₦airaland Forum

Too Much money!

The 11 suspended members of the House of Representatives have lost about N616m, findings by THE PUNCH revealed.

The figure represents the combined total of their quarterly allocation for the third and fourth quarters of the year (July to December).

Based on the allowances and entitlements fixed for lawmakers by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, each of the 360 members of the House takes home around N28m per quarter (or N9.33m per month).

There are three months in each of the four quarters on which the allocations of the lawmakers are calculated.

This translates to N308m per quarter for the 11 and N616m for the two quarters.

Although the 11 lawmakers have been on suspension for about four months (July to October) their colleagues have already collected the block sum for two quarters (July to December).

However, amid consistent denials by the House, there are speculations that the unofficial allocation for each lawmaker per quarter is N42m.

If this unofficial figure is to be used, the 11 suspended lawmakers would have lost N462m per quarter or N924m for the two quarters.

The 11, who belonged to a group in the House, the Progressive-Minded Legislators, were suspended in July after lawmakers loyal to the Speaker, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, fought with some of them on the floor of the House.

The group, led by Mr. Dino Melaye, was demanding an investigation into the alleged misapplication of N9bn out of the capital votes of the House by the leadership.

The group had demanded the resignation of the speaker, but the situation degenerated to a free-for-all, following which the 11 were suspended indefinitely for ‘disorderly conduct.’

THE PUNCH learnt that efforts to lift the suspension had not materialised, owing to an alleged sharp division in the ranks of the House.

Many of lawmakers backing the leadership were said to be against the return of the 11 on account of their being ‘troublemakers.’

“If for nothing, we have had some stability in the House in the last few months of their absence; their return will heat up the atmosphere again,” one lawmaker told our correspondent on Monday.

But there were those who interpreted the ‘perceived stability in the House’ to mean that lawmakers were afraid to comment on the style of its leadership, as “they do not want to be next in line for suspension.”

Seven of the 11 (Dino Melaye, Anas Adamu, Independence Ogunewe, Bitrus Kaze, Solomon Awhinawhin, Doris Uboh and Austin, Nwachukwu), had gone to court to challenge the suspension on the grounds that it was illegal.

The matter was last adjourned to November 15 by an Abuja Federal High Court.

Four others (Gbenga Onigbogi, Gbenga Oduwaiye, Ehogie West-Idahosa and Kayode Amusan) opted out of the legal option, but attempts to lift their suspension through political interventions had also not materialised due to the division in the House.

THE PUNCH investigation showed that following pleas made on their behalf by interested parties, the leadership had given the withdrawal of the law suit and the offer of an apology as a condition to consider their recall to the House.

Of the seven, only Nwachukwu has withdrawn from the suit but his suspension had not been lifted as of Tuesday.

Some of the 11 told our correspondent in Abuja that they had not been contacted on any discussions for their return to the House, just as they denied begging the leadership for pardon.

Adamu, for instance, said his group was still in court challenging the suspension.

“We are still in court and there will be a ruling on November 15,” he added When asked about his political future, Adamu replied, “When we get to the bridge, we will cross it; God will decide.”

Oduwaiye claimed not to have been contacted by the leadership of the House to tender any apology and neither was he keen on pleading to be pardoned.

He said, “Not me, and nobody has contacted me for an apology; the people of my constituency are very educated and they are aware of what is going on.

“My plans for the next elections are on and the decision regarding whether I will return to the House will be taken by the leaders and elders of my constituency.”

When contacted, the spokesman of the House, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, claimed that the suspended lawmakers had been sending emissaries to the leadership to plead on their behalf.

According to him, the leadership is considering their cases individually, not as a group.

He explained that the first condition the leadership gave was for those in court to withdraw their suit and tender an apology.
Eyiboh added that there were ‘compassionate’ lawmakers in the House, who were ready to re-admit any of the 11 that had fulfilled the condition for pardon.

http://www.punchontheweb.com

Enugu is lovely city with fine natural endownments but the occupants of seat of power there have a very funny way of doing things. If one finds himself in power, he will do his best to castigate the predecessor and make him look more evil than satan, they use their power to finish the person the benefitted from. Is it not a case of retributive justice? Jim Nwobodo used everything within his reach to install Chimaroke, before Chimaroke could spend 100 days in office, Jim has gone on exile to Abuja, Jim tried coming back to coal city after about two years on exile but had to escape to save his head. Then Sullivan came in, to tell the inhabitants of Enugu that he has arrived, he turned the heat on Chimaroke, who had to disappear to Abuja. When it was time for Ogbulafor to go, the governors played a crucial role to install Nwodo and Sullivan played a significant part on the installation of Dr Nwodo as the national chairman of PDP and Nwodo has turned his heat on Sullivan. It is a bad cycle.

Nwodo doesn't even understand what he is saying, he said Enugu's Exco is illegal, its the same illegal Exco that gave him the waiver to the office he is enjoying today, so his waiver is illegal. Let him not be carried away by personal emotions and sentiments, because he wants his brother to represent Enugu north senatorial zone and his wife will represent Enugu West Senatorial zone. at the national assembly, he wants to turn every thing overnight . He should learn from history.

