₦airaland Forum

;d ;d ;d ;d

Members of the House of Representatives from the South-east said yesterday that the zone would not accept any position in the in-coming administration short of that of the Senate president or Speaker of the House of Representatives. In a statement jointly signed by 43 members of the House from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States in Abuja, the lawmakers alleged that “the South-east geopolitical zone of Nigeria has suffered serious political setbacks,” some of which had been self-inflicted while others were imposed in recent times.

They noted that the zone had demonstrated absolute good faith in the recent presidential election when it “whole heartedly and unconditionally” backed the candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan, following what they called the block votes given to him by the zone at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries.“It is pertinent to mention here that under the present circumstances only the position of Senate president or Speaker of the House of Representatives is acceptable to the South-east. It is a gratuitous insult to offer the South -east any position less than this,” the lawmakers insisted.

According to to them, the argument about religious balancing is not historically tenable even as they pointed out that in “the Second Republic, while the president (Shagari) was a Muslim, the vice president, Senate president and Speaker were all Christians. Hell was not let loose. During the 1993 presidential elections, the South-east put its weight behind the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Muslim - Muslim ticket of MKO Abiola and Babangana Kingibe.”

“In 2007, the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, were Christians. In fact, in the current legislature, both the speaker and the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives are Muslims. Religion has never been an issue. How has it now crept in surreptitiously?”
“We call on Ohaneze Ndigbo, all the governors of the South-east, all Senators and honourable members-elect and all stakeholders in the politics of the South-east, who were in the forefront in convincing the people of the South-east to support President Goodluck Jonathan to once again rally round and ensure that the South-east is not further humiliated.

“We insist on either the offices of the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House of Representatives. We will reject other offices such as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Deputy President of the Senate or any such office that may be offered to undermine the attainment of the two offices so mentioned.

“Our patience, support and loyalty must not be taken for granted. In the words of Mr. President, ‘enough is enough.’”




http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/may/05/national-05-05-2011-001.htm

Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the April general elections, General Muhammadu Buhari, has said that Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State is unfit to hold a responsible office in Nigeria.
Governor Aliyu had lashed out at the former head of state twice last week, reminding him and his supporters that Nigeria was not their village.

“I am emphasising this fact because of what happened after the presidential election. Many of us are so myopic that we think our village is Nigeria. No, we’re a part and never can a part be a whole. Your village is not Nigeria. Your village is a part of Nigeria. So, if somebody wins or loses election in your village, that does not mean he has lost election in the country,” Aliyu said at the celebration of the 2011 Workers’ Day in Minna.

Speaking through his spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Buhari said, “Governor Babangida Aliyu, in his recent comment on General Buhari, has been highly disrespectful and uncouth. His language to General Buhari has been very rude and he has portrayed himself as uncultured and somebody that is not fit to hold a responsible office.”

Buhari further said, “if he cannot cultivate descent language of talking to somebody who is his elder and who is his senior in every respect, the fact of reckless comment that he has been making has portrayed him as somebody that is ill-mannered and quite uncivilised as a person holding responsible office in Nigeria.”




http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/may/05/national-05-05-2011-003.htm

Following the April 9 and 26 National Assembly elections, a total of 73 senators lost the battle to retain their seats in the upper federal legislative chamber.



The Senate has a total of 109 members, out of which the Peoples Democratic Party had 89 senators before the elections.



While some PDP senators had lost at the primaries for the April polls, only 26 of them were re-elected to serve in the seventh National Assembly to be inaugurated on June 5.



Also, only six out of the All Nigeria Peoples Party’s 11 senators will be returning to their seats in the senate, just as only three out of eight old Action Congress of Nigeria senators will return.



Senator Chris Anyanwu who defected from the PDP to the All Progressive Grand Alliance was also re-elected; same goes for Senator Ehigie Uzamere who dumped the PDP for the ACN.



Despite its huge loss, the PDP still has the highest number of seats with 71 senators, but was two senators short of the two-third majority lead.



The ACN has 18 senators. The Congress for Progressive Change has seven; ANPP, eight and four for Labour Party.



The ACN swept the polls in the South-West region and made inroads into the North-West and North-Central.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201105032192868

The helicopter carrying members of the United States special security force, Navy SEALs, malfunctioned as it approached Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on Monday morning.



This heightened the tension that gripped President Barack Obama and members of his war cabinet in the White House Situation Room where they monitored the raid.



But the pilot managed to set the helicopter down gently inside the walls of the expansive $1m mansion where the world most wanted man and believed mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on Washington and New York lived. On touching the ground, the chopper could not move.



Will the operation fail? Obama, his National Security Advisor, Tom Donilon; Secretaries Hillary Clinton and Bob Gates; Joint Chiefs Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen; and the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, asked themselves rhethorically.



“Obviously, everyone was thinking about Black Hawk Down and Desert One,” a senior administration official recalled as he spoke with an online news portal, Politico.com.



“The assault team went ahead and raided the compound, even though they didn’t know if they would have a ride home,” he said.



The special forces put bombs on the crippled chopper and blew it up, then lifted off in two MH-60 reinforcement helicopters, after bursts of fire that lasted about 40 minutes.



Bin Laden’s guards were said to have fired rocket-propelled grenades from the roof and at least two explosions rocked the town during the fight.



