₦airaland Forum

He however said “Atiku’s loss to Jonathan at the PDP primary should be enough caution to anyone talking up consensus along regional and sectional lines.”

It will fail again, just like Ciroma's Atiku project. Thats the way of ethnically bigoted politics.
A new Nigeria is being born.
Fresh Air 2011!

[size=14pt]Opposition parties talk up alliance ahead presidential poll[/size]
By Festus Owete
April 4, 2011 04:48AM

Although the Presidential election is barely five-days away, some northern politicians are lobbying the main opposition parties to produce a consensus candidate.

To achieve this, they recently initiated fresh talks among Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Ibrahim Shekarau of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to get a common candidate that will confront President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

As the opposition parties have yet to agree to a consensus candidates, events of the last few days seem to be threatening that prospect.

At the weekend, Mr Ribadu felt sufficiently spooked by claims he had withdrawn from the race that he issued a release reaffirming his candidacy. Rumour had been rife last Friday that he had agreed to step down in favour of Mr Buhari.

“My attention has been drawn to the claim, which started first as an April Fool joke, yesterday, and is now made viral by opposition CPC members, that I have stepped down for Muhammadu Buhari in what is termed a consensus arrangement,” he said.

“First, I must clarify for my teeming supporters, our ever progressive ACN party members and the millions of young people of this country who have trained their sights toward, and have sacrificed so much for a better Nigeria, that this is wicked falsehood.

“Secondly, I want to stress the point that this cheap scheme is deliberately calculated to abort our democratic march through manipulation, and through the hijack of our right to electoral choice, a central value of a true democracy.”

Quest for a northern President

The consensus initiative is coming months after the failure of a similar one aimed at preventing Mr Jonathan from becoming the presidential candidate of the PDP during the party’s primaries, which held last January.

Mr Jonathan had faced four main aspirants, including a former military president, Ibrahim Babangida; a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; a former national security adviser, Aliyu Gusau and governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki.

The process, driven by the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) led by a former finance minister, Adamu Ciroma, resulted in the choice of Mr Atiku, who eventually lost to Mr Jonathan at the special convention of the party in Abuja.

The fresh move by politicians, under the aegis of Arewa Youth Action for Change (ACAC) and a few northern elders is backed by the same ideology as the NPLF, which is to return a northerner to the presidency following the demise of former president, Umaru Yar’Adua, himself a northerner.

Members of the northern youths group are insistent that Mr Jonathan should give way to a northerner as president in May and that since the project failed on the PDP platform, an easy recourse could be made to the other parties, notably the major ones fielding candidates from the north in the April 9 election.

The plan is to reach an accord similar to the one that the ANP (All Nigeria Party) reached the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999. Both parties presented former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae as their joint candidate; though he lost to the PDP’s Olusegun Obasanjo.

Ibrahim Modibbo, the spokesperson for Mr Ribadu, confirmed that his principal has been involved in the talks.

“I can tell you that they are still talking and the outcome will be made known at the appropriate time,” he told NEXT last week.

The national publicity secretary of the CPC, Rotimi Fashakin confirms this as well.

“The discussions are still on. In politics, negotiations don’t end because it involves give and take. On our part, we are open to such negotiations so far they do not depreciate our values or what we stand for,” he said.

“But this project is not just about Buhari, Ribadu and Shekarau but about you and I.

The eminent Nigerians of northern extraction who want this thing are not doing it for themselves but to save the country. Buhari has said over and over again that the only party he cannot talk to is the PDP but the other parties he is open to them.”

A little matter of ego

Some analysts have said reaching an agreement between the three parties on a common candidate is not workable. Dare Ajayi said one main drawback was that the presidential poll is only a few days away.

“Although, in accordance to the Electoral Act, a candidate can withdraw from the electoral race any moment, it remains to be seen how the three parties can, within the few days, educate their teeming members on how they should vote on the day of the election.”

He however said “Atiku’s loss to Jonathan at the PDP primary should be enough caution to anyone talking up consensus along regional and sectional lines.”