President Goodluck Jonathan has bowed to pressure by some party chieftains and directed the reversal of the dissolution of the Enugu state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which was ordered dissolved by the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo last Saturday.


But the the National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo has fired back reminding both the President and Governors that only accredited delegates of the party can determine the fate of any aspirant from President, Governors down to the least person and not any party officials. Nwodo also said that the era of the leadership of the party doctoring what the delegates did at the primaries is gone for good.


The decision for the reversal of the dissolution of the Enugu state chapter was the outcome of the meeting which the President had Monday night with Vice President, Namadi Sambo, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu state, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the 3-man committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) consisting of the Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Hailu Bello Mohammed, the National Secretary, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and the National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke to discuss with President Jonathan over the high-handedness of Dr. Nwodo.


The grouse of other members of the NWC was the way and manner the Enugu state chapter of the party was dissolved without reference to other members of NWC.


Meanwhile, from the United States of America where the National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo has traveled to, he responded that only accredited delegates of the party can determine the fate of any aspirant from President, Governors down to the least person and not any party officials.


Nwodo also said that the era of the leadership of the party doctoring what the delegates did at the primaries is gone for good.
The National Chairman who is currently in the United States made this clarification through a statement from his media aide, Ike Abonyi, who said that the clarification has become necessary following the continued mischievous media campaign suggesting that some State governors have been plotted out of the 2011 contest.


Dr. Nwodo said that PDP Governors and indeed any other aspirant should have nothing to fear because “under my watch nobody who meets the constitutional requirements, follows the guidelines of the Party and emerges at the primaries, would be edged out by anybody.”


Dr. Nwodo said that he is aware of some deliberate attempts by some persons through the media to sow seeds of discord in the Party especially among governors who are regarded as the “Jewels of the Party” but said that even this will also fail.


He urged PDP Governors to disregard any such speculations and remain focused with the electorate.Dr. Nwodo had repeatedly assured Party members and indeed Nigerians that he intends to guide jealously his principled stand for internal democracy and zero tolerance for any form of electoral violence especially thuggery.

www.thisdayonline.com

Thanks for the information.

I wish you well Mr Ibor, you made a big mistake by standing in front of moving train and you are paying for your unintelligent moves. Your colleagues are paying for theirs here too but they are better off cos they are not in jail like you. Some have started somersaulting in front of GEJ as coordinators of one of the Goodluck's campaign groups. It would ve been better than being in jail. I thought you knew that in politics there is no permanent enemy but interest. Am sure before you will come back, GEJ would ve finished his tenure(s)

As far as this 1st Oct bombing is concerned, if we do not get the root of the matter, it will still repeat itself over and over again. I am calling on all the security organs of the government to make us feel safe in our country once again. This bomb scare whether real or fake creates panic in our environment and its not good for the country.

The State Security Service (SSS) yesterday said it would be arraigning four persons arrested in connection with the October 1, 2010, bomb blasts in Abuja that claimed the lives of 16 persons. Addressing a press conference at the SSS headquarters in Abuja, the public relations officer of the organisation,

Ms Marilyn Ogar, said that Charles Tombra Okah, one of the known users of the "Jomo Gbomo" pen-name in e-mails purportedly from the militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), and four others (names withheld) would be charged to court.




Charles is the younger brother of Henry Okah, a former leader of MEND, who is currently being tried in a South African court on terrorism-related charges.

Ogar further stated that investigations by the service had determined the person that drove and coordinated the vehicles brought into Abuja for the bombings, and the one who directly coordinated the bombings with the fugitive Henry Okah.

The person at whose residence in Port Harcourt the vehicles were wired for detonation and from where they took off for Abuja, the PRO said, had been established, as well as the one that confirmed to his accomplice that he had completed the job.

She pleaded to Nigerians to desist from politicising the issue, noting that several Nigerians were interviewed and released in the course of the investigations.

"We plead with Nigerians to desist from politicising the issue as such tendencies remain a serious concern of the SSS because they promote insecurity and hinder the rapid development this country needs.

"However, we wish to reassure the public that we will not be deterred in our investigations while urging everyone to be more security conscious about our respective environment and also collaborate with security agencies in safeguarding our national interest," she said.

The force public relations officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, when contacted by our correspondent said he was not aware that the suspects were being charged to court and declined to make further comments.

Meanwhile, wife of the detained elder brother of Henry Okah, Mrs. Angela Okah yesterday faulted the claims by the former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that the brother was allegedly responsible for the interview granted Aljazeera and the issue of impersonation, saying her husband and her step son are innocent of alleged terrorism charges.

Mrs. Okah said, though the arrest and questioning of suspects are allowed under law, the continued incarceration of her husband, Charles and her step son, Bolaebi Okah by the SSS without access to a legal representation and medication in the last 72 hours is illegal and criminal.

