelmed?
An official figure from managers of the abattoir put the number of cows slaughtered for public consumption at the abattoir on week days at 1,200, and increases at the weekends to about 1,500.
Saturday PUNCH observed that close to 100 butchers slaughtered cows simultaneously at the abattoir.
Meanwhile, all through the period of this investigation, there were usually just about six vet doctors and inspectors on duty daily; this invariably makes due diligence a mirage.
Little wonder, the obviously overwhelmed officers, decked in their white overall dresses and boots, were usually observed only making intermittent returns to the massive slaughter slab from their office located close to the abattoir gate.
Cow slaughtering never stops from about 5.30 am to 3 pm, but once it is close to 1.30 pm, the vet doctors tidy up to close for the day’s work, leaving the butchers without any form of supervision.
Some petty traders within the abattoir complex however alleged that the action of the vet doctors was sometimes out of compromise or fear of insecurity because the butchers could be violent.
They alleged that some compromised vet doctors sometimes allowed the butchers to have their way in exchange for some pecuniary gains.
They alleged that this happened mostly when some organs were certified unfit but the traders tried to ask for a leeway by greasing the palms of the animal health workers to avoid losing their cows.
But apart from the allegation of compromise, they said vet doctors and meat inspectors were usually scared and very careful.
Many of them noted that the knife-wielding butchers were capable of hurting them as they had done in the past.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that this had been hindering proper meat inspection despite the presence of security operatives stationed at different points in the abattoir to maintain order.
“When you go to the area marked ‘Condemned organs area’, you will find some condemned organs, just to prove to the senior inspector that they have worked for the day.” said Titilayo Hassan, who sells wares close to the slab area.
However, all the vet doctors approached by our correspondent around the slab and the Project Officer, simply identified as Dr. Idris, declined to comment on the issue. They referred our correspondent to the commissioner in charge of the ministry in Alausa.
A trader, Ignatius Addey, who has been selling wares at the abattoir for about 10 years said, “It is a very dangerous place to work and the vet doctors have to be careful. The butchers appear to be the lords here. They do what they please; they obey no rules until military force is applied.
“The memory of a vet whose finger was slashed because he dared to condemn a cow organ is still fresh. In this same abattoir, a woman was beheaded by a butcher. So you can’t blame them when they sometimes look away from some atrocities. They think in terms of public health but the cow dealers and butchers think in terms of their investment. And you see that they have completely taken over the complex in terms of population. We can’t afford a breakdown of order.”
Whither animal rights? Scores of pregnant cows killed daily
Just as cows in stretchers were killed for public consumption, our correspondent also observed that the killing of pregnant cows was regular practice.
Although it was learnt that these practices had been banned by the state government, scores of pregnant cows were still being slaughtered at the abattoir.
The foetuses are severed by another department of traders around the slab for sale to dog owners. This goes on unabated, just as the health officers feign ignorance of its effects.
On the issue of killing of pregnant cows at the abattoir, a veterinary technologist and animal rights activist, Kizito Nwogu, said it was wrong to slaughter pregnant cows. He described the act as losing the mother and the offspring. He said that the state government should enforce the ban on the practice.
He said, “It is a wrong practice and against the right of animals. There should be ultrasound test to know that a cow is pregnant, there should be no guess work. Once discovered, such animals should be left in the lairage. It is a culture of waste to kill the mother and the unborn. I learnt they sell them to people who keep dogs. It is very wrong. In the same vein, killing sick, debilitated cows for food is unsafe for human health. But we live in a complicated country.”
Abattoir managers react
In an interview with Saturday PUNCH, the Managing Director, Harmony Abattoir Management Services Limited, Mr. Olusegun Bello, said that the practice of killing cows in trolley and pregnant cows had been banned by the state government because of its health and social consequences for members of the public.
He said that cow slaughtering on bare floor as being done at the abattoir was unhygienic, but regretted that government seemed to lack the political will to stop the unwholesome practices in the interest of the public.
He regretted that the backward orientation of the people who do business at the abattoir was a major impediment to achieving the desired change.
He said, “We took over the management of the abattoir about 10 years ago. Our mandate was to rehabilitate the mechanised slaughter lines, which has a capacity to slaughter 1,000 cows a day but currently we don’t do 100 in a month. Slaughtering on the slabs is not supposed to be part of the abattoir at all. It was introduced by the former management.
“There are approved slaughter slabs all over the state but of course, I must admit that slab slaughtering is not hygienic. Indeed, it is not. I can’t speak for the government because we are a full-fledged private company but I know that as a matter of policy, the state government does not support killing on the bare floor. But it appears to me that there is no political will to stop the practice.”
During a tour of the lines, Bello said that the company had so far spent about N63m to rehabilitate the slaughter lines. He said the lines were working, but had been deserted by the army of butchers, who insisted on the slabs.
He commended the state government for its good intention but called for urgent action to be taken on the state and operations at the abattoir. He said that about N473m had been proposed for a total rehabilitation of the complex.
“We are only patronised by some individuals and some corporate bodies. The government once took stakeholders to Botswana to see the modern practice in meat processing. It was very neat and modern. They wanted the same replicated here, but we have been on it. There is also the Nairobi Declaration signed by all stakeholders some months ago,” he said.
He said that only the state government had the power to stem the security risks posed by the community of Hausa cattle traders and butchers, who preferred to live in the complex and hardly ever obeyed any directives.
He said, “There is the urgent need to reform the cattle market in the abattoir complex, while resettling the dealers, who currently sleep in the lairages. Studies have shown that there is an overlap in the operations of the cattle market and the abattoir.
“The government should enforce guidelines for butchers on cattle handling and hygiene in slaughtering areas and general sanitary condition of the place. The killing of pregnant and trolley cows have been banned and should be enforced.”
When asked if floor slaughtering had been outlawed, he said, “The people in government will be able to answer that.”
Unguided drug administration to cows harm human health
Speaking at a recent veterinary forum attended by our correspondent in Lagos, the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Government on Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr. Nureini Funsho, raised another line of health concern.
Referring to the cattle market as a flash point, he expressed concern that when the cows are sick, their minders, who knew close to nothing about vet operations, usually injected them with substances that could be harmful to human beings if meat from the cows was eaten.
He said that these traders defied the rules that required that injected cows should not be killed for food until after a specified number of days.
He said, “The rule is that any cow that is to be slaughtered must be healthy. In drug administration to animals, there is an amount of pills you give to an animal before it could be slaughtered for consumption, otherwise it will do harm to the kidney of the people eating it.
“But what you find is that an animal that has just been treated for one particular ailment or the other is taken to the slab for slaughter with pills still in its bowel, which eventually end up in people’s kidneys. Some of these pills are carcinogenic and have been banned.”
Lagos State Government responds
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, said that the state government had already started a reform that would take care of the challenges at the abattoir.
He said that his ministry was aware of some of the issues raised by Saturday PUNCH and was working on them.
He was however not sure that trolley cows and pregnant cows were still being killed.
He said, “We are going to investigate these issues. Actually, there is no way the butchers can determine which cow is pregnant or not and that is why we have veterinary doctors on the ground. There are usually up to five of them around with other inspection officers. Part of the reforms will be to have machines that can detect if a cow is pregnant.
“We don’t want a situation where people will be scared of coming to the abattoir. All the issues are being taken care of under our reform programme. It’s just that it may take a while for the results to show because these practices have been there for long.
“Many of the cows at the abattoir come from as far as Burkina Faso and are usually stressed by the time they arrive. We have, however directed that no stressed cow should be killed until they have rested. Hopefully in February, there will be significant changes.”
Copyright PUNCH.
The Lagos State Government has always claimed that beef sourced from state-accredited abattoirs are safe for food. However, findings from Saturday PUNCH’s investigation have shown that this claim might not be totally true.
Findings from successive visits to the state’s largest abattoir by our correspondent over a period of three months showed that Lagosians consuming beef may be at risk of zoonotic infections.These are deadly diseases transmissible from animals to man through consumption.
Investigations at the Oko-Oba Abattoir and Lairage, Lagos, the state’s biggest abattoir, revealed a chain of daily routine that promotes unhealthy and unethical practices that medical practitioners fear could portend risk of diseases to members of the public.
Over 200 diseased cows are killed daily
Our correspodent observed that at least, 20 out of every 100 cows slaughtered at the abattoir were distressed, bruised and unable to walk.
At least, 200 of such cows are slaughtered everyday out of the over 1,200 cows killed at the abattoir for food daily.
Often appearing to be in a coma, the cows were wheeled on wooden stretchers into the slaughter slab area from the cattle market located within the same complex.
Despite the fact that the state government has banned the slaughtering of diseased cows, Saturday PUNCH observed that the practice continued with impunity in the glare of vet doctors and other task force teams on duty, who looked the other way.
Acting like an interested buyer, our correspondent made a subtle inquiry from some cow dealers on why the cows appeared lifeless, they simply said that the animals were distressed having undertaken a long journey.
It was also discovered that the cows on stretchers cost lesser than the fit ones. Depending on the state of the animal and size, the price difference could be as high as N100,000. The dealers were usually eager to sell the sick animals in a bid to dispose of them before the worse happened.
During the first visit by Saturday PUNCH, a cow was dead on arrival, but it could not be ascertained what was done with it. However, the rule at the abattoir is that such cows should be cut and burnt.
Mature cows at the abattoir cost between N100,000 and 250,000.
Those dealing in hide and skin take the unhealthy practice further as they usually drop the unprocessed bunch on the soil outside the abattoir, close to the lairage, while waiting to load them into designated meat vans.
Some medical and veterinary doctors who spoke with our correspondent said deadly health conditions such as leptospirosis, listeriasis, brucellosis, Q-fever, anthrax, cysticercosis, tuberculosis and infection with ebola and salmonellosis viruses, could result from contact with or consumption of contaminated and infected animals and products.
Although an inquiry at Merit Hospital in the Oko Oba area could not immediately establish if people in the area had presented symptoms of some of the diseases mentioned, medical doctors warned that many of the possible diseases might not be immediately diagnosed in Nigeria. They feared that the conditions could also be misdiagnosed to be other forms of ailments. Medical doctors and veterinarians said that eating unwholesome meat and dairy products could silently further cut down on life expectancy of Nigerians, currently put at 50 years.
A medical doctor, Abidemi Shabi, said, “There are so many diseases that can be transmitted to man when sick cows are killed for consumption. Diseases could also result from contact with droppings and body secretions of infected animals, but largely from ingestion of the ‘sick’ animals’ meat.
“The most popular disease that can be transmitted to man by eating infected meat is mad cow disease, which presents in humans as Creudtfeldt Jakob disease.”
Shabi noted that all cattle to be slaughtered for food are supposed to be properly assessed by a qualified veterinary doctor for fitness as this will allow infected animals with dangerous transmissible infections to be removed from the pack, treated or destroyed.
A customer, Dayo Adesanya, who lives at the Oko Oba Millennium Estate close to the abattoir complained about the filth and stench from the daily activities at the complex.
He said he didn’t know that ailing or lifeless cows were being slaughtered there.
“If Lagos State Government wants to save the lives of residents by insisting on best practices, it won’t take time at all. It is important for the government to intervene now before it is too late,” he said.
A female respondent, who declined to give her name because she is an employee of the state, said she believed that almost all the butchers there were Muslims and knew the implication of serving a dead animal for food.
She said, “If they practise such, it is a surprise. There is however no gainsaying the fact that meat from the abattoir could be unsafe. You look at the slaughtering area.
“There is no restriction, no enforcement compelling anybody who enters the area to be kitted. Even the butchers have no aprons on. The slab is an all comers affair. This is very wrong and unhygienic.”
Preferring the slab to the slaughtering lines
Not minding their health peculiarities, the butchers slaughtered one cow after another on the concrete slab earlier stained with a mixture of dung and blood from other cows.
There was no adequate water to rinse the cows during dressing as gallons of water were bought at intervals from water vendors around the slab area and miserly used on the meat. Thereafter, the meat was packed in rusty, weather-beaten tricycles to the meat stall for public consumption.
Meanwhile, the large slab also served as unrestricted walkway for whosoever had business to do at the abattoir. Saturday PUNCH’s findings showed that these practices were capable of exposing meat to contamination by micro organisms.
Our correspondent learnt that in 1992, it cost the state N6bn to establish the Oko-Oba Abattoir and Lairage, which is reputed as the largest in sub-Saharan Africa and may account for beef meat consumed by more than 50 per cent of the 18 million residents of Lagos, according to Nigeria’s last population census .
A tour of the facility showed that it was originally built to operate mechanised slaughtering lines and not slabs. As practised the world over, slaughtering is no longer done on slabs largely for safe health reasons.
But Saturday PUNCH learnt that successive governments of Lagos State had failed in their bid to put the lines into full capacity use or make the butchers embrace the option.
Speaking on meat hygiene in abattoir, the President, Veterinary Council of Nigeria, Prof. Gabriel Ogundipe, said that all meat produced from slab slaughtering were contaminated.
