Lagos, Nigeria - The successful separation of Siamese twins, the emergence of business mogul Aliko Dangote as the richest in Africa and political stories, especially pre-election violence, made front pages in Nigeria this past week. 'Siamese twins separated successfully in Borno', was the headline story in the SUN newspaper on Thursday. The paper said relief came the way of the parents of one-year old Siamese twins in Maiduguri, north eastern Nigeria, on Monday as a team of 19 doctors at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) successfully carried out a major operation to separate them. The operation, carried out by a team led by Dr. Auwal Abubakar, a consultant pediatrician at the UMTH, was said to have lasted for about 12 hours with the conjoined twins separated from the lower part of their abdomen. Hospital authority said the twins “can now live a normal life like other children or every other human being”.

“We succeeded in separating them. We constructed anus for one of the twins and both of them will now have one leg,” he disclosed.

The TRIBUNE on Wednesday headlined its story on the twins as 'UMTH doctors separate conjoined twins'. The paper quoted the leader of the operating team, Abubakar, as saying 'the operation is a rare feat, and with adequate support, Nigerian doctors would have the capacity to carry out complicated operations.

Reporting under the headline, 'Doctors separate conjoined twins in Maiduguri', the TRUST said the twins who were delivered at home in the Gaddaba village of Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State had rare complications.

“In medical terms, we call their situation iskiophagus (joined at the pelvis). This type of conjunction is the most complex because the livers of the twins were conjoined. Both of them have small intestines but shared one large intestine,” the paper quoted Dr. Abubakar as saying.

“We had to divide the large intestine into two… we also separated the intestine of the first baby and joined it with the distal part of the vowel that goes into the anus. We then used the other half of the large intestine to construct an anus for the second baby. The process was really complicating. As a result of the amendments made on the twins, one of the three legs with which they were delivered was severed and they would now have one leg each and that one of them would grow up as a female.

“The two babies shared a single male external genitalia, as such we left the genitalia to one of them because it is much easier to construct a female external genitalia than that of a male. We have actually explained this to the parents and we are going to raise one of the babies as a female,” he said.

He said this was the second time that this type of operation was done in Nigeria.  “The first separation was done in Ibadan in 1972 but the conjoined twins had four legs. Many other pediatric centres in Zaria, Ibadan, Ife, Enugu and other places had separated other types of conjoined twins but this is the second time that this particular type was done,” Dr Abubakar said.

He said the management of UMTH had waived all the medical bills of the twins because of the economic status of the parents while about nine medical students in the hospital donated the blood that was used.

Father of the twins, 30 year-old Isa Hassan, who is a peasant farmer, and his wife, Binta Isa, expressed gratitude to God and the management of UMTH for assisting them. Binta said she had given birth five times and had never gone to hospital for ante natal care.

Also during the week, the papers reported the emergence of Nigerian business mogul Aliko Dangote as the richest man in Africa.

THISDAY headlined its story on Dangote as 'Dangote Now Richest Man in Africa'. It said 'With a net worth of US$ 13.8 billion, President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has emerged the richest man in Africa for the first time.

With presence in 14 African countries, Dangote has emerged the continent's biggest cement maker, contributing significantly to other African countries’ economy.

Forbes magazine, which revealed this in its annual world’s billionaires ranking report, released Thursday, also had Chairman of Globacom and Conoil, Otunba Mike Adenuga, on the list. Adenuga is valued at US$ 2 billion.

Among the world’s richest in 2011 as published by Forbes are 14 Africans, including four South Africans and eight Egyptians.

Dangote’s fortune surged 557 per cent from US$ 2.1 billion in 2010. He moved astronomically from 436 positions to 51 in 2011, making him the world's biggest gainer in percentage terms and Africa's richest individual for the first time.

Adenuga makes his debut on the list after making waves with mobile technology.

Globacom, the second national carrier, recently launched a 4G network, and he has invested US$ 1 billion on a submarine cable connecting Nigeria to the rest of the world.

Adenuga, owner of a major stake in the Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) and chair of Conoil Plc, made his first million at the age of 26, selling lace and distributing Coca-Cola, then won a contract to build military barracks in the late 1980s.

Meanwhile, Carlos Slim remained the world’s richest person for the second year with a net worth of US$ 74 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Bill Gates, 55, Chairman of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), was second again as his net worth rose US$ 3 billion to $56 billion.

