₦airaland Forum

Guatemalan First Lady To Divorce Husband To Enable Her Succeed Him

25 March 2011 Last updated at 01:39 GMT
Guatemala first lady Sandra Torres confirms divorce  Ms Torres wants to be Guatemala's first woman president 

Guatemala's First Lady, Sandra Torres de Colom, has confirmed that she is divorcing president Alvaro Colom so she can stand for election to succeed him.

Ms Torres fought back tears as she told Guatemalans she was leaving a loving marriage for the sake of the nation.

"I am divorcing my husband but I am getting married to the people," she said at a news conference.

Guatemala's constitution bans close relatives of the president from standing to succeed him.

The main opposition candidate for September's presidential election - former Gen Otto Perez Molina - has called the first couple's divorce electoral fraud.

Ms Torres, 51, announced her candidacy for president for the governing party earlier this month.

Difficult decision

The news that she was seeking a divorce to overcome the constitutional block on her running for office emerged on Monday, but this is the first time she has publicly confirmed it.

She said the decision, which will force the first couple to live apart, was "very difficult".

"I am not going to be the first or the last woman who decides to get a divorce, but I am the only woman to get a divorce for her country," she said.
Ms Torres is Mr Colom's third wife and is already a divorcee. They have been married for eight years.

She has played a prominent role in Alvaro Colom's presidency, supervising the government's poverty relief programmes.

Critics have alleged that she wields even more power over her husband behind the scenes.
It is not clear if the constitutional ban on relatives of the president standing to succeed him includes ex-spouses.

The final say on whether Ms Torres can stand will rest with Guatemala's Constitutional Court.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12857325

Is President Obama the worst President in History?

By Ben Shapiro:
There are only two other true contenders for the title of “worst president in U.S. history”: Jimmy Carter and James Buchanan. Warren G. Harding’s tenure was corrupt but not disastrous, and Andrew Johnson’s presidency failed because of his Southern roots and wrongful adherence to extreme states rights concepts in the aftermath of the Civil War, not because his administration effectuated any grave damage to the nation. Only Buchanan matches the record of incompetence, failure and wrongheadedness pursued by Obama.

Take Jimmy Carter, for example. He was responsible for the fall of the Shah in Iran and the subsequent rise of the Ayatollahs. He emboldened the Soviets to invade Afghanistan. He oversaw the Three Mile Island incident and presided over a high unemployment rate of 7.1 percent and staggering inflation and interest rates, both of which topped 18 percent by early 1980. His presidency saw gas rationing and shortages, the surrender of the Panama Canal and the boycott of the 1980 Olympics. Pretty bad by any measure.

[b]During his entire first term, Carter’s record doesn’t touch the Obama administration’s record in its first year and a half. [/b]Obama already has tacitly OK’d the Iranian nuclear program and derided Israel’s nuclear program. He has allowed Iranian protestors to be slaughtered in the streets without so much as a peep for days on end. Obama has allowed the Russians to sponsor an uprising in Kyrgyzstan that resulted in the removal of a U.S. airbase. He has lent legitimacy to an Islamist Turkish government and sold American debt to a communist Chinese government that supports North Korea. He has presided over the largest oil spill in world history in the Gulf of Mexico and spent his efforts blaming everyone but himself.

Obama is poised to raise our taxes at the end of the year. He’s pushing for comprehensive “immigration reform” that will really act as an amnesty for illegal immigrants. He has denigrated Arizona before Mexico, bowed before the king of Saudi Arabia and the Chinese president and the Japanese emperor, hugged a Venezuelan quasi-dictator, and undermined a constitutional uprising in Honduras. He has pushed carbon taxes and gas taxes and estate taxes. He has propped up unfit mortgage borrowers and penalized those who pay their mortgage on time. He has bailed out his buddies in the banking industry and nationalized the auto and health industries for the benefit of his union friends.

Obama has insulted the Cambridge police and defended Muslim terrorists like Maj. Nidal Hassan. He has utilized advisers who are Marxists (former Green Jobs Czar Van Jones), anti-Semites (foreign policy adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, special adviser Samantha Power, National Security Adviser Adm. James Jones), racists (Attorney General Eric Holder), sycophantic pro-Islamists (Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan), kooks (Director of White House Office of Science and Technology John Holdren), perverts (Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings), and paid thugs (Rahm Emanuel).

[/b]When Obama took office, the national debt was just under $10 trillion. Now it is $12 trillion, and by 2015, it will be at least $19.6 trillion. Unemployment under Obama increased to 9.7 percent, up from 7.6 percent when Bush left office. The inflation rate has yet to explode, but most economists believe it will have to unless Obama drastically raises taxes, destroying the economy even further. [/b]

Carter can’t touch this guy.

As for Buchanan, the man was a symptom of his times—an active supporter of admitting Kansas to the Union as a slave state and of Chief Justice Roger Taney’s execrable opinion in Dred Scott. He was also responsible for a near-war in Utah against the Mormons, inflation of the currency, and the abominable state of the Union’s military position at the beginning of the Civil War.

It would be difficult for Obama to top this record of pure disgrace—after all, he doesn’t have to face down the internal specter of a looming war over a major moral issue like slavery, so his tenure can’t be as cataclysmically destructive. But like Buchanan, he’ll try to subvert American principles all the same.

In short, Obama may not be the worst president in American history. But he’s easily the worst American president in modern history—and we’ll have to reassess the case in two and a half years, because there’s no sign Obama will change his ways.

There is good news, though. All of America’s worst presidents served one term, and America recovered. That’s because if any of them had served a second, America could have been utterly decimated. Americans had better wake up and place Obama in his proper context by 2012, or it may be too late for recovery.