He said that state governments must outlaw slaughtering on the floor in the interest of public health.
“The meat is conveyed in refrigerated meat vans after it has been contaminated. This cannot serve the hygiene purpose intended because the meat has already been contaminated by micro organisms before they are loaded into the van. The micro organisms will grow even more when it gets to the sellers, who usually expose the meat to all kinds of touch,” he said.
Ogundipe advised members of the public to cook their meat very well before eating to avoid health crisis. He said that it was the job of vet doctors and meat inspection officers to enforce the rules guiding safe meat production.
In her view, a nutritionist consultant, Stephanie Oboh, said Salmonella virus found in the intestines of cows could cause a deadly food-borne disease called Salmonellosis.
She said that the content in the cow’s intestines could contaminate the meat, thus causing diarrhoea.
She advised people to cook their meat very well before eating.
She said, “Ebola virus is another deadly virus that can cause severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks in people. It could break out by contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.
“That is what you find happening at the abattoir, the waste water from the other cowS flows freely to the one being slaughtered or dressed. For me, the best option is not to eat beef at all.”
However, our correspondent observed that inadequate number of vet doctors and meat inspection officers at the abattoir left little or no room for due diligence to be done before sick cow meat was passed on to innocent members of the public for food.
Vet doctors, meat inspectors: compromised or overwhelmed?
An official figure from managers of the abattoir put the number of cows slaughtered for public consumption at the abattoir on week days at 1,200, and increases at the weekends to about 1,500.
Saturday PUNCH observed that close to 100 butchers slaughtered cows simultaneously at the abattoir.
Meanwhile, all through the period of this investigation, there were usually just about six vet doctors and inspectors on duty daily; this invariably makes due diligence a mirage.
Little wonder, the obviously overwhelmed officers, decked in their white overall dresses and boots, were usually observed only making intermittent returns to the massive slaughter slab from their office located close to the abattoir gate.
Cow slaughtering never stops from about 5.30 am to 3 pm, but once it is close to 1.30 pm, the vet doctors tidy up to close for the day’s work, leaving the butchers without any form of supervision.
Some petty traders within the abattoir complex however alleged that the action of the vet doctors was sometimes out of compromise or fear of insecurity because the butchers could be violent.
They alleged that some compromised vet doctors sometimes allowed the butchers to have their way in exchange for some pecuniary gains.
They alleged that this happened mostly when some organs were certified unfit but the traders tried to ask for a leeway by greasing the palms of the animal health workers to avoid losing their cows.
But apart from the allegation of compromise, they said vet doctors and meat inspectors were usually scared and very careful.
Many of them noted that the knife-wielding butchers were capable of hurting them as they had done in the past.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that this had been hindering proper meat inspection despite the presence of security operatives stationed at different points in the abattoir to maintain order.
“When you go to the area marked ‘Condemned organs area’, you will find some condemned organs, just to prove to the senior inspector that they have worked for the day.” said Titilayo Hassan, who sells wares close to the slab area.
However, all the vet doctors approached by our correspondent around the slab and the Project Officer, simply identified as Dr. Idris, declined to comment on the issue. They referred our correspondent to the commissioner in charge of the ministry in Alausa.
A trader, Ignatius Addey, who has been selling wares at the abattoir for about 10 years said, “It is a very dangerous place to work and the vet doctors have to be careful. The butchers appear to be the lords here. They do what they please; they obey no rules until military force is applied.
“The memory of a vet whose finger was slashed because he dared to condemn a cow organ is still fresh. In this same abattoir, a woman was beheaded by a butcher. So you can’t blame them when they sometimes look away from some atrocities. They think in terms of public health but the cow dealers and butchers think in terms of their investment. And you see that they have completely taken over the complex in terms of population. We can’t afford a breakdown of order.”
Whither animal rights? Scores of pregnant cows killed daily
Just as cows in stretchers were killed for public consumption, our correspondent also observed that the killing of pregnant cows was regular practice.
Although it was learnt that these practices had been banned by the state government, scores of pregnant cows were still being slaughtered at the abattoir.
The foetuses are severed by another department of traders around the slab for sale to dog owners. This goes on unabated, just as the health officers feign ignorance of its effects.
On the issue of killing of pregnant cows at the abattoir, a veterinary technologist and animal rights activist, Kizito Nwogu, said it was wrong to slaughter pregnant cows. He described the act as losing the mother and the offspring. He said that the state government should enforce the ban on the practice.
He said, “It is a wrong practice and against the right of animals. There should be ultrasound test to know that a cow is pregnant, there should be no guess work. Once discovered, such animals should be left in the lairage. It is a culture of waste to kill the mother and the unborn. I learnt they sell them to people who keep dogs. It is very wrong. In the same vein, killing sick, debilitated cows for food is unsafe for human health. But we live in a complicated country.”
Abattoir managers react
In an interview with Saturday PUNCH, the Managing Director, Harmony Abattoir Management Services Limited, Mr. Olusegun Bello, said that the practice of killing cows in trolley and pregnant cows had been banned by the state government because of its health and social consequences for members of the public.
He said that cow slaughtering on bare floor as being done at the abattoir was unhygienic, but regretted that government seemed to lack the political will to stop the unwholesome practices in the interest of the public.
He regretted that the backward orientation of the people who do business at the abattoir was a major impediment to achieving the desired change.
He said, “We took over the management of the abattoir about 10 years ago. Our mandate was to rehabilitate the mechanised slaughter lines, which has a capacity to slaughter 1,000 cows a day but currently we don’t do 100 in a month. Slaughtering on the slabs is not supposed to be part of the abattoir at all. It was introduced by the former management.
“There are approved slaughter slabs all over the state but of course, I must admit that slab slaughtering is not hygienic. Indeed, it is not. I can’t speak for the government because we are a full-fledged private company but I know that as a matter of policy, the state government does not support killing on the bare floor. But it appears to me that there is no political will to stop the practice.”
During a tour of the lines, Bello said that the company had so far spent about N63m to rehabilitate the slaughter lines. He said the lines were working, but had been deserted by the army of butchers, who insisted on the slabs.
He commended the state government for its good intention but called for urgent action to be taken on the state and operations at the abattoir. He said that about N473m had been proposed for a total rehabilitation of the complex.
“We are only patronised by some individuals and some corporate bodies. The government once took stakeholders to Botswana to see the modern practice in meat processing. It was very neat and modern. They wanted the same replicated here, but we have been on it. There is also the Nairobi Declaration signed by all stakeholders some months ago,” he said.
He said that only the state government had the power to stem the security risks posed by the community of Hausa cattle traders and butchers, who preferred to live in the complex and hardly ever obeyed any directives.
He said, “There is the urgent need to reform the cattle market in the abattoir complex, while resettling the dealers, who currently sleep in the lairages. Studies have shown that there is an overlap in the operations of the cattle market and the abattoir.
“The government should enforce guidelines for butchers on cattle handling and hygiene in slaughtering areas and general sanitary condition of the place. The killing of pregnant and trolley cows have been banned and should be enforced.”
When asked if floor slaughtering had been outlawed, he said, “The people in government will be able to answer that.”
Unguided drug administration to cows harm human health
Speaking at a recent veterinary forum attended by our correspondent in Lagos, the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Government on Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr. Nureini Funsho, raised another line of health concern.
Referring to the cattle market as a flash point, he expressed concern that when the cows are sick, their minders, who knew close to nothing about vet operations, usually injected them with substances that could be harmful to human beings if meat from the cows was eaten.
He said that these traders defied the rules that required that injected cows should not be killed for food until after a specified number of days.
He said, “The rule is that any cow that is to be slaughtered must be healthy. In drug administration to animals, there is an amount of pills you give to an animal before it could be slaughtered for consumption, otherwise it will do harm to the kidney of the people eating it.
“But what you find is that an animal that has just been treated for one particular ailment or the other is taken to the slab for slaughter with pills still in its bowel, which eventually end up in people’s kidneys. Some of these pills are carcinogenic and have been banned.”
Lagos State Government responds
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, said that the state government had already started a reform that would take care of the challenges at the abattoir.
He said that his ministry was aware of some of the issues raised by Saturday PUNCH and was working on them.
He was however not sure that trolley cows and pregnant cows were still being killed.
He said, “We are going to investigate these issues. Actually, there is no way the butchers can determine which cow is pregnant or not and that is why we have veterinary doctors on the ground. There are usually up to five of them around with other inspection officers. Part of the reforms will be to have machines that can detect if a cow is pregnant.
“We don’t want a situation where people will be scared of coming to the abattoir. All the issues are being taken care of under our reform programme. It’s just that it may take a while for the results to show because these practices have been there for long.
“Many of the cows at the abattoir come from as far as Burkina Faso and are usually stressed by the time they arrive. We have, however directed that no stressed cow should be killed until they have rested. Hopefully in February, there will be significant changes.”
Copyright PUNCH.
Osun 2014: D-Day beckons
The race to Osun State Government House, Oke-Fia, has intensified following the release of the 2014 governorship timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Femi Makinde examines the issues and contentions that surround the election
With the release of the election timetable for the 2014 governorship election in Osun State and the general election coming up next year, the Independent National Electoral Commission has signalled the commencement of party politics.
Indeed, Governor Rauf Aregbesola and other aspirants eyeing the coveted Oke-Fia Government House, Osogbo, appear ready for the August 9, 2014 governorship election coming up in the 23-year-old state. According to the timetable by INEC, June 2, 2014 is the last date for the conduct of party primaries, including the resolution of disputes arising from the primaries in the state. Campaigns for the state governorship election are also scheduled to start on May 11, 2014.
Primary election would pose no problem within the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state because there seems to be no dissenting voice to the choice of Aregbesola as the candidate of the party. Various groups within the party are jostling to paste the governor’s re- election campaign posters, erect billboards and banners at every available space in the state to show they are in full support of his aspiration. But on the other hand, the Peoples Democratic Party, which is the main opposition party in the state, has three aspirants jostling for its governorship ticket. However, PDP’s performance in the August poll will be largely determined by the choice of its candidate.
The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, gave the names of the three PDP governorship aspirants as Chief Wole Oke, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi and Senator Iyiola Omisore. Olaoluwa said the extended executive meeting of the party had put December 31, 2013 as the deadline for anyone wishing to contest on the platform of the party to get the intention form for N5m, stating that the three aspirants were the ones who met the deadline.
Oke, a former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Defence, is confident of picking the party’s ticket. Although he said that dislodging an incumbent governor would not be an easy task, he boasted that he would defeat Aregbesola at the poll.
In his manifesto, Oke, who is from Esa-Oke, said that the current administration of Aregbesola had been insensitive to the needs of the people, adding that the state needed to be redeemed. He said, “The state’s current leaders appear clueless regarding the real problems of the state. Osun is embarrassingly close to being declared a failed constituent unit in the federation of Nigerian states. I am prepared for this battle.” Oke’s Media Adviser, Mr. Yemi Giwa, said “aside from being physically and mentally prepared, age is on the side of this versatile philanthropic technocrat, who symbolises rich mental fecundity necessary to change Osun’s socio-economic fortunes for the better.”
While picking his intent form at the party secretariat Akinlabi, who served as a Minister of Youth Development, said the only factor which could work against the PDP from coming back to power was if the leadership imposed an unpopular candidate on the people.
He said, “All what I am asking for is a level playing field for all aspirants. Our chairman has promised that the party’s leadership would be fair to all. I have no reason to doubt him. I believe him and I am holding him by his word. If there is fairness and we all unite, we will surely chase away the present government from office. The PDP is now at a historic crossroads and it is left with a choice of presenting a good and presentable candidate without any baggage.
“We have to transform Osun State from being a heavily indebted state to a prosperous debt-free state. We have to return high standards and discipline to our school system.”
Omisore is seen in some quarters as the only contestant who could give Aregbesola a good fight because of his financial muscle, experience and connections. But some believe that certain factors would work against him. Omisore has never hidden his love for the governorship seat. The aspirant, who was a deputy governor during the Chief Bisi Akande-led Alliance for Democracy administration between 1999 and 2003, has kept criticising every policy of the Aregbesola administration. Omisore had asked the governor to reverse the reclassification of schools, stressing that the policy has caused so much pain to many pupils, who had to trek several kilometres before getting to their new schools. Omisore was also quick to accuse the governor of using the “Open Heaven Worship Centre” the state government is building in Ibodi – Odo Iju area as a gimmick to woo Christians to vote for him. The Director of Publicity, Omisore Campaign Organisation, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, said that his principal was the only aspirant who could defeat the incumbent governor and return the PDP to the Government House in the state.
Odeyemi said, “Our choice of February 8, 2014 as the flag-off of our political activities and declaration, which comes exactly six months to the election on August 9, 2014, is divine. We are a prepared student, who’s ready for an examination. With INEC’s release of the timetable, we will now double our efforts. Iyiola, like his name implies, will bring ‘Iyi’ which means honour to Osun State. We appeal to the APC to ensure peace and allow the votes of the people to count in Osun.”