Okah’s elder brother, Charlse was arrested on Saturday at his Apapa, Lagos home alongside his son, Bolaebi Okah and three others by the men of the security operative. Family members and his embattled wife’s efforts to have access to them have proved abortive and they claimed that Chalse is on medication and has one kidney after he was operated upon some years back when he suffered a terminal illness.

Also considered as a source of worry to the family is the son, Bolaebi Okah, who was reported to have just arrived from a treatment in South Africa following a major operation on some parts of his body after a ghastly motor accident in Lagos two months ago.

Mrs. Okah, while speaking in Yenagoa with Leadership on phone, said the claims attributed to Henry Okah was misplaced and should be considered as false, "how can they say such a thing about him. Henry Okah should be brought out to say all this things instead of some persons making claims just to indict my husband and his son."

"The issue of the fundamental human rights of those arrested should be considered. My husband is sick and has only one kidney. My son is not feeling fine. I don't know the kind of country we are in. If you see my son, Bolaebi, the legs is not fully healed. I am worried and the SSS and the president should consider our plight."
http://www.leadershipnigeria.com

Insinuations that the Niger State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be playing games with the presidential ambition of General Ibrahim Babangida heightened yesterday, following the endorsement of the presidential ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan by the state Chairman of the party, Abdulrahaman Enagi.

Receiving the Director General of Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Senator Dalhatu Tafida, the PDP chairman said, "we want to thank, acknowledge and appreciate President Goodlcuk Jonathan for signing the HYPERDEC bill within 100 days in office.

"Somebody was there for eight years but could not do anything about it. We commend the president for this initiative.

According to him, "I would advise my delegates to choose between continuity and starting afresh". He added that Niger State would have the third highest number of votes during the party primaries.

Enagi appealed to all PDP presidential aspirants to assist the party complete its permanent secretariat in the state.

The chairman while reacting to the request of Senator Tafida for fairness and justice said, "we would be fair to all the presidential aspirants.”
http://www.leadershipnigeria.com

I know GEJ can't allow this wuru wuru idea. How can a man of 55 years go back to the ring, what is he looking for? Death! I feel this guy is broke. Poor him

Nigeria is just a funny place, where a complainant becomes the accused. Nothing is working well here. Instead of EFCC and other antigraft agencies carrying out their duties, they swept the case under the carpet. They were suspended because they complained about the ills in the house, bearing in mind that their allowances are suspended too, i pity them. They did not do their home work well anyway, they thought having the facts will make their colleagues go after Bankole, they did not know that Bankole is north adopted candidate, so can't disappoint him when he needs them most. Bearing in mind that Bankole was pro Yaradua, they thought the presidency will come to their rescue but they did not know that in politics the only constant thing is interest, Bankole is playing along with the presidency now, so he does not have problems. I pity the Dino's group cos every politician now needs a lot of money for their re-election and theirs is being stopped. That is why one of is withdrawing his case cos his family and constituents are in dire need of those allowances. We are living in a funny place indeed.

The Dino Melaye led suspended members of the House of Representatives will, on Monday, November 15, 2010 know their fate as Justice Adamu Bello of a federal high court sitting in Abuja has fixed for final judgment in their joint suit challenging their suspension.

The court fixed the judgment date, on Tuesday, after counsel in the fierce legal battle had presented their cases and adopted the brief of arguments of their clients.

However, one of the suspended lawmakers, Honourable Austin Nwachukwu, on Tuesday, withdrew his case against the Speaker, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, and the House of Representative.

In withdrawing his suit, Nwachukwu told the court that his family and his constituents had directed him to terminate the case against Bankole and the House for the overall interest of peace.
www.tribune.com.ng

Yeye dey smell. Nigerian govt should allow the security agencies finish their investigation, thank God its not only Nigerian security operatives that are carrying out the investigation. There is Interpol and others which i know the government can't influence. Chief Dokpesi should stop granting interviews cos they are heating up the polity, if he is clean as he is claiming, the international security agents wont allow him suffer for what he has not done.

> SSS, NIA, Interpol involved in investigation


A senior security operative told journalists in Abuja yesterday that the security team investigating the bomb blasts that claimed 16 innocent lives in Abuja on October 1 has downloaded 700 pages of telephone conversations-text messages and voices - which were being investigated.

He also said the director-general of the Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Raymond Dopkesi, an ex-governor in the Niger Delta region, and others have cases to answer. He warned against politicisation of the issue.

The senior security official, who spoke with some selected journalists in Abuja yesterday, said Dopkesi’s attempt to politicise the issue would not fly because all security agencies within and outside the country like the State Security Service (SSS), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Interpol and others were deeply involved in the investigation of the matter.

The chairman of Daar Communications Limited, owner of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM, had told journalists on Saturday that he never participated in the bomb blasts and had no link whatsoever with the suspects. He said his arrest was politically motivated and designed to slow down the IBB campaign activities.

But according to the security officer who did not want his name in print, “The issue of terrorism is a global matter; you are aware of the UN Security Council’s position - directing all member nations to be part of the investigation. The bomb blasts on October 1 in Abuja were clear cases of terrorism; therefore, all security agencies like the SSS, the NIA, the Interpol and other international agencies are deeply involved in the investigation of the incident.”

