₦airaland Forum

Jonathan nominates Yar’Adua’s nephew, Anenih’s wife, 23 others
By Fidelis Soriwei, John Alechenu and Tobi Soniyi, Abuja, Published: Wednesday, 24 Mar 2010



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Jonathan.


Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday forwarded a list of 25 nominees to the Senate for screening as ministers.



An impeccable source in the Presidency who made this known in Abuja, however, gave the names of 18 of them.



Only three former ministers and four ministers of state are on the list delivered to the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, by the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mr. Cairo Ojougboh at 3:45pm.



Curiously, a former Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, who had been widely mentioned as one of the likely ex-ministers that would return to the Federal Executive Council, did not make the list.



It was, however, gathered from an authoritative source in the Presidency that Akunyili had been penciled down to either head the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Communication Commission or a high- profile United Nation’s body.



Akunyili led the campaign for the elevation of Jonathan as Acting President following her memo to the FEC for it to consider the state of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health.



The three former ministers are Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode (Justice), Mrs. Dieziani Alison-Maduekwe (Power and Steel Development) and Senator Sanusi Dagash (National Planning), while the four ex-ministers of state are Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (Petroleum); Mr. Godsday Orubebe (Niger Delta); Fidelia Njeze (Agriculture); and Mr. Nuhu Wya (Power).



Another curious aspect of the list is the inclusion of Alhaji Murtala Yar’Adua and Mrs. Josephine Anenih as nominees.



Murtala, who is believed to be the President’s nephew, might replace Dr. Sayyadu Abba-Ruma, a former Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources. Josephine is the wife of a former Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees Chairman, ex-Minister of Works, and Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Chief Tony Anenih.



Also on the list are Mr. Olusegun Aganga, and a former Deputy Governor of Nassarawa State, Mr. Labaran Maku.



Aganga, an Oxford-trained global investment banker is the Managing Director of Goldman Investment, United Kingdom. The parent company, Goldman Sachs, has a market capitalisation of $94bn with 32,500 employees in 55 offices in 22 countries.



On the list too is the Vice-Chancellor of the Kebbi State University, Prof. M.K Abubakar. Abubakar who may replace the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Adamu Aliero, is a professor of Biochemistry and a recipient of a UN award in nutrition for children.



A former military administrator of Bayelsa State, Navy Captain Ernest Olubolade (rtd), also made the list. The Ekiti State-born ex-naval officer was said to have put the foundation for the development of Bayelsa State in place.



A former Managing Director of the Nigerian Gas Company, Mr. Chris Ogiemwonyi; an ex-leader of the South-South caucus in the House of Representatives, Mr. Nduese Essien; a former Vice-President of the Bank of America, Mrs. Remi Duyile, Umar Aliyu; and Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed, also made the list.



It was learnt that most of the ex-ministers failed to make the list because of security reports.



THE PUNCH had reported exclusively that Jonathan would submit the list on Tuesday.



Meanwhile, the Code of Conduct Bureau has started probing former ministers to find out if they used their offices to enrich themselves.



Already, assets declaration forms have been sent by the bureau to some of the ex-ministers asking them to state their assets to determine if they were acquired legitimately or not.



The CCB’s spokesperson, Mrs. Idowu Jokpeyibo, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday, said that because the cabinet dissolution was sudden, the bureau could not serve all the former ministers with the assets declaration forms.



Jokpeyibo added that other ex-ministers that had not been served with the forms had been asked to go to the Assets Declaration Department of the bureau in Asokoro District, Abuja to collect them.



She said, “Because the dissolution was so sudden we were not able to serve all the former ministers with the assets declaration forms.



“We expect those who have not received the forms to go to our office at Asokoro and collect, fill, and return them in line with the code of conduct for public officers.”



Jonathan dissolved the Federal Executive Council a week ago after a seven-hour meeting with its members.



Under the law establishing the CCB, every public officer shall within three months of taking office and at the end of every four years or at the end of his term of office submit to the bureau, a written declaration of all properties, assets and liabilities and those of his spouse, or unmarried children under the age of 21.



Any property or assets acquired by a public officer after any declaration and which is not fairly attributable to his remuneration would be considered a breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers unless the contrary is proved.



For the purposes of the Code of Conduct, the following are classified as public officers: The President, the vice-president, president and deputy president of the Senate, speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, speakers and deputy speakers of House of Houses of Assembly as well as all members and staff of legislative houses.



Others are governors and deputy governors, Chief Justice of Nigeria, justices of the Supreme Court, president and justices of the Court of Appeal and all other judicial officers and staff of law. The Attorney-General of the Federation and state Attorneys- General are also classified as public officers.



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201003244363190

Court approves substituted service on Anambra governor

By Gowon Emakpe


March 23, 2010 02:45AM
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A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday, granted an order of substituted service to Valentine Onwugbufor on Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State.

Daniel Abutu, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, granted a motion ex parte move by Kayode Ajulo, the plaintiff counsel, seeking for an order for leave to serve the originating summons, motion on notice, and all other process or any order, on Mr. Obi by substituted service, through the means of publication of same in the Punch, or Thisday newspapers.

Mr. Ajulo said all attempts by the court bailiff to serve Obi proved abortive, stressing that security agents will not allow the court personnel to see him. He stated that if an order of substituted service is not granted, the court bailiff will not be able to serve the governor and the matter will be delayed. Mr. Abutu granted the motion as requested and adjourned till 13 April for mention.

The suit has Mr. Obi, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Maurice Iwu, the Chief Judge of Anambra State, and the contestants at the governorship election as defendants.

Matters for determination

Specifically, the plaintiff want the court to determine whether by constitutional parametres and the declaratory and subsisting effect of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos, delivered on 4 February, Mr. Iwu, Victor Chukwuani, and Philip Umeadi are competent to continue to carry the functions and responsibility of INEC.

Also, whether INEC is competent to organise and conduct the election, and whether it is competent to declare and issue certificate of return to any candidate purportedly elected in an election, purportedly conducted by INEC.

The judge, Mohammed Liman, held that the elections body, as presently constituted, lacked the quorum required by the Constitution to conduct elections.

According to the judge, provisions of Section 159 of the 1999 Constitution require the quorum of INEC commissioners to be “five members and not four, as constituted at present.”

At present, the election body has four Federal Electoral Commissioners, out of the 13 that are supposed to be on the board.

There have been no appointments into the vacant positions on the board and only the President, who has been absent from the country for over two months, is empowered by law to nominate members.


Back




http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5544530-146/court_approves_substituted_service_on_anambra.csp

suffering and smilling

failed state

Split Nigeria: Gaddafi’s comment should be re-examined –Peter Akinola
From FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, Abuja
Tuesday , March 23, 2010


Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Amid calls for the head of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi for advising that Nigeria be split into two to forestall further bloodshed, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and outgoing Primate of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Peter Akinola yesterday cautioned against dismissing the comments with a mere wave of the hands.

He said that the import of the statement be examined critically.
Against the background of disturbances in parts of the country over time and the attendant impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators, the religious leader said that the comments credited to Gaddafi were indeed “divine.”

The comments by the Libyan leader had attracted condemnations from different quarters with all concluding that the Libyan strongman must be insane to have given such advice to Nigeria.
Akinola who is due for retirement in the next 72 hours was speaking at a farewell media parley in Abuja during which he formally introduced his would-be successor, Most Reverend Nicholas Dikeriehi Orogodo Okoh. He explained that he, just like other people, had dismissed Gaddafi’s comment as one coming from an undesirable quarter.

However, on deep reflection over it for a week, he discovered that the comment deserved a second thought.
He said, initially I dismissed him, thinking he was only being true-to-type, because he is the kind of person who could say such thing. After a week of pondering over the whole thing, I said to myself, may be the man should not just be dismissed. Perhaps what he has said is divine in the sense that it would serve as a wake up call to Nigerian stakeholders to find ways of finding lasting solutions to the issues at stake.
Pointing out that Nigerian Authorities should ignore the messenger but take the message serious, Akinola argued that although the Libyan leader was not a friend of Nigeria, the import of his comment should not be lost on all.

