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The kidnapped
mother of Delta Central Senatorial Candidate in the April polls on
platform of the PDP, Ighoyota Amori, has been released.

The
Ninety-six-year old Obereyibo Amori was abducted Thursday last week at
Ugokpa, Mosogar in Ethiope West Local Government Area. A family source
said her captors dropped her at about 4pm on Monday in front of the
country home of Mr Amori in Mosogar.

The source, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, said no ransom was paid for the
release of Mrs Amori whose freedom from her captors threw the Mosogar
community into celebration. It was also gathered that she was not
harmed by the kidnappers, just as our source also said that she was
well taken care.

The source said her captors took her in a speedboat to a swamp, where she was kept before her release.

Ethiope West
Council Chairman, Wilson Omene in a telephone chat yesterday confirmed
the release and expressed gratitude to God that the old woman was not
hurt by those who abducted her.

The kidnappers had
allegedly demanded that Mr Amori drop from the senatorial race and also
pay the sum of N100 million before setting eyes on his mother again.

The wife of the
Nigerian president, Patience Jonathan, on Wednesday night, played host
to female candidates totaling 809, who made the Independent Electoral
Commission’s (INEC) list for the 2011 general elections at the banquet
hall of the presidential villa, Abuja.

In what was
described as unprecedented by her aides, Mrs. Jonathan held a dialogue
session with the female candidates who have won party primaries across
all the parties, the first by any First Lady in Nigeria.

Candidates from
PDP, CPC, APGA, ACN and other parties were present at the event. An
elated Mrs. Jonathan urged the female governorship aspirants to forge
close alliances with their deputies, either male or female, adding that
they must begin to understand that they are running as a team.

“Because I
understand the seed of cooperation, I never had problem with my
governor’s wife as a deputy governor’s wife, nor with the wife of the
president as the vice president’s wife. You have to be patient to get
to where you want in life,” Mrs. Jonathan said.

“I am pleased to
see that compared to years before now, many women have taken the bold
steps to contest. This is as a result of our campaign on the Women for
Change and Development,”she added.

She further
admitted that politics is still dominated by men, adding that “we need
to encourage our men to encourage gender balance.”

She also noted that
many bills sponsored by women in the National Assembly were thrown out
in the past because few supported it, saying her prayer was that there
should be more women lawmakers after the April polls.

“Women are the
largest voters in elections. It is, therefore, important that we use
our large numbers to our advantage in the forthcoming elections,” she
said.

Mrs. Jonathan said
it is regretable that Nigerian women currently occupy only 8.3 per cent
elective positions, though she admitted this figure is still an
improvement from previous years where women were not even considered.

“Since the campaign
started nine months ago, four states have approved 35 per cent
affirmative action, while one has approved 30 per cent and you are all
aware President Jonathan has promised 35 per cent if voted in,” she
said.

“I am aware you
will face many challenges like striking a balance between family and
politics, resistance from menfolk, and dominance of men in the
political sphere. I urge you to remain strong and focused,” she
appealed.

She then, through
her group, the Women for Change and Development Initiative, handed out
an undisclosed amount to the five female governorship aspirants, 88
women contesting for senatorial seats, 218 House of Representatives
aspirants, and 493 state Houses of Assembly.

“I will give you my
widow’s mite, no matter how small. Take it from me and my twin sister,
the wife of the vice president, Mrs. Sambo. It is not much, but it is
to encourage you. The little we have, take it with love and I wish you
success,” she said.

Standing with you

The wife of the vice president, Mrs. Sambo, congratulated the women.

“Women should not
forget where they come from when they win elections,” she said,
assuring the men that “our desire to contribute our quota is not to
compete with you, neither to take your positions and therefore, we urge
you to provide a level playing field for all.”

The national
coordinator of Women for Change and Development Initiative, Chidinma
Uwajumogu, described the women as fighters who succeeded where angels
failed to tread. She said the goal of the initiative is to empower
women politically and economically.