However, a former Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, is being rooted for as the one man who could wrest power from the grip of the APC. The list released by the PDP chairman naming the three aspirants on the platform of the party is a clear indication that Akinbade is no longer seeking to contest on the platform of the self-acclaimed “largest political party in Africa.” Akinbade, who is a former chairman of the PDP, has moved to the Labour Party but he is yet to announce this move publicly. The media consultant to the aspirant, Mr. Kayode Oladeji, said that Akinbade had joined the LP and would make it public very soon.
Oladeji said, “Though he is yet to do a formal declaration, Akinbade has left the Peoples Democratic Party for Labour Party. His movement to LP has caused some “dislocations” within the PDP and APC as those aggrieved within these parties, in addition to his teeming supporters cutting across all barriers in the state, have teamed up with him. Akinbade is the most adept grassroots politician among the contestants. He’s humble, religious, kind and level-headed.”
The LP has another aspirant in Mr. Niyi Owolade, who also served in the administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola like Akinbade did. Criticising how Aregbesola changed the name of the state from Osun State to State of Osun, Owolade said that if the governor was right in doing so, his counterparts in other APC-led south-west states would have followed suit. He promised to change the name and also decried alleged borrowing by the Aregbesola administration. Owolade said, “Ours will not be an arrogant leadership where the head believes he knows everything. The concept of elementary, middle and high school should be scrapped. The identities of schools are being disparaged for economic gains and sanity must be brought back to our schools.”
The governorship aspirant of the Unity Party of Nigeria, Mr. Segun Akinwusi, is also confident of ousting Aregbesola. Akinwusi, a former Head of Service, has also not spared the policies of the incumbent government, describing it as anti-people. He said the UPN remained the only credible alternative to the two leading political parties in the state.
Analysts believe political office holders in the state and those enjoying government patronage may work for Aregbesola’s victory. Many say political office holders will work hard to avoid a repeat of how the Akande-led AD was sent packing by the PDP in 2003.
However, the PDP chairman, in an interview with our correspondent, said that the people of the state were tired of the ruling party, saying the job of sending Aregbesola packing would be much easier than what many had expected. Olaoluwa said, “We are calling for the removal of Osun INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oloruntoyin Akeju, as ordered by a court ruling. We cannot trust him. We know that INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, has good intention; we want him to heed the court ruling by removing Akeju. The PDP is sure of defeating Aregbesola. Who will vote for them? Are you saying those whose houses and shops were demolished without any compensation or alternative markets to trade will vote for them to continue?”
But Chairman of the APC in the state, Mr. Adelowo Adebiyi, waved aside the threats from the opposition parties and predicted that his party would record a landslide victory in the election. He said that the current administration had done a lot and the people were appreciative of this. Speaking on the possibility of Omisore facing Aregbesola in the election, the APC chairman said it would be an easy ride for Aregbesola.
He said, “Senator Iyiola Omisore is not a threat to us; this is no bragging. In fact, he is not in the contest. None of them can pose any threat to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. On what premise is he seeking to be governor? Based on non-performance, violence, problems or what? He told some people that he has acquired a PhD; does that make him an honest and better administrator than Governor Rauf Aregbesola? In what ways has Osun profited from his PhD? If he has acquired a PhD, let him go to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, and start lecturing there.
“We thank God for what he has done in Osun in the last three years and all these things are there for people to see. We have changed the orientation of the people of the State of Osun, you can see O’ School, O’ Meal, O’ Road, O’ Tour and many more. The concept of Omoluabi is in place, there’s no political violence in Osun anymore. We want to appreciate the people of Osun for giving us the opportunity to serve.”
Copyright PUNCH.
Guide to first time painless sex for virgin couple (I) BY FUNMI AKINGBADE
I have had many opportunities to address and counsel many intending couples whose relationships have ended in a good marriage. However in the course of my interactions, unbelievable as it may sound, I have discovered that close to 50 per cent of such intending couples were in a non-sexual relationship and my phones are always very busy with all types of questions on their wedding nights. It is either they do not know what to do sexually or how to go about it. Many ended up with a sexless or frustrated honeymoon.
I want to discuss what spouses who are virgins need to keep in mind before having sex. Not just sex, but a pain-free and memorable experience for both. I believe this will help ease the anxiety and improve the pleasure.
When couples are ready for sex for the first time, the excitement may be so overpowering. On the other hand, it’s very easy to also allow anxiety to take over because for most ladies, one of the most stressful worries is the pain associated with first time sex. This is when a lady wonders in apprehension what it will be like: Will it hurt? How much does it hurt? Why do ladies bleed? Would I bleed? Will I enjoy it? Am I going to have orgasm? How does an orgasm feel?
The truth of the matter is that many ladies don’t feel any pain at all the first time they have sexual intercourse. Very few ladies actually experience pain that is unbearable. And if you experience any pain at all while having sex for the first time, the pain may be similar to a pinprick. The psychological trauma of imagining how much it would hurt is almost always a lot worse than the actual pain many ladies feel. Also while having sex for the first time, there may be spotting or bleeding because of the tear in the hymen. How much you bleed depends on the size and thickness of your hymen. But if you bleed, you may just notice a bit of spotting on your bed or at times, something that resembles your period stain on the sheets. The hymen could tear for several reasons like vigorous exercises, aerobics, energetic dances or even while getting fingered. So for such ladies, the hymen may not be a sign of virginity, but sexual intercourse. After having sex for the first time, you may continue to bleed a little over a few days. But if you see anything more than a bit of spotting in your underwear or scant traces when you pee, speak to someone you trust in the family or get in touch with your doctor. Few brides who have sex for the first time could experience some soreness for a day or two. It’s natural to feel a bit sore just like you would after a good workout.
The virgin groom on the other hand will also wonder what it will be like. Will I satisfy her? Will I have erection? Am I impotent? Am I a real man? Can I be a father? The best thing to do is to relax and have a loving attitude towards your bride. Do not make it mandatory to have sex or practise all the expert methods that same night.
Start off by helping each other to undress and give room for both of you to refresh yourselves with a good bath. This is necessary to calm you down after the stress of the wedding ceremony you have both gone through. The physical, mental and spiritual exhaustion might affect you negatively if not well handled. It is, therefore, very important to be in a relaxed mood and not compulsorily focus your mind on sex for the night. You still have all other nights to yourselves. Then just relax and do not look too serious. At this point, you both should chat, say something sweet and romantic to each other. This should be done more by the groom to relax the bride the more. The same goes to the bride, do not appear as a saintly prey and the man as the merciless predator. Give your husband a reassuring look of acceptance and approval. After taking a bath, which you both can have together, change into something comfortable and lovely. The bride should change into something sweet, irresistible, transparent and seductive, preferably a new lacy bra and undies with a good body perfume. The bride just has to smell very good. The groom likewise should change into a good pyjamas, make use of a good perfume, after-shave and comb his hair neatly.
I want to discuss what spouses who are virgins need to keep in mind before having sex. Not just sex, but a pain-free and memorable experience for both. I believe this will help ease the anxiety and improve the pleasure.
When couples are ready for sex for the first time, the excitement may be so overpowering. On the other hand, it’s very easy to also allow anxiety to take over because for most ladies, one of the most stressful worries is the pain associated with first time sex. This is when a lady wonders in apprehension what it will be like: Will it hurt? How much does it hurt? Why do ladies bleed? Would I bleed? Will I enjoy it? Am I going to have orgasm? How does an orgasm feel?
The truth of the matter is that many ladies don’t feel any pain at all the first time they have sexual intercourse. Very few ladies actually experience pain that is unbearable. And if you experience any pain at all while having sex for the first time, the pain may be similar to a pinprick. The psychological trauma of imagining how much it would hurt is almost always a lot worse than the actual pain many ladies feel. Also while having sex for the first time, there may be spotting or bleeding because of the tear in the hymen. How much you bleed depends on the size and thickness of your hymen. But if you bleed, you may just notice a bit of spotting on your bed or at times, something that resembles your period stain on the sheets. The hymen could tear for several reasons like vigorous exercises, aerobics, energetic dances or even while getting fingered. So for such ladies, the hymen may not be a sign of virginity, but sexual intercourse. After having sex for the first time, you may continue to bleed a little over a few days. But if you see anything more than a bit of spotting in your underwear or scant traces when you pee, speak to someone you trust in the family or get in touch with your doctor. Few brides who have sex for the first time could experience some soreness for a day or two. It’s natural to feel a bit sore just like you would after a good workout.
The virgin groom on the other hand will also wonder what it will be like. Will I satisfy her? Will I have erection? Am I impotent? Am I a real man? Can I be a father? The best thing to do is to relax and have a loving attitude towards your bride. Do not make it mandatory to have sex or practise all the expert methods that same night.
Start off by helping each other to undress and give room for both of you to refresh yourselves with a good bath. This is necessary to calm you down after the stress of the wedding ceremony you have both gone through. The physical, mental and spiritual exhaustion might affect you negatively if not well handled. It is, therefore, very important to be in a relaxed mood and not compulsorily focus your mind on sex for the night. You still have all other nights to yourselves. Then just relax and do not look too serious. At this point, you both should chat, say something sweet and romantic to each other. This should be done more by the groom to relax the bride the more. The same goes to the bride, do not appear as a saintly prey and the man as the merciless predator. Give your husband a reassuring look of acceptance and approval. After taking a bath, which you both can have together, change into something comfortable and lovely. The bride should change into something sweet, irresistible, transparent and seductive, preferably a new lacy bra and undies with a good body perfume. The bride just has to smell very good. The groom likewise should change into a good pyjamas, make use of a good perfume, after-shave and comb his hair neatly.
Man, 102, Breaks Cycling Record For Second Time
A 102-year-old man has broken his own world record after cycling 16.7 miles in one hour.
Robert Marchand set a new record in the over-100s category on Friday, beating his previous best distance in the race against the clock by 1.5 miles.
The Frenchman set his previous record two years ago.
The current overall world record for one hour is 30.9 set by Czech Ondrej Sosenka in 2005.
Marchand, a retired firefighter and logger, received a standing ovation and was surrounded by dozens of photographers at the finish line in France’s new National Velodrome.
The 74m euro (£60m) complex officially opened its doors Thursday.
Supported by two assistants, he smiled and raised his arms and said: “It was very good, but at the end it started to become very hard.
“You have to know there are people who came from 600 kilometres away to see me today. It is incredible. That’s all I can say.”
SKY
J’Bieber granted re-entry into US after plane search
Pop star Justin Bieber was granted re-entry Friday into the United States following a search of his private airplane by federal officials who said they detected an odor of marijuana after it landed in New Jersey, a law enforcement official told CNN.
The plane carrying Bieber and others — presumably his entourage — was clearing customs after touching down at Teterboro Airport when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said they detected the odor, law enforcement sources said.
Drug-sniffing dogs were used to search the plane, according to one of the sources. But no sign of drugs were detected and no illegal substances were found, the source said.
Bieber’s interview was described by another law enforcement source as one that is carried out for anyone entering the United States, and that it can take 10 minutes or 10 hours. The interview is routinely conducted to ensure people entering the country are in compliance with U.S. law, the source said.
Bieber was interviewed for several hours before being cleared to enter the United States.
Falana, Aturu differ on INEC’s law against defection
Two prominent lawyers have expressed divergent views on a recent proposal by the Independent National Electoral Commission which seeks a law against frivolous defection by politicians.
INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Election Party Monitoring, Hajiya Amina Zakari, had made the comment on Tuesday at the opening of the National Stakeholders’ Forum on Electoral Reforms in Abuja.
She said the law would also empower INEC to enforce internal democracy in the nomination and substitution of candidates for election by political parties.
Reacting to INEC’s position, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, told Saturday PUNCH that INEC’s intention was in order.
He said that when politicians moved from the platform of the party on which they were voted to another, they shortchanged the electorate who had voted them on the basis of the party’s ideologies, manifesto and programmes.
He said, “What INEC is saying is in order; it is simply saying that things should return to status quo ante. Before the case between Atiku Abubakar versus the Attorney General of the Federation, it was illegal in Nigeria to cross from one party to another. Then such a person was bound to lose his mandate so that he could contest on the platform of a new party. That was the law.
“Unfortunately, it was the Atiku Abubakar case that allowed for political prostitution.”
Falana said that INEC registers parties based on ideologies and it is empowered by the electoral Act to promote civil education and to register voters on a continuous and not periodic basis.
He therefore tasked INEC to go beyond changing a law to also educating the electorate to empower them to reject political prostitutes.
However, in a sharp contrast to the view expressed by Falana on the appropriateness of a strict law on defection, a lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, told Saturday PUNCH that any law from INEC to check defection would be unconstitutional.
He said that though the politicians’ actions were worrisome, the constitution made it their right to belong to any group they wanted.
He said, “Political parties are not secret cults so you cannot make a law that tries to make people belong permanently to a political party. Any law like that should be condemned.
