Wenger - Cesc's decision has clear the air (football)

The decision of Cesc Fabregas to stay at Arsenal is a ‘huge lift for everyone', according to Arsène Wenger

On Thursday, the Spanish midfielder trained with his club-mates for the first time since winning the World Cup in July. A day later, he declared his intention to stay at Emirates Stadium despite intense interest from Barcelona. Later that same day in Poland, Wenger outlined the importance of that decision.

"He is our captain, he is our leader," said the Frenchman ahead of Saturday's friendly at Legia Warsaw.

"You could see yesterday in the training session how much a lift it is for everybody who loves Arsenal. When I was at the World Cup I met so many people in South Africa and the first thing I heard was ‘don't let Fabregas go'. That means it is a huge lift for everybody who loves the Club.

"The situation is as it is," Wenger added. "I believe it is important in my job that I do not come out with private conversations I have with the players. That would be unfair.
"But Cesc has come out today to clear the air. It was very important for us that Cesc did that clearly and that we can move on from now.
"We are one week away from the start of the season so just we want to be focused and settled now."
Cesc Fabregas Statement
Cesc Fabregas has today released the following statement:

"Firstly I would like to apologise to all the Arsenal fans for not speaking sooner about my future but I have not known what I was going to do until this moment.
"I cannot deny that joining a club like Barcelona was not an attractive move for me. This was the club where I learnt my football, it is my home town where my friends and family are and a club where I have always dreamed of playing. There are not many players in this world who would not want to play for Barcelona.

"I have had many conversations with Arsène Wenger both in person and over the phone over the last few months and although the content of those conversations will remain private, the conclusion is that Barcelona have had two formal offers rejected by Arsenal.

"I am a professional and I fully understand that it is Arsenal's prerogative not to sell me.
"I owe a lot to the Club, manager and the fans and I will respect their decision and will now concentrate on the new season ahead with Arsenal.

"I can assure all the fans that now the negotiations have ended I will be 100 percent focused on playing for Arsenal.
"I am an Arsenal player and as soon as I step out on to the pitch, that is the only club I will be thinking about.
"I am looking forward to the start of the season and putting this speculation behind me."

Theo Walcott has vowed to “get out there and show people what he can do” this season.

By his own admission the Arsenal striker suffered the biggest disappointment of his career over the summer when he was omitted from England’s squad for the World Cup.
After a head-clearing holiday in America and a solid pre-season, the 21-year-old is now raring to go again. And, apart from missing out on South Africa, Walcott is also motivated by a stop-start campaign in 2009/10.
It’s all going well, I’m all smiles,” he said.

“The full pre-season will definitely help. It was an on-off season last season and it’s difficult to come back from that. I would just get back and I’d get another injury.

“I was in double figures last season with injuries. Maybe last year I was thinking about it too much and I was being a bit too timid in games because I was thinking about injury. This year I’m just going to get out there and show people what I can do. It’s all I can do really.
“Not making the World Cup this year and not playing the last one, even though I didn’t deserve to be there, it’s one of those things - what can I do to improve myself to be there next time?
“There are always disappointments in football, this was my biggest one yet.

“But when I found out about not making the England squad, the Arsenal players were really supportive. The first player I had a text from was Nicholas Bendtner and the manager was very supportive too.

“I was obviously very disappointed not to have made it, but now for the first time in a long time,
I have been able to have a rest and a proper pre-season.
“I am really excited about the season ahead – we were pleased with winning the Emirates Cup last weekend and it’s good to see players like Jack Wilshere coming through and playing so well. It is also exciting to see new players like Marouane Chamakh joining the squad.”
Capello’s decision came as a massive surprise and dominated the back pages for days.

“I had the day off so I was on the golf course and I got the phone call,” said Walcott. "I actually missed Mr Capello’s phone call. But I had a voicemail and I had to phone him back.
“He just said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m not going to bring you to South Africa, but I’ll see you in 2012 for the Euros.’
“I didn’t know what to say at all. He said, ‘have a good break and good luck. I’ll see you soon’. I wished him all the best.
“Obviously I was disappointed but I wanted the lads to do well because I am an England fan as well. I said good luck and that was it.
“I will always respect the manager’s decision. If the boss at Arsenal leaves me out of a game, I am always disappointed and I show that. You can’t be happy when you are not there. I always want to be there, no matter what happens.
“Actually, I did have a tear to be fair with my cousin and my mate.
“Then I played the best golf ever.”
Now, Walcott’s intention is to follow suit for his football club this season.

