₦airaland Forum

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Guatemala's Pacific coast near the border with El Salvador on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

It said the quake, 64.2 miles (103.3 km) deep, was centered 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Guatemala City.

(Reporting by Sandra Maler, Editing by Chris Wilson)

selencious:
I don't care, Whichever. The fact is most females are more supportive to their parents, caring and responsible than males in future. Y'all may not agree, but its the fact. So, as for me, whichever God gives to me. All I pray for is a child who would be responsible. great and bring me Joy in life.

dani1luv:
Chai and you nor fite Back. .
Which fire

I just dey get patience ooo but make una dey watch the kind discussion u and ben dey discuss with my

Pweety4me:
_{I miss u 2. . . i hope uv'e been gud. . .}

<sub>I like your style . . . . Have been good oo , How have u been doing as well?

Me dey miss you gan . . .</sub>

nich:
  supple is a good word.     
  'sup with u gurl?    wetin happen now?    did school do this to us?   

singing:
trust you're doing xtra-cool.
when u're ready let's xtra-connect .
remember! u're simply special! To Pharoh . . .  

presido1:
99% of them. What could be the cuz pls.?

A cabal, believed to be loyal to recuperating President Umaru Yar’Adua, has drawn a list of ‘no-go areas’ for the Vice President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who seems almost certain to be the most clourful bride in the current power game in the country. The Nation learnt that the pro-Yar’Adua group is confronted with the emerging reality that if Yar’Adua could not continue to lead the country on health grounds, Jonathan may emerge as the personality that will run the affairs of the state, at least for some time to come.

The source hinted that the group is insisting that the Vice President must not tamper with certain key portfolio which the group currently controls. The sectors, the source hinted, include the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Petroleum, the Ministry of Internal Affairs which controls and determines the mechanism of state security and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. ‘It’s almost certain that VP Jonathan will emerge as the acting President. There is the need to protect the interests of this powerful group. These three sectors are believed to be the country’s most critical sectors. Anyone who controls these positions has the country in the pocket,’ the source claimed. As at press time, it was unclear how the group loyal to the Vice President will deal with the new challenge posed by the influential group.

Our correspondent learnt that the cabal is using the ‘no-go-areas’ as a negotiating weapon in the bid to protect its political bloc and sustain a strong foundation within the frame work of the emerging power equation in the country. The source said that with President YarA’dua recuperating, the group knows it is currently negotiating from the position of strength. It was learnt yesterday that the Minster of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Aondoakaa is supporting the position that the VP can act as the President in spite of the seeming contracdictions associated with the Federal High Court judgment.

However yesterday, in an unrelated development, the Vice President Jonathan opened up on the state of the nation warning that some highly placed individuals are bent on pulling down the adminstration.

He also cautioned Nigerians to beware of ‘mischief makers’ bent on causing disaffection in the country. He said this set of people are bent on bringing the current adminstration to its knees by all means, whether fair or foul. He said the sponsors of this ‘false and wicked campaign’ are well known to the Federal Government, and in due time, they will be exposed and brought to book. Meanwhile, there were indications yesterday that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is now split along two sharply divided camps: those who support President Umaru Yar’Adua to remain in power in spite of his ill health and those rooting for Vice-President Jonathan to take over power on the grounds of the President’s dwindling health.

Investigation by The Nation revealed that although members of the FEC have been presenting a fasle facade to Nigerians that all is well, there is a deep division in the cabinet on whether the VP should be acting President or not.

In a statement signed on Saturday by the Senior Special Adviser to the VP, Mr Ima Niboro, the Vice President said it was obvious there is an on-going effort by some well placed individuals, within and outside the administration, to take maximum advantage of the unfortunate situation that Mr. President, through no fault of his, has found himself health wise, to cause deep-rooted disaffection.

