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The vice presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Namadi Sambo will today engage three other candidates in a public
debate.

The other vice presidential candidates are John Odigie-Oyegun of
the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Fola Adeola of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) and Tunde Bakare of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Anthony Dara, chief executive of NN24, sponsors of the debate,
announced this at a press briefing in Abuja yesterday. He also said the
presidential candidates of four parties will take their turn on March 18. The
candidates are President Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari of CPC, Ibrahim
Shekarau of ANPP and Nuhu Ribadu of ACN.

Mr Dara said that the four parties have agreed in principle to
participate in both the presidential and vice presidential debates, which will
hold at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.

Mr Dara said all arrangements for the two debates have been
concluded, adding that Jonathan Mann of the CNN and Kadaria Ahmed of NEXT
Newspapers will be moderators.

“All arrangements for the live broadcast and simulcast of the
event have been put in place and any station in Nigeria is permitted by the
NN24 and its associates to relay the signals to its audience without any
permission or recourse to the organisers,” Mr Dara said.

“The NN24 Presidential Debate is one of its kind in Nigeria as
the station is going to beam its signal to Nigerians, Africans and other parts
of the globe using its satellite transmission platform and other latest
technologies like Internet protocol TV (IPTV) and Globecast, among others.”

Limited to four

The NN24 official said only the presidential and vice
presidential candidate of four out of 19 parties presenting candidates for the
election were chosen to participate in the debates because of the spread of the
parties as well as the limited time available for the programme. He, however,
added that the programme may continue after the elections to enable other
parties participate.

He explained that the debate is part of the satellite television
station’s contribution to nation building which, according to him, should
involve everybody. He also said the company desired to contribute to the
electoral process.

Asked what NN24 would benefit from organising the debates, Mr
Dara said it is for the benefits of the voters whom he said will use their
votes to bring the candidates to power.

“The voters can hold the candidates to account for what they will promise if
they are eventually elected,” he said.

The House of
Representatives yesterday directed the Aviation Minister, Fidelia
Njeze, to hasten the perimeter fencing of the Bauchi airstrip after
Tuesday’s crash-landing of the plane conveying leaders of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The lawmakers accused the ministry of delaying the project despite years of funding approvals.

Short of
describing the incident which involved the presidential team of the
Action Congress of Nigeria as politically-motivated, some lawmakers led
by Sani Abdul, a Representative from Bauchi State, asked the National
Security Adviser, Patrick Azazi, to “ascertain the security lapses and
political implications surrounding the incident.”

The suggestion
came a day after the federal government denied allegations of sabotage
in the incident. It was, however, rejected as part of the final prayers
by the House.

On Wednesday, the
Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Njeze, disputed claims by the ACN that the
plane which carried its presidential running mate, Fola Adeola, had
crash-landed colliding with animals, saying the aircraft had “already
landed and was taxing before the incident happened.”

“There was no crash-landing, no sabotage”, she said. She, however, said the fencing will now be completed in two weeks.

Mr. Abdul, a
member of the Congress for Progressive Change in the House of
Representatives, who sponsored the motion said the incident occurred as
a result of the failure of the aviation ministry to complete the
fencing of the airstrip even when funds had been made available in 2009
and 2010 budgets.

“Most embarrassing
is the remarks from the Bauchi State governor’s aide to the effect that
the state was not aware of the coming of the ACN candidate.

“And the Federal
Executive Council (FEC) has said there is no act of sabotage in the
incident. There is a counter claim by the ACN of sabotage. This needs
to be investigated. The Police must be asked some questions. The
National Security Adviser (NSA) must also answer some questions.”

House Minority
Leader, Femi Gabjabiamila, a member of the ACN, also called for an
independent investigation of the incident, dismissing the federal
government’s claims.

“FEC has reacted even though it is not known to law. We cannot ask
the Ministry of Aviation to probe. This is because it is an interested
party. Let us go for an independent body to probe this,” he said,
adding “Yearly, we budget monies for perimeter fencing and nothing is
done. This is not an act of God as claimed by FEC, it is an act of
negligence.”

The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday pleaded with the Federal
High Court in Abuja to allow it to conduct governorship elections in
the five states that the court earlier ruled there will be no election.

Presiding judge,
Adamu Bello in a judgment recently, said governorship elections should
not hold in Kogi, Sokoto, Adamawa, Cross River and Bayelsa states until
next year.

The ruling also set
new dates for the termination of the tenures of the governors. Ibrahim
Idris, Kogi, will stay on till April 5,2012; Aliyu Wammakko, Sokoto,
remains till May 28,2012; Timipre Sylva, Bayelsa, leaves on May 29,
2012; Liyel Imoke’s tenure in Cross River terminates on August 28,
2012; and Murtala Nyako, Adamawa, gets his tenure elongated to April
30th, 2012.

The five governors
had gone to court to challenge the decision of the Commission to
conduct governorship elections in their states this year. They said
their tenure only began after they won the run off in their states and
so should not be terminated in April 2011. They named INEC and the
Peoples Democratic Party as first and second defendants respectively.

But INEC yesterday asked the Court to stop the execution of its judgment.