Day Nigerians in the Diaspora stunned Bankole

SPEAKER Dimeji Bankole had a tough time with Nigerians in the Diaspora, who came from China, United Kingdom, United States and Singapore. ONYEDI OJIABOR reports the stormy session

ABOUT 50 of them came from America, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China and some African countries under the aegis of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation on a courtesy visit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole.
The July 29 meeting was not however, the usual favour-seeking courtesy visit Nigerians are used to; neither was it organised to give a thump-up to the Speaker for doing a good job.

It was, simply put, a forum for the foreign-based Nigerians, to express misgivings about the spate of corruption allegations in the country. A woman asked why Bankole is still retaining his seat when he is facing allegations of corruption. Bankole struggled not to lose his cool in the face of the tricky question.
Ms. Stella Okereke, a Nigerian resident in America, looked Bankole in the eye and threw the bombshell to the discomfort of not only Bankole but other members of the House. She demanded to know why Bankole had continued to keep his seat when a former speaker of the House, Patricia Etteh, was forced to vacate office for a similar accusation.
Okereke was not done yet. The woman said she watched the events of June 22, 2010, in the House, when 11 lawmakers were suspended for their role in the call for Bankole to step down over corruption allegations.
Her words: “When Patricia Etteh was accused of committing crime against the House, it didn’t take a long while before you people pushed her out. Since what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, we are asking why was Etteh punished when we are having the same thing now. Why are you still retaining your seat when you played a leading role to push Etteh out on allegation of corruption.”

The question might have underscored the depth of concern by Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora over rising cases of corruption in country.

Apart from Okereke, others who spoke at the event organised by the Abike Dabiri-Erewa-led House Committee on Diaspora were Mr. Akin Awofolaji, Mr. Ganiyu Dada and Mr. Jonathan Obaje.
While some members of the group demanded a conclusive investigation of all corruption allegations involving members of the National Assembly others insinuated that Nigerian laws appeared to respect some highly-placed persons, a reason probe into cases involving them were always open ended.

One of them cited the N9 billion capital vote crisis in the House, which led to the suspension of 11 members for their leading role in the issue. The group was also not comfortable with the open display of “excessive wealth by Nigerian politicians often beamed to the outside world by international media networks.
Bankole had initially attempted to rush the programme due to his other engagements, especially the inauguration of the controversial Ota Bridge . But he thought otherwise, apparently due to the barrage of questions directed at him.
He first re-directed the questions, especially Okereke’s query to the chairman, House committee on Ethics and Privileges, Sani Sale Minjibir, whose committee is charged with the responsibility of the House’s self-scrutiny. Minjibir was quick to say that Etteh’s case and the allegation of misuse of N9 billion capital vote were not similar. He said a probe committee, which he was a member of, found Etteh guilty of not following due process.
He said: “The conclusion we reached, which has stood the test of time and adjudged alright by my colleagues, established that the former speaker was the person who was driving the procedures and in all the procedures, due process was not followed.”
Minjibir juxtaposed Etteh’s case with the allegation of mismanagement of N9billion spearheaded by Dino Melaye and said, “When we come to the Melaye case, we must always understand that until proven guilty, one is still innocent. As the ethics committee chairman, I have not taken sides with any party. I don’t attend meetings of any of the sides, and my colleagues know that, as I will do justice.”
He continued: “The Melaye’s case pains me. The rule is that members exhaust internal mechanism dictated by the House rule before anything, but these people did not. However, we are already investigating the issue and there is the presumption of innocence until guilt is established.”
The Kano State born lawmaker added, “I am not anybody’s boy; I will do my work thoroughly.” Whatever that means.
Bankole took over even before Minjibir hanged the microphone and admitted that the House position on Etteh was not a judicial indictment. “I will be as frank as possible” he said.
He added, “For the records, Etteh was never indicted by any court, and was not impeached and remains a former Speaker.” He however pooh-poohed over the allegation of misuse of N9billion capital vote because “the matter is already before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission” but chose to dwell on the N2.3 billion Peugeot car scandal.
Bankole did not only say that the lawmakers who raised the issue forged the Peugeot price list to give a misleading impression of him, but added that it is curious that the same group of legislators who were behind the car scam allegation made the N9billion allegation.
He said Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria price list of 2006 was superimposed on the 2007 price list, so as to give the public the erroneous impression that the prices were tampered with. “They did not know that Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited, which supplied the cars, had their official price list.
“PAN was invited and they came with the actual prices of the cars.
“Why would a member of the House go to the extent of forging documents just to accuse Dimeji Bankole?” he wondered.
“And then the issue of payment into Zenith Bank; we don’t even have an account with Zenith Bank,” he said. The speaker wondered why allegations of corrupt practices spring up whenever the House took decision to probe alleged fraud like the N64 billion airport runway project and the N236 billion Abuja expressway contracts. The visitors, Bankole said, should be mindful of distortions and misinformation about the goings-on in Nigeria , orchestrated to paint the House black.
The speaker said there was no doubt that certain forces who felt threatened by some high profile investigations conducted by the House were persecuting him.
He cited, for instance, that the House under him took steps to stop abuse of public funds and ensured that funds appropriated to projects were accounted for. He specifically mentioned the controversial $16billion power sector probe in 2008, which he said, touched on the toes of some powerful and influential Nigerians and asked “did you expect these people to be happy or sit down and watch?
“Why are these allegations coming up each time we are about to conduct a major probe?” he reiterated rhetorically. Bankole also sought to know why issues were always made out of how much the National Assembly spent and not the “positive outcome” of the work of the legislature. According to him, out of a budget of N4.6trillion passed this year, only about N60bn or 1.3 per cent of it was earmarked for the services of the House.
“If you spend 1.3 per cent to ask questions on how the remaining 98.7% is spent, come on, is that asking for too much”, he queried. Bankole reminded that the visitors that enquiries by the House led to the recovery of over N450 billion in 2007 and N350 billion in 2009. He concluded, “I expect Nigerians to ask what happened to the funds budgeted in previous budgets; but positive things don’t make good news in Nigeria.”

