₦airaland Forum

In the wake of fresh rumours yesterday about Dim Odimegwu Ojukwu’s state of health , the Anambra State government and the Ikemba’s wife, Bianca Ojukwu, have restated that he was recovering speedily and was in no danger of any sort.
Bianca spoke yesterday at the convention of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Awka, Anambra State.

Rumours were rife yesterday that the Ikemba Nnewi, who has been in a London hospital since December 27, had relapsed and that his health hung on a dangerous balance. But Mr. Valentine Obieyem, a senior media aide to the state Governor, Peter Obi, told Daily Sun that ‘those rumours are unfounded and rather wicked.’

He restated that nothing had changed from the situation report as given by Obi, who told the media after his last visit to London that Ojukwu was recovering and had been moved out of intensive care unit of the London hospital.

“ I can tell you that he is undergoing physiotherapy right now and has since been removed from intensive care unit, all those gadgets have been removed. He is exercising his limbs and generally putting his muscles to use again. There is, indeed, every reason to believe that he would come back stronger. But I have no idea when he would return,” Obieyem said yesterday.

Daily Sun learnt that the rumour, which rocked parts of lagos yesterday, might have originated from political opponents strongly opposed to Bianca Ojukwu’s recent appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan as senior special assisitant on Diaspora matters. Those opposed to the appointment, including some Igbo groups, say Bianca ought to have been given a ministerial position after her husband’s recovery.

Obienyem’s position on Ojukwu’s state of health was corroborated yesterday at the national convention of APGA where the Bianca told the gathering that her husband was recovering speedily and that his condition had been so stable that she was able to leave the bedside about 10 days ago to return to Nigeria, stating that she was in daily touch with the Igbo leader.

Her position gives credence to that of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Idi Hong, who visited Ojukwu recently in London on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan. The minister had said he saw the Ikemba and that he was getting better.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2011/feb/11/newsbreak-11-02-2011-001.htm

There was pandemonium in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital as thousands of panic-stricken parents besieged public schools in the metropolis to withdraw their children, following rumours that some pupils died after eating meal allegedly poisoned but provided free by the Adebayo Alao-Akala government.

The poison scare was coming even as the rumour mills went abuzz that Governor Alao-Akala planned to use 200 people for fetish rituals to realize his second term ambition But the state government and the governor’s campaign organization, swiftly dismissed the reports, describing them as wicked lies and blackmail. Governor Alao-Akala’s Special Adviser on Communication, Dotun Oyelade, in a reaction, said the development was an attempt by political opponents to blackmail his principal as his administration does not run a free meal programme in schools.

He assured state residents of their safety.
Many public schools in the city had become empty by 100pm, after news made the round that some officials and politicians seeking elective offices in the state were distributing free food packs from government round the schools in the metropolis, of which some school children had died after eating thereof.

The food poison scare which hit the city about noon spread like wild fire, as anonymous callers made calls to parents and teachers in schools, warning them not to accept or allow their wards to partake of the meal.
Parents, including civil servants, market women and housewives stormed primary and secondary schools to withdraw their children and wards, on receiving the alarming messages.

But most school premises were scenes of chaos as hot arguments ensued between them and school authorities following the latter’s attempt to prevent the parents, who headed for the classrooms to pick the pupils. Hundreds of parents were sighted at Mokola,, Oniyanrin, Odo Iye, Oke Are, Opo Yeosa, Oje and other parts of Ibadan rushing to schools in the areas ostensibly to beat the arrival of the food distributors.
Similar situation played out in areas such as Oke Ado, Liberty road, NTC area, Molete, Sango, Ojoo, Mokola, Agodi gate,Old Ife road,Alakia,Challenge,Muslim/Odinjo area,Bodija,Basorun.

Some head teachers had to resorte to locking school gates, but this provoked serious protests and agitation by the teeming parents, some of who threatened to break the gates. Some even assaulted teachers.
The development caused security to be quickly beefed up with armed policemen stationed at strategic locations including Oniyanrin area to forestall break down of law and order.

Some of the parents vowed not to allow them back to school until the state government could publicly assure their safety.

A nursing mother met at St. Stephens Primary school,Oniyanrin, however told Daikly Sun that she had to go to the school and pick her seven year old daughter when she heard the rumours, declaring” You don’t take risks with politicians. I heard some pupils ate akara(baked beans) and died. They even said some disappeared after eating.

So I had to rush here and pick my daughter.” Investigations at Adeoyo General Hospital, the University College Hospital (UCH) and some private hospitals located around Yemetu and Mokola areas of Ibadan , where some of the victims of the poisonous meal were said to have been taken, did not, however, reveal any reported case. Teachers declined comments on the development, but some at C and S New Eden Primary School Mokola were overheard saying they rexceived phone calls warning them not to receive the toxic food package from the Akala men.

But, Oyelade, assured residents of the state of their safety, describing the whole development as blackmail.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/feb/11/national-11-02-2011-001.htm

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola on Wednesday replied President Goodluck Jonathan who called South-west political leaders as rascals, saying his comments were completely “unpresidential.” Speaking with newsmen in Lagos Airport Wednesday afternoon, the Governor expressed shock that such derogatory comment came from the nation’s number one citizen, stressing that it clearly showed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) did not have a reform agenda but mudslinging.

“The office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a very high office and I don’t think that that kind of language coming from the PDP presidential candidate is presidential. But Lagosians will have to make a determination but we are beginning to see clearly the pattern of the candidacy of the PDP candidates who seek to continue to lead this country into poverty, into inefficiency, into insecurity.

And it is interesting that these remarks are being made from outside Lagos , so I hope that when they come here they would be able to call us rascals again. And if we are rascals, it means that some of the other governors they have been presiding over is a republic of rascals. But I leave him to decide his own choice of words. Why should they be worried about our success in Lagos?

If it gives them sleepless night and it makes them uncomfortable, I make no apologies that is why I am in government. But having said that, I think that I have asked myself whether the President is more concerned about who is Governor of Lagos or about becoming President. I think that if the PDP wants to swap candidates for the Governor of Lagos, I will be ready to face him because his candidate is not talking about what he wants to do in Lagos . And I will leave our own presidential candidate on issues that are germane to Nigerians”, he stated.
Fashola, who also took time to assess the PDP-led government of Nigeria for 12 years, pointing out that Lagos appears to have felt the federal presence the least.

He queried: “Why are the federal roads in Lagos have not been fixed? Why do Lagosians not have electricity? Why should Lagosians bear the cost of their own security in spite of the enormous votes for that every year in the federal budget? These are the issues that concern Lagosians and those are the issues about which their votes will be deployed. The Lagos voters will not vote on the basis of luck. I didn’t win this office on the basis of luck, it was won on the basis of very clear manifesto of the ACN, very clear ideas about how to fix this economy, very hard work that we have done since 1999 as a people, progressives who have shown our common touch with the people.

Elections will not be won by resulting to derogatory language and by claiming luck. Elections require those who seek elective offices to focus on the people over who they plan to exercise authority and to communicate to them in a very clear and practical manner how they intend to improve their lot. I think that the PDP led federal government has a lot of questions to answer in Lagos .”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/feb/10/national-10-02-2011-001.htm

The raging feud between the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Ayo Isa Salami and the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Iyorgher Kastina- Alu reached a climax yesterday with a suit brought against the CJN by Justice Salami. In the originating summons filed by his counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the plaintiff named the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Attorney General of Federation (AGF) as 2nd to 4th Defendants/ Respondents respectively.

He specifically accused Katsina-Alu in his supporting affidavit of asking him to compromise the Court of Appeal’s judgment with respect to the Sokoto Governorship legal battle. Salami said he was asked by the CJN to either reconstitute the original panel, which he (Katsina-Alu) believed was about to give a verdict adverse to the governor’s interest or direct the panel to give judgment in the governor’s favour.

He also seeks an interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants jointly and/or severally, by themselves, and all officers, servants and functionaries of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or otherwise, howsoever, from recognising, acting on, doing anything in recognition of, or putting into effect any decision of the defendants purporting to appoint the plaintiff to the Supreme Court as a Justice of the Court pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Summons.
Part of Salami’s affidavit reads:

I have all along enjoyed my work as President of the Court of Appeal and did not have any issues or disagreement with the first defendant (Katsina- Alu) until the controversies over the gubernatorial election petition in Sokoto State came to light.
Following my appointment as the President of the Court of Appeal, I found among the pending election petition appeals, the Sokoto State Gubernatorial Election Petition Appeal. I set up panels of the Appeal Court to dispose of the pending petitions including that of Sokoto.
I was, however, shocked when subsequent to the setting up of a panel on the Sokoto Gubernatorial Election Petition Appeal, and after all parties had filed and exchange briefs, adopted same and judgement reserved the first defendant summoned me by telephone to his office in Abuja.
The 1st defendant asked me to disband the panel I had set up for the appeal on the excuse that if the panel allowed the appeal and removed the governor, the ripple effect would lead to a removal of our highly revered Sultan of Sokoto.

The 1st defendant could not convince me on the logic predicating his reasoning more, especially as the Sultan was not a party to the election petition and as there is no nexus between any of the parties and the sultan, so I told him I would not disband the panel.
The 1st Defendant then said in the alternative that I should direct the panel of justices to decide against the Appellant.
To this again, I still said No. That I would not do anything to pervert the cause of justice.
When the matter came before the 3rd Defendant (NJC), the committee set up to look into the complaint vindicated me and in clear terms told the 1st Defendant, he had no Constitutional and Statutory power to stop proceedings in any division of the Court of Appeal as he did.
Since then there has been no love lost between me and the 1st Defendant.

That the appeal in the Sokoto Gubernatorial Election Petition which was pending before the Sokoto Court of Appeal was eventually dismissed by the Supreme Court on 21st November, 2010 notwithstanding that the appeal was not before the Supreme Court.
That initially, it came to me as a rumour that plans were being hatched by the 1st Defendant along with some others to remove me from the post of President of the Court of Appeal.

While I did not want to believe such rumours about my removal, nonetheless, I put my ears and eyes to the ground.
However on 2nd February, 2011 what had earlier passed as mere rumour became a reality as it became known that the 1st Defendant had vigorously moved the meeting of the 2nd Defendant on 1st or 2nd February, 2011 to accept his proposal to move me to the Supreme Court
It is strange in the extreme to me that such ‘Greek gift’ was not even mentioned to me by the 1st Defendant, presumably because my view did not count for anything.
Again, the matter was also considered topmost secret by the 1st Defendant that it was not listed on the agenda for the meeting.
That as the president of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria , I am a statutory member of the Federal Judicial Service Commission, National Judicial Council amongst other judicial statutory bodies.

That on Friday 28th day of January 2011, out of courtesy and respect for the 1st Defendant, I informed the latter of my inability to be present at the meeting of the 2nd Defendant slated for Tuesday 1st day of February 2011.
•That I predicated my inability to attend the meeting aforesaid on the loss of an aunt whose eighth day Muslim prayers was fixed for Tuesday, 1st day of February 2011 at Ilorin in Kwara State and the fact that the agenda for the meeting of the 2nd Defendant which had earlier been sent out to members did not contain anything to warrant cancelling of my trip to Ilorin.

•That I was encouraged by the 1st Defendant to attend my aunt’s eighth day prayer especially because there was nothing on the agenda serious enough to compel my attendance. That the purported meeting of the 2nd Defendant (Federal Judicial Service Commission) that the 1st Defendant directed that the deliberations should be kept a close secret.
•That at the purported meeting of 2nd February 2011 before the commencement, the 1st and 4th Defendants [Attorney General of Federation] held a private secret meeting in the chambers of the 1st Defendant where the plan was hatched for my removal to the Supreme Court.
•Notwithstanding the foregoing, the 2nd defendant (FJSC) on the 1st or 2nd February, 2011, resolved to nominate me to the 3rd Defendant for appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court.

•Obviously, the game plan to move me to the Supreme Court will facilitate the efforts of the 1st Defendant to plant his own minion or stooge as the President of the Court of Appeal to do his biddings as and when needed.
•That I was not heard before the 2nd Defendant took its decision to recommend me for appointment as a Justice of Supreme Court of Nigeria.
• Quite naturally, when I became aware of the ill-motivated decision to move me to the Supreme Court, I wrote to the 1st Defendant as Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the 3rd Defendant to reject the decision. A copy of my said letter dated 4th February, 2011 is Exhibit A herewith.
•I know as a matter of fact that such ill-motivated decision to move the President of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court has never happened in our legal history.

QUESTIONS FOR DETERMINATION
(i) Whether where the 2nd Defendant in exercise or purported exercise of its powers under Part E, paragraph 13(a) of the Third Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, nominated any person for appointment to the Supreme Court, such a decision has any binding effect on such a person?
(ii) Whether where a person nominated for appointment to the Supreme Court by the 2nd Defendant has declined such appointment, the 3rd Defendant can still sit as a body under Section 153(1)(i) of the 1999 Constitution to exercise its power under Part I paragraph 21(a) of the said Constitution to recommend such a person to the President for approval?
(iii) Whether the appointment of the President of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court as a Justice of the Court without his consent and without any proven case of misconduct against him does not amount to removal from his office as President of the Court of Appeal contrary to the provisions of Section 292(1)(a)(i) of the 1999 Constitution?
(IV) Whether the Federal Judicial Service Commission has not violated the fundamental rights of the Plaintiff by taking a decision on a matter not on the agenda of the meeting and in respect of which the Plaintiff’s interest is to be prejudicially affected but was never heard?
WHEREUPON, the plaintiff seeks the following reliefs:

(i) DECLARATION that the decision of the 2nd Defendant reached at its meeting of 1st and or 2nd February, 2011 nominating or purporting to nominate the plaintiff to the 3rd Defendant for appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court is not binding on the plaintiff.
(ii) DECLARATION that the plaintiff having rejected his purported nomination by the 2nd defendant for appointment to the Supreme Court, the 3rd Defendant cannot lawfully or properly sit as a body under Section 153(1)(i) of the 1999 Constitution to exercise its power under Part (I) paragraph 21(a) of the Third Schedule to the Constitution to recommend such appointment to the President for approval.

(iii) DECLARATION that any approval by the President of any recommendation by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants for the appointment of the plaintiff as a Justice of the Supreme Court is equivalent to a removal of the plaintiff from office as President of the Court of Appeal contrary to Section 292(1)(a)(i) of the 1999 Constitution.

(iv) DECLARATION that any appointment of the Plaintiff (who is currently the President of the Court of Appeal) to be a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, without his consent and without any proven case of misconduct against him amounts to a removal from his office as President of the Court of Appeal contrary to the provisions of Section 292(1)(a)(i) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.
(v) DECLARATION that the Federal Judicial Service Commission violated the Plaintiff’s constitutional right to fair hearing by taking a decision on a matter not on the agenda of the meeting and in respect of which the Plaintiff’s interest is to be prejudicially affected without given him the opportunity of being heard in breach of Plaintiff’s right to fair hearing.

