₦airaland Forum

Northern govs in Jonathan’s camp are deceiving him –Shehu Sani
by AZA MSUE on Sep 15, 2013

Mallam Shehu Sani is the president, Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria (CRCN) and a governorship aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC. Sani’s activism earned him a death sentence during the late General Sani Abacha’s regime. He was incarcerated at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison with the late Shehu Yar’Adua, MKO Abiola and former president Olusegun Obasanjo. In this interview with Aza Msue, he said that the northern governors in the President’s camp will disappoint him adding that Jonathan has appeased the North more than his South-South kinsmen, among other issues. Excerpts


What is your view on the threat by ex-militants regarding Jonathan’s election in 2015?

The Niger Delta militants do not represent the interest and views of the people of the South-South. They represent their own personal interest, greed, want and extortionist ideology. They are neither freedom fighters nor are they fighting for the rights of the people of Niger Delta; they are capitalising on their greed and exploiting the plights of their own people. There is nowhere in any part of the world where a woman or man that claims to be fighting for the right of the people will also be making some personal claims. The militants are part of the Niger Delta bourgeoisie (rich class). They have become an arm of the rich class in the Niger Delta. They claim to be fighting for the right of the people while at the same time making personal claims and insisting that they should be paid and rewarded. The amnesty programme that entails billions of taxpayers’ money being paid to ex-militants clearly denotes that the struggle which they have been waging is simply about being compensated.

We fought and went to prison for democracy, we made sacrifices in this country and mobilised against military rule. Some were killed, others were pushed into exile. I spent so many years fighting to bring an end to military rule and restore our country. If someone like me is not asking to be compensated for what we have done because we see it as a call to service and a call to our conscience, there is no reason why an ex-militant should simply demand compensation.

Their defence of Jonathan is because they know that without him they will be an end to their extortion. Their so-called emoluments, contracts and massive amount of money that is unnecessarily pumped to them, their lives and Jonathan’s are tied together because they see him as somebody who represent their own personal interest, and not that of the Niger Delta. As Nigerians, they have the right to support Jonathan but they have no right to threaten anybody who does not want to support Jonathan. Jonathan is one of the most incompetent presidents we have ever had in the history of Nigeria; his government and style have been dividing more Nigerians than uniting them, and he has unleashed a regime that has impoverished Nigerians and dislocated the economy. Corruption is pervasive and Nigerians have lost hope and even members of his own class have decided to revolt against him, which clearly testifies that he is a president that has failed. As such the Niger Delta militants should know that what is good for them is not good for Nigeria and is not even good for the people of Niger Delta.


How would you describe threats from terrorists and considering the United States’ prediction that Nigeria would break up in 2015?

Nigeria will not break up in 2015. There will be Nigeria and we have surmounted problems as a country. We have overcome the period of post-independent military rule, civil war, ethno-religious crisis, ethnic militia and we are now enduring the insurgency that is going on in some parts of the North. Nigeria has passed through a series of political trials, crises, challenges and has emerged from such. I have no doubt that the country will overcome all this. The threat from militants of the Niger Delta are even alienating those who are supporting President Goodluck Jonathan because he cannot win election by himself.

Going by the present calculations, what Jonathan and the militants should do is to try and win back their friends and not try to alienate and threaten them. You have 11 APC states that are opposing Jonathan and you have seven PDP governors that are also opposing him. It is wishful thinking for somebody to say states like Katsina, Gombe, Kaduna, Bauchi and Kebbi are for Jonathan simply because their governors are for Jonathan. They are never for Jonathan. Those that will end up voting Jonathan are those from the South-South who will like to go with someone who has come from their area and some part of the East who have perhaps refused to join and see vision with the APC. Apart from that, I do not see anywhere even in the Middle Belt (only Benue and Plateau that are saying that they are from Middle Belt), even at that you can see voices of some of their leaders regretting voting for Jonathan because they have not seen meaningful transformation from him.

Oil thieves have hijacked political power - NNPC raises alarm •Says Nigeria loses 180,000 crude oil barrels to oil thieves daily



CRIMINALS and crude oil thieves have taken over the oil fields in the Niger Delta and have used the proceeds of oil theft to hijack political power in Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), raised the alarm on Thursday.

The Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparent Initiative (NEITI), Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had earlier lamented the activities of the crude oil thieves in the creeks of Niger Delta, whose activities she said had denied Nigeria a whopping sum of $4.6 million in just two years.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Austin Oniwon, lamented the increasing wave of criminal activities in the Niger Delta, which he said was causing Nigeria to lose an estimated 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Ghana, he noted, required only 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily to survive, expressing dismay that the rate at which criminals were prospecting for crude oil illegally in the country had reached an alarming level.

Oniwon said the miscreants behind illegal oil bunkering in the zone had sponsored the election of local government chairmen and now have the capacity to sponsor and produce more state governors, adding that they even have the potential to fund the emergence of a Nigerian president in the future.

He dropped the hints when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), paid him a courtesy visit, as part of their oversight function, as he urged the lawmakers to enact legislation aimed at arresting the increasing wave of oil theft in Nigeria.

He said it was regrettable to note that criminals had taken over the most part of Niger Delta...” They have amassed so much wealth that they are beginning to look for political power. They have been sponsoring local government chairmen. The chairmen have also been sponsoring governors. And these people, if not checked in time, will one day produce the president of Nigeria.”


He said such a situation had occurred in countries like Colombia and Mexico where criminals dealing in drugs sponsored the presidents of the countries as a means of promoting their illegal trades.

Oniwon said Nigeria should waste no time in combating the nefarious activities of the oil thieves against the implication of its neighbours like Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, which are now producing oil in commercial quantities, a development which may cripple the economy of Nigeria, anchored mainly on oil.

The NNPC boss urged the National Assembly not to delay in passing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which, he noted, was capable of curbing irregularities in the Nigerian oil sector, adding that the bill, if eventually passed into law had the capacity to promote the emergence of a strong national oil company.

The House Committee Chairman on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Honourable Ajibola Muraina, who led members to the NNPC Towers, Abuja, equally lamented the growing capacity of crude oil thieves, as he urged the government of Nigeria to devise stringent means of preventing criminals from prospecting Nigeria’s crude oil illegally.

Muraina said the House of Representatives would work harmoniously with NNPC in sanitising the oil industry, even as he urged the corporation to, henceforth, begin to implement most of the recommendations by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the means of maintaining sanity in the Nigerian oil sector.

banki: @solomon111 nasarawa under apc is better than pdp under abdulahi adamu and akwe doma,and labaran maku! I pray solomon ewuga becomes governor because I believe he is a better candidate

The pdp ruled the state for over 12years sold off everything like keffi hotel to abulahi adamu and labaran maku...tUrned the state into debt and you are here asking people to continue to suffer

Apc fielding keyamo in delta is just the begining I urge them to fill nigeria with proven technocrats and proven politicans not people that have phds that no one has ever seen their thesis not people that cannot transform bayelsa to dubai in 14years of democray with all the gas and oil

Not people who are struggling to fix locomotive trains when the world has moved on to fast trains and call that super achievment,not people who remodel airports and expect a heros part in the back,yet none of the airport is of international standard yet we borrow money to expand and build the same airport
Not a government that loves luxury and promotes theft publicly and encourages looting please whose job is it to ensure that people don't make fruadulent claims from subsidy? Pdp is sick and anyone that promotes them is an enemy of nigeria correct me if I am wrong

atlwireles: Keyamo chances in delta central is zero. No amount of noise will change this fact. look at the people he is up against..... This is an election between PDP and DPP take it or leave it.

kokoA: Think aloud... Only easterners see APC as a yoruba party.. I've not heard any deltan saying "Keyamo is good, but I will not vote foa a yoruba party"..

skyfall: Even if Mother Theresa comes out to contest the seat, some goats will still continue to spew their usual rubbish.

To them I say... if Keyamo is not good enough, tell your father to go and contest or shut up forever.

Are you kidding me? Those 3 are very much important FYI. It seems you don't understand democracy is also all about NUMBERS which are important here.
APC e-gladiator, shift abeg, why would people leave your party if it is not a failure?
Shift, it is all about time and this silly marriage that resulted to birth of APC will break up.

Rad1cal: Rantings of a cry baby, is this your new futile method of explaining why you chose to sediment your hypocrisy here.

Am different from the OP for the records , am just shocked a vile GEJ hater is seeking to deny us of our valid rights to hate and diss Tinubu .

You don't deserve to use the word balanced people cos hypocrisy has never been known to be a balanced trait worldwide.

Rad1cal: I noticed you attacked the OP instead of discussing issues,but you did be the first one to scream blue murder when you suffer same fate.

You haven't repented from your hypocritical ways . So sad.

