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The Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria has called upon
the government, corporate bodies and individuals to help raise funds
needed to perform corrective surgeries on seven children with Down
Syndrome.

Down Syndrome is a condition in which extra genetic
material causes delays in the way a child develops, both mentally and
physically. It affects about 1 in every 800 babies. Speaking at a press
conference yesterday to kick start the 2010 Down Syndrome Awareness
Week in Lagos, Rose Mordi, the National President of the Association,
appealed to people to come to the aid of these children.

Help needed

According to Mrs Mordi, the foundation presently has
seven babies on its surgery list needing medical interventions in
India. Four of these children: Oluwafemi Oderemi (13 months), Honour
Trust (6 months), Daniel Oliha (2 months), and Olanrewaju Azeez (11
months) require corrective heart surgeries; while twins Favor and
Martha Jideonwor (9 years), and Kenneth Nwosu, need urgent eye
surgeries to save their sight. An estimated N10million is needed to
fund these surgeries. The cost is inclusive of travelling,
accommodation, surgical fees for the babies and one parent along with
two chaperones.

Statistics show that people with Down Syndrome have
some prevalent peculiar health issues such as congenital heart defects
which occurs in 40-50 percent of them, 8-12 percent have
gastrointestinal tract abnormalities present at birth while up to 65
percent suffer hearing defects. This informed the need of the
foundation to launch a medical intervention initiative called the
‘Save-A-Life Project’ in 2004. The project has so far sent some
children to the Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Cardiac Sciences in
India for some successful heart surgeries. The inspiration to start the
foundation, according to Mrs Mordi, began when she gave birth to a
child with Down Syndrome.

How it all started

“It was 23 years ago that I had a baby who had a
condition called Down Syndrome,” she said. “When I had her, I found out
that most of the people who should know about it did not know anything
about the condition. It means there was no hope for anyone who had a
child with Down Syndrome in this country. She happens to be my last
child and there is a reason God sent her to me. I went from hospital to
hospital but no one in the country could give me any advice. I had to
go back to the UK and it was there I got the help and information I
needed to take care of my child. There, I was advised to start a
support group for parents of children with Down Syndrome. It took me 14
years before I eventually decided to take it up and the rest is
history. We started in my sitting room. I called some parents together,
we brain stormed and thought of ways we could help our children.”

Sunday Ogunrinde, the Senior Special Assistant to the
Governor of Lagos State on rehabilitation, emphasized the need for
educating parents of children with Down Syndrome on how to care for
their child rather than hiding them. “What we need in respect of Down
Syndrome and general disabilities is education,” he said. “We need to
work together to inform our society. When people are informed, they
would be alive to their responsibility. We need to break the barriers
that keep a Down Syndrome child away from visitors. We must cherish
what we have. It gives the child that self confidence that challenges
them to be somebody great.”

Educating the public

Mrs Mordi enlightened members of the press on the
steps taken by the foundation to reach out to people at the grassroots.
“We have come a long way from where we started,” she said. “Our aim is
to reach out to every child with Down syndrome in this country and
beyond. We intend to have chapters in the six geo-political zones of
this country, to the grass roots. We started with the grass roots and
thank God for where we are today. The government of Lagos state would
like to partner with us to organize seminars and workshops, to educate
the public, to encourage people to come out and put structures on
ground to take care of their needs and possibly translate our messages
into different languages for those who don’t understand English.”

Among the activities lined up for the Awareness Week are a Charity
walk, an international seminar to discuss educational, medical and
socio-economic issues of Down Syndrome in Nigeria, a fund raising
dinner and awards evening and a family fun-fair.

The national chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP),
Ogbonnaya Onu, said on Tuesday that the nation’s multiparty democracy is in
danger because of the empty promises often made by the members of the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party.

Speaking, while inaugurating a six-member national contact
committee to reconcile with aggrieved members of the party, the ANPP chairman
said under the three PDP administrations since 1999, Nigerians suffered
insecurity, unprecedented unemployment and bad governance, adding that time had
come for hope to be restored to them.

Members of the contact committee are Gambo Magaji (chairman),
Ibrahim Hasasan, Yusuf Musa, Admiral Amusu, John Odigie-Oyegun and Livinus
Nwambe.

