₦airaland Forum

More facts emerged in Abuja on Tuesday on how the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party and President Goodluck Jonathan worked hand-in-hand to ensure that former President Olusegun Obasanjo triumphed in the political battled in Ogun State.



Our correspondent gathered that while Jonathan needed the support of the Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel to win the presidential primaries of the party, he also did not want to rubbish Obasanjo, who had been his benefactor since his days as Vice-president to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.



In order to carry the two men along, Jonathan was said to have begged Obasanjo to wait for him to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate before a final decision would be taken on the Ogun impasse.



It was learnt that when the pressure mounted on Jonathan by Daniel and Obasanjo became unbearable, the president said that he would abide by the decision of the party on its candidates in Ogun State.



But unknown to many, the President was said to have told the parties involved and the leadership of the party, which the former president chairs as its Board of Trustee, that he would also abide by whatever the courts say on the matter.



“This was why the Obsanjo faction went to court and obtained an injunction against the Daniel group,” a top official of the party said.



The president had informed the leadership of the party that since its government respects rule of law, the party should not act to the contrary in handling the Ogun matter.



Although the party went to INEC with the list submitted by the Daniel group, it was said to have made a U-turn when the commission said it was in possession of a valid court order, which had ruled otherwise.






http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201102021352328

Desperate politicians who want to take over power from him by all means, and not Boko Haram elements, were responsible for last Friday’s brutal killing of the ANPP governorship candidate in Borno State Alhaji Modu Fannami Gubio, Governor Ali Modu Sheriff said in Maiduguri on Monday night. The governor’s younger brother Alhaji Goni Mustapha Sheriff, two Mobile policemen and three others were also killed on that day. Sheriff also condemned calls for the imposition of emergency rule in Borno State, saying his government and relevant security agencies will handle the issue of insecurity which has become a nightmare in the state.


The governor, who spoke to reporters late in the night on Monday, exonerated the members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect of the recent killings, saying that it was crafted by “few politicians who want power by all means.”

“I believe that what happened was not carried out by the Boko Haram members. First it was the deputy zonal chairman of the ANPP, Awana Ali Ngala that was killed. Incidentally, he was my cousin. And then last Friday, they attacked our gubernatorial candidate and my younger brother alongside five other innocent souls. We all know the patterns of the Boko Haram people who will just rush out, shoot in the air and run into hiding,” Sheriff said.

He added, “But all those that died on Friday were shot right in the head, and only specially trained persons can do that.”

He also said, “I am not surprised that some politicians have launched campaign of calumny in the media suggesting that a state of emergency be imposed in Borno state. We know from where they are coming from; they are behind it all these while. As soon as they achieved what they planned on Friday, they rushed to the media calling for a state of emergency. This alone is a clear testimony that people are desperate and they want to get power at all costs. But we will not allow this to happen again, we will surely get them in no time.”

According to Sheriff, “I have gotten all the assurances from the vice president whom I have spoken with one on one as well as the inspector general of police. They have given me all their words and approval to deploy more units of mobile police and additional troops of soldiers to boost the security network in Borno state.

“We will, by the grace of God protect all citizens and residents of Borno and by the grace of God all the perpetrators will be brought to book; and this state will be secure and protected more than ever before, Insha Allah.”



http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11343:sheriff-boko-haram-didnt-kill-gubio&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

The troubleshooting efforts of former President Olusegun Obasanjo paid off yesterday as the Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission replaced the list submitted by the Joju Fadairo-led faction of the Ogun State PDP with the one submitted by a faction favoured by the former President.



Obasanjo, who met with the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, in Abuja on Tuesday over the list, supports the faction led by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Jubril Martins-Kuye.



The meeting, held at the Presidential Campaign office of the party, popularly called Legacy House, Maitama, was held behind closed doors. THE PUNCH gathered that the meeting was not held at the party’s headquarters located at Zone 5 because the participants did not want their discussions to leak.



A source at the meeting told THE PUNCH that Obasanjo came for the meeting because of reports that the list of candidates from the Fadiro-led faction had been forwarded to INEC by the national leadership of the PDP.



Based on the reports, the former President was said to have sought an explanation from the party on why an order of an Abuja court was disobeyed.



A Federal High Court had last week in Abuja restrained INEC and the PDP from accepting the list of candidates from the Fadairo faction, which is supported by the state Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.



Our correspondents learnt it was during the meeting, Mohammed informed Obasanjo that INEC had accepted the list of candidates from the primaries conducted by the Martins-Kuye faction.



The accepted list has Gen. Adetunji Olurin (retd.) as the party’s governorship candidate, and the former President’s daughter, Mrs Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, as the candidate for Ogun Senatorial District.



The other senatorial candidates produced by the Martins-Kuye faction are Chief Babatunde Fadun and Mr. Adetunji Odunowo.



The Daniel faction had produced Mr. Gboyega Isiaka as its governorship candidate and the oldest daughter of the winner of the June 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, Mrs. Lola Abiola- Edewor as the candidate for Ogun Senatorial District.



Daniel and Chief Lai Taiwo clinched the senatorial tickets for Ogun East and Ogun West senatorial districts respectively.



Their names had been forwarded by the PDP to the INEC headquarters on Monday before the sudden U-turn was made public on Tuesday.



Obasanjo, who looked happy after the meeting with the PDP leadership, refused to speak with the journalists, who accosted him.



Also, Mohammed refused to speak on the visit by Obasanjo as he went into a meeting with other members of National Working Committee of the party.



A member of the NWC, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, said that the party was not happy with the way INEC handled some of the lists of candidates submitted to it.



After Obasanjo left the Presidential campaign office, INEC Director of Information, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger, said that the commission accepted the list because of the FHC order.



Umenger, in a brief interview with one of our correspondents said, “There is a court order compelling INEC to recognise the faction other than that of Daniel. In the interim, we have to obey the court order; if there is an appeal and a judgment follows, we will obey it.



“For now, there is a court order and INEC as a law abiding institution will obey the order of the court.”



Olurin also confirmed that the electoral body had accepted the list containing his name.



“I have been declared the authentic candidate of the PDP and INEC has confirmed that,” he said.



But Isiaka faulted the claims made by Olurin, describing it as false.



His Personal Assistant on Media, Mr. Bolaji Adeniji, who spoke for him, said, “It is a lie. Isiaka submitted his form in company with a national officer of the PDP and there is no way the INEC can issue certificates to the two of them.”



Abiola-Edewor also faulted Olurin’s claims.



She said, “Isiaka, myself and others have been given the necessary forms and listed as candidates by INEC and it is not possible for INEC to list more than a candidate for a party for the same position.



“What I know is I have collected the forms and others in my group have done the same and INEC had listed us as candidates.”



Investigations revealed that the PDP leadership went back Monday night to produce the list of Martins-Kuye’ faction when the commission cited the court order restraining it from accepting the list from Daniel’s faction.



The confusion over the primaries had worsened last week when both factions claimed that the party headquarters had given them INEC forms to fill.



A source in INEC also said the commission was reconsidering its earlier decision on the list of candidates from Oyo State.



Before the source spoke, the Oyo State chapter of the PDP and the Special Adviser on Public Communications to Alao-Akala , Mr. Dotun Oyelade, had said that governor’s ambition to retain his post was still on course.



Their reactions were sequel to media reports that the PDP might not field candidates in the state during April elections because INEC had rejected the list of candidates from the state.



The list of candidates from the state was reportedly rejected because the state chapter of the party did not complete its congresses.



A statement on Tuesday by the Director of Media and Strategy, Oyo State chapter of the PDP, Dr. Morohunkola Thomas, said the reports were untrue.



He noted that the Oyo PDP list was among the first batch forwarded to INEC by the PDP national headquarters and that INEC had acknowledged receipts of all Oyo PDP candidates, including Alao- Akala.



“Alao-Akala’s governorship election project is absolutely on course and no amount of wuru wuru will derail it,” he added.



Also, Oyelade, said that the media reports were “a continuation of the serial desperation of the opponents to plant confusion when they could not succeed through legitimate means.”



“The candidature of Governor Alao-Akala is unassailable and cannot be taken away by mere wishful thinking,” he said.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art2011020213495342

Some aggrieved youths, who are supporters of the CPC ‘s gubernatorial aspirant, Alhaji Muhammad Sani Abacha, were yesterday dispersed by policemen after they began converging to protest against the prolonged silence on the final results of the primaries.
The youths who were gathering at one of the offices of the party on Tiga Road were chased away by the police who were also there for some days and who alleged that the protesters were not given the permission to conduct the protest.

One of the protesters, Mustapha Daru, who spoke to Daily Trust, said they were there to forward their complaint to the party for the delay in pronouncing the winner despite the fact that Muhammad Abacha was the candidate with the highest number of votes in the primaries held.

When contacted, the state party chairman, Alhaji Muhammd Dan Azumi Gwarzo, said they had been receiving complaints from various quarters that the delay in announcing the flag bearer of the party was causing serious concern within party.

He said members of the party in the state and all stakeholders were worried over the silence, and the Board of Trustees had not communicated to them, thereby giving room for speculations. He urged the leadership of the party to ensure that justice prevails on the issue.