(vi) AN ORDER setting aside any such recommendation or decision for the appointment of the plaintiff as a Justice of the Supreme Court.
(vii) INJUNCTION restraining the 3rd Defendant by itself, its agents, servants or privies or any of or all its members from sitting as a body under Section 153(1)(I) of the 1999 Constitution to exercise its power under paragraph 21(a) of Part I, of the 3rd Schedule to the said Constitution to recommend the plaintiff to the President for appointment to the Supreme Court.

(viii) INJUNCTION restraining the defendants jointly and/or severally, by themselves, and all officers, servants and functionaries of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or otherwise, howsoever, from recognising, acting on, doing anything in recognition of or putting into effect any decision of the Defendants purporting to appoint the Plaintiff to the Supreme Court as a Justice of the Court.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/feb/09/national-09-02-2011-01.htm

IN a shocking development, the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday withdrew the names of Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates in the April elections.

Dr. Josiah Uwazuruonye, the Enugu State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), said the withdrawal of Chime’s name was as a result of a directive from the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

Oyo State INEC spokesman Ayodele Folami said Alao-Akala’s name was removed in line with the orders of the Federal High Court in Ibadan. “Since INEC, an independent body, is a product of the law, we can not but obey the court orders – in line with the avowed commitment of the national chairman and the laws setting up the commission,” he said.

The withdrawal of Alao-Akala’s name came shortly after he was presented with the PDP flag at the zonal rally in Ibadan.

But the Oyo State governor has assembled a legal team to vacate the order.

Chime’s campaign organisation described the withdrawal of his name as a temporary set back.

Spokesman of the organisation Chuks Ugwoke said: “We have heard a report, which is perhaps in strict compliance with the due process and full observance of the rule of law. It does not vitiate the irreducible fact that Governor Chime was duly nominated by the PDP and has since filled and returned his nomination form to INEC. We are quite certain that in the fullness of time, other legal issues will be sorted out and we shall be witnesses to the final verdict and the corresponding commencement of other electoral activities.”

INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Legal Services Philip Umeadi Jnr. said it was erroneous for INEC to endorse the nominations of the two governors because they were subjects of litigations.

Umeadi said the error made in the case of Enugu State was caused by the fact that the judgment against Chime came a little late.

“By the time the judgment was served on us, we had received the nomination list for Enugu State. Ideally, in deference to that judgment, we ought not to have published it; so, that publication was an error and that was why it was removed.

The court order, he said, was served on INEC at about January 31. INEC received the candidates’ list from the PDP on January 21 vide a letter dated January 17, 2011.

Umeadi said even though the list ought not to have been published, he does not believe that the court order could have stopped the commission from taking the list because it had already been brought in before the order.

“Again, the same thing happened in Oyo State where there was also a judgment. That, again, was published in error,” he said.

He said lots of petitions and court orders were flooding his office and that of the INEC chairman.

Umeadi expressed INEC’s expectation that after the publication of candidates’ lists and their particulars in compliance with the law, people in various constituencies can now go to court.

He said under the Electoral Act, those who may write petitions to INEC include people who have been unjustly substituted; those who won primaries and their names were not forwarded by their parties or people who, for one reason or the other, believe that some candidates are not qualified to be in the position that they are aspiring, either by character, age, past convictions or other reasons.

As of 8pm, Umeadi and other top officers of the Legal Department were still locked in a meeting on how to deal with the injunctions.


http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/27351.html

Samson Siasia has declared that the new senior team Nigeria is building must live up to the name of the ‘Eagle’ and fly!
In his first official meeting with the players with whom he intends to re-build the team, at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos on Tuesday morning, the former international striker made it clear that there would be no ‘big man’ in the side, but all must respect the team Captain, Joseph Yobo, and also respect one another.

“Nigerians want to see a new team, with a new and positive attitude and we have our work cut out trying to meet the high expectations of a people who have tremendous passion for the game”, Siasia said. He added: “We must respect one another in this set-up. We also have to work hard. It is important that we get some good results as we start, so that our people will forget the disappointment of the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.

“You may think that the Sierra Leone’ match is a friendly and a small game, but Nigerians will begin to judge us from this first game, and it is very, very important that we show great spirit. We must fight for the ball and play for one another.
“This match will prepare us for the African Nations Cup qualifying match against Ethiopia coming up next month. And we all know we must win all our other matches in the qualifying series. “What I know and what I can tell you for sure is that Nigerians are good people. If you show the spirit and you fight for the ball, they will support you all the way”, said Siasia.

The Super Eagles had their first training on Tuesday morning on the turf of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, after which they interacted with media representatives.
Nigeria take on Sierra Leone in an international friendly game at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos starting from 7pm on Wednesday.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/sportsonthehour/2011/feb/09/sportsbreak-09-02-2011-001.htm

Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel yesterday declared war on former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the intractable crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta had last Friday reserved ruling on an ex parte motion order brought before it by Governor Daniel and others indefinitely on who between him and Obasanjo would present the governorship candidate and others.

Daniel, who made the public declaration during the inauguration of campaign committees held at the Government House in Abeokuta, said: “We are fighting the last fight, we have started this war since 2006, and I want you to shine your eyes.”

He said he had done everything humanly possible to appease the Obasanjo faction of the party in the state, yet, the camp had remained difficult: “Therefore, the stage the situation gets now, you cannot be in the river and complain of cold.” He further alleged that there was a calculated plot by the Obasanjo faction to truncate his administration. “We have used everything to appease them, yet, they are adamant and want to use power against us.”

Daniel added that those pushing Tunji Olurin to become governor, knew that he could not win election even in his Ilaro town. “We are in a marathon war, and in this particular fight, we will fight it to logical conclusion. They even used opposition media to fight us, an indication that they are working together with opposition party to destroy our party and later move out,’’ he declared.

While alleging that political war against him started in 2006 with the stealing of his vouchers at the Governor’s Office which was meant to implicate him, Daniel also recalled that a number of his cabinet members were quizzed by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), but eventually came out clean.

“Those who steal vouchers to nail me, where are they today? We were harassed and intimidated, but God was on our side. I am not personally surprised with what we are witnessing today, you should not be shocked, because of what we have been facing.

The governor boasted that his faction would produce all candidates to contest the elections. “I want to assure you that by May 29, we will successfully transit to government of our choice,’’ he said.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2011/feb/07/newsbreak-07-02-2011-001.htm

Peoples Democratic Party, presidential candidate and incumbent President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan will today flag off his presidential campaign at Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital, as part of his scheduled campaigns, which will take place in the six geo- political zones across the country.

Jonathan had emerged as the PDP presidential flag bearer at its national convention, held on January 13, 2011.
Today’s event is being hosted by governors of the North-central zone on behalf of the PDP NWC. The itinerary will shift to Ibadan, the Oyo state capital on Tuesday, which is being organised by the south west governors in conjunction with the Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo-ed south west leadership of the party.
The event, which has been described as grand flag off rally, will have in attendance, the party’s presidential flag bearer, members of the PDP National Working Committee, Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee.

National publicity secretary of the party, Professor Rufai Alkali, in a statement made available to journalists late night yesterday disclosed that it would be an epoch making event. “With His Excellency, the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR), the Presidential Candidate of the PDP as the Special Guest of Honour and the Vice President, Architect Mohammed Namadi Sambo (GCON), the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Party as the Guest of Honour and with members of the National Executive Committee, Board of Trustees, State Governors, leaders and members of the National Assembly as well as members of the PDP through out the Federation expected in attendance, the ancient town of Lafia will indeed play host to the entire nation.

The people of the North Central region whose city will be at standstill are waiting to prove once more that their Zone is an impregnable fortress of the Peoples Democratic Party. Today’s Grand flag off Rally of the PDP presidential campaign, coming shortly after our successful primary elections has once again separated the Peoples Democratic Party from other political parties in Nigeria as the only sure vehicle for the deepening and sustenance of democracy in the country.

The PDP’s Special National Convention of January 13 2011 which elected Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Presidential candidate and Architect Namadi Sambo as his running mate is internationally acclaimed as the most transparent and credible primary election in Nigeria’s recent history. Clearly, the choice of these two great Nigerians is applauded by those who wish the country well as “Day break Nigeria.”

With the leadership of the nation entrusted upon their shoulders by destiny, their humility, sincerity, openness and above all, the much needed competence and the right attitude to leadership have stood them miles apart from all contenders to Nigeria’s presidency in the coming general elections. They have so far shown visible commitment, determination and foresight to transform Nigeria.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/feb/07/national-07-02-2011-018.htm

THE Lagos Central Senatorial candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN), Mrs Oluremi Tinubu yesterday flagged off her campaign at the Eti-Osa Local Government headquarters.

Mr Murphy Adetoro, a chieftan of the party, described Mrs Tinubu as a worthy woman to be elected.

He encouraged her to be calm and trust that the people of Eti-Osa would vote for her.

He said in 2007, Eti-Osa gave Governor Babatunde Fashola about 184,000 votes.

Coordinator, Oluremi Tinubu Campaign Committee (RETCO) Hon Oyinlomo Danmole debunked claims that former Governor Bola Tinubu imposed candidates on the people.

Danmole told the gathering that it was time to pay back the former Governor by allowing his wife to represent the district.

He also disclosed that he voluntarily let go of his senatorial ambition as a mark of honour for Asiwaju Tinubu, whom he described as not a mere party leader; but a worthy national leader.

Mrs Tinubu assured the people of Eti-Osa community that she would do her best if elected.

She said she had learnt enough about governance from her husband, promising that she would fully represent their interests at the Senate.

Prince Kayode Oluyole Olusi, a leader of the party, said with the flagoff of the campaign of Mrs Tinubu; the battle line as been drawn against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He urged all party stalwarts to ensure victory for the ACN at all levels.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/27135.html

The Dubai-based Nigerian family reported missing while travelling from Lagos to Asaba last week has been found at last.


•The lucky kids, the doctor and the father of kids (standing). PHOTO: Emmanuel Osodi.


However, it was a tale of tragedy as three of the travellers – the mother, Edna, a Dubai-based staff of Standard Chartered Bank, her cousin, Chinyere, who had lost her only daughter last December, and the driver of the chartered Toyota Camry saloon car, Godfrey Inalegwu – were found dead in a village near Okada after their car plunged into a river, while trying to avoid a pothole. Only the three children – Loveth, 11, Precious 8 and Golden 6 – were rescued and taken to a private hospital in Ofumwegbe town, near Benin City, Edo State, Southsouth Nigeria. Their escape was simply miraculous, according to the rescuers.
P.M.NEWS in its Wednesday, 2 February 2011 edition, reported that the family was missing last week Wednesday during their trip from Lagos to Asaba in a Toyota Camry saloon car with registration number Lagos KU 108 EKY.
The husband of the Dubai banker, himself an accountant, Mr. Ugochukwu Onyeocha had told P.M.NEWS that when his family left Lagos about 10.00 a.m in the car, he communicated with his wife on phone twice, about 11 in the morning and 3 p.m.
He sensed something was wrong after he lost contact thereafter, believing that the wife was in an area where there was no phone network or that her phone was switched off. In the morning, he was awoken by a phone call from his mother-in-law that his wife and the children were yet to arrive Asaba. This prompted Onyeocha to involve the police. His report to the police at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos however yielded no immediate clue as to the whereabouts of his family.
The police investigators told Onyeocha that the tracker in the Toyota car had shown that the car and the occupants got missing in a village called Otu Costain in Edo State.
The missing car was located at Okada, near Benin City.
It was discovered that the family had an accident and their vehicle plunged into a river. The survivors were later taken to Emiloju Medical Centre, in Ofumwegbe town, near Benin City, Edo State.
The Medical Director of the centre, Dr. Mohammed Yakubu, treated the three children.
According to him, “On 26 January, 2011 at about 7.30 p.m, these three children were brought here by kind-hearted villagers. They were unconscious. The villagers said the car in which they were travelling skidded into a river as the driver tried to manoeuvre a pothole on the road,” Mohammed said.
The doctor stated that the villagers with the help of policemen from a nearby police station were able to recover the car. But their mother, her cousin and the driver were dead. Only the three children were grasping for breath.
Dr. Mohammed said he was able to revive the three children and they were recuperating in his hospital, this morning.
The doctor added that the villagers with the help of policemen from Iguobazuwa Divisional Headquarters, Edo State, moved the three corpses to the mortuary of another hospital near the village.
As at the time of going to press, the father, Onyeocha, P.M.NEWS correspondent and Dr. Mohammed were on their way to the hospital where the corpses were kept.
The tragedy has confirmed the fears of Nigerians abroad, wary of returning home because of the epidemic of armed robbery, fraudsters, political violence and carnage on the roads.

—Oluwole Adeboye/Okada

Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has said that his group is amenable to dialogue. Atiku spoke against the background of what he termed “relentless pressure and blackmail in the media by busy bodies” over his alleged reluctance to congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan on the outcome of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries held on January 13.

In a statement issued on his behalf by his media office in Abuja, Atiku said that the group that put him forward for the PDP presidential primaries is prepared for discussion but would not succumb to baseless propaganda against his person and group.
“Instead of this rigmarole by busy bodies, I believe that an appropriate response should be to open a window for negotiation on how to strengthen our party for the challenges ahead,” Atiku said.

He recalled that he had informed the nation and his associates that he was consulting on the outcome of the primaries and that whatever his position on the primaries was clearly made available to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He wondered why it has become a full time job of some people to force his hand on the decision to concede victory to President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former Vice President noted that with his campaign organisation having forwarded its misgivings about the irregularities that attended the primaries, the media and those hiding under their cover should be patient enough to await the outcome of its resolution.

According to him, it amounts to blackmail to force a man to take any action without evaluating its effects on his group, loyalists, associates and supporters. He urged those who feel strongly about the situation to open discussion with his group on the issues instead of the now familiar harassment against him by political jobbers.

“If those who have won the so-called victory are confident of the genuineness of their victory, they should go on,” he said. While restating his commitment to democracy, rule of law, credible elections, national unity, political stability, progress and development of Nigeria, Atiku reaffirmed his entire campaign team’s unwavering commitment and loyalty to the PDP and its noble objectives.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/feb/04/national-04-02-2011-001.htm

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has raised the alarm over the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to detect multiple registration.

According to the major opposition political party, “the INEC server lacks the capacity to detect double or multiple registration, contrary to the lies that the nation has been fed with by the commission, verification is only at the machine level and not at the server level,” the party said in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The statement said: ‘’That means anyone who registers in five different centres, for example, can indeed vote in all those centres without being detected. This is contrary to what Nigerians were told and it is a national calamity,’’ it said.

The ACN challenged INEC to disprove the claim of its inability to detect multiple registration by demonstrating to all stakeholders how it plans to do it, adding that failure to do this, “the Federal Government must set up a panel of inquiry to investigate how the country can be taken for a ride on an issue that is so critical to national survival.”

