Earlyface

The title of this piece might sound funny but
I mean no fun at all. Given our present
condition in Nigeria, the truth must be told
no matter how bitter it tastes and someone
must be mad enough to give it his/her voice.
While my heart bleeds and I sympathise with
the families of the 23 job seekers who lost
their lives in the recent immigration
recruitment exercise, I still feel strongly that
no lesson has been learnt.
The NIS recruitment attracted the attention
of young Nigerians nationwide more than
any other social, political, economic,
religious or regional functions ever did; this
premised on the fact that a common
challenge that regards none of our
differences and affiliations as Nigerians is
unemployment. But we are yet to face the
reality as a nation as we have resolved to
fold our arms and say God go judge, when
we are supposed to hold our leaders’ legs to
the fire. I submit to us that before God
judges, many Nigerians must have burnt to
cinders in the hell our myopic and
kleptomaniac leaders have turned our
country to.
God has been so gracious and good to
Nigeria. He has giving us large water bodies
to be dammed to generate power that
triggers industrialisation, sunlight for solar
energy, arable land for agriculture, iron ore,
gold, crude to meet our PMS need and
generate revenue to better the lives of
Nigerians and above all, he’s always
protected us against natural disasters. If
amidst these abundant resources we still
expect God to fix things our leaders can fix,
then, calling God to come mount a bulldozer
to fix our bad roads will not be out of place
or better still, we could invite God to contest
the 2015 presidential election.
It’s only in Nigeria that young qualified
graduates seek spiritual assistance or pay in
cash or kind to get employed, yet we’re
comfortable because we feel God will judge.
Whereas in this same country, a criminal like
Tompolo was awarded contract worth
N15billion to protect oil pipelines while
government is still on its kneels begging
Boko Haram members to cease fire and
name their price to restore peace in North-
east Nigeria. I feel we should ask, is our
government for us as democracy dictates?
Because it appears it pays to be a criminal
than to be a law abiding citizen in Nigeria.
Before now, 13,000 applicants who include
6 Ph.D, 704 Masters and over 8,460 bachelor
degree holders applied as Graduate
Executive Truck Drivers during Dangote
Group’s recruitment. One could imagine
how unemployment has severely plagued
Nigerian youths for close to 6.5 million
Nigerians to have applied for 4,500 job
vacancies. It further proves false Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iwealla’s statement at the
International Conference on Emerging
Democracies in Africa organised by the
National Institute of Legislative Studies in
Abuja that youth unemployment in Nigeria is
currently at 37%. President Jonathan must
wake up from his slumber and stop
boasting that his administration created 1.6
million jobs in 2013. We know
unemployment predates his administration
but the reason he was voted for was not to
leave things the way they were or stand as a
figurehead while corrupt men and women
milk our country dry.
The recruitment jamboree scheduled just for
formality while highly connected people
have already been employed is what I call,
NYSC: National Youth Suffering Competition.
It featured: 1. The duplicitous N1000
registration fee, exploited from about
6.5million applicants. A smart person must
be able to guess how much was stolen from
jobless youths through this. 2. Applicants’
sleepless nights browsing to access the
high-traffic site. 3. Internet charges and cost
of travelling to examination centres
nationwide. Yet, applicants were delayed
beyond the scheduled time under the hot
weather, horsewhipped and teargased in
some centres and above all, 23 good lives
were lost due to stampede, courtesy, poor
organisation.
Why are we at this again? In 2008, not less
than 20 Nigerian youths lost their lives in
similar recruitment madness. This simply
means we are twice beaten, an example of a
country that lacks direction and never learns
from experience. What is the value of the life
of a Nigerian youth to our leaders?
Whichever way we like to euphemise the
disaster or apportion blames, blaming the
stampede on impatience of the job seekers
by the Minister of Interior, Abbah Moro is
inhuman. Moro, whose children would have
gotten the same immigration jobs without
writing the exam or written same in the
comfort of their home if they found
themselves in the same tight corner job
seekers in Nigeria have found themselves,
lacks respect for human lives to have blamed
the disaster on the job seekers’ impatience.
Who else should be impatient if not the
poor, deprived and unemployed Nigerian
youths? This reveals how our leaders call us
fools despite the agony they have caused us
because we sheepishly resign to fate.
The public’s call for Moro’s head is no
answer to the unemployment question on
ground, holding our government
responsible and standing our ground until
something is done about unemployment
should be our collective agitation rather
than getting lost in the blame game. Not
even the automatic employment offers for
family members of the deceased and injured
applicants should pacify us.