Police Public Relations Officer, Magaji Musa Majiya, said the protesters did not obtain any permit and therefore the police decided to intervene, saying there was no report of injury or damage.



http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11164:disperse-pro-abacha-protesters-in-kano-&catid=1:news&Itemid=2

Vice Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Board of Trustees (BOT), Ambassador Ladan Shuni has said that the communiqué issued during their last meeting rejecting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the PDP was not the true position of the forum.
The forum had in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting last Tuesday, rejected President Jonathan as the PDP presidential candidate. They said it was legally and morally wrong because it was a violation of the party’s constitution which clearly requires that under the zoning/rotation formula, a northerner be returned as candidate in the 2011 election.

However, members of the forum have been lamenting that the communiqué was doctored and that it does not reflect the views of the forum. It started with a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC), Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed and now Ambassador Shuni.

Speaking to newsmen in Kaduna, Ambassador Shuni said the position taken in the communiqué did not reflect the position of the forum but that of few members of the forum.

‘’ The communiqué is not a true position of the ACF. An ACF communiqué can only be released after the relevant committee has investigated and the report brought before the joint session, the NEC and BOT. it is after deliberation by this joint session that a communiqué can be issued,’’ he said.

He said the chairman of the forum was not also informed that a communiqué was going to be issued because he only constituted a committee to review party primaries and submit report.

‘’I want you to understand that ACF is not a political organization. It is a socio-cultural organization that takes care of the interest of the north. If there is any contentious issue, the ACF can only sit and give advice to the relevant authorities. Our decisions are advisory because we are not partisan; we do not reflect the interest of any particular political party and we cannot condemn any political parties for their decisions.

“We have over 50 political parties in the country and they all have presence I the north. The political parties have the right to field their candidates. The political committee has been mandated to review the primary elections of these political parties and see whether they abided by the relevant constitutions after which the ACF would sit down and advice the political parties. That has not happened before the communiqué was issued,’’ he said.

But the National Publicity Secretary of the forum, Mr. Anthony Sani, said it was the chairman of the forum, retired General IBM Haruna that set up a seven man committee including the deputy chairman of NEC, the chairman of the political committee and publicity secretary to collate the resolution and come up with a communiqué. ‘’That was precisely what was done. In any case, the chairman of the political committee participated in collating the resolution of the NEC meeting. It is important for the media to note that all the deliberative institutions like ACF often have majority and minority views. But it is the majority views that always prevail and not matter of who is right and who is wrong,’’ he added.

According to him, ‘’ it is unhelpful to go public with any minority views for the purpose of inspiring divisive tendencies within the organization. It is worse when the media throw its social responsibility away and decide to promote undemocratic attitude,’’. He however reaffirmed the position of the forum rejecting the emergence of President Jonathan as the PDP candidate.



http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11162:jonathans-rejection-not-true-position-of-acf&catid=1:news&Itemid=2

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday confirmed the death of a youth corps member who slumped at a registration centre in Adamawa State.



The dead corps member was believed to be suffering from epilepsy.



INEC Commissioner in the state, Mr. Kassim Gaidam, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Yola, the state capital, that the incident occurred on Saturday when the affected corps member was registering some voters.



“He died of epilepsy while registering eligible voters,” Gaidam said.



“The deceased had registered more than 1,000 eligible voters within the first two weeks of the exercise.”



“This shows his dedication and commitment to the national assignment,” the INEC Commissioner said.



Gaidam said that the corps member who studied at the Federal University of Technology, Yola, was buried on Saturday in accordance with the Islamic rites.



In a related development, two officers of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps, who were engaged by INEC in the ongoing voter registration in Demsa Local Government Area of the state, had also died from suffocation.




























http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201102013421848

Victor Obinna has dedicated his FA Cup hat-trick to the West Ham United’s supporters, he admitted, he let down by being sent-off in the Carling Cup semi-final against Birmingham City. The Nigerian star netted his first treble in English football in Saturday’s 3-2 fourth-round win over Nottingham Forest, helping the Hammers to set-up a last-16 meeting with Burnley at the Boleyn Ground.

While Obinna was delighted to collect a matchball signed by his jubilant team-mates, he conceded that he had let both them and the club’s fans down by being red-carded in the first-leg for kicking Birmingham’s winger, Sebastian Larsson.

“I was very stupid to get suspended that way. It happens in football but I apologise to the fans about that. I was mad with myself after the game because I left my team-mates with 10 men and I had to miss three games.
“I didn’t know I was missing three games until later, so I apologise to the fans and take full responsibility for that and it is definitely something that will never happen again.”
One thing Obinna hopes will happen again and again is netting a hat-trick such as the one he scored against Forest on Sunday.

The 23-year-old was naturally pleased with his personal haul, but also happy to help the team make it through to the fifth round after an indifferent first-half display against the Championship promotion hopefuls.
“It was a fantastic game. We didn’t play very well in the first half. I think the first half was poor but we were able to level at half-time, which was very important.

“I think the second half was better than the first. We created so many chances to be able to have won 5-2. Freddie Piquionne had some chances and their goalkeeper was good. The third goal was a clear penalty.
“I thought we deserved to win the game, but the first half was really poor. It was a fantastic game for the fans. After the disappointment against Birmingham in the Carling Cup, everybody was down but I think we just have to move on because that is football.

“Most of all, we have to take our winning mentality into the Premier League, which is our priority this season.”
The highlight of Obinna’s treble was his second goal, even if the forward admitted he had not exactly meant to beat the Forest’s goalkeeper with a swerving, dipping 30-yard strike from near the right touchline.
“Well, so many people have asked me about the same thing! As a striker, the most important thing is to put the ball in the back of the net. I was a bit lucky for that goal.

“It was a mix. I wanted to cross and I wanted to shoot but in the end it went in, so I was very happy.
“In England, it is the first hat-trick I have scored. I scored one in Italy. I scored one in Serie B for Chievo Verona against - I can’t remember the team we played, but it was a fantastic hat-trick! They were good goals!

“This (ball) is really nice. Maybe my Mum will be able to keep it!”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/sportsonthehour/2011/feb/01/sportsbreak-01-02-2011-001.htm

Almost 10 years after his father was murdered by yet unknown assassins, son of a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minster of Justice, Mr. Muyiwa Ige, has warned the National Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to beware of saboteurs plotting to derail the ongoing voter registration exercise.



His father, Chief Bola Ige, was murdered in his home in Ibadan, Oyo State, on December 23, 2001.



Muyiwa gave the warning while registering at Esa-Oke Grammar School, Esa-Oke, Osun State.



He said, “I have met Prof. Jega a number of times and I think he means well. He is a man of integrity. But he needs to watch out for elements within and outside INEC who are drawing back the hands of the clock as far as this present voter registration exercise is concerned.



“For example, in my ward here in Esa-Oke, our people are being asked to come back to pick up the printouts. The reason the INEC people have been giving is that printers ran out of ink.



“This should not be the case because we all know that when you print constantly, the ink must run dry. This means somebody somewhere must make provision for extra ink or extra printer. I am sure Jega had this in place.



“This is why I am seriously advising the man to watch out. There are so many funny Nigerians who cannot stand to see another Nigerian succeed. They will look for ways to draw him back.



“Nigerian politicians are very interesting. They are still busy looking for ways to circumvent and make the exercise to favour them. They should be monitored by INEC officials. I do not see any reason why we should not all embrace fairness and go for the ‘one man, one vote’ principle.”


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110201332846

The presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday said he had not entered into any deal with President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the April elections.



Ribadu, who spoke in a statement issued by his group in Abuja, alleged that malicious SMS and internet messages, written in Hausa, were being circulated in the North. The statement, which was signed by the Director of Media and Communications, Nuhu Ribadu Campaign Organisation, Ibrahim Modibbo, said the messages alleged that the ACN candidate had clandestine deals with Obasanjo and Jonathan.



Ribadu also condemned last Friday’s killing of Borno State governorship candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Alhaji Fannami Gubio, and six other members of the party by unidentified gunmen.



Ribadu said he was deeply shocked when he received the news of the assassination and called on security agencies to apprehend the killers and prosecute them.












http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201102013521654

President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians in the Diaspora that though he will not contest the 2015 elections, he will ensure a free and fair elections, beginning from the April polls this year. He has also assured that if voted in for the next four years, he would ensure significant improvement in key sector of the economy, security, power, education, road, health amongst others.

“Without security there is no government. So, it is not debatable, it is something we have to address and we are working towards that with vigour. But if I’m voted into power within the next four years the issue of power will become a thing of the past. Four years is enough for anyone in power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period, it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for the next four years.”
President Jonathan said this while interacting with Nigerians mainly diplomats working in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU).

While fielding questions from those present at the interactive session on whether Nigerians abroad would vote, President Jonathan said: “I would have loved that Nigerians in the Diaspora vote this year but to be frank with you, that is going to be difficult now. Presently the law does not allow the voting outside Nigeria and so this year, Nigerians in the Diaspora will not vote but I will work towards it by 2015 even though I will not be running for election.”

On the issue of security, President Jonathan said the government was doing everything possible to arrest the situation. He disclosed that all those involved in the October 1 bombing had been arrested and being prosecuted. He, however, said he ordered the release of the car dealers because they were just businessmen who could not have known that the vehicles were to be used for such heinous crime.
The President, while speaking on education, said the nine newly approved universities were to be specialised and to be headed by, at least, three Nigerians experts in the Diaspora.