Another thorny issue he pointed out is who gets to step down, especially as months of prior meetings among the leaders of these parties, before they chose their presidential candidates, had failed to produce such an alliance.

Other things to be worked out during merger talks, include the sharing of offices and position if the coalition wins.

“It is very likely that the ego trip responsible for the failure of the ACN and CPC alliance talks recently will also trail this latest efforts,” a member of the ACN said last Friday.

Already, those in CPC believe Mr Buhari towers above his counterparts. A retired general who ran the country as military head of state between 1983 and 1985, he was also presidential candidate in 2003 and 2007 on the platform of ANPP, but was defeated by former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Yar’Adua.

“You don’t go to an examination and tell the brightest candidate to hand over his first position to the second or third candidate. This is antithetical to rationality. It is not something you will readily see,” Mr Fashakin said.

But the other candidates said their parties have better structures than Buhari’s CPC, which is only about a year in existence but has achieved some level of popularity, particularly in the north.

At present, the ANPP controls three state governments, namely Kano, Yobe and Borno while the ACN has four states in its kitty. They are Ekiti, Osun, Edo and Lagos.

Of the trio, only Mr Buhari has not publicly given indications that he could step down for whoever becomes the choice of the northern politicians.

Messrs Ribadu and Shekarau had reportedly given indication that they could withdraw for whoever emerges among the three.

But Emma Eneukwu, who speaks for the ANPP, said the issue of who flies the flag will be resolved naturally this week.

“What is going to happen is that after the National Assembly, the party that has the most seat may be allowed to produce the presidential candidate if the ongoing talks sail through. I think this is the mind of those handling the discussions,” Mr Eneukwu told NEXT in a telephone chat last Friday.

Although the three parties and their candidates have successfully cooperated in the recent past, especially in jointly refusing to show up in the debate organized by the Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG), it remains to be seen how their cooperation can defeat Mr Jonathan.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5687104-146/opposition_parties_talk_up_alliance_ahead.csp

Shocking stuff!

[size=14pt]How infighting bungled elections[/size]
NewsApr 4, 2011

By EMMANUEL AZIKEN & OKEY NDIRIBE

LAGOS-INFIGHTING among senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, may have been directly responsible for the shocking postponement of the National Assembly elections, Vanguard has learnt.

Commission officials speaking against the background of the admission by INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega that the late delivery of result sheets from Japan caused the postponement, blamed bickering among senior INEC officials as the underlining reasons for what was generally condemned as a national embarrassment.

Vanguard, however, learnt that the rift between Prof. Jega and some senior INEC officials including some Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, may have prepared the grounds for the colossal failure of the much heralded polls.

The face-off between Jega and senior INEC officials, Vanguard learnt, followed feelings of marginalization since the inauguration of the new commission under Jega. The senior officials of the commission were said to have felt marginalized in the way and manner Jega carried out the administration of the commission.

The senior officials and commissioners who Jega inherited were said to have been angry that they were not consulted before some major decisions were taken by Jega including the contracting process.

One source told Vanguard: “He was doing things on his own as if he was the only one there, only him and his favoured aides,” explaining that the INEC chairman was thus left on his own and as such did not have the benefit of the experience and advice that some INEC officials would otherwise have given him on matters such as logistics handling.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, however, dismissed the claims saying it was rubbish. He said: “I think it is arrant rubbish.”

Besides, Jega’s decision to sideline INEC officials in the conduct of the elections did not come as a welcome development.

Vanguard learnt that many officials both high and low who had expected to benefit financially from the process of organizing the election were equally aghast at the decision to wholly involve youth corps members for the conduct of the elections.

Reservations from INEC officials

The RECs who were appointed by the President at the same time with Jega were said to have been miffed over the manner Jega and his aides had scorned them.

The RECs who are INEC’s senior officials in the States were said to have expressed reservations over the plan by Jega to appoint what he once described as “eminent Nigerians” to take over the duty of announcing the results of state gubernatorial elections instead of the RECs who are the returning officers.

Jega, it was learnt, had taken opportunity of a loophole in Section 27 of the Electoral Act (2010) as amended which did not confer the specific role of returning officers to the RECs during a recent meeting with the commissioners to inform them that eminent Nigerians would be appointed to announce gubernatorial election results.

