Northern political leaders were, yesterday, rallying round Major General Muhammadu Buhari the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, with the prospect of lifting his fortunes during the weekend presidential election.
Among the leaders who met Buhari in Abuja were two former heads of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar as well as erstwhile Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
Following the meeting, it also emerged last night that President Goodluck Jonathan, who is PDP’s candidate, was also scheduled to meet with Gen. Babangida today. It couldn’t be confirmed if Gen. Abdulsalami would be present at the meeting.
The meeting of the three heads of state in Abuja came on the heels of continuing secrecy in talks between CPC and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, on an alliance against the ruling PDP in the presidential poll.
Prospects of the alliance
PDP’s acting National Chairman, Dr. Haliru Bello, on his part dismissed prospects of the opposition alliance asserting that the PDP would, according to tradition, defeat whatever alliance was forged by the opposition.
Buhari’s spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, reacting to the development told Vanguard that the meeting with the top leaders meant that “Buhari was not alone on the issue of changing the PDP government.” The meeting was also confirmed by a top aide of Atiku Abubakar who preferred to remain anonymous because of the unusual secrecy that shrouded it.
Meanwhile, the CPC was, yesterday, brushing aside assertions of its under-performance in the National Assembly elections in the Northwest which is regarded as a stronghold of the erstwhile military ruler.
The three former military heads of state met with Buhari in Abuja, yesterday, supposedly under the auspices of the Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF. A source privy to the meeting told Vanguard that no definite decision had been taken.
Contacted on the development, NPLF leader, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, who was said to have been absent at the meeting he simply said: “Go and ask those holding meetings.”
Odumakin while reacting to Vanguard enquiry on the development said that Buhari had not deviated from his stance that he is a national candidate and not a sectional candidate.
Buhari not alone
He told Vanguard on telephone: “This is a good development and it means that we are not alone and Buhari has always said that he would continue to keep his doors open to all so that we can kick out the misrule of the PDP.”
Asked if the under-performance of the CPC was demoralizing, he said: “Last Saturday’s election was not about the brand Buhari but we all know the scientific rigging methodology employed by the PDP during that election but I can assure you that we are using our own manual to block them.”
Meanwhile, there were indications that the CPC and the leadership of NPLF, have been in crucial talks culminating in the establishment of teams to visit some states of the North West geo-political zone described as critical to the success of the CPC.
Specifically, the CPC and the NPLF have raised teams to visit the North West states of Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kebbi, areas the party was reported to have underperformed during the National Assembly polls.
The teams have already departed the Federal Capital territory, FCT, Abuja for these states.
The urgency of the teams was being driven by the hope of the CPC to be the leading partner in a possible alliance talk between it and the ACN in the coming presidential election.
The prospect of an alliance between both parties was as at press time being shrouded in secrecy as party sources privy to the talks preferred to remain anonymous.
As part of the alliance it was learnt that both parties would use the outcome of the elections into the House of Representatives to weigh themselves in the alliance.
Acting National Chairman of the PDP was, however, dismissive of the effects of such an alliance on his party yesterday.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Dr. Bello said: “On the issue of ganging up, this is not the first time, it has been tried in 2007, it didn’t work, tried at the beginning of these elections, it didn’t work. The choice of leaders of this country is vested on the people of this country and the people of this country have shown over and over again that PDP is the party of choice, no amount of gang up will stop PDP.
“However, PDP has a policy of all inclusiveness, in 2007 when we won, we were working with some parties in a government of national unity, this time around too, our doors are opened to all parties who want to cooperate with us to move this country forward and we will be available to any party that shares our aspirations of free and fair elections, national unity and moving the country forward economically and there are many parties like that.”
Chances of PDP
Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, PCC Mallam Abba Dabo in a press statement equally expressed optimism in the chances of the PDP in the forthcoming election. He said that the sweeping victory of the PDP across the country was indicative of what
Buhari, Ribadu in fresh move to stop Jonathan
Opposition parties were meeting last night in Abuja to forge a way of stopping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after its good outing in the National Assembly elections last Saturday.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) are weighing two major options, according to sources.
As at last night, the PDP had won 59 of the 87 Senate seats.
The ACN got 13 seats, the CPC six, The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) five, the Labour Party (LP) three and the All Progressives Ground Alliance (APGA) one.
The options are: whether to go it alone or form an alliance.
The PDP’s presidential candidate for the April 16 election is President Goodluck Jonathan. ACN is fielding Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. ANPP has Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau.
The popular thinking is that the PDP can be stopped, should the parties join forces.
Besides, it is thought that the scenario may change from last Saturday’s since people will be voting mainly for individuals not parties on Saturday.
But PDP chairman Bello Mohammed said the party was not scared because “They tried in 2007; it didn’t work”.
Dr. Goodluck has launched a last-minute outreach to key northern groups and Gen. Buhari met with the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF).
“All parties and candidates have gone back to the drawing board. The results of the National Assembly elections have shown the gaps to be filled by the parties,” a source said yesterday.
The source, who pleaded for anonymity, said: “Discussions and consultations are targeting the North because of the huge number of votes from the region.”
Buhari met with NPLF leaders and the G-3 caucus in Wuse II, Abuja.
Those regarded as the G-3 are ex-military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Aliyu Gusau.
A source close to the meeting said: “The session was not unconnected with critical support which Buhari is seeking for the April 16 presidential poll.
“It is not a strange development because President Goodluck Jonathan has been talking with the same group. And the talks may resume any moment from now.
“But I learnt that Buhari’s talks with the NPLF and G-3 leaders were
inconclusive.”
Buhari spokesman Yinka Odumakin said he was aware that “my principal has been attending a series of meetings”.
“It is a good thing that many Nigerians see Buhari as the man to dialogue with and support for the presidency on Saturday,” Odumakin said.
As at press time, there were indications that President Jonathan may meet with more than six northern groups and leaders, including the NPLF and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), which is regarded as the voice of the North.
A source in Jonathan’s camp said the talks may hold in the next two days.
He said: “It is true that we are reaching out to all the groups in the North, including the NPLF and the ACF. The consultations are necessary to instill confidence in them that they have nothing to fear as far as Jonathan’s presidency is concerned.
“This countdown outreach is part of steps to consolidate the PDP’s gains during the National Assembly elections.
“The President’s attitude is that every group should be carried along because, if he is elected, he will be Nigeria’s leader, not an ethnic leader.
“The only areas of disagreement between the President and the North border on power shift in 2015 and signing of an undertaking that he will live up to his pledges.”
Nigerians show up to vote despite violence, delays
LAGOS, (AFP) - Nigerians turned out to vote at the start of a crucial election period Saturday, shaking off fears of violence to cast their ballots after a deadly bomb blast and other attacks.
Parliamentary polls finally went ahead after two earlier postponements and despite violence that included a bomb attack on an electoral office Friday night which officials said killed 13 people and wounded dozens more.
Another explosion occurred at a polling place in the northeastern city of Maiduguri on Saturday, but authorities have not officially confirmed any deaths in connection with the incident.
The attacks and repeated postponements have marred efforts to organise a credible ballot in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, after years of violent and deeply flawed polls.
However, many who showed up at polling stations Saturday said they were determined to see change. Polls opened at or near the scheduled start time in many areas, in stark contrast to the week before when organisational chaos led officials to pull the plug at around midday.
The legislative election was postponed in Suleija, the area near the capital Abuja hit by Friday's bomb blast in an attack President Goodluck Jonathan called "heinous".
No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, which occurred as electoral workers, including members of the national youth service corps, made final preparations.
Despite the bomb blast and other violence, there appeared to be a strong willingness across the country to cast ballots in the parliamentary poll, the first of three landmark elections this month.
From the economic capital Lagos, a city of some 15 million people in the southwest, to the country's second-largest city of Kano in the north, voters said they turned out because they saw this year's election as an opportunity to break with the past.
They stood in line at polling stations set up on the side of the street on plastic tables, waiting under a scorching sun.
"I have voted a few times, but I have never seen as much voter turnout as this time," said Usman Shehu, a 35-year-old banker among a huge crowd seeking to vote at a polling place in a densely populated area of Kano.
In Lagos, where voting passed relatively smoothly in many areas, Comfort Ejiogu, a 50-year-old businesswoman, said, "I believe my vote will count this time."
As counting began at a Lagos polling station, crowds gathered to watch, recording the process with mobile phones, singing and dancing when it appeared their candidate was doing well and shouting at results they did not like.
Jonathan's voting station in his home state of Bayelsa in the oil-producing Niger Delta region was among those that did not function a week ago, but on Saturday it opened about 90 minutes after the scheduled start time.
Before voting there, Jonathan said that "there are some anti-social elements that want to derail the process of voting, but they will not succeed."
The effect that the postponements and blasts would have on final turnout was not yet clear. Electoral chief Attahiru Jega estimated turnout could be between 75 and 85 percent, though official figures were not yet available.
Security was tight, with traffic restricted, land borders shut and the military on patrol.
Army checkpoints were set up, with soldiers stopping cars without proper accreditation.
At least three violent incidents occurred in Nigeria's northeast, including Saturday's explosion.
An official from the ruling party in Borno state was also shot dead by unknown gunmen, police said, while four others were killed in an attack on a police station storing vote materials on Friday.
A number of incidents were also reported in the Niger Delta -- notorious for election fraud and violence in the past -- including the hijacking of vote materials and personnel in one troubled area of Bayelsa state, an electoral official said.
The presidential election is set for April 16, with Jonathan the favourite and his main challenger seen as ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. Governorship and state assembly ballots are set for April 26.
Excess crude account hits $6.9bn
The three tiers of government yesterday shared N424billion of the N615.06 billion earned in March, Minister of State for Finance Hajiya Yabawa Wabi said.
Besides, the Director of Funds in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Babayo Shehu, said the balance in the Excess Crude Account has risen to $6.9 billion.
Addressing journalists at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting in Abuja, Wabi said a breakdown of the amount shared indicated that N168.84 billion or 52.68 per cent went to the Federal Government; the states got N85.63billion, representing 26.72 per cent and the 774 local governments got N66.02 billion or 20.6 per cent.
She said N7.50 billion was proposed to augment the shortfall in distributable revenue to the three tiers, which also shared proceeds from the N59.14 billion Value Added Tax (VAT). The Federal Government got N8.872 billion or 15 per cent, states N29.572 billion or 50 per cent and local governments shared N20.7 billion or 35 per cent. ,
The minister said the N615.06 billion earned represented a decrease of N106.6 billion from the N721.68 billion generated in February.
The decrease in gross revenue was attributed to reduced crude oil production and export as a result of the maintenance work at 3Edom Platoform at Qua-Iboe and Amenam Terminal, pipeline sabotage at Brass terminal and multiple attacks on the 28-inch Niger pipeline .
In March, the minister said no exchange gain was recorded because the prevailing exchange rate of N149.71 per dollar was lower than the N150 to the dollar, which was initially set as the benchmark.
Meanwhile, the balance in the Excess Crude Account has swollen to $6.9 billion. The last time anything was said about the account was last year when it had depleted to $300 million.
The Director of Funds in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation noted that $1 billion was transferred into the foreign excess crude account while N70 billion was moved into the domestic excess crude account.
He, however, failed to disclose the balance in the domestic excess crude account.
Ouattara lawyers want Gbagbo neutralised
ABIDJAN, (AFP) - Lawyers for Ivorian president-in-waiting Alassane Ouattara demanded Sunday that the UN and France "neutralise" forces loyal to his rival Laurent Gbagbo and bring the strongman to justice."We call upon the impartial forces from UNOCI, with the support of the French Licorne troops, to eliminate with no further delay the heavy weapons, neutralise the militiamen on Gbagbo's payroll ... and to bring to justice the defeated (presidential) candidate," the French lawyers said.
The statement, issued in Paris, described Gbagbo loyalists as "an illegal occupation force" as fighters backing the two rival claimants to the presidency battle it out in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan.
Meanwhile scores of people living near the luxury lagoon-front Golf Hotel where Ouattara has been sheltering for more than four months fled after it came under attack on Saturday, apparently by Gbagbo loyalists, residents said.
The UN mission in Ivory Coast (UNOCI), Ouattara's camp and witnesses said the attack was carried out by fighters for Gbagbo, who has refused to step down since elections in November which the UN-backed election commission said were won by Ouattara.
Gbagbo's side however denied there had been an attack, after hotel occupants reported close gunfire and UNOCI said its peacekeepers had responded to mortar fire.
"It was terrible," one resident said. "If you had heard that (the attack), you would not have stayed here. Since that ended, people started packing their bags. They are leaving with all their things."
The attack was the first on the hotel since the start of the political crisis, although it has been under siege from the pro-Gbagbo Defence and Security Forces (FDS).
"The FDS are attacking us and we are trying to push them back," a fighter with the pro-Ouattara forces said Saturday.
But Gbagbo spokesman Ahoua Don Mello told AFP: "It's absolutely false. There has been no attack on the Golf (hotel). It's an imaginary attack."
Though outgunned, Gbagbo loyalists are putting up stiff resistance and have even regained some lost positions.
Ouattara's forces had on Wednesday tried to storm Gbagbo's residence in a bid to bring a final end to the dragging dispute, which has left hundreds of people dead amid allegations of massacres and sent tens of thousands fleeing their homes.
They had to turn back, however, unable to extract the strongman who has run Ivory Coast for more than 10 years from his bunker.
The lawyers' appeal, which was cleared with Ouattara, was in line with "the spirit and the letter" of UN Security Council Resolution 1975 adopted last month, they said.
The resolution calls for necessary measures to protect civilians and prevent the use of heavy weapons against civilian populations.
"It is urgent. The survival of Abidjan's people is threatened; Alassane Ouattara's physical security and that of his government are at stake," the lawyers said.
"Inaction encourages violence," they said, adding: "Hesitation protects and strengthens ... the usurper and his system."
Ouattara was meanwhile under increasing pressure over allegations that his forces had committed atrocities in the west of the country as they advanced on Abidjan late last month.
Human Rights Watch said they had killed or raped hundreds of people and burned villages, citing new evidence of summary killings of Gbagbo supporters in the far west.
The crippling dispute in the world's top cocoa producer has hit food supplies and sanitation amid cuts in water and power, with UN agencies warning of the threat of mass outbreaks of disease including a resurgence of cholera in Abidjan.
Ivory Coast at a glance
ABIDJAN, (AFP) - Key facts about the west African state of Ivory Coast, which is in the throes of a civil war sparked by a disputed presidential election:- GEOGRAPHY: The Republic of Ivory Coast, a west African country on the Atlantic Ocean, borders on Ghana, Liberia, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. It covers an area of 332,453 square kilometres (132,900 square miles).
- POPULATION: 21.1 million in 2009 (World Bank). Some 26 percent of the population is made up of regional immigrants, according to the 1998 census.
- CAPITAL: Yamoussoukro (population 150,000). However most government offices remain in the commercial capital Abidjan.
- LANGUAGE: French is the official language. Indigenous languages include Dioula, Baoule and Bete.
- RELIGION: Muslim (40 percent); Christian, mainly Catholic (40 percent); animist.
- HISTORY: Ivory Coast gained independence from France in 1960 under Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who ruled until his death in December 1993. During the years of stability the country confirmed its status as the world's leading cocoa producer.
