₦airaland Forum

By Chuks Okocha

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will Thursday take a final decision on the disqualification of Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, by the National Working Committee (NWC) from contesting the state governorship primary.

This is one of the major items on the agenda of the NEC meeting that is expected to take place Thursday.

The PDP governors are appealing to NEC, which is the highest decision-making body of the party, to review the decision of the NWC.

It was gathered that the PDP governors had on Monday put the NWC of the party on notice that they wanted the matter discussed at the NEC meeting.

THISDAY, however, gathered that the NWC at its meeting Wednesday prepared its defence against the plot of the party’s governors to reintroduce the Sylva saga.

According to a top member of the NWC who spoke to journalists, “we are aware of the PDP governors’ plan to reintroduce the disqualification of Governor Sylva from contesting the Bayelsa State governorship primary election.

“But it is the intention of the NWC to notify the NEC that the matter is already in court at the appellate level and therefore it would be prejudice to discuss or entertain the matter as it would amount o contempt of court for the NEC to do so.”

Also, the NWC has recommended to NEC of the party that all its offices slated for election should be swapped along North and South.

According to a memo made available to THISDAY, the NWC asked the NEC to ratify the recommendations that the offices for election at the February 25 national convention of the party be swapped as was the case in its zoning arrangement.

The memo said: “In line with the zoning arrangement where the office of the President and the Vice-President is swapped along side North and South, the offices slated for election at the national convention be swapped in the same manner.”

It recommended that the office of the national chairman, officially zoned to the South-east should now be zoned to the North-east; the office of the deputy national chairman currently zoned to the North-west be zoned to the South-south; the office of the national secretary now with the North-central be zoned to the South-west; the office of the national publicity secretary now with the North-east be zoned to the South-east; the office of the national treasurer now with the South-south be zoned to the North-west; and the office of the national organising secretary currently in the South-south be zoned to the North-west.

This position was also ratified by the national caucus of the party that met Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Also, attempts by some members of the PDP NWC to ask the national caucus to call for the continuity of the present team of the NWC was rejected on grounds that zoning of offices was already concluded and therefore belated.

THISDAY also gathered from the national caucus meeting chaired by the Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, that the body had ratified that ward congresses across the 8,800 wards of the federation should take place on January 7; local government congresses in the 774 councils of the country should take place on January 14; while the congresses in the 36 states and the federal capital territory is expected to take place on January 21.

All the congress elections are expected to end with the national convention slated for February 25.

The Save Bayelsa Project (SBP), a group that prides itself in ensuring that anti-democratic elements do not cripple or cause chaos in Bayelsa State, has stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer in forthcoming governorship election in the state was not their choice.

The national coordinator of the group, Hon. Ebinepre Nelson, made this known while addressing journalists recently in Abuja, insisting that his emergence was a selection by the PDP.

“It is our position that no congress election took place in the wards, local government areas and Bayelsa State in general. So, we are surprised that Hon. Dickson is parading himself as the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP),” he said.

Nelson further faulted the sponsoring of a bill in the National Assembly for the sustenance of internal democracy in political parties by Hon. Dickson, wondering why he aborted internal democracy during the purported primaries in PDP Bayelsa chapter.

However, he stated hat that the Bayelsa people believe in the credibility of the judiciary and that justice was going to have its cause.

The emergence of Hon. Henry Dickson as the flag bearer of the PDP in the Bayelsa governorship election scheduled for February has suffered a lot of criticism.

