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Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak has said he is willing to resign forthwith but fears the
country would descend into chaos if he did so.

In his first
interview since anti-government protests across Egypt began 10 days
ago, he told ABC News he was “fed up” with power, warning that the
Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party would fill any power vacuum if he
stepped down.

Speaking to ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, he vowed never to leave, saying:

“I would never run
away from this country. I will die on this soil.” He denied his
supporters were behind the violence of the last two days.

News of the
interview follows another day of violence in central Cairo, between
anti-government protesters with Mr Mubarak’s supporters. Stones were
thrown on both sides, and there has been some gunfire with one person
reported dead. The embattled president noted that it hurt him to him to
see “Egyptian fighting Egyptian”.

Meanwhile US state
department spokesman Philip Crowley has urged Mr Mubarak to move
“farther and faster” with the transition. Earlier Mr Mubarak’s newly
appointed deputy, Omar Suleiman, called for time to carry out political
reforms before presidential elections in September. He also warned
there would be a political vacuum if a proper period of transition was
not allowed.

Pro- and anti-Mubarak groups skirmish

Army tank moved
against supporters of President Hosni Mubarak as they hurled rocks at
anti-Muburak protesters in central Cairo, prompting cheers from
demonstrators battered by overnight fighting that killed six.

“Allahu Akbar, the
army and the people are hand in hand”, chanted protesters barricaded in
Tahrir (Liberation) Square, where 10,000 people on Thursday joined the
hundreds who had camped overnight. The Mubarak loyalists fled when the
tank turned its turret towards them, then regrouped nearby and resumed
throwing stones.

In Egypt’s second
largest city of Alexandria, thousands protested with anti-Mubarak
banners, one reading: “In all languages of the world, we tell you: go
out, Mubarak.”

In north-eastern
Egypt, around 4,000 people marched in Suez calling for Mubarak to step
down, while in Ismailia a crowd of 2,000 held a similar demonstration.
In Cairo protesters lined up small rocks to fight off attacks by
pro-Mubarak groups. “We are using these stones as a means of defence.
Yesterday they attacked us with molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) and
all we have to protect ourselves with is stones,” said Ali Kassem.

A Reuter’s
journalist saw protesters overpower someone they said was an undercover
member of the security services. Over a loudspeaker a voice urged:

“Don’t beat him.
Hand him to us and the organising committee and we will hand him over
to the army. The international media is watching us and saying we are
peaceful people.” Some protesters say the pro-Mubarak supporters have
been paid for by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP). Mobile
phone operator Vodafone accused the Egyptian authorities of using its
network to send pro-government text messages to subscribers, without
clear attribution. One message sent on February 2 seen by Reuters
announced the location and timing for a pro-Mubarak rally. “If they
don’t want the president to go, okay, but let’s see whose voice is
louder…what I saw last night made me want to stay longer, it
strengthened my resolve,” said Ilham Farouk, a 27-year-old pharmacist
in a full face veil.

On Thursday the new
Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq, apologised for the violence and promised
an investigation. “As officials and a state which must protect its
sons, I thought it was necessary for me to apologise and to say that
this matter will not be repeated,” he told reporters. He promised an
investigation to find out “whether this was planned, was it
spontaneous, did someone direct it, (or) did a certain party encourage
it?” Algeria to lift emergency rule soon Algeria’s state of emergency,
in force for the past 19 years, will be lifted in the very near future;
official media quoted President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as saying on
Thursday.

Bouteflika also
said, at a meeting with ministers, that the government should adopt new
measures to promote job creation and that Algerian television and
radios, which are controlled by the state, should give airtime to all
political parties, the official APS news agency reported. Bouteflika
said protest marches, banned under the state of emergency, would be
permitted everywhere except in the capital. Political parties must
respect the law to ensure freedom does not degenerate into anarchy, APS
quoted him as saying.

Following the
public outcry that trailed the killing of two persons by a riot
policeman in Mpape, a suburb settlement of Abuja on Monday, the
Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, has ordered a full scale
investigation into the incident.

He also directed
that a criminal suit be brought against the police officer that shot
the taxi driver and the lady passenger for parking in front of the bank.

Since after the
incident, soldiers have been drafted to watch over the bank. However,
NEXT’s visit to the area revealed that apart from the Zenith Bank,
other banks in the neighbourhood (AfriBank Plc,Oceanic Bank, Spring
Bank)that summarily closed for bussines after the incident, have all
resumed operations.

The Force public
relations officer, Olusola Amore, in a statement, described the
incident as “unfortunate”, and warned the public against taking the law
into their hands.

“It is regrettable
that miscreants, thugs, and other criminals used the incident to attack
the Zenith Bank in the area and set it ablaze,” Mr. Amore said.

He also said that
eight vehicles and one dispatch motorcycle were burnt down, and that
some arrests have been made in efforts to find the perpetrators.

