₦airaland Forum

There are many aspects to this issues. Fine ghadaffi is wrong in his doing and actions. Lets now look at it the other way, who actually is UN, its just a body set up by a few powerful countries and they are actually excercising that power!!!! and what is African Union ??, They are just there to stabliise the price of oil. People dont actually know what is happning on ground in libya, its just what you heard on all dis international media ( foreign propaganda). This people are smart, no ground trooops in libya , they are jus doing everything through jets and warships. So what is their main aim in LIBYA!!! GHADAFFI OR THE PEOPLE!!?. THE EARLIER AFRICANS BEGIN TO REALISE THAT THE WEST IS NOT UR FRIEND THE BETTER.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/16/sarkozy-election-campaign-libya-claim

They are all hypocrites

To me i feel it should be left in the hands of libyans to fight their way to freedom!!, No freedom without blood. I have still failed to understand why the WEST must put their nose in everysingle thing that goes on around the world. Especially this f&^king BRITISH people.

CAN YOU GIVE WHAT YOU DONT HAVE? GEJ IN JIGAWA PROMISED QUALITATIVE EDUCATION TO ALL. HOW DOES A MAN THAT COULDNT EDUCATE HIS WIFE OF OVER 20 YRS( EVEN BASIC ENGLISH AND DESPITE HIS EDUCATION STANDARD) PROVIDE QUALITATIVE EDUCATION TO MILLIONS OF YOUNG NIGERIANS IN FOUR YEARS PROBLY THE LEVEL OF EDUCATION MRS DAME HAS?, ON HIS FACEBOOK HE SAID HE WOULD MAKE PROMISES AND YET HE HAS PROMISED !!.ISINT IT FUNNY . APRIL 2011: A DEFINNING MOMMENT, THE FUTURE IS OURS VOTE WISELY!!,

reindeer:
Ok, some said earlier the doctors were being greedy for demanding that govt sticks to agreements. Are the nurses being greedy too?
People just dont want to face facts, Fashola has done well in lagos but one main area of failure is in health.While its good to erect buildings and paint them, you need to ensure there are motivated people to work in those facilities.
I think the AC government need to leave fashola some money to pay health workers in the state.
Methinks if it were up to him alone these won't be problems, but there's Bola Tinubu pulling all the strings(and probably the money too)behind the scene.
Shame on the the government. People's health means nothing to them.

pLEASE DONT BRING POLITICS INTO THIS ISSUES. This is a matter of policy and fault of the FG. If the federal government is taking over 52% of revenue and leaving the rest for 36 states to share were is d money for salary increase and to consider the fact that it was not in the 2011 budget. Theres always a simple alternative that leaders have failed to do because they can always influenecv labour when it comes to election period. They should av reduced the power of the union since all these years.

This is the FG's fault, trust me if i was the president i woulkd first of all  remove or reduce the powers of the union jus Llike THACHER did. This people cannot hold the nation to a randsome.  Federal nurses got an increase doesnt mean it should be the same with the state. This was never in the 2011 lagos budget, the federal government did not make provision for it so were do they expect the government to get the money from. IT IS HIGH TIME THE FG REVISIT THE ISSUE OF REVENUE ALLOCATION OR  SIMPLE REDUCE THE POWERS OF THE UNIONS (LABOUR UNION).

People dont really get one thing. There is a Big difference between then and now. Things buhari could do then he cant do now because he cant just make laws as we have the house of reps there. Milirtary era is gone and gone for good. He aint stupid , he too has to recognise that simple fact. BB ALL THE WAY

seguno2:
Not forgetting free education and free health also in four years of government by Jakande.
And LKJ had less money to work with but produced results for more people.
Fashola was busy in the past four years sharing Lagosians taxes and federal allocation with Tinubu to bribe judges for election verdicts in other states to increase Tinubu's influence and private empire.

