₦airaland Forum

From www.punchontheweb.com

PDP urges police to probe Adedibu
By Musikilu Mojeed
Published: Saturday, 17 Feb 2007
The Peoples Democratic Party on Friday urged the police to investigate one of its chieftains in Oyo State, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, and bring him to book if he is found culpable for thuggery and attempt to rig the April elections.

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Photo file
Alh. Lamidi Adedibu

Briefing journalists in Abuja, the PDP’s National Secretary of the party, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, said the PDP would not condone thuggery and any form of electoral fraud. Maduekwe called the press conference to refute the allegations by the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, that the PDP had perfected strategies to massively rig the April elections.

But newsmen asked the PDP secretary why his party was yet to move against Adedibu, despite his alleged involvement thuggery and violence in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. They also sought to know why the PDP had not reacted to the allegation that six Direct Data Capture machines were found in Adedibu’s residence during the recent voter registration.

Responding, Maduekwe said while his party was always keen on seeing wrongdoers punished, it was the responsibility of the police to take appropriate action to bring Adedibu to book. Saying the party should not be blamed for any crime the Ibadan politician was being accused of, Maduekwe argued that it was wrong to presume that Adedibu was guilty even when he had not been investigated.

Assuring that the ‘new PDP’ would not tolerate improper conducts, he said he was hopeful that with time, the party would have more political will to punish wrongdoings.

Maduekwe said, “Willingness to hand over wrong doers to face the law does not make us the police. The police still have to do their job. If the kind of offences you are talking about are committed in our very presence, then of course we have a responsibility to do something. We are self critical. We have always done a good appraisal of ourselves more than any other political party. We have been honest and we have said in the past that we have left Egypt but we have not reached Canaan yet. There is still a gap between our projection regarding what the real PDP will be and the reality on the ground.

“We will keep on improving and the political will to punish wrongdoing will increase over time. We will not get there overnight. There is a danger in our swinging from one extreme to the other.

“We cannot presume people guilty because there are allegations against them. We must allow the police to do their job. While we remain focused on the new PDP position we have attained regarding violence, thuggery and all that, I think one can take the advice of a veteran of Nigeria politics, one of the wisest men Nigeria was blessed to have, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

“His advice in matters like these is Surulere (patience). And I think we can afford to adopt that approach on some of the complex issues you have mentioned without compromising our commitment to confronting violence, and other vices.

“As a matter of fact, a number of substitutions which we made about candidacy are as a result of implication in thuggery. The candidate may not have been caught red-handed but there were unclear allegations that they either benefited from thuggery or they looked the other way while it was happening. That is how hard we have been on ourselves.”

Since Maduekwe refuted Buhari’s charge that the PDP had planned to rig the elections, newsmen then asked him whether the offence Adedibu allegedly committed was not part of the alleged scheme to rig the election.

He responded, “It is inconceivable that any political party worth its salt will sit down at its headquarters and plan how to rig an election. If any member of any of the political party whether PDP or ANPP, AD or whatever name they are called is found to be involved in an exercise that is criminal, including rigging, it does not mean that such a member has the approval of party leaders.

“We will definitely not condone rigging. We will in fact willingly hand over any of our members who we found to be involved in rigging. If any of our members is found to be engaged in rigging, we will recommend that the law enforcement agents should take appropriate action and not put the blame at our doorsteps.”

Earlier, in a five-page statement, Maduekwe accused Buhari of crying wolf where there is none, saying the PDP had no reason to rig any election when it was the predominant party in the country. While describing the ANPP candidate as a perennial loser, Maduekwe said, “It is not unusual that in a campaign period, certain type of candidates bandy allegations, half-truths, and outright falsehood in the attempt to score cheap political points, and take advantage of the gullible and ill-informed.