The incident
started on Monday January 31, following the shooting of a taxi driver
and a lady passenger to death by a policeman attached to the bank.

The incident, which
almost got out of hand, also consumed nine cars belonging to the bank
and its members of staff, while the ATM machine was looted and set on
fire.

The victims were rushed to an undisclosed hospital, but later died, which triggered the riot and attack on the bank.

According to the Federal Capital Territory commissioner of police,
John Haruna, “the policeman at the centre of the crisis has been taken
into custody,” stressing that there were certain conditions that must
be met before firearms could be used, but these conditions were not
satisfied before the policeman fired his weapon.”

The Federal
Government has approved Arik Air as one of Nigeria’s private airlines
permitted to fly direct from Abuja to Istanbul starting from June this
year.

The Minister of
Aviation, Fidelia Njeze, said while speaking during President Goodluck
Jonathan’s meeting with the organized private sector (OPS) in Istanbul
that this follows a new negotiation on the existing Bilateral Air
Services Agreement (BASA) signed between Nigeria and the Republic of
Turkey. Mrs. Njeze said, “By June this year to be precise, Nigeria’s
side of the BASA would come into play. Good enough, Arik is now
collaborating with Turkish Airline in that aspect and by June, Arik
will start flying from Nigeria to Turkey and that would now fulfil the
Nigerian aspect of the BASA”. Prior to this new arrangement, Turkey was
the only beneficiary of the BASA arrangement with Turkish Airline
operating flights operations into the Murtala Mohammed International
Airport (MMIA), Lagos, at least three times in a week. Speaking further
on the government’s plans to remodel and build five terminal buildings,
at major international airports in the country, the Aviation minister
said, “we have done quite a lot in trying to improve on the ambiance,
that is the comfort. The ambiance is what the passengers feel and that
is what will engender confidence in the safety and critical equipment
we have put in place.” She noted that, “Nobody travels by sea or by
road from country to country it is by air and investors coming in, it
is what they see at the airports that will actually give them
confidence to invest in a particular country. And that is why
government is conscious of it, that we need to transform our airports,”
Mrs. Njeze said. She further emphasized that government cannot isolate
airport infrastructure development “from our Vision 2020 aspiration.
The need to transform our airports to me is key in our Vision 2020
aspiration. We must transform our airports because that will help
investors to really come and invest in the country”.

The Chairman of Arik Air, John Arumemi-Johnson, who was part of the
private sector delegation, in a chat with newsmen in Istanbul said he
was elated that Airline was selected to fly the Istanbul route and
assured Nigerians of the airline’s competence to deliver on its
objectives. Thanking Mr. Jonathan for approving the airline for the
operations, the Arik boss pledged his commitments to continue to
contribute his own quota to the overall development of the aviation
sector.

Governor Adebayo
Alao-Akala of Oyo state, on Thursday, told his campaign team not to
underestimate the strength of the opposition as they work towards
ensuring his return to office in the 2011 elections.

The governor, who
addressed members of the Akala/Arapaja 2011 Campaign Organisation
during the inauguration of directors of committees of the organisation
and formal flag-off of his campaign for the governorship race, said
though he is sure of victory at the poll,still no stone must be left
unturned concerning their preparation.

He told the
campaigners to be ready to ‘‘kill an ant with the sledge hammer’’ as
they map out strategies. The campaign organisation, headed by Ademola
Ojo, former chairman of the Ibadan North Local government, has eight
committees to take care of all aspects of its activities.

Mr Alao-Akala
promised to always ensure that he discusses issues during his
campaigns, and not engage the oppositions in image smearing.“Surely, we
will meet obstacles. We will try and address issues and not involve in
frivolous debates or campaign of calumny. We will tell the people what
we want to do and what we have done,” he said.

Mr Alao-Akala boasted of possessing the richest credential among all
the contestants vieing for the governorship post,he revealed that his
long years in government and public service makes all the
difference.Alerting the team of the enormity of the work ahead, the
governor pointedly told them that the task might involve them, working
24 hours a day to get things done properly. He told members of the team
to work together as a team in order to achieve the goal.“I want you to
be seen as good team players and not to behave like Mr. Know It All.
Everybody knows something. When you are in the dark, make sure you
consult your colleagues who know better than you in that area,” he
admonished.

Former vice
president and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Atiku Abubakar said on Thursday that he and his team are ready
for dialogue, especially on the way to strengthen the party.

He, however, “vowed
not to succumb to any pressure and blackmail” over his reluctance to
congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan on his victory at the January
13 special convention of the ruling party.

Mr Abubakar in a
press statement signed by his media office in Abuja said he is
surprised that it has become a full time job of some people to force
his hand on the decision to concede victory to Mr Jonathan.

Speaking against
what he called the background of blackmail in the media by those he
described as “busy bodies,” the former vice president said the group
that put him forward for the PDP presidential primaries is prepared for
discussion but will not succumb to baseless propaganda against his
person and group.