According to him, what Gaddafi meant was that the time has come for Nigeria to sit and discuss her continued existence as one country under one God. “Why should some people be referring to Muslim North and Christian South, which is not true. There is no part of the North that you won’t find Christians, and there is no part of the South that you won’t find Muslims and Christians co-habit.
Alluding to the inability of government and law enforcement agencies to bring to book perpetrators of disturbances ever since, the religious leader wondered why government or the Police have never brought anyone to book since the Kafanchan crisis in 1988. “Where are the murderers and arsonists that caused mayhem in all the crises we have been having in this country. We need to come together and discuss the terms of our staying together if we want to be honest with ourselves.


“I support one Nigeria, but we have to discuss our continued existence as a nation. If Nigeria should burn, nobody will be spared. The time is ripe and due for discussion to settle Nigeria’s unity, that is what Gaddafi’s statement portends. If Hausa-Fulani can do their business in the South unmolested, Kola and Ugochukwu should be able to do their businesses in Kaduna or Jos unmolested, and if molested, then government and the police have a duty to fish out the perpetrators and deal with them decisively.”




http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/mar/23/national-23-03-2010-24.htm

Nigeria's oil reserve expected to dry up in 2040
08-02-10 The oil reserves in the Niger Delta currently in the region of 30 bn barrels will dry and disappear by the year 2040.
Activities of militant groups in the region, ineptitude leadership and rapid depletion of ore, a major component for the exploration are contributory factors that may see the end of Nigeria's oil.

Regulatory and monitoring organs in the country including the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) are concerned about the development. A source in one of the agencies confirms that some of the agencies especially NNPC and RMAFC have undertaken visitations and mounted various campaigns on need for the diversification of the economy to other sectors and on the necessity for passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law.
The RMAFC had toured some states to verify existing and abandoned oil wells and other prospective areas for exploration. It also provided each state in the federation with lists of abundant mineral and natural resources in its location which could be tapped for more revenue to their Internally Generated Revenue and the Federation Accounts.

Minerals and hydrocarbon deposits have life-span and can be negatively affected if there are fewer activities to extend the life indices through intensive exploration to augment the resource base.
Members of the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), which comprises commissioners of finance, accountants general of states, NNPC, Customs and Federal Inland Revenue Service are being told on the need for new investment and diversifications of the economy because they would soon run out of oil for export and local consumption. The campaigns have also gone to Governors and federal legislators on the need for early passage of PIB because the future of Nigeria's oil, according to the campaigners, depends largely on new oil bill that would promote continued investment in new oils and security of facilities in the Niger Delta region.

At another forum in Abuja recently, a General Manager, Planning, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Victor Briggs, stated that that Nigeria is not investing in new oil discoveries whereby all the revenues from oil goes to the Federation Account directly without reinvesting into oil fields.
The disbursement figures made in January 2010 from the Federation Account shows that while Bayelsa and Edo States received the sum of N 4.29 bn and N 3.48 bn respectively the non-oil states of Lagos and Kano States received N 9.16 bn and N 6.49 bn respectively.



Source: http://allafrica.com / Daily Trust



http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/nta101224.htm?

hell

Nigeria: Senate Directs CBN to Recover N620 Billion Bailout Fund
Cosmas Ekpunobi
20 March 2010

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Lagos — Trouble is not yet over for some commercial banks still battling with over N1.3trillion toxic debts as the Senate President, David Mark, Thursday, directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commence immediate recovery of over N620billion lifeline bailout to the banks.

Mark and indeed the senate insisted that the bailout cannot be a free money to the banks.

Mark also Thursday indicted the former CBN boss Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and his team over the rot in the banking industry, saying that the huge toxic debt by the banks would have been avoided if the former CBN administration had stepped up its supervisory role on the banks.

The senate president who spoke at the opening of a one day public hearing on the Asset Management Corporation bill said that Prof. Soludo and his former team deceived the senate and other Nigerians to believe that all was well with the banks.

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Said he: "We have found ourselves where we are today as a result of one thing; the Central Bank's inability to supervise the banks properly. I recall that in Soludo's time, we called the governor of CBN not less than three times to come and brief us when the economic meltdown started, and on each occasion, we were assured and re-assured that the situation in Nigeria was excellent and that there was no problem at all. Now we know better.

"And I believe very sincerely that if the supervision was alright, we would not have found ourselves running debts up to trillions of naira. I think that point is very important and we must note it.

"What is even more disturbing is that while the banks were running these toxic debts, they were also declaring profits. But those banks had these debts and then fat profits and all of us were clapping for them because we didn't know the inside story but they are people who are being paid on daily basis to know the inside story of the banks; they didn't do their work".



http://allafrica.com/stories/201003220768.html?

lets stop all this nonsence, yara'dua have gone for good, all this politics of yara'dua is from the ex sacked kitchen cabinets, cabal

free looting

God have mercy with this corrupt nation, weep for the country, so sorry

New Cabinet: Jonathan, Govs on collision course
From NOSIKE OGBUENYI, Abuja
Monday, March 22, 2010


Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
The plan by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to carry out a major surgical operation on the federal cabinet by not reappointing most of the sacked ministers had put him on a collision course with some influential state governors in the country.

Daily Sun gathered from authoritative sources that Jonathan’s efforts to achieve a radical change by injecting go-getters into the new cabinet are being frustrated by the governors largely based on individual political and other pecuniary reasons.
According to a Daily Sun source, majority of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors are not favourably disposed to supporting the change of the ministers from their respective states by Jonathan.

“For the simple fact that the next general elections are just by the corner, most of the governors do not feel safe to change the ministers from their states at this stage which they consider critical. They believe that the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know. That is why many of them have been dragging their feet by not sending their lists of fresh ministerial nominees as requested by the acting president. Instead of sending new names, they are busy lobbying for the retention of the non-performing former ministers,” the source revealed.

He added that due to certain calculations, which include loyalty of the ministers to them, the affected governors are shielding their ministers whose performances in their respective federal ministers have fallen below expectation. However, despite such protections by the governors, Jonathan is poised to effect the changes as he has set the final deadline for the governors to supply their nominees or else he would proceed and appoint whoever he pleases from those states.

Due to the governors’ un-cooperative attitude about the planned cabinet changes, Jonathan, for sometime, was in a dilemma as to how to go about the desired exercise without rupturing his administration’s good relationship with the governors, the source hinted further. But he is said to have run out of patience with the governors over their self-centred power play and is now ready to break the ice by going ahead with the reconstitution of the cabinet.

It was also learnt that the opposition of some the governors to change of the ministers was part of their grand design to checkmate Jonathan and prevent him from consolidating and growing in power and influence. “The governors are doing everything they can to keep the acting president under reasonable check and prevent him from carrying out far-reaching changes that would make him become too powerful and independent-minded,” the source added.

He said: “Goodluck is concerned about how to move the nation forward and some reactionary forces are slowing him. I can assure you that he is set to call the bluff of those who think they can frustrate him.”
“It is most disappointing that most of the governors are placing their personal political gains and some 2011 calculations over and above national interest. Such antics will not augur well for the larger interest of the majority of the people and the acting president believes there ought to be a dividing line between personal considerations and public good,” the sourced emphasised.

In normal circumstances, state governors from the ruling party or other parties in alliance with the central government send list of ministerial nominees to the president as a guide to select from. The president is, however, not compelled to restrict his choice to the list, which usually comprises a maximum of three options to choose from per state.