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/is-president-obama-the-worst-president-in-history/question-1081321/

George W. Bush (2001-2009) came to office through a Supreme Court decision following a contested plurality of 537 votes in Florida, and his defeat by over half a million votes in the popular election. Most Americans know how narrow the vote was in Florida, but not why.

Five months before the election, George Bush’s brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, had 57,700 people purged from the voter rolls—ostensibly for being convicted felons, who were not allowed by Florida law to vote. As it turns out, over 90% of the voters on the hit list were not felons at all. Some of their supposed felonies were actually dated in the future. It was an overwhelmingly Democratic list of voters—over half blacks and Hispanics. Had these citizens not been prevented from voting, Al Gore would have been elected President of the United States.³

With six years in public office as Governor of Texas, Bush was new to foreign affairs, as evidenced by an interview during the campaign in which he could not identify a number of leaders of major countries. But savvy political handler Karl Rove knew that Bush's surplus of style could make up for his deficit of substance with many American voters. Rove groomed Bush’s image as a Washington outsider (though a Yale-educated President's son), born again Christian and down home cowboy.

The cowboy image being used in the run for the White House required a "ranch," a la Reagan. In 1999, Bush purchased a property in Crawford, Texas. Although no actual ranching ever went on there, the President busied himself clearing brush and riding his mountain bike around the property. He liked his "ranch" so much that he spent a greater percentage of his time on vacation than any President in American history.4

But then, George W. Bush had many cares of the office to escape. While at the ranch on a six week vacation in August, 2001, he received a memo from Condoleeza Rice entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”

That's what happened a few weeks later on September 11 —apparently after no special effort by the White House to step up protection against the hijackings that were being predicted by intelligence reports. The White House vigorously fought creation of the 9-11 commission, with Bush and Cheney finally testifying together (try that at your local police station) and redacting multiple pages on Saudi involvement in the attack.

Four years later, also while on an extended vacation at the "ranch," Bush was briefed on the destruction about to be unleashed on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, including the likelihood that levies in New Orleans would be breached. The meeting was videotaped. Bush asked no questions. He then flew to California to raise money for Republican candidates.

Meanwhile, Bush's politically appointed director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, was unprepared to handle the disaster when the levies broke and New Orleans flooded—having managed only horse shows before getting the FEMA job. But he got on the job training, and the rest is history. Hurricane Katrina showed America the White House's incompetence in a new light, apart from its military adventures.

In between 9-11 and Katrina, Bush's "War on Terror" lost track of Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and turned its attention to invading Iraq. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was imperative, Bush said, because (a) he had weapons of mass destruction, (b) was linked to Al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the U.S. on 9/11, and (c) needed to be removed to make that country safe for democracy. All of the reasons given for the war were soon discredited by real events, but Bush dug America in for the long haul, saying that “future Presidents” would decide when we’d leave Iraq.

After all, there was much to be gained by staying. Halliburton, the firm formerly headed by Vice President D. Cheney, was one of the biggest beneficiaries, gaining multi-billion dollar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as America's ravaged gulf coast, by sealed, noncompetitive bids. In gratitude, in 2007 the company moved its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai, thereby avoiding U.S. taxes.

[/b]The Bush family was not left off the War on Terror's money train. Uncle "Bucky" earned millions in a war firm sale in 2006. [/b]

Other Bush scandals include: the secret meetings of Cheney’s “Energy Council,” followed by systematic weakening of America's environmental laws and staffing of the EPA and other agencies with industry insiders, the attempt to dismantle Social Security, the dumbing down of American education through No Child Left Behind, an inherited budget surplus turned into record deficit by waging two wars while cutting taxes--with the vast majority of benefits going to the super-rich, the torture of prisoners and loss of American goodwill overseas, the bullying of administration whistle blowers such as Joseph Wilson (whose wife was outted as a CIA agent), another tainted election in 2004, the arrest of White House appointees for assorted crimes, the mistreatment of returning war veterans at Walter Reed and other hospitals, and for a grand finale, a leading role in the collapse of the economy, brought to you by years of "regulation-lite."

With so much bad news for Americans to handle over eight years of corruption and incompetence, Karl Rove and other White House insiders liked to refer to favorable news events that helped people forget bad news as "page turners. " Now President Obama also wants America to turn the page and "look forward" rather than go after wrongdoers from the Bush administration, as if good government no longer required accountability. But those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Historians will likely judge the Bush scandals as far more extensive than any that disgraced Grant, Harding, Nixon, or any other American president, due to their sheer scale. He ranks 39th out of 43 presidents in the Siena Institute's survey of 238 presidential scholars released in July, 2010.
--Robert C. Keating, Editor

© 2010 Most Corrupt.com
http://www.mostcorrupt.com/Most-Corrupt-Administrations.html


First picture courtesy of Musiwa a.k.a. Becomerich

In the run up to the Nigerian general elections, one has been priviledged to read and hear all manners of stories about the candidates standing for the elections and their political parties.

Incumbents and their parties have been accused of massive corruption, incompetence and being clueless.
Those on the side of the incumbents have also thrown all manner of accusations against contenders for the elective posts.

The PDP government at the centre has been accused of "blowing" tax payers' money on a plan to provide steady and reliable power in the last 12 years with nothing to show for it. The party has been accused of massive corruption and insensitivity to the plight of the common man.

All the parties in control at one level or the other have been accused of election malpractices with the last general elections held in 2007 being described by international election observers as the worst they had ever seen anywhere in the world. Even the President who emerged from the process declared that the process had been "flawed."