Fine but dont forget that jakande did not have thousands of people pouring into lagos everyday from all over the country.!!!, so consider the poplation as well. To me it is impossible to house everybody in lagos cos people are coming in on a daily basis!!

tpsolomons:
I totally agree with u Adino

Mcheeeew Not Funny at all
Whoever is behind this should get a life
Obviously this page was made to make jest of her, Its rude and Unfair to me

cmmon its just for a laugh!!!!!,

cmmon, cnt u see wer the article is coming from TRIBUNE, OGUN PDP are the new owners of PDP

Those are some though word for BODE ELEWON mehnn, They just silenced him with this

Lets calm down people.  Fine we agree that  what tinubu said about sacking the doctors was morally wrong, but the issue of fashola appointing commisioners, let us not all behave ignorant, we all know that party appoint  the  serving officers. You can  seriously tell me that its jonathan that picks and appoints his ministers?? CAN YOU? they are mostly party members if not all, so wts the fuss about

Dnt worry, it wil be passed after April 2011

Presidency: Sambo will assume North’s term in 2015

Thursday, 03 March 2011 00:00

Amina Alhassan & Kabiru Matazu

Senator Muhammed Abba Aji, Presidential Adviser on National Assembly matters, has made a couple of controversial comments in the last few weeks. In this interview he speaks on the ongoing presidential campaigns and the controversy over where the presidency should move to in 2015.

What is your assessment of the political outings in the last few weeks especially after the emergence of candidates?
As it turns out, President Jonathan appears to be the only one campaigning. By the end of that deadline for the substitution of candidates, INEC had about 20 presidential candidates, but out of all the 20 who have been cleared by the commission, only Jonathan is campaigning in the true sense of it. All the rest are doing nothing. May be once in a while, and not all of them, just a few, feature in the newspapers. General Buhari and Ribadu have been talking about their plans to begin campaigns. So, it’s like they are telling us that ‘they are getting ready to get ready’ and we are tired of reading about them ‘getting ready to get ready.’

Now we have just few weeks left to the presidential election and my fear is that they are all waiting to go to court (after the election) instead of going to the electorate now. If they have anything to offer, for God sake let them go to the electorate the way Jonathan has been doing.

But people believe that Jonathan is the only one who has been able to start campaign in ernest because he has unlimited access to state resources which he uses to his advantage,

That is also a disadvantage to a great extent. We must also realise he is leading this country; State affairs are cumbersome; international affairs are cumbersome, yet he is carrying out his job as president and still finding time to campaign. It’s not easy for Mr President. He just happened to be young and energetic otherwise, you know such tasks can take a toll on the physical being of an average person. Other presidential candidates are virtually jobless, they are only presidential candidates. I’m not sure of that they are doing, so what is stopping them from campaigning.

Some Nigerians say President Jonathan’s campaign is not issue-based. How do you respond to this?

I don’t believe that. His campaigns are issue based. Jonathan has always advised us to avoid personalising. He has insisted that we be issue based. You can remember that even at the Eagle Square when all the three aspirants were asked to speak, he was the only one who spoke strictly on issues.

The president has said he will not run in 2015. Do you think it will be zoned back to the North?

What will happen is very clear; Vice President Sambo will step in as soon as Jonathan finishes his tenure. We need an institutional memory in the running of government. We don’t always want to start from the beginning; we don’t always want to return to the drawing board.

Will that mean going back to zoning?

No, the court has determined that there is zoning and we have agreed, only that this time we zoned it to South-South. So in 2015, will zone it to the Northwest and give it to Sambo.

That will perhaps jettison hope of the southeast; don’t you think that will set in another crisis?

You see it is like this, it goes to the North and goes to the South. Then in the North, it goes to the Northeast, North central, and Northwest. Same thing when it goes to the South. Now, Jonathan is serving the southern term. It will come to north. When it comes, we want the institutional memory to be there. We don’t want too many dislocations or distortions that will set us one step forward, two steps backward.

Have any organ in PDP agreed on this principle, or from which point are you speaking?

From my own, it’s my personal view and it will work.

How do you intend to make it work?

I made things work before. When Ciroma and his group, ‘small group’, I most add, began to come out militantly, to say we will stop him; we will deny him; and so on. With strong words that were not expected from statesman of his age when addressing the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I personally undertook the crusade and reached out to very important northerners in almost every state, to tell them that look, Jonathan will win; that incumbency advantage is real; he is also the leader of the party and there is no party that will throw away its product.