“What kind of presidential candidate proceeds to talk of the writing of results of an election which is still nearly two months away without the slightest shred of evidence? How can PDP be writing results when the candidates are still in the process of emerging? Could it be that General Buhari is merely preparing his ground for yet another long-drawn election petition that is planned to put on hold our transition from election to governance?”

about the polls in lagos state and who stands a better chance.come to think about it u are not even based in nigeria and u are saying with confidence who will/will not rule lagos.guy no be yankee we dey ok.we in lagos kLewa my guy i no get beef with you or watever candidate u are supporting.i am only expressing my opinion now better and know KORO stands a better chance.

Femo!True talk !Yes my poor self no fit influence anything. Me sef no get beef with anyone and i apologise if i came too strong!Hope say u forgive me!.Anyways wetin we for yonder for do when Baba PDP don talk say na do-or die for PDP!Wetin those weyde house for do sef when after 8 years hin be like say life under Abacha better!I no support anybodi becos i sabi some of dem pickin and i sabi de life wey dem de chop when odas no get food for stomach or jobs!Has u true talk na jus my simple opinion and disjust wey de show for my post!

except Nigeria wants to start e-voting and allow u guys to vote u can only express your opinions without it really having an impact in the coming elections

Femo!U sabi say results for the polls don de permuted already jus like PDP try to for Tinubu for 03!We fit shout and scream but wetin go happen go happen and life go go on without change and poverty and strife with ironu go still de kill!

NO KORO NO VOTE

Na u sabi!Na u know!Wetin i sabi for yonder sef, wetin i fit see with my korokoro eye sef?

OK!Would still be outta town.De try ATL prospects out!Anyways catch your trips!Chi-Town for life!Bigups Mamajama(Odeku)!

Wetin de!De ATL for now!How life?

Yes and Tafa got 8 months was it?

That is OBJ for you!And he's busy harassing Alams and Dariye!Duplicious old man!

everyone just comes on the internet and says watever they feel without going to find out the real thing.anyway thanks again for educating them.

Thank you "sha"!A dupe sir! . Plese the above post might benefit you!Hope you too would go find out the truth and set you free-from you know what!

18000 text books for secondary schools across the state

5000 copies of 40 simple ways to study and prepare for exams for Secondary school students

700,000 notebooks shared across the state schools free for students

1,300 GCE forms for indigent students

Now the most impressive, a N4,000,000 scholarship for indigent students to fund education

Mr, after 4 years as senator and after over a decade as a politician it's only this meager things he can do for ducation.only help 1300 indigent students for GCE/NECO forms?Haba!So how much do notebooks cost?. By the way how many secondary schools to start with fall under his senatorial district?How many post secondary students writing JAMB OR SSCE/NECO have benefited from this largess-1300?What of economic empowerment as regards those wanting to learn a trade,wanting capital to start a trade?
How many jobs as he procured for those in his district?I was privileged to be with Senator Arthur Francis Nzeribe with some friends some years back and to my surprise the chap excused himself to receive certain job seekers from his district and right in our presence set to work by calling favors up. I asked him whether this was his practice later and he replied in affirmative that he was indebted to those that have been sending him to the legislature for years. Sorry about my narrative that was a senator that was active. Now there are questions concerning his invidious character though!
Bros those measly numbers of textbooks don't count at all?What of science equipment?How many has he donated?
Your so called scholarship fund probably started not a a result of his generosity, but due to the electioneering process!How many has he sent to tertiary institutions, how many as he helped pay their fees?Instead we or you rather mention one or two textbooks-
etc!Gimme a break boy!

So again when we talk, lets have information before jugding. This man is Senator, and he has been able to do these sides projects, imagine him as Governor. I only highlighted what he has done for the youths on education which is priority for our youths. Again I like when people call him a Thug. A man in touch with his people is who we decide to call thugs which is what I think we need.

What info?Do you think i don't have a clue as to what's going on?Do you call buying notebooks projects?People amaze me though-!You can't obviously sell his guy!