“Our multiparty democracy is in danger, Mr Onu said. “It is in
danger because, day after day, our brothers and sisters on the other side make
promises they seldom keep, yet they boast of their strength and connections to
win elections at all cost. It is in danger because unless the opposition, which
we lead, unite with the majority of Nigerians, victory will be certain for
those who do not and cannot win elections.

“We’ve placed some hope in the committee. It will prepare the
road map to our recovery because the last 12 years of the PDP government have
been 12 years of insecurity; 12 years of darkness, of darkness in our houses;
where anybody who is really sick must go outside the country; where our
children go to Ghana for education; 12 years of unemployment; and many
Nigerians are losing hope.” Mr Onu who emerged as ANPP chairman about two weeks
ago, said that the party cannot afford to fail, warning that if it does, the
country would be in trouble.

He stated that party is hungry to win elections for the sake of
democracy and for the sake of Nigerians, assuring that it would provide
credible leadership for them. “We have no choice if the government of the
people, for the people and by the people, is not to perish in our fatherland.
It is by doing that we can mobilize other like minds in the struggle to reclaim
Nigeria and return her to the path of political plurality and national
renewal,” Mr Onu said, adding that the party would be there for mechanics,
students and other categories of Nigerians, irrespective of their ethnic
groups.

He said the leadership carefully chose the members of the
contact committee and asked them to tour the country with a view to bringing
back those who left the party under any guise, including the founding fathers.

New friends

He also tasked them to help the party make new friends with
other political parties, the civil society, professional bodies and interest
groups to enable it build a strong and resilient coalition to defeat one-party
rule.

“Fellow party men and women, this is a call to duty,” Mr Onu
said. “Our great party requires, once more, your time; your energy; your
intellect; and more importantly, your commitment. We know you will succeed. Let
no part of this country be too far for you to visit. Let no road be too bad for
you to use. Let no bridge be too long for you not to cross. I am sure that the
night will not be too dark for you to operate.”

Mr Magaji assured that the committee would go round the country and bring
back party faithfuls who left, as well as those sitting on the fence. He,
however, noted that its task is not simple “because a lot of water has gone
under the bridge. Some left out of frustration and felt that they were not
wanted.”

Uzodinma Okpara,
the son of the late premier of the defunct Eastern Region, has
abandoned his ambition to contest the governorship of Abia in 2011.

He announced his
withdrawal yesterday at his country home in Okpuala Afugiri, Umuahia
North Local Government, saying that “political developments” in Abia,
especially the recent defection of state governor, Theodore Orji, to
the PDP, necessitated his decision to drop out of the gubernatorial
race.

Mr Okpara, who
contested the 2007 gubernatorial race against Orji under the platform
of the All Progressive Peoples Alliance (APGA) and even challenged the
outcome at the tribunal, said that he was now satisfied with recent
actions taken by the governor. “I am aware that the governor has led
the liberation of Abia and that is acceptable to me and my supporters,”
he said. “In consultation with my family and my supporters, we have
unanimously agreed to support Governor Orji for 2011 elections; the
implication is that I will not be contesting again”.

Mr Okpara said he
would deploy his campaign organisation, Freedom and Progress (FP) in
support of the re-election bid of Mr Orji as well as the presidential
race of Goodluck Jonathan.

He recalled that he
had worked very closely with Mr Orji, who was chief of staff when he
was the state chairman of the PDP, adding that the governor has
“assured me there will be peace and progress in Abia and I strongly
believe”.

The former gubernatorial aspirant further defended his decision to
abandon his quest, saying that “everybody cannot be governor at the
same time; some people will be other things”.

Ibrahim Babangida, former military ruler, and presidential
aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said yesterday
that the controversy over zoning of political and elective offices by the party
would have been avoided if the players in the current democratic dispensation
stuck to its constitution.

Mr Babangida, who was apparently responding to Goodluck
Jonathan’s claim last Monday that the PDP did not zone the presidency to any
part of the country, said those who should ordinarily know the import of zoning
and power-sharing in a pluralist state like Nigeria have become sentimental
with the issue.

He spoke in Abuja at the launching of a book: “The Nigerian
Hundred: The Most Influential Nigerians of All Time” written by Prosper
Aworegba. The event was organized on behalf of the author by the Independent
Newspapers Limited (INL) publishers of Daily Independent Newspapers.