I am a member of the national caucus. I said to them don’t allow Jonathan to win without Northern support. It will disenfranchise the North. It will save the face in the minds of future presidential candidates. The North will seem not to matter, which is very dangerous for people in my generation and those below. Ciroma and others have had their turns and now they can afford to gamble. It is a gamble that I personally stopped and many of them, open supporters of Atiku, saw reason. I said to them if you try you can’t stop them. We went all round the delegates of the north. It worked and the next one will also work.

You talk about Ciroma making statements which are not charitable but recently President Jonathan called leaders in the Southeast ‘rascals’ and it generated lots of comments from people who feel that such words should not come from someone seeking votes from that area and most importantly not from a president,

Am sure he didn’t call all of them rascals. The word rascal actually is not as bad as it sounded but at the end of the day it’s the value of the people that matters. I am sure the President has listened to comments regarding that and has taken a cue from that.

http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13296:presidency-sambo-will-assume-norths-term-in-2015&catid=18:inside-politics&Itemid=19


I thought NDIGBO WAS GOING FOR 2015??, So y is GEJ decieving them

Alj Uche:
FORMER LAGOS STATE GOVERNOR AND FOUNDER OF THE ACTION CONGRESS OF NIGERIA (ACN), ASIWAJU BOLA TINUBU

LAGOS, Feb 24, (THEWILL) - Former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu today described how former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) frustrated the alliance talks between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Tinubu also stated that it is the sole responsibility of the ACN to appoint cabinet members into the Lagos State Executive Council adding that state Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola has no business appointing commissioners into his cabinet.

The former governor made the revelation at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, where he alleged that the leadership of the PDP paid some people who participated in the talks to ensure that the discussions failed on the ground that an ACN/CPC alliance posed a huge threat to the PDP regime.

“The PDP paid some people to frustrate the party’s effort because it knew that if the alliance should work, the PDP would be swept out of office. The ruling party worked against the alliance through its agents planted within,” the former governor said.

Tinubu’s position was corroborated by another leader of the ACN who spoke with THEWILL on the condition of anonymity, adding that Obasanjo planted some of his loyalists around the presidential candidate of the CPC, Major General Muhammadu Buhari and mandated them to frustrate alliance talks.

The source however did not name Obasanjo’s loyalists who were allegedly used to frustrate the success of the alliance talks, but explained that three loyalists of Obasanjo “are working with Buhari on false pretence. They have been delegated and planted to frustrate Buhari’s Presidential ambition since 2003.

“We know them. We found out that they are on pay roll of the ruling party. They are close allies of President Obasanjo. They are very much in touch. Asiwaju Tinubu raised the issue during the alliance talk. We did not take his objection very seriously, but it later became very clear that he had a point,” the party man added.

At the meeting, the former governor also shed more light on the emergence of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s running mate, Mr. Fola Adeola, saying former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and the incumbent Commissioner of Economic Planning and Budget, Pastor Ben Akabueze were presented to be Ribadu’s running mate from the inception of the Presidential race.

But Tinubu said the party leadership ruled against Osinbajo because he was in the same legal profession with Ribadu, explaining that the party insisted that two legal professionals could not hold two strategic positions in the country, and favoured instead any candidate with requisite experience in managing economy.

“Akabueze was subsequently contacted to be Ribadu’s running mate because of his experience in economic planning and budget management. But he rejected the offer because he claimed he had not decongested his table, which he described as tough and was not ready to add any additional one.

“We needed somebody with the vast knowledge of the economy and budget planning who can explain economic theories according to the realities of the time. That is how we succumbed to the choice of former Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), Mr. Fola Adeola,” he further stated.

Tinubu however said he did not force his wife, Oluremi to go into politics. He added that “it was purely her decision. Politics was not for people like her because of the insult she would get while on the political field,” he said.

He added that he did not take her seriously at first but that when Oluremi told him she was serious about it, he had no choice but to support her, recalling that the former First Lady and her daughter suffered a lot during the Abacha regime and that the house where Oluremi and her daughter were staying was almost set ablaze.