The Vice President said the Presidency is aware that "these same people are sponsoring ridiculous stories in the media to the effect that the VP has already prepared a list of ministers and top executives of key parastatals to dismiss from the administration. ‘There is no need to state that these are obvious lies. The VP uses this occasion to state that key officers of government that are on top of their jobs need not harbour such fears. But those who, rather than focus on delivering this administration’s mandate to the Nigerian people, prefer to cause acrimony and disunity in order to advance personal aggrandisement have every reason to fear."

He denied reports that the VP has refused to act upon the Justice Dan Abutu ruling of Wednesday, 13

th January, 2010, to the effect that he can assume the duties of Mr. President in his absence in line with section 5(1) of the 1999 constitution, because he is awaiting a directive from the First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’ Adua.

The VP stated further ‘This report is entirely false. The VP wants to state clearly that the last time he spoke with the First Lady was on Tuesday, January 5

th, after he spoke with the president. Indeed, it was the First Lady that called back shortly after to exchange warm pleasantries with the Vice President.

There is no doubt that those who packaged the report are only attempting to paint non-existent pictures to the Nigerian public in the effort to create mischievous scenarios of indecisivesness on the part of the VP. If we may ask, what was the crucial significance of the Abutu judgement that went over and beyond the subsisting scenario of the VP holding forth in the absence of the president? What therefore would form the directive basis for desperately seeking Mr. President’s point of view in the light of that ruling?

The VP wondered what crucial functions of the president he has declined to take upon himself since the Wednesday ruling. He said barely 48 hours after the decision, the VP led the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Federation and the service chiefs, to take the salute at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day."

However, The Nation learnt that some members of the cabinet are unhappy with Yar’Adua’s cronies who believe that there is no basis for the inauguration of an acting President.

It was gathered that some Ministers have been begrudging the affected loyalists of Yar’Adua as the brains behind the decision of the FEC not to invoke Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution to declare the President as incapable of performing his duties.

Sources claim that Yar’Adua’s supporters that have incurred the wrath of their colleagues and some godfathers in Jonathan’s camp are the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa(SAN), the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi; the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Abba Sayyad Ruma; the Minister of Finance, Dr, Mansur Muhtar; the Minister of Power, Dr. Rilwan Babalola; the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwan Lukman; the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sir Ufot Ekaette;, the Minister of FCT, Senator Adamu Aliero; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe.

Others who are considered as serving as backbone to the foot-soldiers are the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri; the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Mr. Dikko Abdullahi; the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo.

The camp divide of the National Security Adviser, Gen. Sarki Mukhtar, and the Director-General of the State Security Service, Mr. Afakirya Gadzama could not be ascertained as at press time.

Although some party bigwigs wanted the removal of these foot-soldiers, it was gathered that the Vice-President has been battling to keep the cabinet united.

A source said: "Interestingly while we are all engaging in cold war, the VP has been doing a yeoman’s job to keep the cabinet as one."

A Minister, who spoke in confidence with The Nation yesterday, said: "We are divided along Yar’Adua and Jonathan camps. Some Ministers are not happy with the conduct of Yar’Adua’s foot-soldiers in the cabinet and they want them sacked.

"The position of the Yar’Adua’s loyalists is that the President should not be betrayed at this critical period that he is attending to his health. That is why they are determined to fight to the finish and prevent Jonathan from being acting President.

"Apart from Yar’Adua’s loyalists in the cabinet, some ministers have always wanted Jonathan to be inaugurated. But they cannot come out openly to say so. Rather they give their support to the VP behind the curtains, a few others in the cabinet are just praying that the problem should be over.

"Among the Ministers, however, only the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe does not mince words that he is solidly behind the VP who nominated him into the cabinet.

"The Yar’Adua Group is uncomfortable with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, who is said to be lobbying to emerge as the next VP if Jonathan becomes acting President.

"Already, Yayale has relocated his office to Aguda House within the precinct of the Presidential Villa.

"All I can tell you is that the battle line is drawn between Yar’Adua’s boys and Jonathan loyalists in and out of the cabinet."

