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Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, has faulted reports that
one of his wives, Halima Shekarau, is planning to contest Kano Central
Senatorial seat in 2011.

Mr. Shekarau, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on
Media and Public Relations, Sule Ya’u Sule, stated categorically that none of
his wives is a politician, let alone one aspiring for any political office in
the state.

He also expressed wonder that some “faceless persons” would
spread such news.

“We are in possession of posters urging one of my wives to
contest for a senatorial seat. This is baseless, because my wives are complete
housewives and do not intend to take part in partisan politics,” he said.

The governor spoke after the rumour gained ground that he has
decided to field his cronies for various elective positions in the state. He
added that the posters urging Halima to contest were printed without either his
knowledge or that of his wife. Mr. Shekarau however, declined to mention the
name of the group behind the campaign.

He spoke hours after one of his long time ally, Sani Rogo,
declared for the Kano South senatorial seat.

He appealed to people who think they wish the governor’s family
well or want them to contest for any position, to immediately desist from
printing posters or related materials urging any of them to vie for a political
post in the state.

New women centre

Meanwhile, Mr. Shekarau has laid the foundation of a Women
Development Center at Kofar Na’isa, Kano City, that would cost the state
government about N1.4 billion.

He revealed that the idea was conceived as part of his
administration’s determination to make women more productive and self-reliant.

“It is when women are educated and empowered with skills that
they can make more positive contributions to nation building”, he said.

He explained that the project was designed to provide
beneficiaries with education and vocational skills that will enable them live
meaningfully as human begins.

Mr. Shekarau urged women in the state to avail themselves of
opportunities provided by the state government to improve their living
conditions and to enhance the status of their families.

The state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Maimuna Kabir Khalil, said when
the new Center is completed, it will be a model in the country.

Since 1987, the WHO has recognized 31 May of every year as the
World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). This is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of
abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption and is primarily designed to
draw global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and its
negative health effects.

The theme for this year’s WNTD is “Gender and Tobacco, with an
emphasis on marketing to women”. The WHO, as well as governmental and
non-governmental organizations, are bothered by the rising prevalence of
smoking among women and the underlying factors responsible for this occurrence;
hence, the choice of this year’s theme. The theme is not only to create
awareness about the luring tobacco epidemic among women, but also to expose the
activities of the tobacco industry aimed at sensitizing women to take up the
habit of smoking.

Some decades back, seeing a woman smoke, particularly in
developing countries such as Nigeria was more or less unacceptable, but
presently, smoking among women is gradually becoming a norm.

In 1995, 47% of men and 12% of women smoke cigarettes globally,
representing an overall global smoking population of 29%. Evidence-based
research shows that currently about 1.3 billion people smoke globally of which
over 250 million (20%) are women.

A survey carried out in North-East Nigeria, in 2002, showed that
the prevalence of smoking amongst males was 45.3% while that of the females was
18.4% (this is close to 19% in the USA). Generally, smoking is 5 times higher
among men than women; however, the gender gap declines with younger age.

In developed countries, smoking rates for men have begun to
decline while for women they continue to grow. The case is different in
developing countries where the prevalence of smoking is on the increase for
both men and women.

It is an established fact that every year tobacco smoking
accounts for about 5.4 million deaths globally. Top on the list of
tobacco-related diseases are lung cancer, chronic obstructed pulmonary disease
(Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis), ischaemic Heart Disease, stroke, oral
cancer, impotence and the rest. Smoking just a few cigarettes a day can double
the risk of a woman having a heart attack. Women who smoke usually take a
longer time to conceive than non-smokers. Similarly, quitting/ giving up smoking
before pregnancy is important to decrease the risk of miscarriages and preterm
births.

Women are also at risk of passive smoking when exposed to smoke
from the burning end of a cigarette or exhaled smoke from a smoker, which is
injurious to one’s health. Worthy of note is the effect of passive smoking on
children, particularly newborns, causing sudden infant death syndrome. Other
tobacco-related diseases specific to women include cancer of the cervix,
premenopausal breast cancer, early menopause, dysmenorrhea (painful periods),
osteoporosis (weak bones), premature wrinkling, hearing loss to mention a few.