Just as several rebuttals by Ayo Osinlu, Okupe et al confirmed Patience Jonathan to be in good health when she was rumored to have gone to Germany for surgery.

Why not reproduce the rebuttal and allow the mods to do the needed to balance both side of the story instead of foaming at the mouth is unnecessarily ?

The news is from an American-based online magazine, not the OP. If you must know, I did not miss the rebuttal, and I wasn't expecting anything less from Ajomale, only surprised it was not Sunday Dare, Chief Press Secretary to Tinubu that released the rebuttal ...

delvinmaya: @gbawe, really i had a tirade planned for ikenga(who), but reading your post, i realized that you are right. thank you for sparing me the agony of typing a reply, as for @sincere9jerian, really disappointed. goes to show your objectivity is used only when it pays you, cos i just had a change of mind about you. for ikenga(who), get a life,you brain shriveled muppet

kaorama: These people and their tribalism! See how his kinsmen are refusing to accept the story, but if it was about GEJ or his wife, they would have been wishing them death. And I wonder why saharareporters has not carried the news. Nonsense.

emk4lif: Keyamo is obviously the best candidate but he has no chance at winning, I am from delta state and I can tell you it is a straight battle between ighoyota amori of PDP and ede dafinone of DPP, keyamo would end up a distant third, that's the sad reality of politics in the niger delta

Femolacaster: .
Gbawe! I always like your posts.

Ikengawo: The ignorance on this thread is record breaking



Igbos are ambitious, nobody will take that from them but it's almost impossible to convince them what they own is better than what they can possiby own or have and that's what leads to their desperate nature.

Yorubas are fearful, nobody will take that from them either. A yoruba person is not going to risk what he has, even if it's very little, no matter the reward and don't typically think outside of what's theres. Many yorubas don't know there was a civil war in Nigeria.

Dude, you are a loser. Pure and simple. So Igbos are "ambitious supermen" while Yorubas are "unambitious and fearful" individuals with no ability? You are just another indoctrinated cretin and loser who can only relate to life thinking he is some 'superman' , with all the good qualities man can be endowed with, while others are 'mumus' he can ascribe all manners of inferior/bad qualities to. The sad thing is that reality never bears out the lies you devilishly dishonest people tell to put down the Yorubas and exalt yourself.

What is happening in Ghana right now is virtually what we have in Lagos and elsewhere. See the article below and explain to the forum why a "fearful" people with "no ambition" go all the way to Ghana to be good role models beneficial to society and captains of organised business. You should give a good explanation for what we read below or stand discredited forever.

Yet, I can predict you and your idiotic co-travellers, always into mindless character assassination against the Yorubas, will have nothing logical, scientific or fact-based to contribute because you have been indoctrinated to the extent your own mindset revolves around the concept you own everything merely because of how you are more committed to market/sole trading than others. You better raise your own children differently to respect others because I find it disgusting how people like you swallow lies about others and then live your lives telling those lies to yourself and others. You will always make enemies of everyone, even very liberal and open-minded folks who defend the rights of everyone, doing such and box yourself into an isolated corner of revilement.

It is as if you cannot take in oxygen if you do not put down others with lies while ascribing ludicrously flattering supremacist qualities to yourselves no one can establish with cold facts and in relation to on-ground reality. I know Ghana as well as any Nigerian can. What is written below is virtually the same in other sectors whether property development or franchised restaurant chains. The Yorubas, far from being "fearful" as you claim, are always present in organised, big, formal business because they are good managers of men and materials with a tolerant and inclusive 'live and let live' fairness.

You are simply another empty braggart with a petty-trader mentality. If you do not see Yorubas in Makola and Kaneshie Market tussling with Ghanaians for stalls, it does not mean Yorubas are "fearful" or that you are fearless supermen "owners of Ghana" because of petty trading alone. It simply means we have different focus and business interest. Fools like you should learn to note the difference so you can better your lives instead of going around lying you are better than others when the world sees you have so many deficiencies and are not special at all plus no different to an empty braggart loser overcompensating for failure.

While you do your 'homework' call our Ghanaians brethren in to ask them which is more beneficial to them between , for example, tax-paying Chicken republic with the average branch employing up to 30 Ghanaians working shift and a Makola Nigerian sole-trader who operates at an end where Ghanaians are squeezed out with the Government also not benefiting in the way of taxes, increased employment for Ghanaians etc. Go and learn why Ghana wants incoming businesses to employ a minimum number of Ghanaians to note what is appreciated in organised society instead of talking like a bushman who thinks petty/market/sole trading is everything everyone and every corner of the world must be judged by.

stanbiggi: When u are critic of the govt in power they have away of messing u up. By putting u in the platform to dine and wine and see what they see. Now he is anointed let see his transformation if he gets there watch..... I am laughing

omiobo: keyamo all the way!
Ngige all the way!