The panel, it said, must find answers to the following posers: “Who advised INEC to procure a system that cannot detect double/multiple registration? Why did INEC lure Nigerians into a false sense of security that no one can get away with double/multiple registration?

“What, if any, is the level of complicity of the PDP-led federal government in this national calamity? What guarantee can INEC, and indeed President Goodluck Jonathan, now give that April’s general election will be free and fair?” the A CN said.

The party urged other opposition political parties, the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER) and pro-democracy groups to hold a meeting urgently to find a way forward.

“It simply means that every time INEC wants to detect double/multiple registration, it will have to match each set of ten fingerprints of a voter against sixty million sets of ten fingerprints (assuming 60 million people were registered), and the technology procured by INEC simply does not have the capacity to do that.

The ACN said if “it took the British Police three years to establish a national finger print system, it is not what INEC can do in three weeks.”

“We are therefore left with no option than to conclude that the much-ballyhooed, N100 billion voter registration exercise will not produce a credible or accurate voter register. The voter register that will emerge will be packed full with fake names and riddled with double/multiple registration. Needless to say, therefore, that the forthcoming general elections will neither be free, fair nor credible,” it said.

ACN’s latest alarm over the voter registration is unjustifiable, the INEC said yesterday.

Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, said all expenses incurred on the procurement of the DDC machines were logically justifiable, adding that contrary to AC N’s view, the embedded software in the DDC would effectively detect multiple registrations once the date is aggregated at ward, local government, state and national levels.

“How could anyone say this is a hoax? The commission has put software in each of the DDC machines to forstall double registration. The truth of the matter is that double registration will be detected once the data are aggregated.

“For instance, if someone registers at two polling units in a ward, that double registration will be detected when the data get aggregated at the ward level.”

He explained that multiple registrations in different local government areas will be detected when the entire date is aggregated at the state level, while multiple registration done at different polling units in different states will be detected by the time the entire data is collected at the national level.

On the DDC machines, Idowu said INEC saved the nation millions of dollars by purchasing the equipment directly from manufacturer at lower prices.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/26524.html

Fear gripped residents of Maiduguri overnight on Saturday as the Boko Haram sect engaged the military in a fight to finish in different parts of the Borno State capital. As the war raged on, many of the residents were kept awake, fearing for their safety.

A policeman was also killed in another attack on Sunday afternoon at a checkpoint, prompting many residents to stay in-doors. The shooting started at about 8.30p.m around the Shehuri North-Custom area, in which the former enclave of the Boko Haram sect was located.

The gun battle lasted about two hours and continued in the early hours of Sunday. It was gathered that the trouble began when some gunmen opened fire on an army patrol vehicle around the area. A resident who lives in the area told Daily Sun on phone on Saturday night that he could not sleep because of the repeated shootings.

“I am restless now because the gun shots have refused to stop. I don’t even know what is happening and I cannot just go out with all my family members now because it is late. Who knows if these people (Boko Haram) are just on our street since my house is not far from the road,” the caller lamented. The 21 Armored Brigade Spokesman, Lt. Col. Abdullahi who confirmed the report said some gunmen had attacked soldiers on patrol in the metropolis on Saturday night. “As I am talking to you now, there is a shoot out around the Pompomari area,” he said.

It was further gathered that same gunmen in a car opened fire on three policemen at a checkpoint in Pompomari area on Sunday afternoon when they were stopped for the usual stop and search check, leading to the death of one of the policemen, a sergeant. “The gunmen numbering about four were in a car at about 12 noon. The car is ash colour and they just opened fire on the policemen at the checkpoint as soon as they were stopped. They even removed the car’s two number plates before they sped off,” an eyewitness told Daily Sun.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 18 persons suspected to be connected with last Friday’s killing had been arrested by the police in the state. The police claimed the suspects had ‘strong link’ with the killing of Gubio, ANPP governorship candidate and six others.

“We have every reason to believe these suspects have strong link with the last week’s murder of seven persons,” Police Public Relations (PPRO), ASP Abdullahi Lawal disclosed, adding that “investigation will soon commence.”
Daily Sun gathered that many of the Christians leaders had gone into hiding following alleged threat messages received by some of them during the week. The state Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Yuguda Mdavrwa could not be reached on phone to confirm the purported threat messages as his phone was switched off.

Also, leaders of the Igbo socio-cultural group, Igbo Welfare Association (IWA) in the state were also said to have gone into hiding. They had threatened last week to leave the state en-masse if the alleged selective killings of their members did not abate and should the governor fail to employ new strategy to curtail the Boko Haram menace.
IWA President General, Chief Nnaka Okereke told Daily on phone that he had been advised to keep a low profile until further notice. “I’m sorry you can’t see me now, I have been advised to hide myself for now because our safety is very important,” he declared.

Meanwhile, a group of academics under the aegis of Coalition of North-east Academics for Democracy and Good Governance had called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Plateau and Borno states.
The group said the call became imperative following what it described as “unbridled and wanton destruction of lives and property” in the two states, a development which it said had made life very short, brutish and worthless for the citizenry.

“From all indications, the Federal Government is avoiding declaration of state of emergency in the two states which have of late earned for themselves the inglorious reputation as the most dangerous places in West Africa along side the Niger Delta, ostensibly for fear of negative political implications as the 2011 general elections draw near and the strong influence of the governors of Plateau and Borno states in the Aso Villa,” a statement signed by the President of the group, Dr. Mohammed Gujbawu and made available to Daily Sun on Sunday in Maiduguri stated.
Gujbawu said only declaration of emergency rule would bring down tension and high rate of insecurity in the two states, stressing that a more holistic approach was required to address the insecurity, especially in Borno where serial killers suspected to be of Boko Haram had laid siege on the state.

The coalition urged President Goodluck Jonathan to send an executive communication without further delay, seeking immediate and total declaration of state of emergency in the two states to save lives and property of innocent citizens.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/31/national-31-01-2011-001.htm

Long before the actual conduct of the PDP presidential primary on January 13, 2011, the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation had raised several alarms concerning the apparent lack of openness and fairness in the entire primary process as well as the unwillingness of the leadership of the party to provide a level playing field to all aspirants.

On Wednesday, 22nd December, 2010, the Director-General of the Campaign, Senator Ben Obi, drew the attention of the Nigerian people to the orchestrated confusion and obfuscation regarding the format of the presidential primary election and the non-composition of the Presidential Screening Committee. He said it was the duty of the PDP leadership to ensure that the process leading to the presidential primary and the actual conduct of it met the minimum standard of democratic ideals.
Two days later, on 24th December, 2010, Senator Obi wrote on behalf of Atiku Campaign Organisation to Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, the national chairman of the party, requesting him to provide the comprehensive guidelines for the conduct of the presidential primary election.

“As the ruling party, the PDP must set the highest standard for internal democracy as the major step to achieving free and fair elections in 2011. The ability of the PDP leadership to be neutral and allow a level playing field will have a great bearing on the standard of elections that Nigeria has promised the world,” Obi wrote.
He said Nigeria could not afford to repeat the mistakes of the 2007 elections and that the PDP had a moral burden to lead the efforts to give Nigeria credible election. He called for “openness as a necessary condition for achieving transparency and trust among PDP stakeholders, including Atiku Abubakar, who has offered himself as a contender for the nation’s highest public office.” Senator Obi went on to remind the PDP leadership that unity in the party would depend on the feeling of reassurance by every member that he or she was entitled to equal and fair treatment.

The Director-General also requested a meeting between the party leadership and the Atiku Campaign Organisation so that it could be better informed about the party’s plans toward the conduct of the primary election and make necessary inputs on same.

Finally, the Atiku Campaign Organisation was invited to meet with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party on 28th December, 2010 at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja. The meeting had to be shifted to 3rd January 2011 because of the tight schedule of the party leaders, and also to enable other campaign organisations to attend. The purpose of such a meeting between the leadership of the party and the various campaign organisations was to thrash out all matters relating to the conduct of the primary election to ensure a free, fair, credible, transparent and acceptable primary election.

The meeting never took place and the PDP leadership never offered any explanation why it could not hold. Senator Obi placed several calls to the PDP National Chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, and sent several SMS messages. Nwodo said he was still consulting and that he would get back to Obi at the end of his consultation. He never did.

It was interesting to note that the Jonathan camp was never bothered about these issues, which were fundamental to the success or failure of the primary election – an indication, perhaps, that it was working hand-in-hand with the national secretariat to subvert the will of the delegates to the primary. It became pretty obvious, therefore, that an unholy alliance had been formed between the PDP leadership and the presidency and it was determined to manipulate the process leading to the primary in favour of President Jonathan against the wishes of the generality of party members and delegates.

The signals from the party headquarters were troubling. The party leadership no longer pretended to be neutral. The Atiku camp could no longer find protection within a supposedly close PDP family working together and living under a common umbrella. The PDP political family could not reassure its members and supporters that it was neutral and fairly disposed to every aspirant.

For example, the composition of the National Convention Committee, which had the overall mandate of planning and executing the primary election programme, was not made public until 72 hours before the convention. Similarly, the identities of members of the screening committee were also not released until 72 hours before the screening of presidential aspirants on 11th January 2011. The PDP leadership mischievously kept the Atiku campaign in the dark on critical issues and processes up till the time the primary kicked off.

Specifically, the party refused to provide any official communication on the guidelines and ground rules that would govern the conduct of the primary election; about the time, location and method of screening of delegates; the issuance of passes to accredited officials; the security arrangements for such a major political undertaking; a published list of all delegates who would participate in the voting exercise; voting method and procedures; counting and announcement of results; and a thousand and one other details that should have been clearly set out weeks before the conduct of the election.

The ground rules governing the primary election ought to have been agreed upon and signed by all the parties involved, and such an agreement should not only be binding on all parties, but should also have been published and widely advertised in the print media. The agreement on the special convention ground rules would have been one major way to ensure that the primary election process was objective, impartial, fair, just and not programmed to produce a predetermined end. But the PDP leadership refused to be guided by these basic democratic norms.
Also, the list of delegates who would vote at the primary election ought to have been published and widely advertised in the print media, prior to the primary, so as to forestall the list either being tampered with or its integrity being substantially compromised. But the list of delegates was sighted for the first time by members of the Atiku campaign while voting was in progress. The list of delegates is crucial to the successful conduct of any primary election. It is as important as the list of Nigerian voters, which the INEC is required by law to publish before the conduct of the general election.

It was in the light of these lapses, uncertainty, unfairness, secrecy, non-disclosure of vital information and outright breaches of both the party’s guidelines for the conduct of the presidential primary election and the 2010 Electoral Act, that the Atiku campaign was compelled to warn the PDP leadership not to allow a repeat of the chaotic and undemocratic primaries conducted earlier in the states for state assembly, National Assembly and governorship candidates.

Most of these primaries were characterised by a high degree of uncertainty, confusion, violence, fraud and manipulation. In many instances, authentic delegates to the primary elections were disenfranchised, leading to mass defection of longtime party members to other political parties in order to realise their ambitions. Bitterness over the lack of transparency in the primaries, the Atiku Campaign warned, was capable of tearing the party apart if it was not quickly corrected.

The Atiku campaign also drew public attention to the unacceptable situation in some states, where delegates were barred from meeting Atiku Abubakar on the directive of the governors. Such states included Jigawa, Ebonyi, Abia, Kaduna and Akwa Ibom. It was clear that PDP state governors were under intense pressure from the presidency not to allow Atiku Abubakar to meet the delegates from their states. The PDP leadership refused to take a firm and decisive action against this undemocratic practice or primitive display of partisanship.

The Atiku campaign wondered why preparations for the conduct of the PDP presidential primary election appeared to be going on in extreme secrecy, thus making the entire process suspect and placing it under grave threat of manipulation by the powers that be. Less than 48 hours before the primary, the Atiku campaign was still completely in the dark about such crucial issues as the venue/location for the accreditation of delegates; the number of its officials who were entitled to special passes; the security arrangement for such a huge political undertaking; the nature and context of the voting method to be adopted; the number and arrangement of ballot boxes; the nature of ballot papers to be used, and if they had any special identification; mode of counting the ballot papers; and the announcement of results.

Although the Atiku campaign had demanded that accreditation of delegates and election officials be made open and transparent, the party leadership ignored this. The accreditation was handed over to state governors and ministers who handpicked those they trusted would vote for President Jonathan and left out suspected Atiku sympathisers from the convention.

Despite Atiku campaign’s vehement opposition to state by state voting and the labelling of ballot boxes according to states, the PDP went ahead to do just that. Giving the statement credited to Chief Tony Anenih, former BOT chairman, issuing threats to delegates: “they will be fished out and dealt with if they cast their vote for Atiku,” such voting pattern intimidated delegates and made them unable to vote according to their consciences.
When the composition of the Presidential Screening and Convention Committees was eventually made public, the Atiku Campaign Organisation raised critical issues with the lopsidedness of the membership of the two committees. The campaign listed at least eight of the members of the committees who were outright hostile to aspirant Atiku Abubakar:

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State:
The governor has gone on record to express his virulent opposition to Atiku Abubakar. He recently denounced Atiku Abubakar as a “desperado” and called him other unprintable names. He had blocked all avenues for Akwa Ibom State delegates to meet with our aspirant. He even went as far as threatening any of them who dared to meet with Atiku Abubakar.

Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State:
The governor has never hidden his support for Jonathan; he is the chief mobiliser and financier of the Jonathan/Sambo campaign in Oyo State. He recently told a newspaper interviewer that he had bought 35 cars for the Jonathan/Sambo campaign and that if Jonathan does not win, Nigeria will break up.

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State:
The governor is also the chief campaigner and financier of the president and his deputy in Abia State. His hostility towards our aspirant is such that Abia State delegates have been too scared to meet openly with our aspirant.

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State:
His bitter and utterly uncouth utterances in recent times against Atiku Abubakar clearly exposed him as a rabid Atiku hater. He has intimidated and forced some of the Atiku campaign officials to resign their appointments.

Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba: He is the coordinator of the Jonathan/Sambo campaign in the Senate. It would also be recalled that Ndoma-Egba chaired the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on PTDF that was programmed to indict our aspirant in 2006 over the management of PTDF money.
The Secretary of the Convention Committee, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, has been an Obasanjo lackey and he also serves as the deputy coordinator of the Jonathan/Sambo campaign in the South East.
Dr. Nuhu Zagbayi serves as the North Central coordinator of the Jonathan/Sambo campaign.
Chief Sylvester Okonkwo, who is to act as the secretary of the Presidential Screening Panel, is a special assistant to Governor Godswill Akpabio. Chief Okonkwo has openly derided and insulted our aspirant.
It was, therefore, obvious that with a preponderance of anti-Atiku people in the two committees, Atiku could not expect a fair deal.