On the concerns raised of having a database of Nigerian experts in the Diaspora, President Jonathan assured that he was working on creating a forum for interaction between them and government and also develop a database, where experts needed to address the various challenges of the economy would be drawn. He hinted that this was why the Diaspora Commission was being set up as the bill was already before the National Assembly.
The President also disclosed that the government was looking towards reviewing the country’s foreign policy to ensure that Nigeria got maximum benefit from its roles and contributions to international organisations like the AU, UN and ECOWAS.

Jonathan lamented that right now Nigeria’s contributions were not being recognised, adding that “there is need for Nigeria to have something in return for our investments. We are investing so much but it is not being noticed and there is need to reverse that trend.”
Addressing the concerns about road network and transportation in the country, the president assured that the railway system would be revamped because presently heavy duty vehicles were destroying the roads. “Why we cannot have continuous road maintenance for now is because no contractor wants to go into it because of the continuous pressure on the road by heavy duty vehicles. That is why we are working to ensure that we revamp the rail.”

He also assured that Nigerians working in international organisations and institutions would be issued diplomatic passports. He directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia, to submit the list of those qualified within the shortest possible time to him.
On the 35 per cent affirmative action implementation and the domestication of protocols signed, he assured that he would present before the National Assembly within the shortest possible time.




http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/feb/01/national-01-02-2011-01.htm

The presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Monday picked the Convener of the Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, as his running mate in the April election.



Buhari, through his spokesperson, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said the choice of Bakare was based on the need, “to put the best feet forward in what promises to be a decisive political challenge for the soul of Nigeria.”



According to him, “We have seen the uncommon enthusiasm of our people to register to vote in spite of the many challenges of the exercise.



It speaks of their desire to do what Tunisians and Egyptians are doing on the streets, through the ballot box in April.



“There is a compelling need to give them a ticket that will make all their sacrifices worth the while and that is what we have done.”



Condemning the wave of violence in Borno, Plateau and other parts of the country, Buhari said, ”It is sad that these dastardly acts are taking place without any coordinated response from the government to guarantee the safety of lives and property.



Meanwhile, the Convener of the SNG has agreed to run as Buhari’s running mate.



Bakare, in an interview on Monday said he made up his mind because he felt satisfied with the decision.



He, however, added that it was not a ‘do-or-die’ affair.



He said, “It is a tug of destiny. It has been there since my childhood to rescue Nigeria one way or the other. I want to contribute my quota but I didn’t know this is the way it will come. I didn’t join any political party for this. This is the way to put into practice all the things we have been talking about. This is not a do-or die affair. At least, I will not be guilty of not trying.”



Responding to questions on his electoral value, Bakare alluded to the story of Joseph in the Bible, saying, “Joseph in the Bible became Prime Minister and the key requirement in him was this ‘one in whom the spirit of God dwells.’ That is all.”


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201102013553076

The Peoples Democratic Party may not field candidates in Oyo and Anambra states during the April general elections as the



Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday rejected the lists of candidates from the states.



Investigations by our correspondents showed that the commission rejected the list from Oyo because the state chapter of the PDP did not complete its congresses.



It was also learnt that the Anambra State PDP’s list was rejected because the group that brought it was not recognised.



The PDP had listed Oyo State Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, as its governorship candidate for the state and Ms. Jumoke Akinjide as the senatorial candidate for Oyo Central. The party’s list did not include Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, as the senatorial candidate for Oyo Central.



The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, confirmed the rejection of the two lists to one of our correspondents on Monday night.



“Öyo PDP’s list was rejected because they did not complete their primaries and the executive was not in place. Anambra was rejected because the group that brought the list is not recognised,” Idowu said.



Asked if the rejection of the lists meant that PDP would not field candidates in the states since the deadline for parties to conclude their primaries is January 15, Idowu replied, “That seems to be the implication.”



Before Idowu made this known, nearly all the parties had submitted the names of their candidates in compliance with the January 31 deadline set by INEC.



THE PUNCH learnt that many of those who believed they had either won their primaries or secured court orders would not find their names on the lists, especially those of the ruling PDP.



A member of the PDP National Working Committee described the list signed by the party’s Acting National Chairman, Dr. Bello Mohammed, and the National Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, as a ‘list of life.’



The NWC member, who did not want his name in print because he was not permitted to speak on the issue, confirmed that many aspirants who thought they had scaled through would be disappointed.



He said aspirants such as Brig.-Gen. Adetunji Olurin (retd.), Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and Folarin were among those whose names were conspicuously missing from the list.



Olurin had emerged as a candidate at the governorship primaries conducted by a faction of the PDP in Ogun State loyal to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The faction also elected Obasanjo-Bello as the senatorial candidate for Ogun Central.



Gboyega Isiaka, who won the primaries conducted by the rival group loyal to Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, was listed among the governorship candidates.



Also, Lola Abiola-Edewor, the daughter of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola, had her name on the list of senatorial candidates. Abiola-Edewor emerged as candidate at the primaries conducted by the Daniel faction for Ogun Central.



There was, however, uncertainty around PDP’s list for Ogun as INEC drew the attention of the party’s officials to a court order restraining it from submitting the roll from the state.



As expected, the PDP submitted the names of President Goodluck Jonathan and Alhaji Namadi Sambo as its presidential candidate and running mate respectively.



On the list as governorship candidates are Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Aliyu Shinkafi (Zamafara), Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Fatai Ahmed (Kwara), Patrick Yakowa (Kaduna) and Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano).



Others are Jonah Jang (Plateau), Jubrin Isa (Kogi), Suntai Danbaba (Taraba), Muritala Nyako (Adamawa), Mohammed Goni (Borno), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Ibrahim Dankwanbo (Gombe), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Shinkafi (Zamafara), Alhaji Usman Albishir (Yobe).



The names of the candidates for the Senate included Jumoke Akinjide- Balogun (Oyo Central), Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West) and Dangana Ocheje (Kogi East). The name of Alhaji Dangana Ocheje, who won the primaries for Kogi Central was missing from the list.



The name of Clever Ikisipo Bayelsa East was submitted instead of that of the incumbent Senator Barigha Amange.



In Kwara State, the names of the three senatorial candidates — Dr. Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central), Shaaba Lafiagi(Kwara North) and Simon Ajibola (East)—were submitted by the PDP.



The former Secretary to the Delta State Government, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, also made the list of senatorial candidates from the state.



The PDP had arrived at the commission’s office with Ghana-must-go bags containing documents believed to be the credentials and the nomination forms of the candidates.



The list and documents were taken to INEC by the National Organising Secretary of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus and the National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke, in a black Toyota Prado marked FG 01 K16.



The Acting National Chairman of the PDP had earlier told journalists that the party did not conduct re-run primaries in most of the states it had planned to hold them.



This, he explained, was because of concerns raised by INEC on the time limit for the primaries.



He said the party was prepared to abide by judicial pronouncements on the dispute over the Kogi Central Senatorial ticket.



The Labour Party and the All Progressive Grand Alliance were the first parties to submit their lists to INEC.



Action Congress of Nigeria and Accord Party also arrived at the INEC headquarters almost at the same time as the PDP.



Before then, the ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had assured that the party would meet the 12 midnight deadline set by INEC for all the parties to submit their lists.



Also, the Director- General of the Mohammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Alhaji Sule Hamman, said that the Congress for Progressive Change would beat the deadline.










http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201102014165846

Convener of Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, will on Monday disclose whether or not he will contest as running mate to the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.



Media Adviser to Buhari, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said Bakare’s decision “will excite the polity.”



He said this in Lagos on Saturday while answering questions on Buhari’s decision to choose Bakare as his running mate.



He, however, dispelled talks that Buhari refused to choose the leader of Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu because he was afraid that the former governor of Lagos State would take the shine off him just as it happened during the first coming of Buhari when he had a very strong deputy, Maj.-Gen. Tunde Idiagbon.



Odumakin said, “It is a fallacy because it was Buhari that nominated Tunde Idiagbon as Chief of Staff. He has worked with him and knows his capability. Buhari is not afraid of deputies who should want every power concentrated to him. He allows people to work. He is not afraid of whether anybody would take shine off him. This is not 1993. You cannot sell a Muslim/Muslim ticket all over again when the fault lines are all over the place.”



Speaking of the electoral value of Bakare, he said traditional politician had failed the people, adding that there would be a major shift from traditional politics this time around.



He said Buhari was not desperate but only determined to see that Nigeria was restored to glory.






http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101311255375

Newcastle have rejected a bid from Birmingham for Shola Ameobi, Skysports.com learnt on Tuesday.



Birmingham are believed to have made a firm enquiry for Ameobi as they look to bolster their attacking options.



The Blues have been frustrated in their attempts to bring in a new forward this month after seeing moves for Kenny Miller and Robbie Keane fall through.



Alex McLeish turned his attentions to Ameobi, but Newcastle have informed Birmingham they have no intention of selling the 29-year-old.



The Magpies are keen to keep Ameobi at St James’ Park with Andy Carroll currently on the sidelines and options limited for Alan Pardew in attack.



It means McLeish will have to go back to the drawing board as he continues his seach for striking reinforcements before the close of the transfer window next Monday.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101261264550

Its a nice idea by adding okocha 2 b part of d technical committe.i wil like 2 use evry resources in his disposal 2 take Nigerian Football 2 a greater height.

A former Super Eagles captain, Austin Okocha, on Tuesday said one of the problems facing football in the country was that Nigerian players are overrated.