Friday, September 13, 2013
Keyamo emerges consensus senatorial candidate


THE battle over who picks the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta Central Senatorial re-run appears settled as the three legacy parties which came together to form the new party adopted human rights lawyer Festus Keyamo as their consensus candidate.


They are Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).


According to a statement, the chairmen, elected officers and leaders of the legacy parties from the eight local governments that make up the Delta Central Senatorial District made this known in a statement issued after several hours of meeting in Effurun on Wednesday.


Reading the statement to newsmen and party faithful, APC leader in Ethiope West LGA, Chief (Capt.) Victor. A. Sota, representing the legacy parties, noted that as owners of the party, their decision to adopt Keyamo as a consensus candidate is binding on all and sundry of the legacy parties in Delta Central.


Prominent among signatories to the statement are ACN Chairman, Delta Central, Mr. Solomon Oyen, Delta Central ANPP Chairman, Chief S.I Savbede, ACN State Legal Adviser, Chief Hero Onwirhiran, CPC Deputy State Chairman, Mr. Igini Aghogho, CPC State Publicity Secretary, Sir. Raphael Tobore Ogene and ANPP State Welfare head, Joseph Akpotihiwe.

Revolution has started in Nigeria –Fayemi

From Charles Adegbite, Ado-Ekiti


Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi said on Friday that revolution has started in Nigeria now and it will continue until the needed total change, which Nigerians have been yearning for comes fully.

Speaking at the official launch of the All Progressive Change (APC) in Ekiti State at Oluyemi Kayode Stadium, Ado-Ekiti, Fayemi said the APC is no longer the opposition party but the alternative government, which the nation wants at the centre.

The governor said the FG is now the opposition part, which has been trying to remove an elected government at state level.

“You can see what they have done in Rivers State, trying to remove a democratically elected government there,” he said.

He added that change has started in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Edo, Imo, Zanfara, Yobe, and Borno states, pointing out that very soon, it will spread across Nigeria.

“Our party, APC is the alternative party and if you go to Lagos,Ogun and all these 11 states where APC is fully in control, you will see these positive changes we have been talking about.

Earlier, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who spoke before him, had said “change is the main thing Nigerians are asking for now. APC is that change, which they are seriously yearning for. The nation cannot continue like this, there must be a change.”

The epoch making event was attended by the chairmen of the three defunct parties that formed the APC in Ekiti: Chief Jide Awe of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Azeez Awolokun of All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) and their Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) counterpart Mr Babatunde Ajayi.

Awolokun said what every APC members should be doing now “is bringing people in because a lot of people in the opposition are looking for how they can join this new party, APC. Let’s go and be fishing for these people.

The then chairman of ACN, Chief Jide Awe noted that APC is the only party that can transform Nigeria and that with the performance of Fayemi in Ekiti, it is certain that he will get the APC ticket for 2014 election.

Spray: my oga @ d top,, nyako does nt hav any dispute with jonathan, but tukur, remember, tukur is frm adamawa, b4 i 4got, my oga @ d top re u realy frm dis country? Sometin tellz me u re frm congo!!!

beeman80: This is obviously a PDP led and sponsored paper.It's very obvious that PDP is loosing out and consequently running out of ideas.This in-idealistic approach spews of disgust.PDP you guys should go and resolve your internal issues and stop wasting tax payers money on a 5th rated magazine (never seen it before anyway).

Tinubu Hale And Hearty —Ajomale

Published on September 11, 2013 by · 16 Comments

Contrary to speculations circulating on the social media that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, the party’s interim chairman in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, Chief Henry Oladele Ajomale, said Tinubu is hale and hearty.

Ajomale, in a chat with P.M.NEWS, debunked the allegation and described it as a figment of the imagination of the party leader’s detractors.
He confirmed that Tinubu had undergone a surgery for an accident he suffered on his knee cap, but stated that he is recuperating in London.

“I wonder where those who started the speculation got their information from. There is nothing further from the truth, because the Asiwaju I met and discussed with last week in London was as fit as fiddle.