Elections held on October 22, 1995, were marred by the worst violence since independence.
In December 1999 the army took power in a coup. Less than a year later it was obliged to hand over to civilians after an election that was widely perceived as having been rigged. Laurent Gbagbo, a left-leaning opponent of Houphouet-Boigny, was declared the winner.
Another key protagonist, Alassane Ouattara, had been excluded from running in the 2000 election despite the fact that he was a former prime minister.
In September 2002 a military uprising in the mainly Muslim north, where support for Ouattara is strong, led to the country being effectively cut in two.
In November 2010 a long-delayed presidential election took place across the whole country, with Ouattara and Gbagbo the main contenders.
International observers confirmed that Ouattara had won, but Gbagbo refused to relinquish power, alleging fraud.
- ECONOMY: Ivory Coast is the world's leading cocoa producer. It also produces cashew nuts, coffee, bananas, pineapples, cotton, timber and rubber. Around six million citizens live directly or indirectly from cocoa.
- GDP: 1,093 dollars per capita (World Bank, 2009).
- FOREIGN DEBT: In 2009 Ivory Coast qualified as one of the IMF and World Bank's Highly Indebted Poor Countries, which entitles it to a considerable reduction in its foreign debt.
- UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING FORCE (UNOCI): present since April 2004, the force currently comprises around 10,000 soldiers. It is backed by a 1,650-strong French
force.
Lamido: Northerners Have Voted against Sectionalism
12 Apr 2011
Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State
With the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) virtually sweeping the Nation-al Assembly polls in the North-western party of Nigeria, Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State Monday described the development as “a rejection of sectional calls, the manipulation of Northern sentiments and emotions and a vote for national stability”.
But the ripples over the elections continued in many parts of the country Monday, with the result of the controversial Anambra Central Senatorial District finally called in favour of Dr. Chris Ngige of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) after initial reports that it had been cancelled.
The Returning Officer for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Alex Anene, emerged at Tourist Garden, Awka, Monday night and declared that Ngige scored 68,208 votes and to beat Prof. Dora Akunyili of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) who scored 68,164.
Anene said no election was cancelled because he had all the EC8 forms for the cancellation, maintaining that no one else could claim to have cancelled the result of any ward or unit. He then declared Ngige winner and disappeared.
Also, the PDP has attained the simple majority figure in the Senate with the results announced so far and is inching towards simple majority in the House of Representatives as well.
Lamido, speaking in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, while presenting the winners of the elections to the people, said that there was massive propaganda that he should be punished and embarrassed at the polls for refusing to toe what was presented as a Northern line in the PDP Primaries last January.
“But as God would have it because I am his creature, the people of Jigawa believed me that I had done nothing to embarrass my religion or harm the interest of the North,” he said.
Lamido had been derisively called “Bishop Lamido” after the PDP presidential primary in January for supporting a Christian (Jonathan) while the PDP has been reportedly presented in the largely Muslim North-west as a “Christian party” in a bid allegedly designed to whip up religious sympathy for the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
“The will of God has prevailed and all the propaganda that I was stoned here and there or that I sacked an Imam have come to nothing,” he said, adding that it was a matter of duty for him to thank the entire people of Jigawa State for their political education, maturity and sophistication, for ignoring the sentiments and blackmail and standing by him on his position on zoning which he said was misconstrued to stand in the way of religious, ethnic and regional interests of the North.
According to the governor, there must be no culture of hate because last Saturday’s elections had already proved wrong the assumption that the core north is anti-PDP.
“What else can anyone say when Sokoto which is the home of Usman Dan Fodio, Kebbi the home of Abdullahi Fodio, Kano, Borno, Adamawa and other principalities which are the epitome of Islamic values have all gone the way of the PDP?”
On his statement in September last year that no matter what, the PDP would win the election, the governor maintained he had been vindicated, adding that there had been tremendous efforts at internal healing within the PDP in the last few weeks and that the party is on the threshold of unleashing a new phenomenon of leadership in the country.
Lamido, who did not elaborate on this, however, noted that the PDP was on a rebound because, according to him, no matter how pained, “people like Ibrahim Babangida, Atiku Abubakar and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau are constrained by their former positions to remain in the PDP”.
With 91 results officially announced, PDP has won 59 and is now past the 55 required for simple majority in the Senate. There are 109 seats in the Upper Chamber.
The ruling party has also won 140 out of 263 seats so far declared in the House of Representatives where a figure of 181 is needed to attain simple majority. There are 360 seats in the Lower Chamber.
Rescheduled National Assembly elections will hold on April 26 alongside those of governorship and House of Assembly.
In Awka, INEC initially said it was going to conduct a rerun election in eight wards in three local council areas of the Anambra Central Senatorial district following the “stalemate” that greeted last Saturday’s National Assembly election in the area. The date for the rerun, was however, not given by the commission.
Resident Electoral Commis-sioner (REC) in Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, said in a press briefing at the commission‘s office at Awka that the commission had to appoint one Prof. Charles Okechukwu Esimone, as the new senatorial Returning Officer (RO) for the district following the absconding of Anene who had to abandon the announcement of the result on Sunday, citing acts and pressures inimical to his good conscience and the insistence by agents of the ACN that the result should not be announced because of alleged manipulation by the rival APGA.
He had addressed a press conference on Sunday night alleging that he was under pressure with an inducement of N10 million, a duplex and a car by APGA to announce the result in favour of the party, an offer he said he turned down and which has become a source of threat to his life.
Denying the allegation, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Peter Obi, Mr. Mike Udah, said the Anambra State Government did not offer any bribe to any person or attempt in any way to thwart the genuine efforts of INEC to conduct a free, fair, credible and violence-free election in the state.
It noted: “Governor Obi is civil, peaceful, democratic and humble and has never in the course of his political journey so far committed any fraud of any sort, not even when his mandate was brazenly stolen in 2003 by Dr Chris Ngige.”
Ngige, Akunyili, Senator Annie Okonkwo (Accord Party) and Mr. Ogugua Okoye (PDP) were all candidates in the election.
The REC however said Esimone was picked from the pool of returning officers in the commission.
Esimone, who pronounced the inconclusiveness of the election said that out of 608,173 registered voters in the district, ACCORD party scored 19,999; ACN - 65,576; ADC - 1844; ALP - 906; ANPP - 189; APGA - 66,273; CDC - 413; CPC - 1061; CP - 345; NCP - 113; PDP - 18,531 and PPA - 352.
He said the areas where elections were inconclusive included Nri ward 1, Idemmili North, Nkpor, Obosi, Umunachi, Umuoji wards as well as Nimo wards 1 and 3 and Enugwu-ukwu ward 3.
He said that the total number of votes to be contested for in these wards is 19,090 and that given that the margin of winning is far below 19,090 those who were invariably disenfranchised, the commission he said decided to apply section 37 of the electoral manual to say it was inconclusive.
But two of the contestants in the race, Akunyili and Okonkwo reacted differently to INEC decision.
Akunyili said she looked forward to the re-run and would beat Ngige in those wards were elections are yet to be rescheduled.
She referred to the absconding RO, who is a chief accountant at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka as a fake who had to be replaced with a new returning officer.
Okonkwo, on his part, said it would be unfair to go for a re-run in only the eight wards, adding that INEC should cancel the election in Anaocha council area as well as Njikoka and Idemili North and South council areas and conduct elections in all the wards there.
However, the self-styled godfather of Anambra politics and leader of the PDP in the state, Chief Chris Uba, has called for the outright cancellation of the election, saying that the result of the exercise has been overtaken by events. Uba, who spoke to THISDAY in the state capital, Awka, yesterday expressed displeasure with the continued delay by INEC in announcing the result of election and argued that given the prevailing circumstances, nobody was any longer sure anymore if the result was still intact as it were.
He said: “To me, we really do not know what they are doing since last Saturday that the election was conducted; they have not announced the result. People voted and the results were recorded. People voted and we had results. So, what are they doing with the results? They are supposed to tell us what happened to the results because we are interested party in this enterprise.
“We have submitted our petition to INEC but we do not know what is going on. At the Collation Center, they refused to announce the result of the election. They keep telling us one thing or the other. So, we are calling for the outright cancellation of the election in Anambra Central Senatorial district so that we can go back to the field. And I assure you that we shall take over the zone like we did in Anambra North and Anambra South Senatorial districts.”
But the ACN has rejected call for cancellation of results in the district but called for the immediate removal of Onukaogu by the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The party also said that the INEC should not embark on what it called selective cancellation of election results in the district, and instead consider cancelling the entire Anaocha Local Government Area because, according to the party, election did not take place in there.
Briefing reporters in Awka, Ngige also urged Jega to ask Anene to come out of hiding and announce the result in his possession with adequate security provided for him.
“We want to state that the workings of INEC in this state, as far as this election is concerned, is not acceptable to us; the initial concept of Jega was completely breached by the REC in Anambra State,” Ngige said.
In neighbouring Delta State, questions are being raised on the justification of the action of the Returning Officer for Ika North-east Federal constituency in last Saturday’s election, Dr. O. G Avwioro, in refusing to announce the result of the election in the constituency two days after the exercise.
A politician in the area told THISDAY last night on the condition of anonymity, that it was laughable that “Avwioro has found it so convenience for him to release the result of the senatorial election conducted under the same condition in the same constituency and finding it difficult to announce the result of the election into the House of Representatives for theIka North East federal constituency. He is making the electorate to think that he is acting out some scripts and also working towards a possible cancellation of the election.”
Excess Crude Account Rebounds, Hits $6.9bn
By James Emejo
12 Apr 2011
Diezani Alison-Madueke, Petroleum Resources Minister
The Excess Crude Account (ECA), created to provide succour in rainy days, has increased to about $6.9 billion from about $3 billion in December last year.
The Acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Aderemi Ogunsanya, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja Monday at the monthly meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).
Ogunsanya, who was represented at the meeting by the Director of Funds, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Babayo Shehu, also said about N70 billion was transferred to the Domestic Excess Crude Account, while $1 billion was moved into the ECA for March 2011.
Meanwhile, the total revenue amounting to N424.578 billion was yesterday shared among the three tiers of government for March.
The figure showed an increase of N11.322 billion or 2.74 per cent compared with the amount shared last month.
Addressing journalists at the close of the monthly meeting last night, Minister of State for Finance, Yawaba Lawan-Wabi, said gross revenue of N615.061 billion was received for the month.
The amount, however, fell short of the N721.684 billion generated the previous month.
The minister blamed the decrease on the reduced crude oil production and export as a result of maintenance work on Edom Platform at Qua-Iboe, Bonny and Amenam
terminals as well as sabotage at the Brass terminal and the multiple attacks on the 28-inch Trans-Niger Pipeline.
Distributable statutory revenue for the month stood at N357.933 billion, a decrease of N0.124 billion or 0.035 per cent compared to the figure realised in February, this year.
She said N7.501 billion was proposed as augmentation following the shortfall in distributable revenue.
On the new minimum wage for workers, Chairman, Finance Commissioners' Forum, Rebo Usman, commended its approval by the Federal Government, but warned that the current revenue sharing formula must be altered to enable the states to pay it.
He said though the states were under obligation to comply with the new minimum wage package, the people, he argued, must look at the sources of funding compassionately.
According to him, the infrastructure required to support economic activities and generate robust internally generated revenue (IGR) in the states were still lacking.
On the ultimatum given to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to draw up a repayment plan for its N450 billion debt to the federation account, Rebo said the corporation now had up till May to comply, given that it now had a new helmsman who had not fully grasped the issues surrounding the controversial debt.
Ciroma Group, CPC Open Talks on Presidential Poll
By Chuks Okocha
12 Apr 2011
Former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma
Ahead of Saturday’s presidential election, leaders of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) Monday night opened discussion with the presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), with a view to seeking a common ground to work together.
The talk, which began late last night in Abuja, is sequel to the report of a sub-committee put up by the NPFL that evaluated the chances of the presidential candidate of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, and the CPC candidate at Saturday’s election and resolved to align with Buhari, who appear to be stronger in the race.
Although, the outcome of the meeting was not known at press time, THISDAY gathered that the NPFL was led to the discussion by former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma.
According to a member of the group, “our task is to look at the various political scenarios thrown up by last Saturday’s National Assembly elections and decide where to direct the Northern electorate to vote.
“Though last week’s National Assembly elections have come and gone, the presidential election will be based on individuals and not party. We shall be urging our members to vote based on the principle of fairness and equity. This is our position.”
However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said no gang up against its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, will succeed.
The party said the outcome of last Saturday’s National Assembly polls had heralded victory for PDP at the presidential elections, and urged its members to shun violence at the polls or face the full wrath of the law.
Acting National Chairman of PDP, Dr. Mohammed Haliru Bello, told newsmen at a press conference that, “they tried the gang up option in 2007 and it failed. This time around, it will also fail. PDP is a party of choice and no amount of gang up against PDP or Jonathan will succeed.
“Already, there are 45 political parties supporting the PDP and Jonathan. We have 63 political parties and what is the value of 18 political parties, when we have a working alliance with 45 registered political parties. We are not afraid of any political gang up.”
On the implication of the outcome of the last Saturday’s elections, the PDP Acting National Chairman said: “It is a sign of the victory we are expecting at the presidential election.
“To us in the PDP, it is a profound proof of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s promise to Nigerians and the international community of a free, fair and credible election which is a major pillar in reforming the nation’s electoral process.
“This commitment, notwithstanding the president’s candidature in next Saturday’s presidential election, has shown that Mr. President has allowed INEC, under Prof. Attahiru Jega, to carry out its functions without any interference whatsoever,” he said.
He also said the PDP was delighted about the peaceful conduct of the elections and regretted some untoward incidents that took place during the exercise. Bello said the incidents, notwithstanding, the polls were generally adjudged as a watershed in the electoral history of the country.
On the upset suffered by the party in some states, he said: “Our advice is that those affected should accept it gallantly and in the words of the United States Ambassador Johnnie Carson, they should emulate the Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole and the former governor of Osun State Olagunsoye Oyinlola and congratulate the winners”.
Condemning the spate of violence in last Saturday’s elections, he said: “This unfortunate incident is worrisome and capable of sending negative signal about the security and safety of lives and property thereby affecting full voter confidence in the coming elections.
“We hereby call on security agencies to immediately rise to the occasion and apprehend those behind the dastardly act, as our party is ready to give its full support and cooperation in rooting out political violence, banditry and hooliganism in the nation’s body politic in line with the corporate objectives of the PDP.”
Gbagbo Captured, Hands over to Ouattara
By Paul Obi
12 Apr 2011
Former President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire
After four months of tenacious hold on power, renegade President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire was captured in a bunker at his residence by rebel fighters with the aid of French soldiers Monday, ending a conflict with winner of last November’s presidential polls, Mr. Allasane Ouattara.
He was interrogated and brought to the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara has been trying to run his presidency since the November 28 vote.
He later handed over to his rival and called for an end to fighting in Cote d’Ivoire.
"I want us to lay down arms and to enter the civilian part of the crisis, which should be completed rapidly for life in the country to resume," Gbagbo said on Ouattara's TCI channel shortly after his capture.
Gbagbo's dramatic arrest came after days of heavy fighting during which French and UN helicopters fired rockets at his presidential residence.
