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Ahead of the 2012
gubernatorial election in Edo State, a faction of the Labour Party (LP)
has entered into a coalition with the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP)
and other political parties in order to challenge the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN)-led government at the polls.

A national leader
of the PPP, Solomon Edebiri, who disclosed this in Benin City over the
weekend shortly after a meeting with leaders of Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), ANPP and a faction of Labour Party in the
state, described both the ACN-led government and the PDP in the state
as “birds of the same feather.” “Our people have seen that while the
PDP ruined this state for over ten years which our people are still
suffering, the ACN government has become a military regime where only
one person dictates to all,” he said. “We are working on aligning with
all political parties to ensure that PDP and ACN do not come back to
power in Edo State. That is the idea. We want to be sure that the
people have a true progressive party.

He further
described PDP and ACN as ‘the same kind of wine in different bottles’,
saying politicians in both parties are the same. “You know they have
been decamping from PDP to ACN and from ACN to PDP. So, certainly our
people cannot take them very serious,” he said.

Not strong enough

Mr Edebiri said
opposition parties in the state have come to realise that none of them
can singly take on the ruling party because the resources cannot be
enough.

“So, we are therefore putting together a team of political groups to
form a very strong coalition to ensure that these people do not come
back in 2012,” he said. “We have to start it now by ensuring that we
have enough candidates from other political parties in the House of
Assembly in Edo State. And that is the essence of the various alliances
that we are putting together.” Mr Edebiri explained

The National
Universities Commission (NUC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with the Institute for Lasers, Photonics, and Biophotonics
(ILPB), United States of America for the development of an
international joint research centre for nanomedicine in some Nigerian
universities. According to details of the MOU, the first phase of the
initiative is to implement the program at NUC-selected universities
while the second phase will bring Nigerian researchers to train at ILPB
and equipment distributed to Nigerian universities. The MOU postulates
that by this time, there should be “global impact of research with
widespread implementation of quantum dots and other nanoparticles in
the fields of medical diagnosis and treatment.” The third stage, meant
to take place five to 10 years from now, will be defined by major
research focuses, sufficient funding, and effective personnel training
and the centre is expected to become a first-class research center not
only in Nigeria, but in the world.

The NUC appointed
Paras Prasad, a professor of chemistry and medicine with the University
of Buffalo (UB) and the executive director of the ILPB, as the head of
the joint research center.

“The two major
application areas are alternate energy and health care. We are applying
this merge of photonics, of light wave energy, for application in the
area of medicine called nanomedicine. The other, alternative energy
focuses primarily on solar energy harvesting,” he said.

Beneficial science

Folarin Erogbogbo,
leader of the Nigerian group and research assistant professor in cancer
nanotechnology, explained that the primary focus in Nigeria will be on
nanomedicine, which could be applied to disease diagnosis, treatment,
and delivery.

“Over here [at UB],
we’ve done some work that could be beneficial for the early detection
of cancer. However nanomedicine doesn’t end there,” Mr. Erogbogbo said.
“It could be used in other areas like malaria and AIDS research and so
on; obesity issues, as well.” Mr. Erogbogbo, one of the primary
promoters of this collaboration, identified Prasad’s propensity to work
with international researchers and noticed that UB did not have a
strong academic presence in Africa. “The joint research institution
would incite a lot of change in Nigeria… we’re bringing cutting edge
technology to Nigeria,” Mr. Erogbogbo boasted.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa,
the chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on the
Diaspora, was present to witness the signing of the MOU.

“We look forward to partnering with a world leader like UB that can
help us develop our scientific infrastructure. This is a bold step that
will go a long way toward the NUC’s vision for creating opportunities
in frontier areas of research and technology,” she said.

About 258 inmates of Gusau Medium Prison in Zamfara State have
completed studies in the recitation of the Holy Qur’an. Speaking at the
graduation ceremony on Sunday, the state’s prison controller, Abubakar
Falke, said most of the inmates spent between 9 and 12 years in the
prison. He said they were also trained in different trades, for them to
become self reliant after their jail terms. The controller, who said
that the Qur’anic recitation study was introduced to inculcate moral
behaviour in the inmates, added that 50 of them had indicated interest
to register with the National Open University.