One could pause for a moment and wonder what could be
responsible for the increasing smoking rates among women. Well the reason is
not implausible – the tobacco industry! A former Director-General of WHO Dr.
Harlem Brundtland once said that “Tobacco is a communicated disease. It is
communicated through advertising and sponsorships”. We can say that the tobacco
industry has really been successful in spreading the tobacco epidemic from men
to youths, and now, to women and young girls.

Targeted at women and girls The tobacco industry engages in
activities that directly lure women into smoking. Sometimes, their
advertisements/brands are specifically targeted to the women and young girls;
for example, Virginia Slims Cigarettes advertisements in Hong Kong and Japan
were specifically designed for the women population. The marketing of tobacco
products to women by the industry is an attempt geared towards the replacement
of nearly half of current smokers who will die prematurely from tobacco related
diseases. In simple terms, if the tobacco industry can get more women to smoke,
in just a matter of time, smoking will be “normalised” and more youths would
accept smoking as the norm and easily cultivate the of habit .

Certain measures have been taken by the WHO to reduce the demand
for tobacco products through some of the articles of the FCTC (Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control) which include high taxation on tobacco products,

ban on advertisements, promotions and sponsorships by the
tobacco industry,

smoke-free public places, prevention of tobacco sales to minors
e.t.c. Of course, the WNTD 2010 with the aforementioned theme is yet another
step taken to curb this epidemic.

Women are indeed nation builders. Any activity that serves as a
threat to the health and social well-being of women should be resisted by all
stakeholders. Tobacco consumption is deadly in any form (smoking, chewing,
snuffing ) and it causes more harm than good. Women should remain healthy and
help put an end to this social and public health hazard that is eating up the
fabric of our society.

So in closing, ladies stand up for your right, stay healthy, secure
your future and say ‘No’ to tobacco.

Owotomo is an independent
Tobacco Control Activist based in Lagos

Patience Jonathan, the wife of Nigeria’s president, yesterday
advocated the participation of more women in politics, saying the involvement
of women in the country’s politics is unimpressive.

Addressing the wives of governors and deputy governors at the
presidential villa, Mrs Jonathan said their involvement will help women advance
their rights and those of their children.

“Only seven per cent of women are presently occupying both
elective and appointed positions at the three tiers of government in the
country,” she said.

She said she invited the wives of the governors for the meeting
so that they could review the roles played by women against those expected to
be played by them in a democracy.

“The purpose of this interactive meeting is to exploit the
opportunity and contribute towards the upliftment of the standard of our
governance,” Mrs Jonathan said.

“You should know that only seven per cent of women are
occupying elective and appointed positions today in Nigeria, covering the three
tiers of government. This is far from the 35 per cent affirmative action. We
need to exploit our roles as women to lobby, to be more visible now that 2011
is by the corner.”

Also at the meeting were the wives of service chiefs and those
of principal officers of the National Assembly.

Pass Child Rights bill

She also challenged the wives of governors from the 12 states
that are yet to pass the Child’s Right bill, to lobby their husbands and their
respective Houses of Assembly to get the bill passed.

“Don’t forget your primary responsibilities as wives and mothers,” she said.
“You must contribute to peace and build bridges of unity. Take care of your
children and lobby your husbands and state Assemblies to pass the Child Rights
Act. You must encourage women to contest elections. I advise you to use your
NGOs to empower the women by identifying pressing needs of the communities.”

A national policy on refund of money spent by states on
rehabilitation of federal government projects will be ready soon, Goodluck
Jonathan said yesterday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The president, who was on a one-day working visit to the former
capital of the old Western Region, commissioned two federal roads in the state,
upgraded by the state government.

The reconstructed roads are Orita New Garage/Odo Ona Elewe to
Apata Road, and the Molete/Oke Ado/ Dugbe/Queen Cinema dual carriage ways.

Mr Jonathan noted that, hitherto, only on few occasions are
states getting full payment for money spent to rehabilitate federal government
properties in their domains. He said his government has therefore set up a
commission to draw a policy that would address the encumbrances experienced in
processing refund on the said projects.

“Most often, the federal government only refund part of the
monies spent on the projects, while some were not refunded at all due to poor
quality of jobs allegedly done by the state governments who executed them,” Mr.
Jonathan said.