Mr. Idowu also dismissed the insinuations of murmuring especially coming from RECs on the matter of the appointment of eminent Nigerians as reporting officers for the gubernatorial elections.

“That is not the issue at this time as we are all now preoccupied with the National Assembly polls,” Idowu said in a telephone interview.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/04/how-infighting-bungled-elections/

some of the candidates stayed away because they did not quite perform well in the NN24 debate moderated by NEXT’s Kadaria Ahmed. According to this rendering, the campaign managers of these candidates would not then rather have them exposed to another public grilling.

Word!
That is the real reason they stayed away; the fear of being exposed as stark empty to millions, instead of just NN24's meagre 2,500 subscribers. Shame!

In turn, Mr. Idris, in incoherent English, claimed the children are adults, saying they are only small in stature.

Ridiculous!

[size=14pt]Katsina election officials and police accept underage voters[/size]

Underage voters

But despite the cancellation of the elections which were relatively peaceful across the state, voters in several places were still seen voting in many polling units, some up to one hour after the announcement. Many of the INEC presiding officials when approached said they were yet to be informed of the cancellation.

At Yamadawa, in Dauri local government area, one of the centres still conducting the elections after the cancellation, NEXT witnessed many underaged children voting.

This was in connivance with the youth corper, INEC official, and a police constable, Mohammed Idris. The corper was initially antagonistic to answering any questions but later, when the crew of a TV station put their camera on him, he said Mr. Idris was to blame.

“I believe you see security is here and I told him I don’t want to see them [children] here. That is security there,” the youth corper said, while trying to hide his face from the camera.

In turn, Mr. Idris, in incoherent English, claimed the children are adults, saying they are only small in stature.

When contacted on the issue, the Katsina State police spokesperson, Abubakar Mohammed, said the responsibility of ensuring only adults register and vote lies with INEC, and not the police.

“It is INEC who are in charge. They are the ones who carry out voters registration, who have the voters bio-data, and who know who is eligible to vote, not the police. We are only there to ensure the security of the INEC officials and that the conduct of the exercise is peaceful,” Mr. Mohammed said.

INEC’s spokesperson in Katsina, Mohammed Musa, could not comment on the voting by minors, as he said he was only just assuming duty as the state’s public relations officer for the first time in the morning of the elections.

He, however, said the commission regrets all inconvenience caused by the annulment and postponement of the elections.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5687201-146/katsina_election_officials_and_police_accept.csp

[size=14pt]The opposition’s strategic mistake[/size]
By Kayode Ogunbunmi
April 4, 2011 01:06AM

Nobody could accuse them of not giving prior warning. Close to a week before the presidential and vice presidential debate organised by the Nigerian Electoral Debate Group was to take place, the presidential candidates of three political parties: the Action Congress of Nigeria; All Nigeria Peoples Party and the Congress for Progressive Change had warned that they would not participate in the debate with Goodluck Jonathan.

The three gentlemen, Nuhu Ribadu, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Shekarau, predicated their decision on the president’s absence at an earlier debate organised by cable television station, NN24. Leaving the president to stand on the podium by himself, the men must have decided, is sweet revenge for their own perceived slight.

This argument is alluring in its simplicity. Reduce the importance of the NEDG debate, focus the energy of the candidates on other things (possibly) and put President Jonathan in an uncomfortable position of being seen as aloof and having to explain why this is so.

When the debate took off Wednesday evening, there was only Mr Jonathan on the podium to take questions from a panel drawn from the Nigerian Guild of editors, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Bar Association.

[size=14pt]It is hard to see how Messrs Buhari, Ribadu and Shekarau could see themselves coming out as winners from the incident. Being alone on the stage did not diminish Mr Jonathan’s carriage. He cut the image of relaxed assuredness, even cracking jokes with the panellists. What is more, being alone allowed him to put his views on the NN24 absence across to his audience – unchallenged because his opponents decided to stay away.

