₦airaland Forum

freecocoa:
According to cocoa's advanced dictionary 5th edition.Love is an unconditional feeling of affection,passion,appreciation etc for someone.what am i saying?

.
You're saying nothing of course as usual!

Mine was when I was in primary 6. This girl liked me and had been wanting to talk cos everybody noticed it whenever a girl play with me she will block her outside and warn bt never talk to me. One day she summoned courage and came to me and said do you like groundnut? I laughed so te she vex walker.

Money+good house+good car=love nothin less if you minus these things as minus love and add rejection in African context or Nigeria to be precise!

This just to show how u cannot trust politicians! If "saint" GEJ could not answer directly simple questions of whether he will do one term or which part will he handover to until somebody like Anenih who lacks any moral stand. Then I'm sure GEJ is not sincere in all his Facebook campaigns and he will definitely be worst than Atiku if voted into power. I'm sure his first mission would be to get back at the Governors and there will be supremacy battle just for him to continue after four years. He will not focus on any policy or poroject that will bring development. Be wise let's get pdp out my fellow country men!

I’m ready for arrest - Atiku
Friday, 17 December 2010 00:00 Fidelis Mac-Leva
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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar
Former Vice President and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has said that tolerance for dissenting views and opponents remains an integral component of democracy.

Atiku made the statement last night in reaction to President Goodluck Jonathan’s threat, which was ostensibly a reaction to the former Vice President’s widely reported comment on the consequences of resisting change.


Atiku had at the national stakeholders conference warned that “those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable.” He had also added that “this (violent change) is not what we want for Nigeria.”

In a statement by his campaign organisation in Abuja last night, the former Vice President said that he and his supporters will not be deterred in the commitment to ensure that the PDP abides by its zoning arrangement in line with the party’s amended constitution.

“Atiku is a democrat who has at all times toed the path of constitutionality and rule of law in advancing the cause of democracy and therefore cannot be recommending a path that is at variance with his life-long struggles to deepen democracy in Nigeria,” the statement said.

The statement added that Atiku’s comment was borne out of historical reality when the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy warned against the consequences of making peaceful change impossible.

He said the statement should be taken in its historical context in terms of the bitter experiences that injustice has caused around the world, and as evidenced in the looming crisis in Cote d’Ivoire.

“As a responsible and dignified statesman, Atiku will never resort to scare-mongering or any anti-social action which can undermine Nigeria’s co-existence,” the statement added.

The PDP presidential aspirant argued that accusing him of causing tension is like putting the saddle on the wrong horse.

According to him, no Nigerian leader in recent memory has caused so much bitterness, division, suspicions and animosity among Nigerians like President Goodluck Jonathan because of his ambition to run in 2011.

Atiku recalled that a serving federal minister in this administration once threatened that Nigeria could face dire consequences if President Jonathan was forced out of the presidential race.

He wondered how a president that tore the PDP apart and caused bitterness within his own ruling party because of his ambition could accuse anyone of causing tension.

http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8585:im-ready-for-arrest-atiku&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

How Presidency Rallied PDP Govs Behind Jonathan
SATURDAY, 18 DECEMBER 2010 00:00 BY AZIMAZI MOMOH JIMOH (ABUJA), SAMSON EZEA (LAGOS) NEWS - NATIONAL
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PDP Reps Pledge Fair Presidential Primaries
DETAILS of the intrigues which characterised the 55th National Executive Council (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja on Thursday in which 20 state governors in the ruling party reportedly endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid, have emerged.
A member of the PDP NEC who pleaded anonymity disclosed to The Guardian that the meeting was highly charged as President Jonathan allegedly warned the governors of the consequences for all stakeholders, if they dared to abandon him.
The threat prompted some of the governors to hurriedly organise a gathering to endorse the president.
The NEC member quoted President Jonathan as having told the governors at the meeting: “You have given me assurances of support but some of you are secretly campaigning for another candidate. I can’t stand here and be humiliated by you. Everything I have asked for, you have refused to give me. No president anywhere has been treated by his party the way you are treating me.”
At this point, Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, Bukola Saraki was said to have risen to President Jonathan’s rescue and told the meeting that they must toe the president’s line in order to save the party from a looming crisis.
According to a source, before the meeting, Saraki allegedly told his colleagues and the PDP Chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, that “all of us here got everything that we have asked for—the order of the primaries, the delegate issue and all that. There must be something for the president.”
It was gathered that Niger State Governor, Aliyu Babangida, put the motion to endorse the president for the re-election bid as the PDP candidate on condition that he serves just one term and go by 2015.
According to the source, there was a palpable sense of relief in the expansive office of the PDP chairman. The question that followed was whether the president was willing to do a single term and go away.
Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Alhaji Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Chief Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), and Mallam Sule Lamido (Jigawa) persistently asked the president to respond to the question.
“What are we going to tell our people when they ask?,” Governor Aliyu was quoted to have asked the president.
But the president was mute, giving rise to suspicion that he wanted to have the office for at least eight more years “if that is what Nigerians want.”
At this stage, the source said, former BoT Chairman of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih rose to his feet and gave a pledge that President Jonathan would serve for just one term of four years.
But when asked to which zone President Jonathan would hand over, both the President and Anenih kept mute, again giving rise to further suspicion about the president’s game plan.
Meanwhile, the PDP members in the House of Representatives have assured former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of level playing ground in the January 13, 2011 presidential primary election of the party.
They made the pledge when Abubakar met with them at the residence of Speaker Dimeji Bankole to seek their support for his presidential ambition in the 2011 general election.
The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, presented an opportunity for Abubakar to provide explanations on key issues his administration would accord priority if elected into office.
Sources at the meeting said the former vice president promised to promote good legislature-executive relationship, among others.
It was learnt that a member of the House, Ogbuefi Ora Ozombachi (PDP, Enugu State) who was mandated to speak on behalf of others, declared that the caucus would ensure a level playing ground for all the PDP presidential aspirants at the primaries.
The lawmakers reportedly demanded that all aspirants should conduct their campaigns in a manner that would not throw the party into crisis.
President Goodluck Jonathan was the first to meet the PDP Caucus in the House to sell his presidential bid to it two weeks ago.
And, at this critical time of Nigeria’s national history, what the nation needs is peaceful political transition and not violent takeover of power and disruption of the peaceful existence of the various nationalities as being advocated by some politicians, the Media for Ethnic Equality (MEE), has warned.
The group, in a statement yesterday by its Publicity Secretary, Iyiola Johnson, in apparent response to remarks made by two presidential aspirants on the platform of the PDP, Abubakar and former military President Ibrahim Babangida, cautioned politicians against fuelling ethnic tension in the country.
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happy birthday to a man of integrity