“Instead of this
rigmarole by busy bodies, I believe that an appropriate response should
be to open a window for negotiation on how to strengthen our party for
the challenges ahead,” Mr Abubakar said.

He recalled that he
had informed the nation and his associates that he was consulting on
the outcome of the primaries and that whatever his position on the
presidential primaries was, it will be made available to the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr. Abubakar noted
that with his campaign organisation, having forwarded its misgivings
about the irregularities that attended the primaries, the media and
those hiding under their cover should be patient enough to await the
outcome of its resolution.

He added that, “it
amounts to blackmail to force a man to take any action without
evaluating its effects on his group, loyalists, associates and
supporters.” The former vice president urged those who feel strongly
about the situation to open discussion with his group on the issues
instead of the now familiar harassment against him by political jobbers.

“If those who have won the so-called victory are confident of the genuineness of their victory, they should go on,” he said.

Mr Abubakar also
restated his commitment to democracy, rule of law, credible elections,
national unity, political stability, progress and development of
Nigeria just as he reaffirmed his entire campaign team’s unwavering
commitment and loyalty to the PDP and its noble objectives.

Mr Abubakar had
lost the presidential primaries to Mr Jonathan by 805 to 2736 votes.
The third aspirant, Sarah Jubril polled only one vote.

Northern youth
under the aegis of Arewa Youth Forum (AYF) said yesterday that they
will resist any attempt by politicians to turn them into militants
following the rising wave of insecurity in that part of the country.

They made this
known in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Kaduna, it
was signed by AYF president, Gambo Gujungu and secretary, Alex
Baidi.“The northern youth have resolved to resist the gradual attempts
by politicians to transform them into militants of no cause thereby
compromising their future,” the group said. “That the northern youth
shall rise up to the greater call of a united Nigeria devoid of
regional or shallow and short term convictions.” The group said that
what is happening in the region portends a great danger to the
historically recognised and respected culture of tolerance and
political dexterity associated with the people.

It stated that all
personal and group political adventures must not be transformed into
regional or religious projects at the expense of national
unity.According to the group, the inherent values that gave the country
its strength in diversity is being tempted by misguided political and
religious events across the country, and warned that the supremacy of
the country must not give way to personal, regional, political and
other sentiments.

Governors’ effort

The AYF also
commended the efforts of the state governors in the region as well as
Vice President, Namadi Sambo in their bid to build a greater Nigeria
which will of course be a great benefit to the northern region. It also
called on government at all levels to reinforce mechanism of employment
generation so as to puncture the youth sector’s tendencies exploited by
some people.The conference however resolved to carry on the
sensitisation of the youth of the north to stand up and fight all
enemies of the region intending to compromise their future.“The
conference commended the government’s effort towards conducting
credible and called on all northerners to fulfill their citizen’s
obligations by registering and be tolerant with the process,” the
communiqué said.

The Nigeria
People’s Congress (NPC) yesterday accused the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) of deliberately shutting out 20 political
parties from submitting list of candidates last Monday.

The party, in a
statement by its chairman, Ngozi Emioma, said the commission refused to
accept duly completed nomination forms of the parties, alleging that
they did not meet the deadline for the submission of the forms.

The party claimed
that the INEC director of political party monitoring had said that only
43 parties beat the deadline for the submission of the list of
candidates last Monday.

“We are appalled
that Professor Attahiru Jega-led INEC would change the electoral goal
post in the middle of a political contest without the consent of the
players. This is an unnecessary distraction and provocation aimed at
discrediting and frustrating the April general election. It is
unacceptable,” Mr. Emioma said.

He urged INEC to
reconsider its position and accept the nomination forms immediately,
saying that the imbroglio would have been averted if the INEC
leadership had communicated its position on the time to submit the
completed nomination forms. He claimed that the timetable released by
the commission clearly stated that the completed forms should be
returned on January 31, 2011.

Mr. Emioma recalled
that in all elections conducted by Mr. Jega’s predecessors, political
parties were at liberty to submit their forms till 12 midnight.

“To complicate
issues, INEC demanded that the forms should be submitted in triplicate.
Again, the commission did not inform political parties of this. NPC
frowns at this indiscriminate policy somersault. This is not an issue
that should heat up the polity. Jega should avoid playing into the
hands of reactionary forces who do not want the success of the April
elections,” he said.

INEC appeal

Meanwhile, a former
national publicity secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC), Dennis Aghanya, has appealed to INEC to enforce Section 87 of
the Electoral Act to ensure that political parties submit list of
candidates who won the primary elections.

He argued that a
situation where parties submit names of candidates who did not win the
primaries is a total deviation from how internal democracies within
political parties are designed.

“The implication of these actions is that there would be series of
after election court actions, which will not go well with our
democracy. Boardroom decisions are undemocratic and meant to serve
personal interest of a few political godfathers whose stock in trade
would always be to make money at every election period,” Mr. Aghanya
said.