It is possible that, as a tactic, staying away probably served its purpose. There are even insinuations that some of the candidates stayed away because they did not quite perform well in the NN24 debate moderated by NEXT’s Kadaria Ahmed. According to this rendering, the campaign managers of these candidates would not then rather have them exposed to another public grilling. This is probably tosh. But then, how do we know, when the candidates did not show up to speak for themselves?[/size]

I, therefore, think that the boycott is both wrongheaded and a strategic mistake. Even if the candidates were aggrieved, participating in the Wednesday event could only be a gain-gain situation for them. They would have, for one, reached another set of Nigerians whom they couldn’t reach in the first debate. They could have confronted Mr Jonathan on air directly and seek to discomfit him. They would have appeared as statesmen who will not be dissuaded by a little thing as having to debate without one of their opponents.

[size=14pt]Instead, they appeared petty and petulant. And they handed the initiative to their key opponent. I mean, who will readily pass over the opportunity to address millions of Nigerians who listened to the debate on radio and television – both terrestrial and cable. A candidate like Mr Shekarau, who did rather well at the last debate, would have consolidated on this. But he was nowhere to be found.[/size]

The debate caught me on the road, [size=14pt]so I started off listening to it on the radio[/size]. Reason why I even knew it started was because I and some friends saw clusters of people around television sets on a street in Ikeja, Lagos. A glimpse at one of the sets revealed the president in a world of his own - taking questions and answering same in full glare of Nigerians. Maybe he performed well, maybe he didn’t. His listeners will have to decide that for themselves. But his lone appearance couldn’t have hurt his campaign any.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/5686911-148/story.csp

Can anyone imagine Nollywood endorsing Buhari? That would be like the joke of the year, if he was president, he would probably get them shot for no reason anyway!

Buhari is self-destructing on all fronts, because he is too rigid to engage in the diplomatic symphony that is politics. He is like a train fixed on rails that lead nowhere.
Nigeria needs the cool, calm, wise and reassured head that sits on Jonathans shoulders. He alone has the diplomatic nous and social dexterity needed to weld the disparate parts of Nigeria into one indivisible union with shared goals and ideals.

[size=42pt]Fresh Air 2011!![/size]

www.nairaland.com/attachments/396240_JonathanNigeria_jpge7a36aa6bc0c2d1c59341bf005b3e97c

I am attracted by Jonathan's people oriented qualities, his willingness to engage and genuine warmth that have endeared him to many, both nationally and internationally.

Nigeria needs a cool, wise head like Jonathans, not brute force types who have not given due consideration to the near explosive responsibilities they propose to bear.

Jonathans quiet way is what the anti-corruption battle requires, the recent PDP primaries is an example. Compared to all other parties, it was a showpiece of excellence. We all counted the votes out of the transparent ballot boxes together. Way to go!

Much more than the above, Nigeria needs the cool, calm, wise and reassured head that sits on Jonathans shoulders. He alone has the diplomatic nous and social dexterity needed to weld the disparate parts of Nigeria into one indivisible union with shared goals and ideals.

On steering Nigeria forward in the modern global economic World:

He appears like he is a type who “does not ask for the one who killed his father until he has the cutlass”, as a Yoruba adage goes. But more importantly, in the past year, he has proved that he is willing to go in the direction of subsidising and coordinating investments, and providing the public investments necessary to pull in the private investments. He has shown he is ready to pursue reforms, develop a great business attitude, and he is likely to pursue critical industrial strategies towards more investment, growth and jobs that will eventually transform the current structure of the Nigerian economy. Because I think he is more likely to pursue this line of policies, he has a greater potential to be a great leader. May a great leader emerge.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/analysis/columnists/19923-jonathan-has-the-greatest-potential

Jonathans economic vision also reaches to Research and Development, to which he is planning a bill that will dedicate 1% of our GDP. His plans for power generation are very detailed and investor interest for 2011 (at an estimated $20billion) is already double the annual minimum projection of $10billion Nigera requires per annum. The railways are coming back to life, and GEJ is actively pushing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), a bill that could transform Nigeria literarilly overnight.