The origin of EYO (Adamun-Orisha)

Badagry Market Day, that is known as the "ABO AGBADAEGI",Orisa Ogunran Adimu were originally brought to Lagos by Alase Odu, Chief Olorogun Agan while Elegba Opopo was brought by Segbeni, Chief Olorogun Igbesodi form Benin during the reign of Oba Ado, over 350 years ago. While Orisa Ogunran is a male Adamu on the other hand is a female.

Both Chief Olorogun Agan and Chief Olorogun Igbesodi settled at Oju-Olokun Street, Chief Olorogun Agan towards the mater side and Chief Olorogun Igbesodi at the beginning of Oju-Olokun Street, which is today known as Abegede, where the Elegba Opopo's shrine is installed.

The origin of Adamun-Orisha play according to findings showed that the genesis of Eyo masquerade public performance must be rooted in legend.
It was also gathered that origin of Eyo masquerade could be traced to two areas in the South-west part of the country. While people of Iperu, Ogun State, claim that Eyo masquerade originated from their town, the people Apa coastal area of Badagry also claimed that the masquerade originated from Badagry where Eyo masquerade play used to take place on market days in the olden days. The Badagry origin seems more agreeable.

However, Eyo masquerade parade began on Lagos Island by traders from Badagry long time ago. The point of performance then was known as Oke-Ita which was later found to be the lagoon end of Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. This was the site where successive kings in Lagos and their chiefs used to visit to watch the Adamun-Orisha play in those days.

Further research into origin of Adamun-Orisha play in Lagos revealed that about the middle of 19th century, the then British Governor could not tolerate long absence of those who matter in the running of affairs of Lagos colony who are fond of going for days from Lagos Island to watch Eyo parade in Ikoyi that was by then could take about three days journey. The British Governor complained that absence of concerned officials was serious enough to disrupt the affairs of Lagos colony. Thus, he ordered that the idea of going to Ikoyi should be stopped.

The British Governor’s directive prompted the elders, chiefs and prominent indigenes of Lagos to invite the maskers of Adamun-Orisha from Ikoyi to relocate to Lagos Island and the maskers agreed to the suggestion. Thereafter, they settled on Lagos Island and became part of the people till date. Hence, (from its original appearance in 1750),: the first performance of Adamun-Orisha on Lagos Island took place on February 20th, 1854 and it was staged in memory of late Oba Akitoye of Lagos.

On that day on Lagos Island, the general public of Lagos saw what they never saw before and witnessed the performance with an exceedingly tumultuous turnout which had remained a characteristic of Eyo masquerade parade till today.

Eyo masquerade parade used to last all day long and it is staged as the funeral obsequies of a King or Chief, and in honour and memory of a deceased eminent Lagosian, who had contributed to the progress and development of Lagos during his or her life time. The festival is only staged for this reason.

