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Attahiru Jega,
chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission says INEC’s request
for the closure of schools during voter registration is to ensure
greater security for students. Mr Jega told journalists in Abuja on
Monday that there was a likelihood of complications if schools were
allowed to be on during the exercise.

“Initially, we
thought we could manage under the circumstances but it became very
clear that the way we are mobilising for the voter registration and the
way people are responding, we need to take extra measures in order to
secure the pupils,” he said.

Mr Jega added that
the move was also to ensure that there was no breach in terms of
security and movement of INEC personnel and equipment for the conduct
of the exercise. According to him, 70 per cent of primary and secondary
schools to be used across the country for the exercise will also serve
as stores for the equipment and camps for INEC personnel. He explained
that with about three to 10 polling units in each school, where the
exercise would take place, “there may be possible disruption of school
activities because thousands of people will be going in to be
registered. So we felt that in order to avoid this disruption, it is
better that schools are closed during this period,” he said.

The INEC boss
pleaded with state governors and parents to see reasons with the
commission’s request, adding that it was in the interest of the nation
and the security of the students.

“We have written to
all state governors explaining reasons for the request and urging them
to facilitate compliance,” Mr Jega said.

He further
explained that there would be a difference if private schools were
allowed to remain open and “it does not allow for equity.” He also said
that “closing the school system does not mean that the students will
lose the period. That is why we think it is easier to close all the
schools the same time and re-open them about the same time so that they
can all catch up in terms of the curriculum and the syllabus.”

He added that in
order to ensure that there was no disequilibrium, it stood to reason
that if INEC was advising for the closure of 70 per cent of the
schools, “we may as well close all the schools for the duration.”

The INEC boss,
however, noted that the commission was working closely with security
agencies to ensure that the exercise was successful. The minister of
state for education, Kenneth Gbagi, said that the move was taken as a
preemptive measure to safeguard pupils and ensure that none of them
were involved in any accident.

“Their safety was the basis of government acceding to INEC’s request that schools be closed for the exercise,” Mr Gbagi added.

Voter registration is to commence on Jan. 15 and end on Jan. 29.

Last weekend’s senatorial primaries of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State were marred by violence and chaos.

The primaries,
which were supposed to take place in one venue, ended up taking place
in three different venues with conflicting results; and consequently
three candidates are claiming victory in the exercise. The three
candidates are Annie Okonkwo, a serving senator; Chukwudi Offodile, a
former member of the federal house; and another former federal
lawmaker, Jerry Ugokwe. Two of the gladiators would later confront each
other at Emmaus House in Awka which was designated as the official
venue for the primaries, a venue which remained deserted for most of
the day as the candidates were apparently conducting their own
primaries at different venues. When action finally shifted to the main
venue Messrs Okonkwo and Offodile almost engaged each other in a brawl
following the insistence by the latter that the electoral panel must
produce the list of delegates.

Before then, Mr
Offodile and his group were reported to have forced their way into the
venue by firing gunshots into the air despite the presence of police
officers when they discovered the gate was locked. “They didn’t want to
produce the delegates list but had to when we insisted,” said Mr
Offodile. He later told journalists that he was the winner of the
primaries and brandished a result sheet which he said proved he won. “I
have the result here,” he said. “The election was successful and I won
convincingly and I hope to represent Anambra Central senatorial zone in
the next National Assembly.”

Dora Akunyili’s shortcut

Mr Offodile also
warned that Dora Akunyili, former Information Minister and senate
candidate under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), would have
an easy ride to the senate if Mr Okonkwo was fielded by the PDP as its
nominee. According to him, every other candidate was qualified except
Mr Okonkwo.

Reacting, Mr
Okonkwo said he was the winner of the primaries for Anambra Central and
that it was not surprising as he controlled the highest number of
delegates. He described the claims and actions of Mr Offodile as
rascally and said he was never prepared for the election. “I control
70% of the delegates and none of the other people making noise was
prepared for the election,” he said. “I won the election overwhelmingly
by more than 80 to 85%. Anybody who claims he won it is a fraudster.”

He also warned that any attempt to replace him with any other
candidate would result in defeat for the party, even as he expressed no
fear for Mrs Akunyili’s candidacy, describing her choice as “a minus
for APGA and its greatest mistake.”