Forces backing the internationally recognised winner Ouattara had begun a rapid offensive to oust Gbagbo late last month.
Issard Soumahro, a pro-Ouattara fighter at the scene, told The Associated Press (AP) that the ground offensive to seize Gbagbo began after the French launched air strikes until at least 3am yesterday.
"We attacked and forced in a part of the bunker. He was there with his wife and his son. He wasn't hurt, but he was tired and his cheek was swollen from where a soldier had slapped him," Soumahro said.
Television footage showed Gbagbo emerging from his bunker in a white sleeveless undershirt, and then donning a colourful print shirt.
Officials are now waiting for him to sign a document that formally hands power over to Ouattara, Soumahro said.
"The nightmare is over for the people of Cote d’ Ivoire," the country’s UN ambassador said.
Youssoufou Bamba, who was appointed UN ambassador by Ouattara, said Gbagbo would face justice. He predicted that fighting that had wracked this former French colony would stop as soon as all of the pro-Gbagbo forces learnt of his capture.
It will be very difficult for Cote d’ Ivoire to mount a domestic court to try Gbagbo, said Richard Downie, an Africa expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, adding that it would "probably be a lightning rod for more unrest".
"[Ouattara] didn't want to come to power this way, though the barrel of a gun," Downie said. "He was elected fairly and freely. But this is the situation he was dealt. It's going to be incredibly difficult for him to bring the country together."
Ouattara's ambassador to France, Ali Coulibaly, told France-Info radio: "It's a victory... considering all the evil that Laurent Gbagbo inflicted on Cote d’ Ivoire."
He emphasised that Gbagbo would be "treated with humanity".
Meanwhile, United States’ President Barack Obama's spokesman has said the White House is glad to see the arrest of the Cote d’Ivoire’s former president.
Press secretary Jay Carney said the US believes Gbagbo is no longer the legitimate leader of his country. Carney said the US had been involved in the international effort to see Gbagbo removed from power.
A top UN human rights official said Cote d’ Ivoire faces a security vacuum and dwindling humanitarian services after Gbagbo's surrender, with most police posts abandoned, Miami Herald has reported.
Assistant Secretary-General for the U.N. High Commisioner for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic told reporters that teams from his office had seen the bodies of around 400 people even before the wave of weekend violence that culminated in Gbagbo's Monday arrest.
Simonoveic said the country suffers from looting, rape and murder, as well as dwindling supplies of food, water and medicine.
"The nightmare is over," Ouattara's prime minister, former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, said on the victorious camp's television channel, calling for any forces still loyal to Gbagbo to change sides.
"There can be no witch hunts, join the Republican Forces," Soro said.
"After fierce fighting, surrounded and defeated, Gbagbo and his wife Simone Gbagbo have just surrendered and are now under arrest," he added, calling on Ivoiriens to remain calm, saying a lawless Abidjan would soon be secured.
The network showed footage of Gbagbo inside a room in the Golf Hotel along with several senior aides, wearing a vest, wiping himself down with a towel and then changing shirts. He appeared visibly tired but otherwise unharmed.
Ouattara spokeswoman Anne Ouloto told AFP the former first couple had been brought to the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara's camp was for months besieged by Gbagbo's forces, at around 1:00 pm (1300 GMT), shortly after the arrest.
Gas Supply: Shell Awards Pipeline Contract
12 Apr 2011
Managing Director of SPDC, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria Limited has signed a contract with Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited for a pipeline system that will gather associated gas currently being flared, for use in the domestic gas market.
Speaking on the contract, the Managing Director of SPDC, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu said in a statement Monday that the oil giant would continue to invest on projects that would reduce flares and boost gas supply to the domestic market, if there is adequate security and funding. Under the contract, which will cost $101million, some 30million standard cubic of gas per day (MMscf/d) from Otumara and Saghara fields in Western Niger Delta will be gathered, processed and channeled through the Escravos - Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS).
According to the statement, the 42-km pipeline is of various sizes ranging from 2” to 12” passing through a swampy terrain with a major river crossing.
“This is an extremely important project for SPDC in terms of our commitment to ending routine gas flaring, and consolidating our leadership position in the domestic gas market”, Sunmonu said.
In his remark, the Deputy Managing Director Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited, Mr. Davide Rossi, stated that his company was committed to executing the contract job and ensure timely delivery of the project.
SPDC Joint Venture had awarded a contract for engineering, procurement and construction of the gas compression and processing plant to Daewoo Nigeria Ltd in October last year, and this work is in progress.
The joint venture has already invested some $3billion in Associated Gas Gathering (AGG) facilities which helped reduce flaring significantly between 2002 and 2010. However, militant activities and inadequate funding brought many projects to a halt. But with the return of peace in the Niger Delta, the Joint Venture is now investing more than $2billion in completing these projects, repairing damaged equipment and building new AGG facilities.
When complete, these projects will extend AGG coverage to more than 90per cent of the associated gas produced in the Joint Venture operations. The remaining 10per cent will be covered by Nigerian investors that would collect associated gas from flare sites for small-scale local projects.
N12bn Pension Scam: Court Orders Arrest of 2 Suspects
By Tobi Soniyi
12 Apr 2011
Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, CJN
A Federal High Court in Abuja Monday ordered the arrest of two suspects, Aliyu Bello and Abdullahi Omeiza, charged with 30 other suspects for allegedly defrauding the Pension Office of the Head of Service of the Federation of Nigeria to the tune of N12 billion.
The suspects’ arraignment, which should have commenced yesterday could not because of the absence of the two suspects mentioned above.
At the beginning of the trial, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Prosecutor, Chief Godwin Obla drew the attention of the court to the fact that two of the suspects were not in court.
Obla consequently asked the court to issue a bench warrant to compel the attendance of the missing suspects.
He said the suspects were granted administrative bail by the EFCC but had refused to come and take their pleas.
Obla brought an application pursuant to section 351 of the Criminal Procedure Act, and prayed the court to issue a bench warrant to compel the appearance of the two accused persons, to start their trial.
Justice Adamu Bello agreed with him and issued a bench warrant against the two accused persons. The judge then directed the accused persons, who were in court to go back home and come back May 9, to take their plea.
In all, seven persons and 25 companies were charged with various offences including obtaining by false pretence, conspiracy, inducement, abuse of office, and theft, among others. They were slammed with 136 count charges.
Among the accused are the former Director of the Pension Office and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Kogi State, Dr. Sani Teidi Shuaibu; his former deputy, Mrs. Phiana Chidi and a personal assistant to Shuaibu, one Aliu Bello.
Leftist Humala Likely to Face Fujimori in Peru
12 Apr 2011
Presidential candidate, Ollanta Humala speaks to supporters in Lima
REUTERS
Left-wing former army officer, Ollanta Humala won the first round of Peru's presidential election and will likely face Keiko Fujimori, daughter of a jailed ex-president, in a June 5 run-off, official results showed on Monday.
According to Reuters, Humala has softened his anti-capitalist rhetoric, vowing gradual steps to help millions of poor Peruvians left behind by a decade-long boom in one of the world's fastest-growing economies. But his populist rhetoric still rattles investors who fear he will roll back free-market reforms.
Peruvian stocks were down 3 percent on doubts Fujimori, a centre-right populist favoured by big business, can defeat Humala in June and worries he will tap mining company profits. Peru's sol currency only weakened slightly.
With 80 percent of Sunday's ballots counted, officials said Humala had 30.5 percent of the vote, with Fujimori in second place with 23.1 percent.
Former Wall Street banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski trailed Fujimori with 20.1 percent, setting the stage for a polarizing run-off between two candidates with high rejection ratings.
"Ollanta is the most dangerous, but Keiko also has her issues," Kuczynski told reporters.
Peruvians who voted for Kuczynski and other moderate candidates will find it hard to pick between Humala, who has tried to shed his hardline image since narrowly losing the 2006 race, and Fujimori, whose father Alberto Fujimori was imprisoned for corruption and human rights stemming from his crackdown on guerrilla fighters in the 1990s.
Humala led a short revolt in 2000 to demand the elder Fujimori resign and was later pardoned by Congress.
Fujimori, 35, served as her father's first lady and many voters shun her because of his authoritarian rule, even though he is credited for free-market reforms that laid the foundation for Peru's economic surge. Annual growth is now running at 9.0 percent.
She has vowed to keep the country's energy- and minerals- exporting economy expanding at a rate of 7.0 percent, reducing business costs and red-tape to promote investment.
Like Humala, however, she has vowed to raise taxes on miners' profits to fund welfare programs for the poor. Peru's tax take is only about 15 percent of GDP and both candidates say a stronger state could better fight poverty. Humala also wants to trim the national sales tax for ordinary Peruvians.
Both leaders have strong appeal among the poor and voters with indigenous roots in far-flung provinces. Polls have pointed to a virtual tie between them in a run-off.
UN Council Backs New Courts, Prisons for Pirates
12 Apr 2011
A pirate stands on a rocky outcrop on the Somali coast
AFP
The UN Security Council on Monday called for the establishment of specialised international courts and prisons and new laws to combat Somali pirates.
The council voted unanimously for a Russian drafted resolution to step up the international battle against the growing threat from piracy off the Somali coast, reports AFP.
The pirates are currently holding dozens of vessels and hundreds of hostages. An international navy is trying to battle the scourge in the Indian Ocean. One of the key elements of the new resolution calls for courts to try pirates in a third country outside of Somalia.
The resolution said the council "decides to urgently consider the establishment of specialised Somali courts to try suspected pirates both in Somalia and in the region, including an extra-territorial Somali specialised anti-piracy court."
Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, called the courts "the first practical step in the direction of setting up an effective judicial mechanism, one capable of a credible reliable solution to the problem of bringing pirates to justice."
France's envoy, Gerard Araud called resolution 1976 "a considerable and concrete" step forward in the battle against piracy off the Somali coast.
The council called on UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon to prepare recommendations on setting up the courts within two months.
Many of the measures in the resolution are based on ideas proposed by Jack Lang, the former French minister who carried out a special study for Ban on new legal means to combat piracy.
Lang had suggested using the international court in Arusha, Tanzania where cases from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda have been heard. He also said there should be special courts in the northern Somali enclaves of Somaliland and Puntland.
Authorities in Somaliland last month inaugurated a UN-funded prison to hold pirates but warned it would not yet accept those detained by foreign powers.
Somali pirates have infested the waters of the Gulf of Aden, southwest of the Arabian Sea, making it one of the world's most dangerous waterways.
According to Ecoterra International, a group which monitors maritime activity in the region, Somali pirates currently hold more than 40 vessels and about 700 seafarers. It says several others vessels, mainly small fishing boats, are missing and believed to have been captured.
Mexican Mass Grave Complex Reveals 88 Bodies
12 Apr 2011
Members of the Civil Society protest the increasing violence in Mexico, in Mexico City
AFP
At least 88 bodies have been found in a complex of mass graves in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas since Thursday, security officials say, likely victims of the country's ongoing drug wars.
The last 16 bodies were uncovered Sunday in four mass graves around the community of San Fernando, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the border with the United States in far north-eastern Mexico, reports AFP.
The graves, the largest concentration ever found in one area in Mexico, were discovered with information obtained from a suspect that soldiers detained one day earlier, according to a military statement.
The Mexican army said the suspect, identified as Armando Morales Uscanga, "gave information for the uncovering of four more hidden mass graves."
Officials on Thursday and Friday said 59 bodies had been unearthed in mass graves around San Fernando. Thirteen more were discovered on Saturday.
According to Morales, several of those killed were travellers aboard two long-distance passenger buses who were kidnapped between March 24 and March 29.
Morales acknowledged "his participation in the assassination and illegal burial of 43 bodies," the military statement said.
At least 15 people have been detained in connection to the mass graves.
In August 2010, officials in San Fernando found the remains of 72 people, mostly Central American migrants, who were slaughtered by criminals.
While authorities have not assigned blame, there is a fierce battle in north-eastern Mexico over control of lucrative drug smuggling routes into the United States between the Zetas -- a ruthless cartel run by former Mexican anti-drug commandos -- and their former employers, the Gulf Cartel.
Seven major drug gangs are operating in Mexico and their bloody clashes with each other and the authorities have left over 34,600 people dead since December 2006.
The country's Human Rights Commission said more than 5,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico, and many are presumed to be victims of the drug war.
President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown against the drug gangs in 2006 but has so far failed to stem the violence.
Ouattara to ‘Investigate Gbagbo’s Actions’
12 Apr 2011
Gbagbo after he was detained (photo attached)
BBC
Cote d’Ivoire’s President, Alassane Ouattara has said that he would be investigating the actions of his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo who surrendered Monday after a military assault on his residence in Abidjan and has been put under UN guard, reports the BBC.
Gbagbo had refused to accept defeat in November's presidential poll.
Speaking hours after the arrest, Ouattara said he had ordered an investigation into Gbagbo's actions.
“Mr Gbagbo, his wife and his ‘collaborators’ would be investigated by the judicial authorities,” he told Ivoirians.
The country had just turned a painful page in its history, he said, but was entering a new era.
He promised to guarantee the personal security of Gbagbo and his family, and urged Ivoirians to "abstain from all reprisals and violence".
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon said the detention of Gbagbo had brought to an end months of unnecessary conflict, and the UN would support the new government.
US President Barack Obama has welcomed Gbagbo's capture and called on armed groups in Cote d’Ivoire to lay down their arms to boost the chances of a democratic future.
He added that victims and survivors of violence in the country deserved accountability for the crimes committed against them.
UN peacekeepers had accused pro-Gbagbo forces of endangering the civilian population and asked France, the former colonial power, to take out the defiant leader's heavy weapons.
There have been allegations of atrocities by both pro-Gbagbo and pro-Ouattara forces. The UN has reports of more than 1,000 people being killed and at least 100,000 fleeing the country.
Cote d’Ivoire's permanent representative to the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, said Gbagbo would stand trial.
In London, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said that if charges were brought, Gbagbo should be tried in an orderly manner.
UN peacekeeping chief, Alain Le Roy said Gbagbo and his wife, Simone were now under UN police guard at the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara has his headquarters.
His son Michel is reportedly also with the couple at the hotel.
Gbagbo was shown on pro-Ouattara TV sitting in a room, looking dazed but apparently uninjured, wearing an open shirt and white vest.
A pro-Ouattara TV channel broadcast a message from the deposed leader in which he called for an end to hostilities.
"I hope that we stop the fighting and get into the civilian part of the crisis, and that we end it quickly so the country can go back to normal," he said.
His downfall came after a day of fighting around his residence which saw French light tanks sweep in after rocket strikes from attack helicopters, while Ouattara loyalists engaged pro-Gbagbo forces.
Issard Soumahro, a pro-Ouattara fighter who said he had taken part in the final assault, told the Associated Press that French helicopters had been firing until 0300 (0300 GMT) on Monday.
"We attacked and forced in a part of the bunker," he said.
"He [Mr Gbagbo] was there with his wife and his son. He wasn't hurt but he was tired and his cheek was swollen from where a soldier had slapped him."
There are conflicting accounts of how Gbagbo finally surrendered.
According to his spokesman in Cote d’Ivoire, Ahoua Don Mello, the beleaguered leader finally "came out of his bunker and surrendered to the French without offering resistance".
A special adviser to Gbagbo, Bernard Houdin, told French TV his leader would never have been taken without French help.