ur cv is passworded man

strangerf:
Intertribal marriage is bad

It is bound to fail, and I wouldnt advise anyone to do it; especially with Ibos, very backward and money making ritualistic people!

I think your types ceased to exist 5 decades ago. You are just an ethnic bigot and you can as well keep your advice to yourself.

talk i beg dey guy de cry for me cos i be like hin brother. i know what he did was wrong n would not want to get involved but want to give honest advice and i believe will get it here

I am 100% for it! I am from the North by God's grace marrying an Igbo girl although my dad and hers are sceptical about it, but we love each other and going ahead with it.

Dear NLanders, please i have a friend who was involved in academic dishonesty and was caught twice. The professor told him that he will fail him one of the classes and due to school policies he may be expelled or or may allowed to enroll in only one class next session, which means losing his F1 status and could risk deportation. This guy is a very nice guy and hass been working hard to survive and cos of that he could not find time to write his essays so he just copy pasted them as he said. This i know is pure plagiarism but i love this guy and i am really looking for a way to help him. any advice would be much appreciated. thanks

A Nigerian, Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound American aircraft last Christmas, was yesterday indicted on terrorism charges.
Abdulmutallab, was charged on December 26, last year in a US District Court for Eastern District of Michigan, on two criminal counts: of attempting to blow up and placing a destructive device on a US civil aircraft. Additional charges were added in a grand jury indictment on January 6, 2010.

With the new terrorism charges slammed on him, the Nigerian faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment on conviction.
The 24-year old Nigerian, who is facing strings of criminal charges, which included attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people, had been in detention since he was subdued by Flight 253 passengers and crew while attempting to detonate a bomb and was later handed over to security operatives.
The new charge of conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism alleged that Abdulmutallab acted in concert with others whose names are known and unknown to the federal grand jury.

The indictment alleged that the accused traveled to Yemen to get involved in violent jihad on behalf of Al Qaeda, practiced detonating a bomb similar to the one he used last Christmas Day incident and subsequently received a bomb for the botched mission.
According to US laws, however, an indictment contains mere allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

At his appearance in court in September, the first since January 8, 2010, when he first pleaded not guilty to charges filed against him, Abdulmutallab sacked his lawyers and told District Judge Nancy Edmunds that he would represent himself, saying, "Any representation I would have, there would always be a conflict of interest."
He also gave an indication he may be considering guilty plea when he posed a question to Judge Edmunds saying: "If I want to plead guilty to some counts, basically, how would that go?".

Adamawa: Marwa Enters Guber Race
From Matthew Onah in Yola, 12.15.2010
A former presidential aspirant and one time military governor of Lagos, General Muhammad Buba Marwa , on Wednesday formerly declared his intention to run for governorship of Adamawa state under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Addressing a mammoth crowd at his campaign office in Yola, the aspirant who is currently Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa said his declaration was in response to the numerous calls by people in the state for him to run so as to effect the salutary service he rendered as a military governor in other states.
“With my background as a soldier, diplomat and public administrator, I promise to offer true dedicated service based on a tested and trusted leadership, honesty, hard work, sincerity and commitment.

My track record of public service in present Borno and Yobe and Lagos states will be my guarantor.” He stated.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/
He further pledged to provide free health care services, free education in public schools, internally generated electricity and
boost agriculture with appropriate technologies.