Now, the questions is this “How do these allegations against the Nigerian political class stack up against their counterparts in some other parts of the world?”

roflmao

Why do I get this feeling that I am being stalked?

Agressive minority should not force their views and tastes on everyone !

Rorhymes:
Proactive people do not waste time on the problem. It really doesnt matter whose fault it is, what matters is that the problem is solved and it doesnt happen again.

In a good setup, you are free to fail ( ) because the fear of failure doesnt allow for progress. If anybody cannot criticise constructively and try to proffer solutions then there should be no point listening to such a person.

After all there is no country in the world that has erected a statue for a critic.

The key here is constructive criticism not critisicm based on ethnic, religious or other banal considerations!

Rorhymes:
In a good setup, you are free to fail ( ) because the fear of failure doesnt allow for progress. If anybody cannot criticise constructively and try to proffer solutions then there should be no point listening to such a person.

After all there is no country in the world that has erected a statue for a critic.

^^^

I second that!

I expect to see the colours on this map more evenly spread with less of the green (PDP) after these elections.

I hope that happens because it would be good for us.

The influence of PDP needs to be curtailed but I would not like to see the colours (parties) concentrating along ethnic lines.

That would be disastrous!

what happened to this thread?

At last, I have Mallam Shekarau's website address:

http://ibrahimshekarau.com/jm/

You might find this video of Prof. Wole Soyinka's visit to the governor interesting:

http://ibrahimshekarau.com/jm/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=67&func=showdown&id=22

I was surprised when I saw the visit on the news either last year or early this year.

Politics
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) has won all elections since the end of military rule in 1999. It won two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states last time. But having a southerner - President Goodluck Jonathan - as its candidate in the presidential elections may lose it some votes in the north.

Oil
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and among the biggest in the world but most of its people subsist on less than $2 a day. The oil is produced in the south-east and some militant groups there want to keep a greater share of the wealth which comes from under their feet. Attacks by militants on oil installations led to a sharp fall in Nigeria's output during the last decade. But in 2010, a government amnesty led thousands of fighters to lay down their weapons.

Do you agree with this analysis of the distribution of Nigeria in terms of population, health and wealth?

Ethicity
Nigeria's 160 million people are divided between numerous ethno-linguistic groups and also along religious lines. Broadly, the Hausa-Fulani people based in the north are mostly Muslims. The Yorubas of the south-west are divided between Muslims and Christians, while the Igbos of the south-east and neghbouring groups are mostly Christian or animist. The Middle Belt is home to hundreds of groups with different beliefs, and around Jos there are frequent clashes between Hausa-speaking Muslims and Christian members of the Berom community.

Health
Southern residents tend to have better access to healthcare, as reflected by the greater uptake of vaccines for polio, tuberculosis, tetanus and diphtheria. Some northern groups have in the past boycotted immunisation programmes, saying they are a Western plot to make Muslim women infertile. This led to a recurrence of polio, but the vaccinations have now resumed.

Literacy
Female literacy is seen as the key to raising living standards for the next generation. For example, a newborn child is far likelier to survive if its mother is well-educated. In Nigeria we see a stark contrast between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south. In some northern states less than 5% of women can read and write, whereas in some Igbo areas more than 90% are literate.


Wealth
Despite its vast resources, Nigeria ranks among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the UN. The poverty of the north is in stark contrast to the more developed south. The oil-rich south-eastern states complain that all the income flows up the pipeline to the capital Abuja and to Lagos, Nigeria's wealthiest state. But residents of Akwa Ibom and Delta states are still typically better-off than those living in the north.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12953393

Interesting read.

I however do not agree that Mallam Shekarau does not have a website.

I believe I came across one while looking for information on the candidates. I'll attempt to get the address.

Yes. I am sure he is hale and hearty.

Question is "where is he politically?"

Like I posited earlier, I hope some of our "popular" 2011 candidates will not go into political oblivion after the elections.

Jimi Agbaje

We are about a week to the gubernatorial elections and I can't help but cast my mind back to same period before the 2007 elections.

In Lagos, the major contenders included Babatunde Fashola (AC), Jimi Agbaje (DPA), Musiliu Obanikoro (PDP), Femi Pedro (LP) and Tokunbo Afikuyomi (ANPP).

Agbaje, Pedro and Afikuyomi had all attempted to get the AC ticket which was selectively given to Fashola leading to their exit from AC.

Afikuyomi stepped down for Fashola at the last minute.

Agabaje managed to come in third behind 'Koro in the race despite the fact that his picture did not feature on the ballot paper, an omission he contended worked against him in the elections and challenged in court.

Agbaje brought introduced such innovations as social media (youtube), text messaging and and e-mail to campaign in Lagos.

Inspired by the Web 2.0 campaign web sites launched by United States Presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama, he launched his own   (jimiagbaje.com, now rested) which allowed his supporters to create profiles, network, and create their own campaigns on-line.

His campaign had the pay-off: caring. thinking. working.   which reminds me of "Fashola is working, Lagos is working"

Agbaje took off from 'Idile,' a group of promising minds bubbling with innovative programmes. He had served as a treasurer of Afenifere, the umbrella Yoruba socio-political group. His activities earned him a cabinet position in the Tinubu administration after the 2003 general elections, but declined the offer, on the basis of principles.

Fast forward to 2011 and what do we have?