“(Mrs Jonathan) did say those who succeeded at the primaries would
have funds available to them to ensure they can fund their campaign
expenses. She believes her support and the fact that she is standing
behind you will move your vision forward. Today, the president has
promised us 35 per cent representation,” Ms. Uwajumogu said.

An aide to Chris
Ngige, a former governor of Anambra State, was yesterday arrested by
the police in the state over the illegal possession of election
materials belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC).

Kingsley Ezenwenyi
was arrested in his hotel room in Awka shortly after he visited the
commission’s office to copy the deployment list of electoral officers
released last Monday.

His activities drew
the attention of State Security Services officers attached to the
commission. He was trailed to his hotel in the outskirts of Awka where
he was discovered to be in possession of materials including election
result sheets and was promptly arrested.

A police source
said only three people were in the hotel – two males and one female –
and all were said to be members of the Action Congress of Nigeria.

The materials said
to be in his possession, according to the publicity secretary of INEC,
Frank Egbo include: Form EC8 A with serial number 01008997 (original
and duplicate copies), sixty copies of original Form EC8(R) which are
for publication of results of poll, 56 copies of Form EC8(B) which are
summaries of results from polling stations and collation of
Registration Area Level.

Illegal possession

The source said
when the suspect was asked to explain how he came to possess the
materials, he claimed he was working for INEC as a consultant to train
members of the ACN for the election.

But Mr Egbo said Mr Ezenwenyi was not working for the commission.

“He already has
result sheets for pasting results and it means his own results would
have been ready for publication before the conclusion of voting on
election day and if he does that, you know the kind of confusion that
would cause,” Mr Egbo said.

The spokesperson for the police, Emeka Chukwuemeka confirmed Mr. Ezenwenyi’s arrest.

“He was illegally
in possession of election materials,” Mr Chukwuemeka said, adding that
an investigation has been launched into the matter.

The spokesperson
for the ACN, Okelo Madukife, claimed ignorance of the development,
saying he would investigate the matter before talking further on it.

“How can I talk about what I don’t know? Let me ask a few questions. I don’t know what to say,” Mr Madukife said.

Solomon Lar, the
first chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, on Wednesday, joined
the struggle for the political front of northern Nigeria and declared
the entire region was “solidly” behind the incumbent.

He said the talks
of an impending northern alliance against President Goodluck Jonathan
only exists in the imagination of its protagonists and has no relevance
within the northern electorate.

Mr Lar made these
claims while briefing reporters in Abuja. He alleged the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)
have bandied about the idea of a northern consensus candidate amongst
them ahead of the Presidential election.

Opposition’s
tactics “I consider this defeatist attitude as a sign of surrender and
admitting that Nigerians have rejected their politics of ethnic and
religious bigotry,” Mr Lar said. “These same parties are behind the
often repeated insinuation that President Jonathan may not win the
presidential election on the first run and may be forced to a re-run.”
Ahead of the presidential elections, all the top contenders have
fruitlessly worked hard to get a united endorsement from the northern
region which is contributing three frontline contenders in the race.

The Northern
Elders’ Forum which had put up a failed support for a consensus
candidate at the PDP presidential primaries has since the January
primaries remained silent on further endorsements, even for the
incumbent who is a member of their party.

Mr Lar, a strong
supporter of the incumbent said the scenario that played out during the
primaries – where the incumbent won without the endorsement of the
northern elders – will be repeated at the April polls.

“I wish to state
unequivocally and to reassure Nigerians that all region including the
North are solidly behind President Jonathan and will massively vote for
him in April polls.

“For the avoidance
of doubt, we the founding fathers of our new democracy and leaders who
fought for the country’s independence will not allow our cherish unity
to be compromised for personal or selfish ends.

“I therefore, call
on Nigerians to disregard any resort to ethnic coordinates as an act of
political anachronism designed to halt our political progress and march
to the promised land,” Mr Lar added.