Does this guy really looks like a taxi driver or is just the normal way of deceiving people?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxKosXINjfk&feature=player_embedded

Has any one in the USA been able to watch this clip of CNN? i tried to watch it but its been telling me that it has "a block it for copyright reasons" abi they don block the thing sef oyibo no good

He was never in control before so how can he lose it? anyways he is a loser and will continue and continue on that paths as long as he remains with PDP

Blazay:
Good.

Save your depleting "ovation" account for your old age and go and build a house in your village first before running for any government office.

You need to start with the local government chairmanship first of all in your locality.

He does not even live in Nigeria.

I was shocked to find out that the man did not have even a boys' 'squatters' in his home town. . . if he cannot manage his money as a businessmen with an editorial magazine empire. . . how do we expect him to run a complex country like Nigeria when allowed a free hand in the Nigerian coffers?

Some people do not know their 'levels' I tellya.

He needs a dietician if you ask me. I don't think he is healthy enough to run for 4 years.

This dude would need to shell some 100 pounds before climbing unto "Aso Rock". . . might just drop dead during the campaign season.

Good lord! Very amorphous.


Ribadu should please do himself the honor too.

na Ribadu comes 2011

Dele Momodu, LP presidential aspirant resigns
By RAZAQ BAMIDELE
Wednesday, December 15, 2010


Dele Momodu
Photo: Sun News publishing
More Stories on This Section
As political parties across the country are concluding arrangements to hold their primaries, a renowned journalist and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), Bashorun Dele Momodu has resigned his membership of the party.

A statement from the National Coordinator of Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation, Ohimai Godwin Amaize announced that the publisher of the Ovation magazine forwarded his resignation letter to the National Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Nwayanwu yesterday.

The reason for his resignation, according to the letter might not be unconnected with suspicion that the party was not willing to field a presidential candidate for the 2011 general elections.
The letter reads in part:

“I write to notify your good self and office of my resignation from the membership of The Labour Party (LP). You will recall that on 20th November, 2010 I wrote to you drawing your attention to my observations about indications that The Labour Party (LP) had no plans to field a presidential candidate for the 2011 presidential election. For the records, below is the text copy of that letter:

“As a true Christian, I must bring to your attention some of my worries about your supposed attitude to my participation in the presidential race on the platform of our great party, The Labour Party.”
“I’m very alarmed at some of the comments being credited to you by most of our mutual friends. It has become fashionable by many people to stop or call me to ask “what’s going on between you and Dan, the Chairman of your party?” And whenever I asked why the question the answer was often that “Dan believes you are not serious, that you only exist on the internet, that you have no money to run a presidential campaign, ”

“The most cynical of the commentators was a man, (name withheld) who I did not know before but accosted me at the Bukka Restaurant of Transcorp Hilton hotel a few weeks back, and shouted publicly that ‘Dele, sorry o, Dan has sold your ticket in Labour.’ I just managed the situation by laughing at him as a joker, otherwise he would have attracted a crowd to us.

“Sir, it is too early in the day to write any candidate off. With limited resources, I have taken on political Goliaths. I have attracted considerable attention to our party. Everyone now agrees I’m one of the brightest hopes for Nigeria. In the name of God, I deserve to be encouraged.”
He therefore booked an appointment with the Chairman to give details of why he was raising concerns about the whole issue.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/dec/15/national-15-12-2010-03.htm

"Have you ever forgotten the man you was chillin with name?"

na! na!! Mrs, Eve this grammatically unacceptable!

^^^^ :-x :-x :-x :-x :-x

‘2010 Budget Records 50% Implementation’
•FCT, Works, N’Delta Ministries are top performers
From Ndubuisi Francis and Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja, 12.11.2010
Director General of the Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, yesterday in Abuja said the 2010 Budget recorded about 50 per cent implementation
He listed the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Niger Delta and Federal Capital Territory as the leading lights in the implementation scale. A breakdown of the level of implementation by each of them was, however not provided
Okogu, who spoke at the 2nd Economic Policy and Fiscal Strategy Seminar on “Strengthening the Budgetary Process for Improved Service Delivery: Towards Best Practice”, said the 50 per cent implementation figure was achieved by the end of October, expressing optimism that when the final figures for the year are collated, an improvement would be recorded.


Listing some of the major challenges associated with budgeting in the country, Okogu expressed regret that even ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have always been pre-occupied with how much should be allocated to them in a new budget rather than focusing on service delivery and attaining high level implementation of the existing one.
“If you look at the eventual implementation, you see that they used about 50-60 per cent (less than what they demanded). The 2009 Budget as at December last year was about 61 per cent implemented. That prompted the legislature (National Assembly) to extend the time to March and that led to 77 per cent implementation in 15 months,” he said.


Okogu noted that budget has become more political than fiscal, regretting that it has been politicised beyond imagination.
He called for an immediate solution to the high level of subsidies, particularly the one enjoyed by independent oil marketers.
According to Okogu, each time his office is preparing budget, MDAs go through other channels to have their budget estimates increased from what the Budget Office actually estimates, adding that service delivery rather than huge budgetary allocation which end up not being optimally utilised should be the concern of the bureaucracy.
About N500 billion, he noted, is wasted to subsidise the operations of the marketers, who make incredibly high profits, without this rubbing off positively on the poor in the society, who were meant to be the beneficiaries of the incentive.