Now on the money, I work for the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas, so its not a money issue for me, I'm doing very well more myself. I'm just very concerned about the state, and I believe that's the man up to the task as far as LAGOS state is concerned.

Good for you!Happy though. Concerning your prophesy as per him being the best for the state, i suggest you go wash your eyes again!

As for FDR, thats one of KORO's Idle and that is the model government he wants to run. A government full of activity. Lagos is similar to the condition the US was in during the great depression in the 1930's, which led to the New Deal Era, loads n loads of government intervention to uplift the moral, financial, physical situaitons of the people. I believe KORO and no other can do th

Seems as if you know obviously little concerning FDR, his charm,personae and intellectual acumen!Also it's obvious that your homework as regards the depression in the 1930's in USA to the situation in Lagos is deficient. Go read up and we could critique our different views!If your principal as FDR as his idol, i suppose by way of transference some of FDR's ideals should be enobbled him him. But, alas what do we have-a street urchin, area boy,paraga buying and igbo smoking thug consorting with fellow misfits as friends and companions!
Do you know the difference between a bill and a motion?Are you familiar with parliamentary procedures?
Your principal never sponsored anything into law,no senatorial input at all!To help you incase you don't know-for example the child rights bill ehich forbids child trafficking and abuse, the police act which provides for special prosecutors apart from the police to try cases, ICPC act-establishing ICPC.ETC!

motion on the surge and overflow of the Atlantic Ocean along the bar beach shoreline( collaborative efforts between Federal Government and Lagos State, before Tinubu shut things down and decided not to work with the FG again. KORO still got them the federal government support financially sha, and as you can see alot of work as been done to that area. THANK YOU KORO)

A motion to stop the incessant increment in the pump prices of petroleum products (Motion blocked we all know why)

A motion calling for the rescue of Lagos State from the menace of flood

Don't let me bore you with motions, you ask what he did for the youths, too much my guy more than any Senator can boast of. :

What you posted is nothing bro!Motions to stop flooding, motion for area boys motion for settlement etc!
Please bore me- i too have vested interests in Lagos!Family has ties to lagos spanning centuries, thus i am involved(Ojukwu, apologies). Are you sure what he's done is more than what 107 of his other colleagues have done?What major committees as he chaired?How many public sittings bothering on national issues has he been part of as co-sponsor in the senate?
See, this is the www, nobody apart from a few dare come here without been informed thoroughly about things. I understand your enthusiasm concerning your principal,your preference is consonant with your inalienable rights as enshrined in the UN charter of Human Rights, but bro let's be honest and sincere. Sentiments apart, is KORO really the MAN?

one little correction, he wasn't the first to declare. on to KORO being a thug, it seems like you guys have forgotten the realities of the majority in our country talk less Lagos State. Majority of our people our impoverished, low level of education, unemployed and so on. Because an educated man such as KORO can identify with them doesn't make him a thug. He was in the same shoes growing up, and had to fend for him. He sold apoti (stools) round the streets of Lagos Island after school during his childhood, and he had friends who sold eggs and so on. With determination to succeed in life, he made moves, got a clerical job at UBA, seized the opportunity to study abroad hence his two degrees. So you can call him a thug all you want, I like that. A man in touch with the real people, a man who can mingle with all sorts be it the rich, be it the poor. Like they say, don't hate the player, hate the game. That boy is good at what he does.

This is a man passionate about Lagos State, he's not here to joke. Fashola keeps preaching continuity, continuity of WHAT seriously continuity of what? We need a change. A man determined to run a Franklin Delano Roosevelt type of Government. If you want to talk on issues, lets talk my brother, and I'll give you his stance on EVERY one. is it health, environment( we all know how dirty lagos is), security, u name it. u got it.