Former Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia,
has said that his predecessor, Stephen
Keshi will need the experience of Ike Uche
and Peter Osaze Odemwingie at the 2014
World Cup.
Keshi has ruled out Uche from his World
Cup squad despite being the top scorer at
his club Villarreal. His reason being that
Uche is not disciplined and often negates
team tactics. On Osaze, Keshi said that
Osaze has potential to be a bad influence
on his team, even as Keshi said his mind
was not made up whether to invite him or
not.
Speaking on the issue Siasia who was
sacked after he failed to pick qualification
for the 2012 Nations Cup, stated that Keshi
might have his reasons for blacklisting
Uche, however, he found no wrong with
the player during his spell as coach.
“If Keshi says Ike Uche is stubborn or
undisciplined, well, he has played under me
before and I’ve never seen him do
something that would make me tag him
that way.
“But maybe he has done something under
Keshi that is wrong, because Keshi wouldn’t
just say something like that about a young
man doing well in his club.
“I just feel Keshi needs Ike Uche to
complement what Emmanuel Emenike does
on the pitch. Emenike can’t do it alone
upfront, but the choice is Keshi’s. Osaze has
done lots of crazy things but I think he has
calmed down down.
“If he is doing well and they have talked to
him and he decides to be responsible for
the first time in his life, then I think he
should be included in the team because we
all make mistakes,” Siasia said.

It isn’t a strange cliché that in every pond
there are small fishes just as there are big
fishes. This fact very much captures the
feeling Ghollywood actor, Majid Michel
demonstrated when he met the Kokomaster,
D’Banj at the Paul Okoye of Psquare’s
wedding last Saturday in Portharcourt.
Majid was clearly enamoured at the sight of
the top singer and couldn’t help but reach
out to have his photograph taken with the
‘Oliver Twist’ crooner. It must have been a
great day for Majid, who still took to
Instagram to graphically recounted the
encounter.
“So he was passing with his escort and I
managed to tap him on his shoulder. He
stopped, turned around, took his glasses off,
smiled, looked at me and said “Bad Guy” ….
Then he threw his left arm around my
shoulder and hence this picture…. It was my
first time meeting D’Banj… spectacular
personality..!!! That’s one of the great things
about music.
You can sing a song to 1million people and
they’ll sing it back for 1million different
reasons…’Please Sir ,I Want Some More’…
were the words of Oliver…Oliver…Oliver
Twist..?…Oliver Twist has been the subject of
numerous film and television adaptations,
and is the basis for a highly successful
musical play. This “Maestro” took this
concept and made music for every single
person that walks the planet. Two big
thumbs up for him.! What is your favourite
thing about music? You see, we rely more
on enthusiasm than actual skill. Whatever
you do, do it enthusiastically and people will
like it more. And of course you can always
see the enthusiasm D’banj emits on stage!! I
may not believe in myself, but I believe in
what I’m doing” he wrote.

Nigerian-American artiste who has been
battling Multiple Sclerosis for a while now,
Zara Gretti is dead.
After her tweet last night which read ” “I
love and hate my life”Singer Zara Gretti, real
name Margaret Mary Oluwatoyin Ejiro
Joseph passed on this morning.
The 28 year old singer had been battling
with Multiple Sclerosis ( an inflammatory
disease in which the nerve cells in the brain
and spinal cord are damaged) for over a
year now.
Zara left Nigeria for the US last year where
she has been receiving treatment for her
ailment.
She was famous for her hit track “Abokoku’.

