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The Oyo state government has reopened the murder charge against
Teslim Folarin, Senate majority leaders, and three others over the killing of
Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo), factional chairman of the National Union of Road
Transport Workers (NURTW).

Justice Akintunde Boade of the Oyo state High Court, on
Wednesday, ordered the service of a suit filed by the state government on Mr.
Folarin and others accused persons.

After listening to H.F. Sule, Oyo state director of Public
Prosecution, DPP, who told the court that the state was not a party to the
release of the accused persons last Thursday, the judge fixed January 27 for
mention of the matter when they were expected to have been properly served on
the notice.

Before their release last week, Mr. Folarin and other accused
persons, Ramoni Jayeoba, Bankole Olaide Raji and Raimi Ismaila, spent nine days
at the Agodi prison where they were remanded on the order of the Ibadan Chief
Magistrate’s court over their alleged involvement in the killing of Mr. Salako.

The magistrate, Fatimat Badrudeen, struck out the two-count
charge of felony (conspiracy to murder) and murder preferred against the
accused persons and discharged them when the police formally withdrew the
charges for further investigation.

Effort by the counsel to the Oyo state government to stop the dismissal of
the matter were unsuccessful as the magistrate refused audience to the state’s
DPP, arguing that the police, who was the original prosecutor, had the right to
withdraw. Eleweomo was killed by yet unknown persons shortly after the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) congress held at the Ona-Ara local government area of
the state, late last year.

The court of appeal
sitting in Yola has fixed February 10 for its ruling on a 2007 election
related matter brought before it by Danladi Baido, winner of the PDP
governorship primaries in Taraba State, against INEC, in which the
appellant is asking the court to compel the electoral body to issue him
with the certificate of return issued to the state governor, Danfulani
Suntai.

The case, expected
to determine the fate of Mr Suntai of Taraba State, has been described
by counsel to the appellant as already running out of time. Falade
Bankole told the presiding judge of the appeal court that “time is of
an essence” after Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, who initially disqualified
herself from handling the case, was asked by both parties to continue
with the case at yesterday’s sitting because of time.

Mrs Zainab had
disqualified herself in apparent protest about the procedure of the
court after she discovered the other judges were in possession of
document missing in her own brief.

The case against Mr
Suntai has already thrown the governor’s camp into panic, said a
supporter of Mr Baido who said they were optimistic of favourable
judgement because of the precedent set by the appeal court ruling in
Rivers State, which is similar to that brought against INEC in Taraba
State.

Electoral watershed

The crux of the
matter, according to the plaintiff’s counsel, is that Mr Suntai was
illegally substituted as the PDP candidate for Taraba State and
presented by INEC with the certificate of return. Mr Baido,

who wants the court
to, among other things, declare him as the candidate for the 14th April
2007 governorship elections also wants the court to set aside the
purported change or substitution of his name as PDP governorship
candidate for Taraba State.

“The mandate won by the appellant was wrongly denied him by his party in collusion with INEC,” the plaintiff said.

But Mr Baido’s
resort to the law court, sources said, is not without its own riddle as
the appellant had agreed to a role in the Suntai administration as the
chief of staff before political disagreement reared its head. Some of
the governor’s supporters also claim that Mr Baido is being instigated
by a former governor, Jolly Nyame who is estranged politically from the
incumbent governor.

“The judgement on
the appeal court case reserved for the 10th of February is seen as one
of a few cases connected to the 2007 elections expected to be another
watershed in election jurisprudence,” Desmond Adebole, counsel to the
appellant, said.

The Osun State
Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oloruntoyin Akeju has attributed the
malfunctioning of some of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC)’s Direct Data Capturing (DDC) Machines to the variation in the
weather condition of the country where they are manufactured and
Nigeria where they are being used.

Mr Akeju made the
disclosure while fielding questions from newsmen at INEC headquarters
in Osogbo yesterday when the zonal commander of the Nigeria Security
and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in charge of Oyo, Osun and Ogun States,
Mudu Bunu visited him in his office during an inspection tour of the
state on the ongoing registration exercise.

The electoral
officer said the difference in the climate of the country where the
machines are manufactured is responsible to a large extent on why there
were some initial problems.

“The machines
originated from a temperate region where the weather was extremely cold
and with our own weather which is extremely hot, there are bound to be
this kind of initial problems,” he said.

Mr Akeju however
disclosed that the commission is gradually overcoming the initial
problem as majority of the machines are now operating at maximum
capacity.

“There is
improvement on a daily basis on the number of people we are able to
register. For instance on Sunday we registered about 60,000 voters
while the number had increased to 90,000 by Monday,” he said.

Responding on the
allegations of some pockets of crises in some registration centres
across the country, the NSCDC zonal commander said security will be
reinforced with security agents at all the centres in the country.

“We will seek the
assistance of our colleagues, the police and the SSS to help us secure
the safety of the machines and protect the lives of the personnel from
being attack by hoodlums,” Mr Bunu said.

Tough on the elderly

However, an INEC
registration official, Raphael Ezike, on Tuesday said that senior
citizens, above 60 years old, were mostly the ones that were having
problems being registered in the ongoing voter’s registration exercise.

“The scanners are
finding it difficult to recognise the finger prints of voters who are
60 years old and above, while those under 60 years have little
challenges,” he said.

The officer in
charge of Ward C, Alausa, Ikeja told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
that while it took less than five minutes to register younger
Nigerians, those above 60 years took much longer.

