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North’s governors in push for Senate presidency
By Yusuf Alli, Abuja 15 hours 19 minutes ago
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•Dr Jonathan •Dr Jonathan

Barely three weeks to the convening of the seventh National Assembly, Northern governors and leaders are mounting pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to concede the Senate Presidency to the core North.

Besides, the Northern leaders are pleading for general amnesty for post-election violence suspects.

Some Northern governors and leaders have been in Abuja for five days, holding meetings to push their desire to have the Senate Presidency going to the core North.

One of such meetings was held in Abuja on Wednesday night with some new senators-elect in attendance.

The President, who returned yesterday to Abuja after a retreat in the Obudu Cattle Ranch, got representatives from the governors and leaders on why the Senate presidency should go to the core North, especially the Northeast.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: "These Northern governors and leaders are saying that for the sake of peace and unity of the country, the core North should be allowed to produce the Senate President to heal the wounds which led to the post-election violence.

"They claimed that the pattern of voting during the last presidential election amounted to a return to the era of Northern and Southern protectorates, which may not augur well for the unity of the country.

"The leaders are advocating a reconciliation and reunification of the core North with the rest of the country. There is a sense of loss and betrayal in the far North. Many people in both the Northwest and Northeast are not happy that the President is coming from another zone, despite the agreement by the PDP in 2002 that the North will produce the president in 2007 and 2011.

"The governors are also insisting on general amnesty for all the suspects arrested during the post-election violence as part of the reconciliation.

"They are mounting pressure on Jonathan to prevail on other geopolitical zones to sacrifice for the nation by

conceding the Senate presidency to the core North, with the Northeast as the main beneficiary.

"They alleged that by the power sharing agreement of 2002, the presidency ought to have shifted to the Northeast in 2007 instead of the Northwest, which produced the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

"The feeling in the far North is that if the country could zone the presidency to the Southwest in 1999 to pacify the zone for not allowing the late Chief MKO Abiola to assume office, having won the 1993 presidential election, the far North, should, in like manner, be pacified for losing the presidency to the Southsouth.

"So, the anger of the people of the Northeast borders on the fact that they have been neglected over the years."

A Northern politician and respected figure, who asked not to be named, said: "What we are after is how the grievances of the core North will be assuaged so that we can all come together again. It will be foolish to pretend that all is well between Jonathan and the core North, at present.

"The core North, the Northeast in particular, is not so desperate, but we are just looking at the larger picture of creating a sense of belonging for all geopolitical zones.

"At the end of the day, whatever is the power sharing formula agreed upon by the President and the PDP leadership will be binding.

"We should be ready to sacrifice our ambitions in the larger interest of the nation the way everybody did in 1999 and 2003. No matter what the President might have promised anybody before the elections, the times call for sacrifice in the interest of peace."

Even as the Northeast is pushing for the seat, incumbent David Mark is said to be giving no room for others interested in the job. A source said the President may favour Mark’s retention – in line with what an administration’s top notch called "ongoing seamless working relationship" with the National Assembly.

It was also gathered that Mark’s retention may be in line with a "gentleman’s" agreement he reached with the principal officers of the National Assembly.

A Presidency official said: "For now, the situation is fluid. The President needs a lot of tact to prevent incoming National Assembly members from opposing the party in the election of principal officers of the Assembly."

In the view of a PDP national official, "the President may have influence over some returnee members, but it is doubtful if those elected for the first time will listen to him.

"He also has the opposition parties to contend with. In the current Assembly, opposition parties have no influence, but in the incoming Assembly it will be a different ball game."

The existing structure is as follows: President (Southsouth); Vice-President (Northwest); Senate President (Northcentral); Deputy Senate President (Southeast); Speaker (Southwest); Deputy Speaker (Northeast); SGF (Northeast) and Head of Service (Southwest).

I sat beside my wife in Dec., 2010 and by April, 2011 her formerly fat stomach is now protrude, yet people can hardly see the connection between what happen in Dec., 2010 and April, 2011. Besides, the rampaging Ohakim and Imo State House of Assembly were condemned by some section of the press just three weeks ago for calling for the head of the Minister.

By Graham Wood

ATHENS, April 18 (Reuters) - Skoda Xanthi’s Nigerian international Olubayo Adefemi has died in a car accident, Greek police said on Monday.

The 25-year-old defender lost control of his car on the Egnatia motorway while driving from Xanthi to Salonika in the Kavala region of Northern Greece.

The former Rapid Bucharest player was on his way to finalise details of his wedding when the accident happened, police said.

Adefemi signed for Xanthi last summer and made 24 appearances for the club, scoring twice. He has also played three times for Nigeria.

“The Super League and the entire Greek football family would like to express its deepest condolences and sympathy for the family of Olubayo Adefemi who died tragically in a car accident,” league organisers said in a statement on Monday.

With defections and cross carpeting, this may end up being a Pyrrhic victory for the minority parties. We have all seen cases where people cross to other parties to contest elections only to go back to PDP once they have been elected. Chukwumerije is a case in poin

Add Imo State Governor to your list. . .

I can't begin to imagine INEC blaming corp members for its own inefficiency.Some of those corpers were not interested in taking part in the registration exercise in the first place & did not even show up for the training yet INEC recruited them.

As a corp member myself, going all the way from Lagos to Epe for 3 days to attend the training exercise, already set to go to Epe for the 2 weeks, only get to INEC office at ikoyi on friday and saw that my name was not on the list & seeing names of some my fellow corp members who didn't even do the training on the list, i now begin to question myself if  this same INEC that cannot conduct fairly an ordinary recruitment exercise that wants to conduct a free and fair election.

I want to believe that operating the machine could be a bit difficult for the untrained corpers in the first few days but i expect that as time goes on, they would catch up.

INEC has played the sound of a poorly planned & disorganized recruitment of its adhoc staff, so it should as well dance to the music.

it depends on hw u define maths, & i know 2 categories. (1) d ability to process numbers, & (2) d ability to analyse an situation(might b slow wit numbers).

some ppl have d capability to process numbers, without necessarily having an analytical\logical mind(they have a spongy mind instead), yet they get d best results in math exams. all they need is b taught a topic, they assimilate easily, & breeze thru d exams in good time because exams r based on wat u r taught. but i don't think these r d real mathematicians. given an unfamiliar territory would get lost in a jiffy.

then there r ppl wit analytical\logical minds. they might not follow or keep up wit taught academic trends, & thus may not have d best results. but give them real world problems like u don't see in classrooms, & they'd knock em out like mike tyson in his hay days. Now these r my mathematicians.

So in ans 2 d question: u need to b good in maths 2 b a good programmer, but u don't need to hold d best test results in maths.

btw: one category of ppl i think will make good programmers if only they'd develop an interest, r sound & real world smart lawyers(not just certificate lawyers). if only he can translate his legal mind to numbers, he'd b on heck of a programmer.

They will know and understand; The Lord will not allow the wicked to go
unpunished. Nahum 1:3. As the the thief is bought to shame when he is caught so
shall they be bought to shame. Jer. 2:26. Woe to those who become rich by evil
means. He will not allow the wicked mans riches to continue. The Lord is known
by the judgement He executes, He is famous for the way he punishes the wicked.