ok, gender equilty,,,na,

sylva seems to be indefatigable, ok,

[center]Senators reject N921.74b vote for security[/center]
By Onyedi Ojiabor, and Sanni Onogu, Abuja 15 hours 29 minutes ago
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Victor Ndoma-Egba
Senators yesterday queried the N921.74 billion President Goodluck Jonathan allocated to security in the 2012 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The matter came up during senators’ consideration of the general principle of the 2012 budget proposal.
The onslaught against the security vote was led by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (Ekiti North) who noted that the sectorial allocations are not reflective of the country’s need.
Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba led the debate as he read “A Bill for an Act to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N4,749,100,821,170 only of which, N397,929,101,917 only is for statutory transfers, N559,580,000,000 is for debt service, N2,471,814,067, 335 only is for recurrent expenditure while the balance of N1,319,777,651,919 only is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December,2012.”
Ndoma-Egba, who gave the overview of the budget proposal, noted that the budget is not an end in itself but a stepping stone to consolidate the gains of the economy.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said the budget, if well implemented, will restore hope in the nation.
Ekweremadu urged the Senate to do something about late presentation of the budget, in addition to opening up the process of budgeting.
He said the processes leading to the drawing of the budget estimates are shrouded in secrecy.
He also canvassed conducting a public hearing to sensitise Nigerians about the process.
Senator Ganiyu Solomon (Lagos West) praised Senate President David Mark for his opening address during the budget presentation.
Solomon is not comfortable with the size of the capital expenditure which, he noted, is meant to promote growth and job creation.
According to him, the 28 per cent capital expenditure cannot promote growth and job creation.
The Lagos State-born lawmaker said the amount set aside for debt servicing is too much.
He would like a reduction of the debt profile, which he put at 16.4 per cent of the GDP.
Adetunmbi noted that though security vote is meant to fund Defence, Police, office of the National Security Adviser and the Ministry of Interior, it represented two-thirds of Education budget, and four times what is budgeted for the Health Ministry.
Adetumbi said security budget is 34 times what is voted for Housing.
He said: “Our spending is not reflective of what we need. Security challenges are mainly driven by lack of education and lack of jobs and agriculture, which has been made a dumping ground for those who could not make it elsewhere.”
He noted that only agriculture has a road map, which can be a basis for performance measurement.
He said managers of agencies should be mandated to provide the roadmap “so we don’t throw away money.”
The lawmaker observed that the budget is silent on safety nets to cushion the effect of the transformation Nigerians expect.
He described 35 ministries and over 800 parastatals as a huge drain on the economy. “If we are not funding the real sector, then it will be very difficult to come out of the present situation,” he added.
Senator Emmanuel Bwuacha noted that the close to N1 trillion voted for security is too much.
Bwuacha said President Jonathan should adopt the approach of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in dealing with the Niger Delta militants to deal with the security situation in the North.
Senator Ahmed Tukur also faulted security allocation, saying that more attention should rather be paid to agriculture.
Senator Adegbenga Kaka said efforts should be made to increase power generation, especially when Nigerians are aware that the huge sum invested in the past did not produce any result.
Senator Abdul Ningi said the challenge of the National Assembly is the inability to oversight the implementation of the budget.
He said: “We should be able to know what the money is going to be used for. Address the issue of agriculture. Government has not taken agriculture as a priority and job creation. What the President presented are mere proposals, which we appropriate.”

It is not called bigamy. It is polygamy. Our laws allow for polygamy. It is only when it is against the law that it becomes bigamy. So go ahead, marry as many as possible. It is LEGAL in Naija.

This scarcity is a ploy of the government to usher in the removal of fuel subsidy. How else do you explain the sudden scarcity since Nigerians started calling on GEJ to forget his planned removal? Next they will tell us that we have been buying it at the proposed price and should just go ahead and make it official! Cunny man wey die for foolish man backyard. History go judge all of them!

We don finish! So na for Ghana we go dey buy electricity now?  GEJ don finish us.  And we say we are the giant of Africa!

some pple no even sabi politics, dem go just dey open mouth close am,

By Matthew Onah

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar Wednesday said he was back in the fold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to for good and to actualise the dreams of the founding fathers of the party.

He also said his return to the party was to also ensure that the party maximises its electoral fortunes in future elections, including the 2012 governorship election in Adamawa State, where the incumbent governor, Murtala Nyako, is a serious contender.

Appearing for the first time since he lost the PDP presidential primary, Atiku said the party was conceived as the mother of all parties to cater for all shades of interests and opinions.

Atiku, who spoke at a rally organised in honour of Nyako’s governorship ambition, had mounted the stage shouting Nyako’s campaign slogan, “Adamawa Sai Nyako”, even as he said a reconciliation process was on- going.

The former vice-president, who said he was sure the PDP would win any election in the state and the country at large, said: “We had always won in the past and we are set to win again. All those now in other political parties like CPC, ACN, ANPP were originally in PDP, and they are set to come back and vote PDP.”

Atiku said he was endorsing Nyako for another shot at returning to government house in 2012, because of the performance of Nyako in transforming the social infrastructure in the state. “Nyako has worked and we should vote him back,” Atiku stressed.

Speaking at the rally, the Vice-President, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, singled out the maintenance of peace and security in the state by Nyako, as one of the major credits of the administration that should endear Nyako to the people of the state.