He also said it "took the intervention of the late Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti who rescued them and procured visas for them to leave the country. Remi convinced me that she wants to go into politics and I accepted.”

Tinubu thereafter threw more light on the appointment of members into the State Executive Council of Lagos State. He said it is not the business of the governor to appoint commissioners into his cabinet maintaining that it is the sole responsibility of the party to do so because, many trusted people campaigned with the governor on the field and hence should be rewarded.

"If it were to be Fashola and Co. Company, Governor Raji Fashola would have had the power to choose whoever he wanted to appoint to work with him in his chamber. But contrary is the case when we talk of the appointment of commissioners and special advisers," Tinubu further stated.

http://thewillnigeria.com/politics/7650-OBJ-PDP-Killed-CPCACN-Alliance-Talks-Tinubu-Says-Fashola-Has-Business-Appointing-Commissioners.html

OBVIOUSLY he is 100% right, it is the party that appoint them, or you think it is jonathan that appoints ur MINISTERS? common the party picks them and the Governor appoints them (after screening)

ACN better be careful, this aint 2007 and PDP have gone to re-group, BODE GEORGES RELEASE WAS WELL TIMED. THEY (PDP) ARE REALLY GONNA STORM LAGOS WITH NEARLY AL THERI RESOURCES. HEARD JONATHAN MAY BE MOVING HIS CAMPAIGN TEAM TO LAGOS TOWARDS ELECTION TIME. ACN BETTER KEEP UR GAME UP AND BE @ ALERT BECAUSE SOME MAD  POLITRICKING WILL HAPPEN IN LAGOS  BECASUE PDP WANT IT @ ALL COST

Kirikiri, the relatively quiet town in Lagos State which gives the famous prison its name, woke up last Saturday to a crowd that had turned out to celebrate the release of Olabode George, the former chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, who ended his prison term that day. Over 1,000 George supporters, dressed in ‘uniform' traditional attire popularly called ‘aso ebi' along with elaborate headgear, flocked to the sleepy town.

Stella Onyekwere, a fruit seller, said that there were so many visitors that it was difficult to get through them to her home near the Kirikiri Medium Prison.

"The number of people that came here today, I have not seen it in Kirikiri before," she said. "They were plenty. You see them with different uniforms. See the women with their gele. People full everywhere."

A few residents said that the unprecedented turnout made them afraid.

"Come and see the security people that came to guard him (Mr. George)," said Mrs. Onyekwere. "They were many and they were wearing their black. That black suit is not ordinary o. If you see the kind of guns they arranged inside the suit, you will fear."

According to another Kirikiri resident, who identified himself simply as Samuel, some of the supporters of the released prisoner had been in the neighbourhood since Friday night to beat the restriction of movement due to the Lagos State monthly environmental sanitation.

"In fact, they have been busy since yesterday night; that is when many of them came," he said. "So this morning, they were ready. Many politicians were here. I saw this Alao-Akala (Oyo State governor) and other PDP governors. Even (Goodluck) Jonathan, came here in the night around 3am."

"But seriously, this is not good now," Samuel went on to say. "Somebody that stole billions of naira, they were coming to celebrate him like this, but there are many innocent people inside there (Kirikiri Prisons). If it was a poor man that stole money, they would have left him to die there and they will bury him there. That's why you can't blame people who are doing everything possible to make money."

Hours later, the release of Mr. George from prison was the talk of the town. At each stretch of shops, restaurants, and bars, people were discussing it, either quietly condemning the jamboree or loudly telling how they scrambled to pick the cash that Mr. George threw in the air for his supporters. Posters bearing the image of Mr. George were posted on walls with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) logo and the inscription, ‘The Joseph of our Time.'

While the fanfare was going on, restaurant owners made a killing by doubling food prices. Eno Akpan, who runs a restaurant in the area, said she regretted opening her shop late after the environmental sanitation. She had sent her daughter ahead, who sold plates of rice for N300 instead of the usual N150.

"If I knew it will be like this, I would have prepared everything," she said. "I can even sell a plate for N1,000 and they will buy."

[color=#006600][/color] AND SOME PEOPLE STILLL BELIEVE JONATHAN IS THE SAVIOUR!!!