The Akwa Ibom State
government yesterday said it has filed an application for the review of
the recent Supreme Court judgment asking it to cede 86 oil wells to
neighbouring Rivers State.

The state’s
governor, Godswill Akpabio, said yesterday in a broadcast to the people
that a careful and exhaustive study of the apex court’s verdict has
convinced his government that the judgment was given in error, and
should be reviewed.

According to Mr.
Akpabio, at the inception of his administration, the state had written
to late President Umaru Yar’Adua to protest the injustice in a
controversial political solution transferring some oil wells belonging
to the Akwa Ibom to Rivers. As a way out, President Yar’Adua reportedly
referred the petition to a committee of government agencies, consisting
of the National Boundary Commission (NBC), Office of the Surveyor
General of the Federation, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)
and the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC),
which recommended that the affected oil wells be returned to Akwa Ibom,
the original owners.

NEXT gathered that
the recommendation attracted a legal challenge by the Rivers State
government, which took the matter before the Supreme Court to protest
the return of the oil wells to Akwa Ibom.

Mr. Akpabio, who
expressed dismay at some sections of the judgment he described as
“deeply troubling to Akwa Ibom people,” saying the terms of the
judgment asking the state to pay Rivers State about N350 billion
(interests inclusive) was “outrageous, regrettable and totally false”
since the state hardly earned up to N350 billion from over 980 oil
wells attributed to Akwa Ibom State since April 2009.

Mr. Akpabio pointed
out that what the state is owing is for revenues collected from the
exploitation of the 86 oil wells for 22 months between April 2009 and
February 2011, against what the Rivers government’s is owing for
revenue collected for over 40 months between January, 2005 and March,
2009.

“Even if this
judgment were to subsist, it is Rivers State government, which would be
obligated to make refunds to Akwa Ibom State after the reconciliation
of accounts. This is because when the political solution referred to by
the eminent judges of the Supreme Court was brokered in 2006 by the
then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, revenue from the 172 oil wells
earlier arbitrarily taken from Akwa Ibom State by Rivers State were to
be shared on a fifty-fifty basis between both states as from 2005.
However, Rivers State kept the 172 oil wells and collected all the
revenue there-from and all the revenue that accrued from the 172 oil
wells from January, 2005 to March, 2009,” the governor argued.

Leaving the Iddo
train station in Lagos at 9.35 a.m. and over seven hours later, a train
arrived at Ibadan, Oyo State, for the first time in three years. The
journey is a test run and the Nigerian Railway Corporation says that
the speed will improve in the coming days.

Cheering crowds
lined the route applauding, saying “welcome back’ and asking “is it for
the people?,” wondering whether it has come to stay.

David Ndanusa,
assistant director, public relations, for the corporation, said the
full commercialisation of rail transportation will begin in the next
three months.

Mr. Ndanusa added
that the free test ride will continue for the next one week, thereby
putting rail transportation on the path to becoming the biggest means
of transportation in the country.

He said the trip
was initially planned to span between Lagos and Ilorin because the rail
tracks have been fully fixed between the two ends, but it was cut short
to Ibadan due to faults discovered on some parts of the rail tracks.

The corporation has
been rendering services to companies like Lafarge Cement Company,
Oando, and others, adding, “We are ready to start giving good services
to Nigerians. This government has been very supportive and we are also
ready to live up to expectation. The track from Lagos to Jebba is ready
and very soon the link to Kano will be ready for commercial use too.

“It is cheaper and
more accessible and as you can see, we have security outfits and there
is a police command headed by a commissioner of police.

“When I first
joined Nigeria Railway Corporation, we were almost 37,000 passengers’
capacity, but we are now 6,000,” Mr. Ndanusa said.

Most of the
passengers were, however, happy for the return of the train, calling on
the government to do more and not only limit it to just refurbishing
the old coaches and throw them at the public.

“Actually, it is an
experience, but it is not a good one in that the system is still as bad
as I used to hear about the rail system. It (the coach) is not a good
one. They should take all these old ones out and bring in new ones,
that is what I can tell them,” says Ahmed Usman, a University of Lagos
student who was on the ride.