In the education / human rights sectors, there is the long overdue education of the much abused almajiri population; GEJ is also pushing the Freedom of Information bill (FOI).

Carry Go, GEJ!!

This is why we don't need religious fanatics of any hue in office. Is this the sort of stvpid talk the Buhari team will emit?
While one would talk his madmans sharia plans, the other would go on about "777" and other pseudo-Christian Ifa symbolisms.

Nigeria must say no to red-eyed religiously crazed office seekers.

Darthmaul:
I second u montelik on hamilton. Talent iis not enuf. Alonso has 2 wc hamilton 1wc. Mind u alonso won dose wit renault not d biggest name on the grid even when schumi was active. When hamilton won I guess they wouldn't say tey had d fastest car. I can tell u if haamilton was in a red bull his car would be a failure with his kind of driving. He hardly takes care of his car. His excuse would be d car is too fragile like we don't know already. He is a talented driver but he runs his mouth too much. He is just another british who the british media would always sing his praises.
I wonder if he can win a wc on a say renault. He would just be another young prospect like Jamie etc.i

Sorry?!!!
Renault was the class act for the two years Alonso won the WDC. They were helped by a clever (but illegal) device fitted to their car that made it so much faster than the others. The device is known as the Tuned Mass Damper (not to be confused with the legal J-damper).
The FIA (very controversially) banned the device in 2006 and Renault fell off the cliff; luckily for Alonso, it was too late to stop his second title: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/05/31/banned-tuned-mass-dampers/

Forget about the Renault angle. Alonso and Lewis have been in the same equipment and Lewis outperformed Alonso. . . In his rookie year too!
Alonso was even favoured until Monaco, when as I mentioned, the much faster Lewis was told to slow down to allow Alonso win (the action even provoked an FIA investigation of McLaren).

MRbrownJAY:
So you guys are having a party here and didn't invite me?!
Well, as most from last year championship know me, I am all the way out an Alonso fan aka Ferrari fan. Anyone claiming that Alonso is not the best driver out there today, is a dreamer. But then again, let's see what this season promise!!!!

1 down, 18 to go!

Hmm! It might not be 18 to go with the way the Middle East is catching flame. Like Bahrain, we might not see Abu Dhabi.

. . .To continue where we stopped last season , Alonso is a whinner and Lewis is a winner. My poetry is cheesy, but facts are real.
To crown it, there is no team that isn't keeping an eye out for Lewis, even Red Bull he dissed a couple of weeks ago as, "just a drinks company."

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says signing Lewis Hamilton is "always" a topic for Red Bull Racing
. . .
Marko has hinted that Red Bull may try make a swoop for McLaren driver Hamilton.

"First we have to see how the season goes for Mark and what he decides," he told German publication Sport Bild.

"Definitely with his aggression and his speed, Hamilton must always be a topic. Our philosophy is to have the quickest drivers together in our team."

http://www.planet-f1.com/news/18227/6850266/Marko-Hamilton-a-topic-for-Red-Bull

Nah, TB Joshua is wrong, cos the elections have been postponed 3 times. The first when Jega appealed for more time, and the other two over the weekend.

^
Chai! Dat pix be like horror movie!

Fresh Air 2001!
. . .And may all zoning proponents and similar disenfranchisers always take the wrong turn in the road and may their vision continue to be cross-eyed until they change.

What a funny thread!
Any kiddies stories next?

[size=14pt]Nigeria elections postponed for second time[/size] 
Vote now scheduled to take place on April 9, electoral commission says, following logistical problems.
Last Modified: 03 Apr 2011 18:58

The first round of voting was aborted on Saturday due to logistical glitches [Reuters]

Nigeria's electoral commission (INEC) has postponed nationwide parliamentary polls for a second time, a day after they were put off due to logistical problems.

Officials said on Sunday the elections that had been postponed to Monday after voting materials failed to arrive on time will now take place on April 9.

Attahiru Jega, the head of the electoral commission, told reporters: "The commission weighed all the options and considered the wide-ranging counsel of Nigerians and decided to reschedule all the elections as follows: Saturday, April 9, senate and house of representatives elections; Saturday, April 16, presidential elections; Tuesday, April 26, state houses of assembly and governorship elections."