“That doesn’t mean that I support the prostitution that we see everyday among politicians. It is worrisome in the political sense but not in the legal sense. It only shows that they don’t have ideologies, they are just looking for a platform. When they see that the Peoples Democratic Party is no longer moving fast or that the tyre is punctured, they look for another vehicle with brand new tyres. These movements show that they don’t believe in democracy neither do they have ideologies, all the parties are the same. They have no developmental agenda.”
Copyright PUNCH.
FG signs N55bn renewable energy agreement with GE
The Federal Government on Friday signed a $350m (N55bn) investment agreement on renewable energy in the power sector with General Electric.
According to the government, the investment would bring respite to electricity consumers who were not connected to the national power grid.
The Federal Ministry of Power in a statement said GE was investing $350m into the sector to ensure the provision of 100 per cent renewable energy to communities that were far from the grid.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, after the signing ceremony with GE Global Chairman, Jeffrey Immelt, at the Bank of Industry office in Abuja, called on interested investors in the sector to take advantage of the facility to develop smaller power plants.
Nebo said interested power investors could use smaller turbines in remote grids to ensure the provision of electricity to residents who do not get power from the national grid.
He lauded the gesture and stressed that the lack of access to funds had hitherto prevented distribution companies from expanding their scope.
The minister said the Federal Government was determined to power the rural populace through its Operation Light-up Nigeria Project, which it inaugurated in selected remote communities in Abuja recently.
In his remarks, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, described power as a catalyst to the nation’s economic development.
He said epileptic power supply had impeded the level of development of the industrial sector.
Aganga said GE, a globally recognised conglomerate, also extended its investments to health care, locomotives, oil and gas, among others.
Responding, Immelt applauded the success of the recent power privatisation exercise, describing it as a transparent process that had improved the nation’s image globally.
He commended the ministry for creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to invest in the sector.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC, Sola David-Borha, said power was a key sector in the Nigerian economy. He stated that the bank was prepared to partner with GE to ensure that the much needed financing was provided for the supply of power to the nation.
Copyright PUNCH.
According to the government, the investment would bring respite to electricity consumers who were not connected to the national power grid.
The Federal Ministry of Power in a statement said GE was investing $350m into the sector to ensure the provision of 100 per cent renewable energy to communities that were far from the grid.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, after the signing ceremony with GE Global Chairman, Jeffrey Immelt, at the Bank of Industry office in Abuja, called on interested investors in the sector to take advantage of the facility to develop smaller power plants.
Nebo said interested power investors could use smaller turbines in remote grids to ensure the provision of electricity to residents who do not get power from the national grid.
He lauded the gesture and stressed that the lack of access to funds had hitherto prevented distribution companies from expanding their scope.
The minister said the Federal Government was determined to power the rural populace through its Operation Light-up Nigeria Project, which it inaugurated in selected remote communities in Abuja recently.
In his remarks, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, described power as a catalyst to the nation’s economic development.
He said epileptic power supply had impeded the level of development of the industrial sector.
Aganga said GE, a globally recognised conglomerate, also extended its investments to health care, locomotives, oil and gas, among others.
Responding, Immelt applauded the success of the recent power privatisation exercise, describing it as a transparent process that had improved the nation’s image globally.
He commended the ministry for creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to invest in the sector.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC, Sola David-Borha, said power was a key sector in the Nigerian economy. He stated that the bank was prepared to partner with GE to ensure that the much needed financing was provided for the supply of power to the nation.
Copyright PUNCH.
Election timetable not to favour Jonathan –INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission has described as unfair and unfortunate comments credited to the Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, and a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, over the 2015 general elections.
While the governor was said to have alleged that the timetable for the election was done to favour President Goodluck Jonathan, the ex-Minister had claimed that “blood will flow” after the 2015 election if it was not free and fair.
The Service Department of State Security had invited El-Rufai to its office over the statement.
El-Rufai was summoned by the SSS for what the security agency described as provocative and inciting comments.
But the INEC’s Director of Media Affairs, Mr. Nick Dazang, told our correspondent in Abuja that the comments by both personalities were unfortunate.
He said, “The 2015 timetable and schedule of activities recently released by the INEC is informed by the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
“It is not intended to favour any candidate or political party. Remember that our mantra is to deliver elections that are free, fair and credible.
“And the commission’s members have sworn to an oath to be non-partisan and impartial.
“Governor Kwankwaso’s sentiments are therefore untrue, wrong and regrettable. They do not reflect or convey the true disposition of the commission. El-Rufai’s comment is unfortunate. INEC will continue to do its best to conduct better elections.”
Copyright PUNCH.
While the governor was said to have alleged that the timetable for the election was done to favour President Goodluck Jonathan, the ex-Minister had claimed that “blood will flow” after the 2015 election if it was not free and fair.
The Service Department of State Security had invited El-Rufai to its office over the statement.
El-Rufai was summoned by the SSS for what the security agency described as provocative and inciting comments.
But the INEC’s Director of Media Affairs, Mr. Nick Dazang, told our correspondent in Abuja that the comments by both personalities were unfortunate.
He said, “The 2015 timetable and schedule of activities recently released by the INEC is informed by the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
“It is not intended to favour any candidate or political party. Remember that our mantra is to deliver elections that are free, fair and credible.
“And the commission’s members have sworn to an oath to be non-partisan and impartial.
“Governor Kwankwaso’s sentiments are therefore untrue, wrong and regrettable. They do not reflect or convey the true disposition of the commission. El-Rufai’s comment is unfortunate. INEC will continue to do its best to conduct better elections.”
Copyright PUNCH.
National conference: NBA rejects delegate allocation
President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Okey Wali, SAN, on Friday wrote the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, to protest the allocation of only one delegate to the body in the forthcoming National Conference.
Wali said the NBA “will not accept” the one slot offered to it, and urged the SGF to reconsider the development.
The letter, dated January 31, 2014, was captioned “Re: Nomination of Nigerian Bar Association to the National Conference: A Letter of Protest.”
“We do not believe that the single slot given to the Nigerian Bar Association will be impactive enough, and so, we request that you please reconsider the one slot offer to the Nigerian Bar Association, as we regrettably will be unable to accept that offer,” the NBA president said in the letter.
Wali explained that the NBA was disappointed with the allocation of delegates.
Copyright PUNCH.
Wali said the NBA “will not accept” the one slot offered to it, and urged the SGF to reconsider the development.
The letter, dated January 31, 2014, was captioned “Re: Nomination of Nigerian Bar Association to the National Conference: A Letter of Protest.”
“We do not believe that the single slot given to the Nigerian Bar Association will be impactive enough, and so, we request that you please reconsider the one slot offer to the Nigerian Bar Association, as we regrettably will be unable to accept that offer,” the NBA president said in the letter.
Wali explained that the NBA was disappointed with the allocation of delegates.
Copyright PUNCH.
2015 elections: Illegal arms importation rises
As preparations for the 2015 general elections and 2014 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states gather steam, there are strong indications of increase in the smuggling of arms and ammunition into the country.
Saturday PUNCH also learnt that the demand for imported bulletproof cars had increased in the last few months.
A report of the Nigeria Customs Service obtained by our correspondents on Thursday showed that the records of seizures of arms and ammunition in 2013 by the Nigeria Customs Service were seven times more than those of 2012. The police also gave indications of a rise in the number of arms in circulation even though its spokesperson did not give a definite figure.
The Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, said in Abuja on Thursday that the service now seizes contraband including arms and ammunition daily. He said the agency had beefed up security along the nation’s borders to curtail the influx of arms and ammunition into the country.
“We know the porosity of our borders, we had to change patrol strategies and the patrol strategy that we are using now is yielding dividends, we are making seizures of contraband on daily basis including arms and ammunitions,” he said.
Late Thursday, the State Security Service Operatives intercepted high-calibre ammunition in a 20-foot container at the Port Harcourt Port in River State.
The vessel identified as MV Iron Trader was carrying 2,700 anti-aircraft and anti-tank bombs, according to security sources.
The Customs report entitled, “2013 Summary of Suppression of Smuggling/Seizures Report,” showed that the arms and ammunition were seized at airports, seaports, creeks and border stations nationwide.
The report is prepared by the Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection Department of the NCS and it details the general anti-smuggling activities of the agency for a specified year.
Specifically, the report showed that the cases of seizures represented an increase of about 700 per cent when compared with the single seizure recorded in 2012.
Analysts say the increase in smuggling of arms and ammunitions to the country might not be unconnected with the increase in political activities towards the 2015 general elections and other governorship elections this year given the violence that usually accompanied past electoral activities in the country.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had announced the timetable for the 2015 general elections and governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states last Friday.
Though the electoral body is yet to give the go-ahead for the commencement of political campaigns, many politicians including the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, have indicated their interest in contesting in the oncoming elections.
The 2007 governorship election turned bloody in Osun State when thousands of residents, who felt that the election was rigged by the Peoples Democratic Party took to the streets, burning houses and properties. Soldiers and policemen were drafted to quell the uprising, which spread from Osogbo to Ilesa, the hometown of Action Congress of Nigeria candidate in the election, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, who eventually emerged as governor after three and a half years of legal battle.
No fewer than eight persons were killed in the countdown to the election while about three persons lost their lives on the day of election, which gave a contentious victory to the PDP candidate, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
The latest in the series of political violence in Ekiti State was the killing of a supporter of the House of Representatives member representing Ado/Irepodun Ifelodun Constituency, Opeyemi Bamidele, who was shot dead at Emure Ekiti during a political rally.
The 1983 general elections erupted in violence in Ondo State when the Federal Electoral Commission declared the candidate of the National Party of Nigeria, Chief Akin Omoboriowo, as the winner of the governorship election.
A month-by-month analysis of ammunitions seized by the NCS, showed that the agency recorded the highest seizure of 56,570 in May 2013 and the lowest of 49 seizures in April.
Findings by one of our correspondents revealed that the seizure of 56,570 rounds of ammunition was recorded in Oyo/Osun Command of the NCS and it was the highest ever recorded in the history of the anti-smuggling agency. Oyo State is one of the country’s border states sharing boundaries with the Republic of Benin.
It was gathered that the ammunition, which were neatly loaded in 227 cartons, and conveyed in a vehicle, were concealed in bags packed with dried cassava tubers.
Adeniyi emphasised the importance of intelligence gathering and said it was one of the viable ways by which security agencies could effectively stem the influx of illegal weapons into the country.
He said, “Intelligence plays a very crucial role in interception of smuggled goods particularly arms and ammunition. People must be willing to give us intelligence reports; they should not just abandon the job of intelligence reports to the customs and other security agencies alone.
“We will continue to intensify our efforts to ensure that dangerous cargoes that could impede on national security are not allowed into the country. We will continue to count on the assistance of well meaning Nigerians to give us information.”
Bulletproof cars
Though statistics of the total number of bulletproof vehicles imported into the country in the last few months could not be obtained from the Customs, a key player in the sector said the demand for imported bulletproof cars had risen from about 800 to 1,500 annually.
“When you talk about the normal passenger vehicles, I think it is about 500 and 800 in a year. There are Armoured Personnel Carriers imported by the Police and the Customs. By the time you add the ones imported by the military, you will be talking of about 1,500 in a year,” the Chief Executive Officer, Proforce Limited, Mr. Adetokunbo Ogundeyin, said.
Ogundeyin explained that demand for bulletproof vehicles might not be unconnected with political activities in the country.
“We are having another election next year. Politics in this country is a bit of do-or-die. A lot of people just feel that they will be insecure. So, they want to protect themselves. That is one reason.
“The other reason is the level of threat to life in the Northern area. I am talking about the Boko Haram issue. Unfortunately, the situation is escalating; people feel threatened in the North, and it is even spreading to the South. This is the reason why people feel they have to be protected. Armed robbery is also a factor.”
Saturday PUNCH findings also reveal that the police have sent operatives to the nation’s ports, where weapons are concealed inside innocuous imports and brought in illegally into the country to be used by desperate politicians.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba, who confirmed this in Abuja, explained that the arms embargo policy was a deliberate move to check the flow of illegal arms as the nation prepared for the elections.
Mba could, however, not give data of the weapons so far seized in the last six months. He promised to get back to one of our correspondents but later said he could not get specific figures.
He stated that the Force Intelligence Department had been re-organised for better performance, stressing that the police were better prepared to nip in the bud any threat to public peace and order.
Mba noted that there had not been any report of assassination or cases of threat to life by politicians in recent times. He said, “We believe that there would always be conflict and political disagreement but not all disagreements lead to violence. In any case, we are watching the political scene and we are ready to call to order anyone that takes any action that may lead to a breach of public peace.”
Meanwhile, human rights activists have reacted to reports of arms increase in the country by calling on the government to take national security more seriously.
A human rights lawyer, Wahab Shittu, said the country “is sitting on a keg of gun powder capable of exploding at anytime.”
Shittu also described the Customs report as “quite worrisome, disturbing, very frightening and constituting a fundamental threat to national security.” He added that government at all levels had a lot of work to do to guarantee safety of lives and properties.