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5680284-146/kirikiri_gets_the_bode_george_effect.csp

In a bid to boost the profile of his party and subsequently get substantial votes in the presidential election in the South-West, President Goodluck Jonathan has earmarked N2.9billion as part of strategies to regain control of the zone. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) late last year lost the zone to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which today controls three states to PDP’s two. The labour party controls one.

Empowered Newswire, an online news agency reports that the take-over bid, code-named “South-West Project” for which the first instalment of N500m has been released, has a coordinating team led by Ogun State Governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

To cripple the ACN in the South-West, Jonathan has been advised by the “Southwest Project” team to order the arrest and prosecution of former Lagos State governor and party leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on trumped-up charges. The “Southwest Project” also includes the removal of Justice Ayo Isa Salami, President of the Federal Court of Appeal, before the April polls to prevent him from presiding over the constitution of election tribunals.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Bello Adoke, is said to have been appointed to head “a sub-committee to get rid of Justice Salami”

The State Security Service (SSS), it was learnt, has been co-opted. Last week, the SSS wrote to MTN requesting what it called “Call Detail Record” of two numbers: 08034004887 and 08033120001, one of which The Compass newspaper said last week is owned by Salami.

Members of the committee in charge of the “Southwest Project,” it was gathered, include Chief Kenny Martins, the former coordinator of the Police Equipment Foundation; former Lagos State Deputy Governor Femi Pedro, Senator Iyiola Omisore, one of Jonathan’s Senior Special Assistants, and a flamboyant owner of a broadcast medium.

Reliable sources at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, told Empowered Newswire that, at a meeting last week at the Villa, it was decided that Osun and Ekiti States’ PDP leaders should petition the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the President on the appeal cases, which were resolved by the Appeal Court in favour of the ACN candidates, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Mr. Rauf Aregbesola respectively last October and December.

Before the petitions were written, state security officials had reportedly been mandated to obtain phone records of Justice Salami and the lawyers involved in the cases. The details were included in the petitions submitted by the Osun and Ekiti States’ PDP leaders last week.

Sources further told Empowered Newswire that Senator Iyiola Omisore who is said to be supportive of the plan got the acting chairman of the Osun State PDP, Mr. Sunday Ojo-Williams, to send a petition to the NJC. While Ojo-Williams sent his own petition to the NJC, Oni sent his to the President.

Sources said that Governor Daniel, Oni and Omisore are the ring leaders of the team that convinced Jonathan on the need to cripple the ACN so that votes from the South West can “counterbalance” the bloc votes that either the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari or the ACN candidate, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, might get from the North-West

In line with the task to ensure that Justice Salami leaves the Appeal Court before April, members of the “Southwest Project” Team in Lagos have recruited a man who is popularly called “Bishop” to set-up a non-governmental organization (NGO). The NGO is expected to begin a “civil society-driven campaign” to force Justice Salami to resign his job based on the allegations levelled against him by Osun and Ekiti PDP. The Bishop, it was learnt, is to be paid N25 million, as first instalment, to set-up the NGO in Lagos.

A source at the Villa said one of the consultants to the team raised the poser as to what should be the appropriate response to some of the issues that will be raised by the “politically-savvy people of the South-West” on the allegations of “compromise” against Justice Salami when it is compared with the “buried case” of Justice Thomas Naron, the Chairman of the first Osun State Elections Petitions Tribunal.

The News Magazine had accused Naron of exchanging text messages with one of PDP’s lawyers, Mr Kunle Kalejaiye (SAN) and thus compromising himself in the process.

The “Southwest project” team also decided that friendly Newspapers in the Southwest should be cultivated for favourable stories and governor Daniel was saddled with this responsibility.

Part of the plan is to ensure that while Salami is “kicked out of office,” Justice Katsina-Alu, who is “trusted,” should be made to stay in office beyond his date of retirement, which going by the date of birth on his payroll record is May 28, 2011. The idea is to ensure that he surprises the “process of consolidating PDP victory at their polls.