But the members of Navy SEALs, who flew across the border from Afghanistan, along with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers, shot the terror chief in the head after he refused to give up himself.



His body was taken to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, and was buried in the North Arabian Sea overnight — less than 12 hours after the raid, officials said.



The DNA from the remains provided certain confirmation that bin Laden was dead. He was 54.



The Cable News Network confirmed on Monday that bin Laden was shot in the head, and that three other men and a woman who were being used as a human shield were also killed.



Seventeen other people were said to have either been killed also or captured in the raid that gave Washington a tectonic victory in the 10-year war on terror touched off by 9/11.



Agency reports say that the fugitive must have been living in the house which was built in 2005 with his youngest wife, brother and other family members.



Another official said, “Everything we saw, the extremely elaborate operational security, the brothers’ background and their behaviour and the location of the compound itself was perfectly consistent with what our experts expected bin Laden’s hide-out to look like.”



After watching the successful operation Obama said, “The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of bin Laden.”



Officials described Abbottabad, a city of about 60 kilometres north of Islamabad as a relatively affluent community, with lots of residents who are retired military.



“Bin Laden was living in a relatively comfortable place, a compound valued at about $1 million,” another senior US official told Politico.com



The fortified compound, surrounded by walls as high as 12-feet with barbed wire on the top to ward off intruders, was said to be far larger than other nearby homes and placed just 100 yards from a Pakistani military academy.



Two security gates guarded the only entrance and a third-floor terrace was shielded by a privacy wall. There were no phone lines or internet connection linking it to the outside world.



The US official added that “many of his foot soldiers are located in some of the remotest regions of Pakistan and live in austere conditions.”



He said that Washington was convinced that the house had been built in 2005 to protect a major terrorist figure and came to the conclusion it must be bin Laden.



The raid was described as the culmination of years of highly advanced intelligence work that included the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which specialises in imagery and maps, and the National Security Agency, the “codemakers and codebreakers” who can covertly watch and listen to conversations around the world.



On June 2, 2009, just over four months into his presidency, Obama had signed a memo to CIA Director, Leon Panetta, stating “in order to ensure that we have expanded every effort, I direct you to provide me within 30 days a detailed operation plan for locating and bringing to justice” bin Laden.



In the biggest break in a global pursuit of bin Laden that stretched back to the Bill Clinton administration, Washington discovered the compound by following one of the terrorist’s personal couriers, identified by terrorist detainees as one of the few al-Qaeda couriers who bin Laden trusted.



“They indicated he might be living with and protecting bin Laden,” a senior administration official told reporters during a midnight conference call.



“Detainees gave us his nom de guerre, or his nickname, and identified him as both a protégé of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of September 11, 2001 attacks, and a trusted assistant of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the former number three of al- Qaeda who was captured in 2005.”



The officials didn’t learn the courier’s name until 2007. Then it took two years to find him and track him back to this compound, which was discovered in August 2010.



Obama, who began planning for the raid as far back as March, said none of the Americans involved in the targeted assault was wounded.



The President gave the go-ahead for the Navy SEALs to go in on Saturday but due to bad weather, they switched to Sunday.



During his televised speech, Obama addressed those who lost loved ones during the September 11 attacks and said, “We have never forgotten your loss nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores.”



TV reports showed a huge crowd gathered outside the White House, Ground Zero in New York and New York’s Times Square after Obama’s speech, cheering and waving American flags.



Obama used the address to reiterate that while the United States has been hunting the Al Qaeda leader in the Arab world for the past decade, and has waged wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, America is not at war with Islam or Muslims.



He said, “We must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims.



“Indeed, al-Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201105033375834

For the second time in a week, the Governor of Niger State, Muazu Babangida Aliyu has lashed out at former head of state and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari reminding him and his supporters that Nigeria is not their village.

“I am emphasizing this fact because of what happened after the presidential election. Many of us are so myopic that we think our village is Nigeria. No, we’re a part and never can a part be a whole. Your village is not Nigeria. Your village is a part of Nigeria. So, if somebody wins or loses election in your village, that does not mean he has lost election in the country,” Aliyu said at the celebration of the 2011 Workers’ Day in Minna.

According to him, those who perpetrated the post presidential election violence were myopic and refused to go beyond the variables that divide the nation, stressing that some people thought that the winning of a particular part of the nation meant victory in the whole country for any candidate in an election.
Aliyu posited that what happened in any part of the country cannot be used to represent the whole nation.
He said the people should learn to live beyond ethnic, religious and regional attachments to appreciate the nation’s diversity.

“It is important that when we look at issues we look at it in relation to the whole nation in Niger State. It is important that whenever we talk we remember that we have a population of four million people and each of them has the right of the government and the people of this state. “Everyone now knows that before you win election you must go beyond your village, your state, region and religion. You know that we are a nation united,” he said.

Governor Aliyu restated that there was no going back in the resolve of his government to implement the new minimum wage for workers in the state. He maintained that the payment of workers bonus for 2011 will depend on the resources available to the government. The Governor urged civil servants to expose corrupt practices in their offices and avoid wastages to complement government efforts in catering for their welfare.

He emphasised that outstanding workers will always be rewarded to serve as example to others.




http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/may/02/national-02-05-2011-001.html

Nineteen days after President Goodluck Jonathan was declared the winner of the presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has sent him a congratulatory message.