NATO to Continue Libya Air Strikes
12 Apr 2011
Rebel fighters walk amongst destroyed vehicles belonging to fighters loyal to Col Gaddafi
AFP
NATO's chief warned Monday that warplanes will keep pounding Libyan forces as long as civilians are at risk, but he urged a political solution to prevent Libya from becoming a terrorist haven, reports AFP.
"We appreciate all efforts to find a political solution to the problems in Libya, including the African Union initiative," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after a delegation of African heads of state visiting Libya said Tripoli had accepted a peace plan.
"But secondly I would also like to stress that the guiding principle for us will be how to implement the UN Security Council resolution fully, that is to protect the civilians against any attack," Rasmussen told reporters.
"Our operational tempo will be determined by this clear goal to protect civilians against any attack," he said.
Rasmussen also stressed that any ceasefire "must be credible and verifiable."
Noting that Gaddafi has violated previous ceasefires, he said any cessation of hostilities must be "supervised and controlled effectively" to ensure civilians are protected.
It must facilitate political reforms that will satisfy the people's "legitimate demands," he said.
The delegation of African heads of state met Libyan rebel leaders in their stronghold of Benghazi on Monday to try to sell the peace plan.
But the rebels were demanding that any ceasefire should require the withdrawal of government troops from the streets and freedom of expression.
While NATO has no information of any "significant" Al-Qaeda role in Libya, a protracted war could create a safe haven for terrorists, Rasmussen said.
"It is of course a matter of concern in the longer term perspective if this ends up in a stalemate that eventually could also make Libya a failed state, that could become a breeding ground for terrorists and extremists," he said.
"This is also a reason why I hope to see a political solution to the problems in Libya sooner rather than later."
NATO intensified its bombing campaign over the weekend.
Rasmussen said NATO aircraft had flown almost 300 sorties since Saturday, destroying 49 tanks, nine armoured personnel carriers, three anti-aircraft guns and four large ammunition bunkers.
NASS election: Buhari’s loss in N/West jolts Arewa
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
APPARENTLY jolted by the outcome of the National Assembly election, which showed that the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), led by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), failed to do well in the North-West geopolitical zone as expected, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), on Sunday night, summoned a meeting of its chieftains in Kaduna.
Although it was learnt that the meeting was meant to be a closed one, sources said that the ACF had called the meeting to assess the fate of the presidential candidate of the CPC, Major-General Buhari, in view of the failure of his party to capture most of the North-West states as expected during the National Assembly election.
Sources confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the CPC was also worried by the outcome of the National Assembly polls, which confirmed a routing of the party by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the North-West.
Ahead of the general election, the CPC chieftains had calculated that religion and ethnicity would form a major determinant of the election and that while the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was expected to pick most of the seats in the South-West, the CPC would win in most of the northern states.
On the basis of that projection, the opposition parties had calculated that they would be able to force a rerun in the presidential election.
But while the ACN won in most of the states of the South-West, the CPC could not record significant wins in the northern states.
The CPC is coming a distant second in the states of the North-Central, while PDP had won big in the North-West states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Jigawa and Kano.
A source told the Nigerian Tribune that the ACF’s meeting would enable the top leaders to examine the implications of the National Assembly election for Buhari and at the same time come up with some ways forward.
The meeting is also said to involve some affiliate groups, which would be given specific assignments after the appraisal.
Said the source: “The Arewa Consultative Forum has called a joint meeting today (Monday) in Kaduna of most northern groups to appraise the Saturday election. The meeting is to express surprise at the results from most of the North-West and design the way forward. It came as a big surprise that the CPC failed to capture the zone.”
But another source said that the defeat of the CPC was not surprising because the party was not on the ground in the zone.
He said: “It is not enough to show a big crowd on television. How many of the people in the crowd have voter cards? How many of them are ready to withstand the pressure and remain in the queue for as long as possible to cast their votes? The CPC is simply not on the ground in the North-West.”
Also, the leadership of the CPC was said to have been seriously jolted by the results coming from the North-West.
It was gathered that the party had dispatched a strong team to begin a series of strategic meetings in states like Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Jigawa.
Presidential candidate of the CPC, Major-General Buhari, was also said to have concluded plans to meet with the Alhaji Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), which coordinated the Northern consensus arrangement.
It was learnt that while Buhari had kept the NPLF at bay all along, his party’s faltering start in the North-West had compelled him to seek Ciroma’s assistance.
A source in the know told the Nigerian Tribune: “The CPC has raised teams to Kano, Sokoto and Jigawa states. They are also to meet with the Adamu Ciroma G15. General Buhari himself is already seeking the backing of the Ciroma group. They (teams) have already left for these states.”
It was learnt that the CPC was not only unhappy with the results from parts of the North, its leaders, at a meeting on Sunday, also rejected the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), though a formal statement has not been issued.
A source said the party’s reaction might be unfolded after Saturday’s presidential election.
Although it was learnt that the meeting was meant to be a closed one, sources said that the ACF had called the meeting to assess the fate of the presidential candidate of the CPC, Major-General Buhari, in view of the failure of his party to capture most of the North-West states as expected during the National Assembly election.
Sources confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the CPC was also worried by the outcome of the National Assembly polls, which confirmed a routing of the party by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the North-West.
Ahead of the general election, the CPC chieftains had calculated that religion and ethnicity would form a major determinant of the election and that while the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was expected to pick most of the seats in the South-West, the CPC would win in most of the northern states.
On the basis of that projection, the opposition parties had calculated that they would be able to force a rerun in the presidential election.
But while the ACN won in most of the states of the South-West, the CPC could not record significant wins in the northern states.
The CPC is coming a distant second in the states of the North-Central, while PDP had won big in the North-West states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Jigawa and Kano.
A source told the Nigerian Tribune that the ACF’s meeting would enable the top leaders to examine the implications of the National Assembly election for Buhari and at the same time come up with some ways forward.
The meeting is also said to involve some affiliate groups, which would be given specific assignments after the appraisal.
Said the source: “The Arewa Consultative Forum has called a joint meeting today (Monday) in Kaduna of most northern groups to appraise the Saturday election. The meeting is to express surprise at the results from most of the North-West and design the way forward. It came as a big surprise that the CPC failed to capture the zone.”
But another source said that the defeat of the CPC was not surprising because the party was not on the ground in the zone.
He said: “It is not enough to show a big crowd on television. How many of the people in the crowd have voter cards? How many of them are ready to withstand the pressure and remain in the queue for as long as possible to cast their votes? The CPC is simply not on the ground in the North-West.”
Also, the leadership of the CPC was said to have been seriously jolted by the results coming from the North-West.
It was gathered that the party had dispatched a strong team to begin a series of strategic meetings in states like Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Jigawa.
Presidential candidate of the CPC, Major-General Buhari, was also said to have concluded plans to meet with the Alhaji Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), which coordinated the Northern consensus arrangement.
It was learnt that while Buhari had kept the NPLF at bay all along, his party’s faltering start in the North-West had compelled him to seek Ciroma’s assistance.
A source in the know told the Nigerian Tribune: “The CPC has raised teams to Kano, Sokoto and Jigawa states. They are also to meet with the Adamu Ciroma G15. General Buhari himself is already seeking the backing of the Ciroma group. They (teams) have already left for these states.”
It was learnt that the CPC was not only unhappy with the results from parts of the North, its leaders, at a meeting on Sunday, also rejected the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), though a formal statement has not been issued.
A source said the party’s reaction might be unfolded after Saturday’s presidential election.
Corruption trial: Salami confessed to judgment leakage - Katsina-Alu tells panel
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
FACING his interrogators for close to six hours on Monday, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu finally opened up on the crisis of confidence between him and the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, over the Sokoto State governorship appeal, revealing that Salami confessed to him that the judgement prepared by his Court of Appeal panel handling the appeal leaked before the date fixed for judgment.
Salami had insisted that the appeal panel which he set up must deliver the leaked judgment which led to the involvement of the Supreme Court.
Salami had accused Katsina-Alu of asking him to pervert the course of justice in the Sokoto State governorship appeal, with the five-man panel investigating the allegations summoning the duo and six other justices of the Court of Appeal on Monday as accused in various petitions against them.
Katsina-Alu and Salami, as exclusively reported by the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, were quizzed for several hours on Monday by the Justice Umaru Abdullahi probe panel over their alleged involvement in corrupt acts and unethical conducts rocking the top echelon of the judiciary.
Katsina-Alu, in his defence to Salami’s allegation also disclosed that Justice Dahiru Musdapher was present as the main witness in his office when Salami confessed to the judgment leakage.
Musdapher’s next in rank to Katsina-Alu was the acting chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) that set up the Abdullahi probe panel, while the quartet of Katsina-Alu, Salami, Musdapher and Abdullahi were classmates at the Law School and were called to the Bar the same day.
In his testimony on Monday, Katsina-Alu told the panel that “I did not, at any time whatsoever, interfere in any form or manner with the Sokoto State Gubernatorial Election Petition Appeal. At some stage while the appeal was pending at the Court of Appeal, in my capacity as the Chairman of the National Judicial Council, I received written petitions addressed to me pertaining the said appeal. One of the complaints was that the judgment about to be delivered by the Court of Appeal in respect of the Sokoto State Gubernatorial Election Petition Appeal had leaked.
Salami had insisted that the appeal panel which he set up must deliver the leaked judgment which led to the involvement of the Supreme Court.
Salami had accused Katsina-Alu of asking him to pervert the course of justice in the Sokoto State governorship appeal, with the five-man panel investigating the allegations summoning the duo and six other justices of the Court of Appeal on Monday as accused in various petitions against them.
Katsina-Alu and Salami, as exclusively reported by the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, were quizzed for several hours on Monday by the Justice Umaru Abdullahi probe panel over their alleged involvement in corrupt acts and unethical conducts rocking the top echelon of the judiciary.
Katsina-Alu, in his defence to Salami’s allegation also disclosed that Justice Dahiru Musdapher was present as the main witness in his office when Salami confessed to the judgment leakage.
Musdapher’s next in rank to Katsina-Alu was the acting chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) that set up the Abdullahi probe panel, while the quartet of Katsina-Alu, Salami, Musdapher and Abdullahi were classmates at the Law School and were called to the Bar the same day.
In his testimony on Monday, Katsina-Alu told the panel that “I did not, at any time whatsoever, interfere in any form or manner with the Sokoto State Gubernatorial Election Petition Appeal. At some stage while the appeal was pending at the Court of Appeal, in my capacity as the Chairman of the National Judicial Council, I received written petitions addressed to me pertaining the said appeal. One of the complaints was that the judgment about to be delivered by the Court of Appeal in respect of the Sokoto State Gubernatorial Election Petition Appeal had leaked.
Soyode: Alao-Akala sends condolences
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Late Chief (Mrs) Ayo Soyode
Oyo State governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has said that the death of Otunba Ayodele Olubusola Soyode comes to him as a rude shock.
The governor, in a letter of sympathy dated April 10, written to the co-founder/chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, Chief (Dr) HID Awolowo, on behalf of his family, government and people of Oyo State and made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Tuesday, said he felt a deep sense of loss over the sad and unfortunate incident.
“There is no doubting the fact that the late Otunba Soyode carved a niche for herself as she impacted positively on the lives of many people. She was indeed an epitome of diligence, dedication and selfless service to humanity who equally contributed greatly to the development and growth of the legal profession,” he said.
The governor, who said Otunba Soyode proved her mettle by taking the legal firm established by the sage, Obafemi Awolowo & Co., to greater height as the head of the firm, adding that she sustained and also improved upon one of the legacies of her father.
“She has, therefore, implanted her name on the sands of time with her notable contributions in all spheres of human endeavour and this will remain indelible in our minds. Indeed, the late Mrs Soyode was a woman of substance, a role model and also a pride to the women folk.
“However, while we mourn, we must take solace in the fact that the Almighty God, the Giver and Sustainer of life who loves us most, knows best and will surely be our comforter and rekindle our hope,” he said.
The governor, in a letter of sympathy dated April 10, written to the co-founder/chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, Chief (Dr) HID Awolowo, on behalf of his family, government and people of Oyo State and made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Tuesday, said he felt a deep sense of loss over the sad and unfortunate incident.
“There is no doubting the fact that the late Otunba Soyode carved a niche for herself as she impacted positively on the lives of many people. She was indeed an epitome of diligence, dedication and selfless service to humanity who equally contributed greatly to the development and growth of the legal profession,” he said.
The governor, who said Otunba Soyode proved her mettle by taking the legal firm established by the sage, Obafemi Awolowo & Co., to greater height as the head of the firm, adding that she sustained and also improved upon one of the legacies of her father.
“She has, therefore, implanted her name on the sands of time with her notable contributions in all spheres of human endeavour and this will remain indelible in our minds. Indeed, the late Mrs Soyode was a woman of substance, a role model and also a pride to the women folk.
“However, while we mourn, we must take solace in the fact that the Almighty God, the Giver and Sustainer of life who loves us most, knows best and will surely be our comforter and rekindle our hope,” he said.
Saraki sends condolences to families, Ogun govt
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Kwara State governor, Dr Bukola Saraki, has commiserated with Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, the entire Soyode and Awolowo families on the death of Mrs Ayodele Soyode, one of the daughters of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Dr Saraki, in a condolence message to the families, the government and people of Ogun State, described the death of Mrs Soyode as a rude shock and monumental loss.
The governor urged the widower, Mr Tayo Soyode, to take solace and regard the death of his wife as an act of God, believing that Almighty Allah gives and takes away life at the appointed time.
Death, he said, was the ultimate end of every living soul on earth which would come at God’s designated time.
He prayed God to grant the of the deceased eternal rest and the family the fortitude to bear the loss.
The late Mrs Soyode, 66, died in the early hours of Sunday after a during illness.
In a related development, Dr Saraki has also sympathised with the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in the state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, on the death of his mother, Alhaja Habibat Ahmed.
The governor, in a similar condolence message to the gubernatorial candidate and the entire Ahmed family of Adebiopon compound of Share, in Ifelodun Local Government Area, said the demise of Alhaja Ahmed was very painful and pathetic, especially at this crucial period of the nation’s transition programme.
Dr Saraki, in a condolence message to the families, the government and people of Ogun State, described the death of Mrs Soyode as a rude shock and monumental loss.
The governor urged the widower, Mr Tayo Soyode, to take solace and regard the death of his wife as an act of God, believing that Almighty Allah gives and takes away life at the appointed time.
Death, he said, was the ultimate end of every living soul on earth which would come at God’s designated time.
He prayed God to grant the of the deceased eternal rest and the family the fortitude to bear the loss.
The late Mrs Soyode, 66, died in the early hours of Sunday after a during illness.
In a related development, Dr Saraki has also sympathised with the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in the state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, on the death of his mother, Alhaja Habibat Ahmed.
The governor, in a similar condolence message to the gubernatorial candidate and the entire Ahmed family of Adebiopon compound of Share, in Ifelodun Local Government Area, said the demise of Alhaja Ahmed was very painful and pathetic, especially at this crucial period of the nation’s transition programme.
Coalition of parties applauds Jonathan, INEC over elections •OPC hails Jonathan
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
A coalition of 63 political parties, acting under the aegis of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) yesterday applauded President Goodluck Jonathan for providing selfless leadership that has helped the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) perform its electoral duties creditably.
