₦airaland Forum

Please asked,Obasanjo what he did to stop the killing of Christians and burning of their Properties during the Danish Cartoon protest in the North?Many Churches were burnt down during that protest well organized and executed by Ali Modu Sheriff foot soldiers (Boko Haram and Ecomog) during that period.Can OBJ tell us those arrested were prosecuted?

Their was also burning and killings of Innocent Civilians during the Beauty Pagent in Nigeria during OBJ tenure?What did he do?They quickly cancelled the Pagent.

OBJ is a coward.He should just shut the fck up.

yes.Northern Leaders said insecurity is caused by low allocation.The hunter will soon become the hunted soon.All Northern Leaders,you will be hold accountable and you will shall reap in thousand folds the blood of Innocent spilled.Bukar Abba Ibrahim,Ali Modu Sherrif and all Northern blood sucking Demons,take note.

I saw many Manchester united fans who benefited from that match officiating,Ghanians,whose Hero,Micheal Essien was chased out of Chelsea by Obi and south African jeolous citizens whose football players are not deemed fit to play in any top football club in Europe posting senceless Comments here.You could imajine if it was Rooney or Fergerson that made such accusation.I like the way Drogba and Diouf treated those bunch of racist during their carreer in England.This is cover up big time.Michral,we are with you.

nope@celvery,the merge with ACN and CPC

@ obongtunji ass licker.Did he tell you to defend him?

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver joint statements …Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced a bomb attack on a bus in Tel Aviv that wounded at least 10 people even as she worked to help cobble together a truce between Israel and the Palestinians' Islamist Hamas movement that rules Gaza.

"The United States strongly condemns this terrorist attack, and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the people of Israel," said Clinton, who has been meeting with leaders of Israel and Egypt as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas' government runs the West Bank.

"As I arrive in Cairo, I am closely monitoring reports from Tel Aviv, and we will stay in close contact with Prime Minister Netanyahu's team. The United States stands ready to provide any assistance that Israel requires," Clinton said in a written statement.

Hamas has welcomed the attack, even as the White House joined in the denunciations.

"The United States condemns today's terrorist attack on a bus in Tel Aviv," press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those injured and with the people of Israel.

"These attacks against innocent Israeli civilians are outrageous. The United States will stand with our Israeli allies and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack," Carney said. "The United States reaffirms our unshakeable commitment to Israel's security and our deep friendship and solidarity with the Israeli people."

Threat-focused Iran launches 'biggest ever' air drills


DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran launched military drills across half the country on Monday, warning it would act against aggressors less than a week after Washington accused Iranian warplanes of firing on a U.S. drone.

The maneuvers will take place this week across 850,000 square kilometers (330,000 square miles) of Iran's northeast, east, and southeast regions, Iranian media reported.

Some 8,000 elite and regular army troops will participate, backed by bombers and fighter planes, while missile, artillery and surveillance systems will be tested, various media said.

Played out against a backdrop of high tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, the 'Velayat-4' maneuvers will involve the biggest air drills the country has ever held, Iran's English-language Press TV reported.

"These drills convey a message of peace and security to regional countries," Shahrokh Shahram, the spokesman for the exercises, told the broadcaster on Monday. "At the same time they send out a strong warning to those threatening Iran."

Last week, the U.S. Pentagon said Iranian planes opened fire on an unarmed U.S. drone over international waters on November 1.

Iran said it had repelled "an enemy's unmanned aircraft" violating its airspace.

Washington, the EU and other bodies have imposed sanctions on Iran's oil trade to press it to halt nuclear research the West fears is aimed at developing the capability to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the charge, saying its nuclear work is purely for peaceful purposes.

Both the United States and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran, if diplomacy fails to resolve the row.

FORWARD PLANNING

Although the Iranian air drills come just days after the Pentagon's announcement, the exercises appear to have been planned well in advance.

In September Farzad Esmaili, commander of the army's air defense force, told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) that Iran was planning a large-scale air drill in coming months.

Various radar and other fixed, tactical and airborne surveillance systems would participate, Esmaili told state news agency IRNA on Thursday.

The exercise will also test bombers, refueling planes and unmanned aircraft, Esmaili said.

ISNA said on Monday that F-4, F-5, F-7, and F-14 fighters would participate.

Shahram told IRNA on Sunday the drills would also focus on improving coordination between Iran's military and the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

On Sunday, Revolutionary Guards commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran believed the U.S. drone was gathering intelligence on oil tankers off its shores, according to the Mehr news agency.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Guards, said his forces had acted well in repelling the drone.

"If such intrusions take place in the future, we will protect our airspace," Jafari said on Sunday, according to Press TV.

Iranian officials have threatened to strike U.S. military bases in the region and target Israel if the country is attacked.

Iran has carried out a number of military simulations this year, including the "Great Prophet 7" missile exercises in July.

In August, Iran announced that it had tested a short-range missile with a new guidance system capable of striking land and sea targets.

(Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by John Stonestreet

This is the Joke of the week.Good work JTF.Don't stop untill all Boko Haram members and sympathisers are buried in Mass Graves.Demons.

Why won't they fail when they keep going to Ukraine and Malaysia for studies?

53% foreign-schooled doctors fail induction tests

Only 94 doctors and dentists who schooled abroad passed assessment tests to enable them practise in Nigeria, after 200 of them sat for the tests.

Health authorities have welcomed their success at the tests.

Speaking at their induction into the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said the new crops of professionals stood to boost key human resources for health needed to realise the country’s national strategic health development plan.

He also called for MDCN to regulate practice of medical, dental and herbal care with “effective regulations to guard against medical tourism”, which he called a big drain on the nation’s economy.

MDCN registrar, Dr Udugbai Ilevbare, said the council wanted only practitioners “who are fit in terms of academic and other relevant conditions are registered to practice medicine and dentistry in Nigeria.”

The council did not “want to unleash on unsuspecting Nigerian practitioners who are not well trained,” he added.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201211010957.html

Shut the Bleep up Gen Buhari.He that kills by the sword dies by the sword.Mustapha's case is died and buried and there is nothing Terrorist like you can do.

I wonder wen Aki and Pawpaw became motivational Speakers.

Governor visited the camp,people looked at him and continue to watch TV.I dey laugh oh.What a slowpoke that his people prefer to watch TV and never bother he was around.

ASABA—DELTA State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, said Monday, that he invited popular Nollywood actors, Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, popularly known as Aki and Paw Paw, to visit flood victims in the state as motivational speakers to alleviate the pains of the internally displaced persons.

Aki and Paw Paw were first noticed by some persons at the inauguration of the 12-man committee on the management of Federal Government fund released to the state over the flood disaster and the Post-Flooding Rehabilitation of Victims, headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Francis Tabai, at Government House, Asaba, by Governor Uduaghan.

They were conspicuous in their attire and size and that attracted the crowd, which went hysterical.

Governor Uduaghan, who painted a sorrowful picture of the pains the internally displaced persons, IDPs, were going through, having been sacked from their homes by flood, said everybody who knew how to ease pains should help to ease the pains of the victims.

FOR FLOOD VICTIMS—Nollywood stars Chinedu Ikedieze and his friend Osita Iheme (Aki and Pawpaw) during a visit to some of the flood displaced persons in ICE camp, Asaba, Monday. Photo: Henry Unini

The governor said he decided to invite Aki and Paw Paw after he visited the Institute of Continuing Education, ICE, flood victims’ camp at about 11.00 pm on a certain day and discovered that the IDPs, who were watching a Nollywood movie, were so engrossed that they barely gave him attention when he walked in.

Uduaghan said: “As I walked in, half of the population were watching television; you know we provided a giant television for them.

“I tried to attract their attention. Some looked at me and greeted me, but they turned to continue watching the television. When I looked at the television, I saw it was Aki, Paw Paw and Ibu that they were watching.

“You see, because they were watching Aki, Paw Paw and Ibu, they forgot their pains. For them, these Nollywood actors were helping them to ease their pains. That was why I invited them to go to the different camps as motivational speakers because the victims require a lot of motivation, while they are preparing to go back home.”

The governor observed that some of the victims, indeed, required psychological support, adding that he was optimistic that Aki and Paw Paw would provide it for them.

“That is why they are here as motivational speakers. I believe that the few minutes they will spend will ease the pains of our IDPs. Those who have ability to ease those in pains, please help, it is not about food alone for the victims – that will not ease their pains.

And try not to listen to Vanessa Williams.Crazy about you.

I only felt heartbroken only wen I didn't get between the legs.If I do,I just move on.Most times,they leave and want to come back after finding out that the Grass outside is not Greener.

My sympathy Madam.This deserve more attention than the case of Aluu four.The big question bothering me is what has the much praised Okorocha,Chime and co done to support some of the returnees from those war turned zones?absolutely nothing to my knowledge.
Its a pity that the likes of Atiku,Buhari,Ali Modu Sherif,Zanna and Ndume stll walk the street free while innocemt peolple continue to bear the pains.

Congrats to Cardinal Onaiyekan.The Catholic church is the truth church of God.They run many school and Hospitals in the world and collect pitance for maintaining the facilities.If every other church contributes quarter of what the Catholic church contribute to humanity,the world would have been a better place.

PH
Management of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), a subsidiary of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), yesterday accused Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto State of assaulting three of its workers over a case of continuous power failure in his home town of Wamakko. The governor’s spokesman however denied the charge, saying the PHCN men concocted the story in order to cover up their persistent economic sabotage activities in the state.

 

Speaking in Kaduna yesterday, Acting Managing Director of KEDC Malam Mohammed Adamu said the officers were summoned to the governor’s house in Sokoto and were beaten to a pulp by the governor and some of his aides.