The source stated that the acting president has decided to court the Senate for its support as he prepares to dispatch his list of star-studded ministerial nominees to the upper chamber for screening not minding the wishes of the governors.


http://www.nigeriannews.com/

Akunyili, Umar, Jega for INEC chair
Headlines Mar 22, 2010

*Ishola, Ibrahim, Agbakoba also tipped

By Innocent Anaba

ABUJA—THE Presidency is considering six names as likely replacement for Professor Maurice Iwu as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Vanguard can authoritatively reveal.

According to sources in the Presidency, names being considered as likely replacement for Iwu include Prof. Attahiru Jega, a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, rtd.Major-General Ishola Williams, president of Transparency Nigeria, Prof Dora Akunyili, immediate past Information and Communications Minister, Col. Abubakar Umar, former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, and former Nigeria Bar Association, NBA president.

Presidency sources said that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan was bent on leaving a legacy in Nigeria’s political history, and as such regards the civil society a veritable ally that would credibly contribute towards realizing his ambition.

Jega would be remembered for the pivotal role he played in forcing the government of General Ibrahim Babangida to improve the welfare of university teachers and properly recognize their role in nation building. Williams’name is synonymous with abhorence for corruption, hence he stands out as probably the only Army General who is not associated with questionable wealth.

Ibrahim is Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, a non-governmental organization in Abuja, and is no less known than the others for his Civil Society activities.

Agbakoba is regarded generally as an icon in human rights activities, having founded and run the foremost civil society group, the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO. When the military had the nation in its stranglehold, Agbakoba stood out, deploying his knowledge of law in the fight against arbitrariness of the military. During that era, the CLO was the unofficial mouthpiece of the citizenry.

Three of the names were members of the President Umaru Yar’Adua 22-member Electoral Reform Panel, which in keeping with Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda was inaugurated to review the electoral system to ensure that subsequent elections are credible to meet international standards. The panel had submitted its report to Yar’ Adua before the President took ill.

Vanguard can authoritatively reveal that the short-listing of the names, followed last week’s rejection of one of the key recommendations of the Uwais Committee, that the National Judicial Council, NJC, should be responsible for the selection of the chairman of INEC, to insulate the occupier of the position from undue political and partisan influence.

The Senate Committee on Constitution Review, had presented a revised constitution on the Senate floor last Thursday, rejecting the appointment of INEC chairman by the NJC.

The Senate’s review committee, headed by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, however, recommended that INEC and the National Assembly should be fully autonomous hence placing them on the first-line charge of the consolidated revenue fund.

The Senate report, however, indicated that INEC’s chairman and members of the board of the commission “shall not be members of any political party.”

Other recommendations of the Senate committee include that all election-related cases must be disposed of within 60 days of the date of filing such cases.

According to the committee, in the case of annulled elections, the eventual winner must have fresh tenure to start from the date of swearing-in, as the tenure of four years for executives at the federal and state level, was left intact.

The committee had further recommended that elections to the office of President shall be held on a date not earlier than 210 days and 80 days before expiration of the term of the last holder of that office.

The committee also recommended that all political parties must have their head offices in Abuja and each must always submit detailed annual statement and analysis of its sources of funds and other assets, together with a similar statement of expenditure in such form as the commission may require.



http://www.nigeriannews.com/

corruption, nigeria is a failed state

great


mmmm what makes nigeria great?

Herdsmen strike in Ekiti, kill police corporal, two villagers wounded
By Adewale Adeoye Published Today News Rating: Unrated

Shuaib
Armed Fulani herdsmen have killed a police Corporal identified as Shuaib, a native of Edo State who until his death was the head of a little community police station located at Irele, North East of Ekiti State. The dawn attack on Wednesday left two peasants critically wounded.

The incidence happened barely a week after the Northern city of Jos witnessed violent attacks by herdsmen on locals. The Jos incidence claimed hundreds of deaths, including but not limited to women and children.

Police sources at Ikole Ekiti, the chief town in the area, claimed that a ‘bush-hunt’ for the murderers lasted for two days but did not yield results until last Friday when three of the herdsmen were arrested. Another suspect was arrested at Ogbe, on the community’s market day. Ogbe is a nuclear settlement on the fringe, between Kogi and Ekiti States.

Eyewitnesses claimed that in the early hours of Wednesday, two natives had complained to the local police authority after several cows owned by the herdsmen had invaded subsistent farms, eating much of the cash crops. Yam tubers destroyed or eaten were said to be in hundreds. The killing of the police man, locals claimed, marked the odd peak of frequent skirmishes that had characterized the relationship between natives and the herdsmen for close to half a decade.

‘The herdsmen come to our farms all the time. We are at their mercy. In this latest case, they invaded the farms cockcrow last Wednesday after which they wounded several of the farm owners. The owners reported the incidence to the police station from where a corporal was sent to arrest the herdsmen. When they sighted the policeman, they viciously attacked and killed him,’ an old farmer whose family of five spends most of their days working and sleeping on their farmland told The Nation. He said since the recent attack, his family has relocated into his ancestral home in the centre of the small, peaceful community.

He said the tow attacked peasants were Tiv, natives of Benue State, who recently migrated into the area in large numbers for farming. Many of the Tiv were said to be victims of past ethnic clashes in Taraba state where many of them were displaced due to the year-long fighting with their Junkun neighbours in 2004.

Mr Sola Olatunde, an indigene of Ekiti State and member of the Ekiti Development Association, EDA said the past one decade has seen what he called the invasion of Ekiti and many states in the South West by ‘herdsmen that have no respect nor understanding of the customs, tradition and ownership of land by families and communities.’ He said the grazing activities of the cattles owned by the herdsmen have led to the depletion of forestland in Ekiti while raising the specter of serious ethnic conflict in the entire South West region.

‘We have on our hands a very serious social, cultural and security problems due to the invasion of the herdsmen some of whom are from Chad, Niger and Mali. Unfortunately they are all armed with guns and machetes. They forcefully live in our ancestral lands which they now seize by force,’ Olatunde stated adding that cases of violent robbery and rape of minors are constantly associated with the herdsmen.

A community leader in Irele, Dr Niyi Oluwafemi, who is a medical doctor, told The Nation that herdsmen in the area occasionally block the new trunk-B road that runs from Ikole to the surrounding towns and villages with their cattles, leading to untold hardship for commuters. He said he has confidence in the ability of the police to tackle the menace.




http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/40364/1/Herdsmen-strike-in-Ekiti-kill-police-corporal-two-villagers-wounded/Page1.html

MASSOB backs Gaddafi on Nigeria
20 March, 2010 04:27:00 JAYNE UCHE-UKONNE, Aba
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Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan leader
Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has called on Nigerian leaders to heed the call of Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, for the partition of Nigeria into two as a way of solving sectarian crises that had engulfed the country over the years.

Colonel Gaddafi had earlier in the week while addressing a group of African students, including those from Nigeria, advocated that Nigeria be split along religious lines of Muslim North and Christian south, to avoid further bloodshed in the nation, citing India and Pakistan that came into existence through such arrangement in 1947.

Reacting to the call, MASSOB through its direction of information for Aba region, Mr. Sunny Okoroafor, said the Libyan leader’s statement was a home truth, especially as it came from a respected African leader who had the interest of the countries of the continent at heart.

He said Gaddafi’s call had not only vindicated the organization’s long drawn struggle for a separate state, but has also justified then Lt. Col Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s attempt in 1967 to secede the Eastern Nigeria from the rest of the country.

He stated that the Libyan leader’s statement would spur MASSOB to intensify its struggle for actualization of a separate state and urged militants in the Niger Delta to step up its activities in the area in order to actualize the clarion call of the Libyan leader.

Mr. Okoroafor however disagreed with Gaddafi on the mode of dividing the country as the Libyan leader had suggested that the country should be divided along the line of North and south.