Okocha stated on Tuesday Night Live on SuperSport that the country was not what it used to be in all aspects of the game.



He said, “The beginning (of rebuilding the Super Eagles) has to do with our realisation that we no longer have the kind of talents we had (in the past) and there are so many issues we are contending with.



“The administrators are not working well like before and the players themselves are being overrated and that is affecting the system.



“A player like Yakubu Aiyegbeni was very good before now but after his injury he did not come back as expected.”



The former Bolton player disclosed that one of his greatest regrets was his inability to win the Africa Footballer of the Year award.



“I will be deceiving myself if I say I am not regretting it. It is painful because one will always aspire to be at the very top. I was close on two occasions but missed out on it. That is football for you and I take it in good faith,” he said.



On his decision to join the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, Okocha explained that there was a communication problem which made him to initially turned down the appointment.“I just read and heard about it and I felt that was not good enough but later I was convinced that efforts were made to reach me. I have started work and will do my best to help football develop in Nigeria,” he stressed.



Okocha earned 75 caps in the colours of Nigeria with 14 goals to his credit.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101261211453

Shock and disbelief could best describe the mood of Anambra State Deputy Governor, Mr. Emeka Sibeudu and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the state, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, yesterday when the duo led security operatives to discover four registration centres located at a shrine in a deep forest.

The four centres which are in the deep Nziko forest at Nteje in Oyi Local Government Area, were manned by registration officers and had, at the time of the discovery, registered only about 200 voters since the commencement of the exercise 10 days ago.
Following security reports made available to Governor Peter Obi, his deputy and the REC led security operatives to the forest where the startling revelation of the four centres with the accompanying Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines was made.
On arrival at the forest which took about 40 minutes drive from the nearest residential area, the registration officers, mainly corps members, were idle and gazing at the machines with virtually nobody to register.

Reacting to the incident, the shock-stricken Prof. Onukaogu, described as painful, the discovery of four centres serving nobody in a thick forest when there were not enough machines for potential voters in places like Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi, Adazi, Agulu and others.
He said: “I have heard of floating/flying polling booths. Today, I have seen one. I am sad that there are four machines wasting here, whereas there are no machines in Onitsha, Eke Awka, Ozubulu, Nnewi and parts of Anaocha where thousands of people are waiting to be registered.”

Onukaogu noted that the four centres had registered only about 200 voters since the exercise started 10 days ago, when the same machines would have registered several thousands had they been located in densely-populated areas.
He said the irregular location of the centres also posed grave risk to the registration officers and the machines, questioning, “how will I evacuate men and machines in the event of danger?”
The REC boss alleged that the centres have been secured by an influential politician from the area, who would want to use it to rig election, but assured that he would remove three machines and leave one behind, just as he would need to meet with the registration officials before taking action.

Onukaogu stressed that he was constrained by the fact that the “floating registration centres” deep in the forest were documented from the INEC Abuja headquarters and assured it would be corrected. Also speaking, the Deputy Governor, who expressed shock at the location of the registration centres, said: “We have shortfalls in machines. But in the forest here, there are four machines lying idle. All the people we met here are not up to 10. But if you go to some other places, you will find thousands of people waiting to be registered”.

Describing such registration centres as what people use to perpetuate electoral fraud, the deputy governor said: “This, I can assure you, is part of the rascality of the past which the present government under Mr. Peter Obi is trying hard to stamp out of the state.”
However, a former deputy chairman of Oyi Local Government, Chief Samuel Offorkansi, who is overseeing affairs at the voting centres, insisted that the place had been serving as voting and registration centres since 1998, stressing that contrary to what the people think, the centres were in the midst of densely populated villages.



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/jan/26/national-26-01-2011-01.htm

As was to be expected, President Goodluck Jonathan’s not-so-unexpected trouncing of former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, the Northern consensus candidate, at the January 13 PDP presidential primaries, has been greeted with a torrent of adverts congratulating the president for his “well-deserved victory” – to use the words of one of such adverts by one of the president’s leading cheerleaders, Dr. Hassan Adamu, Wakilin Adamawa, CON.

“The PDP Family,” said the Wakilin Adamawa in the full page advert in last week’s Sunday Trust, “is solidly behind Mr. President on continuation in office as the preferred PRESIDENT for our great country in 2011.”

A similar advert in several newspapers, this time by a “Committee for Fidelity,” one of the myriads of the fly-by-night organisations that thrive in times of elections, thanked the party’s delegates “for doing the right thing,” by, of course, voting for the president. It then went on to promise all Nigerians that the president’s victory will usher in “A NEW DAWN.”

No doubt the president’s victory was comprehensive and overwhelming. He defeated his rival in each and every one of the country’s six geopolitical zones – 615 to 9 in the president’s native South-South; 423 to 23 in the South-East; 383 to 24 in the South-West; 380 to 172 in the North-Central; 301 to 155 in the former vice-president’s native North-East; and 422 to 365 in the North-West.

The president also won 31 states out of 36, plus the Federal Capital, leaving his rival with only five states. He won a total 2,736 votes against his rivals 805.

The president’s victory was so comprehensive and overwhelming that his supporters could be pardoned some indulgence in triumphalism and a bit of gloating.

Predictably one such gloating, if a text making the rounds of mobile phones is to be believed, came from Mujahid Asari Dokubo, a most rabid Northernphobe Delta militant, if ever there was one. “Finally those who act as God,” he allegedly said, “has (sick) been told by the people that they are not God. Let us not relent in our struggle to throw off this evil yoke from our back. Never again will the Gambari (meaning the Hausa) have a free ride on us. Thank you every one for this victory.”

Mobile phones texts being what they are, this could be some mischief makers at work against Dokubo and, by extension, against where he comes from. However, given his consistent denigration of Northerners it would not be surprising if he was indeed the author. For example, in an interview in The Sun (June 21, 2008), he condemned Northerners as leeches. “First,” he said, “they are parasites. They contribute nothing, absolutely nothing intellectually or resource wise to the entity they call Nigeria. They are only parasites.”

This notion of Northerners as parasites can be easily debunked. All you need to do so is to point at the fact that agriculture, the main occupation of the region he so loves to denigrate, contributes about 45% of the country’s GDP as against less than 20% from Oil and Gas.

True Oil and Gas accounts for over 90% of the Federation Account but most ordinary Nigerians from all parts of the country – and certainly the Dokubos of this world who have become filthy rich from exploiting the legitimate disaffections of their people through the gun or the pen or both are no ordinary Nigerians - have been the poorer for all the billions of dollars that the sector has contributed to government revenue.

So I, for one, have always been baffled and amused by all this talk of Northerners being leeches.

But I digress. The Wakilin Adamawas, the Committees for Fidelity and the Dokubos of this world can indulge as much as they like in their triumphalism and gloating over the January 13 primary, but deep inside they know that it was neither free nor fair.

First, they know what role money played in swinging the votes for the president. From media reports of the events both sides spent tonnes of money in both local and foreign currencies. But everyone knows that the bids were asymmetrical between a president with access to the public treasury and innumerable means of patronage and a rival who has to count his pennies no matter how huge his private wealth is.

Second, they also know what role publicity played in the game. My good friend, Bitrus Gwada, Esquire, took the trouble to watch the NTA news broadcast, News Extra, on two occasions, first on November 30, and then on December 7. On both occasions, he said, he recorded roughly 58 items. Thirty seven out of these, ha said, were on the president himself, the presidency and the First Lady, Patience, and her projects.

Both our electoral laws and the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission’s guidelines on coverage of elections make it mandatory to give equal coverage to all sides. Few things could have been more unequal than the short shrift not only the NTA but most government media gave the opposition between and within political parties.

Of all the unfair and underhand means used to beat the former vice-president, however, hardly any could beat the way he was kept away from meeting the delegates right up to the time of voting at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

We all know that accreditation of voters is the central to the fairness and credibility of an election. Yet up to the time the primary was conducted the list of delegates kept evolving at the whims of the state governors who everyone knew had been whipped into line by the presidency by a crude combination of carrots and sticks.

In the circumstance the president’s cheerleaders should know that their victory at the primaries might yet prove pyrrhic. That is assuming the president is sincere about his commitment to ensuring that every vote counts at the general elections.

And the signs that he truly means what he says don’t look assuring judging from what happened during the primary, most especially from the disgraceful manner the party chairman, Ezekwesile Nwodo, was shown the way out yesterday, for no better reason than a suspicion that he was a closet sympathizer of Atiku Abubakar.



http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10379:president-jonathans-victory-nigerias-new-dawn&catid=6:daily-columns&Itemid=6

, The controversy about the zoning formula in the PDP as you say, need a categorical pronouncement from the party but my take from it is can Nigerians trust GEJ with anything after his reverse on the zoning arrangement because it favors him? or can we trust Atiku to be a national president after his very strong campaign for a northern president?
Politics and public office is about selflessness and trust and after the less than desirable manner in which the PDP has conducted itself in the face of the zoning and rotation crises, I doubt if they can ask that of Nigerians, talk less ask for our votes.