In a January 11th letter to the PDP national chairman, the Director-General of Atiku campaign, Senator Ben Obi, appealed to Nwodo’s sense of fairness and justice to review the list and expunge those whose neutrality could not be guaranteed. Senator Obi expressed the readiness of the Atiku campaign to withdraw the membership of one Bashir Ibrahim from the Convention Committee for the sake of neutrality. The National Chairman never responded to these complaints.
One other example of the absence of a level playing field throughout the period leading to the primary was the unprofessional use of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Africa Independent Television (AIT) to persistently air defamatory advertorials against Atiku Abubakar. The Atiku campaign formally reported the two television stations to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the regulatory body. But the government-controlled NBC ignored our complaints, thus giving both the NTA and AIT free rein to broadcast lies, fabrications and unproven allegations against our principal.

In the case of AIT, all efforts made by the Atiku campaign to get its chairman, Raymond Dopkesi, to intervene proved abortive. Dokpesi, who was supposed to be a member of the consolidated Atiku campaign, said he was helpless, having surrendered his cash-strapped broadcast company to a rampaging Federal Government. The duplicity of Dokpesi’s AIT was, however, evident in the serial rejection of Atiku infomercials and attack advertisements against Jonathan/Sambo. On three occasions, Atiku campaign ready-to-air tapes and cash were returned by the management of AIT.

On hindsight, it has become obvious that the process leading to the conduct of the presidential primary election was programmed to yield a pre-determined outcome. Even if the Atiku campaign had executed its strategic programme optimally, the result would have been only marginally different. A grand conspiracy against Atiku Abubakar was constructed between the presidency, the party leadership and the bulk of the PDP state governors to produce only one result – the success of Jonathan at the primary election.
A report by Alhaji Halilu Bala Usman, Atiku’s polling agent, at the special convention, clearly showed that the party leadership and the presidency carefully planned and executed the monumental rigging of the presidential primary on January 13, 2011.
Alhaji Bala Usman, former deputy governor of old Plateau State, carefully documented his observations as follows:

The absence of the comprehensive delegate list aided the manipulation of the election process in favour of President Jonathan. It was also curious to observe that supplementary names were presented at the accreditation venue and purportedly endorsed by the respective states PDP chairmen. The lists of delegates used for the elections had, therefore, been doctored before the issuance of ballot papers, which resulted in over-voting and in some cases issues of unaccounted votes. For example, 16 Plateau State House of Assembly members who decamped to Labour Party with Deputy Governor Pauline Tallen were replaced with some other people by Governor Jonah Jang, and they were allowed to vote as delegates. A delegate from Anambra State was shocked that as a former governorship candidate, he could not recognise most of those who presented themselves as delegates from the state. He actually sent away 20 fake delegates from the state contingent. Vehement protest from Alhaji Shehu Gabam, the Deputy Director-General of Atiku Campaign for Mobilization, led to the disqualification of 26 persons who had showed up as Bauchi State delegates and were in fact, being processed to vote.

Delegates were also not accorded their independence to make their choices, as, in most cases, state governors led their delegations and directed the filling of the ballot papers by their appointed aides for President Jonathan. A close associate of Governor Akwe Doma of Nasarawa was seen filling the ballot papers for all the delegates from the state. Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State nearly came to blows with the former Action Congress chairman in Kaduna State, Alhaji Aliyu Yahaya, when he was challenged over his over-bearing attitude towards the delegates. Governor Lamido was ordering Jigawa State delegates to fill Jonathan’s name on the ballot papers.
In Osun State, Youth Minister Akinlabi stood at the entrance of the polling station coercing delegates to vote for Jonathan and he was seen live on television. In Adamawa State, a close associate of Governor Murtala Nyako instructed delegates to vote for Jonathan or risk being dealt with by the state government when they returned home. Similarly, Defence Minister Adetokunbo Kayode was very visible around the polling station for Ondo State, directing delegates to vote for Jonathan and threatening to punish those who voted for Atiku. A Katsina State commissioner was seen filling ballot papers for delegates in favour of Jonathan.
The election process was purportedly conducted based on the issued PDP electoral guidelines, which unfortunately established and gave the Electoral Panel absolute power to control the voting pattern that ended up to the disadvantage of Atiku campaign. The Strategy and Rapid Response Committee suspected and highlighted this issue prior to the convention.

“No special congresses were held anywhere in the country for the purpose of electing the 774 special delegates, who voted in the primary. Names of presidential functionaries, including ministers and advisers, as well as trusted aides of state governors were merely compiled and passed off as national delegates. These were the people who were used to do the dirty jobs during the primary election. They worked closely with state governors to whip delegates in line and in some cases they actually filled ballot papers for delegates.
Names of State Working Committee members, local government chairmen, etc were changed days to the primary election and known supporters of the president were allowed to vote in place of those disenfranchised statutory delegates.

Accreditation of delegates was done in secrecy at state liaison offices in Abuja. The Atiku campaign was deliberately denied access to these locations. In fact, state governors imprisoned delegates against their will at these locations throughout the night before the primary and bussed them to the venue of the convention the following day.

Delegate tags were deliberately designed without a mark of identification so that anybody could get a hold of it and vote as delegates. Delegate/official tags were being sold to the highest bidder by the national secretariat of the party. Atiku campaign sent a staff to purchase a tag at N3, 000 just to prove the veracity of the allegation. The staff bought a tag at the said price.
President Jonathan doled out seven thousand dollars to each of the delegates, thus using financial inducement to make them vote for him.

Atiku lost the primary election not to the best candidate but due to the manipulations of the delegate list and the entire voting process. Consequently, the polling agents (Bala Usman, Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim and Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba) did not sign the final result, notwithstanding the provisions of S.9 b & c of the Electoral Guidelines that gave the panel the absolute power to uphold and release the result with or without their endorsements.
While reaffirming the unwavering commitment and loyalty of Atiku Abubakar and his entire campaign team to the PDP and its noble objectives, we would like to state that the result of the presidential primary released by the PDP did not reflect the minds of the delegates at the recent Special National Convention.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2011/jan/29/newsbreak-29-01-2011-001.htm

Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela returned home on Friday after two days of successful hospital treatment for breathing difficulties where he resolutely laughed and joked with visitors.

"He has been discharged," said Vejaynand Ramlakan, who leads the team of military doctors assigned to care for the former resistance leader who left prison in 1990 and became the country’s first black president four years later.

"Dr Mandela is in high spirits. For a 92-year-old he surprises us on a daily basis with his powers of recovery."

Mandela’s condition was stable but he will be subject to intense monitoring by medical specialists at home, Ramlakan said.

A security official from a 20-vehicle convoy confirmed that the Nobel peace laureate travelled back to his house in Houghton in Johannesburg, in the second of two ambulances.

Scores of neighbours and well-wishers gathered for his arrival but failed to catch a glimpse of the country’s revered elder statesman.

"Our daddy is back," said Lina Phalane, a 67-year-old maid who works in the same street. "Please God, give him some more days to live with us," she said.

Speaking at a joint press conference at Milpark hospital in Johannesburg, alongside surgeon general Ramlakan, one of Mandela’s grandsons spoke of the family’s relief.

"We enjoy having our grandfather around, this afternoon it came as a joy that he was to be discharged," said Mandla Mandela.

Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe said the ex-South African president was well and had been laughing and joking with visitors.

"We should remain calm and continue with our prayers that Madiba (Mandela’s clan name) will be with us to celebrate his 93rd birthday, and beyond," he said, conceding that a media blackout since Wednesday may have been flawed.

"With the wisdom of hindsight we could have handled the matter differently," he said, given that Mandela is seen as "not only a South African icon but an icon of the entire world."

"We should indeed once the health professionals looking after him indicate that he was to be hospitalised communicate with you, we will do that," he added, alluding to how a future health scare would be handled.

Mandela’s condition has gripped the nation, with media surrounding the hospital amid tight security that saw police checking all visitors’ cars to ensure no journalists were hiding in the boot.

A nearby school was decorated with messages of support.

"All we want is just the best for him and for him to recover and go home and be with his family," said Sibongile Dlamini, a 17-year-old, grade 12 pupil.

In Mandela’s home village of Qunu, 870 kilometres (540 miles) south of Johannesburg, locals huddled around television screens to hear the latest news.

"It is such a relief to hear that he is out of hospital now, " Thobile Mjekula, 79, who said he has met Madiba several times, told AFP.

"The old man has been through a lot, we only wish that he recovers so that the country can enjoy the honour of having him around," said Mjekula.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation, established to continue his charitable work after he withdrew from public life in 2004, said Wednesday that Madiba was undergoing "routine tests" but made no further comment.

Mandela emerged from incarceration 21 years ago and went on to lead the country’s transition from white minority rule to democracy.

After being elected as president in 1994, he defied the threat of civil war to lead a process of reconciliation in a country long divided against itself.

His public appearances have become increasingly rare since retirement in 2004, the last such outing being at the closing ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Johannesburg in July.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/26175.html

As prospective voters and registration officials continue to confront sundry challenges related with the ongoing voter registration exercise, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has formally announced a one-week extension.

In a statement issued by the Secretary of INEC, Alhaji Abdullahi Kaugama, yesterday evening, INEC pointed out that the extension has necessitated a deferment of claims and objections scheduled to take place from February 3 to February 8, 2011.

"Following the amendment to Section 9 (5) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, INEC has extended the on-going voter registration exercise by seven days.

"The extension will take effect from Sunday, January 30 to Saturday, February 5, 2011. This is to enable all eligible voters who were unable to register within the previously stipulated period of January 15 to January 29 do so.

"Meanwhile, the display of the preliminary list of voters for claims and objections will now be from February 12 to February 17.

"INEC hereby urges Nigerians to use the opportunity of this extension to get registered accordingly," Kaugama added.

However, frustrations continue to trail the voter registration exercise in the Federal Capital Territory’s satellite towns, including Lugbe, Mpape, Kuje and Kubwa.

Mr Gbenga Omokhunu, a journalist, was among the residents of Kuje who lamented the unending problems associated with the exercise.

"There are very few registration centres on the outskirts and only 15 persons were registered at the one in my area in Kuje throughout Thursday. On Friday, my wife and I went to queue up at 5 am and I was given a tally number 450 but up till 12. 30 pm, no single person had been registered as the INEC

officials were trying to resolve different problems including the purchase of fuel for the generator," he said.

On Friday evening, members of the Project 2011 Swift Count announced their intention to present detailed information on Nigeria’s voter registration process collated by about 1,000 observers located in all the 774 local government areas (LGAs).

"Since the start of the exercise on January 15, Project 2011 Swift Count has been observing and collecting information and within the next few days, members of the Project Swift Count National Steering Committee (NSC) will present an updated, comprehensive, nationwide assessment of the registration process, including the number of registration centres open; the number of centres where the direct data capture (DDC) system is properly functioning; the number of centres issuing temporary voter ID cards; and the number of centres experiencing incidence of violence.

"The monitoring initiative reflects the diversity of Nigeria as it is a joint effort of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN); Justice, Development and Peace/Caritas Nigeria (JDPC), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Transition Monitoring Group (TMG). The project aims to promote free, fair, peaceful, credible and legitimate elections through non-partisan, independent citizen observation," their spokesman, Mr Chibuike Mgbeahuruike, stated.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/26200.html

I AM JUST LAUGHING IN NAIJA.

Chairman of Lagos Peoples Vanguard (LPV), a multi-ethnic pressure group, Comrade Sola Omoshola, has alleged plans by President Goodluck Jonathan to destabilize the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)-led administration in the state.

He alleged that the president was planning to incite some ethnic groups to work against the party, all in a desperate bid to pave the way for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to win Lagos in April polls.
The LPV Chairman made the allegation on Saturday when he led a peaceful protest to the new domestic terminal of the Lagos Airport, called MMA 2.

The protesting youths, numbering about 70, were armed with placards of various inscriptions and chanted zestful songs of protest. As they moved around the terminal, they drew the attention of passengers, security personnel and other workers around the place.

Some of the placards read: “Mr President! Please Lagosians are peace-loving people; Mr President welcome to Lagos; Lagos is peaceful; Do not incite Itsekiri, and Ijaw against other ethnic groups; Let your votes count in the next general elections come April 2011”, among others.

In his own remarks, the Chairman of LPV said: “The president is free to come to Lagos. He is welcome any day, but what is wrong is when the president comes to instigate certain ethnic groups against the others. That will not be good for the peace that reigns in Lagos. We’ll resist that. People in Lagos have been living in peace. Please let them leave us alone, we are very happy the way we are.

The dividends of democracy in Lagos can be seen everywhere, in every nook and cranny in Lagos, so we do not want anybody to destabilise it. We are forging ahead in Lagos, the Hausas are here, the Itsekiris are here, the Ijaws are here in Lagos. As a matter of fact, Lagos State is Nigeria, so let nobody destabilise us”, he said.

Omoshola urged eligible Lagosians to ensure they are registered in the ongoing voters’ registration as that remains their only power to elect candidates of their choice. “What we care about, is to get the voters registration right now; if we cannot do it now, then we will never get it right again in our lives. Nigeria is over 50 years and we cannot sell our rights to anybody. We are just saying let Lagosians go out there and register. If need be, let Jega go to the appropriate quarters and ask for extension of date. We want this election to take place in peace. Let people elect leaders they want to serve them”, he added.

Omoshola also urged the president not to allow himself to be used by desperate politicians who want to actualize their ambitions by hook or crook in the state. “There is this information reaching our desk that some people are pushing Mr President to come to Lagos to meet with Ijaws, Itsekiri people to incite them against the political platform that produced the administration in Lagos State. They might have another agenda in mind. If Jonathan wants to come to Lagos to meet his kinsmen, he is welcome anytime any day, but inciting one ethnic group against another will create problems,”he said.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/23/national-23-01-2011-001.htm

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, was as usual at his best when he responded to questions from a select group of journalists in the early hours of Thursday. Our Managing Editor, Northern Operation, YUSUF ALLI, captures the interesting session. Excerpts:

Why is the voter registration exercise failing?

I think it is a wrong assumption to use the challenges that we have faced in the first few days of a 15-day exercise to conclude that the exercise or the assignment is failing. Obviously, when we commenced the registration on January 15, serious issues were raised about the delay in finger printing and that affected the number of people who were registered on the first and on the second day. But by the second day, we had already discovered what the problem was and we had developed a solution to the problem and we have started deploying the solution.

It took up to the 3rd and the part of the 4th day to be able to reach the significant number of the DDC machines that had been deployed. What happened was that the factory set the fingerprint quality very, very high and that was why it was rejecting. It became very, very sensitive and if there is any slight problem with a fingerprint, whether it is dust or oil, it was just rejecting the fingerprint.