The MASSOB spokesperson said the Western and Northern regions should remain as one country while the Eastern region should be a country of its own if genuine peace is to be achieved.


http://www.champion.com.ng/index.php?news=29564

Turai tackles jonathan You Can’t Sack Yar’adua’s CSO, ADC
Written by Abubakar A. Ibrahim & Ahmad Salkida
Sunday, 21 March 2010 00:40
Hajiya Turai Umaru Musa Yar’adua
An attempt by Acting President Gooodluck Jonathan to sack the Aide-de-Camp and Chief Security Officer of President Umaru Yar’adua last week has been resisted by Turai Yar’adua, the ailing president’s wife. This is coming in the wake of Jonathan’s bold move to dissolve the cabinet constituted by Yar’adua in an attempt to consolidate his hold on power.

Sunday Trust gathered that Turai opposed the move to sack the president’s aides on grounds that she had no idea how to explain the sack to a recuperating Yar’adua. She also raised concerns over what people might say should anything happen to the president in the event of the sack of his trusted aides.

Jonathan, it was learnt, has been uncomfortable with the duo of Colonel Mustapha Onudieva, Yar’adua’s ADC, who hails from Edo State and the CSO, Yusuf Tilde, who was the Director General of the State Security Service in Katsina State while Yar’adua was governor. The development arose from the duo’s stance on the occasion of the President’s return, February 24, under the cover of darkness.

Hours after Yar’adua’s return from a three-month sojourn in a Saudi hospital, Col. Onudieva positioned himself behind Yar’adua’s seat in anticipation of Yar’adua chairing that day’s Federal Executive Council meeting. That chair had been occupied by Jonathan since he was advanced to act as president by the Nigerian legislature. A potential clash was averted when neither Yar’adua nor Jonathan turned up for the meeting, which was eventually cancelled. It was not clear at the time if the aides would have prevented Jonathan from taking the president’s seat had he attempted to.

The two men have also been playing a key role in keeping Yar’adua away from public officials since his return. A source disclosed that this stance earned the duo the wrath of the acting president who had since wanted them out. The sack would have had dangerous implications to the person of Yar’adua considering the roles the two aides play. A presidency source disclosed to Sunday Trust that the absence of the ADC and CSO makes the president vulnerable as it implies he is no longer a state property but a property of himself and his family.

The ADC, in the Nigerian context, has always been a preserve of the military especially in the last 10 years. President Shehu Shagari is known to have used a policeman as an ADC.

The ADC is usually a ceremonial post where an individual occupying the post is attached to a very important personality (VIP) and takes care of the VIP’s protocols, stands behind him, holds his files and phones and review his domestic messages whether official or personal.

The CSO on the other hand is charged with the VIP’s physical security and is always on duty 24 hours. He is usually a highly trained spy who takes charge of co-ordinating the VIP’s security and, unlike the ADC who may be absent sometimes, he is always with the VIP in all circumstances.

Sunday Trust sources in the presidency disclosed that there have been separate meetings between Acting President Jonathan and Hajiya Turai as well as Yar’adua’s mother, Hajiya Dada. The two women also reportedly met the new National Security Adviser (NSA) General Aliyu Gusau (rtd) but details of both meetings have not been disclosed.

The influence of General Gusau, an old spy master, is gradually coming to fore as it emerged that he played a major role in Jonathan’s decision to dissolve the cabinet, Wednesday March 17. Sunday Trust gathered that Jonathan was encouraged by the NSA to dissolve the cabinet based on intelligence he claimed to have gathered from Saudi Arabia that Yar’adua may not recover enough to return to office. The president has been diagnosed with pericarditis, a heart condition resulting from the inflammation of the pericardium – a membrane which encloses the heart. It is known that there is just a recovery window of three months after which it is feared the victim might never recover. Yar’adua has been suffering from the ailment since November last year and prior to that; he has been known to suffer kidney infection and his health as always been a subject of discourse even while he was governor of Katsina State.

This information, Sunday Trust gathered, emboldened Jonathan to effect the cabinet sack. It is expected that the new cabinet to be constituted will have a larger number of Jonathan loyalists who may move to make him a substantive president and consolidate his hold on power in the run-up to next year’s general elections.



http://www.nigeriannews.com/

How they fared
By Vincent Ikuomola Published Today News Rating: Unrated

Aondoakaa
•Former Minister of Special Duties, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa (SAN):

He started out as Attorney-Federation and Minister of Justice, but ended up as Special Duties Minister, no thanks to the needless controversies he generated for himself.
Aondoakaa was always at the centre of controversies. He drew publice ire when he sent a Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to take over from an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lawyer without due process in a motion filed by former Abia State Governor, Orji Kalu against the commission. He based his action on the prosecutorial powers he wielded to take over any matter in public interest.

Eminent personalities like the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) called for his sack.
Aondoakaa was also criticised for the handling of former Delta State Governor, James Ibori’s trial by a London Court when he faulted the EFCC for transmitting evidence to the court without his blessing. All this is a tip of the ice-berg considering his role in President Umaru Yar’Adua’s health challenge. He told a bewildered nation that Yar’Adua could exercise executive powers from any part of the world. He was the first casualty in the power game after Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became acting president. He was sent to the Special Duties Ministry. He performed below average.

•Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mansur Muhtar

He will be remembered for his good insight into the country’s economic challenges. Although it is believed he left the economy worse than he met it, he assumed office crying that his predecessors ruined it. Curiously, under his watch, the Naira never appreciated nor did he boost export to increase external reserves. He performed below average.

•Former Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola

A banker of no mean repute, Babalola will be remembered for bringing the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation’s indebtedness to the front burner. But surprisingly, he suddenly became reticent about the debts. He attributed his silence to the transition that was on-going before he blew the whistle. He was, however, quite active and contributed to economic discourse. He performed above average.

•Former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke

Initially, she was Transportation Minister. Nigeria will remember her public show of appearing in an orange overall on the dilapidated Oye-Benin Express road. She shed tears over the state of the road and raised hopes of rehabilitating it. She never did until her deployment to the Mines and Steel Development Ministry where she showed flashes of performance.
She convinced Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who is her godfather, to approve the re-opening of Ajaokuta Steel Company and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO). Besides, she gave small scale miners a breather through a World Bank grant. She performed averagely.

•Former Minister of Power, Dr. Lanre Babalola

Despite his promise, Babalola could not deliver 6,000 mega watts (MW) of electricity before the expiration of the December 31, last year’s target. He rather engaged former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Commission (NERC), Rowland Owan and the Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency, Sam Gekpe and the former Permanent Secretary Mr. Abdullahi Suleiman in a battle of wits. He performed below average.

•Former Minister of Petroleum, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman

The old war horse will be remembered for his deregulation plan. Under his watch, fuel scarcity became recurrent. He was brought in to rejuvenate the petroleum sector but he did not achieve the mandate. He performed woefully.

•Former Minister of State Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN)

A lawyer, Ajumogobia will be remembered for his reasons given for the need to deregulate the petroleum sector. Described as a close confidant of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, Ajumogobia’s job is said to be intact. He performed below average.

•Former Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Sayyadi Abba Ruma

Ruma, who is in his late 40s, has been on the corridors of power for long. Between 1992 and 94 he served as special adviser to the then military governor of Katsina state. He also served as the Secretary to the State Government, between 2003 and 2006 before he was named minister of state, Education under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. Ruma is regarded as one of the closes minister to President Umoru Musa Yar’Adua. The country is yet to feel the impact of the grains said to have been released from the national reserve. The price of agricultural produce has also hit the roof. He performed averagely.

•Former Minister of Environment, Mr. John Odey

Odey set out as Minister of Information in 2007. he was deployed to the Environment Ministry in 2008.
He did not do badly in the area of climate change. His was an average performance.

•Former Minister of Works, Dr. Hassan Lawan

Arguably one of the longest serving ministers, Lawan was in charge of labour ministry under Obasanjo between 2003 and 2007. He continued in that ministry in the first two years of the Yar’Adua administration before being made Minister of Works. He supervised the Ministry of Health after the removal of its two ministers. He was made Minister of Works in December, 2008. The roads have not been any better under his watch despite huge allocations. He scored below average.