Baring any unforeseen intervening variable, today, January 13, 2011, will be the anti-climax of the battle royale which has been raging between Atiku and Jonathan for months, and which acquired a different pitch after Atiku emerged as the consensus candidate of the Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders’ Forum. It will be a political battle like none in the history of the country’s primaries for the selection of the presidential candidate of a party. Jonathan may be a neophyte in the game. But he has the power of incumbency, which is tantamount to cordoning an amateur soldier with armoured tankers while sending him to the battle front. Atiku, the veteran, will have to find a way of overcoming the armoured tankers to get to his target. It will be a no-holds bar contest between the lion and the elephant. Who will be the last man standing?

One, it is important to bear in mind that what is taking place today is the election of the party’s presidential flag bearer, not the general elections, even though the robust exchanges between the two campaigns sometimes give the wrong impression that Jonathan and Atiku will be facing the electorate today. With regards to ‘delegate hunting’, Jonathan and Atiku seem to have different styles: while Jonathan seems to court the Governors with the belief that they control the delegates in their States, Atiku engages in surreptitious one-on-one interaction with the delegates. Perhaps Atiku has little choice in this regard knowing that few delegates would want to openly court the displeasure of their Governors or the President by openly identifying with Atiku’s candidacy. This in part explains why Jonathan virtually monopolised the space for public political endorsement. But will all the Governors and Members of both the federal and state legislatures who have publicly endorsed Jonathan continue to do so after they have secured their own nominations? Hopefully by tomorrow, the answer will become clearer.

Two, while it may be true that ‘delegate hunting’ is largely a ‘cash-and-carry’ affair; many delegates may ‘collect’ money and still follow their convictions. Zoning and power rotation is likely to remain a key issue. For the Jonathan’s camp, it is a double-edged sword: they need the zoning controversy to help galvanise support from the political South and from Christians. On the other hand, the regionalisation of the controversy will be to Atiku’s advantage because the North accounts for more than 60 percent of the delegates. But playing the ethnic/regional card could also undermine Atiku’s greatest marketing point – namely his image as a bridge builder across the country’s main ethnic and religious fault lines. In essence, both camps want the regionalisation of the zoning controversy but are wary of the minefields involved. How strongly the zoning issue is regionalised into a North versus South, Muslim versus Christian dichotomy could play a very big role in the outcome of the contest.

Three, another issue that could influence the voting behaviour of the delegates is trust. What did both candidates promise the delegates? And how much did the delegates trust that the two will deliver once they emerge victorious? While it is difficult to know what the two candidates have promised, it is known that the President promised the Governors automatic tickets (since denied by the party’s Chairman). Cynics say that even though the President kept the promise of ‘automatic’ tickets to the Governors (all the PDP Governors won in their primaries), he could still work against the election of those he does not want during the April elections. This suspicion seems to be buttressed by the number of the president’s known loyalists with Governorship ambition who defected to other parties such as Timi Alaibe, the former Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty who is now running for Governor under the Labour Party in Bayelsa State and Buba Marwa, Nigeria’s former Ambassador to South Africa, who withdrew from the Governorship race under the PDP in Adamawa State and reportedly joined the CPC. If many of the Governors see this as the President’s manoeuvre, those who believe they are not in the good books of the President may retaliate in the ‘cunny man die, cunny man buriam’ tit-for-tat.

Four, the crises that have beset the PDP, including the primaries conducted so far, could lead to forms of retaliation by aggrieved candidates -depending on whom the crises favour in each state. Those who feel that the establishment is against them or failed to intervene on their side may take vengeance and go with Atiku. On the other hand, those looking for Atiku to surreptitiously bolster their positions during the primaries, may go against him if they feel he did not give the level of support they expected of him. An interesting state in this wise is Enugu State, whose crisis has fed into a certain notoriety of a State where each new King usually goes after the Kingmaker that crowned him - Chimaroke Nnamani as Governor had a running battle with Jim Nwobodo who allegedly helped to make him Governor and Governor Chime Sullivan has been embroiled in a fight-to-finish with former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani who allegedly single-handedly made him the Governor. In the same vein Okwesili Nwodo, said to have become the PDP chairman partly through the efforts of Governor Chime, has been embroiled in a mutually assured destruction (MAD) with the latter for the control of the PDP in the State. Atiku is likely to be the prime beneficiary of that senseless ego play in the State.

Five, the fate of the PDP, after the primaries, will depend largely on how the party is able to heal the wounds caused by the bitter battle for the ticket between Atiku and Jonathan. In the USA, after a similar bitter battle between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama for the presidential ticket of the Democratic Party, the party was able to reconcile aggrieved members and joined forces to defeat the Republicans at the polls. Can the PDP leadership effect such reconciliation after the primaries?

Six, after the elections, it may be necessary for the PDP to make categorical pronouncements on its zoning and rotation policies – to avoid in future the sort of acrimony that attended Jonathan’s decision to contest the election. The party needs to provide unambiguous answers to at least three key questions: If Jonathan is contesting to serve out the eight year ‘turn’ of the North, and assuming he wins, which of the geopolitical zones in the South gets the slot after the North’s turn in 2015? Can the South South come in 2015 to say that Jonathan merely completed the turn of the North and that they should therefore still be in contention in 2015? If the North allows a non-Northerner to complete its turn of eight years, can it come around in 2015 to demand for another turn?

http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9972:between-atiku-and-jonathan&catid=6:daily-columns&Itemid=6

Blaming those who really are victims is always unfair. Well, almost always. But in the case of the recently concluded PDP Special Convention to vote for the party’s Presidential Flag Bearer my initial reaction was to blame Atiku Abubakar. He was rigged-out mercilessly, but really what else did he expect? A free and fair election within the PDP? A level playing field between him and the incumbent? Come on, we are talking about PDP, not the Boy Scouts, for crying out loud! Its battle cry is still “PDP- Power!”, in case we have forgotten.

Atiku’s calculations, which he told the whole Nation (see for example Dennis Naku’s report in Daily Champion of 6th January 2011 titled “PDP Primaries – Atiku Sure of North’s Block Vote”), was this; the North 61 percent of the total delegates at the Convention. The entire South has 39 percent, so how could he lose? He said if he were a tribal politician he would not undergo the drudgery of going round the country soliciting for votes. True he still did go round to meet the emirs, chiefs, godfathers and even his in-laws. Most promised to deliver. In the end they didn’t. Or, to be more accurate, in the end “he was rigged out”. How? Not very clear really, because he saw part of it coming. He warned the Nation that President Goodluck Jonathan was “sponsoring a bill with the intent of narrowing the democratic space by disenfranchising many bona-fide members of the party” like PDP chairmen in local areas, as well state and local council chairmen among many others, so as to reduce the number of delegates “to enable him pay each of them N2million” to vote for him.

This is what I find strange. Atiku spelled out his strength as well as tactics, very publicly. He had a good idea what the Jonathan group were up to. Yet he played their game. Jonathan had Obasanjo and Anenih working for him. He had the Party machinery and instruments and organs of the state, including the state controlled media. He had an army of prophets, prayer contractors and pliable pastors openly making his election a crusade. Those should have been warnings enough. But the Atiku group went into battle without a clear and legally binding list of delegates (which should have been deposited with INEC) and no real influence on the Convention’s Electoral Committee.

In the end, the really evil gurus, Obasanjo, Anenih and co, ended up teaching these latter day crusaders the low and dirty tricks. Nobody had a bone-fide list, the list kept on changing even during the convention and there was no evidence that most of those who voted were the actual ones that were elected as delegates. Worse still, there was no apparent logic to how many delegates should represent a state. Atiku knew the usual (unsavoury tricks).

The party leadership allocated delegates to those states they we sure would vote Jonathan. Thus Katsina State, with 5.8 million people as per 2006 Census had 158 delegates at the Convention, Kano, with 9.4 million had 119 delegates. Lagos, with 9 million had only 55 delegates. On the other hand, Delta with 4 million people had 121 delegates, Rivers with 5.2 million had 130 delegates and Akwa Ibom with 3.9 million had 141 delegates. The Party leadership simply overturned Atiku’s expectations, and under a stylized TV production, purported to show a transparent election, simply made fools of every one.

Now they are trying to portray this massively rigged event as a “model”. Haba Jama’a!

Much as I am inclined to blame Atiku and his people I am obliged to admit they are victims; victims of their northern bias (northern leader prefer young men and women who would only agree with them and sing their praise), victims of state oligopoly of the media, victims of a long and viciously promoted anti-Hausa/Fulani media campaign and what not. He should actually collect all the evidence and go to court. There was no real convention.

The two dangers I see however are; one, the very principle that people should abide by the agreements they entered is being ignored, and indeed is being portrayed as a sign of Northern greed and constant attempt to keep power at all cost (as if there was any government in this country that was manned and exploited by northerners alone!) and, two, the north itself is being cornered into accepting that Atiku’s or Buhari’s candidature is a northern or Muslim agenda. They are not and should not be portrayed as such. If we succumb to the temptation we shall lose.

But then, perhaps it is time for chauvinism. “Everyone for himself, and God for us all” they say. So, we all should use our numbers and our political savvy to survive. In which case it is important to point out that no matter what political arithmetic you do, the current trend can only be temporary. If you pursue the “marginalize the north” option you have the problem that it is too big, and can ally with any other to constitute a majority. If it is the anti-Muslim approach, then you must realize that there is significant population of Muslims in Yoruba land, beside the Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Nupe, Igbira, Igala, and others.

In any case, the most insulting nonsense is that Atiku got not a single vote in the entire south-south. A reflection of the possibility that if we don’t take time we are going back to the tragicomedy that no voting will take place there.