He said noting that irrespective of the sentiments expressed in certain quarters, deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry would do more good to the nation’s economy and that many countries have been moving away from high subsidies.
Earlier, the Executive Director, Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), organisers of the seminar, Dr. Menachem Katz wondered why the country should be recording budget deficit in spite of the huge inflow occasioned by high oil prices in the global market.
He observed that since 2003, there has been progress in strengthening public financial management of the federal government.


“However, in some respects, there has been deterioration in fiscal discipline and in the budget process. There has been limited improvement in service delivery,” Katz said, listing areas of budgetary fiscal progress as the introduction of oil price-based rule, the introduction of a medium term fiscal framework (MTEF)and preparation of an annual fiscal strategy paper (FSP), among others.
He warned the country against complacency in order not to fall into the same predicament countries like the United States of America, Ireland and the United Kingdom have found themselves vis-à-vis debt overhang.
According to him, Nigeria should not go to sleep with the notion that its debt per GDP ratio is sustainable and therefore continue to incur debts.


In his presentation, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Hon. John Enoh disclosed that his committee has already started working with the Ministry of Finance to benchmark the 2011 Budget on $65 per barrel of oil but regretted that the more the budget is made a political tool, the worse for the nation.
He pointed out that failure to carry the National Assembly along at the stage of budget preparation was a major cause of the disequilibrium and disagreements usually witnessed annually before budgets are passed.
He also blamed his colleagues in the National Assembly for sometimes arbitrarily increasing figures in budgetary proposals without recourse to the overall implications on the polity.

http://www.thisdayonline.info/nview.php?id=189759

tyson55:
@ poster go get your fact right. This has got nothing to do with Wikileaks.

which facts do you want me to get right hey i am not that dumb not to know that the saga of HB has been before the wikileaks stuff. all i am trying to say is the that, the USG is trying be soft because of the anticipated negative effect the wikileaks will have on its international diplomacy and thats is why its playing along. shikenan

Wao thank God for Wikileaks oooo!!!

AMERICAN Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton yesterday dropped a hint that Washington and oil services company, Halliburton were working towards an amicable resolution of the face-off between that country’s former Vice President Richard ‘Dick’ Cheney and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which wants to prosecute him over alleged bribery charges, Just as the US government expressed its official view on the matter for the first time, US news website are also reporting that the oil services company, H[b]alliburton may have been engaging lawyers to negotiate with EFCC on the payment of up to $500 million in fines to settle bribery charges against the former US Vice President[/b].

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32003:halliburton-may-pay-500m-to-avert-cheneys-trial&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

Sham marriage immigration offenders jailed for 3 years

09 December 2010
A Czech bride and Nigerian groom were today jailed for staging a sham marriage in a bid to beat UK immigration rules.
At Burnely Crown Court, Idowu Komolafe, a 34-year-old Nigerian national, was jailed for 21 months for perjury and assisting unlawful immigration.
Kveta Pokosova, a 45-year-old Czech national, was jailed for 16 months for bigamy, perjury and assisting unlawful immigration. Both had pleaded guilty to charges at an earlier court hearing.
The couple were arrested by our officers after it emerged that Pokosova was paid £3,000 to go through with the wedding ceremony at St Peter's Church in Accrington on 3 June 2009.
A sham marriage typically occurs when a non-European national marries someone from the European Economic Area, including the UK, as means of attempting to gain long-term residency and the right to work and claim benefits.
Dave Magrath, Head of the North West immigration crime team, UK Border Agency, said:
'Today's sentencing sends out a strong message to those thinking of undertaking sham marriages in order to gain entry to the UK or seeking to make a profit from helping others to do so.
'We have specialist teams of immigration officers and police working to investigate cases just like this to ensure people are not able to benefit from breaking the UK's immigration laws. Whether you take part in the marriage or arrange for others to stage fake weddings we are determined to track down those involved and bring them to justice.'

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2010/dec/28sham-marriage-offenders

2011: Bakare Endorses Buhari
From Muhammad Bello in Port Harcourt, 12.07.2010
Rivers

The leader of Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare has once more reiterated that the SNG’s choice of who will occupy the exalted position of presidency in the country next year is the best person that satisfy certain common criteria.
These criteria are high level of transparency, rancour free internal democracy, ability to strike a balance between the threats of bipolar allegiance to Sharia by the North and free democracy in the south and true fiscal federalism.

Bakare said he personally endorses Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and his Congress for Political Change (CPC) after meeting severally with major aspirants like President Jonathan, Buhari himself, Nuhu Ribadu, Dele Momodu and Atiku Abubakar. “Most of them that we asked critical questions couldn’t answer us. They were looking for experts to tell them answers. So we need the best candidate. We are not talking about sharing the cake but about baking a cake that will satisfy all Nigerians”.

“If all parties will present a candidate against the PDP, the best I have found so far after meeting with all the major stakeholders is Buhari. Even he and his CPC can’t win an election all on their own”, Bakare posits.