Secretary General of IPAC, Mallam Shitu Kabir Mohammed, said that coalition was also impressed with the way and manner INEC conducted last Saturday’s National Assembly elections, pointing out that the process signposted a new beginning for credible elections in Nigeria.
Mohammed stated that Jonathan and the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, “have both demonstrated the patriotic zeal to rebuild both domestic and international community’s confidence in our electoral process.
He said IPAC was monitoring parties’ compliance with the Code of Conduct which they signed on March 8, this year, to eschew violence in electioneering and elections.
It would be recalled that 53 of the 63 political parties endorsed the Code of Conduct.
Meanwhile, national coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Chief Promoter, Olokun Festival Foundation, Chief Gani Adams, has commended President Goodluck Jonathan on the success of last Saturday’s National Assembly elections.
Adams said by the conduct of the elections, which had been hailed across the country and beyond, as free and fair, President Jonathan had demonstrated that he could keep to his promise.
Adams said: “You’ll remember that the president promised to conduct a free and fair general election Towards achieving this, he ensured that money budgeted for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was released to it on time to enable the electoral umpire make adequate preparations for the election. Last Saturday’s elections have proved to all that he is a man we can trust.”
Secretary General of IPAC, Mallam Shitu Kabir Mohammed, said that coalition was also impressed with the way and manner INEC conducted last Saturday’s National Assembly elections, pointing out that the process signposted a new beginning for credible elections in Nigeria.
Mohammed stated that Jonathan and the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, “have both demonstrated the patriotic zeal to rebuild both domestic and international community’s confidence in our electoral process.
He said IPAC was monitoring parties’ compliance with the Code of Conduct which they signed on March 8, this year, to eschew violence in electioneering and elections.
It would be recalled that 53 of the 63 political parties endorsed the Code of Conduct.
Meanwhile, national coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Chief Promoter, Olokun Festival Foundation, Chief Gani Adams, has commended President Goodluck Jonathan on the success of last Saturday’s National Assembly elections.
Adams said by the conduct of the elections, which had been hailed across the country and beyond, as free and fair, President Jonathan had demonstrated that he could keep to his promise.
Adams said: “You’ll remember that the president promised to conduct a free and fair general election Towards achieving this, he ensured that money budgeted for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was released to it on time to enable the electoral umpire make adequate preparations for the election. Last Saturday’s elections have proved to all that he is a man we can trust.”
US, groups express satisfaction with election, praise Jonathan
Written by Adelowo OladipoTuesday, 12 April 2011
The United States has expressed its pleasure at seeing Nigerians exercise their right to choose their leaders in the April 9 National Assembly election, just as it said that the National Assembly election held last weekend across the country is only the first of three important electoral contests over the next several weeks.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Johnnie Carso, stated this in a press statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Monday from the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General’s office, Lagos.
He said, “we hope that the general success achieved in this first round will carry over to the next two elections and that technical and security shortcomings in the first round will lead to improvements over the next two weeks.”
The U.S. official stated further the his home country was particularly encouraged by the overall progress toward democracy demonstrated by Saturday's election in Nigeria, despite perceived violence and some alleged organisational issues.
Nigerian voters, according to him, enthusiastically went to the polls last Saturday, convinced that they had a say in choosing their political leaders and returned home believing their votes would be fairly counted, stressing that this was an important achievement for Nigerian democracy.
Speaking further, Carson however noted that at the same time, “we deplore the violence and needless loss of lives in Suleja, Borno State, and elsewhere in the country, including thuggery in some areas of Lagos. Political intimidation has no place in any democracy, including that of Nigeria, and Nigerians should know that the U.S. will take due note of anyone condoning or supporting such acts.
“We hope that the vote tabulation and announcement of results will proceed in a transparent fashion and that candidates will accept the judgments of voters given via the ballot box. The Nigerian Government should hold accountable all those who engage in electoral malfeasance – the U.S. certainly will.”
He therefore, encouraged all voters to participate in the presidential and gubernatorial elections as a demonstration of voter confidence in the electoral process, saying that both the international and domestic observers continued to see instances of “under-age" voting and expressed the hope that INEC and its team of elections officials would address this along with other technical and administrative irregularities in the coming weeks as Professor Jega has promised.
Finally, he said, “the United States applauds the work of INEC and its Chair Professor Attahiru Jega, on their management of the electoral process. We have been most impressed with the dedicated work of the Nigerian Youth Service Corps who spent long hours under the hot sun alongside patient voters to permit voters to exercise their right to vote. Such dedication by Nigeria's youth is to be commended and is a cause for real optimism in the country's future.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Johnnie Carso, stated this in a press statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Monday from the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General’s office, Lagos.
He said, “we hope that the general success achieved in this first round will carry over to the next two elections and that technical and security shortcomings in the first round will lead to improvements over the next two weeks.”
The U.S. official stated further the his home country was particularly encouraged by the overall progress toward democracy demonstrated by Saturday's election in Nigeria, despite perceived violence and some alleged organisational issues.
Nigerian voters, according to him, enthusiastically went to the polls last Saturday, convinced that they had a say in choosing their political leaders and returned home believing their votes would be fairly counted, stressing that this was an important achievement for Nigerian democracy.
Speaking further, Carson however noted that at the same time, “we deplore the violence and needless loss of lives in Suleja, Borno State, and elsewhere in the country, including thuggery in some areas of Lagos. Political intimidation has no place in any democracy, including that of Nigeria, and Nigerians should know that the U.S. will take due note of anyone condoning or supporting such acts.
“We hope that the vote tabulation and announcement of results will proceed in a transparent fashion and that candidates will accept the judgments of voters given via the ballot box. The Nigerian Government should hold accountable all those who engage in electoral malfeasance – the U.S. certainly will.”
He therefore, encouraged all voters to participate in the presidential and gubernatorial elections as a demonstration of voter confidence in the electoral process, saying that both the international and domestic observers continued to see instances of “under-age" voting and expressed the hope that INEC and its team of elections officials would address this along with other technical and administrative irregularities in the coming weeks as Professor Jega has promised.
Finally, he said, “the United States applauds the work of INEC and its Chair Professor Attahiru Jega, on their management of the electoral process. We have been most impressed with the dedicated work of the Nigerian Youth Service Corps who spent long hours under the hot sun alongside patient voters to permit voters to exercise their right to vote. Such dedication by Nigeria's youth is to be commended and is a cause for real optimism in the country's future.
ACN, ANPP threaten to boycott subsequent elections in Kogi
Written by Johnson BabajideTuesday, 12 April 2011
AS the Peoples Democratic Party swept the National Assembly election in Kogi State, on Saturday, the opposition parties, including the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have threatened the boycott the subsequent elections, unless the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) addresses all the alleged malpractices of the PDP in the state.
At separate press conferences held in Lokoja, the state capital, on Monday, the leadership of the parties alleged massive irregularities by the PDP and called on the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, to look into their petition and cancel the election of the affected areas.
The former governor of the state and gubernatorial candidate of the ANPP, Prince Abubakar Audu, in his submission, alleged that the election from the eastern senatorial district and some wards in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency were marred with irregularities.
Audu, who was accompanied by the party senatorial candidate of Kogi East and Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu House of Representatives candidates, Dino Melaye and Attai Aidoko respectively, noted that the election in Dekina, Omala, Kabba, Dekina and Igalamela/Odolu local government areas of the state were marred with irregularities.
The state chairman of the ACN, Alhaji Hadi Ametuo, lamented the massive fraud allegedly perpetrated at Oritesu, Barinke and Abuga Ozuja wards in Okene/Ogori-Magongo federal constituency, where he alleged PDP members of snatching of ballot boxes and mutilating result sheets in favour of PDP candidate.
He said three of the hoodlums who perpetrated the act had been arrested by security agents.
The state police spokesman, Ajayi Okasanmi, who commented on the issue, said the principal culprits in the snatching of ballot boxes in Okene, on Saturday, were yet to be arrested, adding that the police were on the lookout for the hoodlums.
However, the state PDP chairman, Hon Hassan Salawu, while reacting, described the cry by the opposition parties as “medicine after death,” adding that the election had been adjudged the best in the history of the nation.
At separate press conferences held in Lokoja, the state capital, on Monday, the leadership of the parties alleged massive irregularities by the PDP and called on the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, to look into their petition and cancel the election of the affected areas.
The former governor of the state and gubernatorial candidate of the ANPP, Prince Abubakar Audu, in his submission, alleged that the election from the eastern senatorial district and some wards in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency were marred with irregularities.
Audu, who was accompanied by the party senatorial candidate of Kogi East and Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu House of Representatives candidates, Dino Melaye and Attai Aidoko respectively, noted that the election in Dekina, Omala, Kabba, Dekina and Igalamela/Odolu local government areas of the state were marred with irregularities.
The state chairman of the ACN, Alhaji Hadi Ametuo, lamented the massive fraud allegedly perpetrated at Oritesu, Barinke and Abuga Ozuja wards in Okene/Ogori-Magongo federal constituency, where he alleged PDP members of snatching of ballot boxes and mutilating result sheets in favour of PDP candidate.
He said three of the hoodlums who perpetrated the act had been arrested by security agents.
The state police spokesman, Ajayi Okasanmi, who commented on the issue, said the principal culprits in the snatching of ballot boxes in Okene, on Saturday, were yet to be arrested, adding that the police were on the lookout for the hoodlums.
However, the state PDP chairman, Hon Hassan Salawu, while reacting, described the cry by the opposition parties as “medicine after death,” adding that the election had been adjudged the best in the history of the nation.
Free, fair polls achievable in non-violence atmosphere - Atiku
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
FORMER vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said events of the National Assembly election, on Saturday, have proved that a credible, free and fair poll is only achievable in an atmosphere of non-violence.
Also, he said that though the outcome of the election of April 9 was impressive, Nigerians, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies should not lower their guards against manipulation and distortion of the will of the people.
In a statement in Abuja, on Monday, Atiku noted that when the wishes of the people were allowed to prevail, then the resort to violence, particularly post-election crisis, would be minimised.
“Our democracy and political process will be better off with Nigerian politicians borrowing a leaf from the patriotic and exemplary conduct of electorate at the weekend parliamentary election,” he said.
The former vice-president paid tribute to Nigerians for defying harsh weather for hours to perform their civic responsibility of electing their leaders, adding that despite the apparent pessimism that greeted the previously cancelled poll, Nigerians still came with renewed enthusiasm to cast their vote once again.
He advised Nigerians, INEC and security agencies against complacency, which might play into the hands of enemies of democracy, saying that the will of the people was superior to the ego of any politician.
Atiku maintained that the integrity of the election would depend on the extent to which the INEC was able to assert itself, no matter whose ox was gored, while he advised fellow politicians to abandon the culture of do-or-die politics which, he said, was getting out of fashion in all democratic settings of the world.
Also, he said that though the outcome of the election of April 9 was impressive, Nigerians, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies should not lower their guards against manipulation and distortion of the will of the people.
In a statement in Abuja, on Monday, Atiku noted that when the wishes of the people were allowed to prevail, then the resort to violence, particularly post-election crisis, would be minimised.
“Our democracy and political process will be better off with Nigerian politicians borrowing a leaf from the patriotic and exemplary conduct of electorate at the weekend parliamentary election,” he said.
The former vice-president paid tribute to Nigerians for defying harsh weather for hours to perform their civic responsibility of electing their leaders, adding that despite the apparent pessimism that greeted the previously cancelled poll, Nigerians still came with renewed enthusiasm to cast their vote once again.
He advised Nigerians, INEC and security agencies against complacency, which might play into the hands of enemies of democracy, saying that the will of the people was superior to the ego of any politician.
Atiku maintained that the integrity of the election would depend on the extent to which the INEC was able to assert itself, no matter whose ox was gored, while he advised fellow politicians to abandon the culture of do-or-die politics which, he said, was getting out of fashion in all democratic settings of the world.
10 parties seek cancellation of NASS election in Kwara
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Ten political parties, including the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Political Change (CPC), have jointly called for the cancellation of last Saturday’s National Assembly election in Kwara State, alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) connived with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig the election.
Citing a number of noticeable hitches in the conduct of the election, the political parties in a joint petition addressed to the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, acknowledged the good intention of INEC to have a clean break from the past sad electoral experience, but regretted that the idea could not sail as evidenced by the wanton malpractices, fraud, intimidation of opponents, employment of fake electoral officials, and connivance of electoral officers in all the 16 LGAs of the state with the ruling PDP.
Above all, the coalition which also included the ANPP, DPP, NCP, NTP, ARP, DA, and RPN, in the petition alleged that the PDP openly induced voters on the queue with huge sums of money and Ankara.
In order instances, especially in the rural areas the petitioners further said corps members assisted in the illegal ballot paper stuffing.
“Multiple registrations that were done by the PDP people was not checkmated electronically as promised by INEC to the extent that double voting was employed in the villages, where already thumb printed ballot papers were stuffed and counted for the PDP, aged youths were accredited and thumb printed ballot papers from such were counted.”
“More worrisome was that unused ballot papers in April 2nd 2011 and called National Assembly election were unaccountable for by the state REC and electoral officers, the same were left in the custody of the electoral officers.
“The electoral officers, in each of the 16 LGAs of the state never declared balloting booths of the wards before the commencement of the accreditation and voting despite demands for such by the party agents, this was the case in the entire state.”
Further, the petitioners registered that, “in most cases we discovered that PDP agents in the cancelled 2nd April, 2011 elections suddenly became INEC returning officers in the just concluded elections. A good case is the case of wards Babaloma – Share polling booth 009,” adding that, “In all the polling centre’s across the state no declaration of accredited voters was done before voting commenced in majority of the polling centre’s contrary to the Electoral Act and electoral guidelines.
“Evidence of bought over corps members thumb printing ballot papers for the PDP abounds in Babaloma ward 1 Adio village. For instance, Dr Femi Ogunshola challenged INEC and corps members why it was only PDP agents that were allowed and admitted to sit in each of the polling units, others party agents were driven away.”
Giving on the spot account and evidences of what it described as monumental fraud of the National Asssembly election in Kwara, the petitioners prayed “that the elections into the National Assembly of 9th April, 2011 be cancelled as same were conducted contrary to the electoral guidelines and in contravention of the Wlectoral Act,” alleging the election was rigged by INEC for the ruling PDP in the state.
Citing a number of noticeable hitches in the conduct of the election, the political parties in a joint petition addressed to the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, acknowledged the good intention of INEC to have a clean break from the past sad electoral experience, but regretted that the idea could not sail as evidenced by the wanton malpractices, fraud, intimidation of opponents, employment of fake electoral officials, and connivance of electoral officers in all the 16 LGAs of the state with the ruling PDP.
Above all, the coalition which also included the ANPP, DPP, NCP, NTP, ARP, DA, and RPN, in the petition alleged that the PDP openly induced voters on the queue with huge sums of money and Ankara.
In order instances, especially in the rural areas the petitioners further said corps members assisted in the illegal ballot paper stuffing.
“Multiple registrations that were done by the PDP people was not checkmated electronically as promised by INEC to the extent that double voting was employed in the villages, where already thumb printed ballot papers were stuffed and counted for the PDP, aged youths were accredited and thumb printed ballot papers from such were counted.”