Other papers reported the same story under similar headlines -- TRUST - 'Dangote is Africa’s richest man'; the SUN - 'Dangote still Africa’s richest man'; the NATION - 'Forbes: Dangote is Africa’s richest', the GUARDIAN - 'Dangote, Adenuga make Forbes’ billionaires list'; the INDEPENDENT - 'Dangote, Africa’s richest man with US$ 13.8b –Forbes'; and the VANGUARD -
'Dangote’s richer than Facebook founder…as Forbes releases World’s Richest People list'.

On the spate of political violence in the country, the SUN headline on Saturday was 'Jonathan raises alarm over pre-election violence', reporting that President Goodluck Jonathan had expressed concern over the growing violence nationwide linked to the build up to the general elections next month.

Jonathan expressed his concern at Friday's dialogue towards a peaceful elections in April, tagged “Meeting of the President with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Political Parties”, in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

Opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was not represented at the dialogue, which was at the instance of the president, though other major parties were in attendance.

'Buhari responsible for violence at our rallies –PDP', the INDEPENDENT screamed on Saturday, reporting that the ruling  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday said that presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, engineered the violence witnessed at its rallies, especially in the North.

PDP has suffered two major attacks since it commenced its presidential campaign ahead of the April general elections.

President Jonathan’s convoy was stoned by angry youths on Monday in Lafia, Nassarawa State, and suffered similar fate on Wednesday in Gombe State.

Aside the stoning of the President’s convoy in Gombe, PDP offices, billboards and other campaign paraphernalia were allegedly destroyed prior to the arrival of the President.

Reporting the same story, the VANGUARD headlined its story 'You risk arrest, Jonathan’s camp warns Buhari'. According to the paper, the political camp of President Jonathan warned, on Thursday, that the CPC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, risked arrest should his supporters continue to cause a breakdown of law and order in the country.

People said to be CPC supporters in Gombe had gone on the rampage, attacking innocent people in the town.

The Director, Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Camp, Mallam Abba Dabo, warned that the ruling party would no longer fold its arms while its supporters were continually assaulted.

According to the TRUST, 'April polls: Billboard wars rage on'. It said that ahead of the April elections, supporters of various political parties in the impending contest are destroying opponents’ billboards and posters, while also engaging each other in bloody clashes.

The nation’s political space had been heated up right from the time the whistle blew for the 2011 elections. The tension that has built up before the party primaries has not gone down. As the contest date draws closer, the resentment and anger among opponents and supporters seems to be growing.

Across the states, crisis over the removal and destruction of billboards and posters of contestants are common occurrences, with aspirants and parties officials at the receiving end.

Still on politics, the NATION said '120 EU election observers coming', adding that the European Union (EU) will deploy more than 120 observers for next month’s elections in Nigeria.

Presidential election hold on 9 April, a week after legislative polls on 2 April, Governorship and state assembly polls will be on 16v April.

The NATION quoted the EU Election Observation Mission chief observer, Alojz Peterie, as saying “The observers are from 27 EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.”

He said nine analysts from eight EU member states arrived in Abuja last week and that others are expected before polling day.

The INDEPENDENT, reporting under the headline 'EU inaugurates observer mission for April polls', said ahead the April general elections, the EU Wednesday officially inaugurated its Election Observation Mission (EOM), with the mandate to observe the National Assembly, Presidential, Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections in Nigeria.

EU was invited by the Federal Government to observe all aspects of the electoral process and assess compliance with domestic law, and international and regional commitments to elections.

The paper also ran a second story on the elections, saying 'Clinton leads US team to monitor April polls'. It said that American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, may lead a high-powered delegation to observe and monitor the April elections in Nigeria.

White House sources disclosed that the US President, Barack Obama, considers the polls in Nigeria very vital to the  stability of the region and believes that it is important to send a strong message to that effect.

The GUARDIAN's main political story for the week was measures by the police to ensure a free and fair election. It headlined its story 'Police to deploy 240,000 for April polls'.

The paper said Police Inspector General Hafiz Ringim, has revealed that no fewer than 240,000 policemen and women would be deployed for next month’s general elections.

Ringim, who disclosed this at a meeting with the political parties taking part in the elections, also cautioned his men against partisanship, stressing that any policeman linked with the act would be made to face the law.

He said each of the 120,000 polling units would have at least two policemen.

According to the PUNCH, 'April polls: Two policemen to man each polling station – IG'.

Pana 13/03/2011