Presidential aspirants on the platform of the All
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANNP) will, on Thursday, be screened by a
committee set up by the party to ascertain their eligibility to run for
the position on Thursday. The aspirants are Governor Ibrahim Shekarau
of Kano State, Harry Akande, former chairman of the ANPP Board of
Trustees, and Bashir Tofa, former presidential candidate of the defunct
National Republican Convention (NRC).

Already, governorship and House of Representatives
aspirants were screened yesterday while those contesting senatorial
elections will be screened today. Meanwhile, Mr Shekarau has asked the
party leadership to conduct a transparent and credible convention to
produce its presidential candidate.

Speaking at the party’s national headquarters in
Abuja after submitting his nomination form, the governor also pledged
that he and his supporters will abide by the party’s rules and also
accept the outcome of the presidential primary election whichever way
it goes.

“I will abide by all the rules and regulations
governing the campaign and conduct during the convention. I am assuring
my party leadership that we shall offer all necessary support for the
party to conduct the best convention in the country. I am ready to
accept the outcome in good faith and help the party move forward,” he
stated.

Mr Shekarau said he is the best aspirant among the
lot, noting that he will give the candidate of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) a good fight if given the ticket.

He said he is not afraid of the incumbency factor, saying only the people decide the fate of candidates.

Besides, the presidential hopeful argued that his
performance in Kano State will speak for him, adding that before he
came on board, the state had virtually nothing to show for its eight
years of rule other than woes and misery as well as insecurity.

The national chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu said all the
aspirants on the platform of the party are reliable and loyal and will
not go against the rule to cause disaffection or confusion during the
convention.

According to him, there must be peaceful change of
government in 2011 because the PDP administration in the past 12 years
had nothing to show.

“Nigerians are no longer proud of their country because the situation has gone from bad to worse,” he added.

Mr Onu stated that the ANPP was ready to take over and has been
doing everything possible to realise this “because the party was not
formed to serve as opposition but to rule and the time is now, 2011 is
our time, people are yearning for a change and we are ready to take
over.”

A Federal High
Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, ordered that the planned election
into the Nigerian Premier League (NPL) Board, scheduled for January 12,
2011, be put on hold, and parties to maintain the status quo pending
the hearing of the motion.

The presiding
Judge, Okechukwu Okeke, gave the order following a motion filed by
sacked Chairman of the league, Davidson Owumi, on his removal during
the Annual General Assembly of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF),
held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on December 29, 2010. The motion, dated
January 4, 2011, was borne out of an earlier suit filed by a
Lagos-based lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, against the NFF and 10 others. Mr
Owumi is praying the court for an order of interlocutory injunction
restraining the NFF and other defendants, whether by themselves, their
servants, agents and or privies, from implementing and/or enforcing the
Akin Ibidapo-Obe Arbitration Panel report.

The applicant
further prayed the court for an interlocutory injunction restraining
the two organizations from implementing the decision reached at their
General Assembly in Uyo annulling his election as chairman of the
league. Mr Owumi, in an affidavit deposed by his counsel, Yomi Obafemi,
urged the court to determine whether members of the NFF Board and its
chairman can carry out and or discharge the duties and functions of
that office by merit of the election of August 26, 2010, which was
annulled by Okon Abang, of the Federal High Court. He is also asking
the court to determine whether the decision of the NFF and its chairman
during its general assembly, to annul his election as chairman of the
league, as well as directing the Board to conduct a fresh election
within 14 days, while the suit is pending, is an affront to the majesty
and integrity of the court.

‘Don’t recognise them’

In the substantive
suit, Mr Ogunye is asking the court to grant him six orders, among
which include an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the
officers and members of NFF and Aminu Magari, its Chairman, and other
executive members from “further conducting, parading, addressing or
describing themselves as duly elected members and officers of the
Governing Board (Executive Committee) and Congress of NFF pending the
hearing and determination of the substantive Originating Summons
herein.” According to him, this is necessary due to the elections
purportedly conducted into the said committee and congress on August
26, 2010, which he regards as illegal.

Mr Ogunye argued
that the order, made on September 6, 2010, by Mr Abang of the Federal
High Court, Lagos, in Suit No FHC/L/CS/962/10 (The Registered Trustees
of the National Association of Nigeria Footballers, NANF v Nigerian
Football Association, NFA & 7 Ors), which annulled the elections on
NFF conducted on August 26, 2010, is upon the discontinuance of the
suit, “being impudently disobeyed by the board and congress of the NFF.”

