Olunloyo and the `Wild, Wild West- By Fani-Kayode

Fani Kayode

In an interview with a newspaper on November 30, 2013, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, a great nationalist, a two-time former Commisioner of Education of the old Western Region, a former Governor of Oyo State, one of our few remaining elderstatesman and a man that played a prominent role in the politics of both the First and Second republics, said the following:

12 TIPS TO MAKE YOUR PHONE BATTERY LAST LONGER

Here are some Tips on saving your battery life:

• Don't wait to charge : Recharging when the phone is almost dead too often will make the battery do more work and lower its expectancy. Charge when your phone is 40% low. Don't wait when its just 10% or below.
• Remove the phone from Vibration mode: It takes more energy for the phone to vibrate than to ring.
• Kill Unnecessary Apps: Apps running in the background of your phone will make it run out of juice faster. Shut down all the apps you don't need to keep it going a little longer.

A time to think:Femi Fani-Kayode

 

Other than the usual congratulations, platitudes, expressions of joy and offerings of thanks to God I believe that as we celebrate our nation’s 53rd independence anniversary it is time for us to bare our minds in a candid and frank manner and to really sit down and think.

Saving The Comatose Nigeria: An Antidote for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

Mr President, let’s be clear in advance that the antidote I here-later prescribe will not secure you a return ticket back to the Aso-Rock Villa by 2015. It will not! So at this point you can make the decision to stop reading this open letter because it isn’t what any incumbent African president would want to hear. However, you still have the rare privilege to right the wrong while you lay a fresh foundation for a true democracy and government even as you write your name in gold in the historical pages of Nigeria’s history.

Nigeria: To break or not to break- Fani Kayode

Fani-Kayode

Today a great protest  is taking place in the Catallan region of  Spain. According to the polls, 52 per cent of the people from that region wish to break off from Spain and to establish a new European sovereign state.

Beauty and the bleach in deadly romance-Sola Ogundipe

You dey bleach O, you dey bleach, yellow fever. You dey bleach O, you dey bleach, yellow fever…” This was the way the late Afrobeat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti expressed his own reservation about African women, particularly Nigerian women, who indulge in the controversial habit of skin bleaching.Fanta face, Coca-Cola body”, is one derogatory expression often used to describe the habitual skin bleaching individual.  Today, maintaining lighter skin tone has more or less become the norm for the average Nigerian woman. From Lagos to Maiduguri and Sokoto to Port Harcourt, the story is the same.

Further Ethno-Religious Polarization of Nigeria by the PDP Split By Sancho Oprah

The New PDP faction formed as a result of the August 31^st mini convention of PDP by disgruntled political heavy weights from the north led by Atiku Abubakar a former Vice president of Nigeria, 7 governors mainly from the north and a former acting national chairman of PDP  Abubakar Kawu Baraje have further deepened the ethnic-religious divide among Nigerians.

Health Bill Will Make Nigeria Health Tourism Centre

• Urges Nigerians to pressure N'Assembly on passage

 By Patrick Ugeh

The Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC) has said the passage of the National Health Bill (NHB), which has failed to see the light of day since 2006, would not only be able to meet the health needs of the country but also become a hub of health tourism.

That way, the current practice of many Nigerians going abroad for medical treatment would be drastically reduced if not reversed, thus saving the billions of naira lost in foreign exchange annually.

THE BITTER TRUTH ABOUT THE IGBO - By Femi-Fani Kayode

Always a pleasure reading Chief's Articles; thought I should share with you some of his thoughts from his facebook page on the on-going debate about Lagos.

Permit me to make my second and final contribution to the raging debate about Lagos, who owns it and the seemingly endless tensions that exist between the igbo and the yoruba. It is amazing how one or two of the numerous nationalities that make up Nigeria secretly wish that they were yoruba and consistently lay claim to Lagos as being partly theirs. Have they forgotten where they came from? I have never heard of a yoruba wanting to give the impression to the world that he is an igbo, an ijaw, an efik or a hausa-fulani or claiming that he is a co-owner of Port Harcourt, Enugu, Calabar, Kano or Kaduna. Yet more often than not some of those that are not of yoruba extraction but that have lived in Lagos for some part of their lives have tried to claim that they are bona fide Lagosians and honorary members of the yoruba race. Clearly it is time for us to answer the nationality question.