Babatunde Fashola (Incumbent and candidate of AC[N])
Musiliu Obanikoro (PDP, now Nigeria's High Commissioner to Ghana) 
Femi Pedro (Now in PDP, unsuccessful in attempt to contest 2011 elections for governor on the platform of PDP, lost to Ade Dosunmu)
Tokunbo Afikuyomi  (Now in ACN is a commissioner in the government of Fashola)

Now, where is Jimi Agbaje? Where is DPA?

One interesting thing about his campaign is that it was quite popular with professionals and youths including some Nairalanders who assumed that his "popularity"would get him the ticket to the office.

I hope the case of some candidates being bandied around on the web (including Nairaland) today would not be like that of Agbaje who I am still asking the questions about : Where is Jimi Agbaje?

Another interesting parallel I can draw with 2007 elections is the campaign of Agbaje and that of Bashorun J.K. Randle. Both of them are scions of the upper crust of Lagos society of "old". Old money, if you know what I mean. While Randle attended Kings College and would constantly remind you of that fact, Agbaje is a product of St. Gregory's Obalende. Seems to me that they both crave a return to the Lagos of old where everything worked. Agbaje fell to "new money" like I see Randle also doing now.

Before you chop my head off, I actually voted for Agbaje in 2007!

Where is Jimi Agbaje?

[size=24pt]So many posts on this thread?

No be April Fools Joke Seun dey pull?[/size]

Bakare said that he had earlier suggested the names of former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory , (FCT), Mallam Nazir el Rufai and former governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke, to run as president and vice- presidential candidates respectively. But he said Duke declined the offer immediately for some personal reasons.”

He continued: “We were now left with el Rufai who advised that we pick Nuhu Ribadu. I told him immediately that we rejected Nuhu Ribadu for reasons that were known to us at that point in time. You will be doing so many things and come to explain so many things. We decided to pair el-Rufai with Oby Ezekwesili. There are some things I know, that when the time permits, I will expose them.”

Bakare said that el-Rufai, however, declined to run because he would be seen as engaged in a contest with Ribadu.

The cleric said that he queried the presidential aspiration of Ribadu from the very beginning. Recalling a forum of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) in the United Kingdom where Ribadu announced interest in the president’s seat, Bakare said his reaction was one of bewilderment.

His words: ‘You want to rule Nigeria? Who will be your subjects?’ I asked him. And he drove me to my hotel room that day and we spent two hours in his car. I began to lay the things before him that were wrong.”

Apparently questioning Ribadu’s anti-graft credential, Bakare said: “And all this anti-corruption ‘Czar’? We have stories that we can tell, but we will keep quiet now until the appropriate time.”
http://www.compassnewspaper.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2148:pastor-adeboye-told-me-to-run-with-buhari&catid=308:headlines&Itemid=600

kcjazz:
At the last but one meeting, the running mates were required to be present so none would be a spoiler, was there to be a request that they reject their nomination for the common cause.  At this meeting, I would learn later, one of the running mates made comments about one of the presidential candidates and then solicited their stepping down after the meeting in a way that may have provoked that camp not to show up at the conclave.  With that, the process which is technically still alive fell on life support.

Kudos to Patito! Way to go!

I can guess who the running mate is (B) and who the presidential candidate is (R)!

The truth is gradually being revealed.

I can't wait till after the elections when the full story will be reavealed and then the scales will fall off the eyes of a lot of naive Nigerians.

Lagos, concessionaire kick-start Falomo ramp bridge project .

Wednesday, 30 March 2011 00:00 By Tosin Fodeke

OBLIGED to ease traffic congestion on the Victoria Island axis, Lagos State Government has formally kick-started the construction of a 115 metre on-ramp bridge, which would link Ozumba Mbadiwe road westbound to Falomo Bridge on Victoria Island.

The project is being handled by Lekki Concession Company (LCC).

Specifically, the ramp bridge upon completion would ease traffic at the Adeyemo Alakija intersection. It is packaged under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Lagos State Government and LCC.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who spoke at the official sod turning of the project, said that the bridge, which has backing of the Federal Government, attests to his administration’s promise of improving traffic management within various parts of the state.

The governor, who said the project is part of the ways to better the lot of Lagos residents, explained that the new ramp is also part of the deliverables of the Lekki- Eti-Osa- Epe road, which would help to decongest traffic, especially at the intersection between Ozumba Mbadiwe and Adeyemo Alakija Street on Victoria Island.

“The construction of this bridge, which is 12 metres wide and 115 metres long is another added advantage to the repaired road network to Lekki. Lagosians will not have to wait for ever to have the best and this is another sign to show the government’s commitment to help find solutions to the people’s problems,” Fashola stated.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, LCC, Opuiyo Oforiokuma, while fielding questions from the media, explained that the structure rests on a low abutment at the eastern end and links with Falomo Bridge on a joint, resulting in zero forces imposed on the existing bridge.

He said; “The Bridge is a landmark development in the quest for delivering better and world class infrastructure in Lagos. The up-date structure design makes use of a modern technology to reduce cost, improve traffic flow and ensure road safety for all road users.”

He added that the bridge would be furnished with streetlights, traffic lights, pedestrian walks, and road safety signs.

In order to curb anticipated complication in traffic management at the intersecting point between the two roads, the LCC boss explained that the team had already contacted relevant authorities about the envisaged problem.

According to Chief Technical Officer, Hitech, Mr. Ivan Bekker, “The designed bridge structure comprising of a inclined surface connecting two levels, is a post-tensioned continuous deck of approximately 115 metres in length, and sited on five piers, each resting on four piles.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43139:lagos-concessionaire-kick-start-falomo-ramp-bridge-project&catid=25:property&Itemid=655

Hard times for residents, motorists as Fashola’s contractor abandons Amuwo-Festac Link Road .