Obviously, there is a threshold. What we did having realised that was to adjust the threshold and once that was done, you can see how things have changed remarkably. I don’t know why you are talking about the assumption that it has failed because if you listened to the reports on Wednesday by everybody, they said that there was a remarkable improvement in the process. And this thing will keep on improving.

By yesterday (Wednesday), we had reached about 80 per cent of the machines that have already been deployed in the field and they were reconfigured. And so there was no problem in at least 80% of the units by yesterday(Wednesday) which was the fifth day.

By the end of Thursday, we would have reached all the DDC machines which we have already deployed. As I speak with you now, we have deployed up to 117,000 DDC machines. Of course, there are about 120,000 polling units, which means that there are about 3,000 polling units which we have not yet deployed the DDC machines to. These units cut across. It is unfortunate that this has happened. But the reason is that we have been disappointed by one of the contractors who said that he had difficulty getting aircraft to deliver. But he had delivered one aircraft I think on Sunday and the second aircraft is expected and once that arrives we will now be able to deploy to all the remaining polling units. And we have spares which hopefully latest by Friday, he would finish his own supply.

Of course, what we intend to do is that wherever we notice large concentration of population, we can reconfigure another DDC machine to that polling unit and we can deploy it so that there will be more machines in a large polling unit that will be able to register as many people as possible. So, that is why we are hopeful, we are optimistic that we can still complete this exercise within the timeframe we have defined.

However, if for any reason it becomes evident that in certain polling units or in certain locations we may not be able to capture everybody within the timeframe, then at that time, we can take a position about extension; whether we can extend and how much time we would be able to extend.

Which company has delayed in supplying DDC machines? Will that affect the exercise?

The outstanding contractor is Avante, we are not covering. It is supposed to supply 22,000 pieces of equipment but only one aircraft had arrived with 5, 500. But we expect, we have concrete information they gave us, that by this evening (Thursday), another aircraft will arrive with another 5,500; and they have assured us that by Friday evening, the full complement of equipment will arrive.

"It is unfortunate that we had these delays. We do not condone it, we are very disappointed. But when you are procuring 132,000 pieces of equipment and by the first day you commenced, you have over a 100,000 already deployed, I think everybody knows that there is no cause for alarm.

There are unfortunate delays but as I speak with you now, there are only a few thousands which we have not yet reached. So, frankly, there is no cause for alarm.

I know that in many areas, because of once beaten twice shy, people know the experience of the past, there is a lot of anxiety and agitation that may be no machines will be deployed. I understand that but I want to reassure people that we will get to everybody’s unit, and they should just be patient. And whoever is registrable in any polling unit will be registered.

We have a strategy in place that God willing within the 15-day period, we will capture as many registrable Nigerians as possible, hopefully all, in spite of the challenges that we have already faced. And if it becomes necessary, then we will consider the issue of extension.

But we think it is too soon to be talking about extension. We want to wait until after the first week and review everything. And then after that we can decide as to what is best. Even if there may be extension, from the trend we are seeing, the way things are normalising, it may just happen in a few areas not everywhere. But we will see. We have not taken a decision in one way or the other.

From field reports, how many Nigerians have been registered?

I have been getting tremendous field reports but we have taken a decision that rather than giving information piece-meal, we want to wait until the first week of the exercise, then we will review the figures, we will make the information available and then from then to the end of the exercise on a day- by-day basis, we will be releasing the figures that have come. So, please be patient with us. But everybody knows that there is a remarkable improvement. If in some polling units on the first day, not more than 10 to 20 people have been captured, by Wednesday many polling units are averaging 100 people in a day.

Will you say that INEC was over-confident in its preparation for this exercise?

No, I won’t say that we were over-confident. What happened was that first of all, we developed internationally reputable standards of procurement and specifications. So we defined the specifications and we know that machines that we are going to procure will be up to a standard. And we know that barring any unforeseen circumstances, those machines will enable us to do this exercise successfully.

But…eh(cuts in)

As people are saying machines have failed, machines have not failed. There was a software problem where a particular aspect of it had a challenge. Remember, the machines have so many components like the laptop, the printer, the camera and there is a fingerprint facility. And it is only the fingerprint facility that had problem and the problem is not that the fingerprint facility is not working, it is just that it is too slow. It is a software problem because of the setting and we have adjusted that.

So, we are still optimistic, we are still hopeful. We tested these equipment when they brought them and they were working perfectly. But remember that there is a difference between putting a machine in a very nice air-conditioned room and testing and then deploying it in the field. Most of these challenges are associated with the kind of conditions under which they were deployed.

For example, under normal circumstances, fingerprinting takes place in a room where it is relatively secured without dust and relatively dark compared to open sunlight. But look at the way the registration is going. Many people are doing it under a Mango tree or in an open field. Those who have a tarpaulin or canopy are lucky. So, for example, we have also noticed that in some polling stations, even before we deployed the parts which adjusted the fingerprint facility, if you put the fingerprint scanner under a table, it was also still registering faster or even it is on the table or open sunlight if you put a piece of paper and cover it, it was also capturing fast. Which means that the atmospheric conditions also affect the extent to which some of these machines have worked?

Wasn’t there any field testing before the exercise commenced?

It is true we did some field testings even before we deployed but frankly, most of those field testings were either in our state offices or in venues where stakeholders’ meetings were taking place, where the machines were displayed and they were all very nice, conducive environment which are totally different from the actual field operation.

In the Northern part of the country, for example now, the harmattan season has come in, it is a lot dusty and we have been receiving complaints about how that is affecting the printer itself. Once dust accumulates, it also affects the way in which the printer prints. So, they have to keep on devising ways of cleaning the printer in order to ensure that it functions optimally.

What about the training of the ad-hoc staff? Was the three-day training enough?

Thank you very much. I’m glad you raised it. I will be the first to admit that probably, we would have been better off if we were able to give more training to the ad-hoc staff. But unfortunately, we could not do more because you know, training is a matter of funds. We are dealing with over 240,000 ad-hoc staff plus about 9,000 supervisors. If you remember, we wanted to use even 360,000 but the cost implication was so huge that unfortunately we have to scale down.

So really, in future, we have to find ways and means of ensuring that there is adequate training before deployment in the field. But you can see that hands-on experience also was part of the training that was lacking because the longer the time they spent on the field working with the machine now, the more confident they became and therefore also are the processes.

Really, during the training, there wasn’t sufficient hands-on experience for most of the ad-hoc staff. It is unfortunate, it has happened, we couldn’t control it. Even if we were to increase just one day of training for 240,000 people, a lot of millions and hundreds of Naira will be spent. I think with benefit of hindsight, we do not have sufficient funds budgeted for the training.

In fact, right now, we have to even get complementary support from international organisations, particularly United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Joint Donor Fund even to be able to pay for the training that we have conducted. So in future, we would have to pay a lot of attention and get a lot of resources to be able to do very good training for our staff.

There were reports that you lost some staff during this exercise like the case in Jos. What are you doing to protect these ad-hoc staff?

There were reports that we lost a corps member but it is not true, it is not confirmed. We tried to verify and the information available to us is that it is unfortunate somebody died in Jos but he was not an INEC staff. But there was an unfortunate death in Yobe State of an Immigration Officer, who was serving as a Registration Centre Area Officer. He died of suffocation because they wanted to be warm and they put on the generator set on a closed room.

In Kebbi State , we also lost a guard. What happened was that he died at night of natural causes. So, these things are bound to happen. What happened in Jos was that there was fighting and the Police had to intervene to shoot to disperse the crowd but unfortunately, somebody died. Information available to us, as I speak with you, is that he was not our staff and not NYSC staff.

What measures have you put in place to safeguard the hijack of DDC machines? Are you aware that some politicians are desperate to take advantage of the situation?

Wherever a machine is diverted, we automatically lock it up and we substitute another machine for the polling unit where it was taken away from. Secondly, we are working with the Nigeria Police and those that commit those kind of offences, I am sure you must have been reading in newspapers, are being arrested and they will be prosecuted. The good thing about it is that, as I said, we have deployed about 300,000 people, if you include supervisors and registration area officers, our electoral officers, including the ad-hoc staff from the NYSC and staff of other agencies that are working with us (I mean staff of the National Population Commission. Immigration and NIMC).

But how many people have been apprehended with this problem of diversion? In Bayelsa, three people were apprehended and unfortunately two of them are NYSC corps members. In Enugu , another two people were apprehended. In Kebbi, another two people were in the net. Altogether, six, they are no less than 10. So, there are always criminals and they would commit crimes. The challenge is to be able to apprehend them and to be able to prosecute them successfully and we are determined to do that.

All those who have been arrested, we have already decided and we are working very closely with the Police that they will be charged to court and they will be prosecuted. We hope that will serve as a deterrent to others.

Which other under-hand deals have you uncovered?

We have cases of under-aged registration in some places but luckily, very few. And also the Police have helped us to stop it and to do everything possible to apprehend those associated with that.

Do you have a way of detecting under-aged registrants?

Yes, it is very easy. When you see an under-aged person, you know them. Definitely, when we come to clean up the register, we will remove all of those.

What of double registration?

Double registration is happening but it is useless. I assure you it is useless because we have a very, very effective hi-fi system. A system that crosschecks finger prints and can eliminate double registration. We have three layers of checking double registration. At the poling unit, it is impossible for anybody to come to one machine and register twice. But what has been happening is that people are moving from one polling unit to another to register. They can do that, it is still possible.

Unfortunately because of lack of internet capability in our country, all the DDC machines are not internet connected in the 120,000 polling units. So it is difficult to check and crosscheck fingers while registration is going on. But we have set up a system at the state level. When all the data is collected from the polling unit, it is coming to the state and we are going to check the fingerprints across local governments and within local governments.

At all of those levels, we will eliminate double registration. When we finish with the state, we will also bring it to the national level in order to certify a national register and at that point, if there is still any remaining duplication, it will also be removed. But the hi-fi we are using is so internationally reputable that there is only one chance of multiple registration in

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/25508.html

Nine days after the conclusion of the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ripple effects of the stiff contest are still dominating public discourse.

Joining the fray is the Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, who has faulted ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and carpeted a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo over the state of the economy.

Aganga, who spoke on an NTA programme (Finance and Economy) in Abuja, said it was regretful that Atiku had embarked on deliberate misrepresentation.

"Most of the data, information, or statistics or quotes that have been used, if you look at them, there is a lot of misrepresentation. I don’t want to say deliberate, because that will be a little bit rude. But there was distortion of facts.

"So, I take these as examples: He talked about foreign investors/international community losing confidence in our economy. That is wrong. Only in October, at the World Bank annual meetings, the World Bank and IMF openly commended Nigeria and identified Nigeria as one of the top performing economies in the world.

"Only last week, the Research Institute said Nigeria is going to be one of the next economies that will replace the top economies. It was also said that those who do not invest in Nigeria today, in 10 years time, they will look back and ask why they did not invest."

He said there was also "absolutely nothing" new in the criticisms of Atiku

He added: "The points which they identified are points which we have already identified and are working on. So, there is a lot of distortion.

"But it is strange. Strange in the sense that I don’t know why you will deliberately distort, misrepresent and talk down your country and your economy when the international community is saying you are doing extremely well.

"We talk down on our country and economy too much. If you look at some of the things they said, they said the average interest rate of our borrowings is 14 per cent. It is wrong. It is not 14 per cent, it is 7 per cent. 95 per cent of our domestic debt is concessionary."

In apparent reference to Soludo, Aganga said those advising Atiku were the same people who claimed that Nigerian banks had non-performing loans.

He said ordinarily, Atiku’s advisers ought to be banned from the financial services sector or be jailed.

He added: "Most of the things there are wrong. So, it is very unfortunate and it is wrong when we hear that the people advising him are the same people who told us that the Nigerian economy is isolated from other countries.

"They are the same people who told us that our banks are safe, there are no non-performing loans and everything. What happened when the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, came on board? The can was opened, everything was completely rotten. These are the people who ran the economy down and they are the same people advising the man. So, it is sad.

"In other countries, in this situation, those people will be banned from the financial services sector, if they are not eventually jailed.

"So, it is sad that people will do the wrong thing and come out to say a different thing. The data lack credibility in so many ways.

"You see that this country is a great country and you see that we talk ourselves down too much. We talk down on our economy too much.

"All we need to do is to get the right people in the right places. By this, we will turn this economy around very quickly. I am optimistic. I was optimistic about the country before I came. Sitting where I sit, with the people I work with and having the information I have, I am far more optimistic about the country.

"Given the chance, once we have stability and continuity, I assure you this country will not be the same in four or five years’ time. It is a great country. We have all the opportunities and our people are the best."

Reacting on behalf of Soludo, Mr. Leo Chiegboka, lawyer and Personal Assistant to the former CBN governor said: "The most important thing is that Soludo does not have any comment to make, and he would not take issues with Aganga over his comments.

"Soludo did his best when he embarked on consolidation of the banking sector and he was adjudged the best central bank governor in the world. I don’t know where Aganga was when Soludo was in charge of the apex bank. Though I do not want to sound nasty, I think that Aganga does not know what he is saying.

"Before Soludo came on board, Nigeria was printing money abroad and he (Soludo) sanitised and repositioned the economy by printing money here in Nigeria, which his successor has been benefiting from. There are monumental problems in Nigeria, such as power failure and lack of good roads, among many others, which those in position of leadership should address rather than heaping blame on people who have done their best while in office.

"Government is a continuum, and so, whosoever is there now should address the problems on ground. But for Soludo, there wouldn’t have been any bank operating in Nigeria now, and that is why he embarked on the consolidation exercise to ensure the stability of the banking sector."

When Atiku’s reaction was sought, his media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, declined comments.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/25509.html

Senator Joseph Kennedy Waku is a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who represented Benue North/West senatorial district between 1999 and 2003 in the Senate. In this thought-provoking interview with Saturday Sun, Waku takes a look at the just-concluded primary elections of the PDP and concluded that President Goodluck Jonathan stole victory at the party’s presidential primary election.

Hear him: “What is rigging? Rigging is stealing. It is a polite way of addressing political arrangement as rigging. Rigging is stealing. So, Jonathan Goodluck has stolen the mandate he knew for sure he wouldn’t have won.”

Waku commended former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for his stance over the outcome of the PDP presidential primaries, saying: “I encouraged Atiku not to even congratulate Jonathan because you can’t encourage stifling corruption. Somebody who is absolutely corrupt, then you go to congratulate him for being corrupt? We encouraged Atiku not to. Indeed, we warned him not to congratulate Jonathan because he did not win the primaries. It was full of corruption. How can a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria induce people? This is the worst presidential nomination that took place in my entire lifetime. This is the worst. Did you see any jubilation in Jonathan’s camp? There was none. They knew what they did. It is a shame, it is a murder of democracy and it is embarrassing. PDP is a corrupt organisation that can never be better until we work hard to rectify it.”

On the expected winner of the forthcoming presidential election, Waku said: “I don’t know who will win. I know that Jonathan will not win, but I don’t know who will win.”
He spoke on this and other sundry issues.

