₦airaland Forum

Lol!

I wonder why the likes of Ezeuche even bother with the politics section? How can anyone want to hang over the speakership?
I'm sure the paving stones of the 2015 road NEED to be laid a certain way.

Politics is not about hysterics, its a cold game. Let 2015 ring through your mind and stop creating a dozen silly threads per hour.

The final nail in the coffin to the long Osisikankwu saga.

[size=14pt]Police arrest most wanted criminal in Nigeria[/size]
Written by Chris Agbambu Thursday, 12 May 2011

The Police have arrested the most wanted criminal in the country who killed over 50 victims, including policemen in Abia and Imo states and in other South-South states.

The kingpin, Emmanuel Nnamdi Ebulu, alias “Stone” aged 32 years, was the second in command to one “Osisikankwu,” the notorious armed robber and kidnapper who was killed in Abia in 2010, while his lieutenants continued the mayhem.

The suspects arrested with others are Chidi Udochi (30); Chukwuma Anueze (48) and Igwe Okechukwu (25).They were arrested after killing three persons in Akwa-Ibom State in a daredevil robbery attack last week.

The AIG, zone 6, Muhammed Abubakar, who paraded the suspects at the force headquarters Abuja, on Wednesday said they were heavily armed and shot sporadically at motorists and passengers alike and at the end of the operation, three persons were killed.Their names were given as Emmanuel James Akpan (53), Archibong Akpan Udoette(45) and Bassey Okon Ekpenyong (45).

The bandits also dispossessed people of their money and other valuables and snatched a Toyota Hilux vehicle with registration number AE675KTS, belonging to Ibom Power Company Ltd. after killing the driver. Police investigation commenced immediately and with the assistance of the tracking technology, the Toyota Hilux vehicle was traced to Omasi Street, Rumuomasi Port- Harcourt, wherein three suspects were arrested excluding the receptionist of the guest house which made the number.

According to him, they were: Emmanuel Joseph Ebulu alias “Stone” aged 32 years and hails from Ozatta in Ukwa West LGA of Abia State, Chukwunna Anueze aged 48 years, a tanker driver by profession who hails from Atta village in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State, Chidi Udochi aged 30 years, a motor conductor who hails from Owerri Obiuno in Orlu LGA of Imo State and Igwe Okechukwu Gift, aged 25 years, a receptionist attached to Fson Guest House, Port Harcourt.

in command to Osisikankwu, the notorious gang leader in Aba who met his waterloo recently.

Stone, before his arrest presided over an expansive criminal empire made up of over 50 gang members with unparallel sophistication weaponry and has made useful statements to the investigators including confessions to the following armed robberies; armed robbery at Union Bank, First Bank and Zenith Bank at Osisioma in 2010 during which they made away with over N30 million.

Other banks they attacked include; First Bank Abak, Akwa-Ibom State, where they made away with N10 million but lost two gang members namely Lucky and Danga in January 2010, First Bank Ikot Abasi, the operation was foiled and they lost nine gang members including Owem who brought them to Ikot Abasi in December 2009, Fidelity Bank Flyover Aba in 2010 and First Bank Ikot Ekpene in 2007.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/21822-police-arrest-most-wanted-criminal-in-nigeria

TNUBU4LIFE:
A PDP CHAIRMAN FOR THE NORTHAND THE HIGHEST POLITICAL APPOINTMENT FROM SE is a mere presidential political appointee who can be easily fired and hired!THIS IS A TECHNICAL KO FROM THE NORTH!
THIS IS WHAT THE SE GETS FOR ALLOWING THE 'MAGICIZATION' OF THEIR VOTES FOR PDP TO HURT THE NORTH!

All of the above points VERY FIRMLY to 2015 IMHO. It is ok for bigots to rejoice, we've seen it all before. Trouble is, they always end up sulking; my wager is on a 2015 Igbo Presidency, and why not?

The 2nd J-17 crash in as many months, we lost a pilot in the 1st.
. . .WWII plane, repackaged in China.

We shouldn't be flying any warplane originally built in the 1960's.

[size=14pt]Air Force fighter plane crashes in Gboko[/size]
On May 11, 2011 · In News
By Kingsley Omonobi & Peter Duru

MAKURDI – A Nigerian Air Force Fighter Jet F-7Ni at the early hours of Wednesday, crashed at Mbaniongu Mbazaam, near Yandev in Gboko local government area of Benue State.

The ill fated jet crash landed near the Yandev Community Secondary School, at kilometer 4, Buruku road, but no casualties were recorded in the accident.

In a statement by the Command Public Relations Officer of the Tactical Air Command of the force in Makurdi, Wing Commander Adebayo Makun, the two pilots on board the aircraft successfully ejected from the craft.

According to Makun, a search and rescue team from the 305 Flying Training School has successfully rescued the two pilots back to base.

He said, “A NAF search and rescue helicopter from the 305 Flying Training School Enugu has already sighted and recovered the pilots to NAF medical hospital in Makurdi for medical attention”.


File photo: A Nigerian Airforce plane.

The Command’s spokesman further disclosed that the Chief of Air Staff has already ordered an investigative team to visit the site of the crash to ascertain the cause of the mishap.

“An investigative team ordered by the CAS is already at the crash site to ascertain the cause of the crash”, he said.

Meanwhile, the news of the air mishap had initially thrown the entire state into shock as the rumour mills had it that top Nigerian politicians who were on their way to Ushongo to commensurate with the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu on the death of his wife were involved in the air disaster.

It would be recalled that in September 17th, 2006, an 18 seater Dornier Airforce plane belonging to the Nigeria Air Force also crashed in Oko village in Vandeikya local government area of Benue State, killing 15 top military officers in that flight while three survived the crash.

In another statement , signed by Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, Director of Airforce Public Relations, in Abuja; it confirmed the crash and also said that no deaths were recorded as the two pilots on board the aircraft successfully ejected.

The statement reads, “A Nigerian Air Force F7-Ni aircraft, on a routine training exercise crashed this morning at Mbaniongu Mbazaam near Yandev Community Secondary School, Kilometer 4 Buruku Road Yandev, Benue State”.

“The two pilots on board the aircraft successfully ejected from the aircraft. A Nigerian Air Force Search and Rescue helicopter from 305 Flying Training School Enugu has already sighted and flown the pilots to the Nigerian Air Force Medical Hospital, Makurdi for medical assessment”.

“A preliminary investigation into the crash has been ordered by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal MD Umar to ascertain the cause of the accident”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/air-force-fighter-plane-crashes-in-gboko/

ezeagu:
Not the Obong of Calabar, not even Nigerian, this is a Cameroonian king.