“In fact, he was upbeat while our discussion on political happenings and the way forward in our country lasted. Besides, he has been in regular contact with his associates and followers back home and all other parts of the world,” Ajomale stated.
Ajomale added that it had become imperative to allay the fears of the members of public as well as their party following the unfounded rumour surrounding his health status.

An American-based online magazine, Paparazzi, recently on the social media alleged that Tinubu was down with the Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that is characterised my muscle tremor.
The news, which went viral, has been retailed on other social media platforms, like twitter and facebook, therefore eliciting panic among the teeming supporters of the former Lagos State governor and a man who has come to be known as the leading light of political opposition in Nigeria.

taharqa: lol...words don fail d 'Great' Apostle @Gbawe?? I thought you were saying that GEJ only 'deals' with Southerners, and has not 'touched' Northerners. Abeg, continue in that line of thought; am all Ears, Master Chief @Gbawe...

Omen100: Abati, Okupe & the lap-fowl crew over to U guys, Gov. Lamido just kicked president jonathan in balls

taharqa: Oh! SHUT it, Clown. Nyako, Gov of Adamawa, has since been rendered Politically USELESS even more than Ameachi. He controls almost no political structure in Adamawa, and even lost a State House of Assembly Election a few months ago in his own Local Govt. Most of d Ministers and officials GEJ have sacked are Northerners. When d time comes to deal with Lamido and his Co-travellers, they wud be dealt with; and then you LOSERS can do what you are used to doing: whine, cry, shout meaninglessly on d pages of Newspapers and online on NL, etc...

Lagos today, is a very vibrant city-state with over 17million people. New York is a city of 10million people with a budget of 132.6 billion USD for 2012. Sao paulo is the financial and commercial capital of Brazil just like Lagos. Its budget averages 20 billion USD since 2005 with about 10 million people. The city of frankfurt is the financial center of Germany. It has the same GDP of 81 billion USD with Lagos. Its annual budget is over 40 billion USD. In Africa, johannesburg has a population of about 5million with over 6billion USD budget in 2012 among several well articulated aids from the central goverment being the formal capital. Lagos with a population of 17 million people (the 6th largest in the world), with no federal aid as the formal capital, has a budget of 3 billion USD in 2013. It takes a seldom ingenuity to run such an economy. Recently, Lagos emerged as the only city that is simultaneously implementing 5 major world class transport infrastructure.These are ikorodu- mile 12 expansion to 8lanes with a BRT in the median, lekki-epe 8lane expansion, lagos-badagry 10lanes expansion, 27km light rail with 13 world class train terminal and the mile 2, badore and osborn jetty.
There is no gainsaying, the PDP and its co-travellers along its intellectually effete president, see fashola's performance and the propensity of his emergence as the opposition presidential candidate as a threat. Hence, the unnecessary vituperation by the blabber mouth to commonize is achievement as nothing worthy of note.
I urge the PDP spokesman to look into his own eyes and remove the speck before that of another.
Else, we say anathema maranatha.

eGuerrilla: ^^^I see where the problem lies alright.
This INEC chairman may not be amenable to the political inequalities which results in losers being declared outright winners by fiat

2015: I’m used to going to jail – Gov. Lamido




JIgawa state governor, Sule Lamido has vowed to continue his crusade against injustice, rule of law and fairness for Nigerian masses, saying even if he goes to jail after he complete his tenure of office on May 2015 he will not regret.
‘I am not bothered about sacking of ministers by president Jonathan, even if they use EFCC or other agency fighting corruption to arrest me after the end of my tenure on May 29,2015, I will not be perturbed because I am used to going to jail,’ Lamido pointed out.

The governor stated this Wednesday evening when he received members of the PDP Justice team under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje from the 34 local government areas of Katsina state at the government House Dutse, said he was not even keen about contesting for presidential position in 2015 .

Governor Lamido who lamented that poverty, and lack of good political policies are the major challenges facing the nation’s political system, said only justice and respect for the rule of law could change the situation.
Said he; ‘I have always said PDP is the symbol of Nigerian politics, members need to adhered to the manifesto of its founding fathers which is justice, fairness, equity, transparency, rule of and law’.
Governor Lamido further stressed that PDP as a party was built on the ideology of some Nigerian’s who want the progress of the country, adding that it is wrong for few individuals to think that they can hijack the nations politics for personal enterprise.