Attributing the increase in the arms seizure at the borders to multi-dimensional factors, Shittu also suggested multi-dimensional solutions to the problem.
He said, “There are lots of crises taking place in the neighbouring countries and we are beginning to see the effects here. The increase can be attributed to multi-dimensional factors which include the build up to 2015 elections, deep-seated grievances by the ethnic nationalities that constitute the Nigerian federation, poverty, the rising rate of unemployment and the collapsing ethical and moral values.
“The solutions are also multidimensional because there is a little of religious extremism, politics, hunger, poverty and a collapse of values in the society. The situation necessitates collaboration between our country and the neighbouring countries through the exchange of intelligence and information.”
Another human rights lawyer, Fred Agbaje, however, blamed the Customs Service for the increasing smuggling of arms and ammunition into the country, describing the agency’s claims as false.
He said, “The figure they are parading is shameful and embarrassing when compared with the level of banditry in Nigeria today. The arms and ammunition that hoodlums are using in Nigeria all came in through the borders, which are patrolled by Customs and other agencies of the Federal Government.
“Customs service has woefully failed Nigerians in terms of checking the sophisticated weapons that are arriving the borders of this country on a daily basis. The situation has created a lot of fear in the minds of Nigerians and come 2015 elections, it’s going to be worse. The earlier the Federal Government addresses the problem of insecurity, the better, particularly with regards to arms proliferation.”
Copyright PUNCH
Saturday PUNCH also learnt that the demand for imported bulletproof cars had increased in the last few months.
A report of the Nigeria Customs Service obtained by our correspondents on Thursday showed that the records of seizures of arms and ammunition in 2013 by the Nigeria Customs Service were seven times more than those of 2012. The police also gave indications of a rise in the number of arms in circulation even though its spokesperson did not give a definite figure.
The Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, said in Abuja on Thursday that the service now seizes contraband including arms and ammunition daily. He said the agency had beefed up security along the nation’s borders to curtail the influx of arms and ammunition into the country.
“We know the porosity of our borders, we had to change patrol strategies and the patrol strategy that we are using now is yielding dividends, we are making seizures of contraband on daily basis including arms and ammunitions,” he said.
Late Thursday, the State Security Service Operatives intercepted high-calibre ammunition in a 20-foot container at the Port Harcourt Port in River State.
The vessel identified as MV Iron Trader was carrying 2,700 anti-aircraft and anti-tank bombs, according to security sources.
The Customs report entitled, “2013 Summary of Suppression of Smuggling/Seizures Report,” showed that the arms and ammunition were seized at airports, seaports, creeks and border stations nationwide.
The report is prepared by the Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection Department of the NCS and it details the general anti-smuggling activities of the agency for a specified year.
Specifically, the report showed that the cases of seizures represented an increase of about 700 per cent when compared with the single seizure recorded in 2012.
Analysts say the increase in smuggling of arms and ammunitions to the country might not be unconnected with the increase in political activities towards the 2015 general elections and other governorship elections this year given the violence that usually accompanied past electoral activities in the country.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had announced the timetable for the 2015 general elections and governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states last Friday.
Though the electoral body is yet to give the go-ahead for the commencement of political campaigns, many politicians including the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, have indicated their interest in contesting in the oncoming elections.
The 2007 governorship election turned bloody in Osun State when thousands of residents, who felt that the election was rigged by the Peoples Democratic Party took to the streets, burning houses and properties. Soldiers and policemen were drafted to quell the uprising, which spread from Osogbo to Ilesa, the hometown of Action Congress of Nigeria candidate in the election, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, who eventually emerged as governor after three and a half years of legal battle.
No fewer than eight persons were killed in the countdown to the election while about three persons lost their lives on the day of election, which gave a contentious victory to the PDP candidate, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
The latest in the series of political violence in Ekiti State was the killing of a supporter of the House of Representatives member representing Ado/Irepodun Ifelodun Constituency, Opeyemi Bamidele, who was shot dead at Emure Ekiti during a political rally.
The 1983 general elections erupted in violence in Ondo State when the Federal Electoral Commission declared the candidate of the National Party of Nigeria, Chief Akin Omoboriowo, as the winner of the governorship election.
A month-by-month analysis of ammunitions seized by the NCS, showed that the agency recorded the highest seizure of 56,570 in May 2013 and the lowest of 49 seizures in April.
Findings by one of our correspondents revealed that the seizure of 56,570 rounds of ammunition was recorded in Oyo/Osun Command of the NCS and it was the highest ever recorded in the history of the anti-smuggling agency. Oyo State is one of the country’s border states sharing boundaries with the Republic of Benin.
It was gathered that the ammunition, which were neatly loaded in 227 cartons, and conveyed in a vehicle, were concealed in bags packed with dried cassava tubers.
Adeniyi emphasised the importance of intelligence gathering and said it was one of the viable ways by which security agencies could effectively stem the influx of illegal weapons into the country.
He said, “Intelligence plays a very crucial role in interception of smuggled goods particularly arms and ammunition. People must be willing to give us intelligence reports; they should not just abandon the job of intelligence reports to the customs and other security agencies alone.
“We will continue to intensify our efforts to ensure that dangerous cargoes that could impede on national security are not allowed into the country. We will continue to count on the assistance of well meaning Nigerians to give us information.”
Bulletproof cars
Though statistics of the total number of bulletproof vehicles imported into the country in the last few months could not be obtained from the Customs, a key player in the sector said the demand for imported bulletproof cars had risen from about 800 to 1,500 annually.
“When you talk about the normal passenger vehicles, I think it is about 500 and 800 in a year. There are Armoured Personnel Carriers imported by the Police and the Customs. By the time you add the ones imported by the military, you will be talking of about 1,500 in a year,” the Chief Executive Officer, Proforce Limited, Mr. Adetokunbo Ogundeyin, said.
Ogundeyin explained that demand for bulletproof vehicles might not be unconnected with political activities in the country.
“We are having another election next year. Politics in this country is a bit of do-or-die. A lot of people just feel that they will be insecure. So, they want to protect themselves. That is one reason.
“The other reason is the level of threat to life in the Northern area. I am talking about the Boko Haram issue. Unfortunately, the situation is escalating; people feel threatened in the North, and it is even spreading to the South. This is the reason why people feel they have to be protected. Armed robbery is also a factor.”
Saturday PUNCH findings also reveal that the police have sent operatives to the nation’s ports, where weapons are concealed inside innocuous imports and brought in illegally into the country to be used by desperate politicians.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba, who confirmed this in Abuja, explained that the arms embargo policy was a deliberate move to check the flow of illegal arms as the nation prepared for the elections.
Mba could, however, not give data of the weapons so far seized in the last six months. He promised to get back to one of our correspondents but later said he could not get specific figures.
He stated that the Force Intelligence Department had been re-organised for better performance, stressing that the police were better prepared to nip in the bud any threat to public peace and order.
Mba noted that there had not been any report of assassination or cases of threat to life by politicians in recent times. He said, “We believe that there would always be conflict and political disagreement but not all disagreements lead to violence. In any case, we are watching the political scene and we are ready to call to order anyone that takes any action that may lead to a breach of public peace.”
Meanwhile, human rights activists have reacted to reports of arms increase in the country by calling on the government to take national security more seriously.
A human rights lawyer, Wahab Shittu, said the country “is sitting on a keg of gun powder capable of exploding at anytime.”
Shittu also described the Customs report as “quite worrisome, disturbing, very frightening and constituting a fundamental threat to national security.” He added that government at all levels had a lot of work to do to guarantee safety of lives and properties.
Attributing the increase in the arms seizure at the borders to multi-dimensional factors, Shittu also suggested multi-dimensional solutions to the problem.
He said, “There are lots of crises taking place in the neighbouring countries and we are beginning to see the effects here. The increase can be attributed to multi-dimensional factors which include the build up to 2015 elections, deep-seated grievances by the ethnic nationalities that constitute the Nigerian federation, poverty, the rising rate of unemployment and the collapsing ethical and moral values.
“The solutions are also multidimensional because there is a little of religious extremism, politics, hunger, poverty and a collapse of values in the society. The situation necessitates collaboration between our country and the neighbouring countries through the exchange of intelligence and information.”
Another human rights lawyer, Fred Agbaje, however, blamed the Customs Service for the increasing smuggling of arms and ammunition into the country, describing the agency’s claims as false.
He said, “The figure they are parading is shameful and embarrassing when compared with the level of banditry in Nigeria today. The arms and ammunition that hoodlums are using in Nigeria all came in through the borders, which are patrolled by Customs and other agencies of the Federal Government.
“Customs service has woefully failed Nigerians in terms of checking the sophisticated weapons that are arriving the borders of this country on a daily basis. The situation has created a lot of fear in the minds of Nigerians and come 2015 elections, it’s going to be worse. The earlier the Federal Government addresses the problem of insecurity, the better, particularly with regards to arms proliferation.”
Copyright PUNCH
Nigeria’s oil sector was developed with money from the North –Ango Abdullahi
In this interview with JOHN ALECHENU, the spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum, Professor Ango Abdullahi, speaks about the Almajiri phenomenon, Boko Haram insurgency, and the 2015 elections among other issues
The way you talk about the North, some people tend to see you as someone who hates the rest of the country…
This is certainly an unfair assessment. If you look at my pedigree and my background, I come from Zaria; I went to a mixed school. Virtually all my classmates in elementary school and senior primary school came from the southern part of the country. They were non-Hausa, non-Fulani and we remained together, we went to school and finished together and this continued throughout to my secondary education in Barewa College. And you know, Barewa College was a mixture of people from all the Northern provinces and a few from the southern part of the country. I went to the Nigerian College of Arts, Sciences and Technology, Zaria. Nigerian College as the name implies, brings in all Nigerians irrespective of tribe and geographical location. I did not study at the Ahmadu Bello University, I went to the University College, Ibadan. The North in Ibadan was a minority. When I finished, I worked in an institution that was not only national but international, the Ahmadu Bello University, where I worked throughout my academic career. There is no way anyone can look at my background and say I dislike a Nigerian based on his tribe, or based on his religion, or where he comes from.
My present state of mind has to do with what we have suffered coming from where you least expect. If you look at the present position of the Northern Elders Forum, it was given birth to by the attitude of our brothers and sisters who, either within the North or from outside the North, seem to have acquired some virus of either dislike-I don’t want to use the word -hatred for a section of the country or a particular group within a section of the country and this is what is happening to us in this country. Unless we want to be dishonest about it, this is why my recent position is that yes, if you don’t think that Nigerians deserve peace in terms of co-existence and you think that some other way is to be employed, so be it. What about those people who talk in the same tone like I talk? Why are they not being accused of being sectional? All this recent turmoil about North and South was created by the South, not by the North. The position we have taken has nothing to do with it. Some of us have done far more for the unity of Nigeria than many who are professing to be nationalists now.
You recently accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of under-developing the North, how do you mean?
I don’t know the context in which you recorded that because what I remember saying was that Obasanjo gave the North a raw deal. That one, I am prepared to repeat. If that one means under-developing the North, it depends on your interpretation. What we said was that Obasanjo was a beneficiary of the benevolence of the North, at least politically. When he became head of state, a Northerner could have been the head of state if he wanted at the time Obasanjo was offered the responsibility. I was very close to him; I sat with him when he declared for the Presidency of Nigeria. I was the one who took him to most parts of the North but we saw what he did or did not do for the North. Of course, I disagreed with him, especially on the subject of agriculture; this is my profession. He invited me to be his adviser in that field and he did virtually nothing for agricultural development.
The number of years that the North has ruled Nigeria is more than other parts of the country, why did you blame Obasanjo?
The number of years of rulership doesn’t make so much sense; it all depends on the attitude of the leader. General Gowon spent more money in Lagos than what has been spent in Abuja, today. Gowon, a Northerner ruled the country for nine years and expended Nigerian money more in Lagos than is being expended here in Abuja. Let’s even go back to the beginning. It is the North that developed the present day oil industry in this country. It is Northern money; it is the Northern leadership that developed the oil industry. Check the statistics, the years and the people who ran the ministry of oil, energy or petroleum during the Tafawa Balewa administration. In fact, one of the oil companies raised the question, is the money coming from the North to be an investment or a loan? And I can quote Ribadu on this, he retorted by saying, ‘this money is Nigerian money and this oil, when it develops is Nigerian oil, so it doesn’t matter where the initial money comes from.’ People are either myopic or so biased that they don’t care about history. In recent history, take the time of President Shehu Shagari for example, he was the first executive president of this country. You can’t accuse Shagari of being pro-North. Go to his village, go to his house in Shagari and see what it looks like. It was a leadership of sacrifice most of the time. It was do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. For the period we led this country, we did more for others than we did for ourselves. This is why we are being referred to as foolish.
In the run-up to the election, some Northerners threatened to make the country ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan, people see what is happening in the North as the result of the threat. Do you agree?