He averred that the
members have reinstated themselves into office and are now discharging
the functions and duties of the offices, pursuant to the purported
mandate they obtained in the said annulled election. He argued that the
actions of the NFF violate the provisions of the Constitution of
Nigeria; are an assault on the integrity of the Federal High Court and
the sanctity of its orders; subvert the rule of law; negate the orderly
administration of justice in the country; impact negatively on its law
practice; and adversely affect the faith of his clients and prospective
clients in the inviolability of the orders of courts.

The matter has been adjourned till January 17, 2011.

Several flights within the country were, over the weekend, cancelled following the harsh weather effects of the harmattan on air-to-ground visibility to local pilots.
With various domestic airlines rescheduling and cancelling some of their flights in a bid to heed to the recent warning from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on the hazardous effects of the prevalent harmattan haze on aircraft, hundreds of domestic travellers were seen at both domestic terminals of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, hoping to embark on trips to their destinations.
At the Murtala Muhamed Airport 2 (MMA2), on Saturday, passengers of IRS Airlines, from Lagos to Abuja, and those of Aero Contractors, from Lagos to Benin, were seen sitting at the terminal with their luggage as their flights were cancelled. Flights of Air Nigeria, from Lagos to Benin, Maiduguri and Kano were also delayed. Passengers of Arik Air, at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), were asked to sit tight in anticipation of a favourable weather that will enable flight services. “I have been waiting here since morning for my flight with Virgin Nigeria to Benin and am yet to get the latest information though we were told earlier that when there is a fair weather we would be able to travel,” said a traveller at MMA2 who gave his name as Mr Okiro.
The dangers
The country’s civil aviation authority had outlined the dangerous consequences of the prevalent weather to include damages on aircraft, and loss of lives and property, hence mandating all pilots, airline engineers and various service providers in the sector to ensure that they abide by the prescribed rules guiding flight operations during the period. “All pilots shall obtain adequate departure, en-route and destination weather information, and briefing from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency prior to flight operations,” said Harold Demuren, the Director General of the agency.
“Pilots shall recognise harmattan haze as a hazard and exercise maximum restraint when the condition is observed or forecasted.”
When contacted, a ticketing and reservation officer with IRS Airlines, who did not want to be named, said that most of the travellers who requested for a refund were given back their fares. “As a result of the cancellation, which was necessitated by the harmattan, we had to return the fares of those of our passengers who insisted on collecting their money back,” he said.

One of presidential
aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sarah Jibril, has
asked a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, to stop the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting the nomination of
Atiku Abubakar as PDP’s presidential aspirant for the April 2011
general election.

Mrs. Jibril, in a
motion she filed, is seeking an order of interlocutory injunction
restraining the PDP and INEC, their agents or privies, from processing
or considering Mr. Abubakar’s application as the party’s aspirant for
the presidential election because of his reportedly being the consensus
candidate of all the PDP presidential aspirants from the North.

Specifically, Mrs.
Jibril, the only female PDP aspirant, said Mr. Abubakar is not the
consensus candidate of the north and that she, being an aspirant, was
not consulted nor called to any meeting where the alleged adoption of
Mr. Abubakar was decided upon. She therefore, seeks an injunction
restraining defendants in the suit from accepting his candidacy,
pending the determination of the substantive suit where she is
challenging his nomination as the North’s consensus candidate.

Defendants in the
suit are the PDP; its national chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo; INEC; its
chairman, Attahiru Jega; the chairman of the Northern Political Leaders
Forum, Adamu Ciroma; and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

In addition, she
wants the court to restrain the PDP and Mr. Nwodo from presenting Mr.
Abubakar to INEC as PDP’s presidential aspirant for the 2011 general
election pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Claims of discrimination

In an affidavit in
support ot the motion, she said she is the most qualified PDP
presidential aspirant, as she has intimidating resume and better
qualifications than all the other aspirants from the north put together
and that she never had any criminal records or any case of fraud
against her.

Furthermore, she
said she was never invited to be heard, like other
co-aspirants/contestants considered by the Northern Political Leaders
Forum, and that all her efforts to reach the forum was rebuffed.