He urged the state
government to pardon them because they had been rehabilitated and
acquired some skills to take care of themselves and urged the inmates
to be of good behaviour after serving their jail terms. In his remarks,
the state governor, Mahmud Shinkafi, directed the state attorney
general to review their files and advise the government accordingly.
Mr. Shinkafi commended the prison warders for introducing the
programme, which he said would go a long way in reducing the social
vices in the society. The wife of the state governor, Aisha Shinkafi,
donated some clothes and copies of the Holy Qur’an to each inmate. She
also gave N10,000 each to the 50 inmates who recorded outstanding
performance

It was like a drama
on Sunday morning, February 27,An Abuja bus driver yesterday
confiscated the shoe of a passenger at the Wuse Zone 4 Bus Stop.

The passenger, who
simply called himself Joshua, had boarded a Nyanya bus at Sky Memorial
Bus Stop, Wuse Zone 5 at about 9:15am yesterday.

According to Ralph
Okechukwu, who was one of the passengers in the bus, trouble started
when Joshua had insisted on paying N30 instead of the usual N40 for the
service rendered by the bus operator.

“To be sincere, the
driver is not to blame because the conductor called the fare for each
destination. The man did not approach either of them to tell them the
amount he has but he entered thinking that he can pay any amount.
However, when the passenger and the conductor began to exchange verbal
words, the driver came down from his seat, advanced to the passenger
and pulled off the right-leg shoe,” he said.

Although the
passenger did not make attempt to fight back, Mr Okechukwu said the bus
driver, in anger, threw the shoe into his vehicle and zoomed off.

Off with shoe

Mr Joshua however
said he was not aware of the said transport fare named by the
conductor. “The conductor did not tell me anything when I was entering
the bus. He was only lying,” he said.

Effort by the
passers-by to get the shoe recovered from the bus operator were
unsuccessful. Bewildered by the attitude of the bus operator, some of
them who spoke to NEXT said “To me, it is inhuman for the bus driver to
have exhibited such attitude. Maybe the man has no other money with
him. The driver and the conductor should have forgiven him because no
one is perfect,” one of the passers by, Deborah Suleiman said.

Acceptance of the party

Well, it is the
fastest growing political party in Akwa Ibom state. I can tell you with
all amount of certainty that while other parties are going down in
terms of membership, we are increasing every other day, with more
members coming to join us. Nigerians are almost imbibing the culture of
one-man-one-vote and the era of vote stuffing and extreme rigging is
all gone for good and with that, the vote of the people will count. So
whoever the electorate wants are the people that will represent them,
so it won’t be all business as usual.

The electorate will
decide on who and which party they want to govern them. And if you
follow the event, if you walk the streets in Akwa Ibom, you will be
able to know that Peoples Democratic Party only exists in paper and as
the election days approach, it becomes clearer that the Action Congress
Nigeria are coasting home victorious. So, we will win the election.

Challenging party primaries

There hasn’t been
any problem per se, but we only had a challenge. You know our party
stands for internal democracy and preaches it all over. But in one
federal constituency, Itu/Ibiono Federal Constituency to be precise, we
have four aspirants. One scored 363, the other a little over 100,
another one 14, and the last scored a little over that. But we don’t
know how the third placed man made the list. However, we have made
representation and I think the party is looking at that.

Failure of the state government

You know we are
almost receiving the largest chunk of revenue, in terms of derivation
and funds from Federation Account and most Akwa Ibom people have not
seen projects on ground. There is no transparency and openness in
governance. Besides, if you came to Akwa Ibom, the greatest problem we
are now having is the level of insecurity. People are asking why this
event is almost paralysing activities in the state. There is no social
life in Akwa Ibom at the moment, basically because the government has
failed to provide security and has failed to protect lives and property.

You know there is
an adage that says, “Show me your friend and I will tell you who you
are?” Basically, the people that make up the PDP-led government in the
state, their integrity are questionable and it is almost an established
fact that the state government is almost making it an acceptable norm
that if you don’t belong to a cult, you cannot be part of the
government. There was an amalgamation of cult groups and the state
governor, in the guise of youth organisation and all that, was there in
person and inaugurated that body. So, when these hoodlums unleash their
havoc on the people, people tended to ask why do we have government?
And these people are walking the streets and are being patronised by
government.

State of insecurity

Things are bad in
terms of kidnapping and this has almost turned into a political way of
caging people that have opposite views. Just a few days ago, a
prominent paramount ruler, James Robert Obot of Nsitubman Local
Government, was murdered in cold blood. So, cases of serial killing and
kidnapping abound in the state and most of the people that have been
kidnapped have come back to say if you hold divergent views, they will
kidnap you, extort money from you so that you don’t have the fund to
muscle up any opinion.