No. I don’t. I don’t know what Northerners have done to make the country ungovernable for Jonathan. Can you be more specific?
Some people see Boko Haram as the creation of the North to tackle the government of Jonathan.
What about the Niger Delta militants, who created them? Was it Northerners that created them? I think this is a false accusation and it’s a product of the usual bias and myopic, holier than thou attitude that is causing all these. Jonathan is a product of the North, whether he likes it or not. If the North didn’t want Jonathan to be President, he wouldn’t have been. Go to the statistics, he would not have been President without Northern votes.
Why did you say Boko Haram is not the problem of the North alone?
Just like the Niger Delta militancy is not a problem of the Niger Delta alone, it is the problem of Nigeria. It is the same thing. Any insurgency anywhere in Nigeria should not be the problem of that section alone; it should be the problem of the entire country.
Are you not even worried that the North has turned into a pariah as far as economic development is concerned?
Well, there is no development anywhere in the country. Look at your records, look at your statistics; look at your 2013 verdict of Nigerians about the progress their country has made. If there is development, there should be power supply, there should be water supply, there would be road transport, and there would be every relevant service that Nigerians require. There isn’t any development, not only in the North-East, but there isn’t in Lagos, there isn’t in Port-Harcourt, all over the whole country. I have just done an exercise on the 2014 budget presentation in some states of the federation. States in the South-South zone have a budget of N2.4 trn. It includes the provisions of the NDDC and the Ministry for Niger Delta Affairs. The entire 19 northern states with 74m people compared to the 21m in the South-South, have the same budget combined. You can see if there is any accusation of injustice; these figures will explain it. A part of the country that has less than a quarter of the population of the North has the same budget. You see, when you are talking about development, it depends on what type of development we are talking about. In terms of general development, where we are is certainly not the best. The poor man in Zaria suffering from lack of water, lack of hospital services, lack of schooling is the same with the ordinary man in Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Kano, or wherever you choose to go in the country. There is nothing in terms of development to distinguish between sections of the country. If you talk about parts of the country that are industrialised, you can say yes, the South-West, more specifically, Lagos and Ogun states. That is where about 70 per cent of the industries are located. But where is the development in the rest of the country? What we have which of course nobody is happy about is this restlessness and insecurity due to anger, frustration and so on, that we saw in the Niger Delta. That is what we are now seeing in the North-East.
You said Boko Haram should have been nipped in the bud, how?
Boko Haram was in existence about 10 years before the insurgency. It did not just erupt like that. It had been on ground for a long time and what flared it was the way it was handled by authorities and also by rival Islamic groups that saw it as a threat to them and they used the political leadership to see whether they could bring it down. That’s why they were in a hurry to bring down the leader by eliminating him. They thought that by eliminating him, everything would come down, but it is the opposite now. This is unfortunately a mistake that was made. The police killed some of them who were arrested by soldiers and handed them over like rats. If we reflect very well, we will realise that mistakes have been made and politicians cashed in on these mistakes. If we had done what was supposed to be done, we would not have been talking about Boko Haram now. Since we have made the mistake, Boko Haram continued and expanded, acquiring more strength, more courage to challenge the authorities and some people advised government to use force. This is the tool that has been used for months but has failed. That is why we raised the issue almost two years ago that brute force alone would not solve the problem.
Why do you say so?
Simple, it has to be a combination of stick and carrot. This is still our position. This is perhaps what gave birth to the Turaki-led Presidential Committee set up to dialogue with the group. The committee was not allowed to go to the full extent of its work. It was in the course of its work that the state of emergency was declared and the group (Boko Haram) was banned. If you ban a group, why talk to it? These are series of mistakes that complicated the effort to control or contain the insurgency.
Are you saying that the state of emergency has not been effective?
Has it been?
You tell me.
The answer is obvious; people live in these places. Go there and see things for yourself.
Most people believe that the Boko Haram insurgency is triggered by the attitude of opinion leaders in the North like you.
This again is another lie. Boko Haram was a localised Islamic group mainly in Maiduguri. Most of them are Kanuri and so on. It couldn’t have been one group of Northern intelligentsia or political group that created it. It’s a local problem just like the Niger Delta militants were created by politicians seeking elections. This is what has almost replicated itself in the North-East, particularly in Borno and Yobe states. This is what gave rise to this group and when the politicians eventually concluded the elections, some lost, some gained and then they used the group against each other. Go back to your records and check. A lot of politicians were attacked by the opposition camp; some in PDP, some in ANPP and so on. It was highly localised before the politicians acquired it at the national level.
Why did you accuse the former chief of army staff, an Igbo man, General Azubuike Ihejirika, of mass killing the way he handled Boko Haram?
Was he the army chief because he was an Igbo man? I should ask you. Was he made Chief of Army Staff because he was Igbo? I am asking you? I don’t care where he comes from, we are not accusing him because of where he comes from because that does not matter. He could have been a Hausa Man, a Kanuri or anybody. We are accusing him because of the atrocities his commanders committed in various parts of the country, particularly the North. We have collected sufficient data and information about the atrocities that his boys in various commands committed. It’s not a matter for debate, it is a matter of presentation in the appropriate courts. It’s not a matter for speculation, it’s a matter of evidence. You don’t go to court based on speculations; you go to court with evidence and this is what hopefully we want to do.
The man said the Northern elders are ungrateful to blame him, what is your take on this?
Ungrateful to him? What for? Be grateful to him for doing what? He chose to be in the army, I wanted to be an agronomist; that was why I studied agriculture and became a professor of agronomy. I don’t have to thank him for joining the army to perform the functions of a professional soldier if he is one. He doesn’t have to thank me for being an agronomist. It is his choice to be a soldier, why should I thank him for being paid for a job he has chosen to do? One mistake he seems to be making is that he is saying the life of a soldier is far more precious than the lives of other people that are not soldiers. I think this is totally the reverse. The soldier has enlisted in the army and has agreed that whatever it takes, he is going to be a soldier, he is going to live and die a soldier and the rules of engagement are there in carrying out his duties. He can’t on account of anger that his comrade by his side has died, go and take revenge on innocent civilians. That is not the way to go. If somebody commits an offence, it’s left for the courts to try such an individual and deal with him/her. The soldiers can only fish such people out and let the law take care of the rest. It is not for you to go on a spree or taking it out on innocent civilians because of what happened to your comrades. There is nothing to thank him for; it is his choice to be in the army, just like it is the choice of everyone to choose what profession they want for themselves.
Some people believe that there is nothing like a united North again, do you agree?
Those who argue like that should wait and see whether there is a united North or not. They should wait for a demonstration of whether or not we are united when the time comes.
Looking at the history of Nigeria when we had three regions, the North was considered as the least developed. So, why blaming others for what is happening now?
That is not true, it is totally false. I just finished telling you that from 1914 up till the 1950s, money had to be brought from the Northern region for the Western and Eastern regions to balance their budgets. Go and check the records, it is there. There is no way anybody will make that claim; we would have been better off as we were than we are now.
Can the North afford to be on its own?
We had been on our own before the British came here. We are on our own now that the British have left and we will be on our own if Nigeria ceases to exist. That’s it.
Some people say the North has slowed the country down in terms of development, do you agree?
It is stupidity, does it make sense? Why should we slow you down and you agree? You should disagree so that you can move fast and leave us behind.
Why is the North so desperate to be in power by 2015?
We are not desperate. There is nothing desperate about our demand. Our demand is based on fairness and equity. We gave birth to zoning; the North gave birth to zoning. If we didn’t want it, other parts of the country would not be in power. If there was no zoning, Jonathan would not have become President. We are saying that this zoning should be respected. This is what we are insisting that should be done. If there is going to be zoning, it has to be respected and if zoning is going to be disbanded, so be it so that the person who has the largest number of votes should have it.
Some people believe that the energy you are putting into criticising the government is enough to end Boko Haram insurgency.
It is not our job. The security of the country is in the hands of government, not in the hands of the Northern Elders Forum or any other body for that matter. But we have been trying, we’ve gone out of our way to advise and help government in terms of how to cope with this problem. Thank God our documented reports are in the office of the President suggesting ways and means of dealing with this matter. We have been very helpful to this government in terms of how it should handle this matter. No one can accuse the Northern Elders Forum or northerners of not helping to end this. In fact, it is because people are not listening to advice, that’s why these things continue to persist. You can’t treat these things in isolation. Take for example, if you leave the people of the North-East,I, as a northerner, cannot tell you I can deal with the customs of the Kanuri or other tribes where the insurgency is raging now. I have to align myself with those who are familiar with them and find out what really gave birth to this and how to go about solving it. But all these were not done, they were ignored. People who preached force succeeded, thinking it is the only weapon at the disposal of government. Government is being assisted through constructive criticisms. Go and read any of our criticisms, they have always been constructive. It is only when people interpret criticisms as criticisms for its sake that they see things the other way. There is nothing antagonistic about our position; whatever position we have taken can be explained in terms of its history, fairness and equity.
While Jonathan is doing everything possible to establish almajiri schools, a governor in Kaduna is supplying more wheel barrows for the citizens as a form of empowerment; do you still blame the Federal Government?
If you read your papers today, the governor has denied this. He has denied ever buying 500,000 wheelbarrows for anyone. On the Almajiri schools, the approach that has been taken is totally political and we don’t think it is the solution to that problem. The Almajiri problem cannot be solved by anybody from any other part of the country. It can only be solved by those of us in the areas where these Almajiri problems are. Even in the North here, it is only in the Hausa-Fulani dominated areas that we have the Almajiri phenomenon. It has nothing to do with Islam, it is un-Islamic to beg. There are as many Muslims in North-Western Nigeria as there are in other parts of the North but you don’t see that kind of begging like you see in the North-East. There are Muslims in Kwara, you have the Nupes, the Igalas, you don’t see people begging there. It is a problem that is localised in the Hausa-Fulani areas. We do criticise ourselves for allowing it to continue this long. We don’t think it should be politicised because this is what they are trying to do. We have 15 million children out of school; what is 250 Almajiri in one school got to do with solving the problem?
Despite the fact that most Northern states are practising Shariah, proceeds from VAT are taken to the North, why don’t the Northern governments reject such?
Nigeria is not an Islamic State or is it? We cannot stop government from collecting taxes. Government has every right to collect taxes, especially when it is a government that is not an Islamic government. It can collect taxes from all known sources, including sources that perhaps Islam may not approve. If I take my money to the bank as a Muslim, I don’t want interest. The little amount I have in the bank, I never wrote the bank to ask for interest. I don’t think it is an issue.
Is it fair for Boko Haram to demand Islamisation of Nigeria?
These questions, with due respect are prejudiced questions. The constitution of the country gives everyone the right to think and act within the law, you can express your views about how you want things done and so on. Your views don’t have to agree with the views of everyone; it does not represent the views of everyone. That a few persons have expressed such views, it does not translate into the views of everyone. Somebody else may have a different idea. Let us live as a multi-religious country. In fact, some people wanted to say that Nigeria is a secular country but most Nigerians in the three (national) conferences I have attended said no. Nigerians are generally religious people: Christians, Muslims and worshippers of our traditional religions and so on. That’s why it was put in the constitution that Nigeria is a multi-religious country. Some people are saying there is a set of laws to guide their conducts, that is why we have the customary courts, the Sharia Courts, up to appeal and the normal courts. If somebody says he wants an Islamic state, he is free to think that way but it doesn’t translate into you using it to ask me. The person is using his right to freedom of speech.
Copyright PUNCH
The way you talk about the North, some people tend to see you as someone who hates the rest of the country…
This is certainly an unfair assessment. If you look at my pedigree and my background, I come from Zaria; I went to a mixed school. Virtually all my classmates in elementary school and senior primary school came from the southern part of the country. They were non-Hausa, non-Fulani and we remained together, we went to school and finished together and this continued throughout to my secondary education in Barewa College. And you know, Barewa College was a mixture of people from all the Northern provinces and a few from the southern part of the country. I went to the Nigerian College of Arts, Sciences and Technology, Zaria. Nigerian College as the name implies, brings in all Nigerians irrespective of tribe and geographical location. I did not study at the Ahmadu Bello University, I went to the University College, Ibadan. The North in Ibadan was a minority. When I finished, I worked in an institution that was not only national but international, the Ahmadu Bello University, where I worked throughout my academic career. There is no way anyone can look at my background and say I dislike a Nigerian based on his tribe, or based on his religion, or where he comes from.
My present state of mind has to do with what we have suffered coming from where you least expect. If you look at the present position of the Northern Elders Forum, it was given birth to by the attitude of our brothers and sisters who, either within the North or from outside the North, seem to have acquired some virus of either dislike-I don’t want to use the word -hatred for a section of the country or a particular group within a section of the country and this is what is happening to us in this country. Unless we want to be dishonest about it, this is why my recent position is that yes, if you don’t think that Nigerians deserve peace in terms of co-existence and you think that some other way is to be employed, so be it. What about those people who talk in the same tone like I talk? Why are they not being accused of being sectional? All this recent turmoil about North and South was created by the South, not by the North. The position we have taken has nothing to do with it. Some of us have done far more for the unity of Nigeria than many who are professing to be nationalists now.