Sambo said: “He considered the people of the state to be lucky because the state have produced visionary leaders that put the development of the state and country first,” adding: “ Nyako’s performances in education, health and Agriculture has remained exemplary and that is why Nyako was appointed a member of the federal government economic management team.”

Flanked by the governors of Taraba, Bauchi, Gombe, and Sokoto States, Sambo said Nyako had the blessing and support of the national leadership of the party and the Federal Government to contest the January 2012 election.

The vice-president, who announced Federal Government’s intervention projects in the state, said the government had approved over N12.5 billion for the Lagdo dam and Choochi irrigationprojects in the state, at the instance of the governor and urged the people to vote enmasse for the PDP.

Also speaking, Nyako pledge to consolidate on the foundation laid in the last four years.

By SAMUEL OYADONGHA
Yenagoa— Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State weekend dismissed the submission of the name of Mr. Seriake Dickson to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as its candidate for next year’s election in the state, saying the party’s decision does not change his commitment to the governorship race and the reality that the PDP is engaged in a charade whose product cannot stand.

Governor Timipre Sylva in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Doifie Ola, stated that the decision of the party to submit the name of Seriake Dickson in spite of the controversy and legal issues raised by the purported conduct of ward congresses and primary election is unfortunate and condemnable.

The statement read, “The decision of the PDP is condemnable in every democratic sense. But it is all part of a serial illegality that began since preparation for the governorship election in the state gathered momentum and reached a frightening height with a November 19 primary held against the order of a competent court of law, the wise counsel of a wide segment of civilised humanity within and outside Nigeria, and despite the absence of INEC, the body statutorily mandated to monitor and confer legitimacy on such exercises.

“Men of conscience within and outside our shores have since risen in condemnation of the absurdly pointless act of November 19 in Yenagoa and it is only natural that anything emanating from that process cannot stand.

Nothing has changed from this truth. As for me and my able deputy, Rt. Hon. Werinipre Seibarugu, we remain committed to the February 2012 governorship contest in Bayelsa State under our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party. We are confident that the truth will emerge at the end of the day and, by the grace of God and the will of the people, we will be re-elected”.

“The regrettable misadventure of PDP does not change the fact that we are in court challenging the illegal conduct of PDP in the Bayelsa State governorship race and it is only the court that will have the final say in the matter.

Those trying to plant the seed of illegality at INEC must realise that Nigeria is a country governed under laws and PDP, the biggest political party in the country, cannot afford to be a lawless fiefdom within the democracy.”

Sylva appealed to his teeming supporters in Bayelsa State and beyond, and all lovers of democracy, to remain calm and positive, saying, “We are confident in the ability of the judiciary to return sanity to the political situation in our state, so that together again we shall continue the patriotic task of taking our state to the next level.

“Persons who seek to benefit from the democratic space should not be afraid to submit their whims to the democratic crucible of the law. The resort to impunity cannot stand.”

Sylva questioned the basis on which INEC could accept a candidate from the November 19 primary in Bayelsa State, saying, “Even though INEC has not announced a shift in its well advised rejection of the November 19 charade, it is only instructive to warn that INEC, a critical institutional bulwark against political arbitrariness, must resist the temptation to be drawn into the mucky waters of autocratic partisanship, which those who nurse a morbid fear for democracy and free choice have reduced the Bayelsa governorship race to.”

‎"Same sexing is an abomination; it is not in Africans for man to be climbing man and woman climbing fellow woman. God created man to romance the woman, so I commend National Assembly on this one". - Her Excellency Dr. Dame Patience Jonathan on the ban on gay marriage in Nigeria.

rubblish,

Bomb is now a common thing ,

god knoweth those who are his,

God wd deliver us, since our govt, cant do anytin,

thermal plant,

Will it improve the light situation in my area?

Who said Nigerian women are unfaithful? Someone must be grossly mistaken and trying to deceive us. Our women are saints!

Obj again?

Because he is a stickler for the truth. After all, in Kano, they call him 'Mai Gaskiya'. All the corrupt politicians are afraid that he will probe and jail them.

You should add 'If the interviewer does not like your face'.

ooohhhh!

Which one? Online or print?

We have not told ourselves the truth. So long as there are sponsors in high places, there will be violence in the north.

So sad. Try and get him to really listen, then talk it out with him.

I love my phone! If you doubt me, switch yours off for a full day.

To forgive is easy. The hard one is the forgetting part. You may try, but doing it? I don't know.

Eeeewwoooooo! That guy no bi from my village? I go tell im papa! Im pikin dey abroad to practice gay instead of the school them send am.