“Despite the pluralistic status of Nigeria, those who should
ordinarily know the import of zoning and power-sharing as a function of our
peculiarities have used other sentiments to misrepresent the real issues,” Mr
Babangida, who chaired the event, said. “The controversy over the zoning of
political offices in my party, the PDP, would have been avoided if the players
stuck to the terms and provisions of the party constitution. All the twists and
bends would have been unnecessary if the moral fibre of the society still
retains its potency and integrity.”

Divided societies

The former president argued that democracy in plural or divided
societies talks about power-sharing, conflict resolution and management; and of
course zoning, stressing, “It talks about respect for ,and understanding of the
peculiarities of any given society.”

Mr Babangida said democracy and good governance have become very
handy clichés in recent times, as the end product of meaningful leadership, but
noted that the system of government provides an opportunity for the electorate
to make informed choices, and that elections, create a platform for delivering
essential ingredients of a wholesome living. He said it is regrettable that,
these days, media practitioners in the country appear to be more involved in
politics than politicians. “This apparent drift, often times, affects the
objectivity of reports, analyses, news contents, editorial comments, opinions
articles and essays,” he said.

He advised the media to move away from the present reality by ensuring that
it sticks to the ethics of the profession without fear or favour, and also
assume its constitutional role as the Fourth Estate of the Realm.

On October 1, Nigerians will surely
wake up to the pounding of marching boots and martial music,
complemented by a rumble of armoured vehicles, the flight display of
combat aircraft. What else? The inspection of a guard-of-honour and, in
the evening, a state banquet, valedictory speeches, laughter and music,
cultural dances, comedians and clowns spewing banalities and filthy
jokes.

None of these activities will suggest
when or where young school-leavers will get jobs, and in some cases,
even scrape out their next meals. We are obsessed with conviviality and
love partying against all odds. Nigerians transform into a celebration
frenzy at the slightest excuse. Culture or phobia? A propensity for
hedonism could also be interpreted as symptomatic of a suffering
people, an analgesic to kill the pain of poverty instantly, but only
temporarily.

One day Nigerians woke up to find a
foreign poll electing them as the “Happiest people on Earth.” How
farcical! Peripherally, it could be true. If you’ve been to a night
party in Lagos and Sunny Ade is on the bandstand, the sheer amounts of
raw cash sprayed, the quantity and colour of textiles worn, the food,
the sensuous dancing and womanizing will convince you of what Rome
looked like the week before the Barbarians destroyed it. Will Nigeria
meet the same fate? Rome had at least reached a pinnacle of excellence
before it fell.

Nation building is unknown here.
Rather, Nigerian leaders and captains of industry are preoccupied with
acquiring dual citizenship to flee their country. The process
facilitates health care in advanced countries, siphoning of stolen
money out of Nigeria and the children’s education in primary schools,
colleges, and universities abroad. Some of these kids are on federal
and state government scholarships, but will remain in foreign lands;
they will work, pay taxes and become citizens there. These are huge
financial and managerial losses to Nigeria.

Target countries of Nigerian emigration
and capital flight are unconcerned and sometimes happy over our plight.
Your brain drain is their gain. The monies embezzled in Nigeria and
deposited in their banks are never returned because they enrich their
economies.

If leaders of an independent nation are
not interested in building institutions and an environment that will
make life worth living for their people, the United Nations should
request such countries to rescind the instruments of sovereignty and
revert to colonial status.

October 1, 2010, must be marked, not
celebrated. The day should serve as a serious warning that time is
running out for this nation. A bugler is already sounding “The Last
Post”; vultures are hovering above in expectation of a putrescent
cadaver, when a very sick Nigeria is finally strangled to death by its
corrupt elite. The British are sending out the Duke of Gloucester, a
junior royal, not the Duke of Edinburgh, for our Golden Jubilee. It may
be tactical. Prince Philip, like many old men, often speaks his mind
anywhere, at anytime and within earshot of anybody. I could well
imagine him bullying Goodluck Jonathan, telling our president that
Nigeria has not fulfilled the potential he saw during his first visit
in 1956. But if I were the Duke of Gloucester, I’d enquire from
President Jonathan about the health of Alamieyeseigha and the
whereabouts of Ibori, wishing them well and expressing gratitude in
respect of so much money donated to the UK economy.