APC Registration: Jonathan Launches Secret Probe on INEC Chairman, Prof Jega
By 247ureports


Information available to 247ureports.com obtained from sources within the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] in Abuja indicates that the presidency has lost confidence where the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega is concerned. According to one of the principal officers at the Commission, the presidency has lost faith that the Chairman would work with the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] to ensure it retains the presidency post-2015 elections. Against this backdrop, the President has launched a veiled campaign to tarnish the credibility of the INEC Chairman. The President has since launched an exhaustive open ended probe on the activities of the INEC Chairman – dating from his first day in office till date.

President Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan is no longer comfortable with Prof Attahiru Jega.

Particularly, it was gathered that following the submittal of registration application by the merger group comprising of the Acton Congress of Nigeria [ACN], Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] and All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP], the presidency expected for the INEC, particularly, the Chairman of the Commission to frustrate the effort – and thus halt the formation till after the presidential election of 2015.

But instead, security reports available to the presidency revealed that not only did the Chairman not play ball towards frustrating the exercise, the Chairman actually aided the group in accelerating the registration process. Specifically, when the merger group would make submissions to the INEC – and an error is sighted in the submissions, the INEC Chairman was said to point the group in the right direction – and ask to redo the document and resubmit.

On one instant, the merger group had submitted nine [9] names to the INEC to represent the interim executive of the All Progressive Congress [APC] – three [3] executives were drawn from each of the three merging parties. The submittal was part of the requirements. However, when the INEC Chairman observed that nine names were submitted – he alerted the merger group that the submission was wrong. He impressed on the group that they needed a complete interim executive cabinet – not just nine. He also told them that the completed cabinet will be made to serve a minimum of 6 months. With this, the group reworked their submission and resubmitted their documents.

In all the security report available to the President revealed conclusively that the merger group was able to scale over the hurdle through the assistance of the INEC Chairman – to secure registration as a political party – and thus the birth of the major opposition party.

Adding to President Jonathan’s anxieties are other more pointed actions undertaken by the INEC Chairman indicative of the INEC posture towards the upcoming elections of 2013 and 2015. Available information reveals that the INEC Chairman had performed an in-house intelligence audit of the leakages and weak-links [staff members] utilized by politicians to rig both local and federal elections. Following the conclusion of the exercise, the Chairman was reported to have conducted a mass redistribution of duties and assignments.

The Chairman’s redistribution exercise served an opportunity for the Chairman to remove “historic riggers” retained from during the Obasanjo/Maurice Iwu era away from sensitive positions/offices such as Director of Operations to lesser sensitive offices such Voter Education. The rearrangement was carried out broadly across the INEC – known persons and directors who have been pointed as aiding the practice election rigging in the past was removed and placed in more handicapped positions.

Some within the presidency point to Prof Jega’s actions as indirectly aimed at undermining the PDP’s ability to win the coming elections in 2015. So much so that the presidency is reported to have ‘planted’ workers in the capacity of ‘secretaries’ to monitor the activities of the Chairman and his colleagues. The planted employees at the INEC are said to be reporting back to the presidency on a periodic basis concerning the goings on at the INEC.

On the first level, according to a familiar source inside the INEC, the Chairman, it appears may have become aware of the ongoing clandestine probe of his office by the presidency – and has since tightened up his operation. The Chairman has – in reaction – surrounded his operation with northern colleagues that “he can trust” – and has distanced non-northerner away from his operations/activities. According to the source, the Chairman has gone the extent of to ‘cash-starve’ departments that are supposedly not headed by northerners ‘he can trust’. 247ureports.com cannot conclusively verify the source’s claim.

Meanwhile, the President is reported to have received a 33-page document on the findings on Prof Attahiru Jega – compiled by the probe team put together by the presidency. The contents of the document is not known to 247ureports.com but it is expected to contain possible allegations of misuse of funds allocated to INEC during the preparations to the 2011 election – when biometric voter’s registration was re-introduced at the warping sum in excess of N96billion.

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In talking with some National executive members of the APC, they confirmed that the Chairman aided them to the correct path in ensuring their documents were properly filed. But they spoke off the record – adding that the Chairman did not help them illegally.

Efforts to reached INEC failed as nobody wanted to speak on the record.

Uyi Iredia: I must use this to recourse to the point some have made: Nigeria must become a true federation if she must progress. The State police is symptomatic of problems bedeviling other sectors of our nation. Curiously, I happen to gather the Supreme court ruled in favour of the LASG in regulating tourism, I can't recall details, but I hope that precedent cascades into other aspects so we can at least, see how well a quasi-federation goes till we achive a true one: it so happens I'm a strong federalist, I don't remember a time not being such.