The former VP also congratulated all elected state governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and members of the state houses of assembly, particularly those of his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party.



Abubakar was among those who contested the party’s presidential ticket and lost to Jonathan.



According to a statement released by his media office in Abuja on Friday, he called on all elected leaders to work in earnest to deliver the much-needed democratic dividends to Nigerians.



He urged President Jonathan to use the opportunity of his election to unite the country. This, he said, would be the immediate challenge of the President-elect.



On the post-election violence in some parts of the country, the former VP said it was “unfortunate and misguided.”



He, however, advised President Jonathan to begin an urgent healing process in the entire country and within the PDP.



He noted that with the challenges of improving the quality of life of Nigerians, the President has a duty to close deep divisions and heal wounded feelings, which may be needless distractions to the challenges of governance that lies ahead.



According to Atiku, the future and unity of a nation should be uppermost in the mind of every statesman.



While extending his hands of fellowship to Jonathan, the former VP advised him to carry every section of the country along, regardless of how they may have voted during the elections.



He explained that partisan politics ended with the election of leaders and that he should focus on how to uplift the welfare of Nigerians.



He said, “It is no longer news that President Jonathan and our camp differed on matters of principle. But let no one be in doubt about our resolve to work together with him in the arduous task of economic development and nation building.”



He, however, restated that all those who might have any reservations with the outcome of the elections should avail themselves of laid down judicial processes in seeking recourse and not to resort to acts that may be inimical to national unity and stability.






http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110430513118

I dey look

All this Hausa people they are not helping the country at all !

Newly re-elected Governor of Niger State, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu yesterday asserted that Nigeria had become so politically sophisticated that sectional leaders and religious bigots would not ascend to the presidency of the country. According to him, any politician aspiring to the position of president of Nigeria must be one who has been able to build bridges of friendship across the various divides of the country.
Aliyu stated this while receiving the results of the Governorship election conducted in the state in which he emerged victorious, from the Director-General of the 2011 Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation, Barrister Tanko Beji at his residence.

“Anyone who wants to rule Nigeria must cross borders, he must shun sentiments, he must guard the language he uses,” Aliyu said in a veiled reference to the CPC presidential standard-bearer in the last presidential election, General Mohammadu Buhari. He said in the present day Nigeria, everybody must be carried along and condemned supporters of the CPC who, because of their principal won in their localities, had the impression that he had won the entire election, saying some of them felt that Minna is Nigeria.

‘We should embark on serious voter education to avoid this type of misconception in the future,’ Aliyu said.
The governor was also not happy with the leadership of the PDP and political appointees in the state, saying but for providence and last- minute intervention, ‘we would have failed’. ‘Where did we go wrong that things almost became difficult, we must do an assessment on why people did not care about our performance. We must reconnect properly with the people, we must not be carried away by this success but resolve to do more for the people’.

Speaking before presenting the result Barrister Tanko Beji said ‘the outcome of the polls had swept away people who have called for change in Niger state’ In the final results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission Gubernatorial returning officer in the state Professor Salihu Mohammed Audu PDP polled 543,205 votes to beat his closest opponent CPC’s Bako Shettima who polled 244,770. ANPP’s David Umaru came third with 68,368 votes and Abubakar Bawa Bwari of ACN got 49,060.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/apr/29/national-29-04-2011-009.htm

Oyo State governor-elect, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, talked tough yesterday, hinting that he would probe the outgoing administration of Otunba Adebayo Alao Akala, when he assumes office in May 29.
The governor-elect, who had always criticized the Akala regime for alleged profligacy and corruption, however, promised that the exercise would not be a witch-hunt.

The declaration came as the state cautiously crawled out of a tensed mood that had prevailed since Wednesday’s announcement of Ajimobi as winner of the Tuesday gubernatorial election. Ibadan, the state capital, had witnessed an unofficially announced curfew, following fears by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters, whose stranglehold was broken with the release of the polls result.
Early yesterday, traffic was light on major roads, while private businesses opened late, with government offices deserted.

Life and boisterous activities only picked up in the metropolis after broom-wielding and ecstatic Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) supporters went round in a convoy of cars in jubilation over their man’s victory. Addressing reporters in a post-election press conference at his Oluyole residence, Ajimobi premised his intention to audit the state government’s finances and administration on the need to ascertain where to take off and intervene meaningfully in the lives of the people of the state.

His words: “When you take over an organisation, and government is such an organisation, there is always the need to do a review to know where you are coming from and where you are going, because if you don’t know where you are coming from, you can’t know where you are going, call that a probe if you like, but we are not going there to probe anybody in the sense of witch-hunt. In fact, I don’t like the word probe. Stocktaking is more like it. But, if we find anything missing, we’ll shout.”

Ajimobi, whose house was throbbing with drumming, singing and dancing by streaming crowd of supporters, saluted Governor Akala, Senator Rashidi Ladoja of the Accord Party and other party candidates who contested the election with him for giving him ‘a good fight’, and extended his hand of fellowship to them in moving the state forward. To this end, he said he planned to form an all-inclusive government with a mission to redeem, reform and reposition Oyo and put it in the league of prosperous states.