“More worrisome was that unused ballot papers in April 2nd 2011 and called National Assembly election were unaccountable for by the state REC and electoral officers, the same were left in the custody of the electoral officers.
“The electoral officers, in each of the 16 LGAs of the state never declared balloting booths of the wards before the commencement of the accreditation and voting despite demands for such by the party agents, this was the case in the entire state.”
Further, the petitioners registered that, “in most cases we discovered that PDP agents in the cancelled 2nd April, 2011 elections suddenly became INEC returning officers in the just concluded elections. A good case is the case of wards Babaloma – Share polling booth 009,” adding that, “In all the polling centre’s across the state no declaration of accredited voters was done before voting commenced in majority of the polling centre’s contrary to the Electoral Act and electoral guidelines.
“Evidence of bought over corps members thumb printing ballot papers for the PDP abounds in Babaloma ward 1 Adio village. For instance, Dr Femi Ogunshola challenged INEC and corps members why it was only PDP agents that were allowed and admitted to sit in each of the polling units, others party agents were driven away.”
Giving on the spot account and evidences of what it described as monumental fraud of the National Asssembly election in Kwara, the petitioners prayed “that the elections into the National Assembly of 9th April, 2011 be cancelled as same were conducted contrary to the electoral guidelines and in contravention of the Wlectoral Act,” alleging the election was rigged by INEC for the ruling PDP in the state.
Accord Party remains a strong movement for change - Ladoja •Thanks Oyo State people
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Senator Rashidi Ladoja has thanked the people of Oyo State for voting for the Accord Party in last Saturday’s National Assembly election, stating that from the trend of voting, it was clear that Accord Party still remained a very strong movement for change in the state.
Senator Ladoja noted that the election indicated the acceptance and spread of Accord Party across Oyo State within four months. He then urged the electorate to troop out in large numbers to vote for Accord Party as the party that could provide the necessary infrastructure for the development of the state in the areas of education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation, wards and youth employment.
The Accord Party standard-bearer said that he had not endorsed any presidential candidate contrary to a news release last Thursday. He berated dirty politicians who would go all out to lie to win votes. He advised the people of the state to avoid such people as they would deny them when they get into government.
Senator Ladoja emphatically said that he had not asked people to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan or any presidential candidate.
He said that he was committed to the growth of the state in commerce and industry, which would in turn lead to job creation and employment. He made it clear once again that he had not stepped down for any person.
Meanwhile, the media aide of Senator Ladoja, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, has debunked the story released last Thursday on Splash FM that the former governor had asked people to vote for any presidential candidate in Nigeria, saying that the story was malicious, false and damaging to the image of Accord Party and that of Senator Ladoja.
He said that contrary to some so-called progressives’ lies that Senator Ladoja would return to his former party, the Accord Party standard-bearer had left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for good. The media aide advised the people of the state not to listen to them because they do not have anything other than telling old women tales. He asked them to tell the state what they did before as a way of replicating it.
Alhaji Latinwo reminded the people of Oyo State of the impact of godfatherism in the present polity. He said that the state went through a period of feeding of a gang of elite over the interest and welfare of the people, which Senator Ladoja stood for.
He said that market men and women of Bodija would not forget how a political merchant supported the present government to demolish stalls and forced them to rent his shops opposite Bodija market.
The media aide assured the people of the state that with Senator Ladoja and Accord Party in government, “we will not have to pay godfathers with the state wealth.”
He called on the people of Oyo State to choose between another four years of slavery or a prosperous four years with Senator Ladoja who fought the godfathers to win freedom for the people of oyo state.
Senator Ladoja noted that the election indicated the acceptance and spread of Accord Party across Oyo State within four months. He then urged the electorate to troop out in large numbers to vote for Accord Party as the party that could provide the necessary infrastructure for the development of the state in the areas of education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation, wards and youth employment.
The Accord Party standard-bearer said that he had not endorsed any presidential candidate contrary to a news release last Thursday. He berated dirty politicians who would go all out to lie to win votes. He advised the people of the state to avoid such people as they would deny them when they get into government.
Senator Ladoja emphatically said that he had not asked people to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan or any presidential candidate.
He said that he was committed to the growth of the state in commerce and industry, which would in turn lead to job creation and employment. He made it clear once again that he had not stepped down for any person.
Meanwhile, the media aide of Senator Ladoja, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, has debunked the story released last Thursday on Splash FM that the former governor had asked people to vote for any presidential candidate in Nigeria, saying that the story was malicious, false and damaging to the image of Accord Party and that of Senator Ladoja.
He said that contrary to some so-called progressives’ lies that Senator Ladoja would return to his former party, the Accord Party standard-bearer had left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for good. The media aide advised the people of the state not to listen to them because they do not have anything other than telling old women tales. He asked them to tell the state what they did before as a way of replicating it.
Alhaji Latinwo reminded the people of Oyo State of the impact of godfatherism in the present polity. He said that the state went through a period of feeding of a gang of elite over the interest and welfare of the people, which Senator Ladoja stood for.
He said that market men and women of Bodija would not forget how a political merchant supported the present government to demolish stalls and forced them to rent his shops opposite Bodija market.
The media aide assured the people of the state that with Senator Ladoja and Accord Party in government, “we will not have to pay godfathers with the state wealth.”
He called on the people of Oyo State to choose between another four years of slavery or a prosperous four years with Senator Ladoja who fought the godfathers to win freedom for the people of oyo state.
Aliyu wants candidates’ campaign expenses reduced
Written by Dipo LaleyeTuesday, 12 April 2011
Niger State governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has bemoaned the huge funds being ploughed into campaigns by candidates and their political parties in Nigeria.
Governor Aliyu was particularly concerned that if the trend was not checked, elections in the country would be for the highest bidders.
Aliyu, who was speaking to newsmen shortly after he cast his ballot at the Umar Musa ward polling unit in Tudun Wada South area of Minna, advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be more painstaking in enforcing the laws that gave limit to the amount that could be spent by parties and their candidates in an election.
He also said implementing the law to the letter would bring sanity to the electoral process and reduce corruption.
The governor also said that the number of political parties in the country was too large and recommended that they should be reduced immediately after this year’s elections.
“We should find a way to reduce the number of political parties immediately after the elections based on performance,” Aliyu suggested, adding that the huge number of parties on the ballot papers was confusing the electorate.
Commenting on the increasing spate of bomb blasts across the country, the governor said the terrorists who were behind the incidents believed that if they made it impossible for elections to hold in the country, an interim government that would see President Goodluck Jonathan out of the way would be instituted.
“These people are ignorant of the law. They did not know that no part of the country’s constitution allowed for interim government to be put in place.”
He praised the courage of Nigerians for remaining resolute and determined to cast their ballots in the National Assembly election despite the intimidation by “these enemies of democracy,” urging also that people should turn out more to vote President Jonathan on Saturday.
Governor Aliyu was particularly concerned that if the trend was not checked, elections in the country would be for the highest bidders.
Aliyu, who was speaking to newsmen shortly after he cast his ballot at the Umar Musa ward polling unit in Tudun Wada South area of Minna, advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be more painstaking in enforcing the laws that gave limit to the amount that could be spent by parties and their candidates in an election.
He also said implementing the law to the letter would bring sanity to the electoral process and reduce corruption.
The governor also said that the number of political parties in the country was too large and recommended that they should be reduced immediately after this year’s elections.
“We should find a way to reduce the number of political parties immediately after the elections based on performance,” Aliyu suggested, adding that the huge number of parties on the ballot papers was confusing the electorate.
Commenting on the increasing spate of bomb blasts across the country, the governor said the terrorists who were behind the incidents believed that if they made it impossible for elections to hold in the country, an interim government that would see President Goodluck Jonathan out of the way would be instituted.
“These people are ignorant of the law. They did not know that no part of the country’s constitution allowed for interim government to be put in place.”
He praised the courage of Nigerians for remaining resolute and determined to cast their ballots in the National Assembly election despite the intimidation by “these enemies of democracy,” urging also that people should turn out more to vote President Jonathan on Saturday.
Alao-Akala assures supporters of victory in gov election
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State has re-assured his supporters of total victory in the April 26 governorship election, while thanking the people of the state for their support.
A release signed by Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Communications, Prince Dotun Oyelade, stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the only party in Oyo State that had minimum of 25 per cent votes cast in all the 33 local government areas of the state during last Saturday’s National Assembly election.
According to the statement, PDP had over 22,000 superior votes over and above the other political parties during the election, noting that if that election was for the governorship, Governor Alao-Akala would have satisfied Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) condition and declared winner.
The statement expressed optimism in the governorship election and said that more voters were expected to troop out for their choice candidate.
According to the statement, the PDP had 60,000 votes more than the opposition in Oyo North senatorial district alone.
It appealed to INEC to quickly correct itself by accommodating votes from Ogbomoso South and Oriire Local Government Areas.
It noted that in Ogbomoso South, for instance, the entire 13,000 votes were not included in the final tabulation, while 1,600 votes were inadvertently recorded for Oriire, instead of 16,000 votes.
The statement alerted the people of the plan of the opposition to step up its campaign of calumny against Governor Alao-Akala, adding that the governor’s achievement would easily neutralise such machination.
A release signed by Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Communications, Prince Dotun Oyelade, stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the only party in Oyo State that had minimum of 25 per cent votes cast in all the 33 local government areas of the state during last Saturday’s National Assembly election.
According to the statement, PDP had over 22,000 superior votes over and above the other political parties during the election, noting that if that election was for the governorship, Governor Alao-Akala would have satisfied Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) condition and declared winner.
The statement expressed optimism in the governorship election and said that more voters were expected to troop out for their choice candidate.
According to the statement, the PDP had 60,000 votes more than the opposition in Oyo North senatorial district alone.
It appealed to INEC to quickly correct itself by accommodating votes from Ogbomoso South and Oriire Local Government Areas.
It noted that in Ogbomoso South, for instance, the entire 13,000 votes were not included in the final tabulation, while 1,600 votes were inadvertently recorded for Oriire, instead of 16,000 votes.
The statement alerted the people of the plan of the opposition to step up its campaign of calumny against Governor Alao-Akala, adding that the governor’s achievement would easily neutralise such machination.
40 persons charged for election violence in Osun •Court remands 27 thugs in Ilorin
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
NO fewer than 40 persons were, on Monday, ordered to be remanded in prison custody for allegedly disrupting public peace and orderly conduct of the just concluded National Assembly election in Osun State.
Among those arraigned before an Osogbo Magistrate’s court on Monday were two middle aged returnees from Cote d’ Ivoire. They are Oseni Bashiru and Jelili Adebisi.
According to the charge sheet, Oseni Bashiru, Jelili Adebisi and others were accused of unlawfully possessing 52 voter cards belonging to different persons which they could not give satisfactory account of how they came about them.
The prosecutor, Benjamin Adedoyin, had told the court that the offence committed by the accused persons was contrary to and punishable under section 124 (5) of the Electoral Act cap 15 laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2010.
Meanwhile, the 27 arrested suspected political thugs allegedly imported from Lagos State to Ilorin for the last Saturday’s election were, on Monday, remanded by an Ilorin Chief Magistrates’ court for public disturbance.
The accused were arraigned by the police on a two-count charge offence of criminal conspiracy and inciting disturbance of public peace contrary to section 97 and 114 of the penal code law.
The accused were among other thugs hired from Lagos to Ilorin by a Kwara Central Senatorial district’s candidate in the Saturday’s National Assembly election.
Inspector Alfred Ugah, police prosecutor, informed the court that the accused persons were fighting at the emir’s palace, Ilorin, which he said prompted police to arrest them.
He urged the court to remand them in prison custody, Ilorin, asserting that releasing them on bail would make them to accomplish their mission in the subsequent elections.
Among those arraigned before an Osogbo Magistrate’s court on Monday were two middle aged returnees from Cote d’ Ivoire. They are Oseni Bashiru and Jelili Adebisi.
According to the charge sheet, Oseni Bashiru, Jelili Adebisi and others were accused of unlawfully possessing 52 voter cards belonging to different persons which they could not give satisfactory account of how they came about them.
The prosecutor, Benjamin Adedoyin, had told the court that the offence committed by the accused persons was contrary to and punishable under section 124 (5) of the Electoral Act cap 15 laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2010.
Meanwhile, the 27 arrested suspected political thugs allegedly imported from Lagos State to Ilorin for the last Saturday’s election were, on Monday, remanded by an Ilorin Chief Magistrates’ court for public disturbance.
The accused were arraigned by the police on a two-count charge offence of criminal conspiracy and inciting disturbance of public peace contrary to section 97 and 114 of the penal code law.
The accused were among other thugs hired from Lagos to Ilorin by a Kwara Central Senatorial district’s candidate in the Saturday’s National Assembly election.
Inspector Alfred Ugah, police prosecutor, informed the court that the accused persons were fighting at the emir’s palace, Ilorin, which he said prompted police to arrest them.
He urged the court to remand them in prison custody, Ilorin, asserting that releasing them on bail would make them to accomplish their mission in the subsequent elections.
NASS election: Agagu to contest LP’s victory
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Mixed reactions, on Monday, trailed the result of the National Assembly election declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ondo State, as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it would contest the loss of the former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Agagu, in the South Senatorial district of the state.
This is coming just as the candidate of the party in Akure South/Akure North federal constituency, Adedayo Omolafe, accepted defeat and said he would not contest the result of the election.
Omolafe, who congratulated the winner of the election, Sunday Abegunde of the Labour Party (LP), said the result showed true picture of the election.
He added that since the winner of the election was an Akureman and he was also an Akureman, all efforts must be made to ensure the development of the Ondo State capital.
However, the state chairman of the party, Dr Tayo Dairo, told newsmen in Akure that although the party conceded defeat in two of the three senatorial districts, it was not satisfied with the result of the Ondo South Senatorial district.
This is coming just as the candidate of the party in Akure South/Akure North federal constituency, Adedayo Omolafe, accepted defeat and said he would not contest the result of the election.
Omolafe, who congratulated the winner of the election, Sunday Abegunde of the Labour Party (LP), said the result showed true picture of the election.
He added that since the winner of the election was an Akureman and he was also an Akureman, all efforts must be made to ensure the development of the Ondo State capital.
However, the state chairman of the party, Dr Tayo Dairo, told newsmen in Akure that although the party conceded defeat in two of the three senatorial districts, it was not satisfied with the result of the Ondo South Senatorial district.
ACN recruits 5,000 volunteers in Ondo •To campaign for presidential election
Written by Yinka OladoyinboTuesday, 12 April 2011
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), on Monday intensified efforts to win the presidential election in Ondo State with the recruitment of 5,000 volunteers/canvassers to reach 50,000 houses across the state before Saturday’s election.
The coordinator of the Ribadu Campaign Organisation in the state, Bola Ilori, said at the training of the leaders of the canvassers in Akure that the party was poised to win the state.
According to him, the campaign organisation had already consulted the political parties that would not be fielding candidates for the presidential election in the country to support the Ribadu/Adeola ticket.
He said the result of last Saturday’s National Assembly election had shown that the ACN was a great player in the presidential game in the country.