Eyo masquerade speaks a ventriloqual voice, suggesting that he was not human and also that he represents the spirit of a departed person. The Eyo symbolizes the arrival on earth of the spirit; in view of this believe, when one meet an Eyo and greet him with the words :‘Agogoro Eyo’ , he is expected to respond thus: Mo yo fun e, mo yo funra mi
On the order of events, a full week before the festival (always a Saturday), the ‘senior’ eyo group, the Adimu (identified by a black broad-rimmed hat), goes public with a staff, when this happens it means the event would take place on the following Saturday. Each of the four other ‘important’ ones — Laba (Red), Oniko (yellow), Ologede (Green), Agere (Purple) — in this very order take their turns from Monday to Thursday.

There are also revered special outings like that led by the Olori Omobas, the leader of the Princes currently Prince Michael Omoyele Ajose, a Prince of the royal house of Oba Ologun-kutereof Lagos (1749-1775), who himself was a direct descendant of King Ado, the founder of Lagos dynasty (1630-1669). Prince Ajose is from Igaa Suenu, to which the ancestral home of the current Lagos State governor, Raji Fashola could be traced.
Eyo Festival is unique to Lagos area, and it is widely believed that Eyo is the forerunner of the modern day carnival in Brazil. On Eyo Day, the main highway in the heart of the city (from the end of Carter Bridge to Tinubu Square) is closed to traffic, allowing for procession from Idumota to Iga Idunganran.
Here, the participants all pay homage to the Oba of Lagos. Eyo festival takes place whenever occasion and tradition demand, but it is usually held as the final burial rites for a highly regarded chief. Among the Yoruba, the indigenous religions have largely given way to Christianity and Islam, but the old festivals are still observed. The traditional leaders of the Yoruba are the Obas, who live in palaces and used to govern along with a council of ministers.
The Obas’ position is now mainly honorary, and their chief role is during the observance of the festivals. Yoruba festivals honour their pantheon of gods and mark the installation of a new Oba. The Engungun (“en-GOON-gun”) festival, which honours the ancestors, lasts 24 days.

Each day, a different Engungun in the person of a masked dancer dances through the town, possessed by one of the ancestors. On the last day, a priest goes to the shrine of the ancestors and sacrifices animals, pouring the blood on the shrine. The sacrifices are collected, and they become the food for the feast that follows.
Group of Eyo masquerades‘Agogoro Eyooo” (meaning what a tall an imposing Eyo),“Mo yo fun e, mo yo funra mi”(I, Eyoo Masquerades, rejoice with you for seeing this day and I rejoice with myself), is a statement that normally ring out loud all over Lagos, during the Eyo festival masquerade festival.
Eyo masquerades in their white regalia with different hats made of various colours from the five groups, Adamu Orisa, Laba Ekun, Oniko, Ologede and Agere.

Federal Character Blessing or curse?

Federal Character Blessing or curse?
QUOTA system, federal character and educationally disadvantaged were words envisioned by the proponents of one Nigeria, having taken into consideration the multi-variety of Nigeria’s ethnic groups, religious diversities and sectional divisions. There is no doubt that these words have proved effective in resolving the dichotomy in the development and education of the different regions and have worked to forge a path of unity for the country. But when looked at from the more recent perspective of the debates about zoning, which have pervaded the polity in recent time, these words may appear not only to have lost their relevance but also put great inhibition on standards, competence and quality of human beings.

The federal character policy was entrenched in the 1979 and 1999 constitution of the country with the sole aim of guarding against the monopolisation of public service institutions and agencies by a particular ethnic group or religion, its main dictates being the promotion of national unity and command of national loyalty. Related to the quota system and federal character policy is the educationally disadvantaged states clause, which allows indigenes from certain states to be considered for admission into educational institutions at a grade that is slightly lower than others’. At a point in the life of the country, these provisions were important to ensure equal opportunities and platforms for development among the states of the federating units, since the public service and educational institutions belong to the government, they were made to follow these directives. The policy became popular in the activities of the federal civil service, the military and the federal institutions.