Monday, 28 March 2011 00:00 Joshua Bassey

For sometime now, motorists plying the Amuwo-Festac Access Link Road in Lagos have been subjected to hardship of no mean proportion following abandonment of the road’s reconstruction work by the Lagos State government and the contractor to which the project was awarded. Equally not spared from the ordeal are residents and businesses operating within this semi-urban settlement, which plays host to thousands of middle-income earners, whose votes Governor Babatunde Fashola would need in the April 2011 elections, and who are now calling on the governor to ensure work resumes on the abandoned road in order to ease their transportation difficulties.

The strategic road provides direct and indirect access to numerous residential and industrial estates in the area, such as Festac Town, Jakande Estate, Mile 2 Estate, Durbar Estate as well as Amuwo Residential and Industrial Estates. It also takes traffic off Apapa-Oshodi and Lagos-Badagry express roads, as motorists approaching Mile 2 to connect Oshodi or Apapa do not need to rigmarole.

Work on the road project, being handled by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), was abandoned in September 2010. The abandonment, according to a representative of the contractor who spoke with CityFile last year, was blamed on funding related hitches, and tied around the slashing of the 2010 appropriation by over N40 billion, by the State House of Assembly, which pegged it at N389.5 billion from N429.596 billion presented by the governor.

Hope that the contractor would return to site had risen following the approval of a supplementary budget of about N46 billion tendered by the governor to the House in October 2010.

Ganiyu Johnson, special adviser to the state government on works and infrastructure, had subsequently told CityFile that work would resume on the road in November last year and would be completed and delivered by December 2010. Johnson argued that the contractor was within the scheduled completion time, which according him, was December 2010.

He said this when reacting to series of complaints from the residents and businesses in the area, who queried the slow execution of the project awarded since 2008.

Unfortunately, however, the hope raised by the special adviser regarding the December completion date was never realised, as the contractor had not mobilised back to site. With this failed promise, motorists have continued to face rough time on the road, as they struggle for space on the completed side of the dualised road.

As expected, traffic situation on the road has worsened, leading to motorists spending hours between Amuwo Bridge and Apple Junction, a distance less than 900 metres, during a chaotic day.

Residents and businesses have expressed disappointment at the delay in completing the project, citing health hazards from dust taking over their homes and business premises. It would be recalled that residences and business premises suffered similar fate the last three years, as dust took over the entire area, forcing them to shut their doors permanently, with consequential health implications.

With the approaching rainy season, residents fear that the condition of the road would get worse unless the government urgently intervenes.

Sade Olamilekan, an assistant manager with a telecom service firm along the road, recalling the experience of last two years, said “I had thought based on the assurances from the special adviser that before the next harmattan season, the work would be completed.”

Her view was shared by Richard Adaba, an employee of a fast-food joint near Apple Junction, who observed that the road project compared with those in other parts of the metropolis was suffering undue delay.

Statistics obtained from the state ministry of works and infrastructure showing progress of work put scarification work at 75 percent completion, drainage 70 percent, paving stone 50 percent, walkway 50 percent, streetlight 0 percent and service ducts 70 percent, but silent on when work would resume again or completed.


http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/city-file/city-file/19585-hard-times-for-residents-motorists-as-fasholas-contractor-abandons-amuwo-festac-link-road

The rich also cry
By EMMANUEL ONYECHE
Sunday, 27 Mar 2011


Rapid urbanisation combines with an unending road reconstruction to give residents of communities along the Lekki/Epe expressway nightmares in traffic jams that continue for hours. EMMANUEL ONYECHE writes on the frustrations and anger of some of those involved and how they are coping.

The horror of the notorious Lagos traffic jam, especially in the peak periods when people close from work, had always been a nightmare for Lagosians who work on the island and live on the mainland.

Such people envied their colleagues who reside in Victoria Garden City, Lekki, Ajah and all other communities along the Lekki/Epe expressway. They regarded these colleagues as driving against the traffic and envied them for getting home on time and enjoying the comforts of their homes while they sweated it out in the traffic.

That situation is no longer so. Mr. Yunus Anegbe, a real estate consultant, who gave his reasons for this, says, “The influx of people into Lagos which stretches the population to about 18 million, rapid urbanisation and a boom in real estate in the Lekki Peninsular axis have all combined with an unending reconstruction to widen the dual carriageway on that corridor to usher in unpleasant traffic congestion that is giving people a lot of stress.”


Last Wednesday, our correspondent noted that the traffic jam stretched from Jakande Roundabout all the way to Ajah. Mr. Anthony Erhabor who was caught in it told our correspondent at about 7.23pm (shortly after Jakande Roundabout) that he had left Oshodi, where he works, since 5:00pm.



“As it is now, it would be by the grace of God for me to get to Ajah before 9:00pm. This is what I go through every working day and I am tired of it. Yesterday, I was told that the situation was better. That was why I decided to head for home immediately I closed from work. Otherwise, I would have stayed back as usual in the office to beat the traffic,” he says.



Mrs. Celestina Odunka who works in a bank at Ojuelegba in Surulere, says thinking of how to cope with the traffic situation on the Lekki/Epe expressway daily ranks high on her list of priorities each day just as the thought of taking care of the school needs of her children and cooking for her family.



“What I do is that I either stay back in the office after closing or I do some shopping in the night markets around Ojuelegba till about 7.30pm so that by the time I approach Lekki, the traffic would have eased off,” she says.