An official of the CCC Construction Company who handled the Queen
Cinema/ Dugbe Molete road, told journalists that the road has a life span of
over 20 years if properly maintained, adding that their company will handle the
maintenance for the first one year and hand it over to the state thereafter.

While commending the governor for his effort on the said
projects and others embarked upon to ease the lives of the residents of the
state and allow the dividends of democracy to trickle down to them, the
president hinted that the committee will finalise work on the policy by the
next three weeks.

The ancient city stood still for the president, whose Nigerian
Airforce aircraft landed at the Ibadan airport, Alakia at 10.16am. He was
treated to a rousing welcome by thousands of school children, politicians,
market men and women and other residents of the city who lined up the street to
wave hands in appreciation of his visit.

The visit also coincided with the 60th birthday of the Oyo State
governor,

Adebayo Alo-Akala, for which a special service was held at the
Molete Baptist Church, Ibadan.

Praise for military

Mr Jonathan, in other remarks, noted that the military has
helped in stabilizing democracy in the country. He said but for their level of
maturity and understanding, things would have gone out of hand for the country
within the last three years.

“When I was the acting president, they advised me to remove all
the Service Chiefs. They said if I failed to remove them, I would be removed.
But I made up my mind not to remove them, even at the detriment of my position.
But we thank God that the nation’s politics has come to stabilize. I thank the
military who have been cooperative with the politicians for the attainment of
the stability,” he said.

Loyalty of deputies

He also admonished that deputies should be loyal to their bosses
in order to sustain the political stability the nation currently enjoys.

“From vice chairmen to deputy governors and vice president, they
should be loyal to their bosses because they themselves take their deputies
into confidence.

In-fighting among politicians does not raise the hope of
Nigerians because they see them (politicians) as main actors who cannot manage
themselves. We are there not by our power but by the grace of God. My
conscience will be troubling me if the Nigerian politics is not stabilized.
This is why I enjoin all to collaborate,” the president said.

In his sermon, Ola Makinde charged the president to ensure that
the next elections are free and fair and fully reflect the wishes of Nigerians.

The occasion was witnessed by many dignitaries, including former president,
Olusegun Obasanjo; Governors of Osun, Ekiti and Ogun States, Olagunsoye
Oyinlola, Segun Oni and Gbenga Daniel; clerics, notable politicians and many
traditional rulers in the Southwest.

The traumatised wife of the Deji of
Akure, Olori Bolanle Adesina, has urged the Ondo State governor,
Olusegun Mimiko, to instruct the state commissioner of police to order
a full scale investigation into the attack on her person by her
husband.

Mrs. Adesina, in a petition via her
counsel, Ibraheem Aganum and Co., appealed to Mr. Mimiko to use his
office to ensure that justice is done. The Akure queen said the
petition became imperative in order to make sure that the case is not
swept under the carpet.

Copies of the petition were also sent
to the state deputy governor, Ali Olanusi; top government
functionaries; the Deji in Council; the Nigeria Union of Journalists,
Ondo State chapter; the state police commissioner; and the director of
State Security Services.

The petitioner pointed out that the matter was beyond a domestic affair, as claimed in some quarters.

The petition reads, in part: “We want
to state categorically and unequivocally, with great emphasis, that the
public opprobrium has subject our client to great psychological trauma,
pains, and financial loss.

“We demand justice of our client, as
the matter is beyond a domestic affair. We want to urge his Excellency
to use your good office to instruct the police to order a full scale
investigation into the matter, without fear or favour.

“We most humbly submit, in strong and
clear terms, that the paramount ruler’s act is contrary to royal native
norms, values, and traditional dictates. The king’s action is criminal
in nature, which attracts sanction under the criminal code.”

The petition pointed out that Mrs.
Adesina was presently receiving medical attention for chemical burns
and other injuries she sustained during the attack on her at the
Federal Medical Centre, Owo, after the initial first aid treatment she
got at the Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure.

The petitioner also frowned at the way
the Olori was sent packing from the palace, eight months ago, for
flimsy excuses from the monarch without recourse to due native
processes of banishing an Olori from the Deji’s palace, as stipulated
by the traditions of Akure.