He said, “We know that as things are now, the ACN has a good chance of emerging a major player in the presidential game and we have every opportunity if proper realignment is done. The report of the last election showed that ACN is not only popular in the South-West, it is also a party of the entire Nigeria, it has won outside of the southwest.
“But Ondo State has appears to be the weak link in the South-West and that is what we are trying to show up, to let people aware of where Nigeria is moving towards. We want to do door-to-door campaign, we are targeting 50,000 houses, we are sending these people to all the nooks and crannies of the state.”
He said the people were expected to talk to people in the 203 wards of the state and sell Ribadu candidacy to them in a bid to ensure that the ACN won the presidential election in the state.
The coordinator of the Ribadu Campaign Organisation in the state, Bola Ilori, said at the training of the leaders of the canvassers in Akure that the party was poised to win the state.
According to him, the campaign organisation had already consulted the political parties that would not be fielding candidates for the presidential election in the country to support the Ribadu/Adeola ticket.
He said the result of last Saturday’s National Assembly election had shown that the ACN was a great player in the presidential game in the country.
He said, “We know that as things are now, the ACN has a good chance of emerging a major player in the presidential game and we have every opportunity if proper realignment is done. The report of the last election showed that ACN is not only popular in the South-West, it is also a party of the entire Nigeria, it has won outside of the southwest.
“But Ondo State has appears to be the weak link in the South-West and that is what we are trying to show up, to let people aware of where Nigeria is moving towards. We want to do door-to-door campaign, we are targeting 50,000 houses, we are sending these people to all the nooks and crannies of the state.”
He said the people were expected to talk to people in the 203 wards of the state and sell Ribadu candidacy to them in a bid to ensure that the ACN won the presidential election in the state.
Jonathan committed to credible election - Campaign organisation
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said on Monday that the outcome of last Saturday’s election was a confirmation that President Goodluck Jonathan was committed to delivering on his promise of credible polls.
The Council, in a statement by its director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Abba Dabo, said that the result also confirmed that Nigerians were solidly behind the policies and programmes of the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The overwhelming performance of the PDP in the election is a confirmation of its wide spread acceptance by majority of Nigerians.
This result has vindicated our position all along that the PDP is the only truly national political party from which all Nigerians can realise their political ambitions,” the PCC said.
The campaign council also said that the successful conduct of the polls by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was attributable to the pledge of President Jonathan to conduct free and fair elections.
It further read: “We, therefore, salute President Goodluck Jonathan for delivering on his promise of free and fair elections in which the vote of every Nigerian counted. His total support for INEC, the free hand he gave to the agency and his commitment to put our democracy on sound footing are responsible for the success achieved so far.
“The PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), therefore, wishes to express its profound gratitude to the Nigerian electorate for voting massively for PDP candidates during the election and call on them to come out en masse next Saturday to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan.”
The Council, in a statement by its director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Abba Dabo, said that the result also confirmed that Nigerians were solidly behind the policies and programmes of the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The overwhelming performance of the PDP in the election is a confirmation of its wide spread acceptance by majority of Nigerians.
This result has vindicated our position all along that the PDP is the only truly national political party from which all Nigerians can realise their political ambitions,” the PCC said.
The campaign council also said that the successful conduct of the polls by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was attributable to the pledge of President Jonathan to conduct free and fair elections.
It further read: “We, therefore, salute President Goodluck Jonathan for delivering on his promise of free and fair elections in which the vote of every Nigerian counted. His total support for INEC, the free hand he gave to the agency and his commitment to put our democracy on sound footing are responsible for the success achieved so far.
“The PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), therefore, wishes to express its profound gratitude to the Nigerian electorate for voting massively for PDP candidates during the election and call on them to come out en masse next Saturday to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan.”
Group derides Lam Adesina over son’s defeat
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
THE defeat suffered by Dapo Lam Adesina, son of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leader in Oyo State in last Saturday’s House of Representatives election is a pointer to a bigger shock awaiting Alhaji Lam Adesina in the governorship election on April 26.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the Oluyole Vanguard and signed by its secretary, Miss Abimbola Alabi.
The Ibadan-based organisation said the people of Ibadanland would not forget how Alhaji Adesina, his wife and their children, especially, Dapo, oppressed the youth of Ibadanland with their sudden wealth between 1999 and 2003 when their father was governor of Oyo State.
The group said the ACN governorship candidate, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Alhaji Lam Adesina, his wife, Alhaja Sarat, all hailed from Ibadan North-East/South-East federal constituency, noting that for people of this constituency to reject Lam Adesina’s son in the election, showed that they were not popular, that the people will take their own pound of flesh in the governorship election.
The Oluyole Vanguard wanted the people of Ibadanland to vote for the Akala/Arapaja ticket because Ibadanland has witnessed tremendous development since Governor Alao-Akala got to power in 2007.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the Oluyole Vanguard and signed by its secretary, Miss Abimbola Alabi.
The Ibadan-based organisation said the people of Ibadanland would not forget how Alhaji Adesina, his wife and their children, especially, Dapo, oppressed the youth of Ibadanland with their sudden wealth between 1999 and 2003 when their father was governor of Oyo State.
The group said the ACN governorship candidate, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Alhaji Lam Adesina, his wife, Alhaja Sarat, all hailed from Ibadan North-East/South-East federal constituency, noting that for people of this constituency to reject Lam Adesina’s son in the election, showed that they were not popular, that the people will take their own pound of flesh in the governorship election.
The Oluyole Vanguard wanted the people of Ibadanland to vote for the Akala/Arapaja ticket because Ibadanland has witnessed tremendous development since Governor Alao-Akala got to power in 2007.
Corps members threaten to withdraw from elections in Delta
Written by Sylvester IdowuTuesday, 12 April 2011
Some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving as electoral officers in Delta State have threatened to withdraw their services in subsequent elections in the ongoing general election because of the ugly experiences they encountered during last Saturday’s National Assembly election in the state.
Those who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune recounted their experiences, saying they were harassed and humiliated during the conduct of the exercise by thugs and some political youth leaders for their resolve not to compromise and dance to their tune.
Incidentally, some of them succumbed to intimidation to save their lives by allowing the youth leaders in some wards in Uvwie Local Government Area who allegedly forced the electorate to vote for the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area.
A female youth corps member, who preferred to be anonymous, lamented to the Nigerian Tribune that she was thoroughly beaten and her skirt torn to shreds at one of the units in the local government area for refusing to cooperate with some political leaders in the area.
”Some political leaders in the unit I served in Uvwie said I should allow them take the election materials into a room to thumb print but I refused. I insisted that the people must be allowed to vote.
“They became angry and descended on me. The policemen looked the other way apparently signifying that they had compromised. They eventually snatched the materials and ran only to return later with stuffed ballot boxes. What could I alone do?” she said.
Another youth corps member who served at one of the units in Ward 8 in Warri South Local Government Area of the state, said he was threatened severally and had to compromise by allowing the youth and political leaders dictate the process of the election.
“They were all over me, threatening that they would kill me and nothing would happen. They said the worst was that nobody will know who kill me because no investigations had been conclusively conducted in the cases of those that had been killed in the process of this election,” he said.
According to most of the corps members spoken to, their resolve was to withdraw from the exercise and allow indigenes conduct the election the way they wanted and would not sacrifice their lives for nothing.
A top security officer confirmed the experiences of the corps members in the field, noting that majority of them had one tale or the other to recount and that reports to that effect had been forwarded to appropriate quarters.
Those who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune recounted their experiences, saying they were harassed and humiliated during the conduct of the exercise by thugs and some political youth leaders for their resolve not to compromise and dance to their tune.
Incidentally, some of them succumbed to intimidation to save their lives by allowing the youth leaders in some wards in Uvwie Local Government Area who allegedly forced the electorate to vote for the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area.
A female youth corps member, who preferred to be anonymous, lamented to the Nigerian Tribune that she was thoroughly beaten and her skirt torn to shreds at one of the units in the local government area for refusing to cooperate with some political leaders in the area.
”Some political leaders in the unit I served in Uvwie said I should allow them take the election materials into a room to thumb print but I refused. I insisted that the people must be allowed to vote.
“They became angry and descended on me. The policemen looked the other way apparently signifying that they had compromised. They eventually snatched the materials and ran only to return later with stuffed ballot boxes. What could I alone do?” she said.
Another youth corps member who served at one of the units in Ward 8 in Warri South Local Government Area of the state, said he was threatened severally and had to compromise by allowing the youth and political leaders dictate the process of the election.
“They were all over me, threatening that they would kill me and nothing would happen. They said the worst was that nobody will know who kill me because no investigations had been conclusively conducted in the cases of those that had been killed in the process of this election,” he said.
According to most of the corps members spoken to, their resolve was to withdraw from the exercise and allow indigenes conduct the election the way they wanted and would not sacrifice their lives for nothing.
A top security officer confirmed the experiences of the corps members in the field, noting that majority of them had one tale or the other to recount and that reports to that effect had been forwarded to appropriate quarters.
It’s early to applaud INEC – Fashola
Written by Shola AdekolaTuesday, 12 April 2011
THE Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has said it is too early to applaud the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the National Assembly election held on Saturday, saying that subsequent elections will determine if the electoral body has, indeed, done well.
Fashola, while speaking with journalists at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on Monday, called on people to come out en masse to vote during the presidential election on Saturday.
“I think that people have not participated enough. We need more of the voters out; this is a defining opportunity for choice and change, therefore, I expect and appeal to all citizens to come out and vote massively for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Fasola likened the election of Saturday to an aircraft which took off and made a safe landing inspite of turbulence, adding that the nation was ready for the second take-off now and hoped that the second and third take-off would be trouble-free.
The governor said the ACN had addressed housing, agriculture, and other policies that were common generic social welfa-rism, adding that the ACN had a robust policy on agriculture and housing to create large economic opportunities.
Fashola, while speaking with journalists at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on Monday, called on people to come out en masse to vote during the presidential election on Saturday.
“I think that people have not participated enough. We need more of the voters out; this is a defining opportunity for choice and change, therefore, I expect and appeal to all citizens to come out and vote massively for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Fasola likened the election of Saturday to an aircraft which took off and made a safe landing inspite of turbulence, adding that the nation was ready for the second take-off now and hoped that the second and third take-off would be trouble-free.
The governor said the ACN had addressed housing, agriculture, and other policies that were common generic social welfa-rism, adding that the ACN had a robust policy on agriculture and housing to create large economic opportunities.
IMF predicts robust growth for sub-Saharan Africa’s economy
Written by Odidison OmankhanlenTuesday, 12 April 2011
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday said sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will enjoy robust growth this year and in 2012, but urged monetary authorities to watch out for inflation from rising commodity prices.
In its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF, however, cautioned that political turmoil in countries like Ivory Coast could dampen growth, while a sharper-than-expected pick-up in food and energy prices could affect the region’s oil importing economies.
It kept its 2011 gross domestic product growth forecast for the region at 5.5 per cent and modestly raised its estimate for next year to 5.9 per cent from 5.8 per cent.
“Narrowing output gaps, alongside an incipient rekindling of inflation pressures by rising commodity prices, mean that policies to support demand are no longer appropriate except in a handful of economies.
“The focus of fiscal policy should, therefore, turn to medium-term priorities, while monetary policy needs to be increasingly alert to the inflation outlook,” the IMF said.
It said while authorities needed to guard against inflation from rising commodity prices, they also need to consider targeted social safety nets to cushion the urban poor from the high food costs.
It noted further that growth this year and in 2012 would largely be driven by low income countries such as Ghana and Ethiopia, with oil exporters like Nigeria and Angola also lending support.
The region’s economic powerhouse, South Africa will trail behind, with growth forecast at 3.5 percent this year and 3.8 per cent in 2012 — insufficient to reverse the substantial job losses of the past two years, the IMF noted.
South Africa and other middle income countries in the region, whose output remained below potential, had room to continue with accommodative monetary policies, it said.
The South African Reserve Bank left its benchmark repo rate at 5.5 percent this month, after slashing borrowing costs by 650 basis points between December 2008 and December 2010.
In its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF, however, cautioned that political turmoil in countries like Ivory Coast could dampen growth, while a sharper-than-expected pick-up in food and energy prices could affect the region’s oil importing economies.
It kept its 2011 gross domestic product growth forecast for the region at 5.5 per cent and modestly raised its estimate for next year to 5.9 per cent from 5.8 per cent.
“Narrowing output gaps, alongside an incipient rekindling of inflation pressures by rising commodity prices, mean that policies to support demand are no longer appropriate except in a handful of economies.
“The focus of fiscal policy should, therefore, turn to medium-term priorities, while monetary policy needs to be increasingly alert to the inflation outlook,” the IMF said.
It said while authorities needed to guard against inflation from rising commodity prices, they also need to consider targeted social safety nets to cushion the urban poor from the high food costs.
It noted further that growth this year and in 2012 would largely be driven by low income countries such as Ghana and Ethiopia, with oil exporters like Nigeria and Angola also lending support.
The region’s economic powerhouse, South Africa will trail behind, with growth forecast at 3.5 percent this year and 3.8 per cent in 2012 — insufficient to reverse the substantial job losses of the past two years, the IMF noted.
South Africa and other middle income countries in the region, whose output remained below potential, had room to continue with accommodative monetary policies, it said.
The South African Reserve Bank left its benchmark repo rate at 5.5 percent this month, after slashing borrowing costs by 650 basis points between December 2008 and December 2010.
DPP supporters protest at police headquarters in Asaba
Written by Alphonsus AgborhTuesday, 12 April 2011
SCORES of Democratic People’s Party (DPP) members in Delta State, on Monday, stormed the police headquarters in Asaba, protesting the conduct of the senatorial and House of Representatives election in Ika North-East constituency of the state.
Led by the Delta North senatorial candidate of the party, Ned Nwoko and other chieftains, the protesters were angered by the abduction of the returning officer in the area, Dr O. G. Avwiozo and the alleged replacement of youth corps members assigned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the election with fake corps members.
They threatened to boycott other elections if the result of the senatorial zone as announced by Professor (Mrs) Ebele Egwuyanga, the INEC returning officer, was not cancelled.
In the result, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 98,140 votes to defeat Nwoko of DPP, who got 67,985 votes.
However, Dr Avwiozo, the returning officer for Ika North-East, told reporters at the police headquarters that he signed the result under duress.
“I was under pressure to sign. If a gun is pointed at you, what is important is to save your life,” he said.
According to him, he was rescued from his abductors by policemen, adding that a chieftain of PDP replaced the youth corps members posted to the area and brought in fake ones as electoral officers.
Following the protest, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Adisa Bolanta, called for a meeting which was attended by the abducted returning officer and candidates in the election.
Speaking with reporters, Nwoko wondered why INEC should keep mute when its returning officer was abducted, demanding that the election in the area be cancelled.
Led by the Delta North senatorial candidate of the party, Ned Nwoko and other chieftains, the protesters were angered by the abduction of the returning officer in the area, Dr O. G. Avwiozo and the alleged replacement of youth corps members assigned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the election with fake corps members.
They threatened to boycott other elections if the result of the senatorial zone as announced by Professor (Mrs) Ebele Egwuyanga, the INEC returning officer, was not cancelled.
In the result, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 98,140 votes to defeat Nwoko of DPP, who got 67,985 votes.
However, Dr Avwiozo, the returning officer for Ika North-East, told reporters at the police headquarters that he signed the result under duress.