Beside the division over acting Presidency, it was also learnt that there is a crisis of confidence between the SGF and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Steve Oronsaye.

A source added: "Since the introduction of tenure policy by the Head of Service, there has been a wedge in the relationship between him and the SGF.

"They only manage to greet each other when they have cause to interact at all. Yayale sees Oronsaye as rubbishing some his achievements in office as the Head of Service."

But the division in the cabinet, occasioned by Yar’Adua and Jonathan camps, has led to a series of meetings in the last 72 hours.

While a group of South-South leaders met secretly on Thursday night on the political situation in the country and last Wednesday’s judgement by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Dan Abutu, the Yar’Adua loyalists also met on Friday morning to strategise on how to consolidate their grip on power.

A highly-placed source added: "Many caucuses within the party, have taken judicious notice of the fact that some of these foot-soldiers do not want the VP to act for the President.

"The Yar’Adua Group in FEC is saying that there is already a judgement in place which cannot be changed overnight by any group.

"The pro-Jonathan camp felt the major impediment to the emergence of the VP as acting President is the current judgement of Justice Abutu. The camp has decided to give full backing to ensure that a counter-judgement is secured from another Federal High Court.

"But a major challenge is the fact that we are likely to have two conflicting judgements going by the seriousness with which Falana is pursuing his matter.

"The ‘war’ has shifted to the court while both camps are pretending that all is well in government circle. The position of Yar’Adua’s Group is that they cannot trust the VP because he might be hijacked by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s group which is speculated to be seeking revenge for some ‘sins’ committed by the President and some of his men."

Investigation revealed that the likelihood of conflicting judgements has made some cabinet members and PDP chieftains to woo the Attorney-General of the Federation, Aondoakaa, with an assurance of retaining his office.

But it was learnt that Aondoakaa, who is a die-hard Yar’Adua’s hatchet man, has refused to cooperate with any other group.

The source said: "To reach out to Aondoakaa, the Governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, and some of his close friends were contacted. But Suswam could not do much because the governor is a loyalist of Yar’Adua like his bosom friend, Aondoakaa. Suswam said he is prepared to take the risk to remain with Yar’Adua.

"Why some of these people are targeting Aondoakaa is because his advice or decision is necessary and vital when there are conflicting judgements from courts of coordinated jurisdictions. The SGF may choose or recommend which of the judgements to honour."

The Vice President has appealed to Nigerians to ignore what it called ‘divisive strategies of those who do not wish the present administration well and are anxious to bring the government to its knees by all means, whether fair or foul. He said he remains eternally grateful to ‘fellow compatriots who have continued to demonstrate unflinching solidarity to the nation in spite of these difficult times.’ He also extends warm acknowledgments to the ‘vast majority of patriots and citizens’ who continue to pray for the restoration of Mr. President’s health and his safe return to Nigeria.

A Spanish politician has said he was shocked to find out the FBI had used his photo for a digitally-altered image showing how Osama Bin Laden might look.

Gaspar Llamazares said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the US after his hair and parts of his face appeared on a most-wanted poster.

He said the use of a real person for the mocked-up image was "shameless".

The FBI admitted a forensic artist had obtained certain facial features "from a photograph he found on the internet".

The digitally-altered photos of the al-Qaeda leader, showing how he might look now, aged 52, were published on the state department's Rewards for Justice website on Friday.

Officials said they had adapted a 1998 file image to take account of a decade's worth of ageing, and possible changes to facial hair.

'Unintentional and inadvertent'

Mr Llamazares, 52, the former leader of the United Left coalition in parliament, said he could not believe it when he was first told about the similarity between himself and the new photo-fit of Bin Laden.

He said he soon realised that his forehead, hair and jaw-line had been "cut and pasted" from an old campaign photograph.