Is that true?
That pic is all over the web as the Obong of Calabar.
Lets replace it with this then:

www.nairaland.com/attachments/100467_OldPalace_Chambers_jpg55823b2dc4444465510cae57a6e565f6

Skanas:
Wel done GEJ,but i tink security should be seriously addressed in 9ja 2 avoid such rubbish again.Imagine takin refuge in a police station and still been killd by hudlums?God save 9ja

The bolded shows the sheer scale of the job to be done, in depth and breadth. When you consider our police force from all aspects, discipline, orientation, training, equipment, skills and abilities, intellect, weaponry, financing, mission scope and understanding etc it just seems impossible to fix the current police force. Where does one begin without flooding the labour market with each and every single member of the police service?
I don't envy the FG. But reforming the police as the most important visible arm of the security services is a task that must be done.

https://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x43/sammyjay77/CavesInEnugu.jpg

Cave in Enugu.

https://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x43/sammyjay77/OsunNigeria.jpg

Waterfall in Osun.

[img]http://dmm.broadchoice.com/custom/_2a2a/content/images/NigerDeltaCoast28kb(3).jpg[/img]

The other side of the Niger Delta

[img]http://3.bp..com/_KOq6AlodkJI/TDHbWklxLAI/AAAAAAAACtI/aXuFpRpaBpU/s1600/finima.jpg[/img]

More Niger Delta

https://trooperworld.wdfiles.com/local--files/calabar-kingdon/king3.JPG.jpeg

The Obong of Calabar.


https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3389/3576268889_5f52fdb9b1_z.jpg

Hausa architecture

Not forgetting the natural beauty of Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, the limestone hills of Nsukka (Enugu), the beautiful creeks of the Niger Delta, slavery ports in Brass (Bayelsa) etc etc

We can easily develop and expand our tourism sector to energise local economies and diversify away from dependence on oil. Every part of Nigeria is is blessed with something to show; we just need a little imagination.

[size=14pt]Goodluck and Koroma at Obudu[/size]
On May 10, 2011 · In Viewpoint

IS it indeed a new dawn on the horizon for Nigeria’s tourism? In the past, President Goodluck Jonathan would have chosen to go abroad with a large entourage to burn tax payers money, add value to foreign economies and tourism while Nigeria’s economy, including tourism, depletes.

In fact, it was fashionable to boldly declare that Mr. president was going abroad to rest after all the stress associated with the election campaigns- never mind the regular medical check ups by top government officials abroad.

Only recently, the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma spent a week holiday in Nigeria’s Obudu Ranch. And why not? The Obudu Ranch is one of the richest, naturally beautiful tourism sites in the world. Standing at 5,200 feet above sea level; the climate is cool and pleasant most part of the year, with captivating waterfall, excitingly beautiful views of mountains and the country-side; the ranch is perfect for honey moon and adventure seekers.

And oh, lest I forget, the fresh milk, cheese, butter and meat from the cattle in the ranch are wonderful; add that to the pure honey and yoghurt you get there, and no wonder Mr. Koroma confessed to have been attracted to the ranch by the quietness, calmness and the kind of environmental facilities he had been looking for, it is probably safe to say that Obudu’s popularity has been confirmed by President Koroma’s recent holiday there.

Nigeria has over 70 exciting destinations for holiday makers to explore, however, they are still largely unknown and untapped owing to the fact that most of them are not well packaged and marketed to both Nigerians and foreigners.

A lot of work still needs to be done by the Federal Ministry of Tourism to attract local and foreign investors and international tourists, owners of already existing sites and resorts should get the best hands in the hospitality industry to run them and get them to standards which can compare favourably with their kinds anywhere in the world. It has been said many times over that this is a gold mine waiting to be tapped- so let us make it happen. Ghana and South Africa have done well for themselves in this regard.

Not many understand that apart from the the Obudu Ranch that there are the Coconut Beach in the coastal town of Badagry, the Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi with its beautiful Wikki warm spring that gushes out from under a cliff, beautiful to the eyes and wonderful on the body. The park has a variety of wild animals.

How about the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State with some of the most beautiful views in the world. The Eleko Beach in Lagos is another site, especially for quiet fun seekers without the beehive common to some other beaches. There is also the Ibeno Beach in Akwa Ibom State, the Azimini Blue River Rose in Abia State, etc.

Apart from gaining the much- needed foreign exchange for the nation’s purse and income for both public and private sectors; more Nigerians need to be encouraged to unwind and cool off stress(outside of beer parlors, pepper soup joints and fast foods joints) which is fast becoming a major killer of Nigeria’s working class populace.

Holiday making has not really been part of our culture basically because it is often associated with expensive trips abroad that only the very rich can afford. But recent research has proven that with proper marketing of tourism in Nigeria and knowledge, more people would embrace it and save up yearly for it without bleeding their purse and without being super rich. And from MTN’s “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire”, it has become clear that many Nigerians do not even know Nigeria- not many have travelled well within the country to appreciate it enough.

The recent spate of killings and bombings are ill-winds that blow no part of the country any good; therefore, security, being a crucial part of tourism, must be squarely dealt with, especially now that Nigeria has attained political stability which most foreign investors have been very keen on.

President Jonathan demonstrated a rare act of patriotism with his recent one week holiday at the Obudu ranch, and in the words of the Cross River state governor, Senator Liyel Imoke: President Jonathan’s retreat at the Obudu Ranch is a great marketing strategy to market its potentials as well as reposition the resort.

(I) am reminded just a bit about the great Nelson Mandela when he refused to travel abroad for medical treatment when he took ill not long ago, noting that such a move would send a wrong signal to the world about the medical facilities in his country. We certainly look forward to more of such, not just from Mr. President but other top government officials some of whom over the years have made a reputation of jetting outside for the flimsiest of reasons- of course Nigerians have since concluded that such trivial trips have hidden criminal motives! Not that foreign trips in themselves are bad, certainly not, but when you disregard your own and choose to go out indiscriminately, particularly the government officials who do so at public expense.

Overall, tourism whether home or abroad is something to be coveted, it educates as it refreshes, and it broadens your world view much in same way as reading a very rich book- nay, much more! You get to see other worlds, cultures, foods, wilds, beaches, beauties, – everything under the sun!

For the tourist-minded, the beauties of God’s earthly wonders are waiting for you to discover, uncover, explore and savour. After all, why wait to be told when you have got eyes to see for yourself? And as the French would say, bon voyage or is it bon vacance?

Mr. MENOR NWAEZIGWE, a broadcast wrote from Lagos.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/goodluck-and-koroma-at-obudu/

[size=14pt]FG gives N5m each to families of slain corps members[/size]
By Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja2 hours 9 minutes ago

The familes of the ten corps members killed in the post election riots that rocked most states in the North after the April 16 presidentail election have each been promised N5million by the Federal Government.

President Goodluck Jonathan who announced the gesture today also said the names of the deceased would be permanently immortalized as an enduring source of inspiration to all.