In a motion for
stay filed by its lawyer, Carol Ajie, INEC asked the court to stop the
governors from enjoying the judgment until the Appeal Court has decided
the appeal filed by the commission against the High Court judgment.

“But if this
application is granted by this court, the Appellant would perform its
statutory duties of conducting elections in the affected states as well
others and the opportunity of a level playing ground afforded to other
candidates.,” he said.

Ms Ajie told the
court that if the application was refused, any decision arrived at by
the Court of Appeal would have been rendered nugatory by the ruling
that extended the tenure of the five governors.

In a
seven-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Kennedy Ajogi, a Litigation
Clerk in Ajie Chambers, the lawyer said an appeal had already been
filed against the judgment and that the appeal raised substantial
issues of law which might be resolved in favour of the appellant (INEC).

Specifically, Ms
Ajie said a greater hardship would be caused if the application was
refused and that the governors would lose nothing. She said INEC would
find itself in an awkward position if the appeal was decided in its
favour since the time for holding election in the affected states would
have passed before the appeal would be decided.

She also asked the
court to take notice of the fact that some of the elections were
nullified on account of malpractices and irregularities and that to
allow the governors to stay beyond May 29, would make them benefit from
their wrongs.

“There are special
and exceptional reasons why suspension of the judgment ought to be
granted in this case,” she told the court.

“The Appellant/Applicant is a statutory body charged with the
responsibility of regulating, scheduling and conducting elections into
the offices occupied by the Respondents amongst others and should not
be stopped from doing its statutory work.”

The emergence of
Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s president is rooted in the long
political friendship that existed between the north and the old Rivers
State, former civilian president, Shehu Shagari has said.

Mr Shagari, who
received Mr Jonathan in his home in Sokoto yesterday, said he was happy
that as politicians like him become old, young ones like Mr Jonathan
have emerged to take up the task of leading the country. He spoke of
the need to allow younger Nigerians like Mr Jonathan to take over the
leadership of the country from the older ones.

“I’m getting old
and I don’t think I can join any political party for active politicking
now, but I’m happy that you (Jonathan) have emerged to undertake the
onerous task of leading this country.

I believe you will succeed, having worked so hard,” he said.

The former
president said even before the nation’s independence in 1960, when the
Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) was looking for an alliance with the
Southern region, it was the politicians from the Niger Delta that
volunteered to form a coalition with the party.

“Even after
independence, people from the Niger Delta remained faithful to the
friendship bond that had developed over the years. The North will
remain proud of such a long political friendship with the people of the
Niger Delta,” he said.

Follow the lead

Mr Shagari assured
Mr Jonathan that he will not regret paying him a personal visit. Mr
Jonathan thanked the former president for the invaluable advice he gave
him when he was acting president after president Umar Yar’Adua became
incapacitated.

“We want to follow your foot-step of building a united, peaceful and economically stable nation,” he said.

The President said that his aim is to create jobs for the growing
number of youth, re-invigorate the economy, strengthen security and
improve the lives of Nigerians.

The national
leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said it
refused to sign the code of conduct for parties produced by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) because the parties
were not allowed to make input into the drafting of the documents as
agreed at a retreat with the commission in Calabar, Cross River State.

The national
secretary of the party, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, said INEC should carry
the blame for its refusal to follow agreement reached between it and
the political parties.

“At the retreat
organised by INEC and the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) for all
registered political parties in Nigeria held in Calabar, Cross River
State recently, it was agreed that all political parties shall
contribute ideas towards the establishment of an acceptable code of
conduct for all parties in the forthcoming elections,” Mr Baraje said.

Party is law abiding

“The PDP has always
participated actively and given its maximum cooperation to INEC in all
its programmes. It is this very high esteem with which we hold INEC
that the National Secretary broke away from the ongoing nationwide
presidential campaign to attend the stakeholders forum summoned by INEC
on the 8th of March 2011.

“However, to our
greatest surprise, the INEC Chairman announced that the forum was for a
signing ceremony for a “code of conduct” which we were seeing for the
first time. The earlier understanding that a draft copy shall be sent
to parties for inputs was completely jettisoned.” Still cooperating Mr
Baraje said the PDP, alongside other parties, raised this observation
which the INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega acknowledged and subsequently
advised that parties could still come up with their inputs even after
signing of the documents had taken place.

He added that in
complying with Mr Jega’s advice, the PDP and 42 other parties met and
came up with inputs into the code of conduct and submitted same on the
8th of March. He said the submission has been duly acknowledged by the
office of the INEC Chairman.

“The PDP is
therefore not afraid of complying with any code of conduct, neither is
it in any way working towards sabotaging the forthcoming elections as
unfairly implied by some people. We are only insisting on proper
procedure to protect the interest of all Political Parties,” he said.

Mr Baraje described as “misleading” media reports purporting that he
refused, adding that his action was twisted to make it look like the
PDP is averse to set rules meant to regulate the forthcoming electoral
exercise.

The Presidential
Campaign Council of the People’s Democratic Party has expressed
sympathy with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) over the mishap
involving some top-level members of their presidential campaign team.