“I was under pressure to sign. If a gun is pointed at you, what is important is to save your life,” he said.
According to him, he was rescued from his abductors by policemen, adding that a chieftain of PDP replaced the youth corps members posted to the area and brought in fake ones as electoral officers.
Following the protest, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Adisa Bolanta, called for a meeting which was attended by the abducted returning officer and candidates in the election.
Speaking with reporters, Nwoko wondered why INEC should keep mute when its returning officer was abducted, demanding that the election in the area be cancelled.
Jonathan/Sambo,best presidential ticket- Oni
Written by Sam Nwaoko, Ado EkitiTuesday, 12 April 2011
Segun Oni
Erstwhile governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, recently addressed journalists at his home in Ifaki-Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state. Oni, who spoke mainly on the coming presidential election, weighed the options available to Nigerians and how the Ekiti people would vote in the election. Sam Nwaoko brings the excerpts:
SIR, as the leader of the party in Ekiti State, what should we expect from the people of Ekiti, as regards the re-election bid of President Jonathan?
The president, by the grace of the Almighty God, will score a minimum of seventy per cent here in Ekiti State. We have done our work and I believe that the terrain, from what we have seen, will continue to be very, very receptive to the re-election of the president. So, we don’t have any doubt whatsoever and the PDP, the platform on which the president and the vice-president are running as candidate and running mate continue to be very, very solid and united here. Therefore, we do not envisage any problems and we believe they will secure a minimum of seventy per cent of the votes.
The president, by the grace of the Almighty God, will score a minimum of seventy per cent here in Ekiti State. We have done our work and I believe that the terrain, from what we have seen, will continue to be very, very receptive to the re-election of the president. So, we don’t have any doubt whatsoever and the PDP, the platform on which the president and the vice-president are running as candidate and running mate continue to be very, very solid and united here. Therefore, we do not envisage any problems and we believe they will secure a minimum of seventy per cent of the votes.
How do you see the opposition your party’s candidates are up to? The thinking is that the PDP should be whittled down, cut to size kind of… There are also strong allusions to North/South dichotomy in the run up to this presidential election. How do you see the kind of opposition the president is up against?
Let us face the facts; the PDP has political infrastructure everywhere. The PDP’s position is a minimum of number two in any state in Nigeria. In any state of the country, the PDP is a minimum of number two, that means where it is not number one, it is number two and it is the only party that is present in the top two all around the country. You cannot find it in number three in any state of Nigeria. There is no other party like that. That would show you, first, that the president is running on a platform that has credible infrastructure, credible platform that is acceptable all over the country.
Let us face the facts; the PDP has political infrastructure everywhere. The PDP’s position is a minimum of number two in any state in Nigeria. In any state of the country, the PDP is a minimum of number two, that means where it is not number one, it is number two and it is the only party that is present in the top two all around the country. You cannot find it in number three in any state of Nigeria. There is no other party like that. That would show you, first, that the president is running on a platform that has credible infrastructure, credible platform that is acceptable all over the country.
When people try to bring issues of tribe, which is very unfortunate and which I believe we should be getting away from, I see them as not being realistic. Also, because the people would vote their parties, I can’t see the likelihood of compromise being so significant anywhere in the country. People will vote their parties and the president will win. By my own projection, we will win hands down in not less than 22 states and in the rest where he is not winning outright, we will be at least number two. I believe that the president will garner sixty to sixty-five per cent of the total votes.
When people talk of the possibility of a run-off, I always tell them that it is not likely because a party that will win elections in about 22 of the 36 states will also be able to add 25 to 49 per cent to make up for whatever and, of course, the PDP will have the majority. We are going to have more than 60 per cent at the minimum. The others would now struggle to share the rest. So, the PDP will win hands down.
Is your confidence based on the strength of the candidates or the strength of the party or a combination of both?
It is based on the combination of both. Don’t forget that the candidates we are talking about are incumbent. People have seen them and they know what they represent. And the candidates we are talking about are very credible men. I haven’t seen people talking in ways that would impugn on their credibility, their sense of honesty, sense of patriotism, sense of truthfulness and so on. So, everybody agreed that these men are some of the best that Nigeria can put forward. They also have outstanding educational qualifications and experience.
It is based on the combination of both. Don’t forget that the candidates we are talking about are incumbent. People have seen them and they know what they represent. And the candidates we are talking about are very credible men. I haven’t seen people talking in ways that would impugn on their credibility, their sense of honesty, sense of patriotism, sense of truthfulness and so on. So, everybody agreed that these men are some of the best that Nigeria can put forward. They also have outstanding educational qualifications and experience.
Of course, you can’t have experience that would beat somebody currently on the job because even if you were on the job 20-30 years ago, it is no longer exactly the same environment. So, you cannot have better experience than somebody who is there right now. And in terms of their paper qualifications, you can’t get higher than a PhD or higher than a registered architect. If you are a professional, you want to be registered in your profession and Architecture is one of the most respectable professions we still have in this country.
So, we have men of pedigree who are qualified all round and their personalities remain untainted. So, we have two excellent people, two enviable people running on the platform of the PDP and the PDP itself controls more than two thirds of the states of the federation. Where the PDP is not in power like in Ekiti State here, you can see that the PDP is a party of the majority irrespective of what happens in the law court and that is why it is without doubt that the people would see that the presence of the PDP is not diminished.
The PDP and the candidacy of the president and the vice-president combined together are so formidable that you can’t have anything better.
The media have created different scenarios, just as leanings seem to have emerged in the build-up to the presidential election. Propaganda has set in with attacks on persons rather than issues and so on. So, how do you see the media in this struggle so far?
It is very unfortunate, what we have seen in the Nigerian media in most recent times. When we were about to have a re-run in Ekiti, there was nothing they didn’t call me. People who have never been to Ekiti were talking about Ido/osi being one town or one village, ‘the sleepy town of Ido/Osi.’ Yet, this is a local government that has 13 towns and villages. People who had never been there wrote articles that were, of course, solicited, motivated by other means. So, I won’t be surprised if the same set of people are using the media now again to run down the candidacy of the president and the vice -president.
It is very unfortunate, what we have seen in the Nigerian media in most recent times. When we were about to have a re-run in Ekiti, there was nothing they didn’t call me. People who have never been to Ekiti were talking about Ido/osi being one town or one village, ‘the sleepy town of Ido/Osi.’ Yet, this is a local government that has 13 towns and villages. People who had never been there wrote articles that were, of course, solicited, motivated by other means. So, I won’t be surprised if the same set of people are using the media now again to run down the candidacy of the president and the vice -president.
I want to say very clearly that this propaganda is not significant enough to destroy the potency of truth. Truth will always be there and the truth will always triumph, no matter what you say. The realities on he ground will remain the realities on the ground. I just want to advise that the press does not lead itself into premature irrelevance by being led by the way of falsehood always to stand against what is obvious, what is clear and so on. I say this because by the time they do it three, four, five, six times repeatedly, they would go into premature irrelevance. I think the press must take caution and they have to know that propaganda would not substitute for the truth.
Sir, the presidential campaign has emphasised so much on the youth in the run up to this election. So much has been done in the area of social media, the face book, the internet, the ‘Bring Back the Book’ initiative and so many other programmes. Against this, the allocation for education was increased in the last budget. How do you see the promises that have been made and the president’s fulfilling them?
I get worried when people talk about budget for so and so; the percentages and so on. What we should be addressing are the realities on the ground. What have they done? What are their achievements, credible milestones? The budget is not more than a paper document. What has the president done and what is he likely to do? It is going to be on record, for example, that this man created more universities than anybody else because by the time he finishes what he is doing now, he would have created more universities than any government. That is already a plus and that is investment in the future because education signposts the future and there would be other things.
I get worried when people talk about budget for so and so; the percentages and so on. What we should be addressing are the realities on the ground. What have they done? What are their achievements, credible milestones? The budget is not more than a paper document. What has the president done and what is he likely to do? It is going to be on record, for example, that this man created more universities than anybody else because by the time he finishes what he is doing now, he would have created more universities than any government. That is already a plus and that is investment in the future because education signposts the future and there would be other things.
I don’t want to judge by the figures of the budget. I want to judge by realities, by milestones, by achievements. Having nine more universities already show confidence in the future of this country. Whatever is put in the budget is not going to make me happy or unhappy or apprehensive. What will determine my own appreciation of the level of investment we are ready to make in education is what happens thereafter.
Sir, were you to be on the campaign podium of the president, what would you tell Nigerians, what would your advice be or what would you want them to do?
I’m on the campaign podium in Ekiti, don’t forget, and I was on the campaign podium when the president declared in Abuja and my message is still the same.
I’m on the campaign podium in Ekiti, don’t forget, and I was on the campaign podium when the president declared in Abuja and my message is still the same.
This is an opportunity for us to move Nigeria forward; this is a team whose chemistry works very well together.
The president and the vice-president and their team are in touch with especially the young people and they are determined to build a bridge from where we are now and where we are supposed to be. Let us give them the chance to lead Nigeria to the Promised Land. That has always been my belief. We have never had as good a team as we have now. I’m saying this not with the intention of running down any team that has run Nigeria, but you can see that it is God’s work that we have these people at this particular time and I think what Nigerians should do is to let us see the extent to which they can move Nigeria forward.
Nigeria is not doing badly; I’m always saying it. I’m one of those who believe that Nigeria has done fairly well. But when you hear the opposition, they would say it hasn’t done well and I always ask a question: If Nigeria hasn’t done well, has Lagos State done well? Is Lagos not a state? Is it not a government? Has it done well, has it been able to eradicate slums? Has it been able to make education available to everybody everywhere in Lagos in very, very impeccable environments? Has it been able to make health care services perfect? Every party that has an opportunity of running a local government in this country cannot complain about the Federal Government not doing enough because if you haven’t turned your local government or your state government into the Utopia we are talking about, don’t talk.
Nigeria hasn’t done badly; what we need now is to move it further forward and I know that this team will do a remarkable work of moving Nigeria forward. So, this is our best chance, our best opportunity. I am not trying to take anything away from any candidate or any combination of candidates but I know very much without mincing words that Goodluck/Sambo is the best tag team we’ve had and they should allow them to deliver.
How election day fared in Nasarawa
Written by Leon Usigbe Chris Agbambu and Biola AzeezTuesday, 12 April 2011
Professor Attahiru Jega
Leon Usigbe was in Nasarawa State to monitor last Saturday’s election into the National Assembly. In this report, he gives an eyewitness account of the
proceeding in the state.
proceeding in the state.
LIKE in most states of the federation, the people of Nasarawa State came out in their thousands to exercise their franchise in the National Assembly election last Saturday. The state had been regarded as a potential trouble spot in view of the heat generated there by politicians in the run up to the election.
Nasarawa State has been under the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the mass defection to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) by important PDP members, following their disagreement with the PDP hierarchy over party election tickets; ensured that the stage was set for a stiff political battle between followers of both parties. But the much anticipated violence or breach of peace never materialised as the election passed off peacefully in almost every part of the state.
It was observed that as early as 7am, prospective voters thronged the various polling booths, eager to be accredited to cast their votes for their preferred candidates. There was little doubt that they believed in and wanted to take advantage of the much trumpeted campaign by President Goodluck Jonathan for a free, fair and credible election this time where every man and woman’s vote would count.
The people heeded the advice to be patient and orderly in most places, as they waited for the arrival of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), especially in places where the election officials delayed in arrival.
The security arrangement appeared to be good in the areas visited. Gun-totting security agents were not too visible but showed enough presence to deter potential trouble makers. Even for the policemen charged with the responsibility of enforcing the restriction order on movement, they were not armed and appeared to be under the instruction not to attest defaulting vehicles but to deflate their tires and render them immobile. In some cases, policemen seized ignition keys of motorists and motorcyclists who broke the rule.
Though the accreditation was slow to take off in many polling centres, the process was smooth on a general scale in the state and voters recognised the need to help the process to succeed by behaving in a civil manner, as required by the electoral authority.
However, there were a few incidents which threatened to mar the day in Nasarawa State. The arrest of PDP chairman in Nasarawa in Eggon Local Government, Jacob Ali, for allegedly being in possession of electoral materials was part of the highlights of the conduct of the National Assembly elections in the state. The PDP chairman was nabbed in Ube in Nasarawa Eggon following reports received by security agents that indicated that he was in possession of the materials. He was said to have been subsequently paraded through the streets of the town before being whisked away to an unknown destination.
However, he was later released, when further investigation revealed that he did not have voting materials as had been spuriously alleged.
Seven other persons were arrested in Giza Ward of Keana Local government Area of the state for being found to be with a total of nine ballot boxes in a private house. They were said to have taken the ballot boxes to the home of a top civil servant in the state where they allegedly hoped to stuff them with ballot papers in an apparent bid to enhance the chances of their candidate. The suspects were still in police custody at the time of this report as the State Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Obiakor, who confirmed the arrest, said investigation was still going on.
Another low point in the exercise in Nasarawa State was the unrestricted involvement of clearly underage voters in some parts of the state, especially the barely accessible interior villages.
In Akwanga, many underage persons lined up to vote unhindered in polling stations, especially in areas around Bayan Dutse. Some of them, from estimates, were not more than 13 years old but have valid registration cards which were kept in the custody of their parents who were even excited to display the cards to the Nigerian Tribune.
In Akwanga, many underage persons lined up to vote unhindered in polling stations, especially in areas around Bayan Dutse. Some of them, from estimates, were not more than 13 years old but have valid registration cards which were kept in the custody of their parents who were even excited to display the cards to the Nigerian Tribune.
While accreditation commenced early in many places, INEC officials failed to report on time in some polling units, thereby delaying the take off of the exercise. For instance, no officials were available in Buku centre in Akwanga East until about 12noon, when actual voting was supposed to have started. Head of INEC team at the centre, Charles Udoh, blamed their late arrival to the area on the late distribution of voting materials at the Akwanga zonal office of the INEC.
There was low turnout of voters in Wanba Local Government Area where it was also observed that government officials distributed cash at Ungwar Rimi polling stations in an audacious bid to induce voters.
Doma, which is the home local government of Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma, also recorded low turnout, even though officials were confident that voters would appear on a last minute rush.
Doma, which is the home local government of Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma, also recorded low turnout, even though officials were confident that voters would appear on a last minute rush.
There were other hitches such as the failure by the INEC to provide all necessary materials such as quality indelible ink and polling booths in some areas. It was observed that polling booths were not provided in Kagbu 1 polling stations which left the voters to cast their vote on bare tables in the full glare of other people. There was confusion in the station when an attempt was made by a concerned citizen to provide a shield for the voting table to preserve the secrecy of the ballot, but some angry voters protested and the idea was hastily abandoned.
However, incumbent Senator Patricia Akwashiki who voted in the area told the Nigerian Tribune that the exercise was performed under a peaceful atmosphere. According to her, "when somebody volunteered to provide a screen for the voting table, others protested and so, they left it because any small thing can cause some problems. I'm just looking because I am just a candidate.”
The only result available from the state at the time of this report came from Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency where according to the Returning Officer, Martins Chiroma, the candidate of the CPC, Dr Kigbu Joseph, polled a total of 100, 783 votes to beat his nearest rival, Mohammed AlmaKura of the PDP who mustered 33, 140 votes.
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