How has life been outside the Senate?
I don’t know what you mean by life after the Senate. I was in the Senate for just four years and I am over 60 out of which I spent only four years there. I am 64. So, I was in the Senate only for four years. What are you asking me? I spent just brief years in the Senate, but if you ask me how did you enjoy that short time while you were in the Senate, I think that is a better question that one ought to answer; otherwise, that means you spent more time than what you have been in life. No, I didn’t spend more time in the Senate than what I have been.

In terms of life out of Senate, it doesn’t really make any difference to me. I remain myself, while I was in the Senate and my community. I still interact with my community and out of the Senate, I will still be with my community and that is why no man born of a woman can beat me in my constituency. I make bold to say that and I challenge anybody who can come to counter that.

How would you rate the Senate during your time and now?
I might be biased. If I want to talk about the current Senate, they would say because I am are not there, so I am being jealous. But I bet you, when we were elected into the Senate, it was a time public opinion was the determining factor of who wins elections. Public opinion was leading the polls than. It was not like the ‘carry go,’ as you journalists would say, that we had in 2003 and 2007. There were no elections in 2003 and 2007 and people were brought in to do Obasanjo’s bidding of third term, in which he knew that if people like me and many others, who stood firm for democracy were there, we would not let it happen. Obasanjo made sure he scuttled our ambitions, the people’s ambition and not my ambition.

For the Senate of today, you heard what the governor of the Central Bank said. That is what it is. During our time, we were earning N69, 000 per month and the entire constituency money for one year was N1, 500, 000 and this included our staff all over. It is needless to mention what they earn now. The governor of the Central Bank has said it all. And you, as a journalist, have also done your investigation. So, it is not to over-flog the dead horse. Let’s move forward.

The PDP just concluded its primary elections and President Goodluck Jonathan emerged as the party’s presidential candidate. How do you see his emergence?
I encouraged Atiku not to even congratulate Jonathan because you can’t encourage stifling corruption. Somebody who got something through corrupt means, then you go to congratulate him for being corrupt? We encouraged Atiku not to. Indeed, we warned him not to congratulate Jonathan because he did not win the primaries. It was full of corruption. How can a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria induce people? This is the worst presidential nomination that took place in my entire lifetime. This is the worst. Did you see any jubilation in Jonathan’s camp? There was none. They knew what they did. It is a shame; it is a murder of democracy and it is embarrassing. PDP is a corrupt organisation that can never be better until we work hard to rectify it.

Let me tell you what happened. Number one, the rigging was done before they came to the field. The governors sat in the government houses and wrote the names of delegates. I was supposed to be a delegate and from the national secretariat guidelines, the delegates were supposed to be elected on January 11. In some states, by January 3, they had concluded the list of delegates. The primary that was meant to return states houses of assembly was an avenue for them to write the names of delegates. It is criminal; it is a shame to address yourself boldly publicly that you are a member of the PDP. I feel ashame.
I, Senator Joseph Kennedy Waku and the late Dr. (Alhaji) Abubakar Mohammadu Rimi, registered PDP. Go to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and verify. We registered PDP. We registered it. what we have today is not the concept. We were PDP by conviction and not by convenience. Every Tom, Dick and Harry, most people you find in PDP are in PDP by convenience and not by conviction. So, it is what they can get. It is a shame. It is embarrassing.

In that case, what would you advise Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to do?
We will go to court. He is going to court to challenge that. And look at this: they tele-guided the delegates. Governors were there, tele-guiding their delegates from the states. You watched it and government officials stood behind them to ensure that they wrote Jonathan Goodluck. Is that democracy? The problem of PDP is that PDP is scared of internal democracy because they are not ripe to rule the people. They are not prepared. If it is one man, one vote, PDP will lose the Federal Government. It is heading toward a total disintegration because it is no longer Peoples Democratic Party. It is Peoples Deceitful whatever. I feel ashamed that I am a member of the party. I am a senior member of the party; nobody can deny me that, but we have to work hard to redeem ourselves before the eyes of the nation; otherwise, we will be looked upon as criminals.

What is rigging? Rigging is stealing. It is a polite way of addressing political arrangement as rigging. Rigging is stealing. So, Jonathan Goodluck has stolen the mandate he knew for sure he wouldn’t have won.

As a founding father of the PDP, what do you see as the major problem facing your party since inception?
We did election and it ended in 1999. That was democracy. When Obasanjo came to power, he had his plan of perpetuating himself in office. That was the beginning of the total disintegration and lack of internal democracy. That was when internal democracy in the PDP was killed. Obasanjo would pick a prisoner, charged of murder case, a prisoner and brought him and made him a senator. Obasanjo would sit down in Abuja and decree that some men must be there because he knows he wants to put thugs together to come and fight for him in the National Assembly to actualise his third term agenda, but unknown to him, Nigerians outside were more committed than those in the chambers. That was why it failed. So, the problem in the PDP was caused by Obasanjo.

You go to each state, the founding fathers of the party are not there. Those who have legitimacy in democracy, who are not afraid of ‘one man, one vote,’ are not there. PDP is scared of ‘one man, one vote.’ That is why even internal democracy cannot take place. If PDP wants to come back and resuscitate the party that the founding fathers founded, let’s allow internal democracy.

Is that the only way out of the problem?
That is the only way out of the problem. If you want to be a councillor in a local government council and somebody who is the governor does not like you, you cannot be a councillor. If the governor does not like you, there’s nothing the people can do. Short-changing people’s will is dangerous. It will lead us to anarchy.

What is your take on the opposition parties?
It is as if the current opposition is more serious than when the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) sold itself out. That is why if you watched the ANPP convention, they made sure they called it new ANPP, to discard the rubbish that happened in the past. And if you look at the way the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is moving, the opposition is serious now.

Are you thinking of defecting to the opposition?
I don’t defect. If I want, I will resign. For now, I am in PDP. I have friends in CAN; nobody will stop me from campaigning for them. I will campaign for them.

Even as a PDP member?
Of course. That is why there are several elections, individual elections. If they don’t want, they should expel me. I don’t give a damn, but my conscience and my principle must remain so that I can sleep happily.

But how will you feel if they expel you from the party you founded?
I will not feel bad because if you build a house and snakes come to kill you, you can as well run out of the house in order to save your life first. If erosion is coming to destroy your house, what do you do? You wait there because you built the house, so that you can be consumed with your house?

You were a senator between 1999 and 2003, in which you were known to be one of the greatest anti-Obasanjo legislators. Why were you so much against the man?
Obasanjo could not implement the constitutional provisions of a budgetary allocation and approval. It is not personal. I didn’t know Obasanjo from Adam. Why should I hate him? He is older than I and my culture demand that I should respect my elders. The same culture also permits me to tell the elder the truth. If he doesn’t like that, he can go and hang himself. But you have to tell him the truth. That was exactly what I did with Obasanjo. I don’t hate him. I have nothing to inherit from Obasanjo. So, I wasn’t doing anything to inherit any of his chickens from his farm. It was a political principle. Do you hear me talk about him now? He is no longer at the helm of affairs, trying to scuttle democracy, trying to perpetuate his successive breaches of the constitutional provision and I have children that I want to leave a legacy for, so that tomorrow, they won’t say I was there, what did I say. Look at you, younger ones, are now referring to that today? If I had kept quiet, you wouldn’t have brought the matter up today. So, that was why I had to stand up, and besides, I didn’t go to the Senate to look for money. I went there to represent my people and I believe I represented them credibly well. That was why when I couldn’t come back, you, the media, asked me how I feel not coming back and I said, not me, ask my people how they feel. They lost a voice, a voice that was very loud, a voice that was positive, a voice that was straight and Nigerians by implication, lost a voice.

And Nigerians still need this voice. What next?
Well, let’s wait until things take shape. I will go back to the Senate one day. I will go back to the Senate.

How soon?
Some other time. Not this time. Certainly, not this time.

Why not now?
No, no, no. This time, I have a candidate already and I cannot compete with him. He is my younger brother; he is my good friend and I cannot compete with him. We are in the same constituency.

Who could that be?
George Akume. And I cannot. I cannot run against him.

But it was publicized that he lost out in the primary election,
He did not. He resigned because he had a meeting with the governor and he told the governor, come with the list and let’s cross-check and put the records straight. And the governor left. They were planning to ditch him and he is a clever politician. He decided to resign. He resigned before the primaries. So, how can you say he lost out?

Are you saying the media were misinformed?
You are always misinformed if you want to be (laughs).

Let me take you back. Why did you decide to pitch your tent with Atiku and not Jonathan?
Jonathan is incompetent. Jonathan is unintelligent. Jonathan is just a lucky man, Jonathan is not a politician. Jonathan is not articulate. Jonathan is not honest and I don’t want to work with a leader like that.

During your tenure at the Senate, we used to have executive-legislative face-off. Now that we have your kinsman there, Senator David Mark, nothing seems to be going on. Will you say the leadership is not doing enough?
I am not in the position to judge. You are the journalists; you are the judge and that is why you are judging me now, saying during our time. You judge his time too.

Since you have been in the Senate, you should be able to appraise the current Senate,
Actually, the Senate of today is a rubber-stamp. Absolute rubber-stamp.

Why is it so?
It is because they were not democratically elected. They were brought in to do biddings. Eighty per cent, particularly in the PDP, did not win elections. David (Mark) lost election. He is a prisoner of conscience. David won election in 1999. He never won election in 2003; he never won election in 2007 but you will ask me why he is there. He is there by the grace. God says he should be there to punish, I will give you a leader that will punish you. That is why David Mark is there.
You will say he won a case in Jos. You all knew what happened in Jos.

You said that Jonathan is incompetent. What do you mean?
Absolutely.

But you party just given him the ticket for another four years…
Jonathan cannot be anybody’s president. He is not going to win.

If he won’t, who would?
The opposition will put its house in order. I don’t know who will win. I know that Jonathan will not win, but I don’t know who will win.

If he doesn’t win, what would become of PDP?
PDP is already disintegrated. Do you see the founding fathers of the PDP in the PDP? It is an evidence of disintegration.

There were two primaries in Anambra PDP, where you headed the congress panel. What happened?
Were you able to meet any person that claimed that he was the chairman of the electoral panel in the Anambra primaries? Have you ever heard anybody who claimed he was one? Then what is the parallel result there? This is my letter of appointment; go through it. (At this point, he brought out his letter of appointment mandating him to preside over the PDP primaries in Anambra State for this reporter to read). I want to thank you most sincerely for raising this issue. I am a founding father of the PDP. When we founded the PDP, it was a gathering of responsible Nigerians, men and women of high integrity. There were no greedy and con men. PDP is full of con men now and they can do anything to satisfy themselves.

Why is the PDP like that?
It is no longer a political party based on principles, in which it was founded.

Is that why people liken your party to a secret cult?
Let me talk about Anambra. I am glad that I am coming to Anambra. I will tell you about the PDP more than what people are saying. I gave you this letter to read and until you find a contrary letter cancelling this appointment, I remained the authentic chairman of that panel. And there is none. I went to Anambra; the people of Anambra felt disgruntled. There are a few disgruntled moneybags, who felt that in Anambra, it has to be them. They came to meet me at the airport, with a price. I met strange fellows at the airport, strange faces, who wanted to corner me, according to them, with incentive of money so that I can render to them, the materials and they will go and write the results in their bedrooms and bring it for me to sign. I looked at them and laughed.

In the first place, that was not the condition of service, not the guidelines. I told them I was going down to Anambra. I told them to meet me in Anambra. I told them that we were at Enugu airport and that it was a panel. I am just the chairman of the panel of five. Let’s meet the entire panel and then, you discuss this proposal before them. And they were scared! They ran away.

When I got to Awka, some young, brilliant, former legislators, whom I consider my junior colleagues, came to my hotel room with a beautiful proposal, enticing me. They said we would give you money, do this for us and we will do what you want us to do. I never knew that my telephone number was just so popular. I started receiving phone calls and some dropped big names in government, in the Villa. I was told to do something and the Villa will support me. I said no. I told them I was not there by the Villa’s instruction. I was there by the national secretariat. So, I was going to do something that the national secretariat would support, and not the villa.

And if you insist on talking about the Villa, I will call them. I am not scared of Villa. At the appropriate time, when I am invited by the national secretariat, I will reveal whose name they were dropping in the Villa. And they gave me an idea: just allow us to cause confusion so that our group will be recognised. I said, what then would you do with my name? I have been in this game for the past 45 years and this is my last leg of it. So, I should come to Anambra and destroy a name I built gradually for the past 45 years because of peanut?

One of them was very bold to say, ‘look Sir, we will offer you some money’ and I said, I remember you were a member of the House of Representatives; you are my junior colleague. How would you offer me money? It wouldn’t work that way. If others do, I have a principle. I won’t do that. Go to the field; we are going to address the stakeholders. We would go to the stakeholders’ meeting and we shall ask them the modalities of conduct. They challenged the venue, that they don’t know the venue. If you are running for an election, a panel is there and you don’t know the venue; we didn’t choose the venue. It is the party’s headquarter in the senatorial district that chose the venue and some of them had no single poster. They went there with the notion that they had the backing of the presidency and wanted to use me to actualise their criminalities. And I said I won’t do that; that I don’t need their money. I said, I live in Abuja with you. You have never placed a phone call to me. Why now? I said I won’t do that.

They said they were going to teach me a lesson and I said well, teach me a lesson? Two things will happen: you can either kidnap me or kill me, but I warned them that if I was kidnapped in Anambra, I am the only Tiv you are kidnapping, but all Igbo living in Benue will be kidnapped. So, you can pay a price. And I said try it if you want to kill me for thousands of Igbo living in Tiv land. And some of them laughed and said it won’t get to that stage. I said, I wouldn’t mind dying but so many lives will go. Which one do you prefer? So, we laughed over it. None of them knew where I stayed until I finished my primaries. It was conducted peacefully.

With such behaviour, what do this portend for the country?
The nation is in trouble and that is why you need a credible leader, not a leader that will be tossed left, right and centre without knowing his left from right. You need a consistent leader, a focused leader, and a leader with determination. You don’t need a colourless leader, like Jonathan and Namadi. Look at when they stood at the podium, you will think that both of them were spectators.

You just said that only one panel was in Anambra. Supposed the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, goes ahead to cancel the result. How will you feel?
I expect him to investigate. He will investigate and ask the secretariat questions.

How do you see the ongoing voters registration exercise?
It has started failing already because in Benue, all the machines are not working.

Where will you apportion the blame? INEC or the Federal Government?
INEC and the Federal Government. Both are culprits.

Then how do you see Jega?
Very solid man.

And why are we having all these failures here and there?
Jega met those arrangements and there is no time. The time is too limited. All we need to do is to set up an interim government.