 

He said, “On Saturday, 20th October, 2012, an unusual and unfortunate event took place which was beyond our comprehension. On the said date our business manager, Gwiwa Business Unit, Sokoto State, Engineer Moses Osigwe was invited by His Excellency, the Executive Governor of the state, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko to his personal residence, over the issue of lack of power supply to his hometown, Wamakko as a result of a failed 2.5MVA transformer.

“He accused our staff of deliberately denying his community of power supply. As the business manager tried to give an explanation, he brought out a horse whip and lashed him to a pulp. His Excellency’s brutality did not just end with him alone, as he also invited and instructed two hefty mobile policemen to continue with the beating spree until the business manager fell to the ground and became unconscious.

“In the same vein, the Governor did not stop at the beating of our business manager but invited two other staff of the company, namely Malam Isyaku Dauran, Officer 2 (Electrical) and Malam Nuruddeen Mohammed, Staff 1 (Lines) and ordered the mobile policemen to beat them up.”

However, Wamakko’s Senior Special Assistant on Media Affairs Malam Sani Umar dismissed the allegation as false and without basis. He said Governor Wamakko, who is known all over this country as a calm and peace-loving man, will not stoop so low to assault a PHCN official.

What actually happened, Umar said, was that the governor invited the officials to his house because an angry delegation had come from Wamakko town to protest persistent power failure in the town in the past two years. He said, “The problem started during the flooding in the state two years ago, when many PHCN posts fell to the ground. The state government contacted PHCN and provided everything they asked for. However, not long after they repaired the posts, the transformer in the area blew up.”

He said, “Engineer Moses, who is personally close to the governor, soon used the transformer as a drain pipe to blackmail the state government. He collected over N17 million but up until now, could not restore power to the area. We suspect he is on an economic sabotage mission because PHCN has refused to energise many villages in the state that were connected to the national grid, even though we have paid everything that they demanded.” Umar said all that Wamakko did was to hand over the PHCN men to the police for proper investigation

If it were a Tinubu truck that was involved,would Fashola had impounded the truck?

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola are at loggerheads following the seizure of one of Obasanjo Farms' utility vehicles by men of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA).

Sources close to Obasanjo Farms in Ota, Ogun state explained that one of the utility vehicles allegedly committed a traffic offence in Lagos last week and it was impounded by LASTMA.

It was gathered that all efforts by the ex-president to ensure the release of the seized vehicle proved abortive.

Sources also added that between last Friday and Sunday, October 21, over 10 red-coloured LAG Bus belonging to Lagos State Government have been forcefully diverted into the Obasanjo Farms compound in Ota.

This action has led to scarcity of the popular bus on Lagos-Abeokuta expressway while thousands of residents of Sango, Ota, Ifo and other settlements along the axis have become stranded for the second day running and this has also doubled the cost of transportation in the area


http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/index.php/news/179463-obasanjo-fashola-at-loggerhead-over-seized-vehicle

BY the time this year ends, the Federal Government is expected to have spent about N72billion on its Amnesty Programme for repentant Niger Delta militants. This is more than what it spends to deliver basic education to children.

Next year, it plans to spend more on the programme, largely because of a third phase, just approved by President Goodluck Jonathan. Over N88 billion will be sunk into the programme next year. Of this, 30,000 ex-militants will take home N23.6 billion as stipends. Another N35.4 billion will go into the re-integration of transformed ex-warlords. N3.699 is earmarked for what is described as ‘presidential amnesty programme’.

Three years ago, attacks ranging from theft to bombings to kidnappings pummelled oil production to as low as 500,000 barrels on some days. So, the government began spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to maintain an uneasy calm in the oil-rich delta. Production is now back up to 2.6 million barrels daily of low-sulfur crude.

Another move government adopted to ‘buy’ peace in the region was to get the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to begin paying ex-militant leaders such as Mujahhid Dokubo-Asari to protect oil pipelines. Dokubo-Asari gets $9 million a year to pay his 4,000 former foot soldiers to protect the pipelines they once attacked.

Gen. Ebikabowei “Boyloaf” Victor Ben and Gen. Ateke Tom get $3.8 million a year apiece to have their men guard pipelines. Government “Tompolo” Ekpmupolo maintains a $22.9 million-a-year contract to do the same.

But, oil theft appears to be on the rise again. Shell estimates that more than 150,000 barrels of oil are stolen daily.

Last month, President Goodluck Jonathan approved a third phase for the Amnesty Programme, a development which analysts say mean the country may commit millions of dollars to the programme next year.

The Special Adviser to the President on Research and Documentation, Oronto Douglas, believes there is no better option than continuing to ‘buy’ peace.

He said: “If it’s too huge, what are the alternatives?”

Through the programme, 26, 358 former Niger Delta militants have been trained in various vocational courses both at home and abroad.