“Ours will be a rainbow coalition government … Even God is a God of rainbow. In His creation, He has allowed both the good and bad people to co-exist. But ours will be that of redemption, transformation and reformation,” he further explained.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/apr/29/national-29-04-2011-001.htm

The governorship candidate of the Accord Party in Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has attributed the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South West during the last general elections to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.



Ladoja, who was a member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, apportioned the blame in a post-election press conference at his Bodija, Ibadan residence on Thursday.



He said that Obasanjo was the architect of the party’s downfall because he remained an ungrateful man.



He recalled how he persuaded some other unnamed persons to invite Obasanjo to contest the 1999 presidential election on the platform of the party.



The former governor regretted that the former president soon began to lord it over other party chiefs who made him.



He said, “I have not seen him (Obasanjo) but I know that he will be a sad man wherever he is now.



“We parted ways because I told him he could not run for third term.”



Similarly, prominent leaders from the Ogun West Senatorial District of Ogun State have accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of scuttling the ambition of the area to produce a successor to Otunba Gbenga Daniel in the last governorship elections



They accused Obasanjo of using a Yewa indigene, Chief Adetunji Olurin, to play “the spoilers show”, thus denying the Yewa/Awori people the opportunity, which had eluded them since the state was created over 35 years ago.



Speaking during what they described as an “appreciative visit” to the Asoludero Court, Sagamu residence of the state Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, on Thursday, the Ogun West leaders including the former Minister of State for Education, Mrs. Iyabo Anisulowo, the Asiwaju of Aworiland, Senator Ayo Otegbola, Chief Alamu Alagbe, Dr Dele Ogunsiji, Chief Sina Adeboye and Chief (Mrs) Iyabo Apampa among others, castigated Obasanjo for the botched Yewa Awori agenda.



“Chief Obasanjo used Gen Adetunji Olurin to destablise us for his own ulterior motive and despite all efforts, Chief Olurin refused to step down for our consensus candidate,” Otegbola said.



But the former President through the Chairman of Media and Publicity of Olurin’s campaign, Chief Lai Labode, stated that the group of elders should be blamed for the botched Yewa/Awori agenda.



“Obasanjo worked tirelessly, spending his time and resources to ensure that a Yewa man in person of Chief Adetunji Olurin became the governor but all the efforts were thwarted by certain identifiable leaders from the area,” he stated.



Olusegun Obasanjo also blamed the Peoples Democratic Party loss of Ogun State on the people’s frustration with the style of governance of the Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s led administration.



Obasanjo, in his reaction to the loss of the state to the opposition party, Action Congress of Nigeria, in the governorship election said that the people of the state decided to vote for the ACN and not his candidate, Chief Adetunji Olurin, because of the pervading frustration of the people of the state with the PDP-led government in the last eight years.



Meanwhile Osun State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has advised ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to retire from active politics.



In an exclusive interview with our correspondent, on Thursday, Aregbesola said it was high time Obasanjo quit politics and took a deserved rest.



According to the governor, the former president should preoccupy himself with his United Nations peacekeeping duty rather than engage in local politics.



Aregbesola described Obasanjo as a statesman, who had served the country to the best of his ability.



He said, “There are political problems in Libya, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda, among other African countries. Former President Obasanjo should help in these areas as an eminent citizen of the world.”


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201104291584893

;d ;d ;d ;d ;d

Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate in Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi has wrested power from incumbent Governor Christopher Alao Akala of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The electorate expressed their preference for Ajimobi through the ballot box in the governorship election conducted on Tuesday.

According to the result declared by the State Returning Officer, Professor Femi Bamiro, Ajimobi polled 420,852 and scored 25 per cent vote cast in 25 Local Governments to defeat Akala and the former governor of the state, Rasheed Ladoja to second and third respectively in the keenly contested election. Akala polled 385,132 with 25 per cent in 22 local governments, while Ladoja polled 275,773 with 25 per cent in 10 local government.

With the result, Akala failed to make history in his bid to become the first governor to rule the state twice since its creation. The breakdown of the results shows that ACN won in Atiba, Afijio, Oyo West, Oyo East, Saki East, Ibarapa East, Ibarapa North, Atiba, Oluyole, Orelope, Saki West, Ibadan North, Ido, Ibarapa Central, Olorunsogo, Ibadan N’Eeast, Itesiwaju, Iseyin, Akinyele, Ibadan N’West and Ibadan S’East local governments.

PDP on the other hand, won Saki East, Ogo–Oluwa ,Ibarapa North, Orire, Itesiwaju, Ogbomosho, Irepo, Ibarapa East, Iwajowa. AP won in Ibadan North East, Ona Ara, Egbeda and Lagelu local governments.
Before the final result was announced, there was a long wait after the result of 32 local governments had been declared. The five-hour waiting between 2.30 pm to 7.00 pm generated tension in Ibadan and its environs as both Ajimobi and Akala supporters engaged in victory dance around the city, claiming victory in the yet to be declared Ibadan South West result.

However. the tight security mounted by both the army and the police effectively secured the office of INEC and dispersed the riotous party supporters from the vicinity.



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/apr/28/national-28-04-2011-001.htm

Who do u think will win be4

Congratulations to the Yorubas,I salute the courage and independece of judgement of the Yorubas.That the Yorubas are the most political savvy and sophisticated of all the tribes in Nigeria is an understatement,Papa Awolowo will also be celebrating with his people at the other side.I hope that Ndigbo will wake up from their deep slumber,and liberate themselves from the cursed PDP.