You mean we should ask Jonathan to quit?
Of course, there should interim government. If the Nigerian people want, they can make him the head of the interim government. I don’t care. But let there be proper election. In that case, he will not run.

It seems some people are bent on having him in the presidency,
Because they know he is a dull person and they will have their way. Those behind him know that Jonathan Goodluck is not competent to be president of even a local council.

What is the way out?
There won’t be a change until Nigerians work together for a revolution, electoral revolution and political revolution to push the PDP out of power.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/22/national-08-01-2011-01.htm

Former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that he is currently consulting with his supporters, associates, stakeholders and others over the presidential primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, which he lost in the early hours of yesterday.

This is coming at a time he gave assurance that he remains irrevocably committed to democratic Nigeria based on democratic process. Speaking through a statement by the Atiku Campaign Organisation in Abuja yesterday, the former vice president said that after receiving briefing from his agents at the national convention, he would make public his next line of action.

The campaign organisation, which said that Atiku’s agents did not sign the final result of the presidential primaries of the PDP, owing to some observed lapses, said the former vice president was committed to entrenching democratic governance, rule of law and democratic process.

Atiku thanked the PDP for the platform it has provided for the contest, delegates, supporters, campaign staff and well-wishers for their support so far. The Atiku Campaign Organisation assured all of them that the former vice president still has a lot to offer and that this is not the time to write him off.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/15/national-08-01-2011-001.htm

GEJ cleared Akwa Ibom state, he wins all the votes 141.

GEJ is still leading all the state including Abia, Adamawa Atiku's own state and Akwa-Ibom state.

Senate President, David Mark appears to have incurred the wrath of his colleagues for failing to ensure that a good number of them clinched the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to return to the National Assembly. The senators were angry that the Senate president did not get firm commitment from President Goodluck Jonathan on their securing return tickets to the National Assembly before leading them to support the president’s ambition, which had cost them their seats.

In several states, a good number of the senators lost the game to aspirants backed in most cases by the respective state governors, who asserted their supremacy by clipping the wings of the National Assembly members.
Some of the Senate president’s foot soldiers in the Senate including Jibril Aminu, Effiong Bob, Abubakar Sodangi, Lee Maeba, Ewa Henshaw, Grace Bent, anthony Mamzo, Patrick Osakwe and Ikechukwu Obiorah lost their return tickets.

The Senate leader, Senator Teslim Folarin is also in prison custody in Ibadan, with a murder charge hanging on his neck, a fallout of the bitter feud his faction of the Oyo state PDP had with Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala.

Some of the aggrieved senators have therefore vowed to vent their anger by withdrawing their support for the presidential aspiration of President Jonathan.
It was gathered that some senators from the North-east zone that met had also resolved to give Senator Mark the fight of his life for the number three position after the April polls

In this wise, some of the senators were believed to have sent a message to the president of the Senate to get prepared to come down from his high seat in the chamber to his allotted seat from June 2011 as the zoning arrangement would have to be reconfigured in line with political reality.
It was gathered that the senators from the North-west and North-central geo-political zones were angry at Senator Mark over his blind support for President Goodluck Jonathan who they noted betrayed most of them at the PDP primaries as he allegedly refused to protect their interest but instead supported the governors’ interests.

It was also gathered that the defeat of some senators playing key roles in the Senate and who were closed to Senator Mark may have jolted him particularly as almost 40 per cent of them lost their return tickets owing to what some of them attributed to the manipulative tendencies of the governors.
Senator Mark who had on several occasions canvassed for automatic return ticket for senators was said to have been greatly embarrassed by the defeat of his perceived strong men at the PDP primaries.

Daily Sun reliably gathered that the defeat of some of the influential senators had so irked them to the point where they were now counting their losses in the agenda to get President Jonathan elected but who were now targeting to hit back at Senator Mark for not consciously moving to get firm commitment from President Jonathan before plunging them into a support game that had cost them their political fortunes.
The annoyance of the defeated Senators has therefore led them to push against Senator Mark’s succession agenda even as the Senate president and his Deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who was still battling to get his ticket were believed to have raised a crack team to drum support for their return to their current positions in the Senate in June.

As part of the plans of Senator Mark to return to his exalted position in June, he was alleged to have sealed a secret agreement with some senators to ensure that they retain their juicy standing committee positions in return for their votes to return him as president of the Senate.
However, a senator from the North-east geo-political zone on the platform of the ruling PDP told Daily Sun on condition of anonymity that most of the senators from the zone were already working with others to wrest power from Senator Mark in June when the seventh Senate would be inaugurated.

According to the senator; “I can assure you that senators from the North-east have resolved to contest for the number three position in the event that President Jonathan emerges as the next president in May 29. Our zone has been left out of the power equation in the country for too long. The Senate presidency would surely be our turn like it happened in 1999.”

The North-east senators noted that even though the incumbent Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada was from the zone, the people of the zone were tired of playing the second fiddle position.
Another senator from the North-central told Daily Sun that if President Jonathan eventually emerged as the next president, it was likely that a lot of political permutation would take place with regards to zoning of political offices amongst the six geo-political zones in the country.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/11/national-11-01-2011-001.htm

TEN persons were feared dead in a fresh round of violence in Jos, Plateau State capital, over the weekend.

However, a dispute over this occurrence has ensued between the Special Task Force and Council of Ulama.

The Task Force and Police claimed that the violence was political while the Muslim leaders insisted that it was religious.

The state congress of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Jos Saturday reportedly turned violent as two factions of the party engaged each other in violent attack.

The violence that characterized the congress led to the death of 10 people including passers-by and travellers.

A Yola-bound Maccopolo bus-car conveying about 50 passengers from Lagos was caught in the cross fire along Bauchi road, Jos, and was set ablaze by the political thugs of the CPC.

The Police Commissioner, Abdulrahaman Akano who confirmed the mayhem, said only two people were killed in the violence.

"The violence was basically caused by the political party known as Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The party came to us to seek our permission to hold their congresses at Jos Hotel, Zaria Road, Jos, but while we deployed our men to the given venue, the party changed their venue to Bauchi Road, Jos. The sudden change of venue led to disagreement among them and they went violent.

"I can only confirm that two people died. We saw one corpse at Jololo junction where the hoodlums attacked a luxurious bus and set it on fire. I think one of the passengers was killed and another dead body was found at the venue of the congress. These are the two that I know," Akano stated.

The Special Task Force (STF) operation Safe Haven also said the violence was political. Spokesman of the STF, Captain Charles EKaocha said, "It is a political violence but has been brought under control."

On its part, the Council of Ulama in Jos while addressing newsmen at its secretariat yesterday said the lawlessness in Jos would continue unless the state government and security agencies are able to put an end to the spate of silent killings in Jos.

According to Lawal Ishaq, Secretary of the Council of Ulama, “The STF and the Police Commissioner lied in their claims for the cause of the violence. It was really as a result of the killings of eight Muslim youths in Mangu Friday evening. The people killed in Mangu were going for a wedding programme. They were from the same area in Sabon Fegi, Bauchi Road in Jos here. The youths in the area were protesting the killings of their brothers; they set tires on fire to show their anger at government.

“We as Council of Ulama arranged for our press conference but the youths who could not bear the pains of the killings went on to protest. This later degenerated into the violence. Why should the security agencies say the violence was political? The youths from Sabon Fegi did not even know any congress was going on as at yesterday; they were protesting these spate of silent killings because it is becoming too much and government is not doing anything to stop it,” said Ishaq.

The Council of Ulama at the briefing said, “The Council received a report that on Friday 7th January 2011, at about 3.00pm, some Muslim youths on their way to a wedding of their friend, one Umaru Sabon Lori of Lasisi Makanju Street, Jos, were attacked at Mangu Halle. The wedding was taking place at a Fulani settlement called Warwaro, off Mangu Halle, in Mangu Local government of Plateau State. A vehicle, Mazda station wagon that was carrying eight wedding guests is now missing and the entire occupants are feared to have been killed.

“The guests who attended the same wedding in a second vehicle missed their ways while returning to Jos found themselves at a place called Bugal, Dogo Nahawa junction in Barkin Ladi were also trapped but managed to escape from the hands of Berom youths.”

The Council of Ulama also said, “We have reported 42 persons missing so far since the Christmas Eve bomb blast in Jos and nobody is doing anything.”

However, security agencies in Jos comprising the Plateau State Police Command and the STF said, “The alleged attack in Mangu is still a rumour and we are still investigating. We are yet to confirm because we did not find any of the corpses of people said to be killed.”

Innocent citizens trooped out early yesterday morning to their normal places of business without prior knowledge of any imminent chaos. All of a sudden, about 11am on Saturday, there was riot at Bauchi road, Ali kazaure, Kasuwan Nama, Abdulsalami street, mostly inhabited by the Hausa Muslims.

This caused serious pandemonium as people shut their business premises and rushed back home for fear that the violence might spread. The tick smoke which oozed out from the Hausa Muslim-dominated areas heightened tension and caused people to scamper for safety.

People made frantic efforts to get to their residences just as the STF deployed its troops to the streets of Jos to curtail the spread of the violence.

Within the space of few minutes, the city center of Jos was deserted with only the presence of security vehicles patrolling the city. But before then several innocent citizens have fallen victims to the violence.

Some of the passengers of the luxurious bus, before it was set ablaze, were rescued by the STF and are currently taking refuge at its headquarters in Jos. One of the passengers, Alake Usman, told The Nation that, “We were about 60 in the bus coming from Lagos on our way to Yola. Some are going to Gombe and Bauchi. So at Bauchi road youths numbering at least 100 blocked the road and as soon as the bus stopped they set it on fire. It was God that saved us. We would have been killed if not for the soldiers.”

The State government condemned the violence and urged security agencies to arrest those involved to face the law.

“Government is also disturbed about the violence associated with the ongoing congresses of the CPC in some parts of Jos metropolis which has generated panic and apprehension among the populace. Government is calling on community and religious leaders to calm their people as security agencies are on ground to ensure safety of lives and properties of all citizens,” a government source said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/24170.html

Dare-devil kidnappers Friday night shot the General Overseer of Redeemed Pillar of Fire Praying Mission Worldwide, Bishop Adol Paul Obinwogu, and killed a bus driver at Amichi, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The kidnappers, numbering about four, were said to have trailed the bishop, who was traveling from Lagos to attend a three-day crusade at Eziama.

The robbers were said to have mistaken the Bishop who was traveling in his Toyota SUV for a top government official or a business magnate. Sources close to the scene of the incident said when the kidnappers got to Eke Market, Amichi about 7pm, they fired several shots at the Bishop’s vehicle, bursting all the tires and shattering the windscreens, forcing the driver to stop.

Our source stated that when the kidnappers discovered that they had wrongly attacked the Bishop, they apologized to him and pleaded with him to forgive them. Sunday Sun gathered that the cleric received severe bullet wounds on the chest and his left leg, while the policeman traveling with him was shot in both legs.
A bus driver who was close to the scene of the incident when the shooting started was said to have been shot in the head. He died on the spot.

Obinwogu was then taken to Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, from where he was transferred to an undisclosed hospital. Our reporter gathered that arrangement was being made to fly the wounded cleric overseas for further medical treatment. When Sunday Sun sought confirmation at the Amichi Police Station, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was not available.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer for Anambra State, ASP Emeka Chukwuemeka, said he had received information about the incident but was yet to get a detailed official report. As at 4.30pm yesterday when our reporter returned to the scene of the accident, the Bishop’s bullet-riddled SUV was still there.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/09/national-09-01-2011-003.htm

It is appalling that only 20.04 percent of 310,007 candidates that sat for the 2010 November/December West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) obtained five credits in English Language, Mathematics and three other subjects.

This year’s results are in no way different from those of 2008 and 2009 respectively. In 2008, out of the 372,600 candidates that sat for the examination, only 23.54 percent got five credits in English Language, Mathematics and three other subjects.

Similarly, in 2009, only 31 percent out of 342,443 candidates that sat for the same examination made five credits in English Language, Mathematics and three other subjects. Details of this year’s results indicate that 62,295 candidates got five credits in English, Mathematics and three other subjects. Also, the results revealed that 309,431 candidates representing 95.21 percent had their full results released while 15,567 others (4.79 percent) had few of their subjects still being processed due to candidates’ errors.

A total of 141,167 candidates (45.52 percent) obtained five credits and above while 99,750 others (32.16 percent) got six credits and above. It is regrettable that for the past three consecutive years, Nigerian students have performed poorly in both May/June and November/December WASSCE. The development is not good for our educational development as well as the overall development of the country.

We condemn the mass failure recorded this year. The increasing failure rate in this examination is becoming embarrassing. The blame for the abysmal performance should go to the government, the students, their parents and the society at large. It is a pity that the core values that guide human existence are no longer appreciated. More importance is attached to material things. Matters of the intellect are relegated to the background.

Government neglect of the education sector does not help matters. Most primary and secondary schools in Nigeria lack well equipped libraries and functional laboratories. There is also shortage of qualified manpower in most of these schools. The teacher-student ratio makes it difficult for quality teaching and learning to take place in these dilapidated schools. Most of the pupils being pushed yearly into our secondary schools are products of ill-equipped primary schools. As long as this persists, we will continue to get poor results in WASSCE.

The decadence is gradually creeping into our tertiary institutions. That can explain why products of our universities lack the necessary skills required by employers of labour. Much emphasis is placed on paper qualification rather than obtaining knowledge and acquiring experience that would enable our graduates confront human problems and other challenges.

To avoid this recurring cycle of failure in WASSCE, government should invest heavily on education. All technologically advanced countries invested heavily in education before getting to their present heights. We cannot reach that height by mere wishful thinking. There is no way the country can make great leaps in human development with the current funding of the education sector. It is time government demonstrates more interest in issues that revolve around human capital development. If this problem is not frontally tackled now, it will lead to failure in other sectors.

All levels of our education system – primary, secondary and tertiary – should be well funded and well equipped. Let government ensure that the inherent lapses in the education sector are squarely addressed. Also, government must put a stop to the flip-flops in our education policies. Such frequent policy somersaults do not make for steady progress in the sector. Let parents show interest in their children’s school work and monitor their after school activities. Access of children to electronic gadgets that take their minds off academic pursuits should be regulated.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/editorial/2011/jan/09/editorial-09-01-2011-001.htm

Dr Fatima Atiku Abubakar is the first child of Alhaji and Hajiya Titi Atiku Abubakar, Turakin Adamawa and PDP presidential aspirant. She trained as a medical doctor and works in one of the private hospitals in Abuja.

Fatima is worried about the dimension the campaign for election is going and the direct attack on the person and character of her father, whom she described as a man of ideas whose time has come, a disciplinarian father, prudent and hardworking administrator. She said if only Nigerians knew her father very well, they’d ignore, and throw into the thrash can, the malicious attacks on him.