You recently accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of under-developing the North, how do you mean?
I don’t know the context in which you recorded that because what I remember saying was that Obasanjo gave the North a raw deal. That one, I am prepared to repeat. If that one means under-developing the North, it depends on your interpretation. What we said was that Obasanjo was a beneficiary of the benevolence of the North, at least politically. When he became head of state, a Northerner could have been the head of state if he wanted at the time Obasanjo was offered the responsibility. I was very close to him; I sat with him when he declared for the Presidency of Nigeria. I was the one who took him to most parts of the North but we saw what he did or did not do for the North. Of course, I disagreed with him, especially on the subject of agriculture; this is my profession. He invited me to be his adviser in that field and he did virtually nothing for agricultural development.
The number of years that the North has ruled Nigeria is more than other parts of the country, why did you blame Obasanjo?
The number of years of rulership doesn’t make so much sense; it all depends on the attitude of the leader. General Gowon spent more money in Lagos than what has been spent in Abuja, today. Gowon, a Northerner ruled the country for nine years and expended Nigerian money more in Lagos than is being expended here in Abuja. Let’s even go back to the beginning. It is the North that developed the present day oil industry in this country. It is Northern money; it is the Northern leadership that developed the oil industry. Check the statistics, the years and the people who ran the ministry of oil, energy or petroleum during the Tafawa Balewa administration. In fact, one of the oil companies raised the question, is the money coming from the North to be an investment or a loan? And I can quote Ribadu on this, he retorted by saying, ‘this money is Nigerian money and this oil, when it develops is Nigerian oil, so it doesn’t matter where the initial money comes from.’ People are either myopic or so biased that they don’t care about history. In recent history, take the time of President Shehu Shagari for example, he was the first executive president of this country. You can’t accuse Shagari of being pro-North. Go to his village, go to his house in Shagari and see what it looks like. It was a leadership of sacrifice most of the time. It was do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. For the period we led this country, we did more for others than we did for ourselves. This is why we are being referred to as foolish.
In the run-up to the election, some Northerners threatened to make the country ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan, people see what is happening in the North as the result of the threat. Do you agree?
No. I don’t. I don’t know what Northerners have done to make the country ungovernable for Jonathan. Can you be more specific?
Some people see Boko Haram as the creation of the North to tackle the government of Jonathan.
What about the Niger Delta militants, who created them? Was it Northerners that created them? I think this is a false accusation and it’s a product of the usual bias and myopic, holier than thou attitude that is causing all these. Jonathan is a product of the North, whether he likes it or not. If the North didn’t want Jonathan to be President, he wouldn’t have been. Go to the statistics, he would not have been President without Northern votes.
Why did you say Boko Haram is not the problem of the North alone?
Just like the Niger Delta militancy is not a problem of the Niger Delta alone, it is the problem of Nigeria. It is the same thing. Any insurgency anywhere in Nigeria should not be the problem of that section alone; it should be the problem of the entire country.
Are you not even worried that the North has turned into a pariah as far as economic development is concerned?
Well, there is no development anywhere in the country. Look at your records, look at your statistics; look at your 2013 verdict of Nigerians about the progress their country has made. If there is development, there should be power supply, there should be water supply, there would be road transport, and there would be every relevant service that Nigerians require. There isn’t any development, not only in the North-East, but there isn’t in Lagos, there isn’t in Port-Harcourt, all over the whole country. I have just done an exercise on the 2014 budget presentation in some states of the federation. States in the South-South zone have a budget of N2.4 trn. It includes the provisions of the NDDC and the Ministry for Niger Delta Affairs. The entire 19 northern states with 74m people compared to the 21m in the South-South, have the same budget combined. You can see if there is any accusation of injustice; these figures will explain it. A part of the country that has less than a quarter of the population of the North has the same budget. You see, when you are talking about development, it depends on what type of development we are talking about. In terms of general development, where we are is certainly not the best. The poor man in Zaria suffering from lack of water, lack of hospital services, lack of schooling is the same with the ordinary man in Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Kano, or wherever you choose to go in the country. There is nothing in terms of development to distinguish between sections of the country. If you talk about parts of the country that are industrialised, you can say yes, the South-West, more specifically, Lagos and Ogun states. That is where about 70 per cent of the industries are located. But where is the development in the rest of the country? What we have which of course nobody is happy about is this restlessness and insecurity due to anger, frustration and so on, that we saw in the Niger Delta. That is what we are now seeing in the North-East.
You said Boko Haram should have been nipped in the bud, how?
Boko Haram was in existence about 10 years before the insurgency. It did not just erupt like that. It had been on ground for a long time and what flared it was the way it was handled by authorities and also by rival Islamic groups that saw it as a threat to them and they used the political leadership to see whether they could bring it down. That’s why they were in a hurry to bring down the leader by eliminating him. They thought that by eliminating him, everything would come down, but it is the opposite now. This is unfortunately a mistake that was made. The police killed some of them who were arrested by soldiers and handed them over like rats. If we reflect very well, we will realise that mistakes have been made and politicians cashed in on these mistakes. If we had done what was supposed to be done, we would not have been talking about Boko Haram now. Since we have made the mistake, Boko Haram continued and expanded, acquiring more strength, more courage to challenge the authorities and some people advised government to use force. This is the tool that has been used for months but has failed. That is why we raised the issue almost two years ago that brute force alone would not solve the problem.
Why do you say so?
Simple, it has to be a combination of stick and carrot. This is still our position. This is perhaps what gave birth to the Turaki-led Presidential Committee set up to dialogue with the group. The committee was not allowed to go to the full extent of its work. It was in the course of its work that the state of emergency was declared and the group (Boko Haram) was banned. If you ban a group, why talk to it? These are series of mistakes that complicated the effort to control or contain the insurgency.
Are you saying that the state of emergency has not been effective?
Has it been?
You tell me.
The answer is obvious; people live in these places. Go there and see things for yourself.
Most people believe that the Boko Haram insurgency is triggered by the attitude of opinion leaders in the North like you.
This again is another lie. Boko Haram was a localised Islamic group mainly in Maiduguri. Most of them are Kanuri and so on. It couldn’t have been one group of Northern intelligentsia or political group that created it. It’s a local problem just like the Niger Delta militants were created by politicians seeking elections. This is what has almost replicated itself in the North-East, particularly in Borno and Yobe states. This is what gave rise to this group and when the politicians eventually concluded the elections, some lost, some gained and then they used the group against each other. Go back to your records and check. A lot of politicians were attacked by the opposition camp; some in PDP, some in ANPP and so on. It was highly localised before the politicians acquired it at the national level.
Why did you accuse the former chief of army staff, an Igbo man, General Azubuike Ihejirika, of mass killing the way he handled Boko Haram?
Was he the army chief because he was an Igbo man? I should ask you. Was he made Chief of Army Staff because he was Igbo? I am asking you? I don’t care where he comes from, we are not accusing him because of where he comes from because that does not matter. He could have been a Hausa Man, a Kanuri or anybody. We are accusing him because of the atrocities his commanders committed in various parts of the country, particularly the North. We have collected sufficient data and information about the atrocities that his boys in various commands committed. It’s not a matter for debate, it is a matter of presentation in the appropriate courts. It’s not a matter for speculation, it’s a matter of evidence. You don’t go to court based on speculations; you go to court with evidence and this is what hopefully we want to do.
The man said the Northern elders are ungrateful to blame him, what is your take on this?
Ungrateful to him? What for? Be grateful to him for doing what? He chose to be in the army, I wanted to be an agronomist; that was why I studied agriculture and became a professor of agronomy. I don’t have to thank him for joining the army to perform the functions of a professional soldier if he is one. He doesn’t have to thank me for being an agronomist. It is his choice to be a soldier, why should I thank him for being paid for a job he has chosen to do? One mistake he seems to be making is that he is saying the life of a soldier is far more precious than the lives of other people that are not soldiers. I think this is totally the reverse. The soldier has enlisted in the army and has agreed that whatever it takes, he is going to be a soldier, he is going to live and die a soldier and the rules of engagement are there in carrying out his duties. He can’t on account of anger that his comrade by his side has died, go and take revenge on innocent civilians. That is not the way to go. If somebody commits an offence, it’s left for the courts to try such an individual and deal with him/her. The soldiers can only fish such people out and let the law take care of the rest. It is not for you to go on a spree or taking it out on innocent civilians because of what happened to your comrades. There is nothing to thank him for; it is his choice to be in the army, just like it is the choice of everyone to choose what profession they want for themselves.
Some people believe that there is nothing like a united North again, do you agree?
Those who argue like that should wait and see whether there is a united North or not. They should wait for a demonstration of whether or not we are united when the time comes.
Looking at the history of Nigeria when we had three regions, the North was considered as the least developed. So, why blaming others for what is happening now?
That is not true, it is totally false. I just finished telling you that from 1914 up till the 1950s, money had to be brought from the Northern region for the Western and Eastern regions to balance their budgets. Go and check the records, it is there. There is no way anybody will make that claim; we would have been better off as we were than we are now.
Can the North afford to be on its own?
We had been on our own before the British came here. We are on our own now that the British have left and we will be on our own if Nigeria ceases to exist. That’s it.
Some people say the North has slowed the country down in terms of development, do you agree?
It is stupidity, does it make sense? Why should we slow you down and you agree? You should disagree so that you can move fast and leave us behind.
Why is the North so desperate to be in power by 2015?
We are not desperate. There is nothing desperate about our demand. Our demand is based on fairness and equity. We gave birth to zoning; the North gave birth to zoning. If we didn’t want it, other parts of the country would not be in power. If there was no zoning, Jonathan would not have become President. We are saying that this zoning should be respected. This is what we are insisting that should be done. If there is going to be zoning, it has to be respected and if zoning is going to be disbanded, so be it so that the person who has the largest number of votes should have it.
Some people believe that the energy you are putting into criticising the government is enough to end Boko Haram insurgency.
It is not our job. The security of the country is in the hands of government, not in the hands of the Northern Elders Forum or any other body for that matter. But we have been trying, we’ve gone out of our way to advise and help government in terms of how to cope with this problem. Thank God our documented reports are in the office of the President suggesting ways and means of dealing with this matter. We have been very helpful to this government in terms of how it should handle this matter. No one can accuse the Northern Elders Forum or northerners of not helping to end this. In fact, it is because people are not listening to advice, that’s why these things continue to persist. You can’t treat these things in isolation. Take for example, if you leave the people of the North-East,I, as a northerner, cannot tell you I can deal with the customs of the Kanuri or other tribes where the insurgency is raging now. I have to align myself with those who are familiar with them and find out what really gave birth to this and how to go about solving it. But all these were not done, they were ignored. People who preached force succeeded, thinking it is the only weapon at the disposal of government. Government is being assisted through constructive criticisms. Go and read any of our criticisms, they have always been constructive. It is only when people interpret criticisms as criticisms for its sake that they see things the other way. There is nothing antagonistic about our position; whatever position we have taken can be explained in terms of its history, fairness and equity.
While Jonathan is doing everything possible to establish almajiri schools, a governor in Kaduna is supplying more wheel barrows for the citizens as a form of empowerment; do you still blame the Federal Government?
If you read your papers today, the governor has denied this. He has denied ever buying 500,000 wheelbarrows for anyone. On the Almajiri schools, the approach that has been taken is totally political and we don’t think it is the solution to that problem. The Almajiri problem cannot be solved by anybody from any other part of the country. It can only be solved by those of us in the areas where these Almajiri problems are. Even in the North here, it is only in the Hausa-Fulani dominated areas that we have the Almajiri phenomenon. It has nothing to do with Islam, it is un-Islamic to beg. There are as many Muslims in North-Western Nigeria as there are in other parts of the North but you don’t see that kind of begging like you see in the North-East. There are Muslims in Kwara, you have the Nupes, the Igalas, you don’t see people begging there. It is a problem that is localised in the Hausa-Fulani areas. We do criticise ourselves for allowing it to continue this long. We don’t think it should be politicised because this is what they are trying to do. We have 15 million children out of school; what is 250 Almajiri in one school got to do with solving the problem?
Despite the fact that most Northern states are practising Shariah, proceeds from VAT are taken to the North, why don’t the Northern governments reject such?
Nigeria is not an Islamic State or is it? We cannot stop government from collecting taxes. Government has every right to collect taxes, especially when it is a government that is not an Islamic government. It can collect taxes from all known sources, including sources that perhaps Islam may not approve. If I take my money to the bank as a Muslim, I don’t want interest. The little amount I have in the bank, I never wrote the bank to ask for interest. I don’t think it is an issue.
Is it fair for Boko Haram to demand Islamisation of Nigeria?