The real lesson however is; make sure we know how many register and depend the result of their free expressions of political choice. Otherwise they will rig the General election as well. The good omen is this; even if the contraption called PDP survives, it would never again be the dominant and overbearing behemoth it now is. For that we should be grateful.

Did you see the Champagne-popping, indecent party the NTA was subjecting us to? Frankly, I couldn’t see what the s**t they had to celebrate, except the assumption that they have been given a license to continue raping the nation.

http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10204:atikus-mistake&catid=6:daily-columns&Itemid=6

Over one year after his alleged attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound aircraft, Nigerian-born terror suspect, Farour AbdulMutallab, may be coming under intense pressure from United States Congressmen and lawyers over his reported refusal to cooperate with investigators.



Empowered Newswire reports that new Republican-controlled US Congress is planning to use his case to shake up the American intelligence community. The new Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Mike Rogers, was quoted by local US media as saying on Monday that the American “bureaucracy of the intelligence business needs to be rattled a little bit.”



Rogers, who is a Republican from Michigan where the 2009 Christmas Day attempt took place, decried the US government’s refusal to treat the suspect as an enemy combatant. He said this caused the loss of a week of questioning of the suspect and weakened the chance to get him to cooperate.



He said suspected terrorists in the US should not be processed through the American legal system but should be treated in the same way as German saboteurs inside the country during World War II.



The congressman’s comments coincided with the charge by US prosecutors that AbdulMutallab’s court-appointed lawyer, Anthony Chambers, was asking for too much in the preparation of his defence.



In the latest documents filed in the US District Court, the US federal prosecutors are questioning Chambers’ recent request that the federal defender’s office, which was handling AbdulMutallab’s defence before he came on board, should turn over its complete file on Abdulmutallab to him. The prosecutors said the file contained crucial expert witness testimony and was ‘essential and critical to the defence.’



The US prosecutors regard Chambers as a standby counsel since AbdulMutallab has repeatedly told the court that he will represent himself. Their argument is that AbdulMutallab is acting as his own lawyer and should, therefore, be the one asking for the file and not Chambers.











Abdulmutallab said he longer wanted the government-appointed lawyer in September and would speak for himself in court. The US Attorney’s Office overseeing his prosecution also objected to the lawyer’s second recent request that AbdulMutallab should not be required to attend his upcoming status conference on January 25.



When he had fired the government-appointed lawyer, the US federal court insisted that AbdulMutallab must have a standby lawyer. Judge Nancy Edmunds in October appointed Chambers to serve as standby counsel to AbdulMutallab, explaining that the suspect had no experience in US law.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101192492293

One of the suspects in last year’s bomb blasts in Abuja, Charles Okah, on Tuesday, slumped barely five minutes after stepping into the dock to continue his trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja.



Okah and other accused persons, Obi Nwabueze, Edmund Ebiware and Tiemkemfa Osvwo (aka General Gbokos) are being prosecuted by the State Security Services following their alleged involvement in treason and the October 1, 2010 bomb blasts in Abuja.



Justice Gabriel Kolawole, who had earlier observed that Okah was looking sick, had ordered that a chair be brought for him to sit down in the dock.



But before the chair was brought he collapsed in court, a development which led to the standing down of the matter until the intervention of the medical team attached to the Nigerian Prison Service.



The judge later in his chamber, ordered that Okah be moved to the National Hospital, Abuja to receive medical attention, directing that the accused should be under the surveillance of the SSS.



He later adjourned the matter till January 27 for the continuation of the trial.



The prosecution had slammed two separate charges against the accused persons.



The SSS filed eight-count charges concerning the October 1, 2010 bomb blast involving explosion of dynamite near the Eagle Square, Abuja and one-count charge of 22-paragraph bordering on the explosion at a post-amnesty seminar organised by Vanguard Newspapers in Warri, Delta State, where governors of Delta, Edo and Imo states were in attendance.



Before their arraignment at the Federal High Court, they were brought before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Abuja where their lawyers told the court that it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.



They also prayed the Magistrate, Hafsat Soso to ensure that the matter be taken to the appropriate court.



The lawyers to the accused persons, Ugochukwu Ezekiel, and Oghenovo Otemu had earlier filed a bail application and argued same.



But the SSS lawyer, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), opposed the application, saying that the matter bothered on state security and that such offence was not bailable.



After hearing the argument of all the parties, the court upheld the argument of Izinyon and thereby refused to admit the four accused persons to bail but rather promised a speedy trial in other to give fair hearing and justice to both the accused and the state.



Having refused their bail application, the court had moved into trial of the accused and the prosecuting lawyer applied to amend the charge by substituting the year under which the accused was brought from 1990 to 2004.



The application was granted and the prosecution moved ahead to read the charge to the accused in order for them to take a fresh plea but the defence counsel opposed the taking of fresh plea, saying that they have some documents, which are yet to be certified.



Justice Kolawole then refused the opposition and ordered that the accused should be allowed to take their plea.



All the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge after which the court adjourned the matter till Tuesday for continuation of trial but which could not hold due to the poor health condition of Charles Okah.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101192305045

West Brom are set to step up their bid to sign Aston Villa striker John Carew and current leading scorer Osaze Odemwingie would welcome the rivalry from any new arrival.



The Baggies are expected to move for Carew if, and when, Darren Bent completes his club-record move from Sunderland to Villa. Baggies boss Roberto Di Matteo has already confirmed Carew was a player on his radar, but Odemwingie, who has netted seven goals this season, will thrive on the competition.



The Nigeria international said, “Will I welcome a new striker? You cannot avoid this. Every team has competition between players. It’s something that must be there and we have it now.”



He added, “I’m not the only player who can play and score but just at the moment they (the club) feel I’m in a better condition and I’m confident in front of goal.



“Tomorrow it might be someone else because we have 40-odd games a season.



“If someone else comes in and he’s good then maybe you will need to do extra that you’ve never done before to get a shirt. I know that.”



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20110119136417

One of the fallouts of the presidential primaries of Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja last Thursday resonated in Abuja on Tuesday as Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, resigned as the party’s national chairman.



In spite of his resignation, he is to face a disciplinary committee, which might recommend his expulsion from the party.



Nwodo resigned at the emergency National Executive Council meeting of progressed towards his removal.



The PDP NEC had called an emergency meeting, which was to decide Nwodo’s fate following what party stalwarts described as his gross misconduct.



President Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, 13 PDP governors, the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, were in attendance.



Before the deliberation started, the NEC had appointed the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Dr. Bello Mohammed, as the acting national chairman.



Indication that Nwodo would be removed was given by Mohammed, when he referred to him as the former chairman of the PDP in his opening address. Nwodo did not attend the emergency NEC meeting.



Mohammed said the only agenda of the meeting was the discussion on the fate of the Enugu State-born politician over his behaviour at Thursday’s presidential primaries of the PDP in Abuja.



Our correspondent learnt that before Nwodo’s eventual exit, three motions were moved by some members of the party on how to deal with him.



The first motion was said to have been moved by the Benue State Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Agbo Emmanuel, calling for his expulsion.



His motion was seconded by an ex-officio member of the party from North-Central, , Mr. Nana Kadiri.



Also, it was gathered that a second motion was moved by a former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, asking that Mohammed be empowered to assume the office of the national chairman in acting capacity pending when the case against Nwodo would be resolved.



The other motion was said to have been moved by another member of NEC, calling for disciplinary action against Nwodo for his ‘misconduct’ at the primaries.



Nwodo had during the primaries snatched the microphone from Mohammed in a desperate bid to preside over the event, despite an interim order by an Enugu State High Court barring him from parading himself as the PDP national chairman.



He had arrived late to the convention just when Mohammed was declaring the event open.



It was learnt that before the meeting commenced, Mohammed had presented a memo to NEC members on why Nwodo should face a disciplinary action.



Details of Mohammed’s memo highlighted Nwodo’s attempt to “forcefully preside over the convention claiming that the court injunction had been lifted when he was fully aware that that was not the case.”



Besides, he informed NEC members that the South-East chapter of the party had also called on Nwodo to resign or be removed following his unending disagreement with his state governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime.



“NEC is accordingly invited to take appropriate disciplinary action on the national chairman in keeping with Article 21.12 of the party constitution,” he said.



The section reads, “Notwithstanding any provision in this constitution, the National Executive Committee shall have power to expel any member of the party for acts of indiscipline or misconduct which brings the party into disrepute.”



But just as the memo was being discussed, a member of NEC, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said Nwodo’s adviser, Mr. Pat Agbachie, brought his (Nwodo) resignation letter.



It was at this stage that Chief Onyeabor Obi, prayed members to accept the letter. He was said to have stated that the letter should not mean that Nwodo would no longer be made to face a disciplinary panel since he is still a member of the party.



The meeting unanimously accepted his letter, but compelled the National Working Committee to set up a disciplinary committee to try him.



The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Rufai Alkali, who briefed journalists after the meeting, said that NEC received, debated and accepted Nwodo’s letter .



“NEC unanimously empowered the Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Bello Mohammed, to assume duties as Acting National Chairman pending the election of a substantive Chairman,” he said.



He added that NEC also received “reports of the unfortunate acts of indiscipline exhibited by the former National Chairman at the just concluded presidential primaries held on 13th of January 2011.