The corps members are Adewumi Paul, Ekiti, Okeoma Okechukwu Chibudom, Imo, Ukazeone Amsalem Chukwunonyere, Imo, Olawale Tosin, Kogi, Akonye Ibrahim Sule, Kogi, Gbejo Ebenizar Ayotunde, Osun, Adeniyi Kehinde Jelil, Osun, Anyanwu Agnes, Imo, Okpokori Obina, Imo and Adohe Elliot, Bayelsa.

With regards to those who suffered varying degrees of injuries,the president said in  addition to his  earlier directive that the respective State Governments take charge of their medical bills, the Federal Government would give each of them automatic employment on completion of their National Service.

These gestures, the president said are not meant to compensate for the lives lost or for disabilities suffered, adding no amount of recognition can adequately compensate for the deep void that their passing away has created in the individual families. 

The token according to him is the country's  way of demonstrating its appreciation for the great sacrifice which these young patriots have made in the national cause.

President Jonathan also used the opportunity to warn that the  culture of impunity must stop in this country.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/5690-fg-gives-n5m-to-each-families-of-slain-corps-members.html

Sounds gay.

[size=14pt]Presidential poll: CPC says petition not to unseat Jonathan[/size] .
Tuesday, 10 May 2011 06:49 ISAAC AREGBESOLA, ABUJA

https://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/images/stories/cpc.jpg

Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) yesterday said its petition was not meant to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan but to set the records straight.

The party added that the violence that greeted the post- presidential election in the North “was the by-product of incumbents’ determination to win elections by any means, which has always characterised such actions by historical antecedents.” The CPC, while expressing its “heart-felt sympathy and condolences to the families of those who lost their lives or property”, maintained that its members whom it described as “responsible and disciplined” could not have in any way subscribed to the perpetration of any evil much less encouraged any.

Abubakar Malami, national legal adviser, who explained why the party filed a petition against the victory of Jonathan and his running mate, Namadi Sambo, said that the decision to go to the tribunal was not about fighting for leadership but “about establishing and ascertaining the truth for the country.”

“To this end, this is a case for the nation and should completely transcend party affiliation and regional considerations. The case should be taken by all Nigerians in the spirit of ‘no victor, no vanquished’ as propagated by the president and as a responsive search for the truth for our country,” he said.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/typography/the-news/21195-presidential-poll-cpc-says-petition-not-to-unseat-jonathan

ziccoit:
If Beaf should be within 20-50 age bracket, Nigeria of this generation is doomed IF many of his kind abound.

The guy is OBJ, Mark,Atiku in the making with the ways he reasons. Hei, GOD deleiver my country.

Lol!

Buhari tactic: If you can't beat them, bash them!

walton1:
“To us in the CPC, it is our belief that the breakdown of law and order that ensued after the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan as the president-elect on the basis of concocted results was the by-product of the determination to win elections by incumbents by any means which has always characterised such actions by historical antecedence."

the violence started on sunday and not when GEJ was announced winner,this is to show that the violence was premediated
i pray the INQUIRY commission to work and the perpetrators are fished out.

Yes, the violence started some hours after the elections, well before any results had been declared.
CPC is only being used by the cabal to attempt to disrupt the smooth running of govt with their worthless case, that is why they can't simply go to the states to get the results as directed by INEC. Instead they are taking out an injunction to force INEC to go to the states to bring the results to them. . . Its all a sickening diversion and an attempt to draw things out.
Any normal human being would go to court over the substantive issue immediately, but CPC knows they have no case and fear the speedy defeat that will result.

Their real aim is to divert the FG's attention to frivolous issues; I hope the court tells them to start the real case or fvck off. Who is interested in some mickey mouse crap of INEC going to the states to fetch results and ballot materials CPC can get for itself directly?
Maybe they want to give the almajiri's the illusion that they are very busy defending their "mandate," tho, and keep their blood pressures high.

The cabal can try as hard as they want, they will be roundly defeated.

Eziachi:
Beaf my good friend, I don't think its pitiable. CPC has said it the way most honest people from the South who is ready to say the truth sees the fraud that brought GEJ the presidency he is position to win without resulting to inflating both voters turn out and his share of the votes in both the South East and South South for example. You may decide to believe what you want to believe to justify what our people did that day but that is your choice.

The number of lives and property lost in Akwa Ibom alone in the last election is more than what wss lost in the north but we tend to turn the blind eyes and no one is setting up a judicial enquiry on Akwa Ibom. That is not a justification of what happened in the north but we can't go into cherry picking on which violence attention should be ppaid to and which should be ignored and pushed under the carpet as if it never happened.
You just asked someone to deal with the fact but the fact so far is:
In Jonathan own polling booth, there was only 47% turn out, how then miraculously in every other polling booth in the state of Bayelsa there was close to 90% turn out?
How can anyone logically explain that? You telling me that my village in Igboland care more about Jonathan than his own flesh and blood?  Because in my town, INEC/PDP got themselves a 89% turn out and then 99.6% share of the vote for GEJ.
PDP has always been using this tactics in rigging election especially in 2003 before they brought in snatching ballot boxes and multiply thump printing IN 2007.

CONTINUED

Dude, regardless of the side of the divide we stand on, it is gross to use human lives as political currency. It seems that life is cheap to the average Buhari supporter; in the first place it is absolutely false that more people died in Akwa Ibom than in the entire North. I find your claim very troubling, especially as the ugly killings are still fresh on our minds:

By the way, more than 600 were killed in the core-North. Please be honest and give us the figure for lives lost in Akwa Ibom.
Also, take time to read up on facts, because your post is not only callous with the pushing of dishonest figures for the number of dead in Akwa Ibom, it also falsely states that the judicial commission does not cover Akwa Ibom.

I want to believe that the above grave errors were not deliberate, but are nothing but innocent mistakes due to zeal and instinct. Life is sacred.

Lets be honest, they're just ok.

ziccoit:
This guy called Beaf will never stop looking for a story told by somebody who doesn't get his facts right about Buhari/CPC. The likes of Beaf can assassinate a fellow human being when at oppose camp/interest. You no de tire

Deal with the article or scram.

[size=14pt]Buhari’s anticipatory tears of failure and a national carnage[/size]
On May 5, 2011 · In Viewpoint
BY EFEROVO IGHO

TUNDE Idiagbon was not around to see it. And if he were to still be here but didn’t see it he would have doubted the news about it. But it happened. Muhammadu Buhari (who with Tunde Idiagbon once overthrew democracy and held Nigeria with iron-stiff hands) ‘bathed’ us with tears recently.

I tell you, Tunde Bakare would have had an uphill task convincing Tunde Idiagbon, his namesake and ‘predecessor’, that Buhari first sailed away in thought while addressing the world, then the whole head plummeted, and before he was done with giving vent to the trouble inside, his papers and viewers were already wet with his tears, and could only moan thereafter!