•Former Minister of Interior, Dr. Shettima Mustafa

Twenty years ago, Mustafa served as Minister of Agriculture and people expected that he would be deployed to this familiar terrain under President Yar’Adua. He was at the Defence Ministry before he was moved by Yar’Adua to Interior Ministry in 2008 cabinet shakeup. He proved critics wrong with his performance. He performed averagely.

•Former Minister of State, Interior, Chief Ademola Seriki

Fondly described as “Lagos Boy”, Seriki has been a vibrant person right from the Defence Ministry where he started out with Mustafa. But he was not associated with any meaningful or revelationary policy. He was only enjoying himself. A worthy epithet will read like this: “A Lagos boy passed through the defence and Interior Ministries”. He performed below average.

•Former Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Senator Jibrin Bello Gada

Senator Gada was said to have been praying to leave the ministry as many of his staff described his stay as unfavourable. He was said to have disliked the ministry and was only marking time. Not much was known about his tenure as he was clearly outshone by the Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Otunba Segun Runsewe. Performance: Below average.



http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/40250/1/How-they-fared/Page1.html

Gun men kill two EFCC agents
By AGENCY REPORTER, Published: Saturday, 20 Mar 2010





EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri


Barely 24 hours after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission raised the alarm on plans by unknown people to attack them, an armed gang on Friday killed two of its operatives.



The victims were part of a team of five operatives returning from Owerri to Enugu where they had attended a court proceeding in a case that involved, Mr. Albert Chikwe, husband of a former Minister of Aviation, Dr. Kema Chikwe.



Chikwe is being tried for an alleged N40m fraud.



Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, told our correspondent that the first victim, Mr. Eze Adaga, died on the spot, while the second, whose identity could not be ascertained, died in a yet to be disclosed hospital from gun shot wounds.



”While the trial was one, our men got signals that there were strange movements at the court. And the men were attacked after leaving the court,” Babafemi said.



He declined to disclose the name of the hospital the victims were taken to for safety reasons.



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100320401146

Bank directors with 12 years experience must quit – CBN
By Yemi Kolapo, Published: Saturday, 20 Mar 2010





CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido


There are strong indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria has directed non-executive directors that have spent 12 years on the boards of their banks to quit by December 2010.



The decision, which, according to sources close to the Bankers‘ Committee, is in line with the code of corporate governance of 2006, is causing ripples among the directors, who think their stakes in the banks are at risk.



A top official of the CBN, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent on Friday, confirmed that directors, who fell in this category, might have to go by December, adding that the CBN was only enforcing the code of corporate governance issued in 2006 by the apex bank under Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.



He said apart from the part of the code, which required that banks should have succession plans for chief executive officers; non-executive directors were also not expected to spend more than 12 years to allow young people with fresh ideas to take over the affairs of the banks.



According to him, ”The code says maximum tenure for non-executive directors of banks is three terms of four years each. It also says that banks must change auditors after a maximum of 10 years. The CBN is only reminding the banks to comply.



”This is the reason why no new circular was issued on the CBN website to that effect. The code had been there but many items on it were just not being implemented.”



He also said that Guaranty Trust Bank Plc had told four of its non-executive directors to go in line with the code and had alerted the CBN even before the apex bank reminded other banks comply.



”GTBank complied voluntarily without prompting, so why should others not do the same thing,” he said.



However, another top official of the Bank added that affected directors were not being chased away from the industry, saying, ”they could go to other banks if they so wish.”



All the banks contacted on Friday declined to comment on the issue.



When contacted, the Head, Corporate Affairs, CBN, Mr. Muhammed Abdullahi, simply said, ”The true position is that the provision is contained in the code of corporate governance issued by the CBN in 2006.”



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201003203231231

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Soludo Misled Nigeria On Banks’ Consolidation –Mark

By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi , Assistant Editor, Abuja



Senate President, David Mark, has said former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chukwuma Soludo, misled the National Assembly on the banking consolidation exercise he supervised in 2005.

Mark said this at the one-day joint public hearing on a Bill for an Act to Establish Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) organised by the Senate Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions Committee.

Nkechi Nwaogu chairs the committee.

Declaring open the public hearing which had stakeholders in the banking industry in attendance, including CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, Director General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, the Senate President reiterated the setting up of AMCON because of toxic debts of banks which has climbed to as high as trillions of naira.

“We have found ourselves where we are today as a result of one thing; the Central Bank of Nigeria’s inability to supervise the banks properly.

“I recall that in Soludo’s time, we called the governor of CBN no less than three times to come and brief us when the economic melt-down started, and on each occasion, we were assured and re-assured that the situation in Nigeria was excellent and that there was no problem at all.

“Now we know better.

“So, I think that is the point that we must note straight away. AMCON has become necessary because of the toxic debts that have been incurred by various banks.

“I believe very sincerely that if the supervision was alright, we would not have found ourselves running debts up to trillions of naira. I think that point is very important and we must note it.“

“What is even more disturbing is that while the banks were running these toxic debts, they were also declaring profits.

“But those banks had these debts and then fat profits and all of us were clapping for them because we didn’t know the inside story but they are people who are being paid on daily basis to know the inside story of the banks; they didn’t do their work,” Mark said.






http://www.nigeriannews.com/

US plots military strategy for Nigeria’s ‘breakup’ Friday, 19 March 2010 00:00 Nigerian Compass
UNITED STATES President Barack Obama is preparing American troops for a special intervention in Nigeria, in the event of a widespread chaos that could threaten oil production, a top brass in the U.S. army and a security expert have revealed.


According to the Commander, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), General William Ward, American troops have been placed on red alert as the government is monitoring the political situation in Africa’s most populous nation.
Daniel Volman, Director of the U.S-based Africa Security Research Project, added that a growing U.S. need for natural resources was one of the main reasons the Defence Department developed AFRICOM, in the light of instability in places such as oil-rich Nigeria.


He said: “For the Pentagon, the nightmare scenario is that Nigeria will descend into chaos. Infighting in Nigeria will reach a point where oil production will actually be directly threatened, and then what do you do? Do you send American troops into Nigeria?
“The people at the Pentagon are already doing war-gaming and contingency planning for that - not because they particularly want to do that, but because they recognise how important Nigeria is to the United States.”
In 2007, the U.S. Government set up AFRICOM, after predicting Nigeria’s disintegration and possible breakup within 15 years.


Concerned about the series of political and religious crises which the country has been facing since President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was incapacitated by acute pericarditis that kept him in Saudi Arabia from November 23, 2009 till February 24, world leaders have been apprehensive about Nigeria’s future.
The latest crisis in Jos, where over 500 people, mostly children and women, were slaughtered by armed group, drew comments, on Tuesday, from Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.


He advocated the breakup of the country into two nations to avoid further bloodshed between Muslims and Christians.
To diffuse tension, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan made a nationwide broadcast in January, over the Jos crisis, and he has been appealing to trouble makers to give peace a chance.
General Ward recently testified on Capitol Hill that AFRICOM is still based in Germany because public opinion in Africa makes it counter-productive to base its command there.
Volman also said that although AFRICOM is based in Stuttgart, General Ward and his people spend about half of their time on the African continent.


“They have also begun building up the level of U.S. military personnel at all the U.S. embassies, so they can have mini AFRICOM headquarters in every single country,” he said.
Mark Davidheiser, director of the newly-created U.S.-based Africa Peace and Conflict Network, says he believes that concerns over terrorism trump all else when it comes to AFRICOM.
“I mean the real concern is terrorism,” said Mark Davidheiser. “That is what is motivating this programme, I believe. There has been a lot of worry about the lack of robust governance in Africa and the rather loose or patchy rule of law that exists in many places. So, the fear is that Africa can become a haven for extremists.”