“NEC also referred the matter to the National Disciplinary Committee which shall handle the issues and give recommendations to NEC for further necessary actions.”



Alkali said that NEC also mandated the NWC under the leadership of Mohammed to formally endorse and submit the list of successful PDP candidates in the just concluded primaries held nationwide to the Independent National Electoral Commission.



On the tenure of Mohammed, he said that it would be decided soon.



Asked if the party was abandoning its zoning formula in respect of Nwodo’s replacement, he answered in the negative, stressing that the current arrangement was ad hoc in nature.



He also declined to state whether the names of the members of the disciplinary committee that will try Nwodo, adding that the party’s constitution will take care of the issue.



Section 21.3 of the party constitution deals with the issue of disciplinary committee, which it said should consist of seven “members with proven integrity.”



The governors in attendance were, Sullivan Chime, Muritala Nyako, Isa Yuguda, Taofeek Arapaja, Gbenga Daniel, Ikedi Ohakim, Godswill Akpabio, Patric Yakowa, Adamu Muazu, Kwakwanso, Y. Mahmud Shinkafi, Ibrahim Idris, Aliyu Babangida, Emmanuel Uduaghan and Liyel Imoke,



Other NEC members that attended the meeting included Tony Anenih, Ken Nnamani, Ojo Maduekwe, Stella Omu, Andy Uba, Jerry Gana, Ibrahim Mantu, Ike Ekweremadu, Bayero Nafada and Teslim Folarin.



http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101192135379

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said the erstwhile National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, resigned from office to save the party from ‘multiple litigation,’ in the build-up to April elections.



Also on Tuesday, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar rejected insinuations that he had a hand in the chains of events that led to Nwodo’s forced resignation.



Jonathan, who spoke to journalists at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, however, said Nwodo remained a ‘senior member’ of the party. Nwodo had earlier on Tuesday resigned from the chairmanship of the party ahead of an emergency meeting of top leaders of the party.



An Enugu High Court had on Thursday stopped Nwodo from parading himself as the chairman of the party. But Jonathan told journalists that Nwodo “stepped aside so that the party can move forward without encumbrances.”



The President, who said he was in Lagos for a meeting with some political associates, said, “When you observe certain aberrations, we must adjust the system. In every human system, just like in any factory that develops any machine problem, you adjust the system; every human system operates that way so there is nothing odd about it.



“Nwodo is still a senior member of the PDP but because of certain circumstances, we feel that there is multiple litigation, and the party is tired of all this litigation and the party does not want to be dragged into too much litigation.



“So we felt that instead of dragging the party into litigation and, even at this critical period when we are to submit names of candidates to INEC, we don’t want to encumber the party with so much litigation. That was why he stepped aside so that the party can move forward without encumbrances. But he is still a senior member of the party, we still respect him, he will continue to do his work as a very senior member of PDP.”



On the current hitches trailing the voter registration, the President said that the Independent National Electoral Commission was already looking into them Jonathan, who admitted that the exercise had been facing some challenges, however, exuded confidence that the electoral body would get over them.



He said, “A lot of Nigerians are enthusiastic about the registration, but we have problems with the machines. INEC is looking at them; I don’t want to speak for them because they are an independent body; we have given them maximum equipment to do what is right. They may have problems with some of the machines, but whey will get over it.”



Meanwhile, Abubakar said in a statement by his campaign organisation in Abuja that he could not have been responsible for Nwodo’s downfall when he (former vice-president) was ‘a direct victim’ of the former chairman’s ‘insincerity, double standard, opportunism, selfishness and mischief.’



Abubakar said, “The erstwhile chairman delivered the convention to the President but they still went on baying for his blood. That tells you there was more to it than the eye could see. Someone wants blood and you give him palm oil. Does that satisfy him?”



He recalled that a few weeks to the PDP convention, Nwodo did everything to frustrate his presidential ambition by not allowing a meeting intended to discuss the modalities for the January 15, 2011 convention to hold. He alleged that Nwodo did not agree to meet or even answer his phone calls for upwards of two months.



According to Abubakar, the ex-chairman frustrated every meeting his campaign organisation had requested to discuss serious issues bearing on free and fair elections, especially the need to create a level-playing field in which no delegate would feel constrained or intimidated to choose their preferred candidate.



The statement noted that Nwodo had issues to contend with in many chapters of the party, including Enugu State, where he and Governor Sullivan Chime were engaged in ‘a bitter battle of supremacy.’



Abubakar also said the waiver granted him to contest the PDP presidential primary election had nothing to do with Nwodo’s exit, noting that the ex-chairman and the PDP National Working Committee “were confronted with a fait accompli since the former vice-president was among those re-integrated by the Dr. Alex Ekwueme Committee set up to reconcile the party. In this regard, the former Vice President distanced himself from any suggestions that his presidential bid was responsible for the unceremonious exit of Nwodo.”



The Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Mr. Ayogu Eze, however, declined to react to the development when our correspondent sought his comments. Whenc contacted on the telephone, he simply said, “No reaction. Thanks.”



However, officials of the Enugu State Government House were seen rejoicing at the news of Nwodo’s resignation. When asked for comments, none of them agreed to speak, claiming that they had been warned not to make any public statement on the matter.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101192385546

An emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] in Abuja today is likely to adopt the recommendation of its South East caucus and sack the embattled National Chairman Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, Daily Trust learnt yesterday. Nwodo was prevented by a court order from presiding at last Thursday’s PDP national convention. PDP National Publicity Secretary Prof Rufai Ahmed Alkali said in a statement that all NEC members are required to attend as “crucial matters relating to the 2011 general elections shall be discussed.” Daily Trust also gathered that the meeting, to be chaired by the Acting National Chairman Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed, was summoned following the meeting of the party’s Southeast Zonal Working Committee which passed a vote of no confidence on Nwodo and asked him to resign.


The zone, after a meeting presided over by the National Vice Chairman (Southeast) Chief Olisa Metu, urged the NEC to expel Nwodo if he fails to resign in a communiqué signed by the zonal secretary, Mr. Vincent Okpareke. The communiqué declared support for the acting National Chairman Dr Mohammed to run the affairs of the party “pending the emergence of another chairman from the South East acceptable to the party members.”

The communiqué further said, “We condemn without reservation the conduct of the suspended National Chairman of our party, Dr. Nwodo, who by flagrantly disregarding the party’s constitution, disobeying a valid court order by showing up at the special convention and lying to the convention that the order had been vacated, brought shame and embarrassment to the party and therefore us, his kinsmen and women.

“The zone apologises to the country for this calamitous behaviour of Dr. Nwodo in deliberately and willfully attempting to void the special convention by not only showing up but forcibly taking over the officiating at the convention before he was overpowered and subdued.”

An Enugu High Court had barred Nwodo from functioning as the PDP National Chairman a day before the party’s Special National Convention last week, a development which led to the motion moved at the Convention to enable the Deputy National Chairman to act on his behalf.

However, another High Court in Anambra State, sitting in Ekwulobia, in the Aguata Judicial Division, presided over by Justice B. A. Nwankwo, granted an order restraining the PDP from sending its list of candidates for the April general elections except the one signed by Nwodo. The Court also granted an order that he (Nwodo) remains the PDP national chairman until the motion on notice before it is determined.

It was gathered that today’s meeting NEC may be used to either ratify or ignore the decision taken by the party’s stakeholders from the Southeast.

Speaking with Daily Trust last night on the development, Nwodo’s media aide Ike Abonyi described the purported resolution of the South East PDP as the handiwork of “busy body people” who have their own inordinate ambition to accomplish. Abonyi, who pointed accusing fingers at Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime, also said the involvement of National Vice Chairman Southeast was to realize his dream to become PDP’s National Chairman.

He said, “The so-called resolution of the Southeast that the National Chairman should resign is a decision taken by a group of people who want to use the umbrella of the zone to achieve their aim. They did that by making sure that they don’t invite people who should be there. Senators should be there. Members of the House of Representatives should be there. Governors should be there. Out of four governors, only the Enugu State governor came there. The other 3 governors stayed away.

“Out of 15 Senators we have, only about 3 came. Even among the three that came, Senator Chukwumerije was angry with them. Out of many members of the Federal House of Representatives, less than 10 of them were there. Even those who came believing that they were coming for a reasonable meeting, were not allowed to speak because they already had a script written. Even when the Chairman of Imo Council who was drawing their attention to some legalities, they didn’t want to hear because they were there on a script. They came masquerading to be speaking on behalf of the Southeast when indeed the real Southeast leaders were not at the meeting.

“One other thing they did to give themselves an image of credible people was to drop the name of the President and said that the President was behind it. That cannot be true because the President cannot take such a decision. So I can tell you clearly that this has no mass following. The Zonal Executive of the PDP in the Southeast except Olisa Metuh who is driven by his own ambition to be the National Chairman and the Secretary, all other zonal officials are not part of it. They have even issued a statement saying that they are not part of it and that they cannot be part of any activity that will continue to promote instability in the Southeast.

“Again, they also alleged that the National Chairman’s appearance at the Convention was intended to sabotage the President. This cannot be true because in the last 7 months, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo has given his life, his mental image and everything in his life for the success of that Convention. The President knows this. Every leader of the party who has been following the development in the party is also aware of this. So for them to make that allegation, it shows that they are being driven by envy, anger and other factors.”