But very seriously: Why did Buhari sob before 150 million Nigerians and the entire world? What altered and changed the solid frame of this Idiagbon’s principal? What made the military strongman not to dey kempe like OBJ, his former boss but rather was anything except to be able to say: I dey laugh. It is the phenomenon called Jonathan; the political hurricane that changed all political calculations on the board!

Or, what do you think happened to Buhari that he welled up? Was it not because he has seen – given this overwhelming political hurricane – failure stamped and sealed far ahead? That was why he wept. And if this is so, why should it turn to blood-letting of innocent citizens in the North, destruction of properties and another attempt to overthrow democracy?

Buhari wept because he reasoned that after failing many attempts at making it to Aso Rock, he is again face-to-face with another – in a contest actually presenting itself as his worst outing with a sweeping Jonathan as co-contestant– and the tears streamed out uncontrollably.

As if that was not enough he saw the only strategy that can marginally up his dream and give some faint hope – i.e. the talk with ACN – irredeemably crashing down, and the inner pain enlarged the passage for those tears. And as if that was not still enough, he heard that the national borders would be closed. ‘Oh! Which kine thin bi dis?’ he seems to ruminate and cogitate and the vents went more ‘elastic and supple’!

And even while he was already being additionally battered that APGA and Labor Party are going with Jonathan, he got a whisper that an already soaring Jonathan just had the endorsement of 46 parties. Buhari thought of his age, and knew this can only be his last attempt at the presidency. And yet here he was glued to failure with all its beckoning signs on every side, and the emotions completely went out of control.

Buhari wept because the handwriting was clear. He wept because he saw himself in a political cul-de-sac without comparison, without solution and yet do not allow for retreat at this point! That is why it baffles one that after a wholesome and wholesale defeat by Jonathan, Buhari could resort to mischievous allegation of election rigging, incitement, not of his children and other members of the leadership of the CPC in the North but, of some to-be-pitied and not-well-brought-up children who could both afford to heed the dangerous invitation to empty self of reason and humanity and to actually go playing Mephistophelian duties!

Or could it really be that there was another reason why we saw those tears that day. If they were not tears that anticipated failure at the polls could they be tears to prepare in advance the emotions of youths other than the children and grandchildren of the elite class in the North loyal to him (Buhari)? Were they tears meant to prepare these and to take them to the streets in the event of his defeat; his own present way of overthrowing democracy? Remember that he was even to go a step further later when he reportedly said that if the votes did not translate to his winning the election (this being the actual import of his very careless statement) that all that is happening in North Africa put together will be a child’s play in comparison with what will happen in Nigeria.

Having set the stage for the demonized outing of those youths, Buhari has since said that he considers their acts dastardly. Really! Of course, Atiku Abubakar who started this clarion call of making the country ungovernable if Jonathan runs the presidential race has, even before Buhari did, condemned the killings and the destructions. Uhn! Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) that created the coast for all this has also condemned the carnage.

Mr. Igho, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Warri, Delta State.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/buhari%E2%80%99s-anticipatory-tears-of-failure-and-a-national-carnage/

ahidjo:
No amount of propaganda, emotional and inciting outbursts will justify the electoral fraud perpetrated in the south east and south south and some other parts of Nigeria. I have come to the conclusion that most people from the south are fraud infested that's why they enjoy it. Time will tell. I am still waiting for the clueless Jonathan regime to arrest and prosecute all previous perpetrators of violence in Nigeria starting from Jos, Akwa Ibom, Abuja, Kaduna etcetera. It is the job of the government to prevent and stop violence no matter the circumstance. As we wait for them to do this, let lovers of fraud like Beaf continue to rule the waves with their illogical rhetoric. Honest people will definitely laugh last

Pitiable.

Its national joke season!!!

[size=14pt]HDP Petitions Jonathan’s Victory at Tribunal[/size]
By Tobi Soniyi
10 May 2011

Another political party, Hope Democratic Party Monday filed a petition at the Presidential Election Tribunal praying the court to nullify the presidential election and set aside the Independent Electoral Commission’s declaration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the election.

In a petition filed by the party at the tribunal, HDP said the conduct of the presidential election did not comply with the Electoral Act 2010 as amended and the 1999 Constitution.

The party claimed that its presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Owuru had over 30 million votes allegedly cast for him which were allegedly diverted to the PDP.

In the alternative, he prayed that these 30 million votes diverted to the PDP be returned to him and he be declared the winner of the election. The party said that INEC did not comply with the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act which required that election be held on a stipulated date.

It said, :”Your petitioner states that on Saturday 16th April, the presidential election legally scheduled in the Electoral Act to hold on the 9th April 2011 was rather purportedly held throughout the Federation and result declared on the 18th April 2011 with 1st Respondent (Jonathan) as the winner.” The party argued that for INEC to select another date other than the 9th April for which the presidential election was originally scheduled, it ought to go back to the National Assembly to effect necessary changes in the dates.

It further argued that for the shift in the date of the presidential election to be valid, there must be evidence of crisis, breach of peace or any natural disaster.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/hdp-petitions-jonathan-s-victory-at-tribunal/91102/

[size=14pt]CPC Justifies Killings[/size]
10 May 2011
By Tobi Soniyi and Adebiyi Adedapo in Abuja

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Monday justified the post-presidential election riots and killings in parts of the North, describing them as a consequence of the win-at-all-cost mentality of the incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

It has also emerged that the CPC may be heading for a showdown with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over access to the electoral materials with which the party wants to prove its allegation of rigging.

The party also finally commiserated with the relatives of those who lost their lives and property as a result of the violence that occasioned the April 16 presidential election, which led to the death of 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Addressing judicial correspondents at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, CPC Legal Adviser, Abubakar Malami, said: “To us in the CPC, it is our belief that the breakdown of law and order that ensued after the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan as the president-elect on the basis of concocted results was the by-product of the determination to win elections by incumbents by any means which has always characterised such actions by historical antecedence.

“Our national history has however taught us that the determination to win elections by incumbents by any means has always given birth to spontaneous reactions in the form of breakdown of law and order.

“We recall the anger of the people of the Western Region in 1965 and the people of Ondo State in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South-west in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results.

“The people spontaneously rose against these barbaric actions of the government. Police stations and houses of prominent NNA and NPN supporters were burnt and many people killed. In the case of Ondo State, the judicial decision that ceded Ondo back to the UPN came within the context of citizens’ determined effort to protect their votes.”

He said CPC believed that the declaration of false results assembled in places other than the polling units during the presidential election was another reminder that the political class “ruling and ruining Nigeria” was not ready to allow electoral reform to work.

Malami said CPC could not sit by and allow electoral misdemeanours wreaking the very foundation of the country’s stability, prosperity and unity to continue unchecked forever.

He observed that since independence, the major political problem of the country had been elections.