Mrs. Adesina, yesterday, in a telephone
interview with NEXT, revealed that she was transferred from the State
Specialist Hospital, Akure, to the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, for
security reasons.

She said she had to be moved to Owo,
her hometown, to prevent an alleged plan by Oba Adesina to send
hoodlums to attack her at the Akure hospital, aside from her
deteriorating state of health resulting from the battering she received
from her husband.

Women groups protest

Meanwhile, women under the auspices of
National Council of Women Societies, Ondo State chapter, yesterday
staged a peaceful protest in Akure to register their discontentment
against the attitude of the Akure monarch.

The women, who described the action of
Oba Adesina as uncivilised, also condemned the assault meted on Mrs.
Adesina. They asked security operatives to get to the root of the
matter.

The state president of the association,
Iyabo Akinlagbe, said rather than subject a woman to that kind of
punishment, any man who does not want his wife again has the right to
seek a lawful means of addressing the matter.

Mrs. Akinagbe, who said the society
would fight the matter to a logical conclusion, said “if we cannot
fight it at the state level, we will go to the national; if we cannot
finish it at the national level, we will go to the international level,
since the NCWS has international affliation.”

The NCWS said the group would pay advocacy visit to the Council of Obas and the governor’s wife on the matter.

“A leader ought to be disciplined in
the community. Anybody that is not disciplined is not fit to be a
leader. We do not want men to kill us naturally.

“The Bible even says if you do not want
your wife again you have the right to divorce her, instead of
destroying her flesh”, she said.

Similarly, the Ondo State chapter of
the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), said the action
of the monarch was disgraceful and should be condemned by all women.

A Nigerian student
in the UK, being pushed to get the high examination grades required to
enter Oxbridge Universities, protested that all her subject teachers at
school were graduates of Oxford and Cambridge.

“What is the point
of working so hard to get there if you are only going to be a teacher?”
she said. At first, the adult relating the story to me agreed with the
teenager that ending up as a teacher after working so hard, and having
one’s parents pay so much to send their child to one of the premier
universities in the world, was a failure.

The same theme is
echoed in the 2009 film, “an education” where the lead character’s
education is salvaged by a female teacher whom she had previously
sneered at for her lack of ambition and achievement after being one of
the first set of women to attend university.

However, isn’t the
point that it should be our brightest minds who train, educate, advise
and groom our citizens and leaders? Would you choose an unintelligent
teacher to help your child pass his or her exams?

The real tragedy is
that we are the ones who have decided that it is ok if the people who
rule us did not work hard for good grades at school, have never held
down a real job or run a business successfully.

Reading extracts
from Plato’s ‘The Republic’ and Khaldun’s ‘The Muqaddimah’ about how
their societies selected their leaders and the criteria for
appointment, I was struck by how truly backward we are. By backward, I
mean we are doing things backwards instead of forwards. We are
regressing instead of progressing.

Plato is a Greek
Philosopher who lived in 400 BC (before Christ). Khaldun is a Tunisian
historian who wrote mostly in the late 1300s. In their days, only the
brightest minds, with a source of income could be leaders. Plato picked
men who could observe the world as philosophers do, analyse it and plan
how to flourish within it as spiritual, rational and physical beings.

For Khaldun,
leaders had to be members of the aristocracy, men of virtue, religion,
education, liberality, bravery and nobility. In addition, he had to be
just, and not compete with his citizens in farming or trade.

The brightest
brains, of whom we have plenty in Nigeria, have also made some
decisions for themselves. They have decided that they are not eligible
to rule because they do not want to steal or keep company with thieves.
They have decided to make their fortunes in business, eke a basic
living in academics or else emigrate to a society where the
appreciation for the value the brightest brains can bring already
exists.

Of course, there is
the odd exception who decides to do the right thing; but because we
don’t like the package the message comes in, we just humour them, hail
them and pass them by on the well travelled road to destruction,
despair and oblivion.

Others say that
calls for the brightest brains are just calls for the “elite” to take
power. I beg to disagree. If there is one thing you can say about
Nigeria it is that our elite are not a fixed demographic group.
Membership of a social class changes as your circumstances change, and
there is opportunity for everyone in their individual efforts.