The United States has also had long standing military ties with African countries with fewer resources and no visible terrorist threat, such as Guinea, where recent years have been marked by power struggles within the military. When former coup leader turned long-time President, Lansana Conte, died in late 2008, a soldier took over in a coup, before barely surviving an assassination attempt by another soldier.
Steven McDonald, an expert with the Africa programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, says the example of Guinea points to some of the challenges the United States faces in helping the military in Africa.


“Whether they had seen it as a ‘poster child’ (leading example) in the sense of military relations or not, I kind of doubt that,” said McDonald. “I think there was a great deal of hope placed on it that there would be a different kind of transition there. And I am sure there have been attempts behind the scenes to try to dissuade and recoup what has happened. But it is probably just another example of why in smaller countries like that where it does not stand high on our priorities of interests in terms of our own national interest that we have very limited leverage, and we learn it when things like this happen.”
Davidheiser regrets the emphasis that has been placed on U.S.-Africa military relations.
“It saddens me that that has been such a pillar of U.S. policy - giving military aid, training, sending advisors, training local military members by U.S. trainers, who often, history has shown, have turned around and then been involved in all sorts of brutalities and human rights violations against the populations there,” he said.


In the case of Guinea, human rights groups say the country’s military, which received support and training from the United States, was responsible for the killing of 150 demonstrators at a stadium in the capital Conakry last year. Senior military officials have blamed renegade soldiers for the violence.
U.S. military officials say they are actively training security forces across the African continent to fight not only terrorism, but also drug and human trafficking as well as piracy.
Meanwhile, Nigeria may soon get into serious diplomatic trouble at the United Nations Security Council over the recurring killings of innocent citizens in Jos as the world body has taken the first step to hold the country responsible for the pogrom.


Already, a delegation of the world body has been mandated to gather information on what is happening in the Tin City.
The Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, earlier this week, sent a special envoy to Nigeria to gather information on potential causes of genocide and help identify how the international community can prevent such a scourge in Nigeria.
Only on Wednesday, the international news circuit was bombarded again, for the third time this year, of another round of religious killings in the state.
The UN and the United States have spoken out against this, with the UN calling it “a massacre” and both UN and US calling on the Federal Government to enforce the law and prevent further violence.


The UN Secretary General said the mandate given to the UN envoy “is to collect information on serious violations of human rights that could lead to genocide and to bring potential genocidal situations to the attention of the Security Council.”
If the envoy determines that there is troubling information in the Jos crisis that may lead to a potential and major crisis, he is mandated to report same to the Security Council which will then formally take up the Jos crisis as one of its security concerns around the world, with possible imposition of severe international actions including sanctions or the imposition of a UN force in the area.


The sending of a special envoy by the UN to Nigeria is indicative of the determination of the global body to begin to gather information to activate the UN General Assembly resolution on the UN’s “Responsibility to Protect” mandate.
A UN statement earlier in the week said the UN envoy, who is the Special Adviser on the prevention of genocide, Mr. Francis Deng, is already in the West African region having arrived on Wednesday and will from there be visiting Nigeria on how “to identify how national and sub-regional bodies can help prevent the scourge.”


Apart from Nigeria, the UN envoy will also visit Guinea and Ghana, “where he will discuss his mandate with government officials, UN officials on the ground and representatives from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)”.
Deng, a Sudanese scholar and advocate, was named to the post by Ban in 2007 “to collect information on serious violations of human rights that could lead to genocide and to bring potential genocidal situations to the attention of the Security Council.”
World leaders started considering the UN mandate in 2005, when then Nigeria’s President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, played an active role in the negotiations to mobilise support for such a mandate so that the international community will not just sit by and see the abuse and violation of people’s fundamental human rights by the government of the day without being able to stop it.


Obasanjo convinced some opposing leaders from developing countries not to oppose the mandate or completely kill the idea then as they feared that its adoption may give developed countries a right to militarily invade developing nations under the guise of the UN’s “responsibility to protect.’
Up until the 2009 General Assembly summit of world leaders, the issue of the UN’s Responsibility to Protect” was still being actively debated as the Assembly adopted by consensus its first resolution on the responsibility to protect, agreeing to hold further discussions on the international understanding to intervene to stop atrocities from taking place in sovereign nations.


The UN Secretary-General had called on the UN General Assembly “to turn the promise of the responsibility to protect into practice.”
The Responsibility to Protect principle was agreed to at a summit of world leaders in 2005 and sometimes known as ‘R2P’, it holds states responsible for shielding their own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and related crimes against humanity and requires the international community to step in if this obligation is not met.

By Peter Babs Imade, New York



http://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43817:us-plots-military-strategy-for-nigerias-breakup-&catid=672:top-stories&Itemid=794

Church leaders back Gadaffi
18 March, 2010 06:52:00 INNOCENT OKONKWO
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Eminent church leaders in Nigeria yesterday rose in support of Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi’s call for the splitting of Nigeria as a solution to the constant crisis in the country.

They however disagreed with Gaddafi on the number of countries that would emerge from Nigeria, saying that Nigeria should be divided into six different nations.

The church leaders also condemned the Amalgamation of 1914 by the British, noting that it has not helped the country.

Gaddafi had told African student leaders in Libya that Nigeria should be divided into two nations to avoid further bloodshed between Muslims and Christians, saying that the partitioning should follow the model of Pakistan which was carved out from India in 1947.

But reacting to Gaddafi’s call yesterday, immediate past National Secretary of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Joseph Ojo; Presiding Bishop of Church of Rulers International Lagos, Bishop Francis Adeniran and Senior Pastor of Holy Spirit Moving Ministry, Ijeshatedo, Lagos, Pastor Dave Osahon said Gaddafi was not far from the truth.

According to Ojo, the country should not split into two, but into six, saying that he was in full support the Libyan leader’s view that the country should be divided.

"I agree with him, Nigeria should be split into six different nations. Gaddafi said the country should be divided into two because of his religious sentiments but the reality is that this nation should split into six different nations.

Any church leader who is saying that the country should not split is speaking through his nose; such a person is saying that because of fear of arrest. The Amalgamation has not helped us at all. In fact it has not helped anybody ", he said.

Ojo who queried the rationale behind Federal Character in a nation, said it was only a ploy to perpetuate injustice in the country, stressing that federation has no character.

"What is federal character, federation has no character by the so called federal character, they place nonentities to oversee those who are far better than themselves", he said.

Similarly, Bishop Adeniran told Daily Champion in a telephone interview that splitting Nigeria into Six places would be the best for Nigerians.

He said each geopolitical zone should become a country of its own and be able to control its resources for a lasting peace in the country.

The cleric said splitting the country into two as Gaddafi has proposed would still encourage crisis among the people.

He lamented the level of cheating in the country, saying that the political class has short changed the people for too long.

"I am in support of splitting this nation because there is too much cheating in this country. This country should be divided into six different nations. Those who are benefiting in this country are those insisting that the nation must remain one. We should divide those who are ruling us. There is no way you can deal with evil in this nation because of its size. The unrighteous have been ruling this country", he said.

Osahon in his reaction said without division, that the problems confronting the country would continue, especially the bloodletting in Northern Nigeria.

He contended that religious killing would not stop if the country remains as it is at present.

"It is very clear that we have deceived ourselves in this country for long. Without division, there must be problems. If we don’t divide this country, the killing will not stop. So, Gaddafi is not far from the truth. Let everybody go his separate ways and there will be peace. If the country divides, there won’t be such groups like Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB),Odua People’s Congress (OPC), Arewa Consultative Forum or Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), people will just mind their own ways.

"The Hausas will not let the southerners go because of what they are benefiting from the South every zone should go its separate way for peace to reign", he said.


http://www.champion.com.ng/index.php?news=29396

Nigerian Muslim group urges “faithful” to kill more Christians.
March 16, 7:44 PMBible Prophecy ExaminerCraig PortwoodPrevious Comment Subscribe Subscribe


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A new video released on March 13, 2010, by the online jihad forum group Ansar Al-Mujahideen has called for more violence against Christians in Nigeria. The Arabic language video is titled "A New Wound: Nigeria."