Our leaders are fiddling while Nigeria
decays and burns. The masses don’t care about anything, anymore. This
jubilee will be anything but golden.

The thrill is gone.

Officials and members of the National
Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Rivers State have embarked on prayer and
fasting sessions for the release of their kidnapped colleagues.

Five female corps members deployed to
Omuma Local Government Area of Rivers were kidnapped on September 16 at
their lodge, but one of them was freed.

An official of the NYSC told the press
on Tuesday in Port Harcourt that prayers and fasting had commenced for
divine intervention. The source said, “As a family, we agreed shortly
after the abduction that we should commence intensive prayers and
fasting for God to free these young ladies on national assignment. “We
anticipated that before seven days, the kidnappers will free them but
after the expiration of seven days, the girls are still there,” he
said.

The State NYSC Coordinator Esther Chimele-Wogbo, confirmed the move,
saying, “I refuse to speak further on this matter because I might be
emotional. As a mother, I cannot understand how four ladies should be
abducted while on selfless service to their fatherland,” she said.

Uche Chukwumerije, the senator representing Abia North
senatorial district of Abia State, has faulted allegations that he is opposed
to the recent appointment of Onyeabo Ihejirika as Chief of Army Staff (COAS)
and described the allegation as cheap blackmail by those who want to tarnish
his image or create disaffection against him.

Mr Chukwumerije, who is from the same senatorial district as Mr
Ihejirika, said the allegation by a group, the “League Of Isuikwuato Patriots”,
that he was signatory to a statement credited to the Igbo Political Forum which
criticized the appointment of the COAS, was wrong. Besides, he said, he did not
attend the said meeting as alleged.

List of signatories

Mr Chukwumerije challenged the authors of the advertorial,
published in a national daily, to produce the list of signatories to the
statement or even the attendance register of the meeting which took the
decision.

“This lie betrays a pathetic ignorance of my consistent
verifiable stand against oppression and marginalization of Ndigbo in Nigeria
since the end of the civil war,” he said.

He said anybody who knows him and his struggle against the
alienation of the Igbo in Nigeria would know that the allegation was a fallacy,
as the appointment was the fulfilment of what he has been championing.

He said he had, in a similar vein, issued a press statement and
commended the president for the appointment, saying “the appointment of Lt
General Ihejirika as Chief of Army Staff has broken a jinx of 40 years,” and so
could not have been opposed to it. Mr Chukwumereije, who picked the nomination
form to re-contest for his seat, urged the people of Isuikwuato and the
senatorial zone to discountenance the statement, as it was false.

On presenting himself for a third term at the Senate, he said the
constitution did not limit lawmakers to any number of terms and, as such, he
was not violating any arrangements.

As arrangements for
Nigeria’s 50th golden jubilee celebration heat up, some Heads of State
and representatives from invited countries on Tuesday landed at the
presidential wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.

Somkid Jatusriptak,
the deputy prime minster of Thailand, who is one of the visiting Heads
of State invited to join in the celebration of Nigeria@50, arrived the
presidential lounge of the Lagos airport in the early hours of
yesterday, amidst tight security.

Joseph Kabila,
President of Democratic Republic of Congo, was the second to arrive the
presidential wing of the Lagos airport and was received by both
protocol officers of the VIP, heavily armed security operatives,
diverse cultural dancers and top state executives.

Mr Kabila flew into
Nigeria on board his country’s presidential aircraft, at about 3.30pm.
The Duke of Gloucester, Prince Richard, who is to represent the Queen
of England at the golden jubilee celebrations, also landed at the Lagos
international airport around 6pm, on a British Airways Aircraft.

The guests and
their respective entourages were entertained by the various cultural
groups that performed at the presidential wing of the airport amid
stringent security from the police, military personnel and State
Security Service operatives.

Richard Aiseubeogun, managing director of the airports authority,
last week disclosed that the Nigerian airports where major upgrades of
facilities are going in preparation for the country’s 50th anniversary
include: Lagos, Abuja, Minna, Kaduna, Ilorin, Kano, and Port Harcourt.