With results outstanding from only Oshodi/Soomulu, the ACN has 1,373,987 votes to PDP's 251,556 for governorship polls (83 percent to PDP'S 16 percent). ACN also won all Lagos House of Assembly seats.

ACN has also won governorship polls in Ogun and Oyo; but in Oyo the margin of victory is just 30,000 votes. The party has also won 24 out of 26 seats in the state assembly elections in Ekiti, losing just two to the PDP.



http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5694542-146/acn_wins_in_lagos_ogun_oyo.csp

You will fail

Na bad belle dey do them

Former military president Ibrahim Babangida yesterday took on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over rumoured plans to charge him, along with former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Gen Aliyu Gusau, with anti-party activities.


He advised the NWC against dragging President Goodluck Jonathan into disruptive and distractive influences, saying the president needs more than a presence of mind to articulate solutions to the challenges of nation building.


Babangida also said that media reports indicate that the NWC plans to sanction them for their involvement in the alliance talks between the CPC and ACN.

Babangida, in a statement issued on his behalf by his media aide, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said that the recommendation was not only ‘ridiculous but utterly misplaced’, adding that “The fact of the matter was that, the two political parties involved considered the option of an alliance before the elections, and needed a neutral, honest, forthright and patriotic body to broker the talks so that any possible outcome would be respected and carried through.”

“The lot fell on the Northern Political Leaders Forum which parades very honest, patriotic, public-spirited and selfless individuals with the purpose of ensuring justice, fairness and equity in the political equation of the country.

“Whatever these distinguished Nigerians did was in the best interest of the country and not for self since none of them is asking for a job. General Ibrahim Babangida appreciates the trust reposed in him by the two political parties to be part of the altruistic process of forging an alliance between two strong and virile opposition political parties with the aim of strengthening our democracy.”

He said Babangida remains grateful for that singular honour and would not hesitate to play such roles again when called upon to do so. The trio did what they did with great pleasure, and will do it again if the opportunity presents itself.

“The NWC of the PDP would do well to advise President Jonathan and proffer meaningful solutions to address the myriad of problems facing us as a country rather than the mundane and pedestrian suggestion of sanctions against individuals whose contributions to Nigeria cannot be quantified,” he said.

“It is true that when a child acquires new clothes, the tendency is for him to abandon old ones, forgetting that those old ones prepared the way for the new ones.

“When these great Nigerians were forming the PDP some 13 years ago, pleading with some Nigerians on the need to build and nurture broad-based national political parties, those who are today asking for sanctions were neither members nor participants in those moments,” the statement explained.



http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17732:ibb-dares-pdp-over-anti-party-charges&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

Former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday said President Goodluck Jonathan won the April 16 presidential election.



Tinubu, who is also a leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, noted that until his party said otherwise, the presidential poll could be described as free and fair.



Speaking at Unit 047, Ward 3 where he cast his vote during the governorship/House of Assembly election, Tinubu, however, said the electoral reform initiated by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was on course but still needed a review.



According to him, after the general elections, there will be a need to review the electoral reform in order to make amends where necessary.



He said, “A democrat sincerely must be ready to accept the result of a free and fair election at any time, in order to deserve the joy of victory at any given time, that is my principle, that is what I believe.



“Our party is yet to review the entire general elections, collate necessary data and do a verification test, we are still in election mood, I have accepted the result of the presidential election for now, until my party calls a meeting.”



Condemning the spate of violence which rocked some parts of the North last week, the former governor said, “I am not indifferent to the sanctity of human life, leadership altercation can’t bring back lost lives, we should examine the causes of the problem while government should provide adequate compensation, though nothing can buy back the lives of the dead youth corps members. We need to restore hope in the system.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110427683985

Whichever way the result goes, I will accept it as the will of God,’’ the People’s Democratic Party governorship candidate for Lagos State, Dr Ade Dosunmu, said on Tuesday.



Dosunmu, however, told journalists after casting his ballot at the Nathan Street, Surulere that he was optimistic of victory.



“I have got to this stage; we have put out the right strategies and have gone to the nooks and crannies of this state. So, I leave the judgment to the people,’’ he said.



Interestingly, Dosumu, lost the election in his ward to the Action Party of Nigeria.



The ACN candidate in the poll is the incumbent governor of the state, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, (SAN).



Also, the former PDP Chairman for South-West, Chief Bode George, was beaten in his ward by the ACN.



Indeed, in Dosumu’s ward Fashola scored 174 votes to Dosumu’s 90, while at George’s ward, the PDP got 74 votes against the ACN’s 210.



Meanwhile, at the State Junior (Special) Grammar School on Itolo Street, where Fashola voted, he polled 317 votes to Dosumu’s 16.



Curiously, during the April 16 presidential poll, the PDP standard-bearer, Goodluck Jonathan, garnered 141 votes against 77 votes scored by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110427610750

Amosun not better than Daniel — Obasanjo !

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Tuesday, said that the governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, was not the ideal governor for Ogun State because his performance would not be different from that of Governor Gbenga Daniel.



Obasanjo and Daniel belonged to the ruling People Democratic Party in the state.



However, a sharp disagreement within the party had led to a split, with Obasanjo backing one faction, while Daniel backed the other.