Memo to the bright

What people
confuse with the elite are the privileged. But many people from
privileged homes are not members of any elite groups other than the
social recreational clubs their parents and grandparents formed. So
this is not about the elite. This is about having real criteria for our
leaders and rulers, and grooming them through our best teachers and
advisers.

Dear ‘brightest
brains’, show us that you also have common sense and logic. Prove to us
that the people who invested their time, love and money in your care
and training to make a leader out of you did not waste their time.

For goodness sake,
for God’s sake, for your sake, step up to be identified, elected and
appointed to rule us. Step forward to challenge and prevent the
ineligible from leading us. Step out from the tiny haven of calm and
productivity that you have created as your world, and fight to expand
it to benefit more people, and then step back to find and drag out
other bright minds to join you in creating a critical mass that can
make positive change happen.

Dear ‘not so
bright minds’ but right-thinking people, you know who should really be
in leadership positions. Prod them, disturb them, encourage them, support them, protect them, and guide them to lead us right.

Lastly, is this a sensible society where our teachers, who work in
hot, ill-equipped and over-populated classrooms earn N1 million a year
if they are lucky; and where our senators who sit in air conditioned
rooms to pass only one new law per session, earn N300 million per annum?

The intrigue
surrounding the relationship between Cross River State governor, Liyel
Imoke, and his predecessor, Donald Duke, deepened by another layer
early this week when the two men showed up together Monday evening at
the birthday bash of the state chairman of the PDP, Ekpo Okon.

Messrs Imoke and
Duke sat together at the foyer of the Calabar Cultural Centre and were
seen giggling from ear to ear occasionally, to the consternation of
other guests. The friendly disposition seemingly put paid to early
speculations of bad blood between the two men.

The much-trumpeted
break up of their political alliance is evident in Mr. Duke’s recent
defection from the PDP and his alleged behind-the-scene efforts to
torpedo the PDP-led state government.

Last weekend’s
attempt by the police to stop the inauguration of the Calabar Women and
Children Hospital [CWCH] built by Duke’s wife, Onari, following a court
order granted by a High Court in Akamkpa Local Government Area of the
state, was seen as another instance of this disagreement. Mr. Duke went
away with the police to explain that the court was issued by another
judicial division and therefore, not enforceable.

The policemen sent
to enforce the court order took him away to the state police
headquarter to explain things to their superior officers. Mr. Duke
explained that the hospital, situated within the premises of the
defunct National Republican Convention [NRC] office in Calabar, was
built with donor funds and that the NRC building was duly leased by his
wife for 25 years.

The chief press
secretary to Mr. Imoke, Patrick Ugbe, in a rejoinder to media reports
linking the state government to the police action, said Mr. Ebri, who
got the order, is a private person not sponsored by the state
government, and advised that government should be left out of the
matter.

But in a statement
emailed to some journalists in Calabar through his media aide, Mr. Duke
blamed his present travails on the state government of which, he said,
wanted to obliterate his achievements and blight his political
relevance.

“It would be
recalled that Governor Imoke recently cancelled the conferment of an
honorary doctorate degree by the state university [CRUTECH] on his
predecessor, Donald Duke, further deepening the already frosty
relationship between them,” the statement said, in parts.

“The cancellation
has been perceived as a product of envy and pettiness and has since
sent tongues wagging within the political circles and fuelling
speculations of a possible show down between the duo and their
supporters in the near future,” the statement read.

Political threat

“But those familiar
with the development point at the political undercurrents which
underline Imoke’s pronouncement. The current administration in the
state sees Duke as a formidable political threat whose legacies stand
him on a formidable stead, around whom the opposition can rally against
Imoke’s second term bid.

“It was gathered
that Duke’s recent resignation from the PDP took the party by surprise
and drew the angst of its hierarchy, which quickly responded with a
damning condemnation of their erstwhile leader, describing him as an
ingrate.

“The calculations
within the state are that if the state government should allow Duke to
be honoured with a degree by CRUTECH in the state, it would further
bolster his popularity and portray the state government as unpopular
and weak.