Explaining that there are lot more political eruptions ahead of the 2011 polls, Bakare told a summit of the SNC yesterday in Port Harcourt that the last of consensus candidature is yet to be heard.

“Assuming Atiku wins, Jonathan will use all power at his disposal to undo the PDP. If Jonathan wins the primary all those that produced the consensus candidate will move away and form a new mega party. That is when the battle begins”, Bakare analysed.


He outlined how the SNG will help make the 2011 election credible by saying that against the negligible 3 million registered members of the PDP, the group will mobilise and register 12 million voters. “ There are two Jega in Nigeria today. One is Attahiru Jega and the other is Jonathan Ebele Goodluck. One would count the vote and the other will make sure they count. The SNG will encourage people to blow the whistle during the period of voters register. And during elections, if we suspect rigging, there not only be a critical mass protest, there will be a balance of terror because nobody has the monopoly of violence”, the pastor said.

On his grouse with Jonathan, the SNG leader said the president goofed when the group asked him what his agenda was for Nigeria and he said he wouldn’t promise anything as others have promised and failed. “The SNG will not support Jonathan because he has violated our cardinal principle. If he doesn’t amend that statement I’ll campaign against him even in his own village”, Bakare emphasized.

Threatening to expose everything that happened that has been dragging the nation backwards, Pastor Bakare said Nigerians must be told the plain truth in order for them to support the SNG voluntarily. Thes are: that he is not a member of any political party, that no member of his family has been a card carrying member of any political party and that outside his university days 30 years ago, he has never ran for any political office.

Most salient among the truths he enumerated is the fact that the SNG as a political organization has not taken a stance in favour of any party or candidate until after party primaries. “The SNG position now is that the best of the North and South should steer the ship of state”, Bakare intimated.

mamagee
maisuya
appletango
blazy

Jonathan in Secret Talks with Northern Leaders
•Atiku: There’ll be vacancy in Aso Rock
By Imam Imam in Lagos and Chuks Okocha in Abuja, 12.07.2010
President Goodluck Jonathan has been holding secret talks with key Northern political leaders over the way out of the zoning crisis and is weighing the option of serving just one term in office, THISDAY can report.

Also yesterday, former presidential aspirant, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, moved to reopen the zoning controversy when he wrote Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, threatening to “reconsider” his membership of the party if zoning is not adhered to.

Northern leaders, including governors sympathetic to Jonathan, have proposed the option of one term and a return of power to the North in 2015 to reduce the tension in the polity and create a “peaceful atmosphere” before the 2011 elections.
THISDAY learnt that General TY Danjuma and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, are also involved in this move which has been considered as a “political solution” to the controversy.

The major obstacle to his outright endorsement by the North, according to THISDAY sources, is the fear that he may seek a second term in 2015, thereby keeping the region out of presidential power for nine years.

Information available to THISDAY indicates that the power brokers have agreed in principle to support Jonathan's aspiration on the condition that he would in turn commit “in writing” to support a Northern candidate to succeed him in 2015.

“The naked truth is that we cannot stop President Jonathan from running,” a traditional ruler told the newspaper yesterday. “No matter the argument we want to make, it will be difficult to ask a sitting president to vacate office when it is within his constitutional right to run. We also do not want to damage our relationship with the South-south which is as old as Nigeria.”
He said, however, that the president should also consider the political dilemma of the North as it would be “unfair” to keep power in the South for 17 out of 20 years if Jonathan seeks re-election in 2015.

“From 1999 to 2019, that is if Jonathan seeks re-election, it would mean the South ruled for 17 years while the North ruled for only three years, between 2007 and 2010. It is therefore commonsense for us to expect the president to spend only one term and go in the interest of national unity,” he said, confirming that the Northern power brokers had already held discussions with the president on the issue.

THISDAY also learnt that some of the emirs and leaders of thought made their positions known in various meetings with the Director-General of the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, during his visits to the states in the North as part of his mobilisation tour to states ahead of the PDP presidential primary.
The newspaper could not confirm if Jonathan was well disposed to the one-term option, but he is said to be seriously considering it.

“I can confirm that the president himself is not averse to it because he believes one term is enough to make an impact,” a political associate of the president told THISDAY. “His belief is that seeking second term is one of the reasons many leaders are afraid of taking tough decisions so that they could be re-elected into office.”

Jonathan’s decision to stand in the presidential election was based on the argument that he and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were elected on a joint ticket in 2007 and he should be allowed to serve out the two terms.

THISDAY gathered that many of the Northern governors believe that if they support Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2011, it would signal the death of their own hopes of being president.
However, it is believed that if Jonathan agrees to the one-term option, every aspiring Northern governor would have an equal chance of succeeding him in 2015.

Babangida, in his letter to Nwodo, said “the judiciary has made its pronouncement, our duty is to comply,” referring to a judgment of an Abuja High Court, which acknowledged the existence of zoning arrangement in PDP but stated that it cannot enforce its application, thus failing to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2011 poll.

