Next Friday 20090918

2010 World Cup: eagles lack quality - Mikel sports >p.46

In élan magazine, ancient meets modern in this week’s

sunday

Vol. 1 No. 25

Lagos. Friday, 18 September 2009

234NEXT.com

UK£1

IT’S OVER FOR VIRGIN NIGERIA

NGN150

It is the end of the road for Virgin Nigeria, an airline birthed amidst optimism but also controversy. Richard Branson, the maverick British Billionaire owner of Virgin Atlantic, has finally divested from the airline. Since the leadership of the Nigerian government changed hands in May 2007, questions have been raised about the propriety and legality of the agreement, which Virgin Atlantic signed with the Nigerian government in 2005. With stiff competition from aggressive competitors, it quickly became obvious that the days of Virgin Nigeria were numbered. Mr. Branson’s departure also means the loss of the Virgin name, forcing the airline to re-brand. Yesterday, a new eagle landed on the aviation landscape

PHOTO

>P.2

PiPeline vandals arrested at atlas Cove

Until i see those PhotograPhs i Won’t believe he CaMe in - Police Chief

metro > P.15

news > p.3

>Patients shun student doctors >P.12

nation

Ondo government to activate accounts Friday, 18 September 2009

Traditional rulers call for limit on the number of children a family can have Traditional Rulers in Akwa Ibom have called on the Federal Government to incorporate in its population policy, the number of children a family should have. The rulers made the appeal on Thursday in Uyo, in a commuique issued at the end of a one-day advocacy and sensitisation workshop on the behaviour for child survival. They said that such arrangements would serve as a guide to families for effective control of the number of their children. They also called on mothers to embrace breast-feeding habits, adding,”breast-feeding builds up a child’s immunity and prepares babies against childkiller diseases.” They suggested the incorporation of traditional medicine into the orthodox arrangement and advised the government to develop the primary health care system. The traditional rulers also called on the government to provide potable water in rural areas to stem the prevalence of water-borne diseases, fight child trafficking as well as drug abuse.

Court quashes judgment on nursing mother An Abakaliki High Court on Thursday quashed the judgment of a lower court, which sentenced a widow and nursing mother, Ndidi Omaka, to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour, for stealing rice. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Destina Oko quashed the judgment of a Customary Court in Umuaka Ikwo, which convicted her on May 25, for stealing N1,000 worth of rice. She ordered the woman to be released from the Federal Prisons, Abakaliki immediately, saying that the judgment breached normal judicial process and infringed on the fundamental human rights of the woman. She also ordered that the relief set out in her application and general damages of N5,000 be awarded to her.

Yar’Adua needs prayers Former Governor of Oyo State, Lamidi Adesina, has called on Nigeria to pray for Nigerian president, Umar Yar’Adua, as this year’s Ramadan month draws to a close. Mr Adesina, who spoke at a lecture organised to mark the end of Ramadan at his Felele, Ibadan residence, said the President needs prayer to steer the ship of the country effectively. He also appealed to the President to save the nation from hunger, which is ravaging its citizenry.

>P.12

Mr Mimiko meets his ecstatic supporters

PROGRESS

Seven months after it placed an embargo on its accounts, Ondo State says it is ready to return to the banks

By Ayodeji MorAdeyo

T

he Ondo State government will begin to operate its accounts next week after freezing them for seven months to checkmate alleged fraudulent practices by officials of the immediate past administration, the state governor, Olusegun

PHOTO BY AYODEJI MORADEYO

Mimiko, said, on Thursday, in Akure. Mr. Mimiko, said it was time to lift the embargo on the accounts. The governor also debunked the allegation made by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party that his administration froze the accounts to suffer the people of the state and slow down development. Mr. Mimiko announced his decision to shut the state’s account on February 23, shortly after the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City declared him winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election. An action that was condemned by the opposition. The governor said, yesterday, that some officials of the past administration had planned to loot the

PHOTO/ONDOSTATE.GOV.NG

What’s News

Oba Adesida Road, Akure …critics say frozen accounts stopped public works

The sTep was Taken To sTop fraudulenT acTs in The besT inTeresT of The sTaTe and The people

state’s treasury by issuing out cheques, even after their administration had been sacked by the appellate court in Benin, making it necessary to freeze the accounts. “Such a step was taken to stop such fraudulent acts in the best interest of the state and the people,” he said.

Death at checkpoints Our Constitution says we have rights; right to life in this instance; right to live without the morbid fear that our lives may be taken out in the most whimsical and annoying circumstance. Is there not enough to worry about already without adding the risk of death in the hands of the police each passing day? In both the Senate and House of Representatives, there are Committees on Justice and Human Rights, as well as those on the police. Why have these men and women drawn blank in the face of the unrelenting violence and killings by the police?

>P.13

Whats News >Court frees man after three years in custody

The Apapa Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos has struck out a case of theft against Virgilus Udeh, which had been pending since 2006. The magistrate, Femi Segun, struck out the case following the absence of the prosecutor and witness in court. The Prosecutor, Sunday Ekong, said the accused with others on August 31, 2006 allegedly stole two containers loaded with PVC chemicals valued at N10 million, property of GEEPEE Industries, Otta. He was also accused of defrauding one Abdul Yusuf of N43,000 under the pretext of delivering the stolen PVC chemicals to him. The case had been adjourned 18 times before Wednesday’s ruling.