On the Court Order granted by an Anambra High Court, Abonyi said, “That order has to come because a serving Senator looking at the situation felt that some people are playing dangerous politics that could endanger the interest of others. And he went to Court to explain that if the National Chairman fails to sign the list of PDP candidates, it may endanger the aspirations of a lot of other party members.

“So he went to court to explain that the party in its Constitution has no provision for an acting Chairman. And the only person INEC will recognize is the National Chairman. He went to seek Court intervention so that the candidacy of President, including that of Enugu State will not be in danger. He needed this court intervention to help and make sure that the correct person who will not be voided by the court in future signed. I think he went to court based on this.”

On the report that the Enugu Court Order had been vacated, he said “On the order given by Enugu High Court, another High Court cannot vacate that one because they are of the same level. The only Court that can vacate it is Appeal Court. But the Enugu people had to give two days public holiday to make sure that the Appeal Court in Enugu did not seat even though the National Chairman had filed his appeal. They had to declare two days public holiday so that he will not be able to get the vacation order today (Monday). So if we wait for the entreat, it could endanger the party. Rather than wait for that vacation, they went and got another order to protect their interest.”



http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10275:pdps-nec-may-sack-nwodo-today&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

As protests continued in some northern cities over the outcome of the PDP convention which picked President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s candidate, Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako has described former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, as a security threat, calling on security operatives to be wary of his activities. Nyako in a statement yesterday by his Principal Senior Assistant Mallam Aminu Iyawa, alleged that the Atiku political group was planning more propaganda war on the northern governors whose state delegates voted for Goodluck Jonathan.


‘’The state government therefore calls on the national security agencies like the SSS, police and the rest to intensify scrutiny on the activities of the former vice president and the inflammatory rhetoric that comes from his camp’’, the statement said.

Governor Nyako who came down heavily on reports that there were protests in some states, denied such reports, as according to him, ‘’The latest onslaught on the nation’s security is the false and inciting report planted in the Sunday Trust where it claimed that people in Adamawa, Jigawa, and Katsina States protested. Our inquiries showed that no such protests ever took place in both Katsina and Jigawa and certainly not here in Adamawa,” Nyako said.

However, Atiku’s spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, described Nyako’s comments as unfortunate and misguided. He told our correspondent on phone that Nyako only wanted to bury his face in the midst of confusion.

In the meantime, there were bitter reactions from different quarters in Adamawa State yesterday over Atiku’s defeat as dozens of security men were drafted particularly in the state capital with traditional rulers meeting with top government officials.



Link;http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10250:nyako-atiku-is-a-security-threat-its-a-misguided-statement-atiku&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

The rift between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ogun State Gov Gbenga Daniel manifested publicly yesterday at the PDP presidential convention when Daniel shunned Obj. Daniel who was escorted to the State box by a presidential protocol officer, where President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo, other aspirants and members of the partty’s BOT were sitting, greeted all those on the front row but refused to extend the greetings to Obj who was also sitting there.


He turned his back on Obj after greeting Jonathan and Sambo and proceeded back to Ogun State delegates stand at the venue.



http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10088:gbenga-daniel-shuns-obasanjo&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

As the Peoples Democratic Party elects its presidential candidate today, NIYI ODEBODE writes that the party’s choice will make or mar it.



For the Peoples Democratic Party, history will be written today, when its delegates converge on Eagle Square to elect its presidential candidate. Since August 19, 1998 when the ruling party was formed, its history has been intertwined with Nigeria’s. Its misfortunes have rubbed off on the country. But today, Nigerians expect the party to make a complete break from its sordid past.



Like other parties, the PDP is not short of lofty ideas and visions that can drive the country into commity of democratic nations. Take for example one of its principles, “ We are against all forms of discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, place of origin, or ethnicity, race, beliefs, etc. The PDP will strive to protect the rights of vulnerable groups in society, including women, children, senior citizens, physically challenged and minorities.”



On assumption of office, the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Okwesiliese Nwodo, emphasised the need for the party to endear itself to Nigerians, when he said, “We need people. This is a People’s Democratic Party. We are anchored on the people; People for membership, people for votes, people for solving the problems of Nigeria for all the people of Nigeria.”



Rather a people’s party, the PDP distanced itself from the masses it has been ruling since 1999. The party leaders have realised this.



At his inauguration in 2007, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, the PDP candidate in the last presidential poll admitted that his election was flawed. He, therefore, initiated a reform of the electoral system in the country.



Also Nwodo, who has begun the reform of the PDP, at a press conference in Lagos in November, lamented that godfathers had seized the control of the party.



The national chairman said that such godfathers sat in their bedrooms to pick candidates, who would contest on the platform of the party. “Such people elected under our party banner have consistently brought public odium on our great party to the chagrin of our party members and the nation at large. The process of choosing our candidates must once again be subjected to internal democracy, to the dictates of our party constitution and the extant rules.”



Even members of the PDP have admitted that the party is not the good book of Nigerians. Just a few days ago, six chieftains said, “Our great party has been in power for the past 12 years. During this period, we have done our best to promote social, economic and political development of Nigeria.



“During this period, the party’s image has suffered terrible damage because of the activities of some of its leaders. Although we are the ruling party, the electorate resent us seriously that our party is referred to in some quarters as ‘Peoples Deceiving People. The opposition is capitalising on this image problem to brand our party as party of criminals and scoundrels.”



Some have even alleged that membership of the party confers on individuals the right to loot the national treasury, hence the slogan, “PDP, let’s share the money.”



The national chairman is aware of the need to reform the party as he once said, “That in the irresistible tides of history, there comes a time that individuals must rise and dedicate themselves completely to larger causes, set aside the simplistic notions of selfishness, greed and sectionalism.”



Contrary to Nwodo’s gospel, campaigns of the PDP’s presidential aspirants have been dominated by ethnic sentiment, with some chieftains canvassing zoning. The Northern Political Leaders’ Forum called for the zoning of the presidency to the North. It specifically asked the party to bar President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the presidential election.



The party has, however, rejected the call and insisted that Jonathan has the constitutional right to contest the poll. It even went ahead to confirm Jonathan as its official candidate. Besides the party, 21 governors have also endorsed Jonathan.



But NPLF is undaunted and it has picked former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as its consensus aspirant for a race that has been characterized by a campaign of calumny.



Three main aspirants for today’s primary are: Jonathan, Abubakar and a veteran in presidential contests, Mrs. Sarah Jubril.



While declaring his presidential ambition in September, Jonathan, the first Nigerian president from the oil-rich Niger Delta, had said, “Our country is at the threshold of a new era; an era that beckons for a new kind of leadership; a leadership that is uncontaminated by the prejudices of the past; a leadership committed to change; a leadership that reinvents government, to solve the everyday problems that confront the average Nigerian.



“I was not born rich, and in my youth, I never imagined that I would be where I am today, but not once did I ever give up. Not once did I imagine that a child from Otuoke, a small village in the Niger Delta, will one day rise to the position of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I was raised by my mother and father with just enough money to meet our daily needs.”



His main rival, Abubakar, who contested the 2007 presidential poll on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria, said that he would “chart a new course for the country.”



Both Jonathan and Abubakar are powerful aspirants, but governors are expected to play a decisive role in the presidential primaries. In 2006, governors endorsed Yar’Adua, who eventually emerged as the candidate of the party in the 2007 presidential poll.



As the party delegates vote today, whoever emerges presidential candidate must be able to pass a credibility test.






http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101130443446

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday denied rumours of his death spreading across some parts of the country.



The rumoured death of the 76-year-old laureate left many Nigerians and residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, worried. Many Nigerians made efforts to confirm the authenticity of the rumours.



Soyinka, who reacted to the news in a telephone conversation with journalists in Abeokuta on Wednesday, said, “I’m hale and hearty. I am presently in California, United States.



“I wonder why people are making such insinuations. I’m alive and well. I’m in California in my study room. What a rumour!”


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101133334671

Wife of the former governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, has denied reports that other candidates were compelled by her husband to step down for her in order to secure the senatorial ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria.



Mrs. Tinubu on Wednesday clinched the ACN ticket to contest in the general elections for the Lagos Central seat. She was unopposed.



She said she was contesting on her own merit as a political activist and one who had contributed so much to better the lives of Lagosians.



The ACN primaries, which began with accreditation around 9am, had 2,450 delegates voting as at press time.



Mrs. Tinubu came in around 5pm to cast her vote. She spoke to journalists about her ambition and denied that she was an imposed candidate.



She said, “I am running like any other person. I have been here since 9am like other candidates. Did you see me going to anybody’s office to sit down? Nobody stepped down for me and I am not privileged by anyone. I went to see Senator Muniru Muse (the incumbent) and I told him I would be contesting for this post.



“I did that out of courtesy to him. I have served this state while in exile. My husband was governor and I contributed to this state. Most of my projects initiated as first lady are still ongoing. Why can’t I contest? I am young, I am just 50.”



Though Muse has formally withdrawn from the race, his name still appears on the ballot paper for the Senatorial contest.



Other contestants for the Lagos central tickets are Muhammed Danmole and Hakeem Giwa.



For Lagos East Senatorial district, the names of the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Lands, Gbenga Ashafa and that of Ajisebutu Adebayo appeared in the register. In Lagos West, the sole contestant remained Senator Ganiyu Solomon.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201101133364198