APGA threatens to Sue APC, Fashola for N2bn

The All Progressive Grand Alliance has  threatened to sue the newly-registered All Progressives Congress and the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde  Fashola (SAN),  for  listing it in an advertorial as one of the four parties that merged to form the new party.

The National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, stated this  on Thursday just as  the African Peoples Congress  described  the recognition of  the APC by INEC   as   “a black market registration.”

Umeh, at a news conference in Abuja,  gave Fashola seven days’ ultimatum within which to publish a retraction in  the newspapers  where he published the  advertorial congratulating the APC  for a successful registration.

He said,” Coming from a senior lawyer, we are sure that the governor knows the obvious implications of this advertorial which we detest.  It is a mischief contrived to deceive all our teaming supporters in Nigeria and worldwide that APGA has now become part of the APC. Governor Fashola cannot claim not to know that APGA never submitted itself to any merger talks with the three parties(Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change and All Nigeria Peoples Party) and other interest groups that came together to form the APC.

“He  is  aware that at no time did any APGA official appear in any meeting where merger talks were held. He is also aware that APGA leadership has consistently made it clear to Nigerians that it  was never part of the merger talks and will never be a part of it.

“Surprisingly this (Thursday) morning,  our party’s  logo was so fraudulently inserted in an advertorial with the intention to deceive all our supporters.”

Umeh recalled that INEC while announcing the registration of the APC named the parties that merged  as  the CPC, the ANPP and the ACN, adding that the commission did not say it was withdrawing the certificate of APGA, unlike the other three parties.

Umeh said, “How could a SAN,  who is also a governor of a state go and insert an APGA logo in a publication.  We want to make it abundantly clear that this was a clearly orchestrated, premeditated action by Governor Fashola  to deceive supporters of APGA.  On behalf of our party,  we are calling on Governor Fashola to publish a retraction of the advertorial removing APGA logo in all the newspapers that our logo appeared today(Thursday) within seven days.

“In addition to our demands for retraction of the publication, we are also referring the matter to our lawyers to formally write Governor Fashola to pay us N2bn in damages or face legal action.

“While we congratulate  the APC for realising its dream of becoming a mega party called APC, fraudulently using APGA logo will not be accepted by our party. Politics of confusion must be avoided in Nigeria.  Anybody can meet to do whatever he likes but it must be within the law. The process of merging of political parties is clearly known to everybody.

“ACN had its convention where they approved that they would become part of  the APC. ANPP had a convention where its members also approved that they would become part of  the APC;  the same with the CPC.  But APGA was not known to have organised  any convention to approve joining  the APC.”

The APGA chairman added another dimension to the controversy over the  dumping of over 70 destitute persons in Onitsha, saying it was  an  attempt by the APC to plan electoral malpractice during   election in Anambra State.

He warned  that any attempt to use the destitute whom he claimed were non-Nigerians to  perpetuate electoral malpractice in the state   would be resisted.

Also in Abuja, one of the groups that constituted a stumbling block to the registration of the APC,  the African Peoples Congress,  accused  INEC  of favouritism.

Vowing not to relinquish the  use of APC  as part of its logo, it said the true ownership  of the  acronym was still being contested in the court.

The National Chairman of the  group, Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu, insisted at  a news conference  that his  members were the first to apply to INEC  for  registration using the  acronym.

Ikeagwuonu said, “The decision of INEC to reject our application for registration was baseless in view of the fact that we complied with the provisions of the law and provided them with the address of our national officers.”

 “At the time INEC registered the   APC, the acronym, APC,  was not available and up till now, it is  still not available as we, the original owners, are still pursuing the last phase of our registration with the ongoing judicial review which the court will soon rule on.”