The Jonathan administration claims that the amnesty proclamation is the sincerest , boldest and most profound effort by any government of Nigeria since 1960 to address the agitation for fairness, equity and development in the oil- rich Niger Delta. The successful management of the post-amnesty programme, said government, has ensured the return of peace, safety, security and sustainable development to the region.

But some analysts have disagreed with the government’s position. To them, the programme is selective and not in the interest of the majority of the people of the Niger Delta. They claim that the programme is only benefiting a few people. They believe part of the money could have been used in setting up industries to create jobs for the unemployed youths in the region and Nigeria at large.

The Co-ordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, Mr. Joseph Evah, said it has failed to address unemployment, under-development and bunkering.

Evah told The Nation that those who have completed their training in various vocations sponsored by the Presidential Amnesty Programme are roaming the streets because they have no jobs. He said sending the ex-militants for vocational training without planning for where to absorb them after training has made the programme useless.

Evah said: “The beneficiaries are becoming restive because the monthly allowances being paid them by government have stopped. If care is not taken, the youths in Niger Delta are likely to return to the creeks and foment trouble.”

According to him, the relative peace in the region endures because the militant leaders and some of their followers were favoured by the Amnesty Programme.

“But once the boys can no longer collect money from government, we will be back to square one in that region.

“Failure of the government to establish industries that would create employment opportunities for the graduates of the vocational courses and the teeming unemployed youths in the Niger Delta is one of the shortcomings of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. The youths resorted to carrying guns and distruption of oil companies operation because of lack of jobs, they have no means of livelihood and no shelter on their heads, whereas, the oil companies are mining crude oil worth billions of dollar every day from the region. In the process of oil exploitation, the farmlands, the rivers for fishing and the wells that serve as water supply for the people are polluted.

“Niger Delta is endowed with resources for the establishment of industries. If there is any region that should have monopoly of industries in this country, it is Niger Delta. We have the refineries located in the region. The bye-products of oil can be used in production of textiles, plastic materials, like chairs and foam. Commercial fishing is possible, given the proximity of the region to the sea. If properly utilised, Nigeria can provide the fish need of the West African countries. But all these potentials have not been translated into fortunes. No single effort was made by the Presidential Amnesty to create a single industry in the volatile region.

“I am sure government has spent nothing less than $1 billion on the training of the ex- militants, with a view to reintegrating them. If government has used $500 million to set up industries, the situation would have been different. The economy of the Niger Delta region would have changed. The living condition of the people would have improved. What we need in that region is massive industrialisation that would impact positively on the economic well-being of the people.”

Evah said the programme did not benefit all youths in the region. About 26,000 have benefited .

“The programme should not discriminate against those who did not go to school. It should not benefit only militants but every able body in the Niger Delta. Those carrying guns are less than one per cent. You cannot rule out that those without guns would not spark one day.

“The money is there but the government is not spending it on human resources and economic development of the region,” he said.

Public Affairs analyst Emmanuel Aluede believes the amnesty programme is flawed, illegal and not in the best interest of the majority of the people of Niger Delta. Even though he believes the programme is necessary, he insists that the huge investment approach of the amnesty programme is not in the best interest of Nigerians. He frowned at the way the programme has been implemented to cost several billions of naira to benefit a few people that have committed crimes against the state.

“If you take a look at the programme partners, you will notice no participants from the developed nations are involved, despite the fact that these nations are the biggest contributors for development aid and grant. These developed nations will be better placed to help groom militants to acquire skills. No disrespect to the other 21 nations involved, the majority, in my view, are not better than Nigeria, if we had leaders who put the peoples’ interest before self interest.

“From information gathered from the various overseas training programmes, several hundreds of millions in US dollars must have been spent. I won’t be surprised if the government expenditure is beyond the $1 billion for the security stabilisation in the Niger Delta through disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and sustainable re-integration of ex-militants as pre-condition for medium and long term development.

“Let’s assume that 50,000 will benefit from the programme at the end of its implementation. Compare this number to the total number of youths in the Niger Delta amount to several millions who remain law abiding despite unemployment. A good percentage of them have at least School Certificate or university degrees. Where is justice, fairness and equity in this programme by leaving behind law abiding youths, whilst a handful who chose the act of militancy to bring their message of marginalisation to the attention of the Federal Government are moving forward?

“The over $1 billion to be expended on the programme would have been of greater value to the people of Niger Delta and Nigeria, if it was used to upgrade our higher institutions both across Niger Delta and Nigeria.”

On the pipeline security contracts awarded to Niger Delta militant leaders, Aluede said the contract conflicts with the government’s policy of disarming the militants. The same government is empowering them as custodians for the security of the nation’s pipelines through lucrative contracts totalling $49.6 million annually. Another conflict here is that government has contracted out the responsibilities of the nation’s security agencies where several billions of naira is invested annually.

“The award of pipelines security contracts to private entities puts the nation’s security at risk. It would have been better and more cost effective if a special military task force was set up to deliver a more efficient and effective role. Militants who choose to remain as such could be provided proper military training and discipline to take up created positions within the new Special Task Force that is made up of personnel from all our security forces”, Aluede added.