Babangida in a letter dated December 6, 29010, which he personally signed, said the verdict was only open to one interpretation that zoning exists within PDP and that if the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had any doubt, it had been cleared.
He said the ruling was binding on the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and every member of the party including President Jonathan, threatening that if the party had become so helpless, many of them would have no alternative but to reconsider their continued membership.

Responding to the letter last night, Nwodo said he would present it to the party’s NWC for deliberation.
The letter is entitled “Challenges of the Judgement of High Court of the Federal Capital in Suit No. FCT/HC/ 2425/2010/- Sani Aminu Dutsinma Vs PDP, Re: Rotation and Zoning of Party and Public Offices”.

Babangida said in the letter: “As you are well aware, some controversies have, for sometime now, arisen over the decision to jettison the principle of zoning as enshrined in the constitution of the party.

“It is my view, and that, I believe, is the view of many public spirited, patriotic and responsible members of our party that to do so would violate the provisions of Section 7.2(c) of the constitution of the PDP, which provides as follows:
 “In pursuance of the principles of equity, justice and fairness, the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels.”

He said the above section of the PDP constitution was further amplified by paragraph 2(c) of the preamble to the said constitution which provides that: “To create socio-political conditions conducive to natural peace and unity by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, to conform with the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices amongst the diverse people of our country and devolving powers equitably between the federal, state and local governments in the spirit of federation.”

Referring to the court suit, IBB said that the above provisions of the party’s constitution relating to rotation and zoning came up for interpretation before Justice L. H. Gumi, Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The former military president referred to some of the provisions of Article 7.2(c) of the 1st Defendant’s constitution 2009 as amended, which he said recognises the principle of zoning and rotation of party and public elective offices.

The said article, he said, is still subsisting and binding on the party, its organs and members.
He told Nwodo: “As a founding member of the party and in fact as one of its principal officers at the time, and as its present chairman, no one is in a better position than yourself to understand and to execute the party’s constitution.

“It was not too long ago that you were elected, almost unanimously, as chairman of our party. It was a time of crises when there were agitations for reform. You were elected precisely because we were all convinced that you had both the wisdom and the courage to restore the party to the path of truth and justice.

“Under your leadership, this issue of zoning and rotation of offices was discussed by the NEC of the party and the committee came to the conclusion that rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices is a policy of our party – a policy enshrined in the constitution of the party.

“Having come to that conclusion it was the duty of the committee to enforce it. The duty of the committee in that regard was made clear by the learned Chief Judge when he declared: ‘It is domestic issue and not such as would be justiciable in a court of law. The power to nominate and sponsor candidates to an election is vested in a political party and the exercise of this right is the domestic affair of the party.’

Babangida added: “If, in the past, the NEC had any doubts as to the meaning of the provisions of the relevant sections of the constitution relating to these matters, such doubts have now been resolved by the judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in the suit above-mentioned. It is clear from the said judgment that the provisions of the constitution are so clear as not to require the assistance of judicial interpretation in order to understand them.

Babangida said: “Whatever doubts the NEC of the party may have had have now been removed. Every member of the party is required to comply with the provisions of the party constitution. And so is the president who is the leader of the party.
“As great as the office of President is, we should never forget that it does not precede membership of the party. On the contrary, it is membership of the party that precedes the office of President of the Federal Republic so far as the president was not elected as an independent candidate.

“And so I urge the NEC of the party to enforce the constitution of the party in its totality in the forthcoming election. To do otherwise is to condone this attempt at a gross and deliberate violation of the constitution of the party. To do otherwise is tantamount to a declaration that the NEC of the party rejects the principles of equity, justice and fairness enshrined in the PDP constitution.”

Also yesterday, former vice-president and presidential aspirant of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday took issues with former Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Anthony Anenih, who said there is no vacancy in Aso Rock by 2011.
Atiku asked Nigerians to discountenance the former Works Minister, saying there is vacancy at the Presidential Villa and that a brand new president will emerge by May 29, 2011.

The former vice-president who is the consensus candidate of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) in PDP described Anenih as a political “dead duck,” struggling for relevance.
In a statement by his campaign organization, Atiku said Anenih is no longer taken seriously because of his antecedents.
He said: “Nigerians should be wary of the utterances of Anenih. The sovereignty lies with the people and not with Anenih. He does not have the mandate to speak on behalf of the people who are yet to cast their votes in the 2011 elections.”

 “No Vacancy,” Atiku said, was the same battle cry Anenih used to win favour with the late Gen. Sani Abacha, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and now Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
The former vice-president wondered how Anenih who he said had no political space in his home state of Edo “because of his widespread unpopularity can now promise the presidency to someone else”.

Atiku described Anenih as a drag on Nigerian democracy, stating that it is ridiculous to describe the presidency not vacant when the President himself has  pledged to conduct free and fair elections.

He said: “If indeed, the presidency is not vacant, then there is no reason to conduct a presidential election in 2011 because the winner is already known according to Anenih’s odd theory of democracy”.
The former vice-president warned President Jonathan to distance himself from Anenih and his ilk or risk losing credibility in his avowed commitment to free and fair elections in 2011.