The faction that Daniel backed later joined another party, Peoples Party of Nigeria, while Daniel remains in the PDP.



Obasanjo, who cast his vote at the polling unit at African Church Grammar School, was reacting to media reports that he had endorsed Amosun as governor of the state.



He said, “I said that Amosun came from the same ward 11 that I came from. I know him and I know that his performance will not be different from Daniel’s because they are friends. Birds of the same feathers flock together.



“How then could I endorse him? I am the BOT chairman of my party; PDP, and we have our own candidate. It is not in my character. The reports are not only mischievous, they are also fabricated lies.”



Obasanjo, who also described the election as fair, said the post presidential violence in the North was a sad reminder that some people were oblivious of the change going on in the country.






http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201104276251573

Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has denied describing the ACN governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, as the best among those vying for the post in the state. In a statement by Obasanjo yesterday through the Director-General of Jonathan/Sambo campaign organization, Segun Sowunmi, the former president said the report in the Monday edition of The Nation where he was quoted to have said Amosun remained the best of the candidates was false in “entirety and therefore should be discountenanced.”


http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17861:i-did-not-say-amosun-is-best-obasanjo&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Malam Nuhu Ribadu may call it quits with the party in the coming days following his dismal outing in the presidential election in the south west. Ribadu may be heading for Gen. Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), a source close to the CPC candidate has disclosed.


According to the source, Ribadu is yet to understand the record low turnout and ACN’s poor outing in the presidential election of April 16, a phenomenon that was exactly the opposite of the party’s feat during the National Assembly election the week before.


“In fact in the next two weeks, there is the possibility of him dumping the ACN for CPC,” the source said adding that some pressure groups within the ACN and the CPC are already holding talks.

The ACN won all but one of the senate seats and cleared most of the federal constituencies in the region that were contested on April 9. However, Ribadu lost to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in all the states in the zone apart from Osun State. In Lagos State, home of the party’s strongman Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the ACN lost woefully to the PDP which scored over a million votes leaving the ACN trailing behind with a little over 300, 000 votes.

“We feel completely betrayed by the ACN leaders. They brought him on board to give the party the semblance of a national party and also win international acceptance because of his international status. But you can see that they were clearly not sincere to us. If they say anything to the contrary, how could ACN lose steam within seven days and how do you explain the low turnout?” the source asked.

Reflecting back on the election, the source said the party’s leaders had starved the north of funds that were to be used to mobilise agents and failed to mobilise canvassers and agents in many states of the south west.

“They left us vulnerable in the north. We could not mobilise our agents most of whom succumbed to inducement by the PDP. We were also told that they failed to mobilise canvassers and agents like they did the previous week. In fact one senior leader of the party called me while voting was still going on and said we were losing Lagos already because of these problems,” he said.

The source also said three reasons informed the decision of the anti corruption tsar to look the way of the CPC. “First, he stands for the same principles as General Buhari especially on fighting corruption. Second, he has an untainted record of service like General Buhari and third, both men have a passion for reforming the system and getting it to work for the benefit of future generations,” he said.

According to him that is why Ribadu agreed to step down for Buhari in the last round of alliance talks before the election. Ribadu is also said to be angry that he was kept in the dark by Tinubu and some party leaders during the alliance talks with ACN.

The source also expressed regret that the ACN leaders are battling with the backlash of the party’s loss during the presidential election.

The source said: “They are in serious confusion now, thinking that it may boomerang. In fact Tinubu’s fear is that he might even lose Lagos, that is why you see the adverts and jingles have more than triple.

“You can trust PDP has every reason to justify whatever they do to win the election. They will say after all we won just last week.”



http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17733:ribadu-set-to-dump-acn-for-cpc&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

The presidential candidate of ACN, Malam Nuhu Ribadu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar were among absentees in yesterday’s house of assembly elections in Adamawa State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at Bako polling unit in Yola South Local Government Area where Ribadu registered, only 208 people voted as against 441 in last election and Ribadu was among those that failed to show up.


Also at Ajiya polling unit in Yola North, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar did not show up to vote as he did in the presidential election.

Only 170 voted against 389 recorded in the presidential election of April 16.

A cross section of people who spoke on the voter apathy, blamed it on the outcome of last Saturday’s election which led to riots and the fact that there was no governorship election in the state.

Ribadu could not be reached for his comments but Malam Garba Shehu, the spokesman of Atiku, said the former Vice President was out of the country. (NAN)



http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18031:ribadu-atiku-fail-to-vote-in-assembly-elections&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

His he above the law ?

The presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to arrest him if he can.
Buhari spoke against the backdrop of the call by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, that the CPC candidate be arrested over the recent post-election violence in some Northern states.

Oritsejafor, while addressing newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of General Buhari and all identified cohorts before they plunge the nation into another civil war. Speaking through his spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, Buhari said Oritsejafor’s comment, calling for his arrest, was reckless and bound to heat up the polity.

Odumakin said: “General Buhari is in Daura. So, let Jonathan go and arrest him. One of his contractors has asked him to arrest Buhari. He is in Daura now. So, let him go and arrest him.”(Odumakin)
He said men like Oritsejafor were supposed to make statements that would calm frayed nerves, “but unfortunately, it can’t be hidden that the CAN leadership under Oritsejafor had become an extension of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it is unfortunate that he is partisan to this extreme.
“It is unfortunate and it is a shame and it is a betrayal of his calling to be dragging the entire body of Christ into partisan politics,” Buhari said.