The electoral body's resident commissioner in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt said the postponement was partly prompted by complaints from political parties that the time frame was too tight.

"Some parties have said they won't take part ,  Without political parties there is no election so INEC has to listen to their comments," the commissioner, Aniedi Ikoiwak, said.

Voting materials delayed

Nigerians had flocked to polling stations on Saturday to cast their ballots for the 360-member House of Representatives and the 109-member Senate, but the exercise did not go far after it emerged that voting materials at many polling centres had not been delivered.

The opposition accused the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) of sabotage, with the spokesman of the main challenger of Goodluck Jonathan, the incumbent president, saying the party was "afraid to let people come out and vote".

Jonathan, who became president after the death of Umaru Yaradua last May, is widely expected to win the presidential poll and has repeatedly promised free and fair elections.

Muhammadu Buhari, his main challenger and former president running on the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) platform, has major support in the country's mostly Muslim north.

Other candidates vying for the presidency include former anti-corruption chief Nuhu Ribadu, whose Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) party has a strong following in parts of the southwest, and Ibrahim Shekarau, governor of the northern state of Kano.

The PDP controls a comfortable majority in the parliament, but some analysts say the poll could significantly loosen its grip on the legislature.

The party has won every election since military rule ended in 1999. The previous two elections, held in 2003 and 2007, were marred by fraud and irregularities.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/201143174718212830.html

I can't understand how the US allows that bufoon to keep walking free!
It is obvious that the man is a sick attention seeker who feels he can get away with such behaviour under the protection of freedom of speech.

The US must weigh the cost of both the mans physical freedom and the freedom of his speech against the blood spilt in protests and US national security.

Haha! Some opposition parties want the elections postponed, because they have suddenly realised that their own version of "election result" documents are "over the bar!" They now want more time to "investigate" and print new ones. LOL!!!!

Na lie you lie! Elections will go on!

[size=14pt]Anambra polls: Police arrest ACN agent with INEC result sheets[/size]
…He’s not one of us, says REC
From IJEOMA ONUORAH, Nnewi
Thursday, March 24, 2011

Men of the Anambra State Police Command yesterday, arrested a suspected senior aide to Dr. Chris Ngige, a former governor of Anambra State, over illegal possession of election materials, belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The suspect, Kingsley Ezenwenyi, was arrested when he came to the headquarters of the commission in Awka yesterday morning and proceeded to copy from INEC’s notice board, which was strictly meant for staff, the list of postings of electoral officers released by the commission’s state office last Monday.
This drew the attention of men of the State Security Services (SSS) attached to the commission, who asked him to leave.

He was then trailed to his hotel, on the outskirts of Awka, where he was discovered to be in possession of illegal election materials.
Daily Sun gathered that the recovered materials included: Form EC8 A, with serial number 01008997 (original and duplicate copies), 60 copies of original Form EC8(R), which are for publication of results of polls, 56 copies of Form EC8(B), which are for summaries of results from polling stations.
When Ezenwenyi was asked to explain how he came to possess the election materials, he claimed he was working for INEC as a consultant, hired to train members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the election.

But in a swift reaction, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra State, Professor Chukwuemeka Onukogu, who spoke through Mr. Frank Egbo, stated that Ezenwenyi could not be working for the commission, noting that by printing ballot papers, Ezenwenyi clearly had other motives.

“He already had result sheets for pasting results and it means his own results would have been ready for publication before the conclusion of voting on election day and if he does that you know the kind of confusion that would cause,” stressed Egbo. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Emeka Chukwuemeka, confirmed the arrest of Ezenwenyi, stating that investigations had started.

Reacting to the development, the ACN Publicity Secretary for Anambra State, Mr. Okeluo Madukife, claimed ignorance of the development and said he would investigate the matter before responding.

[size=14pt]Court remands UNPD presidential candidate[/size]
NewsApr 2, 2011
*Over N2m dud cheques

A Keffi Chief Magistrate’s Court has remanded the presidential candidate of the United National Party for Development (UNPD), Madam Ebiti Ndok, in the Maximum Security Prison, Keffi, Nasarawa State, for issuing dud cheques to two Abuja hotels.