^^^^ In your dream land! or may be if the you have the opportunity of seeing you great grand children in the yonder land they will tell the story. Think logical and dnt just pour out the imagination of ur heart.

@P For me, the beginning of wisdom is to start questioning every step of Jonathan. For example, why are the suspects of the Abuja Bombing tried secretly despite protests from the civil society? What are Jonathan and Azazi afraid of? Are they afraid that the suspects might tell the public all the dirty secrets of their past and present sponsors? There are also complaints from all regions about the lopsidedness of recent postings in the military. More such postings are coming within the next two weeks. Such things must be challenged nationwide, including the appointment of Azazi and many of his boys. Then the recruitment of terrorists as coast guards must be resisted. Their previous actions disqualify them ab initio from becoming employed in the defence establishment. Besides, MEND is still active.

Next is that instead of contemplating a post-2011 Jonathan, I would rather implore competent Nigerians from every corner of the nation and in any party they may be to please come forward and contest for the Presidency. Let us dump Jonathan because so far he has proved that there is enough in him to scare us. In my estimation, he has become a security risk.

The National Assembly and the National Council of State must come on board. Their members must open their eyes to this plan. They must stop being rubberstamps of the Presidency on issues regarding the Niger Delta. We wre not helping our brothers in that region by according them the luxury of preferential treatment. A spoilt child always courts disaster for its family.

However, my loudest call goes to the intellectuals and elders of Niger Delta. Politicians on many occasions are no better than thugs in their thought and could be more brutal in their conscience. For some time now politicians in the region have been under the mercy of its thugs. The nation has toed their line too by adopting appeasement as a solution to their criminal actions. But there does not seem to be an end to their demand until they engulf us in another tragedy. We need to hear voices of reason from that region while we do the little we can which is often received with hesitation. There could be consequences for going against the tide but their sour taste would pale before the avoidable sufferings of a nation.
The fact still remains, without northern support there will be no presidency for either GEJ o Atiku get that into your heads.

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as President on May, 5, 2010, following the death of his boss, the late Umaru Yar’Adua. But discerning members of his party would insist that the battle for the party’s 2011 presidential ticket had been on before the demise of Yar’Adua.
While Jonathan was in the saddle as Acting President, the immediate past National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, [PDP], Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, had told journalists, after a meeting with the PDP Governors at Kwara State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja that the presidential ticket would remain in the North, until 2015, in deference to the party’s zoning formula.

It was a pronouncement that courted negative reactions for the former PDP National Chairman and led into chains of other developments.
Ogbulafor was arrested for an alleged sleaze which he allegedly perpetrated, while serving as Minister for Special Duties under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

With the demise of the late President Yar’Adua, the coast was thus clear for Jonathan, who had assumed office as the substantive President to prepare the ground for his presidential ambition.
Getting the party structures behind him was very strategic, as Ogbulafor who was battling allegation of graft was compelled to throw in the towel, as PDP Governors from South-East governors told him in clear terms that President Jonathan was not comfortable with a party national chairman who is facing graft charges, as the allegation leveled against him, albeit, unproven in the court, remains a moral burden to the party.

Sweet victory on zoning
Dr Okwesilizie Nwodo coming on board was a huge victory for Jonathan, as he was able to settle the contentious zoning arrangement in the party in President Jonathan’s favour.
His first major pronouncement though upset the pro-zoning camp in the PDP, but it was relished by the anti –zoning protagonists. Nwodo had said that zoning was dead in PDP, as it had been observed in the breach after 1999. The PDP National Chairman equally ensured along with other foot soldiers of the President that the 53rd National Executive Committee [NEC] meeting made a favourable pronouncement on zoning.
Zoning, according to the party, remains, but the incumbent President has the right to seek for the ticket, along with other wiling contenders on PDP platform for the same ticket.

Daily Sun investigation revealed that the removal and a soft landing for his presidential ambition had been the only battle the President had won in the party, since his assumption of office.

Fatal blow on e-registration
While his camp was basking in the euphoria of his victory at the 53rd NEC, his opponents only beat a retreat to strategise.

All the moves by Nwodo, who is perceived as President Jonathan’s Man Friday, is viewed with suspicion by other presidential aspirants and the PDP Governors.
Nwodo had promised party faithful that he would restore internal democracy in the party, remove godfathers in state chapters.

His fancied scheme through which he hoped to restore this normative ideal of equal membership was the on-line registration of members of the party. He believed the scheme would assist the party to generate fund for itself, rather than going cap in hands to seek for funds from governors and other political office holders of the party.
It was a good idea that enjoyed the backing of President Jonathan. But the political implication of the scheme was not lost on the ubiquitous PDP Governors who knew that their grip on their state chapters of the party would be lost. Coming close to election time, when they need the delegates for their party primaries and as instrument of negotiation for the national convention, they were poised for a showdown with National Chairman and the President.

At the PDP NEC meeting and in the presence of the President, who was the first to officially register, the e-registration was shot down and thrown away.
The argument canvassed by the governors which was taken as the superior logic was that the party was not ready for online registration. And the governors won!