Bin Laden's safety is not threatened by this but mine certainly is
Gaspar Llamazares

"I was surprised and angered because it's the most shameless use of a real person to make up the image of a terrorist," he told a news conference.

"It's almost like out of a comedy if it didn't deal with matters as serious as Bin Laden and citizens' security."

The FBI claimed to have used "cutting edge" technology, but Mr Llamazares said it showed the "low level" of US intelligence services and could cause problems if he was wrongly identified as the Saudi.

"Bin Laden's safety is not threatened by this but mine certainly is," he said, adding that he was considering taking legal action.

Later, an FBI spokesman told the BBC that it was "aware of the similarities in hairline features of the age-progressed photograph of Osama Bin Laden, posted on the web yesterday, and that of an existing photograph of a Spanish public official".

"When producing age-progressed photographs, forensic artists typically select features from a database of stock reference photographs to create the new image."

"After a preliminary review, it appears that in this instance the forensic artist was unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs and obtained those features, in part, from a photograph he found on the internet."

"The forensic artist was not aware of the identity of the individual depicted in the photograph. The similarities between the photos were unintentional and inadvertent."

Where in the name of goodness are the Nigerian students? One cannot but wonder aloud how easily the leadership of the Nigerian students got itself so much into bribery and settlement that we rarely feel any effect of the existence of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS at a time when its presence needs to be felt! Could NANS be suffering from pericarditis too? I wonder!

To hear that progressive students and the NANS were bribed by PDP to embark on a pro-government demonstration in Abuja is a very sad story indeed. I couldn’t but voice my heartfelt regret that the NANS has slipped into oblivion at a time like this when its presence is highly needed for reconstruction work on the Nigeria project.

The NANS, your awful failure is written all over Nigeria. You have successfully dashed the hope and trust that used to be placed in you by the people. Everywhere you look, there are indicators of decay and deterioration all over the land: The banks are busy sacking staff by the day, oil and gas firms are reducing staff strength and the students whose collective interests you claim to represent are being subjected on their campuses to reading ‘obsolete books’ and experimenting in empty science laboratories. Did it escape you observation that the same libraries that contain obsolete books, the same empty science laboratories used to cater so well to the predecessors of the people you claim to represent today in years far gone?

The condition of things is so bad that Nigerian students no longer know where they are headed to search for gainful employment after graduation. Some might make bold to argue that it’s not their calling to confront the rot in the land. But I still ask those of them that make such a claim:

Where on earth will you run to for employment after graduation if you must sit around and let your leaders collude with the evil men and women that rob Nigeria dry? Perhaps you’re planning to escape to the USA, UK, EU, or even Asia? Where on earth do you think they need Nigerians at this moment? I have bad news for you: Nigerians are snapped and bungled already, they constitute a toxic brand that no one wants! The future is bleak, very bleak comrades.

I was once a student leader and activist. I even played a role in the pressure that ousted Ibrahim Babangida, the self-proclaimed evil genius from power after he annulled Chief MKO Abiola’s victory and wanted to stay put. I say to you NANS, get up and call out your rank and file in their millions to protest and resist the unconstitutional acts going on in Aso Rock, Abuja. Come out and defend your future. Come out and say no to corruption and perversion of justice in Nigeria’s seat of power. The man that calls himself president has been unaccounted for since more than two months now. Yet, there’s troubling silence all over the land when NANS is mentioned. If older fellows could embark on a march in Abuja, you, who represents the youth and those you represent on the campuses have no excuse at all, comrades.

Every student body in the land should rise up and protest. The march that you must stage is not going to be a political per se. It will be a rally to protect your future from destruction. That future, I must remind you, is in serious jeopardy.
Aluta continua Victoria acerta!

● Comrade Kenny Toye is a former student leader/activist. He writes from Effunrun, Delta State.

foye57:
been tryn to add a poll, cant seem to find it where u suggested.has it been removed.i need help pls.tanks.

nich:
 nna, so u sef wan go join bobby for bar. abi?