“In addition, the
state government is believed to be afraid that Duke may provide an
alternative platform for the gathering mass of dissenters and
especially majority of the members of the State House of Asssembly, who
are peeved by the rudderless direction and lack of inclusiveness by the
Imoke administration…

“But regardless of
this apparent hounding by the current administration, Duke wishes it
nothing less than goodwill because their progress and success would
translate to the people of the state and the country in general,” the
statement read.

Last Saturday, the
former governor told some journalists in his house that he was yet to
pitch tent with any political party, and denied reports linking him
with the Labour Party [LP].

He promised to
contest the 2011 presidential election, but added that he was taking
his time to know which party to align with, as he was being courted by
several political parties across the country.

Former
commissioners of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)
have a case to answer over financial misappropriation and abuse of
office, an Abuja High Court has ruled.

The seven former
commissioners: Ransome Owan, Abdul-Rahman Ado, Onwuameze Iloeje,
Muhammed Alimi-Rasaq, Muhammed Baba Gana Bunu, Abimbola Odubiyi, and
Grace Eyoma are facing an 85-count charge of criminal conspiracy,
breach of trust, and inflation of salaries and allowances to the tune
of three billion naira.

Counsel to two of
the accused persons, Tunji Abayomi, on Friday, February 12, 2010, had
filed an application seeking to quash the charges before the accused
took their plea. Mr. Abayomi argued that the charges were based on the
penal code, which the EFCC was not legally permitted to do; and that
the EFCC commenced its investigations based on a frivolous and forged
petition by a non-existent person called Mohammed Abimbola Iloeje.

The High Court
judge, Salisu Garba, in dismissing the application yesterday, ruled
that the EFCC, based on Section 7(2) of the EFCC Act, can prosecute
financial crimes using any Nigerian law, and that the EFCC could
investigate any crime based on an anonymous petition, or on no petition
at all.

Reacting to the
ruling, the representative of Godwin Obla, counsel to the EFCC, stated
that “we are pleased with the ruling; we believe that we have a case.
At least let the case go on, let the judge determine the matter either
for or against.”

Mr. Garba, after
consultation between the various counsels, adjourned the case to July
14, 2010, when the accused would take their plea as to whether they are
guilty of the charges or not.

The seven
commissioners were suspended from office by late President Umaru
Yar’Adua, based on the recommendations of the EFCC and Lanre Babalola,
the former Minister of Power.

Farida Waziri, the
EFCC chairman, had written to then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and
Mr. Babalola that “on 2nd of June 2008, one Mohammed Abimbola Iloeje on
behalf of some concerned staff of NERC, petitioned the EFCC over the
financial misconduct of the chairman and commissioners of the Nigeria
Electricity Regulatory Commission.”

NEXT on Sunday, in an earlier edition, detailed how the control of
the N32 billion, released by the Federal Government as part of the
subsidy for the multiyear tariff order (MYTO) to subsidise electricity
tariff for Nigerians, caused a disagreement between the commissioners
and Mr. Babalola, leading to their investigation and subsequent
prosecution.

Nigeria will
develop more rapidly if our leaders appoint the right people to
political offices, a former presidential aspirant and leader of mega
party, Pat Utomi said yesterday in Lagos.

Receiving an award
of excellence from the Igbo Studies Association of the United States of
America in his office yesterday, Mr. Utomi recalled how late president
Umar Yar’Adua shunned his advice to appoint credible and resourceful
people into his cabinet.

“He actually asked
me to send him a list of such people. I did, but nothing happened when
he reshuffled his cabinet,” he said. “Let me tell you a private
conversation that I had with President Yar’Adua in March last year. He
invited me to come and give my input, my advice on certain things and I
basically said to him, you know, what you need is to find seven to ten
capable people who have commitment. They are not hungry, they are not
looking to award contract, they just want a place in history.

People who have knowledge, they have a sense of service and they are passionate about the area you assigned them.

“Give them the
critical drivers ministry, then you can give whatever’s remaining to
the PDP. And let the world know that this seven to ten people have your
ears and that you are supportive of the thrust of their activities and
this country will be transformed in a few short years.”

Mr. Utomi charged
political office holders in the country to see the opportunity to serve
as sacred means towards the achievement of a future for the country.
According to him, Nigeria has relegated its brightest to the background
and installed the greedy ones at its helms.