The Ekiti State police command, on Friday,
announced the arrest of a 26-year-old man,
Oluwafemi Famuyide, found with a toy gun
and three expended ammunition at the
mega rally by the All Progressives Congress
(APC) in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, on
Thursday.
The rally, held at Oluyemi Kayode Stadium,
Ado Ekiti and had eight governors and some
other dignitaries in attendance, was the
official kick-off of the re-election campaign
of the state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi,
ahead of the June 21 governorship election
in the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix
Uyanna, who announced the arrest while
addressing newsmen, said the suspect was
intercepted by police operatives deployed to
the stadium where the APC rally was held.
According to him, Famuyide was a 300-level
Mechanical Engineering student of Ekiti State
University (EKSU), and gave his matriculation
number as 10UST0882.
Uyanna added that, “the items were
concealed by the suspect in a bag while he
was on his way to the venue of the
programme.”
In a related development, the state police
command admonished people of the state
to attend political rallies as the Explosives
and Ordinance Department (EOD) has been
activated to ensure safety at all political
rallies in the state ahead of the June 21
election.
According to the command’s Public
Relations Officer, Mr Victor Babayemi,
experts have been mandated to keep vigil at
every campaign venue to prevent people
from planting explosive devices which could
destroy lives.
Babayemi called on party leaders and their
supporters to freely attend political rallies,
saying the command had put machinery in
motion to ensure their safety.

A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday
declared that the People’s Democratic Party
lacks power to declare vacant the seats of
National Assembly members who defected
to other parties.
It, therefore, assured the affected
lawmakers that the party cannot,in anyway,
influence the court’s decision on the two
cases it filed on the issue.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a judgment,
said that the PDP and its Chairman, having
filed two separate suits,praying that the
seats of the lawmakers be declared vacant,
could no longer proceed with their threat
while the cases are pending.
The judgment was on the suit by the 79
legislators – 22 Senators and 57
Representatives- who sued the PDP and
leaders of the National Assembly over threat
by the party to declare their seats vacant.
The plaintiffs include Senator Bukola Saraki,
Danjuma Goje, Magnus Abe and Abdulahi
Adamu.
Justice Mohammed said that since the kernel
of the suit by the legislators was the threat
by the PDP to declare their seats vacant, the
threat no longer existed because the party
and its Chairman had realised they lacked
any such power and had submitted the
issue to the court for determination.
The court also held that since the issue of
whether or not the seats of the defecting
lawmakers could be declared vacant was yet
to be resolved in the pending cases, the
lawmakers’ suit was no longer necessary.
The lawmakers’ suit,it said, was now
without any life and had become an
academic exercise since the threat that
informed their filing the suit no longer
existed .
He held that the lawmakers have the
opportunity of arguing their position in the
pending cases.
He consequently struck out the suit by the
lawmakers.
The court also dismissed a motion by the
lawmakers for an indefinite adjournment, in
view of their pending application before the
Court of Appeal, Abuja.
The plaintiffs had referred a portion of the
case, concerning the interpretation of
Section 68(1)(g) to the Court of Appeal for
interpretation and urged the trial court not
to deliver its judgment, but await the
decision of the appellate court.
In dismissing the motion, Justice
Mohammed said that it was strange that a
party would seek an adjournment over 60
days after the court had concluded trial in a
case and was ready to deliver judgment.
In the two suits by the PDP, now pending
before Justice Mohammed, the party wants
the leaders of both chambers of the National
Assemblyto be compelled to declare the
seats of the defecting legislators vacant.
The first of the two marked: FHC/ABJ/
CS/65/2013 has the Senate President, David
Mark, 12 defecting Senators and the
Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) as defendants.
The second marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/57/2014
has Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, 40
defecting Reps members and INEC as
defendants.
The PDP, in the suit against Mark and others,
posed three questions for the court’s
determination:
*Whether the 1st defendant (Mark) by virtue
of the provisions of the Constitution (as
amended) does not owe a legal duty to
declare vacant the seats of the 2nd to 12
defendants, members of the Senate who
decamped to the All Progressives Congress
(APC) without satisfying the conditions
stipulated under Section 68(1)(g) of the
Constitution.
*Whether the 2nd to 12th defendants,
having been elected to the Senate on the
platform of the 1st plaintiff (PDP), can in
view of the provisions of Section 68(2) of
the Constitution and having failed to meet
the conditions laid down in Section 68(1)(g)
of the Constitution, validly decamp to the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and retain their
seats.
*Whether having regards to questions 1
and 2 above, the 13th defendant (INEC) are
not obliged to conduct elections to fill the
vacant seats in the affected senatorial
districts
They proceeded to seek the following
reliefs:
*A declaration that the 1st defendant owes
a legal duty by virtue of Section 68(2) of the
Constitution to declare vacant the seats of
the 2nd to 12th defendants, members of the
Senate who decamped to the All
Progressives Congress (APC) without
satisfying the conditions stipulated under
Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution.
*A declaration that the 2nd to 12th
defendants, having been elected to the
senate on the platform of the 1st plaintiff
cannot in view of the provisions of 68(2) of
the Constitution, and having failed to meet
the conditions laid down in Section 68(1)(g)
of the Constitution cannot validly decamp to
the All Progressives Congress (APC) and
retain their seats.
*An order declaring the seats of the 2nd to
12th defendants vacant, the 2nd to 12th
defendants having decamped to the APC
without satisfying the conditions stipulated
under Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution.
Alternatively, it is praying for an order of
mandamus directing the 1st defendant to
declare the seats of the 2nd to 12th
defendants vacant, having allegedly
decamped to the APC in the absence of any
factionalization of the 1st plaintiff”.
*An order of the court directing the 13th
defendant (INEC) to immediately organise
and conduct elections into the senatorial
districts to fill the vacant seats.