Timothy Oluwole,
who has been working with NRC since 1999, was the train driver. Mr.
Oluwole said, “Rail system is coming back in the country. What is left
to be worked on is just the rail tracks. The engine is new, it was
brought in from Brazil, every other thing is perfect, but the trip was
slow because we wanted to be careful with the track. You know, it is
not easy jumping into a place afresh and just move at the high speed.”

He expressed
happiness that he was chosen to drive the train, adding that the
federal government’s continuous investment into the system will bring
it back to stay.

Disappointment too

Eniola Rowland saw
the train at Abeokuta and his excitement was palpable. “I am happy that
this is happening now. We are getting there. People can now bring their
load and send it through the train instead of using the trailers,” Mr.
Rowland said.

But there was
disappointment too. Babatunde Rasheed, a student of Kwara Polytechnic,
said he was excited when he saw the advert and looked forward to riding
the train back to school.

Mr. Rasheed was,
however, disappointed when he knew that the train will not be getting
to Ilorin again, but expressed willingness that he will be lucky next
time.

Also expressing his
displeasure, another passenger to Ilorin, Suraj Kazeem, said,
“Initially, they told us Jebba, later they said Ilorin, and now they
will just get to Ibadan and turn back. I just hope this will not be
their style of operation. They will have to sit tight and plan well
before telling the public,” Mr. Kazeem said.

The Akwa Ibom State
government has mandated security agents in the state to shoot at sight
anyone taking advantage of the political tension in the state to foment
trouble.

Governor Godswill
Akpabio revealed this yesterday in Uyo as a measure to check continuing
destruction of lives and property of people owing to the PDP-ACN clash
Tuesday which left scores of people dead and massive destruction of
properties in Uyo and Ikot Ekpene.

As at press time, more than 40 people were feared dead while properties worth millions of naira destroyed.

Explaining that the
state cannot be left in the hands of criminals and political thugs, he
said, “The president has called out all security agencies to comb the
nook and cranny of the state and we have advised security agencies to
shoot at sight anybody that wishes to promote criminality in the state.
We will not condone it.

“The federal
government of Nigeria and the state government will react to the
incident of yesterday (Tuesday). The perpetrators should be worried.
Every single person involved will be brought to book, no matter the
political connotation brought to this. This is no longer politics. You
cannot go and destroy over 800 cars, 500 Keke NAPEP, burn down all
sorts of buildings in place and kill people.

“What is happening
now in Akwa Ibom State for me is an organised attack on the people of
the state to create a state of fear and a state of insecurity. This is
part of the plan. They are also trying to see if they can provoke
ethnic rivalry so that it will look as if the various ethnic groups in
the state are fighting so that they will call for a state of emergence
like what is happening in Jos. But it is a foolishness of the part of
the planners because anybody who wants to contest election to rule a
people should not kill the same people,” he noted.

Day of violence

The clash between
the two parties stared from Ikot Ekpene and spread to Uyo when
supporters of the PDP allegedly tried to stop the campaign train of the
ACN gubernatorial candidate, John James Akpanudoedehe from entering
into Ikot Ekpene.

The effect was a
clash which resulted in the loss of lives and destruction of schools
and cars in the state secretariat as well as President Jonathan’s
campaign office within the Abak and Ikot Ekpene road axis.

The chairman of the
Action Congress of Nigeria in the state, Aniekan Akpan, described the
incident as an “unprovoked attack” and noted that it left “20 of our
members’ dead, 50 wounded, vehicles of various types and motorcycles
damaged.”

New Commissioner of
Police for the state command, Felix Uyanna, who arrived in the state on
the day of the clash, said that 51 suspects had been arrested in
connection with the crime said the “modus of the criminal operation and
the nature of the targets suggest a deliberate pattern in the execution
style of the criminals”.

He stated that the police will leverage on the development in ensuring that all those involved in the problem are prosecuted.