According to him, transiting from one government to the other through the ballot box had always been the most difficult aspect of the nation’s democratic experiment.

He recalled that on the two occasions the military took over the reins of power from civilian regimes in 1966 and 1983, election malpractices were cited as justification.

“Yet, till date, we do not seem to have learned our lessons. With every election, including the last presidential election, the electorate continue to lose confidence in the ability of the ballot box to express their will. This is a dangerous trend that must not be allowed to continue, lest we find our country sleepwalking into a disaster that we may not come out of,” he said.

[size=14pt]Ironically, CPC won the presidential election in Kaduna and Bauchi – two states where killings and violence erupted after the poll.[/size]

Malami cited the polling unit where Jonathan voted to illustrate what he called the level of electoral fraud allegedly perpetrated.

According to him, Osazi Playground Polling Unit had a total number of 908 registered voters. On the April 16 election, only 424 voters turned out to cast their votes, with 413 voting for the president, while 11 ballots were invalidated. This, he said, represented a total of 47 per cent voter turnout in that unit. However, for the rest of Bayelsa State, the total voter turnout as recorded by INEC was 87 per cent with a total of 96 per cent voting for the president.

He said: “One would have expected that if there was going to be a massive voter turnout, no other place would have surpassed the president’s own unit. Because this unit comprises his close and distant relatives – his parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties, cousins, nephews, childhood friends, etc.

“But surprisingly, not half of these came out to vote for their own, yet the rest of Bayelsa and the South-south turned out over 90 per cent to vote for their son.

“The truth is that the president did not want anything to cause problem in his ballot box which would have embarrassed him politically. So that box was guarded against any malpractice and so what came out of the box was actually what transpired; but the rest of Bayelsa and others can do as they pleased. This is electoral fraud personified!”

He recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government rejected the recommendation from the Electoral Reform Committee it set up that the new INEC should be appointed through an independent process anchored on the National Judicial Council (NJC).

He said in the life of a society, there would come a time when a group of people must have to stand up and point out when the leadership was destroying the nation; explain why things were going wrongly; demonstrate how things could be done rightly; and work towards making a clear difference.

He said this was why the CPC had to go to the tribunal. He noted that in the past, lack of evidence did not allow election petition to succeed.

This, he said, explained why the party was relying on scientific ways, means and methods as the best and most effective platform to prove its case.

He said since there were no two people with the same fingerprint, every fingerprint could be scientifically verified basically through biometrics/forensics methods.

Malami also said if at the end of this case, the truth was undeniably established and it was found out that the allegations of the said electoral fraud were true, then the blame of the post-election violence should be squarely put on the perpetrators of the fraud – for they are the real cause of the violence, which will then be the natural principle of cause and effect.

On the other hand, he said: “If it was established that the PDP got its votes as announced authentically, then our presidential candidate (Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari) will lead us to the Villa to formally congratulate the president and his deputy to the advancement of democracy, unity and stability of Nigeria."

Meanwhile, a legal crisis is brewing between CPC and INEC over whose duty it is to gather electoral materials used for the presidential election for the purpose of inspection.

CPC had written to INEC asking it to produce materials used for the presidential election for the purpose of inspection and to subject them to forensic test.

In its reply, INEC directed the party to go to the various states where the materials were located.

This, however, did not go down well with CPC. It therefore refused to follow INEC’s directive of approaching its state secretariats to retrieve the materials.

CPC was irked by the fact that INEC had earlier agreed to avail the party all that it required from it (the commission) only to change later and directed the party to go to the states.

The National Chairman of the party, Prince Tony Momoh, said the CPC would not abide by the directive given by INEC that it should go to the state electoral offices for the required materials.

He said the party would insist on examination of the documents at the INEC’s National Headquarters in Abuja.

He said: “We will not accept any diversion being introduced into the matter by INEC asking us to go to their state electoral offices in the country.

“We will insist on examination of the documents at the INEC’s National Headquarters. We are aware that the original of forms EC8D and EC8E are with INEC here in Abuja; form EC8D is the summary of results of all local governments in each state, and form EC8E is a summary of results of all the states in the federation and FCT.”

Momoh said the party was ready to submit all the materials stated above to forensic examination in order to buttress the claims of substantial non-compliance with the provisions of Electoral Act 2010 during the April 16 presidential election.

CPC, in another statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary Rotimi Fashakin, also accused INEC of not responding to the party’s demand in good faith.

Fashakin explained that the commission had in response to the party’s request promised to make the materials available to it, only for INEC to later direct CPC to the INEC secretariats in the affected states.

He said: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had promised in a letter dated 18th April, 2011 (in response to our letter dated same day) to make available all ballot papers and result sheets, which are in safe custody, upon request and payment of necessary fees. The INEC Headquarters that, had all along assumed responsibility, now directed us to liaise with the various State INEC, in pursuant of this noble objective.”

He stated further that the party was ready to meet the necessary financial condition as required by INEC, but according to him, the commission is reluctant to give details of payment.

“We demanded the amount of the fees to be paid and to which account.”

CPC had on Sunday filed a petition seeking to nullify the declaration of Jonathan of the PDP as winner of the April 16 presidential election by asking the court to cancel results in 24 states.

Those in contention are all the states in the South (17); Sokoto, Kaduna, Plateau, Kwara, Benue, Adamawa and Nasarawa in the North, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/cpc-justifies-killings/91097/

[size=14pt]Gusau’s next move[/size]
By Brian Ajayi Jatto
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 

For rather inexplicable reasons, a strident and sustained media campaign has been activated to undermine the overwhelming victory of President Goodluck Jonathan and the office of the National Security Adviser.
This scheme, with national and global focus, is calculated to rubbish and consequently erode the National Security Adviser’s wide power base and performance.

It is believed that the ultimate aim is to trigger the removal of General Andrew Owoye Azazi (retd.), the current occupant of the position of NSA and replace him with someone who had virtually “colonised” that position in three different administrations.

It is noteworthy that General Azazi is the only Southerner and Christian so far, to hold the position of National Security Adviser in either a military or civilian setting.

In addition to the ideals of the new campaign to relocate Lt. Gen. Gusau within Nigeria’s power matrix and position him for some covertly-noxious activities within the Presidency, the main objective is to oil the general’s obsession to be Nigeria’s leader in 2015 – and even, possibly, earlier.

To achieve this ‘not-to-strange’ objective, a frenetic campaign has started in earnest. The Friday, April 22, 2011 (Vol. XXIX No. 18) edition of Defence and Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, D&FASA, a publication of Global Information System/ISSA, painted a macabre picture of Nigeria as a rudderless, lawless and uncontrollable loose aggregation of mortally antagonistic peoples that can only be reined-in and saved from the precipice by one over-hyped “super-sleuth”.