Bloodied face on PDP Reform Forum
The rejection of the e-registration was an added victory to the PDP Governors’ collective opposition to reform in the party.

A group, the PDP Reform Forum, which enjoyed the support of President Jonathan while he was acting President and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, [BoT], ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo had been killed in its formative stage by the PDP Governors.

The Reform Forum, which had former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and former Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Masari as Chairman and Secretary, respectively had since been dissolved, following the pronouncement of the party’s highest decision- making organ,, NEC [again at the behest of the governors]

Lost out on order of party primaries, Executive Bill
The idea of a presidential primary before the governorship was a deft move canvassed by President Jonathan’s foot soldiers to help boost his chances at securing the presidential ticket.
Governors who had been labeled as pro-zoning, particularly those of them in the Northern Governors’ Forum got wind of it and set their moles and loyalists to work on the PDP National Working Committee (NWC).
According to a Daily Sun source, “the arrangement was working well for the President and was almost sealed, until a crack was imminent in the NWC. It was Nwodo against the rest of his colleagues in the NWC and the governors won.’’

The PDP governors insisted that the governorship primary election to elect the candidates must hold first and today in PDP that is the order of primary.
The presidential primary by the PDP arrangement and election time table would be the last. Another lost battle for President Jonathan’s camp.

There was also the battle of wits between the other presidential aspirants and governors, on one hand and the sitting President: the Executive Bill.
An initiative of the President, it was expected to boost his chances at the party presidential primary.
It would have ensured that serving ministers, members of board of government agencies, ambassadors and aides of the President and the Vice-President be allowed to vote as delegates.
But Daily Sun investigation revealed that other presidential aspirants, serving PDP Governors in concert with certain members of Northern Senators’ Forum went to work and the bill was unanimously rejected in the Senate.

Nigerian Governors’ Forum: cat with nine lives
Fingers of scorn were also pointed at the Presidency in the recent skirmish between the governors in an attempt to remove the outgoing Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki, who was also a PDP Presidential aspirant.

The crisis of succession could have dealt a fatal blow to the camp of the governors, to the advantage of the President who needs the forum to boost his chance of picking his party ticket and winning the general election.
Media reports alleged that the coup to unseat Saraki was planned at the Presidential Villa, as Jonathan wanted the Ogun State Governor and South-West coordinator of Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign, Governor Gbenga Daniel to succeed Saraki.

It was another lost battle as the crisis was amicably resolved in favour of Saraki.
Having lost out in the power game to install governor Daniel as Chairman of the Forum, President Jonathan had been fingered in the attempt to create a new power block in the PDP federal lawmakers, as he met separately with the federal lawmakers last week. The federal legislators have been trying to plant themselves, as automatic members of the PDP NEC.

Party stalwarts appraise Jonathan
Former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State, who is now back in PDP, Prince Tonye Princewill, however, cautioned Nigerians not to see President Jonathan as a weakling.
Even as he noted that Jonathan’s steps do not portray him as a good strategist, the PDP stalwart said that a sitting President with enormous power could still have the last laugh.

“Yes, there are lot of indications that we aren’t dealing with a good strategist here. Certain developments point to the fact that he isn’t doing enough to have a grip on the party machinery. But again, he has his own style.
The battle to get PDP ticket is a very tough one, but don’t underestimate him. He is a sitting president and who knows he could still have the last laugh’’.

Another party faithful, who craved not to be named, equally warned against what he called the creeping perception to take President Jonathan as a weakling, as he noted that the President was living up to his rating as a true democrat.

‘That’s what you expect from a true democrat. Remember, when the PDP NEC announced Dr Nwodo as National Chairman, there were people who were of the opinion that Jonathan should have sacked the entire PDP NWC for Nwodo, but Jonathan resisted this.
Again, when Atiku was seeking for a waiver there were pressures on Jonathan not to allow Atiku secure it, but he turned deaf ears to this.

I think his style shows that he isn’t desperate to be President in 2011. It is the hallmark of a good leader, a democrat. He deserves commendation, not vilification for his style,’’ the PDP chieftain submitted.
Also reacting, former Senate President and Chairman, Congress for Equality and Change, a pro- Jonathan platform, Senator Ameh Ebute told Daily Sun that nothing has happened so far in the PDP, or within the polity that endangers President Jonathan’s chances of picking the ticket.

He disclosed that rather than confront the governors, the President is friendly with them and monitoring the situations at the state chapters of the party, as the chairmen and secretaries, have the delegates.
‘’Everybody has his style. While Obasanjo believes in force to cow the governors, I think Jonathan decides to adopt a friendly posture, instead of confrontation.

The fact that he hasn’t used his supposed powers doesn’t mean he is weak. Besides, nothing has endangered his chances to win the PDP presidential primaries. So, why should he begin to fret? We are on top of the situation, as the PDP chairmen and secretaries in the states are with Jonathan.’’

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/dec/07/national-07-12-2010-020.htm

NLanders, after you guys said the guy was pursuing Northern agenda now its time to praise. I thank God I am a Nigerian and very proud of it.