Wanted INEC chairman

Mr. Utomi also
said that though appointing an INEC chairman is almost like appointing
any political office holder, two important things should be considered.
“If you have capacity, character, then with a job like INEC, you need
distance to the contesting force,” he said. “When there has not been
enough distance, then you take somebody who is close to AC or you take
somebody who is close to PDP. Even if the person does a good job there
would be the appearance of closeness and that is enough to create a
lot.”

He said there is
nothing more important than a sense of where you are going. “You have a
sense of where you are going and you then find the most capable people
relative to the sense of where you are going. The truth of the matter
is that they will keep a chord that will lead to rapid transformation.”

The representative
of the Igbo Studies Association, Williams Obiozor, an assistant
Professor at the University of Bloomsburg, said Mr. Utomi has
consistently partaken in the activities of Nigerians in Diaspora and
has remained a source of inspiration to members of the group.

“We brought the
award to Nigeria for him because he could not wait to receive his
plaque after he delivered a lecture during our last annual conference
in United States,” he said.

Authorities of the
Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Louis Edet House, Abuja, have denied
reports of grumbles by some officers over the restoration of the rank
to the former chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu.

A newspaper had, on
Tuesday, speculated about the existence of a discontent in the force
with regard to the restoration of police rank and subsequent retirement
of Mr. Ribadu, who was promoted over two ranks to the position of
Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) by the administration of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Police Service
Commission subsequently demoted Mr. Ribadu to the rank of Deputy
Commissioner (DC), after criticising the rapid promotion during the
heat of the war orchestrated against Mr. Ribadu by the administration
of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Responding to the
report in an interview with NEXT, the Deputy Force Public Relations
Officer, Yemi Ajayi, described it as a figment of the reporter’s
imagination that is untrue of the present reality in the police.

“It is not to the
knowledge of the Nigeria Police Force leadership that there is a rumble
over anything, whatsoever,” Mr Ajayi said.

“It is not true.
Such a conclusion must have originated from the reporter’s imagination.
The Nigeria Police Force is a disciplined organisation of credible and
patriotic personnel. If any police personnel is not satisfied over the
way anything is being done in the force, there are ways and means of
registering his or her dissatisfaction within legal provisions made for
such reaction instead of grumbling.”

According to the
report, some unnamed officers of the force were reported to be
grumbling over the restoration of the rank of Mr. Ribadu who, according
to the Minister of Police Affairs, had appealed for a fair and just
review of his case in a letter to the Police Service Commission.

Furthermore, the
report persuasively argued that Ribadu’s case should not have been
reviewed justly, especially as it did not include the cases of the
other police officers who were demoted along with Ribadu.

Contrary to the
argument of the report, however, a civil society group, Journalists for
Social Justice, has hailed the government of President Goodluck
Jonathan for restoring Mr. Ribadu’s rank.

Restore other officers’ ranks

In a statement
signed by one Benedict Ahanonu and made available to our correspondent
in Abuja, the group also implored Mr. Jonathan to reconsider the plight
of the remaining officers who were not included in the PSC rank
restoration.

“(T)he
administrative reversal of that demoralising exercise is one of the
populist decisions that will endear the government of Goodluck Jonathan
to the masses. It will also go a long way in showcasing the
administration and the PSC leadership as one that value superior
reasoning, justice and fairness, and respects public opinion,” the
group said.

“Unfortunately,
while we celebrate this courageous act by the Presidency and the Police
Service Commission, we must not forget that aside of Ribadu, about
three hundred other officers demoted along with him on the same faulty
logic are still in police service. Consequently, to completely reverse
this act of injustice and close this sordid chapter in the history of
the Nigeria Police, our amiable President and the Police Service
Commission should be magnanimous and fair enough to also restore the
ranks of those other officers who were demoted along with Ribadu.”

The group also
absolved Mr. Obasanjo of any wrong doing in approving the rapid
promotion of the gallant officers, in the first place, arguing that the
former president did so in his powers under the Constitution as head of
Police Council, and in his powers under Section 6 (1) (g) and Section
19 of the Police Service Commission Act 2001, empowering the president
on general directives to the commission in relation to its functions
with which the commission must comply.