But Mr. Solomon Oriade who works in Marina says he does not like getting home late after closing from work. “What I do is that I reserve some money for rides on motorbike (Okada). From Mobil petrol station in Sandfill, I take Okada straight home to Ajah. I pay as much as N500 for such rides but I do not mind because it saves me from the frustration of sweating for hours in the traffic congestion in the midst of dangerous fumes from all sorts of vehicles,” he says.



In 2006, the Lagos State government, through the Public Private Partnership, engaged Lekki Concession Company as the concessionaire for the upgrading and expansion of the 49.5 kilometre Lekki/Epe road. It was a Build-Operate-Transfer deal that stipulates that LCC will operate and maintain the road for 30 years and then transfer it to the state government.



Some high-profile organisations situated in the axis include Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Chevron Nigeria Limited and the Pan-African University. The proposed Lekki Free Trade Zone is also sited in the vicinity. There are also plans to build a refinery in Lekki. Massive vehicular movement is expected to be generated by these new economic activities hence the reconstruction of the road.



But work there has dragged for so long thereby increasing the frustrations of commuters, motorists and residents along that axis.



At the bridge shortly after Jakande Roundabout, it was also noted that the three lane road dovetailed into two lanes causing further congestion as all the vehicles tried to squeeze past each other in the two lanes to the other side of that bridge. Several footbridges on that road are also behind schedule in completion and some residents say this has led to an increase of accidents on that road.



An official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority who did not want his name mentioned said that though there are many LASTMA officials on that axis, they are all finding it difficult to cope. “At any point, there are about 200 vehicles to one LASTMA official and behind the wheel of some of those vehicles are the frustrated individuals who take out their frustrations on us and make one want to go crazy on this job. I hope they will just finish all these construction on time to lessen the problem for everyone.”



Responding to questions sent through email, the Managing Director of LCC, Mr. Opuiyo Oforiokuma, said, “While we are aware that there is still traffic congestion along Eti-Osa Lekki-Epe Expressway, we are regularly receiving reports from road users that they are already noticing an improvement in traffic flow along the axis, especially as the construction works progress to further sections of the road. This improvement will be continuous over time. We are aware that key bottlenecks still exist along the axis especially at VGC and Ajah junctions, and have plans already in place to deal with those as soon as conditions permit. In this regard, it is worth noting that the progress of the works is also affected by factors that are not directly within LCC’s control, and that other parties have a role to play to ensure that the works are executed on time and in the manner specified.



“Construction works typically have an impact on traffic flow while the works are ongoing. Accordingly, LCC offers our apologies to road users for any inconvenience that they suffer as a direct consequence of the works.



“It is important to emphasize, nevertheless, that some of the traffic congestion on the roads is caused by bad driving habits, such as indiscriminate parking on the road, making of illegal U-turns, driving against traffic, and general impatience of some road users. The construction works cannot be blamed for such bad habits; hence, we always implore all road users to exercise care, patience, and attention as they use the road, and to think about the impact of their behaviour on others.”



He said the rehabilitation of the bridge shortly after Jakande junction would take place in due course adding that it already has the capacity to carry six lanes of traffic, and would do so comfortably. He said there was no need for an expansion at this time.



On why the construction of footbridges was dragging, he said LCC contractor was constructing the pedestrian footbridges in areas of high traffic volume, and where pedestrian density was high. “Given that the road is in constant use, the contractor has to take great care and attention to minimize the risk to road users and pedestrians while he undertakes the works. The contractor also needs to ensure that he takes the relevant amount of time needed to ensure a quality result at the end. We believe that the completed pedestrian footbridge at the Oniru intersection in Victoria Island is a good example of the quality of finish that we aim to deliver,” he says.



He said LCC would commence pouring the concrete at the new Falomo On-Ramp, which is designed to ease traffic bottlenecks at the Falomo end of Victoria Island .



He says, “There are various pedestrian bridges and more of the road under construction. Where the road section has already been substantially completed, for example, from Falomo Bridge Loop to Marwa Bus Stop, we have commenced routine maintenance of the road infrastructure. This will continue.

“We have also been providing complementary 24/7 Incident Management Services since October 2009, which include route patrols, breakdown and tow assistance, ambulance services, and a free customer service helpline, for convenience of road users. In this way, LCC has assisted in excess of 4,000 distressed road users since inception, about 850 incidents of which involved accidents, and about 620 of which involved our providing free breakdown and tow assistance. These types of services, which we provide on a complementary basis, save road users a lot of money and improve their convenience and experience whenever they use the road. Our intention is to continue in this manner, and of course, to strive to continuously improve the level of service that we offer to road users.”

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201103272374231

Motorists groan, businesses suffer as Apapa-Oshodi Expressway turns nightmare .
Monday, 28 March 2011 00:00 Chuka Uroko

Chuka Uroko writes that the nation's economy is imperilled as unusual traffic gridlock on the majorgateway to main sea ports-the Apapa and Tincan Island has paralysed activities at the ports and tank farms

For motorists and commuters on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos, the experience of the past five to six days is much more than a nightmare. It has been eight long days of physical stress and mental torture occasioned by a traffic gridlock that tasks the strength and expertise of drivers and also challenges human capacity for suffering.

As the major gateway to Nigeria's main sea ports-the Apapa and Tincan Island Ports which are revenue spinners for the country, the impact of the gridlock, which has literally paralysed activities at the ports, is better imagined than expressed. Businesses are suffering while the economy as a whole is bleeding.

Petroleum tankers' reckless and mindless parking on the expressway coupled with the on-going reconstruction work on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway have been identified as the major causes of the gridlock which heath analysts say is capable of further reducing the life expectancy of the road users.