Six African countries on Friday in Tunis
signed agreements with the Food and
Agriculture Organisation as the first
beneficiaries of the Africa Solidarity Trust
Fund.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the
agreements were signed on the last day of
the 28th African Regional Conference of the
FAO, organised in collaboration with the
Government of Tunisia.
The fund, suggested in 2012 at the 27th
edition of the conference in Brazzaville,
Congo, is the first of its kind and is designed
to improve food security across the
continent.
The countries are Central African Republic,
Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Niger and South
Sudan and each of them is to receive $2m
from the fund which is domiciled in the
Rome-based FAO.
“The ASTF shows that African countries are
ready to step up and work with their
neighbours.
“This is to build a sustainable and food
secure region, and to have the future we
want,” said FAO Director-General José
Graziano da Silva at the ceremony.
Silva urged other African governments to
join the effort and contribute to the Fund.
He said the contributions would be used to
boost a wide range of projects to improve
food security, nutrition, agriculture and rural
development.
Others are policies and programmes to
increase opportunities for youth
employment, improve natural resources
management and the quality of food
production.
It also includes increasing the resilience of
livelihoods in conflict-affected areas and
fund projects.
Such projects are designed to rapidly
increase the availability of nutritious food
through cash transfers, school feeding and
school gardens.
The trust fund was originally proposed by
President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the
Republic of the Congo and inaugurated in
June 2013.
Equatorial Guinea provided the first funding
package of $30m with Angola putting in an
additional $10m.
NAN learnt that a group of civil society
organisations in the Republic of the Congo
have also added to the fund.
Cameroon has pledged an undisclosed
amount while other countries are expected
to join in the coming months.
The Assistant Director-General/Regional
Representative for Africa, Mr Bukar Tijani,
said “The political will to end hunger in the
region can be transformed into effective
action, thanks to ASTF’s initial contributors.
“This will help to increase FAO’s cooperation
with African governments and other
partners to better coordinate their efforts to
help vulnerable families improve their lives.”
Central African Republic would use the fund
to support ‘livelihoods resilience
opportunities for conflict-affected rural
communities.’
Specifically, it would assist in diversifying
agricultural production and the
development of financial services.
Similarly, the money would be committed
toward enhancing livelihoods and poverty
reduction through economic diversification
and decent work opportunities for rural
communities in Ethiopia.
Malawi is expected to commit the fund to
integrated approaches to building the
resilience of vulnerable communities to
climatic shocks in one of the most affected
districts in the country.
Mali obtained the money to improve
employment opportunities for young men
and women in rural areas, using, for
example, FAO’s Junior Farmer Field and Life
Schools to increase training in agribusiness.
In Niger, the money would support the 3N
initiative designed to improve nutrition,
support natural resources management and
increase access to financial and social
protection services.