The judge ordered that she should be remanded till April 19.

Mrs. Ndok was arraigned by the police last Thursday after she wrote two dud cheques of N1,050,000 and N500,000 to Onnyx Hotel and the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, respectively.

She was said to have stayed at Onnyx Hotel between last November 20, and January 27, 2011 when she was evicted by the hotel’s management for failing to pay her debts.

The two hotels had been on her trail and located her after she participated in last week’s presidential debate with Professor Pat Utomi and Dr. John Dara.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/04/court-remands-unpd-presidential-candidate/

BetaThings:
This is an irresponsible post!
How did you know that not only CPC was affected?
If others were affected, how? - name and logo left out entirely or name on the ballot, but logo missing or vice versa?
And by the way, if another party is affected and they decided not to complain, why should that stop CPC from complaining
And how is CPC preaching violence? We know PDP does not want people to campaign
They are just grudgingly tolerating rallies by other parties

Dude, CPC guys just make a lot of noise and whine like intellectual lepers; screaming violence through one side of the mouth and sobbing victim crocodile tears out the other:

“For example, a voter at a polling booth in Lagos (Aboyade Cole/Manuwa polling booth) said the Labour Party was not on the ballot that was used there. This is an invitation to post-electoral litigation.

“In Kwara, the number of ballot papers supplied was largely inadequate, meaning that many voters would have been disenfranchised if the election had not been postponed. In several states, registered voters could not find their names on the register. In fact, at polling booth 004 in Amuwo Odofin in Lagos, less than 50 of the 720 who registered there found their names. It is therefore necessary for INEC to rectify these problems!” ACN said.

The party said Jega should take the reports from his field officials to know the exact problems with Saturday’s election, with a view to rectifying them, instead of rushing to fix a new, unrealistic date for the postponed election

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=31480

Does the above sound like a problem that affected CPC alone? Rubbish.

BetaThings:
If you can provide proof that Buhari used the words lynch and kill, I will vote for GEJ

You will soon begin denying that yesterday occured:

But Buhari appeared to have allowed the frustrations of the past to get at him this time. His campaign has been much of ‘we’ versus ‘them’ stuff and he was apparently caught off guard recently during a campaign rally in Minna, Niger State, where he admonished his supporters to lynch any opponent who attempted to tamper with election results. He said in Hausa; “ku gama da shi!”

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/index.php/the-polity/3353-buhari-in-the-north-myth-or-reality

1025:
@beaf,
u can agree with me that a peaceful pdp govt in nigeria is causing us more lives than most countries in war. look at the number of lives lost through jos and other states riots. look at the number lives lost so far during rallies. look at the number of lives we loose on daily basis via accidents as a result of poor and bad roads. can u mention the funds and live we loose to kidnappers?
sometimes, violence is cheap that peace as some peaceful govts are blood thirsty like our pdp.
what if voilence will bring about the much needed and desereved changes we need as a nation?
do u know that ghana has to waste some lives before they become a new power broker in the continent?
if you know the story of Jonah in the Bible, u will agree will me that as long as this boat(nigeria) has all these jonahs on board, we will go no where.
if you have access to jonathan, tell him nigerians are not against him as a person bot we are against his friendship with all the jonahs in our boat.
only last week, the portuguese prime minister had to resign just for failing to push his budget through. jega has failed in his first test and shld save himself further shame and embarassments by resigning.
jonathan(jega2) had so much confidence in jega1 that he choose him from over 150 million nigerians. nigeria and nigerians now depend on the jegas (1 and 2).

Anyone preaching violence does not care for their followers, rather they see them as mere tools. Let me put it in stark terms; Buhari has a bunch of almajiri's and other illiterates to perpetrate violence in his so called, "wild-wild North," while GEJ has the army, tanks, planes, anti-bomb squads, police etc. . . Keep on promoting violence, we will soon find out if Buhari wishes to secede with an almajiri army or he simply wishes to spill blood for selfish reasons.