When the controversy of Justice Katsina-Alu’s exit date became public knowledge last week, the Supreme Court rose in his defence, saying that he was now born on August 28, 1931 and so would retire on August 31, this year when he turns 70. This is to ensure that he “supervises” the process of “consolidating PDP’s victory at the polls” between now and the few months after the April elections.

It was further learnt that as the battle for April elections rages, Jonathan has been convinced by the Southwest project team that he has to adopt “do-or-die” method of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, given the formidable opposition he faces all over the country, particularly in the North and Southwest.

Convinced that this move is important, Jonathan, it was learnt, has ordered “a massive influx of money, men and materials into the Southwest.” The President, sources close to his campaign said, intends to relocate to Lagos to “direct affairs and take charge” as we move close to the elections.

It is not clear if the MTN has obliged the SSS with the information it requested for in its letter of last week.

Sources said the SSS, among others, requested for current GPS coordinates of subscribers, the CDPS of the respective GSM numbers and names and addresses registered with the respective numbers.

The information to be provided by MTN, sources said, must include physical addresses of BTS locations (calling number and called numbers), names as well as addresses of pre-and post-paid lines recorded in the system, with effect from November 10, last year.

For some stupid reason, I fail to understand why some STUPID NIGERIANS think JONATHAN is the change needed in Nigeria, this dude aint even gonna lay a foundation of change.

Reps make defence, economy no-go areas in passed FoI Bill


TRUE to their promise, members of the House of Representatives yesterday passed into law the controversial Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill, which had taken on the toga of the nation’s oldest legal instrument before the National Assembly.

The 34-clause bill, which was unanimously passed by the lawmakers present at the session, was immediately transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.

Its passage was preceded by the clause-by-clause consideration as prepared by the House Committee on Information and Orientation as well as the Committee on Justice.

The planned law is however not open-ended as it excluded access to defence issues, cases under investigation by security agencies, and others classified under “national economic interests.”

According to the committee, the bill seeks to provide a right of access to public information or records kept by governments or public institutions or private bodies carrying out public functions for citizens and non-citizens of the country.”

The Executive arm of government and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) praised the Lower Chamber for doing Nigerians proud by passing the bill into law. They noted that the law would promote public accountability and enhance national development.

Chairman of the Justice Committee, Henry Seriake Dickson, who presented the report for consideration by the House, said the “bill is intended to increase the availability of public records and information to citizens of the country in order to participate more effectively in the making and administration of laws and policies, and to promote accountability of public affairs.”

Other objectives of the bill include making public information more freely available; providing access to public records and information; protecting public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy; and protecting serving public officers from adverse consequences for disclosing certain kind of official information without authorisation.

The planned law also established procedures for the achievement of these purposes and related ones.

It prescribed a three-year jail term for any officer of government found guilty of falsification or destruction of information.

“It shall be an offence punishable with three years imprisonment for any officer of public institution to destroy, alter, falsify or deliberately misrepresent information kept in his custody,” the bill stated.

The proposed law, however, denied users access to information on defence, international affairs, and matters under investigation by law enforcement agencies.

The bill also excluded public access to information affecting the economic interest of the country.

In Section 15, the bill states that “a public institution may deny an application for information that contains trade secrets, financial, commercial or technical information that belongs to the government and has substantial economic value or is likely to have substantial economic value.”

Also, the Bill made it mandatory for every public institution to publish certain information concerning its operation even without request by anybody.

Section (3)(3) of the bill declared that “a public institution shall cause to be published the following information:

• A description of the organisation and responsibilities of the institution including details of the programmes and functions of each division, branch and departments;

• list of all classes of records under the control of the institution in sufficient detail to facilitate the exercise of the right to information under this Act;

• a list of all manuals used by employees of the institution in administering or carrying out any of the programmes or activities of the institution;

• a description of document containing final opinions including concurring and dissenting opinions as well as orders made in the adjudication of cases;

• document containing substantive rules of the institution;, and

• document containing statements and interpretations of policies, which have been adopted by the institution.”

An elated Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) over the lawmakers’ action, praised them for rising to the occasion and acting in the collective interest of Nigeria.