What kind of relationship do you have with your parents and especially your father?
In retrospect and in our growing up years, I recall that we were a close-knit family. We were close especially with my mum. Both dad and mum instilled discipline, spirit of hard work and scholarship in us quite early in life. I remember, when we were young, after-school-lesson was compulsory. So was Quoranic classes. So we were always occupied. We also had time to play and they took us on holiday whenever they could. That way we had a balance between school, religious education and leisure.

The Turaki is a well-known polygamist. How do you relate with your other siblings from his other wives?
Yes, he is a polygamist but before he went into polygamy, we were very close and even when the other ones came into our lives, we are still as close as possible and I mingle very well with them. Even though we never really lived in the same house, we still relate very well.

Having a politician as father could be fun and could attract some clout and influence, but it only means that he’s never around, how does he balance his career and family life?
Yeah, like you said, it is not quite easy but gradually, we got used to it and we see him when he is available and he is there to provide our needs and when he is not around, we can always get in touch with him, wherever he is. Most of the time he obliges us, sometimes he doesn’t. But all in all, I’d say he was not an absentee father.

Does that mean you can see him at any moment you wish?
I wouldn’t say at any moment, but at least we can always speak to him on phone if we can’t see him at a particular point in time.

What do you think of his return to active political life? In 2007, he contested under the AC but today he’s back in the PDP competing with President Goodluck Jonathan. How do you assess the whole scenario?
Well, we all know the circumstances that led him to AC. I know it wasn’t an easy decision even for him because I was so upset about all the things that were happening at that time; the third term imbroglio and all that. So when he went to the AC, we all supported him and happy even though the election didn’t go the way we expected. We still thanked God that everything was peaceful until this time when he came back to the PDP.

When I heard that he was going to the PDP, I was also upset because the circumstances under which he left the PDP in the first instance had not changed. Why would he go to the party he was practically forced to leave? Why would he want to associate with such people again, I asked myself. I thought he should help to build the AC and all that. I sought his opinion, but I was told how he helped found the PDP (I was not around then), and if you help build a house, and outsiders want to drive you out of it, will you be happy? They said that was the situation my dad found himself and had to return to the PDP. I thought that made sense.

Now, he wants to be president. What do you think of his ambition?
His ambition is right on time, the time God has designed for him. 2007 was probably not the time God set for him, but I believe very strongly that this is the time, he would make a difference.

How do you explain the opposition’s campaigns, insults and attacks on your father? How do you feel when you hear some of these negative things about him?
The campaign of calumny against my dad is nauseating, and sad. In case Nigerians don’t know, he is a father to so many children and of course he is my father. I don’t think any Nigerian will want their father insulted or spoken about the way the opposition is doing about him. None of the allegations leveled against him has been proved but the other camp keeps hammering them as if he has ever been convicted. I remember when he was Vice President, an administrative panel of enquiry was instituted over the PTDF allegations against him, the court never summoned him nor was he ever indicted. He went as far as the National Assembly and defended himself.

At the end of the day, no case was found against him. It is sad to now make references to all that. I’ve been very upset about rumours and allegations flying about, about him. They also made references to his time as VP in charge of BPE and that he sold assets to himself and all that. I wonder if there was ever any proof of that. As far as I know as his daughter, he never appropriated or coveted government property. There was talk of AP, that was sold to Peter Okocha, but that was taken over and sold to Femi Otedola. So, I don’t know the government assets they are talking about.

Well, these allegations are unconnected to his stupendous wealth, and people wonder how he made his money, considering the fact that he did not inherit wealth…
Yes, they can afford to say that because they did know who he was before he came into politics and public glare. But I can tell you that—if any one has the opportunity of reading his biography—that he fought his way to the top. Even as a child, I can tell you that we never lacked anything, we went to the best schools, even before he came into government, he always provided for us very well.

I went to a good primary school, a federal government college before I went to ABU, Zaria until all these strikes started and was becoming unbearable for me before he sent me abroad. So, even before he came to government, we were already schooling abroad, and he had left Customs then. He was a private business man, doing legitimate businesses and paying taxes. This idea of where he’s got wealth from… I am his daughter telling you now that he had had money before he came to government. He did not make money from government

Are you saying that your father is not corrupt as people allege?
Yes, he is not corrupt

How rich is he because even you just admitted he is?
I wouldn’t be able to answer that. Like I said, he has always provided for us materially and emotionally and otherwise. If a father could do so, what else? I remember, how he arranged for me to go abroad when he was tired of the situation at home. So, I’d say yes, for him to be able to provide for my younger ones and I, because initially he didn’t want us to leave Nigeria because he had faith in the country. During one of those strikes in those days, I had to stay for up to a year at home. That upset him so much; he said he had to do something about it

What kind of president do you think he will be if given the opportunity?
He will be a very disciplined president because he is prudent. Nigerians don’t know this about him, but I want to tell you he is all these and more. As vice president, when I discussed political issues with him, whenever I heard comments about him, I would ask: “daddy why is this like this and so on” and he would tell me that it is because the centre (federal government is big and has so much resources; and that is why it is such a big attraction; and that if power is properly devolved and we cut spending the concentration of governance at the centre would reduce.

If he becomes the president he will implement this to the letter; invariably, this will attract professionals to government to make viable contributions.

Tell us what Nigerians don’t know about your dad
Let me say especially with the way he’s being maligned by the opposition.
There is no man created by God that has no good side about him, but what those opposed to his ambition want us to believe are only his faults. But let me emphasize his good side and they are not contestable. As children, when he was still in Customs and Excise, he was always very punctual, always in the office before 7.30 am.

When he was Area Administrator, he would lock the gate to late-comers. Because of that all of them usually reported to work before 7.30am because the Area Administrator would already be there. He enjoyed doing his work and doing it well. Whatever he believes he dedicates his time to it. He doesn’t believe in public office holders living on government money and not doing anything only to find that they can’t cope with life after office. That is why, while in government, one should have a business interest so that when you leave government, you will have something to do, something to fall back on.

That has always been his admonition.
I also want you to know that my dad revels in excellence. My dad chooses what is good. When he was in Obasanjo’s government, he sole handedly supervised the building of the Yar’Adua centre. On the commissioning day, President Obasanjo remarked that it could only be Turaki that could do such an excellent edifice. Today, the edifice is a national monument, a historical place.

Again, members of Obasanjo’s economic team were discovered by him. He made enquiries about and got them to contribute their quota to the government of the day. And they put up a good job, such as the work done in Abuja by el-Rufai. So if he believes in a cause, he goes all out for it.
How did you feel when the Northern Leaders Political Forum chose him as the North’s consensus candidate?
The situation was dicey indeed because the contest was between him and the Generals. At the end of the day, we heard the results, we were glad.

On the other hand, it was painful to see reports in the media indicating how the voting went, when even the secretary of the committee, said he did not even know how the voting was done. The consensus had already been agreed upon, I don’t know how they got their report. That could make the other contestants feel bad which I didn’t really like.

A lot people think going into the medical field is humanitarian, what attracted you to training as a medical doctor?
As a young child, going to school, I always excelled. My parents were always happy with me. Because none of them had a medical background, from when I was young, they kept singing it into my ears, ‘Fatima you’re going to be a medical doctor for us’. Gradually, I found myself in the sciences and doing well, so their dream for me materialized.

Even now that I work, people wonder what I am doing there working, and after all, they say, I could sit down at home for my dad to take care of my needs and or pay my salary. My dad sent me to school, but how can I come back (with all the resources he expended on me) and sit at home. So, how will that benefit me as a human being? I enjoy what I do, I see my patients, I talk and chat with them, get to hear their problems and see if one could help medically and psychologically. It has been quite a fulfilling experience for me

What do you think of the rot in the health sector? You are in the private sector but those who work in the public sector can really tell how bad the situation is. From your vantage position as a medical doctor, what is the way out?
I don’t know whether I can enumerate all problems and probably solutions, but I know there is so much rot in the health sector. That is why I even chose to work in the private establishment, because I couldn’t stand—having worked abroad—coming from that kind of setting, knowing that all equipment you need for patients, you had it—and coming to a place where patients are compelled to buy all these. I had to choose the private sector where there is reasonable readiness to provide all these.

Having said that, the primary health care system, which the late Prof Olikoye Ransome-Kuti pioneered and which was not improved upon by subsequent governments is the problem. So in the primary, health care centres all over the country, there are only physical structures without equipment. If subsequent governments had worked on that, we would have gone a long way.

However what is obtainable is a situation where the tertiary hospital like the National Hospital which is supposed to be a referral hospital is now a hospital for primary ailments that can be sorted out in the primary health care centres. But because the patients don’t have anywhere to go, the outpatient department of the hospital is clogged, such that the exertion in attending to primary ailments exhausts the doctors and severe cases suffer neglect.
If my father were to be president, I would advise that his minister of health must work hard on the primary health care system.

With your busy schedules, how do you relax?
Well, I am an introvert. I relax by watching TV, reading newspapers. I try to exercise even though I am on and off about it.

What are the things you cherish the most?
I’d love for Nigeria to have access to health care, when they need it and for the people who need it.

What about material possession?
I don’t revel in material things, I don’t even think about it. What I see, I wear. I don’t covet material things. My people know me, I am not particular about material things, I just wear what I have and I am thankful to God that I even have the things I have because I know some people desire them but they don’t have.

Where is your favourite holiday or leisure destination?
Since I came back to Nigeria, I don’t have any holiday destination. I go back to the UK sometimes but I don’t have a particular place where I will say oh because I went to this place the other time, I will really want to go back.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/09/national-09-01-2011-001.htm[b][/b]

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, was yesterday declared winner of the rerun election. He polled 275,253 to emerge victorious.
His victory came three months after the Court of Appeal cancelled the 2007 governorship election which Uduaghan won and was sworn into office.

Uduaghan defeated his Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) rival, Chief Great Ogboru, Republican Party of Nigeria (RPN) candidate, Chief Ovie Omo-Agege and 12 others in the election. Ogboru polled 138,244, while Omo-Agege got 7,481votes from total valid votes of 433,312 in the election.
Immediately, the election that produced Uduaghan was nullified, the political space of the state suddenly became charged.
Declaring Uduaghan winner yesterday, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Ogbudu Gabriel Ada, said he met the stipulated requirement. He also said that the commission did a good job in the conduct of the election.

The REC said that INEC would investigate and prosecute the bombing of INEC office in Ughelli. He said: “We went to the area and we felt bad about what happened, but we have no option than to work according to the dictate of the law of the land.”
Ada said the INEC would improve on its mistakes in subsequent elections, while encouraging those who are not satisfied with the result to seek alternative means to seek redress rather than resorting to violence.

Reacting to the declaration of Uduaghan as winner, DPP supporters had besieged the INEC headquarters in Asaba, Delta State to protest alleged irregularities and security lapses that heralded the re-run election.
The protesters alleged that despite the fact that DPP agents reported incidences of violence and ballot snatching as well as ballot stuffing to INEC, it still went ahead to admit the results from volatile areas.
Following the protest, hundreds of policemen, including men of the anti-bomb squad, anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and Joint Task Force (JTF) were called in.

Also reacting to the result, Ogboru, whose case at the elections petition tribunal prompted the rerun poll, protest cried foul over what he described as “sharp practices.”
He said that the results collated by the INEC were doctored and fraudulent.
He said: “The results were concocted. Election did not take place in the three Warri Local Government Areas, including Ethiope West. The shooting and violence in Warri South-West, where officials who were supposed to accompany the materials to the riverine areas were chased away by thugs was reported to the commission and the security.”

He said that thugs hijacked the materials in Koko axis, Warri South, where Uduaghan hails from, Warri North, Warri South-West, and riverine areas, like Bomadi, Burutu and Patani, adding that they displayed “open brigandage” in the process.
He accused security agents of doing nothing to stop the thugs, “This is an election where police find civilians carrying guns and they watch without intervention, to give room for massive rigging.”

Ogboru expressed surprise that riverine communities that were recently sacked by militant/military activities recorded the highest votes in the election.
“Our position is this; we reject the result compiled and collated by INEC. The valid votes cast in the election (re-run) are in favour of the DPP. PDP has colluded with INEC and brought in invalid votes to upturn the authentic results of the election. We call for the investigations into the abracadabra that characterized its compilation and collation.”
He demanded that forensic experts be brought in to analyse the results and pass verdict on them, saying: “The winner should not be pronounced until the forensic result is out.”

Also reacting, Omo-Agege, in a signed statement yesterday, commended all voters and Delta people, who voted. He said that this demonstrated their hunger for a free and fair election and to elect a governor of their choice.
He said: “Victory did not come our way, but my party, the Republican Party of Nigeria and I wish to thank my numerous supporters who encouraged us with their presence during our campaigns throughout the state. In magnanimity I concede defeat, I wonder, as I know you wonder, whether the results reflect the quantum of support, which you gave to us. Does the result of this election reflect the choices you made at the polls?
“A number of things went wrong. The security situation did not discourage armed gangs from snatching election materials in the presence of police and helpless youth corps members, who were either too frightened or compromised to complain. Unused ballot papers were brazenly sold or misallocated to PDP agent with connivance of the police and security operatives.

“This election has shown that Prof. Attahiru Jega, that good tree attested to by everybody as reliable certainly did not make the desired electoral forest to meet the desire of Deltans who craved for a change and a chance to change their oppressive government. It is up to us the political leaders who are not in government to work out a meaningful strategy to give expression to the desire of our people to make the change. We must give leadership and make sure that the atmosphere of voting is made safer and the votes recorded must reflect the will of the people.”
Speaking on his victory, in an interview on the African Independent Television (AIT) last night, he said he felt “cool, excited and happy and grateful to God because he has made it possible and because it has been a tortuous journey.”

He said he wouldn’t question Ogboru’s reason for not accepting the result, but that he should do it in a lawful manner and not to incite people.
Uduaghan said Ogboru’s supporters were not disenfranchised in Warri North as he voted there.
On lessons learnt, he said: “I now know people better. Story of tortoise noted that it is when something happens to you that you know your friends. I feel more accepted now because people felt bad about my first election.”

Uduaghan said he is not thinking about April elections “because I was concentrating on this one. There were many police around, yet there were problems at some polling stations. In certain areas, thugs came and chased away those ready to vote, snatched ballot boxes, in a particular ward people did not vote. I will advise INEC and security agencies to work out proper security measure in future.”
On his feelings on the elections, he said: “Process commendable; lessons learnt here will make April polls better. One thing I noted was that many people did not know much about accreditation before election, so they came in late and discovered they couldn’t vote. So there is need for more voters’ education.
“I thank Deltans for coming out to vote; there was greater awareness. I also want to say there is no victor and no vanquished. Delta belongs to all of us. Yes people had frail nerves but we should put our personal differences aside, think of the state and think how we can make our state better.”

“His latest effort at tampering with PDP list should be of concern to any well meaning stakeholder of the party and Nigerians in general,” the campaign group added.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/08/national-08-01-2011-001.htm