Tankers waiting for their turn to lift fuel from the tank farms and other trucks going into the ports to carry imported goods have taken over the entire service lane and almost half of the expressway, leaving just a narrow pathway for other road users.

Again, Julius Berger, the contractor handling the reconstruction of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway has narrowed the four-lane expressway under the Mile Two bridge to a single lane, thereby forcing thousands of vehicles and motorbikes operators to engage in a struggle for passage through the narrow path.

The scenario is quite frustrating because while motorists descending from the Mile Two bridge to connect Lagos-Badagry expressway from the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway are held up for hours on the bridge, those approaching Mile Two from the Badagry axis are also trapped in a traffic jam that sometimes stretched to Festac First Gate Bus-Stop. Similarly, motorists approaching Mile Two from the Orile-Iganmu axis are also trapped in the gridlock which, at peak hours, usually stretches to Suru-Alaba.

So far, it has been worse for Mile Two bound motorists from Oshodi who run into traffic jam that usually starts building up from about 12.30am all the way to Ijesha Bus- Stop, while it has also become a daily routine for the gridlock to stretch from Berger- Under-Bridge to Sanya Bus-Stop, thereby delaying movement for Oshodi bound motorists.

In all these, those who should do something seem not to be bothered by what has become a daily and harrowing experience for people who are out for legitimate business from where they eke out a living and pay their tax which sustains the flamboyant lifestyle of those that are supposed to assuage their pains in matters such as this.

Analysts believe that both the Federal and Lagos State governments should be blamed for these harrowing experiences of both motorists and commuters on this expressway. Because ours is a society where people can do anything and get away with it, Julius Berger could do what it did at Mile Two without making sure that there was an alternative route that could reduce the volume of traffic on the single lane it has created for motorists.

For approving the construction of tank farms at the ports and along the expressway for which a thousand and one tankers are daily lined up on the expressway, the Federal Government should be crucified, more so when as an oil producing country we do not have need of tank farms in the first place. The comatose refineries should be resuscitated and more new ones built.

The abandonment of the Amuwo Odofin-Festac Road reconstruction by the Lagos State government since October last year is an action that no government official has offered any explanation for. If that road had been completed, it would have been quite helpful because Badagry bound motorists wouldn't have had any business going to Mile Two. Because of these failures of leadership, people are dying gradually from stress on the road, businesses are suffering and the economy is bleeding.

A motorist, Kazeem Kabiru who spoke to Business Day, lamented being trapped for about four hours between Sanya and Mile Two last Tuesday, a distance of about two kilometres, blaming the unfortunate development partly on reckless parking by petroleum tankers going to Apapa for loading of products from the various depots in the area. "It is so sad that here we operate as if everybody is a law unto himself.

What good reason can anybody give for allowing tankers to take over the expressway thereby subjecting other road users to the kind of hardship we are currently experiencing on this road now? This happens daily, and nobody seems to be bothered that people are suffering, fuel is wasted and productive hours are lost as a result. Today, I have been here for close to fours," he lamented.

Commuters on the road, especially those that work at the ports and other offices in and around Apapa, also have their own tales of woe. Glory Eshet who works with NPA told our correspondent that on Tuesday she had to trek from Berger-Under-Bridge to Tincan Second Gate from where she took a bike to her office.

In an apparent show of concern however, Tokunbo Korodo, Lagos zonal chairman of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (NUPENG), the umbrella body of Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) association, regretted the inconveniences to the motoring public as a result of his members' tankers on the road.

Korodo who spoke to our correspondent in a telephone interview, however blamed the situation on tank farm operators who he accused of failing to provide adequate parking space within their premises.

"The truth is that our members are rendering essential services to the entire nation. They travel far distances to load in Lagos and distribute nationwide. They cannot lift the trucks on their heads to jetties. So I blame this on the failed system and jetty operators who are not providing parking lot for the tankers," he said.

In the same vein, Lagos State government has exonerated itself from the situation on the expressway. In a statement signed by Hakeem Bello, senior special assistant to Governor Babatunde Fashola on media, the state government said the road belonged to the Federal Government which should take responsibility for its repairs.

There's really the need for urgent action by the Federal Government to not only spare motorists the pain and anguish that have become their daily menu on the road, but also to save businesses on this axis, and also make port operations less stressful for optimum revenue generation for the country.

In the interim, it is expected that the tanker park being constructed opposite Tincan Ports has to be given accelerated attention.
The bridge, Business Day learnt, will specifically serve tankers and trailers that will be finding their way into the park to wait for their consignment from either of the sea ports-Apapa or Tincan Island.

An official of Trevi Nigeria Limited, the company handling the piling work for the construction of the bridge, told our correspondent at the site that the bridge which would take its root off Marine Road would empty into the park. "Our business here is to do the piling work for the bridge; we started around October last year and in the next three to four months, we shall have left this place for the contractor to continue from there" , he said, adding: "The bridge is meant to serve the park and will end into the park. All trucks coming into the park will have to turn from there ( Liverpool roundabout)".

When our correspondent visited the construction site, workers of Borini Prono, the construction company handling the construction of the park, were busy with preliminary engineering work just as clearing, levelling and grading work were also on-going on the park which might stretch up to Coconut area.

"If houses have to give way for what government considers good for all of us, why not?" queried an official of the company who did not want to be named. "But who are the government? Is it not you and I? We are all concerned about the stress people go through on this road on daily basis. So, government is just showing it's concern", he added.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/analysis/features/19570-motorists-groan-businesses-suffer-as-apapa-oshodi-expressway-turns-nightmare-

Can anyone give us a synopsis of the debate among the running mates for the Lagos guber race that was conducted by Silverbird Television yesterday?