Thanks for the teary biography on Koro! .The guy never sponsored any bill on the Senate floor and besides what opportunities did he create for the youths of Lagos Central as Senator apart fro the regular hand outs he dished out to them.The chap as far as i am concerned is a thug!His party PDP is a bandwagon of fellow wayfarers,a colloquium of kleptocratic asinine criminals who constantly and consistently have demonstrated their aptitude for thuggery, murder,banditry and are bereft of concrete ideas on nation building!Mind you the opposition ain't any better, just one or two notches behind the greatest plague ever to befall us!So it's now he knows Lagos is dirty, what were his contributions as commissioner?You mention FDR,ARE YOU COMPARING?
We both know with the benefit of hindsight that politicians of today not only lack ideology(Lagos for example with ex-commissioners cross-carpeting as if there's no tomorrow),but are out to pillage,rule roughshod over the electorate and impoverish those yet unborn.Koro like so many of his fellow aspirants care less about sanitation, healthcare or education!Don't sell that message here please!Lagos is an eyesore, and it's quite pitiful that those with real issueson solving the myriad of problems that state faces are yet to arise. I sincerely wish you luck as you share the election money doled out by your principal,(if you get your share that is)and for those that would be bought paraga and igbo to cause trouble good luck!

Whatever!My beef is that the Isreali nation did support apartheid during those dark days and despite protestations from Nigeria and other countries she did not budge because of commerce. Thabo Mbeki wrote a letter to Hamas on their victory last year rejoicing with his "brothers and fellow comrades"!Does that make him a terrorist?Isreal is a nation surrounded by enemies and she's not gonna get any respite or rest.We all know about the story of 1948 and the abracada the UK and other nations championed.Anyways that's Isreal's beef we in Nigeria have ours.Not sympathetic to Isreal though, however i admire theie tenacity and resilience as shown in 1948,1967 and1973.Peace,equity and fairplay should be the goal in that region and hopefully something should be done and without the US interference due to the distrust she has amongst Hamas/hizbollah in that region!
My humble thoughts-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am in full support of there movement. I believe that this is a step backward but two steps forward for Nigeria!!! My Aunt is a very spiritual woman and she said to me recently that there will be alot of Bloodshed in April/May in Nigeria. This is a sign that God is going to intervene in the corruption situation in Nigeria!!!

Hmm!Can't see the correlation between your aunt's vision and MEND!Bloodshed right!MEND kidnaps foreigners, thank God they are well taken care of,but what of local officials,ie councillors, Assembly men,etc?The foreigners don't loot and pillage and share revenue allocation to their mistresses and kids. Thus they are not terrorists,rather misguided misbegotten criminals with no ideologue.Ken and Jasper Adaka Boro faced the FG. They did not take hostages. If hostage taking is a ploy to drive oil companies out fine. But receiving ransome smacks of criminality.

Lol, thinking of it MEND has been a tremendous success!!!

Ken saro-wiwa was shut up when he protested peacefully about that area.
MEND have gotten the world's attention and things a finally getting better

Things are getting better via your periscope from Ogudu GRA!What success have they achieved?Please i want to know.Really address this in your rejoinder.MEND is a criminal organization with no intellectual wattage period.Ken was a martyr, but his ways were about getting militant when he was murdered. Afterall where are his disciples today?Sharing blood money from state and FG officials!You just don't get it!

It's gonna be tough for Koro or whatever the thug's name to win-if he does i see a worse rendition of Tinubu's reign!The chap is a glorified urchin, that is the problem of politics in Nigeria to day-i wonder where the civil and mature ones are?PDP is a bandwagon of rogues,kleptocrats,killers, bandits and the like.Apart from Cross River where have they governed well?. Not endorsing AC/AD/PPA/DPA or whatever 3-letter alphabets they go by either

I feel for him though!The guy's dangerous i hope he does not set out to do the devil's plan.We all don't know who his patrons are!

Roger that!

The people of Ogun and Lagos state have nothing to loose. At best they're just a bunch of opportunists waiting for ''manna from heaven'' to help develop their lands. The present skewed arrangement has made it possible for them to flash their dirty teeths reaping where they did not sow, and taking from the resources of other people's lands.