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake has struck the
Los Angeles area of southern California, the
US Geological Survey says.
The quake happened at about 04:10 GMT
and its epicentre was 2km (1 mile) east of
the town of La Habra.
There were no immediate reports of
damage or injuries.
A 4.4-magnitude quake was felt near Los
Angeles earlier this month but caused no
major damage.

Customers and residents of the area fled
the neighborhood fearing that the
explosions, which occurred in quick
succession, were the handiwork of violent
Islamic sect, Boko Haram, and could be
bomb blasts.
An eyewitness said the first explosion
occurred at about 5:17pm when a gas
cylinder exploded.
A jeep parked close to the gas dispenser
went up in flame.
The gas retailer, who tried to recover his
money kept under one of the cylinders was
also caught in the explosion while trying to
save his earnings for the day.
“He kept it under one of the cylinders. As he
was trying to take the money, another
cylinder exploded”, the eyewitness, who did
not give his name, said.
Another eyewitness said the retailer took
delivery of the gas supply on Wednesday.
“They just supplied him the gas yesterday.
We are surprised because we still don’t
know what happened. We only heard a big
bang,” he said.
The retailer was said to be receiving
treatment at an undisclosed hospital as of
press time.
Stern looking soldiers were seen leaving the
plaza when our correspondents got there.
No one was ready to speak on the
explosions.
The bomb blast at the  Abuja shopping
plaza
File Photo: Kaduna explosion

Fresh facts emerged yesterday on
why the Presidency called for a meeting of
the National Economic Council meeting, NEC,
which was held in Abuja yesterday after
shying away from holding the meeting for
nine months.
The NEC meeting, which is being chaired by
the Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo, is a
forum where all the 36 governors and the
members of the Economic management
team meet regularly to deliberate on the
nation’s economy.
Surprisingly, the Presidency has not
summoned the meeting in the last nine
months despite renewed agitations by
aggrieved governors.
Just at the same time when the meeting of
the NEC was put in abeyance, the sweeping
allegations of missing $20 billion oil money
cropped up, forcing the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, which generates
much of the money into the Federation
Account, to explain that no money was
missing.
But the period witnessed a steady reduction
in the monthly allocations to states, forcing
most states to scale down on their projects
and services.
But Vanguard learnt from authoritative
sources that the Federal Government, which
has been finding it difficult to justify the
suspension of NEC for about a year, made a
deliberate effort to appease the governorS
by putting the sum of $1billion into the
Excess Crude Account and immediately called
a meeting of the council with a view to
sharing it to the states.
A governor, who attended the NEC meeting,
told Vanguard that they were shocked to
discover that the Federal Government had
boosted the ECA with $1billion without
indicating where the money came from.
“We were surprised to see the $1billion
credited to the ECA, which has accordingly
boosted our monthly allocations but the
source of the money has not been indicated.
“We decided to attend the NEC meeting so
as to know how the money came about and
to know why our monthly revenue has been
declining steadily over a period of nine
months.
Another governor said: “Whatever happens
we are happy that our monthly revenue
allocations has been slightly raised even
though the Federal Government has not
bothered to tell us why our allocations were
slashed for nine months and where it is
suddenly raising money to beef up our
allocations.
At the meeting of the Nigeria Governors’
Forum in Abuja last month, the governors
chided the Federal Government for not
calling the NEC meeting for many months
and for suspending Sanusi Lamido Sanusi,
as the CBN governor, alleging that the action
was to distract attention from the ‘missing $
20 billion’, which the sacked governor had
accused the NNPC of not remitting to the
national coffers.
One governor confirmed yesterday that the
allocations to his state, which had been
slashed by billions of Naira in the last eight
months, has now been restored by the
federal authorities.
“If they claim money is not being kept away
from the federation account, where did they
suddenly get the $1billion into the ECA; we
just want an answer’” the source said.