According to the proponents of federal character and quota system, the policy encourages unity among the federating units, as every region and states are represented in public service agencies, this they say gives them a voice in policy formulation and implementation in the country. The case for the concession in admission for certain states that have been called educationally disadvantaged was also to encourage learning and pursuit of academic endeavours by the states which have been discovered to have little passion for such.
Without doubt, quota system and federal character have served the country effectively well, as Barrister Paul Adujie, a passionate advocate of federal character wrote in an opinion, years back, “All states, but especially the educationally disadvantaged states, need special provisions and protections in the admission process in Nigeria’s educational system, especially in higher education and the professions! All Nigerians and Nigeria will be the beneficiaries of such good policy, that encourages the grooming and nurturing of opportunities for every Nigerian from every community in Nigeria, and particular effort should be made, in order that Nigeria does not live anyone behind, economically, socially, educationally and developmentally, this is in our national interest.” He compared federal character to the American’s policy of affirmative action which aimed at encouraging Blacks who had been segregated and discriminated against, to embrace formal education. A strong case was also made for federal character by Barrister Nzeribe Egwim, a gubernatorial aspirant from Imo State.
According to him, federal character is a noble idea that should remain preponderant in the nation’s streams of policies. “The fact that Nigeria is multi-ethnic leaves us with the need for federal character, we need something to unite us, and that is what federal character seeks to do. I am in support of federal character and zoning because you will discover that if the North and the South were to contest for positions in a credible election, the North will continue to get the positions because of their population and that is why we need the federal character policy to stay united,” he averred.
The policy has enjoyed consideration in several spheres of Nigeria’s life, suffice to point out how it has been established in university admissions and federal appointments but it is left to be proven if all ethnic groups and regions have become equal in development, education and social exposure.

Given the propositions that were meant to underpin federal character and quota system, the current debate over the zoning formula of the PDP on the position of the president of the country gives rise to the need to revisit these issues, as the same principle of distributing offices to all the federating units has been cited by supporters of Jonathan presidency in 2011. People have been holding different opinions about whether it will be right to tamper with the PDP’s zoning arrangement for Jonathan to contest. The people from the Niger Delta and in fact other Nigerians have criticised the standpoint of zoning, saying that it discourages merit and shuts doors against qualification. Inasmuch as the attention here is not to make a submission on zoning, it is expedient to prove that federal character and quota system have the same toga with zoning, as they also seek equality of office and opportunity distribution rather than merit. The whole idea of federal character, though a mechanism for unity has negated the principle of merit and roundly affected the morale of the people who are qualified but cannot get access into public service agencies because the quota of their states have been filled. People with skills and abilities that can help in building the nation are annually denied the opportunity to offer their service to fatherland, while places are reserved for states that may not have people of equal skill, qualification or willingness to serve or even fill their quota. A case in point is that of university admissions where slots are reserved for candidates from educationally disadvantaged states, when these slots are not filled as they always are not, they become wasted in that academic year when in actual facts thousands of qualified candidates were denied admission for the fact that they were from ‘educationally advantaged’ states.
According to an admission officer in a federal university who spoke on a condition of anonymity, “the slots we reserve for candidates from the supposed educationally disadvantaged states are always wasted because they still won’t fill their quota. How do you expect to encourage people whose interests are not in education to go to school by leaving spaces for them in universities that are far away? I really think the educationally disadvantaged clause has outlived its usefulness, which state is not disadvantaged now with the skyrocketing increase in school fees and the fact that less people have opportunity to be admitted into federal universities yearly? And if I can talk about quota system in federal employments, there is no way you can achieve that balance because in Nigeria it is who knows who, I know of an indigene of a state who was offered appointment in a paramilitary organization from the slot of another state, in fact cases like this abound, so how can all the states be well represented?.”
The federal character policy was also criticised by Mr. Nnaji David, a political commentator, he stated that“despite its having been in operation for some time, it has not effectively taken care of the imbalance in development and appointments, can you tell me that number of people from all states who are in the military and federal civil service are equal? How many federal permanent secretaries do we have and how many are from your region or mine? See, I think we should not overheat the polity, but federal character is an aberration where there is no federalism. Our federalism is too strong at the centre and too fake to take care of the interest of ethnic minorities and in fact all the divisions. Until we redefine this misnomer system we call federalism, there can be no character in it.”

Having considered the differing opinions about quota system and federal character, the fact remains that the country needs a generally accepted arrangement for opportunity sharing and up till now, the closest to effective means of achieving unity is through the federal character.
It is however, expedient for the government to review the federal character policy and especially the educationally disadvantaged clause and ensure that talents and opportunities are not wasted on the platform of equal opportunity. Suffice to say that merit and quality of experience, records and abilities should be given due recognition in the country far above ethnic, religious or linguistics inclinations.
A nation may not necessarily progress based on how well represented its units are federal employments and ministries but how able and empowered they are in moving the country forward. This brings to the fore the need for the country to recognise the strengths of each of the federating units and explore such for positive ends rather than force quota system on places where people may be redundant.
Written by Moses Alao