The Director of
Media and Publicity, Abba Dabo, in a press statement said the campaign
group, “joins the ACN in thanking God that no life was lost in the
incident and prays that no Nigerian experiences such a sense of panic
and anxiety in our airspace again.”

Mr. Dabo, however,
criticised the statement credited to the spokesperson of the ACN’s
presidential campaign team, Ibrahim Modibbo, alleging sabotage.
Describing the statement as “absurd and indeed worrisome,” Mr. Dabo
claimed ACN members are in the habit of blaming the PDP for all their
misfortunes.

“These unfounded
allegations range from such issues as denial of campaign permits, plane
mishaps and even alleged assassination attempts. It is our sincere
belief that even in the midst of a fierce political scramble for power,
there should be a limit to political interpretation of sensitive
matters.

“This strategy of
blaming PDP for all their woes is a further confirmation that their
campaigns lack issues or direction. And that they have seen the
handwriting on the walls, about their impending electoral defeat,” Mr.
Dabo said.

The vice
presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Fola
Adeola and other leaders of the party escaped harm when the 5N-BMR
aircraft they boarded ran into goats that strayed onto the runway of
the airstrip of Bauchi airport on Tuesday.

Mr. Adeola was in
Bauchi State for the party’s presidential campaign and the flag-off
campaign of the governorship candidate for the state, Baba Tela, which
took place at the Ibrahim Babangida Square.

Speaking to
journalists, Mr Modibbo, had said the incident was a bad development
and described it as the “handiwork of saboteurs who were out to
eliminate the life of the presidential candidate (Nuhu Ribadu).”

According to Mr.
Modibbo, the second aircraft which Mr. Ribadu and other party members
boarded could not land immediately and had to hover in the air for over
40 minutes before it finally landed. Mr. Modibbo said the management of
the airstrip was aware of Mr. Ribadu’s flight plans. However, he said
the Nuhu Ribadu Campaign Organisation was not asking the government to
do it a special favour by guaranteeing safety and security at the
nation’s airports.

“What we are saying is that no life is more important than the other,” he said.

“Before the present
PDP government is booted out by the people, they should at least ensure
that our airports, our roads and our towns and villages are safe enough
for everyone, including our candidates, and particularly during this
electioneering period.”

The PDP, however, described the position as a politics of bitterness, saying it is unjustified and in extreme bad taste.

“We call on Nigerians to disregard these malicious and libelous
insinuations. President Goodluck Jonathan has given his pledge to run a
decent, lawful and decorous campaign, where issues are discussed and
debated for the transformation of Nigeria. We urge the nation’s
aviation officials to do everything necessary to prevent any such
incident in future.” Mr. Dabo said.

The House of
Representatives has approved a Resolution to question the leadership of
the Independent National Electoral Commission for rejecting some
candidates presented for elections by political parties.

The House
committees on Electoral Matters and Justice, have one week to seek
explanations from the chairperson of the commission, Attahiru Jega, and
other officials, especially the legal commissioner, Phillip Umeadi, on
why court orders on candidates’ replacements have not been adhered to,
the House ruled on Wednesday.

The electoral body
has come under criticism from politicians since it ended replacement of
candidates by their parties in February, leaving open substitution
occasioned only by death, voluntary withdrawal or court rulings.

While political
parties say the electoral body, by law, lacks powers to decide on who
is fielded for elections, the commission has insisted that its mandate
includes upholding the Electoral Act’s definition of a “candidate”,
which requires the person to have been chosen through elections.

At the ratification
of code of conduct for political parties on Tuesday, many officials of
the parties said they were opposed to the commission’s new regulations
since the electoral body had refused to recognize the candidates they
sent.

Mr Jega, the
chairperson of the commission, replied that the commission’s position –
largely different from the past – is anchored strictly on the content
of the Electoral Act which he said does not permit imposition of
candidates.

Mr. Jega explained that once the order for replacement comes from the courts, the commission is bound to obey.

The lawmakers, many
of them victims of the issue – having lost the primaries and subsequent
effort to have their names inserted – dabbled into the prickly matter
yesterday with some calling for caution while others markedly condemned
the body.

“The commission’s
attitude of accepting some candidates and rejecting others against
valid and subsisting court orders cast doubts in the minds of Nigerians
against its role as an impartial arbiter in the conduct of free, fair
and credible elections in Nigeria,” said Ehioge West-Idahosa, the
sponsor of the motion.

His position was
supported by Elizabeth Ogbaga, (PDP, Ebonyi) and Sokonte Davies
(PDP,Rivers State) and Bala Na’alla (CPC, Kebbi State).

Mrs. Ogbaga, however, blamed the courts for continually issuing arbitrary injunctions.

But in the matter
regarded by other lawmakers as morally touchy for the House to take a
position on since some members may be in the elections, the electoral
commission found a host of defenders who rather berated the politicians
for failing to play by the rules.

“If anybody feels
that INEC is disobeying court order, the option is file a contempt
charge, so we cannot make any conclusion on this matter here. The
processes of the courts are there for all to follow,” said Leo Ogor, a
member from Delta State.

The motion scaled the pressure, and authorised an inquiry of the commission’s position on choice of candidates.