vicolo Welcome...wats ur Prob?

Perfectionism. In my personal opinion,
it’s both an asset and a weakness. It’s
good because it helps you have
standards in everything you do. It helps
you to strive t be your best. But it’s bad
because sometimes it causes you to take
things a little too far and feel awful if
you don’t do something the exact way
you thought you would. Regardless of all
the good things it can bring to your life,
perfectionism can really wreak havoc on
your dating life. Here are 7 ways being a
perfectionist might be ruining romance
for you (and of course a couple of tips
on how to prevent it).
It’s making you too picky
Standards are good in dating. In fact,
they are mandatory. You should never
allow yourself to be treated badly or
settle for less than you deserve. But,
often times, perfectionists take
standards a little too far. If you’re
looking for someone who’s perfect,
you’ll never find it. People aren’t perfect.
Neither are relationships. So, you might
be casting someone aside for really silly
reasons. Try not to limit your list to 101
things, instead just choose a few or
throw out the list altogether.
Stress is part of your daily routine
We can’t always be carefree, but that
doesn’t mean we have to worry about
every single little thing either. And when
you’re all caught up in how perfect
everything needs to be that’s exactly
what you’re doing- stressing about
everything. You’ll never just get caught
up in the moment and take in all the
magic of a new budding romance (or
love in general). Love is a beautiful thing.
Let it be.
The word should is a regular part of
your vocabulary
Guilty as charged (it’s actually one thing
I’m working on this year). And while
saying things like “I should exercise
more” or “I shouldn’t eat four more
pieces of cake” are probably OK for you,
all the shoulds in dating are just plain
awful. The fact is, there are no shoulds
in dating. It is what it is and you have to
accept whatever that is.
You pick at…everything
You likely pick apart yourself, your
boyfriend or the new guy you just met,
and your relationship as a whole. You
name it and you can pick it apart. And
that’s just not healthy. You’ll end up
turning little issues into much bigger
ones and not ever appreciating
something for how simple and
wonderful it is. Instead, embrace all that
wonderfulness.
The little bumps in the road seem like
failure
You might meet the perfect man for you,
but instead of working at the
relationship you’ll end it when things get
rocky. Relationships are rocky and there
will be some bumps along the way, but
that doesn’t mean things aren’t working.
When you’re a perfectionist, you tend to
view the difficulties as failure when
really it’s just the natural progression of
things. So relax a little. Chances are,
you’re doing just fine.
The fun will start to fade
Perfectionists don’t limit standards just
to themselves. Everything (and I do
mean everything) must be perfect. Your
significant other, your house, your car,
Monday night’s dinner. And when it isn’t
that way it makes you feel like a failure
and it totally deflates your mood. This
isn’t fun for anyone involved. And what’s
the point of life and love if you can’t
have fun? Sometimes dinner will burn,
but you can order takeout. Your house
might get messy, but you can clean it up
before the in-laws come to visit. It’s OK.
Really.