The journal’s sponsored and skewed analysis of Nigeria under the elected presidency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan even failed to mention the cases of innocent persons who were recently gruesomely murdered in some parts of northern Nigeria, even though they were never a part of the power equation in active terms. It did not also refer to the so-called Northern Political Leaders Forum’s face-saving but abortive deal with President Jonathan to corner “juicy” ministerial appointments like those of Works, Finance, Petroleum, Education, Health, Defence, Foreign Affairs etc, leaving the “trash” for Southerners.
In its report, D & FASA asserts that “Dr. Jonathan’s ambition - and that of his wife – drove him to override all objections to sustain his bid for the Presidency, but he will need to turn to at least one powerful and truly nationally-conscious figure to rebuild the presidency and the country. It is a man he mistreated, but now cannot do without. And if he attempts to do without him now, Nigeria will continue with its protests, its anarchy in the Niger Delta energy states, and its debilitating inefficiencies due to its skewed and corrupt political structure”.

The D&FASA report in its doomsday posturing goes further to postulate that “it is former National Security Adviser and one time Chief of Army Staff Aliyu Mohammed – often referred to as Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, because he was born in Gusau who must make PDP and the Nigerian system work again”
Now, the game plan. This view is further heightened by the groundswell of moves within the Northern power – seeking elite to sell the notion that the security breaches occasioned by the twin areas of challenges – the Jos creeping sectarian crises and the Boko Haram unending blood-letting can only be solved if General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau (retd.) is returned as NSA – a position he voluntarily relinquished to pursue his obsessive quest for the presidency.

The insinuation in the extant report that he was “mistreated” by President Jonathan is spurious and misplaced since we all know that he resigned from certainty to uncertainty. It is also a well-known fact that these undertakers who masquerade as saviours are peeved because their individual or group interests are no longer served. They should off-load their new-fangled hocus-pocus of a Nigeria that will only survive if a certain Aliyu Gusau is recycled as NSA in a ‘fourth re-incarnation’ process.

[b]Perhaps there is the need to look into the antecedents and pedigree of General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau. He was the National Security Adviser under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo when the Odi and Zaki Biam massacres were perpetrated, largely due to the “security advice” given to the then President by the NSA before the Dogs of War were unleashed on the hapless people of the two areas. The Umuleri/Aguleri bloody internecine confrontation went full-blast and occasioned mass destruction of lives and property under Gusau’s famed “security stabilisation tactics”. The Jos crises bloomed and blossomed while the seeds of exploitation, marginalisation and oppression of the Niger Delta over the years by the northern hegemonistic class, represented by people like Gusau, germinated in the peoples’ agitation. Gusau, as the NSA, never proffered any workable solution until the coming of the late Umar Musa Yar’Adua Administration.

Gusau’s Scorched Earth Policy, in the resolution of the Niger Delta agitation, was a commentary on further oppression and repression. His fascist tactics exacerbated the situation and alienated the federal and state governments concerned, from finding a lasting solution. When viewed from the perspective of precise preparation, pin-point deployment of men and materials, mobility etc, most of the bombings, arson, killings and even the “spontaneous” reactions to the electoral victory of President Goodluck Jonathan, may not have been conceptualised, planned and funded solely by almajiris. The proliferation of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) – the assembly and deployment of which has become common place in the North, is a development that may have been spun by some masterminds out to score political points and gain thereof.[/b]

General Andrew Owoye Azazi retired as Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) after many years of meritorious service in the Nigerian Army. He was at different periods, the Director of Military Intelligence, Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence, General Officer Commanding, First Division, Nigerian Army and Chief of Army Staff for a period longer than Gusau’s brief stint in the same position.

This brings us to the issue of stability in the polity. On the issue of Gusau being the “key to the stability of the government, then, is likely to remain in the hands of Aliyu Mohammed (Gusau)” and the veiled threat that “If it emerged that President Jonathan reneged on his promise to allow General Mohammed (Gusau) control over a number of Nigerian ministries, then the government would lose substantial credibility with the major powers from Russia, to the US, the PRC (Peoples republic of China) and EU”, is to say the least an exercise in overrating the retired general as a prime stabilizing factor in Nigerian politics. Nothing is farther from the realities on the ground.

This self-serving campaign by sponsored apologists that the continued stability of the country’s political system and establishment rest on Gusau reclaiming his political inheritance of NSA, is palpable hallucination. The signature tune now is hinged on verifiable performance not time-worn primordial sentiments that the oppressive elite has used to suppress the masses of the people over the decades. This is obviously a power hangover.

In retrospect, for a well-known power-monger and former military super-spy, Gusau’s two cameo appearances on the presidential aspiration circuit (2007 and 2011) has largely helped to evaporate the myth and undue hype built around him as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes who is at home with the dynamics of power and the strategic deployment of Machiavellian tactics to achieve set goals. After the drubbing he received from the former Customsman, Atiku Abubakar, in the NPLF shadow contest for the “northern” presidential consensus candidate (or aspirant), the tag of a cold and calculated Gusau, whose antecedents and pedigree are often shrouded in mystery, was reduced to nothingness.
Perhaps, it is this bruised ego that Gusau and his sponsored apologists are desperately trying to gather together, patch, repackage, launder and re-project as the only solution to Nigeria’s myriad of problems.

It is time to say that this present agenda that powers the messianic toga that the authors of the spurious D&FASA report places on the 68-years old shoulders of Gusau that he subsumed his ambition for the cohesion and survival of the Peoples Democratic Party after the presidential primaries is, inherently, not true. The truth (as every Nigerian knows) is that he was already shunted out of contention before the party’s primaries by Atiku Abubakar in the NPLF pseudo-primaries. With his much-touted “security correctness”, Gusau could not deploy those attributes to place himself in line for the country’s numero uno position.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the Defence and Foreign Affairs Special Analysis (D&FASA) report under review, concludes its voodoo white-washing of the Gusau persona with a prediction that did not come to pass and a recommendation that will never come to pass. The author(s) insists that: “There is still one more piece in the election drama: the forthcoming state gubernatorial elections (held on Tuesday, April 26, 2011). These will also unleash a period of further violence, before the national healing can begin, if it is to begin. But in the end, the situation will remain entirely unstable unless Aliyu Mohammed (Gusau) is invited – and is prepared – to once again drag Nigeria back from the brink”. What a Nigerian version of Superman or Nostradamus? Certainly, there is a level at which we should extract fabulous praise-singing and grandiose delusion from our body politic if we must move forward as a serious nation determined to make a mark in the world’s political arena.

By BRIAN AJAYI JATTO
A Political Commentator lives in Kubwa, FCT

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2011/may/10/opinion-10-05-2011-001.htm

^
I wonder if this guy was born foolish or its a trick he learned? Damn!