In a statement yesterday, NGE President Gbenga Adefaye, said the group received the news with great joy. He noted that this was the second time within a decade, that the House would respond to “our collective hunger for openness and transparency in the administration of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The FoI law will certainly aid accountability in our public life.

For the Guild, it is remarkable that the leadership of the House of Representatives has kept its words to the Guild, to pass this bill because it agrees that the nation (not just the media) needs it.

“The Guild will like to note also the concurrence of the leadership of the House that a Freedom of Information Law will make legislation easier as nobody in the ministries and the MDAs can withhold information that is needed for public good - whether for legislative purposes or basic information and education of the citizenry by the media.

“The Guild now calls on the Senate to borrow a leaf from the House by passing the bill early enough for presidential assent. We are delighted that the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. Labaran Maku, had during the biennial convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Lagos last month, publicly committed to lobbying for presidential assent of the bill once it is passed by the National Assembly. We expect him to honour his words, once the Senate does its patriotic duty of opening up the system for accountable government.

“While we wait to see the content of the bill as passed by the House, the Guild would like to put the media on notice that a Freedom of Information Law only helps to foster a  more informed and socially responsible press,” he said.

Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. Labran Maku, has commended the House for the passage of the bill.

He told journalists yesterday in Abuja that the passage of the FOI was a plus for Nigerians and the country’s democracy.

“I congratulate the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the entire House for a job well-done. What is happening today is a plus for Nigerians and its democracy. It is my belief that with the passage of this FoI Bill, Nigeria’s democracy has been consolidated as the bill is not for the media alone but for the growth of the country,” Maku said.

He, however, called on the Senate to ensure that the passage of the bill was not delayed in its chamber.

The bill was returned to the legislature in 2007 after former President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to assent to it before he left office that year. It was in the House for almost a year without attention. The bill, described as the oldest legal document before the National Assembly has been in the legislature since 1999 when it was first introduced to the lawmakers as a non-member bill by the Media Rights Agenda (MRA).

In 2008, the House rejected it when at the third reading while in January 2009, most members of the Lower House asked the Speaker Dimeji Bankole to stand down the bill as they vowed to kill it when brought to them again for passage.

That made it the tenth time it suffered a setback in the lower chamber.

The Co-Chairman of the new Joint-Committee on the Freedom of Information Bill, Henry Dickson, had last week assured that it would be passed into law latest today.

Also yesterday, the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji disclosed the Federal Government had disengaged from power  generation



FIne  we accept for defence, but for the ECONOMY, Hell no

lool!!!would you blame him, blame the bloody westtern countris that supply him with ARMS and AMMUITIONS!!, was just watching sky news and an activist came on the say that the WEST have been trainning Gaddafis army, police and other security forces, they supply nearly all their military appratus and do business with him.!

How come all of you are just SHOUTING GEJ, everything GEJ, na him sign budget, im sure is guy doesnt even kno of the generators they are buying thats why he delegates authority to other people, and as fr as we know it may have been in last years budget.

Enugu State governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime, yesterday escaped death as, two hours after he flagged-off his campaign, the police confirmed that a bomb was planted at the pavillion he and other top politicians from the state sat.

The state’s police public relations officer (PPRO), Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed this strange find, told Saturday Sun that officers of the anti-bomb squad in the state have removed the bomb, even as the police are carrying out investigations to unravel those behind the act.

The police said the bomb was planted under one of the chairs not far from where Chime sat. As at press time, there was no information as to the calibre of bomb discovred.
Meanwhile, Chime, basking in the euphoria of his victory at an Abuja Federal High Court, which vacated an injunction against his position as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, has vowed to crush all opposition in the April election.

Addressing party faithful yesterday at the Okpara Square during the official flag-off of his campaign the governor urged the people to continue to show their support by voting en masse for the PDP and protecting such votes.

Said he: “Vote for us and leave the opposition to us; we shall take care of them; we shall surely wrestle them to the ground.”
He also advised the people to beware of dangerous rumours from the camps of the opposition, adding: “Be steadfast; the battle is never over until it is over; the people we are dealing with are desperate; they will do anything to get power; they know they can never win any election, so they continue causing mischief and I assure you that nothing whatsoever will make them succeed; I therefore enjoin you to do your bit by voting for the PDP, we know how to deal with opposition.