Is this the rapture?
(AP Photo/Gbenga Akinbule)This video makes the statement that Nigeria is an important Islamic battleground and puts forth their belief that “jihad” (holy war) against Nigerian Christians is the only reasonable answer to address a growing Christian influence in the country.

This threat comes on the heels of the massacre of hundreds of Christians, many of them women and children, near the town of Jos, in central Nigeria.

According to the Ansar Al-Mujahideen, "Negotiations, dialogues and protests will not stop the advancement of the enemies and their massacres." He goes on to say, "Nothing will stop them but the sword and the spear."

Despite news reports of violence aimed against Christians around the world, the mainstream American “Church” continues to teach that believers will be “raptured” before they will have to face martyrdom. This escapist doctrine is not in line with what we were promised by Christ as the end times approach:


John 16:2



http://www.examiner.com/x-37026-Bible-Prophecy-Examiner~y2010m3d16-Nigerian-Muslim-group-urges-faithful-to-kill-more-Christians?

Jos: Charley Boy, Omotola, youths besiege N’Assembly
By Oluwole Josiah, Abuja, Published: Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010





Charley Boy


It was another day of protest in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Tuesday, as a coalition of youth leaders from across the country stormed Abuja with a call for the removal of all the heads of security agencies in the country for failing to stop the recent carnage in Dogon Na Hauwa area of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.



The protesters, who represented professionals, entrepreneurs, artistes, activists and students, also demanded President Umaru Yar’Adua’s removal from office if he could no longer perform his duties as the President of Nigeria.



Some of the notable artistes who marched with the youths were Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charley Boy; Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Six Foot Plus; as well as columnist, Dele Momodu.



In a four-point petition addressed to the President of the Senate, David Mark, the protesters said the Jos situation made it clear that the Nigerian state was incapable of securing the lives and limbs of its citizens, given the manner people were slaughtered in Jos.



“We demand an urgent overhaul of the security and intelligence apparatus in our country; the heads, the structures and the people that power the structures need to go, and they need to go now.



“We also demand that President Yar’Adua should resume, resign or be removed so that Nigerians know who their leaders are, and the cabal usurping the Presidency can finally be dislodged,” the statement said.



The protesters demanded that the Federal Government should, within one month, produce a realistic plan for solving the perennial power problem in the country.



They also pressed for the speedy conclusion of the electoral reform process, insisting that there could be no credible elections under the present arrangement.



“Nigerians aged below 35 constitute more that 70 per cent of the population and we are putting you on notice that we intend to begin to use this power. This is only the first of many steps we are going to be taking to ensure that our leaders take us seriously.



“We will come out massively to vote this time around, we will be watching closely and we will not leave election centres until all votes are counted. Anyone who rigs elections this time around will have themselves to blame. Young people across the country – from the North to the South – will be coming out in their millions and they will strongly resist any attempt to rig,” they insisted.



Meanwhile, the march suffered a hitch when policemen barricaded the main entrance to the National Assembly.



After hours of waiting, the youths forcefully made their entry through the gate, breaking the wall of fence made by the police.



But they eventually could not enter into the arcade of the complex where protesters are usually allowed to gather to make their demands because the National Assembly security closed the iron gates and deployed hundreds of armed policemen to keep the protesters off.



The intervention of Charley Boy and other artistes to get the leadership of the National Assembly to come out to speak with the youths failed.



Oputa at a point came out to announce to the protesters that the legislators had left the complex through the back gate.



But incidentally, the House Committee Chairman on Youths, Mr. Oyedokun Oladepo, appeared, claiming that he was sent by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole.



But the youths refused to listen to him. They said they would rather go away than speak with any person lesser than the President of the Senate or the Speaker.



Some of the artistes were, however, not happy as the youths walked out on the lawmaker, as they expressed the view that the Speaker’s representative was good enough.



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201003171251625

Ibori faces new investigation

By Elor Nkereuwem


March 15, 2010 01:20AM
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The immediate past governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who was recently acquitted of a 170-count corruption charges brought against him by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is not home free, as the agency has launched a fresh round of investigations on the activities of the former governor.

Double trouble

In addition to the fact that the EFCC has, since December 2009, filed a notice of appeal against the December 17, 2009 judgement which absolved Mr. Ibori of all wrong doing, the commission has begun this new round of investigations on the former governor following a petition by members of the Delta State Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum, which was made available to the public last week.

Last week, the chairman of the EFCC, Farida Waziri, held a meeting with the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, during which Mr. Jonathan re-emphasised the determination of the federal government to wage a vibrant anti-corruption campaign.

The latest petition against Mr. Ibori, signed by 10 leading citizens of Delta State headed by a former minister of information, Edwin Clark, includes a demand for a probe of the former governor over alleged illegal disposal of 528 million shares belonging to Delta State, in Oceanic Bank. The shares were said to have been disposed of in 2007 by government officials.

In the petition, which was also published in some national dailies, the group asked the anti- corruption agency to hold Mr. Ibori liable for the disposal of the shares. Mr. Ibori was alleged to have unlawfully used the 528.01 million units as “a collateral for a loan from Intercontinental Bank for his private company, Ascot Offshore Nigeria Ltd.”

Officials of the EFCC, who declined to be named, confirmed over the weekend that the agency has launched fresh investigations into several allegations against Mr. Ibori made by Mr. Clark, a delta chief and head of the Elders Committee of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“The EFCC has initiated investigations into some other allegations, including the ones made by Clark and co,” an operative of the agency told NEXT over the weekend.

However, the spokesman of the EFCC, Femi Babafemi, declined to speak on ongoing investigations against the former governor. “We are looking into the petition,” he said.

Old and new charges

Mr. Babafemi however confirmed that the commission was eager to go on with the earlier case, but that the appeal court was yet to fix a date for hearing on the matter.

“After the December 17th judgement, the EFCC on December 23rd filled a notice of appeal at the appeal court in Benin. We are just waiting for the appeal court to fix a date for the hearing,” Mr. Babafemi said.

The EFCC had slammed a 170-count charge of corruption on Mr. Ibori in 2007. After two years, a trial judge, Marcel Awokulehin, ruled the case in favour of the former governor in a Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State.

Mr. Ibori, however, still faces money laundering charges brought against him and some of his associates by the Metropolitan Police in London. The case is being heard at the Southwark County Court, London.


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5540578-146/ibori_faces_new_investigation__.csp

Akunyili Honoured in US
03.15.2010

The Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili has been honoured in the United States where she received an award as one of the 50 Powerful Women in an event organised by MEA Magazine at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Washington, D.C.
MEA Magazine, the organisers of the prestigious award has The Theme: "Women Going the Distance" for this year’s award in which 50 most successful business leaders across the United States were honoured. This is the first time a Nigerian is being honoured.


In a statement signed by Debra Williams, Publisher of the magazine, Prof. Akunyili's efforts at Re-branding Nigeria is applauded. “I applaud Akunyili's efforts in re-branding Nigeria and for going the distance for success and excellence and her contribution to her country.”


According to the group, these deserving women will be chosen from a pool of public nominations from the ranks of professionals. This is an occasion to celebrate women who have endured; gone the distance for success and excellence and have contributed to their communities. The group stated that the objective of the awards was to celebrate these women as role models for their hardwork, honesty, perseverance, resilience and integrity.


“I am honoured to be recognized as one of MEA Magazine’s ‘50 Powerful Women in Business’ said Akunyili. I could not have achieved this honour without God and Nigerians for whatever I am today I owe to Nigeria and the good people of Africa, I will not end my acceptance speech without mentioning that African women are good women and I will receive this honour on their behalf. The honour is to all of us.”