Your position is uncaring beyond comprehension, daft and wicked.

mcgboye:
@Karl Max,
Again u got it twisted. I aint complaining about GEJ's english (of course i complain about his wife's). He's a Phd holder, isnt he? My grouse is his choice of words in public arena.
@Wesley, what else can I say? You said u live in the Niger Delta. Well, now i know. Warri guys are habitually d best comedians and "yabbers". So i would be fighting a lost battle if I engage you in war of words, since i'm not schooled in that art and you're obviously very experienced.

So you are a bigot as well as being shallow?
You owe everybody from the Niger Delta and Warri an unreserved apology.

It now seems obvious that your bigotry drives your petty sense of "big four" self worth, as well as your views of everyone from the Niger Delta and Warri in particular.

Eziachi:
As a player, not the umpire how did he know that it is only the NASS election that will have this problems of not only logistics, when CPC are now coming out with facts that their logo were missing in many states ballot papers. Has Jonathan seen the remainder of the ballot papers for the other elections to command such a statement?

Abeg, kill that CPC story!
I've never seen a party that preaches violence from one side of the mouth and plays the sobbing victim with the other. They are not the only party affected, it is across the board.

The statement is even more ridiculous when you consider that the reason for the postponement is shortage of documents due to logistics problems. Why is no other party crying wolf? Are they the only ones whose documents were affected?

They had very likely wanted to rig and need more time to regroup now.

[size=14pt]I’m the most popular candidate – Okotie[/size]

[img]http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Thumbnailer.aspx?image=\\fsvs02\target02\347050\www.inlng.com\web\content\\\DailyIndependent\resources\images\Politics 030411 .jpg&width=380&height=230&suffix=_thumb[/img]

Chris Okotie, presidential candidate of FRESH Democratic Party, believes that none of the candidates contesting election in Nigeria today is more popular than him. While saying the competence of the electoral umpire in Nigeria is excellent, he doubts the conduct of credible elections in the country. In this interview with Senior Correspondent, MARK MAYAH, he asserts that PDP has frustrated the Nigerian people for over a decade by its draconian leadership, hence change has become inevitable. Excerpts…

. . .

How popular is FRESH Democratic Party?

The party may not be as large as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the truth is that people are not going to vote for political parties this time around; they are coming to vote for candidates, individuals that they believe can run the affairs of this nation and protect their dreams and aspirations. It is true that the parties are saying vote this party and that party, but at the end of the day, the party is a faceless structure; it is the person who represents that party that Nigerians are going to listen to, and in this election, it will be based on personalities.

If you are talking of popularity, no person is popular than I am. That is the truth. So, my popularity in this nation precedes my political ambition. If it comes to standing shoulder to shoulder with the rest of them, I can assure you there will be none more popular than Okotie. It is that name and personality that Nigerians are going to vote for.

. . .

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=31479

mukina2:
if i needed your opinions i would have asked for it, do not start trouble in here

thanks

Abeg, leave dat side jare! I've long since forgotten our necessary battle.
I'm sure somewhere behind your steel facade lies a real babe, let her out a bit.

Aigbofa:
You are trying to throw Jega under the bus? No way! It is GEJ's head on the chopping block.

Come on dude, you are much smarter than that!

[quote author=fried-rice link=topic=637305.msg8039309#msg8039309 date=1301764753]The federal govt.  said the problem was caused by the Tsunami in Japan


http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2011/04/02/nigeria%E2%80%99s-non-vote-incompetence-or-sabotage/[/quote]You are lying!

The article does not even mention, "Federal Government" at all, it only mentions the Indepent Electoral Commission.

The failure is of a proportion that is difficult to comprehend. Jega had better give us more detail on how we got to where we are.

monkeyleg:
@Beaf,

Once again you are being turn apart on your own post. When the comments become too hot for you to handle, you either start a new thread, start insults or change your username. Shame we have not seen Mary_j_Blige for a very long time. Nice one.
You are busy creating senseless threads rather than debate the big failure of the day, I am sure you will some find a way to blame this on BB

Dude, abeg fly away! This is an anti-dunce thread.