“Thuggery is a thing of the past; nothing will ever take us back to thuggery; so for anybody planning to use thuggery, for anybody planning to use violence, let him learn from the lessons of Egypt; let him learn from Tunisia; it is not what you want to do but what God wants to happen; so they should wait till 2015 and try their luck, but the way they are going they may not even get anything in 2015.”

Chime expressed gratitude to God for the opportunity and possibility to finally launch his campaign, pointing out that about 36 positions, including 24 House of Assembly seats, three senatorial seats, eight House of Representatives and the governorship position are to be vied for in the state.
He recalled that about a week earlier President Goodluck Jonathan was in Enugu to kick-start his presidential campaign in the zone during which he was given the flag as the governorship candidate.

“I want to say that all our candidates in the state are stars in their own right and apart from the PDP candidates in Enugu all other candidates for the April election are not credible,” he said.

The governor said the reason for the credibility of the PDP candidates is because they were chosen by the people.
“They were not handpicked and the people running against them are on their own; they want to satisfy their urge; come April we expect you to endorse what you have done before,” he said.

To me i feel this is the most useless topic of the day. We forget one fact that a decree was only used in a military government, so what is the purpose of the legislative arm of government in a DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY like NIGERIA. S o please let us use our head before we post rubbish on er. Forget BUHARI OF THEN, times have changed, situations have changed and indeed he tooo needs to change is ideaologys.

useless post

Beaf:
Ask me o!

lol!!!, so its jonathan that doesnt look like a sickler or a drukn fisher man, i dy laugh ohh, THIS IS NOT ABOUT TINUBU, ITS ABOUT RIBADU AND KICKING PDP AWAY FROM GOVERNMENT, nobody holy pass

lol!!!!!, hes stilll a small boi!!, obj is worth much more than that!!

so funny, so wht is jonathan looking for in the southwest?, nothing, he ditched OGD nd now AKALA?

very inetresting topic, realy love learning bout china as its one of my modules for IB, in actuall fact CHINA IS BUYING UP THE WORLD!!.Its good as they are investing but the problem there is that  CHINA KNOWS MORE BOUT AFRICA DAN AFRICA DOES BOUT ITELF NAD AFRICA doesnt JACK SHYT BOUT CHINA, major cause?, decline in educational sector in nigeria, take a subject like economics , commerce being studied in SS1-3, every fucing thing is from the text book, same thing taught 10 yrs ago  is still being taught right now, theres no real life situation being put into practice wen all these things are being taught, Education needs a overhaul in Nigeria



http://www.economist.com/node/17463473

AN Abuja magistrate’s court yesterday struck out the charge of illegal arms shipment preferred against an Iranian, Azim Aghajani and Ali Abbas Jega following the withdrawal of the said charge by the Federal Government.

Government had applied to withdraw the said charge before the magistrate court having filed a fresh charge before the Federal High Court, Lagos Division.

At the resumed hearing, while arguing in favour of his application to withdraw the charge, Prosecutor Moses Idakwo informed the court that he had filed a similar charge at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court.

Idakwo explained that the choice of Lagos for trial was predicated on the convenience of the court to move to the place where the exhibits were for inspection.

Idakwo also applied that two other accused persons, Aliyu Wammako and Mohammed Tukur, be discharged on the ground that the proof of evidence did not directly link them with the commission of the crime. The application was granted and they were accordingly discharged.

Although the application for withdrawal by the prosecution was contested by counsel to the Iranian, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) who argued that it was a ploy to further infringe on the right of the accused persons, Magistrate Hafsat Soso granted same on the reasoning that the court could not compel the prosecution to sustain a charge against its will.

But upon adjournment, the hope of Aghajani and Jega to breathe the air of freedom was cut short as they were re-arrested by men of the State Security Service as they stepped out of the cour

In as much as im happy for jonathan, one of his major succes should be credited to obj, cos if atiku had managed to wiv, phewww, obj would have been in big troubleee

steroid:
I am so excited. Go GEJ

dnt call yet, its nt over until its over