But Evah did not see anything wrong in awarding the pipelines security contract to the militant chiefs.



A collosal waste



Former Minister of Petroleum Prof. tam David-West said “the (amnesty) programme is good but it is being executed wrongly.”

This is why little has been achieved, he said.

“ The government is busy throwing money all over the place as if that would make it work. You don’t buy peace with money. All the government needs to do is to talk to the militants at the level they understand. If you induced them with money, you are creating problem. Some of the militants told me government has stopped giving them money as they used to do. Government spoiled them with money and created more problems among the youth in the Niger Delta.

“The programme has benefitted very few in the Niger Delta. Some of them are more comfortable because of the largesse from government. Imagine Asari Dokubo collecting $9 million annually in the name of protecting the oil pipelines. A university professor earns N5 million annually.

“There can be no development until the fundamental problem of degradation of Niger Delta is addressed. To me it’s a colossal waste.

He said taking the ex-militants abroad for training is stupid.

David-West said: “Taking them to foreign countries for vocational training is a stupid thing to do. Why don’t you organise training programmes within the Niger Delta, get the trainers from abroad to do the training on ground. Some of them have never being to Lagos, now you are sending them to Europe and Middle East. Look at the cost implication of sending thousands of militants abroad for training. Training is good but it’s being done wrongly.”

He said the President cannot buy peace.

“I have said it before that government believes it can buy peace with money. I can’t imagine giving out $49.6 million to the so called militant leaders for a job that could be done by a joint military task force. The best the government could do is to incorporate the militants into the task force. We have done it before. The military with the support of the militants have policed the pipelines and went after those engaged in oil bunkering. Some of these militant leaders have no followership. The contract is like buying goods you have not seen.”



Life after training



The programme has entrepreneurship scheme for 350 ex-militants in the Niger Delta.

Spokesman of the programme Daniel Alabrah told our correspondent that the scheme was designed to equip and prepare the amnesty beneficiaries to become self reliant and employers of labour.

Alabrah said rather than leave them idle after completing their vocational training, a three-week intensive entrepreneurship programme was designed for them preparatory to commencing their own business.

He added: “For those in this pilot post-training entrepreneurship scheme, we are about to put them through a process where they can create their own small business places. We will brand it, give them branded equipment, seed money and see them become owners of small businesses scattered around the Niger Delta or any place they choose to do business in Nigeria.”

Alabrah stated that there would be a 12-month monitoring and evaluation period for the beneficiaries when they were expected to maintain log books and monthly reporting to see if they were growing in the business. This, he further explained, would ensure that they go into profitable ventures without nursing the fear of failure.

“We are collaborating with some banks to ensure proper funding and monitoring of the scheme. Beneficiaries will not be given cash but they will be required to state their business location, which will then be paid for and properly equipped with the tools or items for their chosen, he said.

Apart from the entrepreneurship scheme, Alabrah disclosed that the Amnesty Programme is collaborating with government agencies to absorbing them. About 130 have been employed in private and public sectors.

He said Jonathan has approved the inclusion of 3,642 ex-Niger Delta militants in the Presidential Amnesty Programme bringing the number of the former agitators undergoing reformation under the programme to 30,000.

Yes,Jangaba got his nose bloodied.

Several mediators appealed to him to leave Governor Olusegun Mimiko alone, that he was too popular in Ondo State to be dislodged, that Ondo politics was kind of unique, and that a Mimiko victory might dent his political stature and expose his vulnerabilities. But the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, insisted that he would teach Mimiko a lesson by capturing Ondo from him, if he did not join the Action Congress of Nigeria, which Mimiko insisted he would not do.

But after all the hype, after all the negative propaganda, and after leading many campaign rallies to various parts of Ondo State, Tinubu and his ACN were roundly and unapologetically rejected by the people along with his anointed candidate for the October 20, 2012, governorship election, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN.

The rejection was emphasised by two symbolic acts. First, of the three major contenders, the ACN came last with 143,152 votes; the People Democratic Party came second with 155,961 votes, while the Labour Party won convincingly with 260,199 votes. Second, and more importantly, Akeredolu lost his own ward and polling unit to Mimiko, even as the ACN candidate sat tight in the ward during the polls. A politician’s standing is in serious doubt when his neighbours look him or her in the eye and vote for an opponent.

There was hardly anything ACN party leaders did not do to win. Several ACN governors were brought to the campaign rallies. Thugs were allegedly imported. Crowds were allegedly rented. Voters were allegedly bribed. Even voter cards were reportedly obtained or purchased from some Ondo citizens. Moreover, plenty of negative propaganda was employed.

Lagosians were fed with false information about Mimiko and Ondo State, based partly on manufactured lies and partly on data obtained from a few turncoats in the LP, who were ready to tell the ACN leadership whatever it wanted to hear.