This is crass ineptitude at its lowest nadir!Look at a part of your manic,sickening, jaundiced, ignorant post!So you think that the people of Ogun and Lagos depend on the resources of the Delta for their daily upkeep?Ignoramus, i know you are quite embittered but please take your frustration to another region of the country!Afenifere and other Socio-political groups advocated 50% derivation for the N/D at the last Constitutional Confab. Moreover the "powers' that be strongly disagreed and their premise was that the billions alloted so far should be accounted for since constitutionally oil was everyone's resource. The delegation from the N/D was taken aback!So is it the Yoruba man responsible for the gross underdevelopment in the region?We have always advocated a devolution of power at the centre, major control of regional resources and extended solidarity with the N/D, so please before hitting that keyboard in the frenzy state induced by the cheap intoxicating effects of ignorance and folly,check your facts.
OBJ incase you know has some of his vocal critics from his region-WS, Gani, Tinubu, Falae, etc!
Those from Lagos and Ogun are not waiting for crumbs or other people's vaunted patrimony to survive. Please if that is the propaganda in your creek, help stop it. Look inwards and seek out your local elected officials who have systematically pauperised and pillaged your people.
Not surprised though,you are just one mis(un)informed of many!

Hmm

:p :p

:p

Here's CNN version!
CNN denies Nigerian allegations of staging report
POSTED: 6:14 p.m. EST, February 12, 2007
Story Highlights• Minister: CNN paid for, staged gunmen holding Filipino hostages in Niger Delta
• "It was a paid job," Nigeria's Frank Nweke said, without offering evidence
• CNN and CNN's Africa correspondent Jeff Koinange flatly denied the charge
• CNN said it did not pay for any part of the report, nor does it pay for interviews
Adjust font size:
ABUJA, Nigeria (CNN) -- A Nigerian government spokesman on Monday accused CNN of paying for and staging a report that showed 24 Filipino hostages being held by masked gunmen in the remote mangrove swamps of southern Nigeria.

"We have evidence that some of these people were actually paid to put up a show," Nigerian Minister of Information Frank Nweke Jr. told CNN International about last week's report by Jeff Koinange, CNN's Africa correspondent.

"It was a paid job, and that's exactly why we are very upset about it," he said, without offering evidence.

"He had actually approached other people before then to do the same thing and his offer was declined. And he shopped around for more people and found those criminals who were willing to play ball with him and they put on the kind of show that they put up and which was shown around the world."

CNN and Koinange flatly denied the charge. In a written statement, CNN said it did not pay for any part of the report, nor does the network pay for interviews.

The report showed the hostages, held captive since their cargo ship was seized January 20, seated on white plastic chairs, lined up in a row.

As dozens of militants, dressed in black and wearing black ski masks, danced and fired automatic weapons into the air, the hostages appeared immobilized by fear. (Watch Koinange's report, and a talk with CNN's Anderson Cooper about criticism of it))

"The government is trying to get them released," Nweke said. "But to make a show out of it in the way that your reporter did is unacceptable and, to our minds, undermines global efforts in the war on terror."

Nweke said he and his entourage had recently traveled through the Niger Delta and had seen projects intended to help the area's residents, such as health clinics and the construction of bridges, but witnessed none of the scenes shown in the report. (Watch as Nweke tells CNN's Jim Clancy why Nigeria believes the report was staged))

"You can imagine my surprise when I saw the kind of pictures that were put out on CNN portraying the situation of war and crisis in the Niger Delta," he said. "There was absolutely no correlation whatsoever with what we had on the ground and what CNN International put out there."

In denying the information minister's allegations, the network said that the only money that changed hands was the standard rental for a motorboat and captain -- about $700 -- and the standard fee to an area freelance journalist for his help in reporting and translation, about $150 per day for three days.

CNN said it will send a letter to Nweke asking him to provide any evidence to support his claims. If any credible evidence is forthcoming, CNN said it would report on that.