Experts promote eHealth in Lagos >P 16

metro Friday, 18 September 2009

Army arrest pipeline vandals in Atlas Cove Lagos

Bridge of many holes >p.17

Third Mainland Bridge takes some getting used to, and our columnist today, Zahra Mohammed, is not talking about the Lagoon that lies beneath it. She’s referring to the massive spine-jarring potholes that can do serious damage to vehicles. Drivers with short-term memory should better find alternative routes. The location of these potholes must be ingrained into Lagosians’ brains. If this is not a cry for help, then we don’t know what is.

>NGO warns of

harmful water in community A non-governmental organisation, Environmental Rights Action (Friends of the Earth Nigeria) has warned residents of a large quantity of petroleum products in water wells in Ijegun following a petroleum pipeline rupture in the area on May 15, 2008. The environmental monitors from the NGO that visited the community, located in Ikotun Local Government of Lagos State on September 13, observed that most of the wells within the axis of the destroyed pipeline had large deposits of petrol in them.

THEFT

Security operatives attached to the Atlas Cove jetty have arrested 13 suspected pipeline vandals

>Lagos agency

dismantles defective masts

Officials of the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency, say the agency has commenced the removal of defective and abandoned telecommunication masts in the state. Rahmat Alabi, the spokesperson for the agency stated that the action came after the of the masts were warned.

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BY PATIENCE OGBO

T

hirteen suspected pipeline vandals are in the custody of the Nigeria Army, Lagos, following their arrest by operatives attached to the Atlas Cove jetty. The suspects were alleged to have vandalised Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipeline at the Robert Village where they reportedly scooped over 20,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol, worth about N10million naira. The suspects are Biodun martins 49, Sunday Acapede 30, Elizabeth Eku 32, Julius Williams 26, Maurice Doplen

Hundreds of jerry cans seized from the vandals in Atlas Cove jetty by officers of the Nigerian Army

31, and James Aba 39, victor Godfrey 27, Azubike Areze 26, Sunday Eyang 31, Lucky Asufi 27, Julius Odeh 34, Biliku Haruna 28 and Anaseh Okoh. The suspects were arrested on Sunday when they were about to move the products, stored in 50 litre jerry cans, into their boats and headed for Seme Border. The Area manager of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) at the Atlas Cove jetty, Felix Wono on Wednesday said “Vandalism of pipeline have reduced our capacity to pump products from the Mosimi depot to other depots even though we have the capacity to pump until we do not have anything more to pump. We put in place many measures to curb this menace but the situation continued. On the 31st of August, we got the assistance of the Nigerian Army 81 Division Lagos and barely two weeks of their presence here, we made this great arrest.” Mr. Wono added “The army officers led by Major Edward

Dokubo were on patrol of the villages at night on Sunday when they sighted some movement. They trailed the people to the sea shore where they saw some men pretending to be dragging their nets but actually digging 50 litres of jerry cans filled with fuel from the sand where they have them buried. The vandals opened fire at the officers who responded; some of the vandals were arrested while others escaped.” Eugene C. Nwanguma, a major general and General Officer Commanding 81 Division Nigerian Army, Lagos, and Commodore Patrick Ozorjofor of the Nigerian Navy, were on Wednesday conducted round Robert village where the suspected vandals buried over two thousand litres of fuel in the sand. When NEXT visited Robert village, the place was deserted as the villagers were said to have left due to the heavy presence of armed military men deployed to protect the NNPC pipeline from vandals. Miss Haruna, one of the suspects, said “I came to buy the

PHOTO BY PATIENCE OGBO

product. Though I know that they steal them and what I am doing is not good but I have a daughter and aged parents I cater for. We do not sell the fuel in Nigeria; we take it to Cotonou and to Seme to sell.” “I was picked up by the soldiers in my farm. I am not a vandal because I am a palm wine tapper. They have kept me here for more than two weeks now and I need to show you my back. They have been flogging me to confess to a crime I did not commit. The soldiers are just picking anybody they see. My village is Tapa Village and it is eighteen kilometres from where the pipeline is; so many of us they arrested are not vandals.” said Mr. Doplen, another suspect. On July 12th the Atlas Cove was attacked by suspected militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a Naval officer, Kolawole Awe, and three ratings were killed while the NNPC pipeline and the Navy armoury were Bombed during the attack.

The other AJ City

>p.20

The popular Ajegunle now has a twin. Yes, when everyone hears Ajegunle, minds go straight to the popular slum of Lagos. But there is another town with the same name. Unfortunately, conditions in this second Ajegunle are no different from the first. Flooding during the rainy season makes residents’ lives miserable, and squalor could be the town’s second name.

When the cat is not home... >p.18

A major-general in the Nigerian Army dies and after his death, his family gets forcefully evicted from their Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, home. Although a court has issued an order staying the eviction until the suit is resolved, a presidential task force shows up anyway and forces the family to leave. It seems as though the Bourdillon Road property is too juicy a plum for the Army to leave alone.

THE GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP

>P.42

sports Friday, 18 September 2009

We are not good enough, says Mikel

While millions of Nigerians are still praying that Tunisia drop and Super Eagles win their remaining two matches to qualify for the South Africa 2010 World Cup, a member of the team, John Obi Mikel, who plays for Chelsea football club posited on the club’s website that Nigeria lacks quality players. >P.46 & 47

UEFA HEADACHE FOR MANAGERS >P.43

inside sport

FOOTBALL ACTION ACROSS EUROPE >P.44

NIGERIA LAND IN EGYPT WITHOUT CAPTAIN >P.46