There are interesting lessons to learn from ACN’s failed attempt to “capture” Ondo. To start with, the whole project was like the proverbial house built with saliva, which quickly unravelled under the morning dew. Not only was the project’s advertised foundation false, its execution was faulty. The tactics employed during the campaigns changed as the reasons for the Capture Ondo State project.

Regional integration was the original advertised agenda. It was argued that political unification of the Yoruba states under the ACN was critical to the integration project. But the integration project began to fizzle out as unification under one party became its focus. Although the integration project later came up in the governorship debates, many Ondo citizens had come to view it as an empire-building venture for the ACN leadership. Thus, ACN’s use of regional integration as a political tool came to undermine its possible merit to which Mimiko himself subscribes, namely, the need to develop a template for shared development projects that would leverage on the geographical contiguity of Yoruba states and their resources.

The focus shifted to a campaign of calumny. A typical negative propaganda was provided in a lecture purportedly given to Ondo citizens in Los Angeles by one Banji Alabi, a Lagos-based lawyer. He falsely stated that Ondo “has fallen on spells of under-development, under-performance and mismanagement due to mediocre and unimaginative leadership” (The Guardian, October 5, 2012). Alabi spoke on behalf of Ondo citizens “resident in Lagos” and not on behalf of the World Bank, the Governors’ Forum, the Minister of State for Education, and a cross-section of citizens resident in Ondo State, who have applauded Mimiko for his remarkable achievements in various sectors.

Unfortunately, falsehoods such as Alabi’s formed the theme of Akeredolu’s campaign. This was particularly evident in the governorship debates during which Akeredolu was either raising false allegations or spinning spurious figures. The calculation was that some Ondo voters might be convinced if enough falsehoods and distortions were spread around.

This was taken a step further in the final days of the campaign when Tinubu himself denigrated Mimiko at a campaign rally in Akure by calling him a “beggar” and a “traitor”, who “came to me and begged me to support him, rolling on the ground … I spent millions of pounds sterling but he betrayed me … (he is) a serial traitor”. We have now come full circle from “integration” through “underachievement” to personal vendetta.

But Tinubu did not say that some of his nominees were hired when Mimiko formed his government. He also did not talk about the pressure he put on Mimiko within the last one year to join the ACN. Why, you would wonder, would he want a traitor to join his party?

It is clear that Tinubu might have assisted Mimiko in his mandate fight in 2007 on the expectation that Mimiko would become one of his subject governors by crossing over to the ACN. The matter was moot for some time. However, as ACN’s fortunes spread across the South-West after the 2011 elections, Tinubu renewed his overtures to Mimiko to join the ACN, apparently in his bid to control the entire geopolitical zone.

Be that as it may, Tinubu’s Akure traitor pitch did not go down well with Ondo voters, who quickly viewed it as a replay of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s traitor stump about Mimiko in Akure in 2007. Both attempts to put down Mimiko before his people fired up his supporters.

There are two hidden transcripts in all of this. First, Tinubu truly desires to include Ondo on the ACN map. It would be simplistic, however, to conclude that the desire was limited to political control. There is also an economic dimension–Ondo’s oil revenue is an object of desire. That’s why informed Ondo voters objected to the external control of their state and its resources.

Second, Tinubu truly believed that his party would win the Ondo governorship. However, so many mistakes were made along the way, from candidate imposition to excessive negative campaign, which gave little room for policy discussion. Above all, the traditional strategy of rigging elections was thwarted by extra-ordinary security, efficient INEC personnel, vigilant polling agents, and an electorate determined to make their votes count.

It is ironical that a self-styled “party of democrats” is the only one among 12 political parties that still refused to fully accept the results of an election universally acknowledged as free, fair, and peaceful. This says something about the ACN leadership. Either the party leaders are not getting proper advice or they think they know it all. Above all, they seem to lack self-criticism. The reckless pursuit of the “Take over Ondo” project was a clear demonstration of these deficiencies


http://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/jagaban-returns-to-lagos-empty-handed/

Nice-Kid.Shut the bleep up.We need to really protest.Other people can not still afford card meter and if they are crying blue murder,we need to supposrt them.

Please,when is the protest?

THE police on Thursday said the policeman involved in the killing of the four students of the University of Port Harcourt in Aluu, Rivers State, Sergeant Lucky Orji, had been dismissed from the force.

The spokesman for the police in Rivers, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam confirmed to our correspondent in Port Harcourt that Orji had been dismissed and that he was among the 13 suspects arraigned in court on Wednesday.

“He (Orji) was among those arraigned in court yesterday (Wednesday). He is no longer a policeman because he has been dismissed,” Ugwuegbulam said.

The four male students, Lloyd Toku, Ugonna Obuzor, Chiadika Biringa and Tekena Erikena, were beaten and set ablaze by a mob suspected to be residents of Omuokiri Aluu, a community located about three kilometers to UNIPORT.