I caught the last ten minutes or so fo the debate last night.

The candidates at the debate were those of ACN,PDP, NCP and one other party I can't remember now.

The happy couple.

25 March 2011 Last updated at 01:39 GMT
Guatemala first lady Sandra Torres confirms divorce  Ms Torres wants to be Guatemala's first woman president 

Guatemala's First Lady, Sandra Torres de Colom, has confirmed that she is divorcing president Alvaro Colom so she can stand for election to succeed him.

Ms Torres fought back tears as she told Guatemalans she was leaving a loving marriage for the sake of the nation.

"I am divorcing my husband but I am getting married to the people," she said at a news conference.

Guatemala's constitution bans close relatives of the president from standing to succeed him.

The main opposition candidate for September's presidential election - former Gen Otto Perez Molina - has called the first couple's divorce electoral fraud.

Ms Torres, 51, announced her candidacy for president for the governing party earlier this month.

Difficult decision

The news that she was seeking a divorce to overcome the constitutional block on her running for office emerged on Monday, but this is the first time she has publicly confirmed it.

She said the decision, which will force the first couple to live apart, was "very difficult".

"I am not going to be the first or the last woman who decides to get a divorce, but I am the only woman to get a divorce for her country," she said.
Ms Torres is Mr Colom's third wife and is already a divorcee. They have been married for eight years.

She has played a prominent role in Alvaro Colom's presidency, supervising the government's poverty relief programmes.

Critics have alleged that she wields even more power over her husband behind the scenes.
It is not clear if the constitutional ban on relatives of the president standing to succeed him includes ex-spouses.

The final say on whether Ms Torres can stand will rest with Guatemala's Constitutional Court.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12857325

I dey laff 

He is afraid of the Bouazizi effect:

Really sad.



The Bouazizi Revolution(http://gazaliahmad.com/2011/01/24/tunisia-revolution-bouazizi/):
The media in Tunisia is heavily censored. The first protest was recorded on a mobile phone and uploaded to YouTube. Pictures of the uprising were also uploaded. Facebook was used to show Bouazizi’s funeral (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=116433471763258&oid=179238302095776&comments).


Video That Set Off Tunisia’s Uprising:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP0ZGsAD_6M&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>

and a few interesting comments on the blog post,


Submitted by ninakiri on Mon, 11/30/2009 - 19:15. As naive as it might sound, thinking of politicians, I don't ever think of them as people, just figures that make very important decisions in our world. It's cool to see that they can be interesting as well. Not only that, but it kind of angers me that people who may have smart and important things to say will never get their voice heard while other people who spend money extravagantly dining wherever they want and choosing nude models to be their ministers are making global decisions.


Submitted by Dystel on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 18:51.
Even politics aren't boring, and never have been! I wonder how anyone could think the politicians themselves aren't worthy of the fame and adoration of the masses! Think celebrities, only with even MORE wealth and power. Wait, scratch that. This is starting to seem like a bad idea. Personality cult, anyone?

Maybe it's better if we kept the fascinating backgrounds and habits of politicians under wraps. Still, I have to say that Vladimir Putin is my favourite politician. He puts all of the recent U.S. presidents to shame. In his exchanges with Bush and his comments on Hilary Clinton, he flaunts his razor sharp wit and leaves the reporters awestruck. What's even more amusing is the fact that when he has to sit through press conferences, he scribbles on notepads to appear busy. I think that only adds to his charisma, as it makes him seem as if he's too busy and important to pay attention to the trite questions and comments. The politicians listed above seem just as extraordinary, and it's great to know these interesting facts about them.

in case you are wondering who the other two are:

Taro Aso
Living in a similar kind of luxury is Japan’s current Prime Minister, Taro Aso, who reportedly dines in extravagant restaurants and hotels daily. He also reads manga, and he’s Roman Catholic – which puts him in a one per cent minority religion within his country. Aso is fluent in Portuguese and English, and to round off the resumé, also went to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal with Japan’s shooting team. He’s known for charisma and strong opinions which often wedge him into difficult spots. And he’s always looking sharp – if you ask me, kinda like Japan’s James Bond

Yulia Tymoshenko
At age forty-eight she’s been Prime Minister of the Ukraine twice, in 2004 playing a crucial role in the Orange Revolution in her country. (That November reports started flooding in that a recent election had been fixed by the government; Tymoshenko’s compelling speeches at rallies and protests helped to push the revote.) Pre-politics, she made her fortune in the energy sector – and is even wanted in Russia for allegations of fraud. Since that time, Tymoshenko has made several reforms to the Ukraine’s energy policies, and her relations with Russia have only gotten worse. All this, plus her trademark Princess Leia-reminiscent braids, have made her famous in European politics.

From a 2009 blog:

Three of the World’s Most Interesting People

This man (pictured above) is the current Prime Minister of Italy – and my personal guess is that he inspired the entire Dos Equis ad campaign. Currently doing his third stint at the country’s helm, he also owns about half of Italy’s popular media outlets. Berlusconi also owns the AC Milan soccer club, AND is a successful songwriter.

On top of that, he boasts a pitch-perfect, very-suave, very-creepy smile. But what Berlusconi is maybe even more well known for is his crassness, and for his many mistresses. He did make former showgirl and nude model Mara Carfagna one of his ministers. Smooth movies, Silvio. The perma-tan is maybe not the only thing you have in common with Hugh Hefner…

http://www.youthink.ca/yt/blogs/current-events/three-world%E2%80%99s-most-interesting-people

Seun, I am still waiting for the referendum.

Don't let me become becomerich o!

No pun intended!