The security officer who is also part of the investigating team said, so far, all telephone conversations-both text messages and voice among all the suspects including Dopkesi and a former governor in the Niger Delta running into 700 pages have been downloaded and were being investigated.

He added, “Dopkesi’s interview with journalists weekend is uncalled for; his game is to pre-empt the outcome of the investigation; but we will resist all attempts by anybody or group of persons to politicise the matter; all stakeholders are only interested in a thorough investigation of the terrorism acts. In our investigation so far, Dopkesi, an ex-governor in the Niger Delta region and others have cases to answer.

“Assuming, according to Dopkesi, that the presidency is after him; will the Interpol and the international community allow themselves to be used for political agenda? In any case, his interview with journalists was full of contradictions. For example, he said he had never had any dealing with one of the suspects but he confessed meeting the person for the first time and giving him N4 million for accommodation.

“If he is innocent as he claimed, let him wait for the outcome of the investigation; the SSS granted him bail because it wanted to avoid politicisation of the issue; the SSS has a court order to detain all the suspects and with the way things are going it may have to review its case because the comfort of one man is not more important than the lives of 16 persons who were killed in the bomb blasts while others were maimed.”

The source said the debris in the place of the incident have been cleared and samples taken abroad for analysis, saying the “thorough investigation of the matter” would be concluded in a matter of days.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday spurned allegations made by Dokpesi that he was being hounded because he refused to head the president’s campaign organisation.

Nothing, according to the President, could be farther with the truth. In statement issued by his campaign organisation, it said at no time was Dokpesi considered for such a position. He added that the Chairman of DAAR Communications “never made it to anybody’s short list or long list.”
http://www.leadershipnigeri.com

Leader of Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) Mujahid Asari Dokubo said he had raised the alarm on alleged atrocities of the leader of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, currently being detained by the SouthAfrican authorities in connection with the October 1 bomb blast in Abuja.

Dokubo, who spoke in a statement entitled: Henry Okah – “I Have Been Vindicated”, recalled that he had earlier in 2007 warned of the danger Okah posed to the peace in the region in a statement entitled: “Conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it,” but was condemned by several notable people in the region.

“When I was exposing this blood-thirsty monster, Henry Okah, those who knew little or nothing about him, because of either ignorance or primordial sentiments jumped to his defense. I was terrified when elder statesman Pa Edwin Clarke, former president of Ijaw Youth Council –JonJon Oyinfie, Oboko Bello of FINDIC, and Collins Eselemo were out to contradict me.Today, Wednesday 6, October 2010, the tapes are playing and we are watching the monster.

“15 days before now, the intelligence unit of NDPVF had a stunning revelation and uncovered a plot by Henry Okah to re-arm militants , to re-arm his criminal gangs in the region. We intercepted large parches of arms that were being sent to his new recruits around the Bonny, New Calabar, Sombreiro and St. Bartholomew rivers. This information was promptly forwarded to the security agencies that Henry Okah was up to something.

“These persons in government and its agencies dismissed it! That, I was a rabid hater of Henry Okah. And this information was passed by some unscrupulous top government officers to Henry Okah, that ‘Asari’ had informed them that he, Henry Okah, was planning something, he said.

He alleged that Okah was responsible for several bomb blasts in the region including the post amnesty blast from which several governors from South-south narrowly escaped. Besides, he alleged that the MEND leader had insatiable appetite for wealth accumulation which often led his followers into crime. He picked holes in Okah’s claim that President Goodluck Jonathan’s side asked him to implicate the North for the blast, describing it as a cheap blackmail.
www.sunnewsonline.com

One aspect of this politician i hate is his inconsistencies. He should stop raising issues based on ethnic sentiments. We cannot be fooled by such anylonger. He thinks we have forgotten how he started the Igbo presidency in 2002 only for him to chicken out immediately his interest was taken care of, he should change his strategies. Besides this attitude of political prostitution he has been into for sometime now is not doing his image any good. He should forget about the presidency cos serious minded Nigerians cannot buy into such project. Anybody that votes for OUK does not wish Nigeria good.

Former governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, has declared his interest in the 2011 presidency under the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).

Speaking in Abuja, on Tuesday, Kalu said he had the best credentials of all the aspirants jostling for the plum job, adding that he was running to represent the oppressed people of Nigeria and the deprived and marginalised Igbo people living in Onitsha, Aba, Enugu, Ebonyi and all parts of Nigeria who were still feeling that the civil war had not formally ended going by their alienation in the national scheme of things.

“Nobody has thought that in 20 years since the relocation of the seat of power from Dodan Barracks, Lagos, to Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, no Igbo man has lived in either the upper or the lower level. Is that justice?” he asked.

“We are the salt of the nation. When you go anywhere; from Birnin Kebbi to Nembe; that is, from Sahara desert to Atlantic ocean, you will see canoes and the people you see living there are Igbos. We are the salt of the nation.