Buhari noted that it was not a hidden fact that Oritsejafor has always been a friend of Aso Rock and if you have watched his activities since he became CAN president, his activities have been more at Aso Rock and the government houses across the country rather than within the body of Christ. While urging Nigerians to ignore Oritsejafor, Buhari said his statement is not different from that of the PDP’s Acting National Chairman, Haliru Bello, adding that Oritsejafor should be ignored like any other PDP chieftain.
He also said his comment on Oritsejafor had nothing to do with the body of Christ, saying we are separating Oritsejafor, his person from the body of Christ.

“We have no issue with the body of Christ in Nigeria, but the PDP contractors like him who have taken over the leadership of that respected organization, are using the body of Christ to further their personal interest and not the interests of the body of Christ in Nigeria.

“And it will be good for him to read what his Bible says about the false accuser of the brethren. That is the role he is playing now; false accuser of the brethren because what he is doing is making false accusation and seeking the persecution of Buhari based on political contract and not on any fact.” He added: “Men like Oritsejafor are profiting from the rot in Nigeria today and since he became the president of CAN, there is no one word he has spoken against corruption in Nigeria.

“He has never issued a word against the rot in Nigeria and it is now that the lickers of Nigeria have regained their control with open electoral robbery, that he is now coming out to ask for the persecution of the victory of electoral robbery. “This clearly shows that people like him are part of the rot in Nigeria and they want to sustain this unjust system which they are benefitting from at the expense of the people they claim to serve.

“And more importantly, there is no evidence to give, leaking General Buhari with any political violence. He has condemned it, he has berated the rioters and on two occasions (2003,2007) when he was rigged out of elections, he went to court for 54 months. That is not the attitude of a man, who believes in violence and Ayo Oritsejafor has never condemned the rape of democracy in Nigeria. He has never condemned the stealing of votes. So, his selective sense of justice baffles all because this selective integrity is bundling.”

While saying that the CAN president should be asked if that was his Easter message to the nation, Buhari said he hoped Oritsejafor would provide the chain on his neck to hang him when he is arrested. Commenting on Oritsejafor’s demand in a telephone interview with Daily Sun, immediate past President of the CAN, Archbishop John Onaiyekan, said Oritsejafor did not consult him on the statement.
“The only thing I can say is that he did not consult me on that. He did not consult me on that statement. I don’t really know why he said it. So, you should ask him.

“What I do believe, though, is that if the President said he has set up a judicial commission of enquiry, then, I imagine anyone who has any information that will be useful for the commission to present them, hoping that this time, they are serious. “As you know, we have had so many of such commissions, which have come out with nothing. Nigerians have no confidence in those commissions anymore.

“Well, as for the statement of CAN president, I am afraid. You should ask the CAN president. I am sure he is in a position to defend whatever he has said. All I am saying is that I was not consulted on the statement. I have nothing to say,” the Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Abuja said.



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/apr/26/national-26-04-2011-001.htm

rip !

The Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, will on Wednesday (today) meet with President Goodluck Jonathan over the state governorship election.



Investigations on Tuesday by our correspondents revealed that the meeting was a last minute effort by the President to resolve the crisis in the state Peoples Democratic Party before the April 26 polls.



It was gathered that PDP members and Daniel’s supporters in the Peoples Party of Nigeria were worried that the governorship seat of the state might elude both parties, if the crisis was not resolved.



The crisis in the state PDP worsened in December last year when two factions of the party led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Daniel held parallel primaries.



At the primaries conducted by the Obasanjo faction, a former military governor of Oyo State, Maj.-Gen. Tunji Olurin (retd.) was picked as the governorship candidate.



A former Managing Director of Gateway Holdings, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, emerged the winner of the Daniel faction’s governorship primaries.



Following the recognition of Olurin’s candidacy by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Isiaka defected to the PPN, where he was named the governorship candidate.



Although Daniel remains in the PDP, he has been supporting Isiaka’s candidacy in the PPN.



The PDP and the PPN lost three senatorial seats in the state to the Action Congress of Nigeria during the April 9 National Assembly polls.



But Jonathan defeated the ACN candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, during the April 16 presidential election in the state.



Our correspondents gathered that PDP and the PPN leaders were concerned that both Olurin and Isiaka could lose the governorship election to the ACN candidate, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, if the crisis was not resolved.



When one of our correspondents wanted to know Daniel’s stand on the meeting, he said the correspondent should meet him at the Presidential Villa.


Link:
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201104200421937

ACN governorship running mate in Bauchi State, Alhaji Ali Wakili, has said President Goodluck Jonathan’s victory in the presidential election was ordained by God.



He told the News Agency of Nigeria in Bauchi that by the outcome of the election, God had perfected His purpose and plan for Jonathan to become president.



He said, “Although the result of the presidential election in Bauchi is the true reflection of the mood of the people of the state, it has left in its trail, a violent eruption that has resulted in loss of lives and property.”



He attributed the spate of riots witnessed in some parts of the north over Jonathan’s victory to “poverty and bad governance in most northern states.”



Wakili said the riots had nothing to do with Jonathan’s victory, but was a demonstration of the abject poverty among the youth in the North, which he blamed on bad leadership.