@topic
Poor GEJ must have the biggest headache on Earth now!
I don't believe for one minute that the SE will be shortchanged. There are lots and lots of way's in which payback can come, from the offices the SE is demanding to powerful ministeral positions, and other unseen ways. The SE/SS marriage needs to wax stronger.

The end of aboki MEND is at hand.
Govt will soon catch Alhaji Sule '"Jomo Gbomo." lol!

vicenzo:
yeah obiagu,its really strange,perhaps the people voted for the individual rather than the party,remember ngige and ACN scenario.

Of course thats what happened. Next thing, PPA will begin making claims not to be a regional party as ACN is now attempting.

Very long read, but very worthwile.

[size=14pt]Sweeping Reform Attempt Could Shake Up Nigeria’s Oil Industry[/size]
May. 4 2011 - 3:03 pm

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil-producing state, producing more than 2 million barrels per day of light crude. With proven oil reserves of 37.2 billion barrels (along with undeveloped natural gas reserves of 5,200 billion cubic meters), Nigeria can sustain this daily volume of production for many years to come. But the country’s oil and natural gas sector has been rife with corruption, burdened by decaying infrastructure and inadequate refining capacity and vulnerable to militant violence. While the latter appears under control for the time being, the former have yet to be fully addressed. Any attempt to reform the industry would affect output projections, and thus is an important development not only for Nigeria but also for international oil and natural gas markets.

The most ambitious attempt thus far is Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), first proposed in 2008 and amended many times since. While there are no guarantees that it will pass any time soon — if at all — a new parliament session convening in May could provide fresh impetus for the bill, which would impose a sweeping administrative and regulatory restructuring of Nigeria’s oil and natural gas industry. As written, however, the bill would also threaten a wide range of deeply entrenched interests and would fail to tackle a number of barriers to industry growth. Despite widespread opposition, Abuja is hoping that a current combination of high oil prices and increased international competition will allow the PIB to be passed and enacted during the upcoming parliamentary session.
The PIB and Political Developments
Hydrocarbon operations in Nigeria are currently governed by an aging legislative framework that excludes crucial aspects of the sector such as natural gas production. While talk of reform had been circulating for many years, the first draft of the PIB was presented in 2008. Since then, the bill has been amended numerous times as the government has sought consensus among various stakeholder groups. In the process, a lack of transparency and a rumor that different working drafts are in circulation have made the bill’s evolution problematic. Concerns about its impact on profitability and contract sanctity also have led international oil companies (IOCs) to consistently oppose the PIB’s passage.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed that the PIB will pass before the end of his current administration on May 29, when he will be sworn in for his first elected term as president. On Feb. 23, the country’s parliament began a clause-by-clause debate of the PIB’s provisions. On March 6 it became apparent that members of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as IOCs were blocking the bill’s passage. Lawmakers later expressed the need for further consultation. After considering only two paragraphs, parliament announced its intention to revisit the bill again on April 19, an act that never occurred because of the country’s busy election season. It is now unlikely that any progress will be made on the PIB before parliament is dissolved ahead of the presidential inauguration in late May.

The PIB is intended to serve as a comprehensive legal framework for the Nigerian oil and natural gas industry and as a vehicle for achieving diverse government objectives related to the sector. These include:

•Increased state revenues.
•Freeing the NNPC from dependence on federal funding.
•Deregulation of the downstream sector.
•Development of natural gas production in conjunction with the Gas Master Plan of 2008.
Currently, the NNPC is Nigeria’s dominant hydrocarbon regulatory body and state-owned oil and natural gas company, with widespread responsibilities in the energy sector. The PIB would create independent entities from a number of NNPC divisions, reassigning responsibilities for policy-making; technical matters; upstream, midstream and downstream operations; natural gas regulation; and research and development. In addition, joint ventures between IOCs and the NNPC would be converted into incorporated joint ventures, with the NNPC focusing solely on commercial operations. The bill also includes a revised taxation and royalty regime that would significantly increase the government’s revenue.

Still, none of these measures would directly promote the growth of operational capacity within the NNPC. While the independence of regulatory agencies could reduce the potential for conflicts of interest, tensions would likely linger as the nascent agencies grow into their new responsibilities, and the amount of bureaucratic obstacles related to licensing and oversight would probably increase.

Joint Ventures, Upstream Oversight and the NNPC
Six major joint ventures between the NNPC and the IOCs account for most of the production from Nigeria’s proven reserves (as much as 98 percent, by some estimates). The NNPC holds a majority share — typically 60 percent — of each joint venture and serves no operational role. Major IOCs involved are ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, Chevron Corp., Total SA, Agip and ConocoPhillips. Under the PIB, the shareholding, organizational structures and operational roles of the existing joint ventures would be carried over to the new incorporated joint ventures.

The conversion of joint ventures into incorporated Nigerian entities would free the NNPC from dependence on the state for funding, allowing it to approach capital markets for external financing. Currently, crude revenues pass directly into Nigeria’s federation account and are not available to the NNPC for use as working capital. This means the NNPC must meet its financial obligations through monthly cash calls, which are based on annual budgets submitted by the IOCs and are funded from the government budget office. In practice, disbursements are often delayed or insufficient, and the NNPC has continually struggled to meet its financial obligations. As a result, more recent projects have adopted production-sharing contracts (PSCs), in which the IOCs pay all costs and reimburse themselves from resulting revenues. No material changes to the PSC legal framework are proposed in the bill.

Holders of existing joint-venture and PSC licenses and leases would be required to reapply for their respective contracts within a year of the PIB’s passage. To date, no guarantees of renewal have been provided to existing license holders.

Previous reform efforts in Nigeria have addressed the independence of the regulatory authority from the NNPC, and the two functions have been combined and separated on a number of occasions, depending on the priorities of the incumbent government. The separation of these functions under the PIB is merely the latest in the ongoing expansion and contraction of NNPC responsibility within the sector. While outwardly attempting to reduce conflicts of interest, such moves have left the basic power dynamics and institutional dysfunction of the status quo intact.

The NNPC is widely regarded as a corrupt and ineffective organization that enables a broad patronage network. Its role in the industry has nonetheless remained consistent as the country has shuttled between civilian and military rule. This stability is highly valued in the industry, despite the inefficient manner in which it is achieved. The almost complete lack of indigenous operational capacity means that IOCs have retained an indispensable role in hydrocarbon production in Nigeria, developing strong influence networks through which they are able to protect their interests above all.

Natural Gas
Oil production in Nigeria began in 1956, and since then natural gas has been derived largely from associated fields or has been “flared” (burned off) rather than captured. This has been due to the absence of a reliable legal framework, which has limited the exploration and development of unassociated fields. More recently, liquefied natural gas has started to take off, mainly for export, with production rising 178 percent since 2000, with projects such as the West Africa Gas Pipeline, a 676-kilometer (420-mile) export facility supplying Ghana, Togo and Benin set to come online in 2011. Despite this progress, natural gas production in Nigeria remains in its infancy.