“We are the only people who go to one part of the nation and we start building our houses and make that place our home. So, why don’t you make us president? I ask this question as an issue of right; that it is our right today to produce the president of this country.”
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php

Easier said than done. lol

ASABA — HELL was let loose on Monday night in Asaba, Delta State capital, when a Mobile Policeman shot dead a commercial bus driver over alleged traffic offence.
The incident took place between Traffic Light and Mammy Market along Nnebisi Road, Asaba. Vanguard gathered that the policeman and his colleagues were in a Hilux van, when the said bus driver reportedly hit the van and fled. The policemen pursued him and as the escort van tried to double-cross him, the bus driver jumped out of the bus and started running but the trigger-happy policeman shot him at the abdomen and he died immediately.
Vanguard gathered that immediately the bus driver gave up the ghost, passersby mobbed the policeman, who fired the shot while other policemen in his company fled. He was beaten to pulp.
Also the same night, rival cult groups clashed in Asaba, shooting sporadically,which forced many shop owners to lock up.
www.vanguardngr.com

THE widely acclaimed group of loyalists of former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida who were known in his days in office as Babangida Boys, have joined the push of the influential figures moving to see the former military leader out of the 2011 presidential race.
Sources in the political circles disclosed at the weekend that the former military top brass who displayed their unflinching support for General Babangida while in office had reached out to their former boss and declared the need for him to serve as a bridge builder in the 2011 presidential race rather than being a loser.
It was gathered that while the former military governor of Kaduna State, Colonel Abubakar Umar, had written to Babangida, asking him to withdraw from the race, others had chosen different means to inform the Minna General to quit the race.
Sources also confirmed that the President of the Senate, Mr David Mark, had asked to be counted out of IBB’s political moves long ago. He is said to be of the belief that the time has come for IBB to play the role of a statesman, who could be consulted on issues rather than being an active participant that would hold an executive position.
It was further learnt that most of the acclaimed IBB Boys had distanced themselves from his repeated bid to return to Aso Rock because they believed that such a move would rake up old wounds.
A source close to a number of the generals who are known as IBB Boys said that with the manner in which Babangida left office in 1993, there would always be controversy whenever he attempted to regain the presidency.
“We cannot deceive ourselves, there was commotion leading to IBB’s stepping aside in 1993. Those who felt aggrieved by his actions leading to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election would wish themselves dead rather than see IBB return to office. It is a potential issue that could further polarise the country,” a source who has been monitoring the exchanges between IBB and his former boys said.
The source said that former military officers who served under Babangida had not been enthusiastic about his possible return to office because of the larger effects such a development would have on the country.
Another source also said that rather than live the life of a statesman, Babangida had decided to throw himself into the race where younger figures like President Goodluck Jonathan and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu were already making waves.
“Many of us were also not happy that while a lot was expected from IBB during the crisis that engulfed the nation as a result of the prolonged illness of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, he remained in the dark and only declared interest in the presidency after Yar’Adua’s death.
“The period of Yar’Adua’s illness would have provided the best opportunity for Babangida to bounce back into positive reckoning of Nigerians when they would easily have forgotten his past errors. But because he was not seen as having played a stabilising role at that time, his past has continued to make the headlines,” the source said, adding that rather than being seen as one of those who stabilised the nation, IBB was mentioned as one of those who allegedly masterminded the secret return of President Yar’Adua to Nigeria on February 24, even when his health had not improved.
Sources said that while key former IBB Boys, including Senate President Mark, Senator Tunde Ogbeha and former military governor of Lagos State, Brigadier-General Raji Rasaki, had identified with President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 race, others who were not that visible politically had told Babangida to avoid being humiliated in the race.
“It would have been better for his political image if he was defeated by somebody like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was his senior in the force. But for him to be defeated by younger elements, that would diminish his political standing and rubbish his ego. The well-known IBB would be demystified and that is not good for him, that is why many of his close associates are advising him to withdraw from the race,” a source close to many IBB Boys said.
It was gathered that many of his military loyalists were already advising IBB to utilise the opportunity of the consensus option by the North to disqualify himself from the race and then start playing the role of a statesman.
Another option said to have been suggested to IBB was that he could capitalise on the so-called ambiguity in the zoning formula of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to withdraw.
“When these guys were serving in the military, nobody talked of North or South. It remained a united Nigeria. But you can see that IBB is now reducing himself to fighting a sectional cause. It is painful to those you refer to as his boys,” a source said on Sunday.
However, General Babangida, has described the report as a campaign of calumny aimed at discrediting his image before Nigerians in the build up to the election.
Reacting through Prince Kasim Afegbua, the Director of Communications, IBB Campaign Organisation, the former military president said that it was far from the truth that his loyalists in the Army were mounting pressure on him to withdraw from the presidential race.
“There is nothing like that. We took a decision and we will pursue it to a logical conclusion. Why are they afraid of IBB?,” Afegbua said.
Meanwhile, 51 members of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) in the country have warned General Babangida not to campaign in any of the Yoruba-speaking states, including part of Kwara and Kogi states, as he prepares for the 2011 presidential election.
Chairman, Kwara State chapter and National Executive member of the YCE, Senator Suleiman Salawu, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, at the weekend.
According to him, General Babangida should forget the race, to Aso Rock for now because the people of Nigeria, particularly the Yoruba-speaking race would never forgive him for his role in the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, the death of Dele Giwa, Chief MKO Abiola and other prominent people in the country during his rule as military president.
He said: “If Babangida wants to come to Yoruba-speaking states to campaign for his presidential ambition, then the only ticket that can enable him to come is to bring along Dele Giwa and Chief MKO Abiola alive.”
Senator Salawu, who is the national chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), also alleged that it was the period of the Babangida regime that the naira depreciated drastically.
He said it was a pity that the man, who allegedly devalued the Naira and encouraged corruption, would want to come back and rule the country again.
“What does he want again, he was there for eight years and could not save the country; all he did was to devalue our currency, while our economy suffered seriously. Corruption was everywhere, he should forget his ambition, we don’t want him,” he said.
The senator said that his party, AA, was solidly behind President Good-luck Jonathan in the 2011 presidential race.
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php