I am sure the DG
(Director-General) of SSS (State Security Services) does not know about
this and I want to believe that the Director of SSS in Akwa Ibom does
not know what the governor is doing. He has applied for so many SSS
personnel and when they are now posted to the state, he off-loaded them
to persons who do not have business to be attached with these personnel.

Now, the objective
of keeping these personnel is that on Election Day, they will use them
as if they are on official duty. This could have an over-bearing
influence on the voting populace. They can use them to scare the
electorate. They can use them to commit all kinds of havoc and you know
without these personnel, they themselves cannot come out on Election
Day to commit the crime by themselves. My call to the DG of SSS is that
he should ensure that these personnel should be withdrawn. If they have
excess SSS personnel in Akwa Ibom State, they should be withdrawn and
deployed to the states where they are needed.

Political credential of ACN governorship candidate

John James
Akpanudoedehe had been a chairman of Uyo Local Government. It was the
largest Uyo Local Government before the military now decided to split
them. When the 4th republic came alive, he was elected into the Senate
in 1999 to 2003. Soon after that, he was appointed by the late
president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as Minister of State for FCT and you
know FCT is a mini-state. I think he has a good pedigree in governance.
The support is massive for ACN has been massive. The only thing PDP
have that we don’t is they have been utilising the state media very
well. They have propaganda, you know they are in power. They will
normally have more resources than we have.

Call for fairness

We made
representation to National Broadcasting Corporation for access to the
media and since we have made representation, they’ve started to cave in
a little. However, we don’t know how the events in the next few weeks
will be like and if will start be able to sell our programmes on the
state media. My call to INEC (Independent National Electoral
Commission) is to remain the unbiased umpire which we expect them to
be. They should allow the votes of the people to count rather than
allow themselves to be used by the government for purposes other than
overseeing the elections fairly.

he Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) has mandated airlines, agencies, and the
various parastatals in the sector to train their employees in the
efficient delivery of customer services to travelers.

The directive, a
fallout of the incessant complaints from both domestic and
international air travelers, is aimed at eliminating the occasional
fighting encountered at the various airport terminals between ticketing
and reservation officers of airlines and air passengers.

The civil aviation
regulatory agency said the training will enable airlines and industry
stakeholders to know their rights as well as intimate them on the
rights of travelers.

“We strongly
recommend that your organisations embrace the training programme being
offered by the consultant in order to raise customer service delivery
standards in the industry through nominating members of your staff to
participate in the programme,” said Adamu Abdullahi, director, consumer
protection unit, NCAA, in a message to airlines.

Mr. Abdullahi said
the mandatory training will uphold the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) standards and recommend practices that apply
globally in the industry, adding that the authority has given the
consulting firm the power to make sure that the key players in the
sector abide by the training.

Passengers’ rights

Daniel Young,
managing director of Karamba Consulting Limited, the company expected
to conduct the exercise, disclosed that the training, which commences
from next month, will also focus on the rights of passengers, noting
that travelers will be made to know what is expected of them and how
they are to go about their grievances when disappointed by an airline.

“We are going to
mount posters at strategic locations belonging to airlines and various
agencies, notifying them of their rights and those things expected of
them whenever they are on a journey and at the airport,” he said.

Mr. Young disclosed
that at the end of the training, employees of various airlines and
agencies in the sector will be able to “satisfactorily relate” with
their customers, and the issue of disagreements and fighting at the
airports will be reduced to the barest minimum.

“The training will
enable us cut down on check-in time and procedures, decongest the
airport should there be need, help airlines make more money, help
revenue agencies generate adequate funds, and make passengers
appreciate travelling experience when at our airports,” he said.

There have been series of reports of passengers battling with
ticketing and reservation officers at terminals over issues ranging
from unexplainable flight delays, cancellations, and rescheduling, a
situation viewed by experts as poor customer delivery services on the
side of airlines and other service providers at the airport.</

A Federal High Court in Abuja at the weekend warned
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to stop delaying
the prosecution of Bayelsa State government officials facing charges of
money laundering and diversion of public funds.

The commission had, on March 23, charged four top
officials of the state government, namely: Francis Okoruko, Abbot
Clinton, Ikhobo Anthony Howells, and Sylva Opuala – Charles. But since
their arraignment, trial until now was yet to commence.