“I was never
invited nor considered for presentation as the consensus candidate of
the 19 Northern states under the platform of the 1st defendant (PDP),
despite the fact that I am a known presidential aspirant from one of
the Northern states under the platform of the 1st defendant,” she said.

She alleged
discrimination against her by the Adamu Ciroma-led forum on the bases
of her sex and religion, which she noted was a violation of her
constitutional right to fair hearing and constitutional right not to be
discriminated against on the bases of sex and religion.

Mrs. Jibril said
the former vice president’s nomination as a consensus candidate for the
presidency of the PDP will put her in a politically disadvantaged
position and unequal playing ground with Mr. Abubakar during the
conduct of PDP’s presidential primaries slated for January 13, 2011.

In an affidavit of urgency in support of her motion, she said,
“except the reliefs being sought in this application are urgently
granted, I will suffer irreparable loss that cannot be compensated in
financial terms on the 13th January, 2011 when the 1st defendant will
conduct its presidential primaries for all her presidential aspirants.”

The presidential candidate of the Congress for
Progress Change, former military head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, has
called on supporters of the CPC to stand firm in order to ensure the
victory of the party during the presidential election. Mr Buhari, who
gave the charge last weekend while addressing his supporters at the
parade ground in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, emphasized the need
for people to come out en masse to register during the forthcoming
voter registration exercise.

According to him, the voter’s card is
their power without which they would not be able to vote. He further
revealed that if elected, he would give top priority to security
challenges bedeviling the country as well as use the nation’s resources
to better the lives of the people. On his part, a gubernatorial
aspirant of the party in the state, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who dumped
the PDP last week for the CPC, described the former head of state as
someone who had a good record and thanked supporters of the party for
coming out in large numbers to receive him. He urged the party members
to maintain the tempo.

Royal blessing

Earlier, Mr Buhari who paid a courtesy visit to the
Emir of Lafia, Isa Mustapha Agwai, said he was in the palace to receive
his royal blessing. The Emir thanked the candidate for the visit and
prayed that God bless the nation with visionary leaders that would take
the country to greater heights. Also speaking, Mohammed Mainoma, a
lecturer at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, stressed how the poor
suffer in Nigeria and explained that it was high time the nation got
good leaders who had the interests of the people at heart. The
highlight of the visit was the presentation of the party’s card to Mr
Al-Makura as a member of the party by Mr Buhari.

The mininster of
transport, Yusuf Suleiman, has expressed optimism that people would
vote massively for President Goodluck Jonathan in the elections. The
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Yusuf who made this known
in Gwadabawa on Saturday said that Nigerians were satisfied with the
performance of Mr Jonathan.

As the PDP
presidential primaries draw near, the minister urged PDP supporters to
remain committed to the ideals of the party. He said the PDP would
continue to lay emphasis on social development and peace in the
country. The minister also expressed his confidence in the ability of
the INEC chairman, Altahiru Jega, to conduct a free, fair and
transparent election.

Babayo Gamawa,
deputy governor of Bauchi State, has been elected the PDP candidate for
the Bauchi North senatorial district. Announcing the results of the
primary elections in Azare, the returning officer, Sambo Raja, said
that Mr. Gamawa polled 1,862 votes to defeat his opponent, Aminu
Ahmed-Yapeco, with 37 votes.

“I declare Alhaji Babayo Garba Gamawa, who scored 1,862 votes, the winner of the election,” he said.

Reacting to his
victory, Mr. Gamawa thanked the voters for conducting themselves
peacefully during the election. The three other aspirants, former
members of the House of Representatives – Hamisu Shira, Modibbo Ahmed,
and Faruk Mustapha – boycotted the election.

Isyaku Maigoro, the
Independent National Electoral Commission Resident Commissioner in
Ekiti State, revealed that the Commission had received 1,576 Direct
Data Capture Machines for the voter registration.

Mr Maigoro while
speaking in Ado-Ekiti said that the commission is still expecting 784
machines, he also informed that ,177 electric generators will be
purchased by the commission, and distributed to each of the 177
political wards before the beginning of the registration on January 15.

He said that the commission had begun the training for 4,390 NYSC
members to be used as Assistant Registration Officers and Registration
Area Centre Officers.He charged the corps members to be committed to
the exercise and warned that any staff of the commission who engaged in
sharp practice, would be punished.