OUK is one of the most inconsistent politician from the other side of the niger. His type of politics is not good, especially for the up coming politicians. I use to see him as a good leader but i later lost interest in him when i found out he is a self centered politician. We do not need his politicking. He should go and face his business.

Mr Ateke Tom, a former dreaded militant leader has left the shores of the country for medical treatment abroad following the mysterious sickness that struck him a few months ago.

The dreaded ex-militant who embraced the federal governments amnesty at the eleventh hour in the month of October last year, has been hit by a strange and dangerous ailment that has reduced him to vegetable.

He was said to have left the shores of the country with the help of some concerned people and politicians of Rivers State who know the implication of allowing him to suffer and die like a dog.

Inside sources in Ateke’s camp has it that their master was actually struck by a mysterious ailment that has defied medical explanation and treatment, thereby reducing his chances of making it to zero before he hurriedly and secretly departed to one of the Middle East/Asian country for effective medical attention.

The young man, who told Niger Delta Standard that he should not be quoted, disclosed that, “we don’t know the kind sickness that knocked our oga down, the thing is very serious to the extent that the strange ailment took his speech power. His belly, limbs and face are swollen, while big boils have overtaken his entire body.

His sex organ or genital has alledgedly elongated to ground level. His eyes are poping out out of their socket, while his body emits terrible and unbearable stench that can sack a whole community. My brother, master is in a terrible state. As I speak, I am ready to repent genuinely and follow God.

In the same vein, if he is able to survive, I think master will turn away from his evil ways and become a pastor in the vineyard of our lord Jesus Christ”, the Ateke follower told our correspondent in a husky voice in a telephone interview.

Another big boy of the infamous Niger Delta Vigilante Movement, a militant ggroup which was founded by the Okrika born freedom fighter told Niger Delta Standard if not for God, Ateke Tom would have died last month, adding that perhaps God is keeping to teach him a lesson, a lesson all of us will learn from with time”, he said.

“Bros, the thing wey me I see, fear me well well. You no go believe say our master who used to give order anyhow, no fit talk again. Him just dey look, e no dey talk. Him no fit recognize any of him boys again. Apart from say some kind smell dey come out from him body, him whle body don swell well well, and boils wey big like my hand don take him body”, he revealed.

Still from the same camp of Ateke Tom, a young man who gave his name as Iyalla Tamuno, expressed disappointment over the Federal Government post amnesty programme, regretted that if militants had known, they would not have surrendered their arms to embrace the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s amnesty programme “my brother, amnesty na big Bleep up. How can they trick us to surrender our fire power only government to abandon us with source of livelihood again? Besides that, the government has turned back to start killing our boys who genuinely embraced amnesty, they are not committed to the programme.

The other day they fall Commander Soboma George, they put the cause of his dead on his boys, now they want to kill our master, it will not work. They should pray that Ateke Tom does not die. If he dies, there will be blood bath, tension, and insecurity in Rivers State because we would not take that.

The Governor for our State (Rivers) does not like him. It is not impossible if they team up to do away with him because they want to rig next election to return to office”, he stated without fear of being hunted by the accused.
In his homeland in Okrika where Ateke hails from, there was mixed reactions on the state of health of Ateke Tom whose former enclave has been turned into an educational institution by the present administration.

While some are jubilating over the news of his bad health and even praying seriously for him to die, others are praying are praying for his recovery because according to them, he drew the attention of the world to Okrika and even helped in sending many people to school, feed many widows and foot hospital bills to many in their native Okrika.

Niger Delta Standard gathered that the former militant leader whose escapades brought down the oil fortune of the country, left many family fatherless, creating more widowhood situation in the land, was struck by a strange ailment.
As at last week, his health condition had grossly deteriorated leaving his faithful, loyalist and hangers-on panicking that he may not survive.