Presiding Judge, Donatus Okorowo told the EFCC that
the several adjournments made in the trial have been at their instance
and warned that it will not fail to strike out the charge against the
accused persons if the prosecution fails to come up with its witness on
March 11, 2011, the adjourned date to conclude his evidence .

Mr Okorowo issued this warning following a request
for adjournment made by Ugochukwu Ezekiel on behalf of EFCC’s
prosecutor, Festus Keyamo, who was not in court. Mr Ezekiel requested
for the adjournment on the ground that the prosecution witness is
absent.

But counsels to the accused persons, Chris Uche and
Sunday Ibrahim Ameh, called on the judge to take note of the lack of
diligence on the part of the prosecution. They further argued that the
absence of Mr Keyamo at the trial underscored the lack of commitment
and diligence to dispose off the matter, noting that Mr Keyamo was in
error to direct another lawyer to represent him.

The lawyers said their clients were eager to conclude
trial so as to get the criminal charge hanging on their necks
discharged as they were sure of their innocence.

The judge agreed with the defence counsel that the
prosecution was responsible for the series of adjournments and was not
happy with Mr Keyamo for sending another counsel.

Not so speedy

At the last hearing, both defence counsels, on the
basis of wanting a speedy trial, had withdrawn their objection to the
admissibility of a document sought to be tendered in evidence by Mr
Keyamo.

Mr Keyamo had sought to tender the statement made to
the EFCC by the 2nd accused person, Clinton Abbot, through his
prosecution witness 1, Adebayo Adeniyi Oluwasegun, but Messrs. Uche and
Ameh objected to the procedure on the premise that it would offend
Section 36 [a] of the Evidence Act since he (Oluwasegun) was not
incidental to the statement being made. After a spell of arguments, the
Judge was to adjourn the matter to enable him rule. But Counsel to the
accused persons, eager to make progress with the trial, agreed to
withdraw the objection after Mr Keyamo had entered an undertaking that
he will not rely on any other Investigating Police Officer (IPO) to
tender any further evidence.

Consequently, the statement sought to be tendered was
later admitted in evidence after which the police officer recounted
steps he took in the course of investigating the case.

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Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is the strangest head of state I’ve ever met.

When I asked him about democracy he threatened to sue.

“If you or someone
else says that Libya is not a democracy then it would be considered an
insult,” he said. “We could go to court to redeem honour from that
insult.”

The conversation
was back in 2005 at his tent in Tripoli, a single-room structure made
of colourful textiles in the middle of a heavily guarded compound.

We sat on plastic
garden furniture that had been carefully hand-cleaned by a man in an
orderly’s uniform, while a small goat picked at patchy grass outside.

Gadhafi is famous
for his odd behaviour, female bodyguards and bizarre ideas such as his
plan to abolish Switzerland. We only saw very conventional male
bodyguards. But even with their protection, Gadhafi’s manner made it
hard to understand how he managed to stay in power for more than four
decades.

He didn’t seem up to it.

He appeared
lethargic and his eyes, even behind sunglasses, seemed unfocused. He
used an elaborate fly whisk to wave away insects that weren’t actually
there. His answers, through a translator, seemed rambling.

Author Kenneth
Timmerman, who has also met him, says Gadhafi has kept power through
cunning. “He’s a very very skilled player,” Timmerman said.

“He divides the
country. He conquers the small groups. He’s kept the tribes squabbling
amongst themselves and up until relatively recently he has distributed
some of the oil wealth to the people.”

Human rights groups
also say that Gadhafi’s regime has killed, jailed and tortured its
opponents. Libya today is in turmoil. Back then, it was in transition,
a rogue state trying to redeem itself.

Pressed by
international sanctions, it had abandoned support for terrorist
organisations, surrendered its weapons of mass destruction to the West
and was trying to open-up its economy.

Gadhafi told me he was angry that Libya never got the pay-off it expected: American esteem and investment.

In part, it was because Washington’s attention had turned to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it was also, no
doubt, because no American president or politician would be eager to
embrace the man Ronald Reagan once called a “mad dog.”

In any country or company’s plans for Libya, Moammar Gadhafi was the wildcard, the unpredictable element. He still is.

Jonathan Mann presents Political Mann on CNN International each
Friday at 18:30 (CAT), Saturday at 3pm and 9pm (CAT), and Sunday at
10am (CAT).