He warned that when the court rules in favour of the African Peoples Congress, Jega “would have led Nigerians into an avoidable political landmine and a monstrous political disaster that would reverberate in Nigeria’s political history for years to come.”

But reacting to the allegations, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said Jega would not  join issues with Ikeagwuonu on  a matter that is in court.

He said, “My response is that INEC is reluctant to join issues with him in matters that are already before the court. INEC respects the court and because the matter is already in court, it will be very improper to take up issues in the public. We look forward to the processes in the court.”

Meanwhile, two  prominent legal practitioners,  Femi Falana (SAN) and Fred Agbaje,  have said that INEC deserved  no commendation for registering the APC.

Is Nigeria ready for genetically modified foods?

Greg Odogwu (gregodogwu@yahoo.com )

The ongoing moves by the Federal Government to introduce Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs as they are popularly called, into the Nigerian society have been a subject of heated hullabaloo. A GMO is a biological constitution which has received genetic material from another, resulting in a permanent change in one or more of its characteristics; it is used in food production to improve yield, nutrients or strengthen resistance to diseases and pests. Various interests ranging from environmentalists to armchair conspiracy theorists have raised concerns that giving Nigerians 

Genetically Modified Foods to consume is tantamount to shoving poison pills down their throats while destroying their environment. On the other hand, the government is saying that it will usher in a new era in the deployment of biotechnology to boost food production, ensure food security and reduce the high incidence of food importation.

Nigeria-No To Gay Diplomats

THE federal government has responded with near adequate conviction, the pressure by Western countries to impose the perverted culture of legalising homosexual lifestyles in Nigeria.

The two arms of the National Assembly have taken uncompromising stands, making a law prescribing a fourteen-year jail term for people caught, tried and sentenced for practising homosexual acts in Nigeria. Our President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has also made it clear that he would align with the feelings of the Nigerian people and its supreme legislature in ensuring that the law is implemented.

The Royal Baby and the Rest of Us

dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, many of our citizens missed some of the great lessons to be learnt from the circumstances surrounding the birth of Prince George in London earlier this week. While the whole world was agog with the news, ours was the typical, and so what, fashion. A friend was so infuriated about the reticent Nigerian attitude that an argument soon ensued between us. Let me quickly warn that this guy is practically a white man in Black skin. We’ve had this running battle for years and all efforts to change his theory that ours is an accursed race have failed.

Her Excellency, Madam President

by Chido Onumah (conumah@hotmail.com)

If there was any doubt that she is in charge of the country, it was dispelled last week with what could easily pass as a “presidential address” by Her Excellency, Dame (Dr.) Patience Faka Jonathan.

I take issue with the way the First Lady of the Federal Republic has carried herself since a combination of good luck and political intrigue brought her to power as First Lady three years ago.

From being the inconspicuous wife of a vice-president whose main job was not remarkable, Mrs. Jonathan has grown to the most powerful First Lady in the history of Nigeria and she is blithely usurping the power of the President.

Girls Not Brides: Sen. Yerima’s School of Thought

“I can give my daughter out at the age of 6”, a statement made by a Nigerian lawmaker, Sen. Sani Yerima from Zamfara State. This was a man that influenced the introduction of Sharia law into Nigeria in 2000, which caused many their lives, if not for the intervention of God.

‘Nigeria has many problems but early marriage is not one of them. In fact, early marriage is the solution to about half of the problems. For those who wonder if I can give my daughter(s) out in marriage at the age of 9 or 13, I tell you most honestly, I can give her out at the age of 6 if I want to and it is not your business. In Islam, marriage is not only about sex, it is about family and helping one another in achieving their goals, which is the attainment of Paradise. In Islam, a girl can be given out in marriage as early as 6 years old, but consummation of the marriage can only be done when the girl becomes physically mature and she gives her consent to it because unlike English law, it is not permissible for a man to rape his wife in Sharia law. So, what can anybody tell me?