Our checks revealed that Ateke Tom, fell ill a month ago and when it became obvious that he may not survive the long knife of the mysterious sickness, he hurriedly and secretly left for abroad this Monday through the help of some concerned Rivers politicians who considered his continued existence relevant to the state and Nigeria at large.
Interestingly, both the Ameachi’s government and the Abuja politicians from Rivers State have denied any knowledge of Ateke Tom’s trip abroad.

The spokesman to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Ameachi, Mr. Blessing Wikina, told our correspondent that whether the ex-militant leader was sick and whether he has gone overseas is not the business of Rivers state government.
In his words “Governor who detests militancy does not dine with militants, not just Ateke Tom. I don’t think my Governor, no matter how good he is would foot the medical bill of any militant, so please let not the press drag my boss and his government into the issue of Ateke’s health and his subsequent trip abroad.
Governor Ameachi’s position is clear, he simply does encourage or support militancy whether ex or present”, he stated categorically.
The former State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili has also denied his involvement and support for Ateke Tom. Odili who spoke through his media adviser, Mr. Emmah Okah in a telephone interview, expressed surprise over the overseas trip of Ateke Tom.
‘I am not aware, I am just hearing this for the first time. You are the one who has fed me with this information. Truly Oga does not have any knowledge about this: he said succinctly.
It was however alledged that some powerful politicians of Dr. Odili’s camp were behind the sponsorship of the medical trip of Ateke Tom abroad to save his life and the peace of Rivers State
Source: Niger Delta Standard

Poverty in display

PPA cannot win Abia guber based on what is on ground, the government of the day is not PPA. what happened in 2007 is a differrent ball game. PPA was calling the shots then, its not so today. PPA is depleted in terms of finance and workforce,PPA is polarised, this will definitely affect them at the poll. Its better OUK goes back to the drawing board cos his political value will be diminished post 2011 if he goes ahead to contest.

I am praying fervently for this guy to join the race, this is a chance of OUK assessing himself. He has been living a larger than life image. I am very sure he will loose in his Igbere village. He calculated wrongly, so he will pay dearly for it. On which platform will contest? Is it his own faction that has merged with PDP or Akerele's faction. May be he will demerge his own faction from the PDP. LOL

There are strong indications that former governor of Abia state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu may contest next year's presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA).

LEADERSHIP checks in Abuja confirmed from close associates of the former governor that arrangements are almost concluded for Kalu's return to PPA.

Kalu had floated PPA in 2007 and had won governorship election in Abia and Imo states, signposting the party as an emerging force in the country.

But, a few months ago, kalu dumped PPA and returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on whose ticket he had ruled Abia state for two terms.

LEADERSHIP checks last night revealed that kalu's return to PPA may not be unconnected with the inability of the PDP to grant him waiver to vie for any elective office in the land.

Sources close to the politician said last night that time is running out, given the time-table recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the conduct of the 2011 general election.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP is scheduled to hold this week to review among other things, the INEC guidelines and considering granting of waivers to some returnee politicians.

The implication of former governor Kalu dumping PDP for PPA, LEADERSHIP checks revealed is that the PPA has backed out of its merger negotiation with the PDP.

Chief Kevin Ugboaja told LEADERSHIP in Abuja that after a stakeholders meeting initiated to revitalise the party, that PPA opted out of the talks due to some areas of disagreement.

"A meeting had been called to inform our teeming supporters of the breakdown of merger talks between our party and the PDP", he said, adding that PPA was back and stronger.

Ugboaja, former chairman of Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia state under the PDP said the political events of the past few weeks had exposed the lacuna on the inexperience of some who posed as political gladiators in the state.
www.leadershipnigeria.com

Hi Nairalanders, i want a Naija neatly used Camry (2003,2005). Rav 4 (2002) urgently. Am based at Abuja.

I expected the women folk to respond to this post cos its a good thing, one of their predators is caught pants down. Lol

Its rather unfortunate he is giving us the information after 44 years, after millions of Nigerian died because Nigerians believed the Kaduna Nzeogwu led coupists killed the prime minister, he should not have told us now after all, he has been quiet since then. Had it been he told Nigerians then, there wouldn't have been a counter coup that was led by the northern soldiers, some of the soldiers that took part in that coup gave the killing of Balewa as one of the reasons for embarking on such mission. May be there wouldn't have a civil war, because it was the mistrust that took place on 15th jan 1966 that eventually led to the civil war. May be there wouldn't have been this mistrust today in the country. May be there wouldn't have been the need for zoning, may be, may be,

Forty-four years after, the controversy over how Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa died may have been finally laid to rest.

Contrary to the widely-held belief, Nigerian soldiers did not kill the country’s first Commander- in-Chief in the bloody coup of 1966. Rather, Prime Minister Balewa succumbed to asthma, according to a key player in his government. He reportedly died while soldiers were taking him out of Lagos in the aftermath of the putsch.

Nigeria’s first High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and one of only three surviving members of the first Federal cabinet, Dr. Mathew Taiwo Mbu made this known to The Nation in an exclusive interview in Lagos.