Thirteen suspects, including the traditional ruler of the community, were arraigned in court on Wednesday.

Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto state yesterday said it is inappropriate for any section of the country to corner the lion share of its wealth in the name of derivation.
Speaking when he received this year’s Raymond Dokpesi Peace Award in Abuja, Wamakko urged those against revisiting the onshore-offshore dichotomy to have re-think and reconsider their stand on the controversial revenue sharing formula in the nation.

The governor said “as a matter of opinion, I want you to just go to the internet, ask for what obtains in other countries, if you compare with what is happening in Nigeria, it is different from what is happening in the world where there is this kind of deposit that are making national economy or national income or whatever you may call it.

“In Sudan, they give two percent to oil derivation regions, in other countries, they don’t have. But as a nation, we should not be so concerned about winner takes all; we are one nation.

“We were a country before the introduction of oil and we were doing well. That time, go to the north, to the southwest or east, it was their farm produce and other commodities that were running this country. Nobody was given any 20, 30, 50 percent at that time; it was Nigeria’s income and everybody was happy.

“So, I think we should think well, act well and do what is right so that this country will continue to enjoy the resources that were given to us by God, not by ourselves.”

BELFAST, United Kingdom (AFP) – Hundreds of pro-life campaigners protested outside the first ever private abortion clinic in Northern Ireland as it opened to the public on Thursday.

Around 200 protesters brandishing placards saying “Life is precious” and showing photographs of foetuses were gathered outside the privately run Marie Stopes clinic in central Belfast.

One banner read: “Abortion? The people of Northern Ireland say ‘not in my name’.”

Police have warned the media to avoid photographing or filming the faces of any clients or staff entering the clinic, which is housed in a nondescript building.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said any film or pictures identifying anyone going into the building would be a breach of British law and the European Convention on Human Rights.

One protester, James Dowson, who had travelled from Scotland to represent the UK Life League, said the clinic was “a money-making business” and “a gruesome deadly business that deals with the killing of unborn children”.

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — British police have questioned two people at a hospital where a Pakistani teenager is recovering after being shot for promoting girls' education, raising fears about her safety amid pledges by the Taliban to finish the job.

Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head by the Taliban last week as she was returning home from school in Pakistan. She was airlifted Monday to Britain to receive specialized medical care and protection from follow-up attacks threatened by the militants.

Medical Director Dave Rosser of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham stressed Tuesday that security was "under control" at the hospital after the overnight incident. He said several people had turned up at the hospital claiming to be the girl's relatives but didn't get very far.

He said the people were arrested, but police said they had only been questioned.

"We don't believe there's any threat to her personal security," Rosser told journalists, explaining the hospital did not believe the suspects were related to Malala. "We think it's probably people being over-curious."

Police would not immediately confirm the details of the incident.

The attack on Malala, who campaigns for girls' right to education, horrified people in Pakistan and across the world.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has announced a $1 million bounty for Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan, saying he was the one who announced that the Taliban carried out the attack on Malala.

Malala was targeted by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group's behavior when they took over the scenic Swat Valley where she lived. Two of her classmates were also wounded in the attack and are receiving treatment in Pakistan.

The Taliban has threatened to target Malala until she is killed because she promotes "Western thinking."

Rosser said Malala is proving to be strong so far, but did not elaborate about her recovery.

Doctors are optimistic that Malala's age is in her favor. Unlike adults, the brains of teenagers are still growing and better able to adapt to trauma.

Teens also are generally healthier and their bodies have a stronger ability to react to the disruption that the injury causes, said Dr. Jonathan Fellus, chief scientific officer at the New Jersey-based International Brain Research Foundation.

"It helps to be young and resilient to weather that storm," he said. "Because her brain is continuing to develop at that age, she may have more flexibility in the brain."

There's also a psychological aspect to why youngsters have a better shot at recovery. While injured adults often mourn the loss of what they had, teens don't know what they are missing.

"They have an amazing capacity for hope," Fellus said. In Malala's case, her strong personality would also help her recover, he added.

Still, doctors cautioned that it is impossible to say how Malala will do without knowing the path of the bullet and what damages it caused, details that have not been released.

"The brain is like real estate," said Dr. Anders Cohen, chief of neurosurgery at The Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York. "Location is everything.

"Based on the information we have, it appears that Malala was shot from the front down diagonally, but we don't know what part of the brain the bullet went through, whether it crossed the midline and hit any vessels, or whether the bullet passed through the right or left side of the brain."

But both physicians say it is extremely unlikely that a full recovery can be made. They could only hope that the bullet took a "lucky path" — going through a more "silent", or less active — part of the brain.

"You don't have a bullet go through your brain and have a full recovery," Fellus said.


Associated Press Writers Cassandra Vinograd and Jill Lawless in London and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this story

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — British police have questioned two people at a hospital where a Pakistani teenager is recovering after being shot for promoting girls' education, raising fears about her safety amid pledges by the Taliban to finish the job.

Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head by the Taliban last week as she was returning home from school in Pakistan. She was airlifted Monday to Britain to receive specialized medical care and protection from follow-up attacks threatened by the militants.

Medical Director Dave Rosser of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham stressed Tuesday that security was "under control" at the hospital after the overnight incident. He said several people had turned up at the hospital claiming to be the girl's relatives but didn't get very far.

He said the people were arrested, but police said they had only been questioned.

"We don't believe there's any threat to her personal security," Rosser told journalists, explaining the hospital did not believe the suspects were related to Malala. "We think it's probably people being over-curious."

Police would not immediately confirm the details of the incident.

The attack on Malala, who campaigns for girls' right to education, horrified people in Pakistan and across the world.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has announced a $1 million bounty for Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan, saying he was the one who announced that the Taliban carried out the attack on Malala.

Malala was targeted by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group's behavior when they took over the scenic Swat Valley where she lived. Two of her classmates were also wounded in the attack and are receiving treatment in Pakistan.

The Taliban has threatened to target Malala until she is killed because she promotes "Western thinking."

Rosser said Malala is proving to be strong so far, but did not elaborate about her recovery.

Doctors are optimistic that Malala's age is in her favor. Unlike adults, the brains of teenagers are still growing and better able to adapt to trauma.

Teens also are generally healthier and their bodies have a stronger ability to react to the disruption that the injury causes, said Dr. Jonathan Fellus, chief scientific officer at the New Jersey-based International Brain Research Foundation.

"It helps to be young and resilient to weather that storm," he said. "Because her brain is continuing to develop at that age, she may have more flexibility in the brain."

There's also a psychological aspect to why youngsters have a better shot at recovery. While injured adults often mourn the loss of what they had, teens don't know what they are missing.

"They have an amazing capacity for hope," Fellus said. In Malala's case, her strong personality would also help her recover, he added.

Still, doctors cautioned that it is impossible to say how Malala will do without knowing the path of the bullet and what damages it caused, details that have not been released.

"The brain is like real estate," said Dr. Anders Cohen, chief of neurosurgery at The Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York. "Location is everything.

"Based on the information we have, it appears that Malala was shot from the front down diagonally, but we don't know what part of the brain the bullet went through, whether it crossed the midline and hit any vessels, or whether the bullet passed through the right or left side of the brain."

But both physicians say it is extremely unlikely that a full recovery can be made. They could only hope that the bullet took a "lucky path" — going through a more "silent", or less active — part of the brain.

"You don't have a bullet go through your brain and have a full recovery," Fellus said.


Associated Press Writers Cassandra Vinograd and Jill Lawless in London and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this story

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — At least 15 separate explosions punctuated by gunfire echoed Monday across a northeast Nigeria city long under siege by the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, witnesses said.

Attacks in Maiduguri, the sect's spiritual home, have grown increasingly commonplace, but the apparent sustained strikes, which began Monday afternoon and continued into the evening, saw soldiers lock down nearly every street in the city center. It remained unclear what was happening Monday night, as police and military officials did not answer repeated calls for comment as sirens wailed across the city. Witnesses at the scene of one of the blasts said a primary school was ablaze.

Workers and journalists found themselves trapped inside the Maiduguri office compound of the Borno state governor, as police officers manning the facility locked every gate and stood nervously on guard. Asked what was happening, one officer simply said: "The town is bad."

Earlier Monday, witnesses said a gunman suspected to belong to Boko Haram shot dead a police traffic warden in the city within view of a military checkpoint. The gunman simply walked away after the attack unstopped, witnesses said.

Boko Haram has been launching guerrilla attacks against Nigeria's weak central government for months as part of its efforts to free its imprisoned members and enact strict Islamic law across the multi-ethnic nation largely halved between Christians and Muslims. In recent days, it has begun a renewed offensive in Maiduguri.

On Oct. 5, a bombing by suspected Boko Haram members that killed an army lieutenant sparked a violent retaliation by soldiers. Troops opened fire with assault rifles and heavy machine guns mounted on armored personnel carriers on a busy street near the local headquarters of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, according to witnesses.

Afterward, an Associated Press journalist counted the bodies of more than 30 dead civilians and saw more than 50 shops and homes burned.

The military later denied it killed civilians, but offered contradictory explanations about what happened. Activists say they worry that other recent military strikes against Boko Haram may have killed civilians as well.

Boko Haram, which speaks to journalists in telephone conference calls at times of its choosing, could not be immediately reached for comment Monday night. The sect has killed more than 690 people this year alone, according to an AP count.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/15-explosions-gunfire-heard-in-northeast-nigeria-city-under-siege-by-islamist-sect/2012/10/15/b4c724a4-1706-11e2-a346-f24efc680b8d_story.html

Its now clear why Tinubu wants Ondo at all cost.He wants to recoup his 1 million Pounds which has gone down the drain..We also know now how other Action Congress States are run.