In attendance were the Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations Prof. U. Joy Ogwu and other important dignitaries amongst the African Americans. At the event the minister seized the opportunity in her speech to reinforce the Re-branding Nigeria project, and called on all Nigerians in the diaspora to join hands in moving Nigeria forward.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=168615

2011: Operation‘Stop IBB’
•Northern elders plot ex-military president’s fall
, Buhari shops for running mate
From ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Kaduna
Monday, March 15, 2010


• IBB
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
After series of meetings in Kaduna, Abuja, Sokoto and lately Lagos, members of the opposition parties, who are likely to name their new party any time soon, may have settled for two-time former presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) as its presidential candidate for 2011, Daily Sun has learnt.

The opposition, most of who are members of the National Democratic Movement, NDM, may have reached this conclusion after its last stakeholders’ meeting, held in Lagos about two weeks ago.
The initial setback the group experienced, sources hinted, was necessitated by the insistence of one of the leading lights of the group to run with Buhari, as his running mate in 2011.

However, sensing that the electorate may not be too comfortable with a Muslim-Muslim ticket, the group through persuasions had to impress it on the aspirant to see reason to drop his ambition in the interest of Nigeria.
“I can confirm to you that we have put that behind us, as he (aspirant) has seen the urgent need to drop his ambition so as to sustain the cooperation that have been made possible by the coming together of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Buhari, former Lagos and Sokoto State governors respectively, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Attahiru Bafarawa.”

The source was, however, noted that the stakeholders are yet to decide on whom the running mate would be, including where he would come from. What is however settled, Daily Sun further learnt, was the fact that South-West was not going to produce the running mate, as the candidate would come from either the South-South or the South-East. But this fact was contested by another member of the group who, however, is a chieftain of the Action Congress (AC), who said that South-West has not been completely ruled out in the race for the running mate.

According to sources within NDM, three aspirants are expected to be presented to both Buhari and the stakeholders, from among them, one would be picked.
As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear who among the names that have been bandied around in the past would make the list.

Prominent among the names that have been bandied around in the past, especially before the 2007 presidential elections were former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, Tinubu, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and political lawyer, Mike Ahamba, SAN, who incidentally prosecuted Buhari’s petitions in court against Obasanjo in 2003 and against Yar’Adua in 2007.
But when contacted, another leading chieftain of the AC, told Daily Sun that it was not correct to say that the opposition has settled for Buhari, especially because the group was yet to decide on who flies the flag of the opposition.

The source was, however, quick to add that it was true that Buhari was one of those being considered as possible presidential candidate, even as the source further said that it was not correct to say that the South-West had been ruled out of the running mate contest, adding that “what we are waiting for is their proposal, to say, this is what they have, and we now put the proposal side-by-side with our conditions.”

To name party soon
Daily Sun gathered authoritatively that the name of the party, is either going to be Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) or Action Congress Party (ACP). Our sources hinted that in the new arrangement, the new opposition party would retain both the logo and the symbol of the AC, so as not to confuse the larger followership of the party.
Buhari’s camp keeps mum

All efforts to get Buhari’s camp comment on the latest development on record proved abortive, as those who agreed to speak only did so in confidence. One of them told Daily Sun that “as things are, it would be too earlier, to start commenting publicly on what you want me to comment. But what I will rather say is that, when we get to the bridge, we will cross it. I think when that time comes, I will speak on record with you.”

However, things around Buhari’s office in Kaduna, point to that fact, even if the opposition is yet to make him its candidate, the former Head of State was set to run again in 2011. There are series of imposing posters in some of the offices, with inscription such as “It’s time for change,” among others. Besides, the retired General has been hosting politicians from far and near, including Kebbi State, and sources say all efforts are geared towards 2011.
Interestingly too, most of his supporters, who this reporter has interacted with in recent times in Argungu, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Abuja and Maiduguri, have never hidden the fact that come 2011, Buhari was going to try his hand again on the Presidency.

The Ghana option
Daily Sun learnt that part of the arrangement put in place by the opposition was to woo acting President Goodluck Jonathan to its side, so as allow a replay of the Ghanaian experience, where an incumbent supervised the defeat of his party by the opposition party in that country:
“You see, this man called Jonathan is not ambitious. Already, the PDP has foreclosed any possibility of giving him the ticket. And since the man after acting as C-in-C cannot turn around to be a running mate to anyone, we are looking at the possibility of entering into an alliance with him, so that whoever we are bringing on board would just spend one term, and we allow Jonathan to run subsequently.

“And from the type of person we see he is, he may even say he does not want to run at all, and still go ahead to provide a level playing ground, for us to take over power in 2011,” one of the leading members of the NDM told Daily Sun.

Plots to stop IBB thickens
Meanwhile, northern elders, who are not favourably disposed to General Ibrahim Babangida’s candidature for 2011 have began subtle campaign in the north to stop him from running. This is even as the IBB’s group has also stepped up campaign to canvass support for the former Military President.
Only last Friday, one of the anti-IBB’s meetings was held in Kaduna, at the instance of a former Defence Minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The meeting, Daily Sun gathered, was attended by prominent northern elders, including a former Finance Minister. Interestingly, the Kaduna meeting coincided with the movement of the IBB’s sensitizing group, led by another former Agriculture Minister under former President Obasanjo to Borno and Kano states respectively, last weekend to meet with stakeholders in those areas on the need to support the IBB project.

But a die-in-the wool IBB supporter, who though was not part of the anti-IBB meeting held in Kaduna, has advised the former Military President not to contemplate running in 2011. He is Alhaji Mohammed AbdulRahman, a chieftain of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and founding member of the defunct Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
He told Daily Sun that rather than waste energy on wanting to run in 2011, IBB should use his contacts, experience and connections to influence who would emerge as the President. He wants IBB to play an advisory role in the country’s search for a “credible and purposeful,” leadership.

“I am aware so many people are urging him to run. But for me, I will advise the General to organize them, and find a leader from among them to lead us in 2011. PDP as a party is misbehaving today because we don’t have a good elder from among them that will call them to order, I think it is high time IBB assumes such a role. If IBB can do that politics in Nigeria will change. IBB’s current position in the scheme of things in Nigeria is more than that of a President of a country.

“Look at the crowd, when he lost Maryam, how many people out of power can pull such a crowd in this present day Nigeria, especially considering the timing? So that tells you that IBB occupies a special place in this country, and as one of his admirers, I would not want him to lose that prestige. So instead of him running, I will advise him to find a suitable candidate from among those he believed in and put such a person forward,” AbdulRahman added.
However, another IBB supporter based in Kaduna, Alhaji Hassan Mohammed Jallo, disagreed with AbdulRahman. Jallo, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State said that PDP should not dream of wining 2011 Presidential election if it fields any other candidate other than IBB.

He claimed that the present crop of leadership in the country under the PDP has failed the nation, and so should give way to IBB and his team in 2011 to steer the ship of Nigeria to an enviable height once again.
While noting that the PDP has been the country’s problem especially for imposing ailing Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on Nigeria, he warned that the party was doomed should it field Yar’Adua for 2011 election:
“PDP should not make the mistake of giving Umaru Musa Yar’Adua the ticket in 2011 because no Nigerian will vote for Umaru and PDP cannot rig Umaru into power in 2011. I am telling you this without fear of any contradiction. I know PDP as a master rigger; we cannot rig Umaru into the Presidency in 2011. If they field Umaru in 2011, PDP will lose that election.

“I still repeat and I can repeat anywhere, that there is nobody that can fix Nigeria except IBB, and the only way PDP can win election, landslide victory is for the party to give IBB the ticket, only IBB can win election for the PDP come 2011. If PDP dares put any candidate apart from IBB, they will lose the elections.”

Last line
As things stand, 2011 presidential election is likely going to be a straight fight between Buhari and anyone the PDP would be presenting. Will Buhari be third time lucky? Only time would tell.

http://www.nigeriannews.com/

u cant hear any strange news now, until ya'radua finished his tenure, thatz what the cabal want, we all know that yara have gone.

what is happening to nigeria? tragedies all over the places