“The riots were not political or religious, but rather, they are consequences of bad leadership and poverty in the north.



“No responsible leader, whether political or otherwise, will be happy to see the wanton destruction of lives and property that has occurred.



“What is behind the riots are issues of poverty. If the youth have jobs to do, nobody would have used them to cause mayhem.”



Alhaji Shehu Gabam, the ANPP governorship running mate in the state, who shared the same opinion, noted that although the presidential election was not without some lapses, “Nigerians have no other country to lay claim to, and as such, it is necessary for all Nigerians to put the interest of the country first above all other interests.”



He appealed to Nigerians to embrace peace and adopt more positive means of addressing differences amicably without resorting to violence.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201104200492253

The defeated candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change in Saturday’s Presidential election, Maj.- Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has distanced himself, the CPC and its supporters from the violence that rocked some northern states.



The violence started on Sunday when results of the poll showed that President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party was coasting to victory.



Scores of people were either killed or injured while houses, including the family home of Vice-President Namadi Sambo and the palace of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim, were torched by the rioters.



The British Broadcasting Corporation quoted the Red Cross on Tuesday as saying that some 16,000 people were displaced in six of the states where the violence occurred.



Pockets of the mayhem were reported in Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto states on Tuesday. Over 100 suspected rioters were arrested in Katsina and more than 49 others in Sokoto.



Media reports have said that the rioters were the supporters of one of the political parties whose candidate lost in the presidential election.



But Buhari, in a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, condemned the violence as “totally unwarranted.”



He said, “In the last 24 hours, there has been a spate of violence across certain parts of the country. What started mainly as a political protest reportedly included the burning of worship places.



“It is a sad, unfortunate and totally unwarranted development. I must say that this dastardly act is not initiated by any of our supporters and therefore cannot be supported by our party.



“I must emphasise that this is purely a political matter, and it should not in any way be turned into an ethnic, religious or regional one.”



Also on Tuesday, the Netherlands as well as religious groups and leaders flayed the violence and advised that political differences should not lead to bloodshed and division along ethnic and religious lines.



Some of the religious groups and leaders are the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, the League of Imams and Alfas and the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Makinde.



They also enjoined those behind the mayhem to sheathe their swords in the interest of the nation.



Admitting that disagreement was natural and a core ingredient of democracy, they pointed out that the resort to violence was a travesty of religious teachings and a betrayal of our faith.



NIREC, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator Secretary, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on behalf of its Co-chairmen, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said the riots which resulted in deaths and destruction in the affected states were very disappointing.



It appealed to aggrieved Nigerians to explore constitutional means of seeking redress rather than taking laws into their hands.



The group said, “It is our opinion that at this stage of our socio-political history, we should be able to address our differences when they arise in a civilised manner without bloodletting.



“As the whole world is watching us, let us be mindful of our actions and reactions. At a point that many observers are commending a general improvement, largely in the conduct of our elections, even if still not 100 per cent perfect, it is unfortunate that a sad commentary is being scripted through the eruption of violence and carnage among our fellow citizens.”



The group urged political leaders to exercise restraint in their actions and utterances and called on governments at all levels to be alive to their responsibilities.



It also appealed to security agencies to be more vigilant and firm in discharging their constitutional duties.



The statement expressed the readiness of NIREC alongside other civil society groups in the country to mediate in the crisis, through dialogue



Also, the League of Imams and Alfas in the South-West, Edo and Delta states condemned the post-election riots, saying that, “Nigerians must eschew violence and support constituted authorities in line with divine injunctions.”



The league, in a statement by its president, Sheik Mustafa Ajisafe, described the emergence of Jonathan as “God-ordained.”



Makinde, in a statement by the Media and Public Relations Officer of the church, Rev. Oladapo Daramola, urged aggrieved parties to seek constitutional means of expressing their grievances.



He said, “The news filtering in since the conclusion of the presidential election, especially in the North is disheartening and shocking. We have worked so hard to move this nation beyond this manner of barbaric and insensitive actions which only portend danger for our democracy and unity and if not stopped could set us back as a country.



“There is need for this madness to stop immediately and I urge our security agencies to do everything to nip the crisis in the bud before it further escalates.”



Also on Tuesday, former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, described the violence as primitive.



Babangida, in a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Kasim Afegbua, urged Nigerians to shun uncivilised conduct such as violence, religious intolerance and killing in the name of politics.



The former dictator also congratulated Jonathan on his victory at the presidential poll, describing it as “a collective victory for the country.”



In Abuja, the Netherlands, through its Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Bent Rohaar, said that post-election violence was inimical to democracy.



Rohaar, in an interview with one of our correspondents on Tuesday, urged aggrieved politicians and their supporters to seek legitimate means to express their grievances.



He stated that the violence was counter-productive and could retard gains of democracy in the country.



Meanwhile, the police in Sokoto State has confirmed the arrest of 39 persons in connection with the riot in the state.



The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Olusegun Solomon, who spoke with journalists, added that more suspects were picked up for participating in fresh violence in Sokoto on Tuesday.



“We had earlier arrested 39 suspects during the beginning of the protests around 9 pm on Sunday. Around midday today (Tuesday) again, a group of some hoodlums also began the protests in some parts of the city and its environs. We have also arrested some of them who will soon be charged to the courts,” Solomon added.






http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201104200242462