The Kano State police have arraigned Usman Musa and Abubakar
Hamidu before a Kano Chief Magistrate Court on a four-count allegation of
allegedly conspiring to kill the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero.

According to the charge sheet read out, Usman Musa, a
19-year-old resident of Layin Habu Hanifa, and Abubakar Hamidu, a 65-year-old
resident of Batakaye village, both in Kano metropolis, on July 9, 2010,
criminally conspired and abetted to kill his royal highness.

“You, Usman Musa ‘m’ of Dourayi quarters, Kano went to the house
of Abubakar Hamidu of Batakaye quarters, Kano and criminally conspired on
assignment to kill his royal highness, Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero.

“Where you (Abubakar Hamidu) gave him one gas wielding muzzle
iron, in the shape of a pistol, to throw at the emir, after jumma’at prayers at
Kano Central Mosque, and you also gave him a tiny charm to put in his mouth,
that after the assignment he (Usman Musa) is going to disappear.” The two
pleaded not guilty to the four-count allegation of criminal conspiracy, attempt
to commit homicide, abetment and being in possession of dangerous weapon
brought against them before the court.

“I do not have a lawyer. The old man has not conspired with me
and I did not intend to do anything to the emir. The old man is a spiritualist
to my mother. I want the court to release me on bail,” Mr Musa said.

Junaidu Aminu, the police prosecutor, told the court that the
police investigation into the matter was still in progress. He, therefore,
prayed the court to adjourn the matter to another date for mention.

Plea for bail

Yahya Abdullahi, counsel to Mr Hamidu, applied for the accused
man to be released on bail. He said his client was a respectable Islamic
scholar and cited the deteriorating health status of the accused as a reason
why the court should admit him to bail.

“The health of the accused is deteriorating and even before us
here he almost fell down. He is an old man. Since his arrest, he has been in
police custody. The accused is presumed innocent until he is tried and found
guilty. At this stage, it is a mere allegation,” he said.

“He will not escape from justice. He will not commit any offence
if granted bail. I want to refer this honourable court to the case of the
federal government versus Asari Dokubo reported in Nigeria weekly law report.
The Supreme court said the court could admit an accuse into bail provided there
is assurance the accuse will face his trial.” Mr Aminu objected to the bail
request.

“The charges levelled against the accused persons are serious in
nature. Bayero is a father to all and justice of peace. The bail application
ought not to be granted to avoid repetition,” he said.

The court ordered that the accused persons be remanded in prison
custody till September 29, for its ruling on the application for bail.

The court also ordered the counsel to furnish the court registrar with
copies of the citation made in his application for the release of one of the
accused on bail.

Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest commercial carrier involved in
domestic and international air transport business, on Tuesday, accused oil
marketers in the country of conspiring against the airline, a situation which
has disrupted the carrier’s flight operations.

The airline stated that the marketers have teamed up against it
because of its recently constructed mini-depot which it uses in storing
aviation fuel, adding that some of its aircraft are out of the country for
routine checks and repairs. “Major oil marketers, under the aegis of Major Oil
Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), have ganged up against Arik Air
starving the airline of aviation fuel, otherwise known as Jet A1,” said
Adebanji Ola, media officer for the carrier. “The marketers are not happy that
the airline has built a mini-depot for the storage of Jet A1,”

Mr Ola said that the marketers believe that the carrier is
trying to drive them out of business despite the airline’s explanation that the
mini-depot, which stores only 100,000 litres, is a strategic reserve for its
150 daily flights. “The 100,000-litre capacity of the mini-depot is far below
the airline’s average daily requirement of 700,000 litres of Jet A1,” he said.
“The major marketers are now refusing to sell fuel to Arik Air thereby causing
a lot of delays on flights.”

Arik not alone

Mr Ola argued that Arik is not the first or only airline in
Nigeria to have a mini fuel depot, stating that Aero Contractors and Caverton
Helicopters have such facility in Port Harcourt and Lagos respectively.

Efforts to get the reactions of some major oil marketers were not
successful, as calls made to the mobile phones of different distributors were
not answered. “Efforts are on by the airline to resolve the fuel issue with the
major marketers while two of our aircraft are expected back in the country next
week from C-checks,” said Mr Ola. “The airline therefore appeals to its valued
guests to please bear with it.”