CNN crew goes to hideout in Niger Delta swamp
Members of the militant group, who said they were part of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, led CNN's crew to their hideout in a swamp in the Niger Delta. MEND has recently ratcheted up its battle to redress what it says is the unequal distribution of the nation's oil wealth.

Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer. In 2005, it was the world's sixth-largest exporter of oil, but the conflict there has cut distribution by an estimated 500,000 barrels per day, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The militants are threatening to hurt the oil sector even more.

"We are going to descend on all foreign interests in the Nigerian economy, either in the river or in the land," Maj. Gen. Tamuno God's Will, the group's self-described leader, told CNN.

He said his group -- which claims 200,000 fighters -- will soon launch "Operation Black Locust," aimed at key installations across the country.

"We are telling all expatriates to leave Nigeria, not only the Niger Delta, but to leave Nigeria. We will take lives, we will destroy lives, we will crumble the economy," he said.

Since late 2005, MEND militants have carried out attacks on Nigeria's oil sector and abducted dozens of foreign workers, releasing nearly all of them unharmed.

But in recent months, the attacks have become more brazen and more frequent. Two car bombings were carried out at oil company compounds in southern Nigeria's largest port town of Port Harcourt on December 18, and in January alone, militants abducted more than 30 people.

"The security situation in the Niger Delta region has deteriorated significantly over the past year," the U.S. State Department said last month in a travel warning. "Travel to the region remains dangerous and should be avoided."

Militants want share of oil profits to go to locals
Gen. God's Will said his group is fighting because few of the billions of dollars being made off the oil-rich deposits of the Niger Delta make it back to the Nigerian people, especially those in the Delta, home to some of the world's poorest people.

More than 2 million barrels of crude oil is pumped out of Nigeria every day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. International oil giants including Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and oil service companies such as Schlumberger and Brazil's Petrobas have taken up residence in the Niger Delta.

The militant leader said his forces are in the middle of a "struggle for the liberation of the Niger Delta, the most devastated and the most threatened region in the world."

"Our fight is against everybody," he said.

Nigerian forces have struggled in the battle. The navy doesn't travel to the regions where CNN went because the waters are so dangerous, patrolled by armed militants in speed boats that quickly navigate through the shallow swamps, Koinange said.

But Nweke said the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has made progress in the delta over the past seven years, building hundreds of classrooms and health centers and undertaking myriad road projects.

"We still have a long way to go," Nweke acknowledged. "But the point I'm making this afternoon is that we've come a long way from where we were in 1999 under the military."

Look it's not yet time for people like Iweala, Utomi etc. I really wish it is but the reality on ground is different. Maybe another century or the after life

Yea she did evacuate Nigerians in Lebanon!Isn't that part of her duties?Politics transcends sentimentality and i don't know where u live, but you should know that!Does she have the funds to pay for expression of interest form, pay for campaign headquarters all over Nigeria, pay for staff all over till ward level,adverts etc. Can she win/buy political structures that would be beneficial to her campaign, would she agree with certain quarters to zone juicy portfolios to them, can she use thugs and urchins to cause problem when necessary?Boy wake up and smell the coffee, politics in Nigeria is not text book or fairy story politics By the way who would her backers be-NANS, NUJ,NSW,NLC or who?

Do you think Nigeria is an ordinary country for a woman to rule?This is not Germany, Finland, Bangladesh or India!It's Nigeria- 140 million people, over 250 ehnic groups, established geo-political political alliances, religious/tribal feudal overlords etc!Iweala can't rule,maybe another time in another world!Not now!No sentiments

I really wish we could stop rigging!However many of our political elite are not honorable, not good losers and primarily self-centered as it's all about their larger than life egos.Also when is money politics gonna stop?It's gonna be a while for rigging, voter fraud, money politics etc to end. See the just released nonsense census figures and just concluded voter registration. Pathetic and debased!I shake my head in wonder as usual ,always-when it's it gonna end?