Prime Minister Balewa died as a result of an asthmatic attack while he was being driven to Calabar by soldiers under the command of Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna who arrested him, Mbu said. Veteran journalist Chief Segun Osoba, who led the Police to the bodies of the late Prime Minister and his Finance Minister, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, could not be reached last night for a corroboration.

Previous accounts of what actually happened on the night of January 15, 1966 have been hazy. Even BBC archive reports on the day of infamy only spoke of a kidnapping of the Prime Minister by soldiers.

Most on-site accounts to date, only reported that the body of the late Prime Minister was found in a seating position by a tree, in a plantation, on the road to Abeokuta, near Ifo, some 35 kilometres from his Ikoyi residence where he was arrested by soldiers on the night of January 15, 1966. The Prime Minister’s body was found beside the bullet-riddled body of Chief Okotie-Eboh, Nigeria’s first Minister of Finance.

No report of the macabre events of January 15, 1966, has been categorical that the Prime Minister was shot death; and no autopsies were carried out on the bodies discovered several days after the two had been reported kidnapped from their official residences by soldiers.

But Dr. Mbu, who was a close confidant of the late Prime Minister, recounted a momentous encounter 44 years ago, with the late poet Christopher Okigbo, one of the last people to see the late Prime Minister alive before he was arrested by the coup plotters.

He said Christopher Okigbo, who was also a close friend of Major Ifeajuna, who led the coupists in Lagos, recounted the arrest of the Prime Minister to him first hand. Okigbo and Ifeajuna themselves were killed in action during the Nigerian civil war.

Mbu, who many also regarded as Tafawa Balewa’s de-facto foreign minister, was ironically sent out to India for a State funeral by the Prime Minister, only hours before the coup. He had warned the late Prime Minister of an impending coup just days earlier.

He said he was reliably informed that Prime Minister Balewa had been accosted by the soldiers who first gave him the salute due to a Commander-in-Chief before informing him that they were effecting a change of government. They allowed him to say his Islamic prayers before taking him in a car.

The plans of the putschists according to Mbu’s account, did not include killing the Prime Minister. He was to be taken to Calabar and forced to release and handover power to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, then in prison for treasonable felony.

Balewa unfortunately did not make it out of Lagos. He reportedly suffered an asthmatic attack and died in the car. The announcement by the Army chief, General Aguiyi Ironsi of a failed coup, led to the dumping of the late Prime Minister’s body in the forest off the road to Abeokuta.

Okotie-Eboh, against whom the military high command then, had the most serious of the allegations of bribery and corruption the Balewa regime was accused of, was apparently executed at close range in the forest, leading to speculations that the Prime Minister too was shot to death. The several days that lapsed before the bodies were discovered must have made it difficult to find out the real cause of the Prime Minister’s death. His body was taken to Bauchi for burial.

Mbu spoke with The Nation Databank, in one of several interviews the country’s premier private digital archive conducted with senior Nigerian citizens and elderstatesmen. The interviews, on historical and contemporary events in Nigeria over the last 50 years, are to be packaged in special video and data discs to mark Nigeria’s golden jubilee independence anniversary. Two million copies of the discs, coming as the Nigeria’s premier national e-Reference ,will be given out FREE to Nigerians, particularly Nigerian youths.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/12210.html

Nemesis has caught up with Ibrahim Babangida, a water vendor who used to sneak into the women’s hostels of the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, to rape and rob unsuspecting female students while disguised as a woman.

Some of the students who witnessed the arrest of Babangida said he was a member of a notorious gang of robbers and rapists that had made life unbearable for the female students in the university campus. Some of the female students, who said they had lived with the nightmare and could not bear it anymore, apprehended the felon.

Eyewitnesses who spoke with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY said. Babangida used to disguise himself as a female student and, at night, moved from one female hostel to the other looking for his next victim.

“He would enter into any room and bring out his knife which he uses to frighten the ladies. He would steal from them and if the person is alone he proceeds to rape her,” the source disclosed.

The source further disclosed that it was difficult to track down Babangida and his gang even with the presence of the female security officers who usually man the gates to the female hostels.

"This has been going on for a long time. Although the management has female security personnel at the gates and the female hostels but it was difficult to track Babangida and his gang because they combed the three female hostels of the university at random. It is not easy to know which they would be operating in.

Efforts to confirm the incident with the university authority failed as most of the security officers declined comments. A management staff of the university who gave his name as S. Oguchi however told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY the university would investigate the matter and transfer the matter to the police. He advised the female students to be more security-conscious and avoid keeping late nights.

Babangida, who spoke with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, said he was not a student of ABU but a water vendor from Funtua, a neighbouring town. He disclosed that they were four in their gang and gave the names of the other members of the gang as Sani Bashir, Haruna Ibrahim, and Saddam Tijanni. He also revealed that the gang members sometimes also disguised as women and entered the mosques to steal handsets and other valuables.

http://www.leadershipeditors.com/ns/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15288:chika-otuchikere-and-caroline-ameh-abuja&catid=51:cover-stories&Itemid=101