These questions, with due respect are prejudiced questions. The constitution of the country gives everyone the right to think and act within the law, you can express your views about how you want things done and so on. Your views don’t have to agree with the views of everyone; it does not represent the views of everyone. That a few persons have expressed such views, it does not translate into the views of everyone. Somebody else may have a different idea. Let us live as a multi-religious country. In fact, some people wanted to say that Nigeria is a secular country but most Nigerians in the three (national) conferences I have attended said no. Nigerians are generally religious people: Christians, Muslims and worshippers of our traditional religions and so on. That’s why it was put in the constitution that Nigeria is a multi-religious country. Some people are saying there is a set of laws to guide their conducts, that is why we have the customary courts, the Sharia Courts, up to appeal and the normal courts. If somebody says he wants an Islamic state, he is free to think that way but it doesn’t translate into you using it to ask me. The person is using his right to freedom of speech.
Copyright PUNCH
Presidential ticket: PDP may meet next week
Following the release of the 2015 election timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission, permutations on how the presidential candidates of the various political parties will emerge have begun.
As a result, it was learnt that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party might meet next week to discuss the timetable and workout modalities for its primaries.
Investigations by Saturday PUNCH in Abuja on Thursday revealed that the opposition All Progressives Congress was still grappling with the challenges of membership registration and, as such, it had yet to work out modalities for its primaries.
It was learnt that the scramble for the Presidency was largely responsible for the conflict in both the ruling PDP and the opposition APC.
The situation in the PDP became public owing to the agitations of the seven aggrieved governors of the party.
Five out of the seven have defected to the APC after it became apparent that President Goodluck Jonathan was unwilling to accede to their request not to seek re-election in 2015.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said, “The INEC timetable is part of the democratic process. PDP is a law-abiding party; we are guided by the procedure for the electoral process.
“We will participate fully in the entire process. Our job is to sensitise the various organs of our party to mobilise themselves and hold rallies for the election.”
However, the case in the opposition APC is still at the level of conjecture.
Insiders, however, posit that former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, and his counterpart from Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, both left the APC because it was clear that they did not stand a chance in the coming election.
A source in the APC confided in one of our correspondents that the issue of a presidential candidate was a constant source of worry for the party.
According to the source, the party’s growing popularity among Nigerians and the interest being shown by individuals nursing presidential ambitions have added to its number of challenges.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, said: “We know (that) some of the bigwigs, who currently identify with us are doing so because they have their eyes on the ticket.
“In fact, some have already started lobbying and we cannot pretend we are not aware, some are beginning to come out, others are doing so through proxies.
“I can tell you that we are concerned about who is going to be our candidate. Without naming names, you can safely say that those who contested for the Presidency before may not have abandoned such desires.”
When contacted, the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, dismissed the talks about the party’s presidential ticket for now.
He, however, assured Nigerians that the party would follow the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution as well as that of the APC in the selection of all candidates for elective positions.
Mohammed said, “The selection process will follow our constitution. Whoever emerges will be somebody who will have a complete grasp of what Nigerians want, but we cannot be stampeded by either ghost writers or by analysts, we will go through due process to select our candidates.”
Investigations by one of our correspondents also revealed that the Labour Party might be putting finishing touches to modalities of adopting President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate for the 2015 elections should he seek re-election for a second term.
A highly placed source within the party, however said that the party had yet to take a definite position on the matter.
The source said, “You know the President has always been our associate and a friend of the party. We have two options.
“One is to declare nomination forms for people to come and buy because the party needs money and then field a candidate that is not very popular as our candidate.
“The other one is to declare our total support for the President. But if we know that this would affect our chances in other elections, we won’t do it.”
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the LP, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, said that the party would take a stand on the matter on Monday.
He said, “We would meet and take a stand on the matter on Monday. I will definitely issue a statement on it that day.”
Copyright PUNCH.
Gunmen Rob, Kidnap, Injure And Kill In Akungba Akoko, Ondo State
Four gunmen carried out a robbery and kidnapping today in Akungba Akoko, Akoko local government area of Ondo State.
In a daring attack, the gunman ran their Mercedes Benz to block the passage of a Nissan Jeep driven by two foreign workers, who they then kidnapped and escaped in the Jeep, while shooting indiscriminately in the air.
Police Spokesman, ASP Wole Ogodo, said they recovered the Jeep along the Isua road but the gunmen are still on the loose with the two workers, three mobile phones and Naira 400,000 belonging to abducted victims.
He said those kidnapped will be rescued and the suspects will be arrested.
An Ikare Divisional Police officer, was killed during the attack and five others were injured.
The body of the police officer was taken to Ikare General Hospital, and the wounded are being treated in different hospitals.
One witness said the foreigners were kidnapped at a nearby bush close to the former Ondo state Governor’s house, the late Adabayo Adefarati.
One of the wounded told Saharareporters said he was shot in the leg while his boss, the foreigners, were taken by the gunmen.
The foreigners are employed by Charvet Construction Company, and were carrying out work on the Ikare-Akungba road; a contract awarded to the company after years of neglect by successive governments.
Saharareporters learned the expatriates from Syria,were handling the construction of the Senate Building project belonging to Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU) also in Akungba Akoko.
sahara reporters
Compulsive Stealing Syndrome (CSS) By Peregrino Brimah
Have you ever asked a friend for financial assistance and they said they couldn’t oblige, then same instance, they took you and whoever else was available to be ‘impressed’ out to buy all of you drinks, excited to spend triple what you begged for on getting you drunk and bloated? This friend potentially has Compulsive Stealing Syndrome. Given the opportunity, he will steal, even from you.
The development and early signs of Compulsive Stealing Syndrome (CSS) may sometimes be mixed-up and go unnoticed, and management of this serious disorder is rather complex. This paper presents the early signs of CSS, the diagnostic criteria and methods of management of this disorder that is unfortunately becoming increasingly popular in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Compulsive Stealing Syndrome (CSS) is a psychological and behavioral disorder that typically present with helpless, chronic addiction to stealing from the less privileged.
Characteristics of CSS include, repetitive and uncontrollable looting, quasi-ambitious positioning to steal, love of power due to its securing greater ability to steal and deprive, preference for stealing from the poor, lack of initiative and foresight, kleptophilia (love of theft) with hybristophilia (attraction to criminals) and a decreased sense of self worth with self appraisal being morbidly connected to the accumulation of stolen wealth or property.
Etiology and Course of CSS:
A syndrome that is derived both from nature and nurture; signs and symptoms of CSS can be identified in early infancy. Infants who bring home items from unknown sources are at risk of developing CSS later in adult life. If there is poor parenting and these children are not queried as to the source of their treasures and reprimanded properly, a sense of fulfilling needs by robbing others develops. In some cases, the parents pretend not to realize the child is stealing and actually praise and reward the children for their ‘sorting themselves out’ with toys and sweets. The story of ‘Eze the thief’ comes to mind.
There is a genetic predisposition to CSS. Usually CSS patients are children of CSS parents and grandparents. The parents were abused and encouraged to fend for themselves by theft as children and they pass this on to their children.
In school life, these are the students who steal pens, and sometimes when caught, are seen to have a stash of so many pens—all the stolen pens in the class—which is confusing as to why they would have stolen more pens than they can possibly need or ever use. CSS students are not the brightest in class and they actually write the least even though spying, and have the least use of these pens. Stealing at this stage has turned into a dependent need to gratify self by inflicting suffering on those who have been robbed. They steal the pens, not out of need but because the chronic habit has gotten them addicted to the pleasure of inflicting pain on their victims who suffer the loss of their pens.
CSS graduate as Dr’s and lawyers, thanks to exam cheating. As CSS pass through adolescence, some learn to hide their disorder and appear to function normally in society; others become frank robbers.
The CSS who have now entered regular society are very ambitious. They seek top jobs, not for the service they can provide for the people, company or government, but out of a thirst for utilizing the top position to steal and deprive thousands at a time.
CSS sleep, eat and dream of robbing the poor. It takes great skill to rob from the tight-fisted affluent, but it is easy to rob from the open handed poor, distraught and needy. In fact the poor will give it to you, eyes wide open. CSS hone on this. They rob the poor directly via imposed fake levies, taxes, subsidies, oligopolies and again rob their lot from the nation’s treasury. When they hire staff or nominate officers and cabinet workers, the one question they ask of their appointees is—what can you bring in for me.
As the condition progresses, CSS get less and less satisfaction from the wealth they accumulate. They could have hundreds of houses in their villages and abroad, more than they can even remember, talk less live in, but they want to steal more. Stealing is no longer for the satisfaction of wealth. They cannot be satisfied by wealth at this point. Stealing is now morbidly attached to the pleasure of depriving others. CSS believe and view the world as having two types of people: the CSS and Chremastistophiliacs (the lovers of being robbed). They feel gratified and empowered by the presence of the dependent and subservient. When you visit the CSS for help, he keeps you outside his door waiting for hours on end. Finally he sends his servant to tell you he is sorry, he cannot come out, he will help, but please come back in a week. This goes on indefinitely. Your pain is his only remaining pleasure in life.
Management of CSS:
CSS is a chronic and serious disorder. The CSS lack insight to their problem. Confronting them is one of the greatest mistakes people often make. The more the CSS are confronted and called thieves, the more they feel insecure and that their campaign of calumny has not yet made poor slaves of the people. These narcissists desire not simply abject poverty for all, but poverty-hopelessness. That you confronted them shows power, ability and food in your belly. They will steal and kill more if confronted and called thieves. Please avoid this.
CSS is a terminal illness. We see the CSS regardless of the unbelievable wealth they have already stolen and lives they have destroyed by theft and maliciousness, are still positioning themselves in office, government, etc at 70 years, 80 years, 90 years and till they die. We are seeing many CSS dying these days, till the last minute, actively engaged in setting themselves up to steal to deprive. These rather unfortunate sufferers need professional therapy. You will do the best by getting them CSS help via stylishly recommending therapy for them for some other condition, perhaps their depression*, having already secretly advised the therapist that they suffer from CSS. [* CSS patients usually have co morbid psychological conditions like depression and mania and are violent and abusive to family.]
Do not address like armed robbery. Unlike armed robbery, CSS is not solved easily by social rehabilitation. Armed robbers usually steal out of need. They steal preferably from the rich. Armed robbers give to the poor. The CSS steal preferably from the poor and to give to and associate with the rich. They work with the rich to plot and plan how to steal from the poor and further deprive them. Theirs is not stealing out of need, it is stealing to impoverish out of a chronic dependent feeling of self worthlessness. If the CSS sees poor in rags fetching water from a well, he plans how to put a lid and padlock on the well and have the poor pay him per bucket fetched. This is a very deadly and unique disorder, most peculiar to Africa.
In the western world, power thieves steal too, but when seeking office, have a mission to do something, make life livable for the people. Those in western societies understand that healthy people with basic amenities are essential for future stealing and safety from anarchy. Not so with the CSS, an African disorder that is totally self extirpative and internecine.
The physician needs to handle these patients carefully. Inquire about child abuse, being ‘spoiled’ as a child. Ask about toilet control and when the patient first gained self control and restraint. Ask about their relationship with their parents, domestic violence and abuse including incestuous rape in the house. Inquire about their parent’s profession. Being a disorder with hereditary links, the parents professions may typically be answered as ‘unknown,’ politician, or sometimes, even straight-forth, thief.
Recommend taking time to visit prisons, volunteering in charity organizations in direct contact with the poor. It is helpful sometimes to try to reconnect these people with the greater things in life. Things that can give them the happiness they have given up on finding, as wealth accumulation only brings more desire, greed, anger and frustration. The CSS hate the smile they see on the poor man’s face. It is a smile and true happiness they lost from early childhood. They will give all up to smile a true smile once. But the distance they know exists between them in their fortified cars and mansions and the poor, makes this impossible for them.
Discuss with them about a legacy. Some CSS are every intelligent. Tell them about people of old who died and their names are remembered. Let it seep into their conscience that those remembered were hardly the rich, but those who left great positive legacies. Who Did Something for the people. With this approach, you can penetrate their profligacy and greater narcissistic desires and not heal them, but convert their greed into a greed for a good post-humus legacy. We see CSS purchasing acres and buying gold plated coffins ahead of their death. These things matter and work.
If behavioral therapy fails, quickly place them on powerful anti-psychotic meds. CSS are deadly and very dangerous. Their reckless looting, poverty-enhancing, money-wasting, policy-unfriendly, corruption-inflating, selfish policies and deprivation of the poor, lead to deaths of thousands. If high doses fail, consider straight-jacketing. Many CSS fund thugs and terrorism; confer with the law, media and human rights organizations if they get out of your control.
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: The information contained here is solely intended for the general information of the reader and not intended to diagnose health problems or to replace professional medical care. It is not to be used for treatment purposes, but only for discussion with the patient’s physician. This information is not intended to dictate what constitutes reasonable, appropriate or best care or substitute for the independent judgment of a physician for any given health issue.
Dr. Peregrino Brimahhttp://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something]Email: drbrimah@ends.ng Twitter: @EveryNigerian
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