10 Royal Baby Traditions To Know

By SYLVIA HUI

LONDON — Prince William and Kate are seen as the new face of a centuries-old institution, keeping the best of traditions while moving forward with the times. Here are 10 things to know about the royal baby in relation to royal births of the past:

Nigerian lawmakers top salaries chart

Nigeria Senate

 
Written by Habeeb I. Pindiga

...beat MPs in US, Britain, S/Africa, Brazil, Japan

Nigerian federal legislators receive much higher salaries than their counterparts in wealthier countries and key developing nations, according to an analysis published by the Economist magazine.

A Nigerian legislator receives an annual salary of about $189,000, equivalent of N30 million, which is 116 times the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per person, says the publication which was posted on the magazine’s website on Friday.

The figures put salaries collected by Nigerian senators and members of the House of Representatives way ahead of those received by fellow parliamentarians in the 29 countries whose data was analysed by the Economist.

Senator Yerima and Constitutional Review – By Maryam Uwais

Once again, Senator Yerima is in the news, claiming Islam as the basis for his argument that a girl automatically transforms into an adult of ‘full age’ once she is married, with the attendant responsibilities that relate to the renunciation of citizenship, irrespective of her age or mental capacity. Because the Senator from Zamfara State has gone public with his personal comprehension of the Shari’a, it has become necessary to respond publicly to his utterances.

It should be pointed out, however, that several media reports on the constitutional review debate at the Senate give the impression that underage marriage has been endorsed by the Senate Chambers. Facts are that S.29 of the 1979 Constitution permits a Nigerian citizen of ‘full age’ to renounce his or her citizenship by declaration in a prescribed manner, for which purpose ‘full age’ was stated to be 18 years and above. The subsection also provides that, ‘any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age’. In its current efforts to review the Constitution, the Senate Committee had determined that the particular subsection should be deleted, basically because citizenship has no bearing on gender, as for example, voting, the right to drive a car, possess a weapon or such similar social interactions that are evolving or are germane to a democratic Nation. Senator Yerima, however, vehemently argued (and lobbied) against the removal of the clause, on the grounds that deleting that clause was against (his understanding of) Islam. In his understanding, a girl, once married, automatically assumes the full mental capacity and responsibility to consciously make the prescribed declaration of renouncing her citizenship.

Democracy In Search of Democrats By Dele Momodu

dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, there is no place where democracy is desperately seeking and pleading for attention than our dear country. I will explain and demonstrate what I mean in a jiffy. Nigerians love the good things of life but oftentimes hate the process needed to attain them. We are a nation of miracle-seekers; the reason religion is very attractive here without commensurate piety and Godliness. A man who has just stolen his latest billions is not ashamed to run to his church and Pastor to offer a tithe on his loot. You recognise the important folks in your church as they scramble to take direct positions in front of the pew. Nowhere is ever too sacred for these guys. Their security goons with fully loaded guns often block the front, back and side views of the hapless congregation. This show of pump and power has become a veritable part of the Nigerian man’s appurtenances of office.

‘Biotechnology, must for food security in Nigeria’

BY Emma Elebeke

…President asked to sign Biosafety bill into law
Although President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to vet the long awaited biosafety bill as passed by the National Assembly before he could sign it into law, participants at the 10th anniversary of African Agricultural Technology Foundation, AATF seminar say Nigeria’s dream of achieving food sufficiency in 2015 will be a mirage, unless the country adopts biotechnology in the agric sector.

To achieve these goals, they called on the President not to further delay signing into law the biosafety bill currently before him, which they believe would open a new vista for massive production of food for local consumption and export.

Agricultural biotechnology is the application of technology to agriculture to make, modify or improve on a product for the benefit of mankind.

When the bill is signed into law, it is expected that Nigeria with vast arable land and so many agricultural potentials would benefit more, as it would make a significant economic impact on the populace by contributing immensely to job creation, wealth creation, eradication of hunger and malnutrition.