The Nigerian government wants to stimulate internal demand for the use of natural gas in power generation and industrial applications, which it considers crucial for both energy security and economic development. Electricity generation for domestic needs has been a high priority, at least rhetorically, of the last three administrations, which have wanted to improve on the limited and unreliable electricity supply. To date, price controls on retail electricity have deterred investment in the capital-intensive supply infrastructure required to service the local electricity market, and with those controls remaining in place, commercial opportunities in the Nigerian market will remain nonviable. While the PIB includes wholesale and retail pricing provisions for electricity as well as other products like refined gasoline, it would also provide a very broad mandate for the newly formed Petroleum Products Regulatory Authority to continue to regulate prices, something the authority is likely to do.

In a further obstacle to developing the oil and natural gas sector, the PIB would separate oil and natural gas licensing, while current legislation provides combined rights for exploration and operation. By separating the contracting frameworks, the ongoing development of associated fields would become more difficult, since the operator would be required to hold two licenses. In theory, the measure is intended to reopen the natural gas licensing field, but in practice it would likely increase bureaucratic obstacles and the cost of the licensing process. Financing the development of natural gas reserves with oil revenues would also become more difficult, and while the legal framework would provide some certainty for producers, the proposed terms are unlikely to be economically attractive.

Downstream Operations
Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, and having four domestic refineries, Nigeria currently relies on imports of refined petroleum products to meet local demand. The government sees the deregulation of this sector as crucial to energizing the local economy, though it is in the downstream component of the industry where endemic corruption and patronage networks are most entrenched. Under the NNPC, a lack of investment in maintenance and refining capacity has kept product output well below local demand. The shortfall is met by product imports, the contracts for which represent some of the most lucrative business opportunities in Nigeria. By constraining import supply, marketers have been able to create scarcity, which in turn has enabled the development of a thriving black market for petroleum products, particularly motor fuel.

These conditions have also been a boon to militants and their political patrons in the Niger Delta. “Bunkering,” which involves siphoning off crude from a pipeline, transporting it offshore for refining and then back to Nigeria for sale on the black market, is a tremendously profitable organized-crime activity that involves not only militants and politicians in the Delta but also government military officers.

Under the PIB, downstream activities currently overseen by the NNPC would be transferred to the newly created and wholly state-owned National Transport Logistics Company (NTLC), which would have operational responsibility for pipelines and the transportation, storage and distribution of crude-oil products. Operations that would be transferred include the Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries as well as pipelines, storage facilities and distribution infrastructure. In removing the downstream responsibility from the NNPC and establishing an independent regulator, the Petroleum Products Regulatory Authority, the PIB goes only partially toward addressing the problems that plague downstream operations. As in the case with natural gas, the bill is unclear in its commitment to remove price controls from the crude side of the ledger. It is widely recognized that the NTLC will seek to privatize its new asset holdings, although it is unlikely that it will attract sufficient foreign interest unless pricing reform is enacted. But the subsidies are viewed by the Nigerian populace as the only meaningful contribution that the government can make to improve their lives, which means that attempts to repeal them would likely spark significant protest.

Fiscal Regime
The PIB proposes a new fiscal regime to govern both incorporated joint ventures and PSCs for oil and natural gas production and seeks to increase federal revenues from the industry. The representative body for industry producers in Nigeria, the Oil Producers Trade Section, calculates that the government take under the current joint-venture fiscal regime is already one of the highest in the world at 82 percent, and the proposals for the new regime would see this take rise to 91 percent. Including the share taken by the NNPC, this would limit IOC returns to approximately 2 percent, a level that is likely to deter investment in the sector by rendering many new and existing projects uneconomical. Similarly, where PSCs are concerned, the new regime would see the government take rise to approximately 89 percent.

Implications of the PIB
Missing from the PIB are guarantees to existing investors and a focus on the barriers to investment, specifically price controls and entrenched patronage networks. By imposing its terms on both new and existing operations and requiring operators to reapply for existing licenses, the bill threatens contract sanctity and would increase the risk premium applied to future investment decisions. This, along with stricter fiscal provisions, has put the IOCs, a critical stakeholder group, in opposition to the bill’s passage. While the IOCs have registered their support for industry reform and many of the measures laid out by the PIB, the effects of the new fiscal regime on shareholder returns are substantial. The PIB also does little to limit the power of the president and energy minister. Both would retain the ability to significantly influence the industry by having full control over the staffing of key positions and the extension of leases.

Expectations of sustained upward pressure on global energy prices have presented the Nigerian government with an opportunity to extract greater returns from existing operations while betting that IOCs will still be interested in investing to meet rampant market demand. The quality of Nigerian crude means that IOCs have little alternative but to continue to operate in the country, where competition has increased in recent years with the entry of IOCs from China, India and South Korea. By moving to increase rentals on concessions and significantly tighten rules on the relinquishment of leases, the turnover of undeveloped fields is likely to increase. In turn, the government is betting that with the Chinese and Indians especially keen to lock in access to hydrocarbon reserves wherever they can, any investment slack from the IOCs will be picked up by its Asian partners. It is notable that the government has used the threat of Chinese competition against its existing partners before.

There is no doubt that the Nigerian oil and natural gas industry can perform more efficiently and on a greater scale and that reform is required to achieve this. The PIB is a broad and ambitious piece of legislation that seeks to remodel the industry and provide the much-needed basis for its future development. However, the limitations of the bill — and the opacity with which it was written — mean that significant domestic political and IOC opposition remains. Once nationwide elections have determined the makeup of the new parliament, the speed with which the PIB is passed and enacted will indicate just how much consensus for reform there is within the government.

Ultimately, it must be noted that the Nigerian state is a vast patronage network with decisive power vested in the president. Competition for ever-greater allocations of oil revenue has created an artificial reliance on the central government, with the NNPC serving as the chief enabler. Hence, any attempt to restructure the NNPC will affect the country to its core, impacting entrenched political power bases as well as average Nigerians who are growing ever more dependent on gasoline and electricity for living a modern life.

http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2011/05/04/sweeping-reform-attempt-could-shake-up-nigerias-oil-industry/?partner=contextstory

vislabraye:
Can we really do without stereotype? I remembered when a Yoruba lady asked me where I'm from, I told her I'm Ijaw. She concluded I am a subset of Ibo. Sounds ridiculous. There are many Nigerians who feel the same way too. I just think it's illitracy.

It is. Encounters with such types can be quite a spirit shattering experience experience; you feel somehow dirtied by the experience.
It is so painful that such folk are all too common, some are illiterates, others are very highly educated and seemingly smart (like S**ago here), there are yet others with deep personality issues (s**amite).

The single story is always driven by one form of bigotry or the other, in certain cases, by psychological issues (attention seeking, esteem etc).