“It takes us about
five minutes to register people under 60 years old while those above 60
years old take longer minutes with the Direct Data Capture (DDC)
machines,” he explained.

The INEC official attributed the low figure recorded at the centre to the lack of power supply to recharge the machines.

“Before now, we
used to charge the only battery at other wards where there is power
supply and during such time we did not register anybody,” he said.

He, however, said that with the provision of a back-up battery now, they will be able to register more voters.

The All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP) has criticised the federal government for planning
to establish nine new universities instead of equipping and improving
the existing institutions.

The national
chairman of the party, Ogbonnaya Onu, who said this in Abuja, also
stated that the country may find it hard to develop if issues relating
to the improvement of the lives of the people are not addressed. The
federal government had recently awarded the contracts for the
construction of new universities in all the nation’s six geo-political
zones.

Mr. Onu, in his
reaction, regretted that none of the nation’s universities is ranked
amongst the top 3000 universities in the world. He also lamented that
out of 1.2 million students that apply for the Joint Admission
Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, only 200,000 get admitted into
the 93 Nigerian universities annually.

“So far, the
federal government has not made any serious efforts to rebuild its
existing universities to even meet the standard of the poor,” Mr. Onu
said.

“The ANPP is
worried and indeed highly disturbed that if the right mix of policies
is not adopted, the sad experience of the past will be repeated. We do
not want a situation where the establishment of these nine new
universities would only end up in the diversion of resources away from
adequately maintaining existing ones,” he further said.

While receiving the
officials of the National Association of Niger Delta Students (NADS)
led by its national president, Lucky Emonefe, yesterday, the ANPP boss
affirmed that Nigeria would get sustainable development only if the
issues of the Niger Delta are finally addressed.

“We cannot talk of
development of Nigeria if we do not address the problems facing the
people of the Niger Delta and built their infrastructure,” he said.

Mr. Onu said that
if the ANPP forms government at the centre, the region would be given
commensurate priority. He advised the students to embrace peace, and
not be allowed to be used in political violence.

Mr. Emonefe, who
later presented the ANPP boss with an award for conducting primaries
devoid of violence, said the opposition party has given a lot of youth
in the Niger Delta the chance to contest on the party’s platform,
adding that many of them won the posts they contested for.

The gubernatorial
candidate of the United Nigeria Peoples Party in Ogun State, Jacob
Olurin Adeogun, yesterday called on the police command to provide him
adequate security, alleging that his life was under threat, after his
victory at his party primaries. Talking to NEXT in Abeokuta, Mr Adeogun
said he has become a victim of nocturnal calls from people he called
“suspected assassins”, who he claimed have continued to harass him,
intimidate him, and equally sending messages to his friends to advise
him to step down from the race. Mr Adeogun was recently elected as the
flagbearer of the UNPP.

Mr Adeogun who said
he brought the party to the state over 11 years ago and served as its
secretary before his victory at the party’s primaries for the oncoming
April poll, lamented that, “The situation he [was] facing [was]
pathetic” and called for police protection before it got too late.

“This is very
pathetic,” he said. “I now move from one place to another. I can’t go
home straight, I have to be moving round before getting to my house.
Attempt on my life has political colouration and undertone, my
underground political campaign has become a threat to my opposition,”
he further alleged. He therefore appealed to the police authorities to
rise up to the challenge of protecting his life.

“The police are paid to protect the citizens, and I am one of them,” he concluded.

Tunisia’s new
coalition government hit trouble on Tuesday when four ministers quit
and an opposition party threatened to walk out, undermining efforts to
restore stability and end unrest on the streets.

Prime Minister
Mohamed Ghannouchi brought opposition leaders into the coalition on
Monday after president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia
following weeks of street protests. But key figures from the old guard
kept their jobs, angering opposition members of the coalition and
street protesters.

Police in Tunis
repeatedly used teargas in an attempt to break up a protest by several
hundred opposition party supporters and trade unionists who labelled
the new government a “sham”.

Several hundred people also protested against the new government in Monastir, south of Tunis.

The weeks of
protests against poverty and unemployment in Tunisia which forced Ben
Ali from office prompted fears across the Arab world that similarly
repressive governments might also face popular unrest.

Abid al-Briki of
the Tunisian labour union UGTT said its three ministers would withdraw
from the government because it included members of Ben Ali’s RCD party.

“This is in response to the demands of people on the streets,” Briki said.

The ministers were
given junior positions in the 23-member cabinet, including Houssine
Dimassi, nominated for the training and employment portfolio, and two
ministers of state, Abdeljelil Bedoui and Anouar Ben Gueddour.

The opposition
Ettajdid party will pull out of the coalition if ministers from Ben
Ali’s RCD party do not give up party membership and return to the state
all properties they obtained through the RCD, state television said.

Ettajdid leader Ahmed Ibrahim was named minister of higher education.

Opposition Health Minister Mustafa Ben Jaafar also resigned over the presence of RCD members in the cabinet, his party said.

On the streets, protesters insisted that ministers who had served Ben Ali had no place in the government.

“The new government is a sham. It’s an insult to the revolution that claimed lives and blood,” said student Ahmed al-Haji.

“The problem with
the interim government is it has a number of ministers from the old
government,” protester Sami bin Hassan said.

Reforms promised

Ghannouchi
defended his government, saying some ministers had been kept on because
they were needed in the run-up to elections, expected in the next two
months. The prime minister said the ministers of defence, interior,

finance and foreign affairs under Ben Ali would keep their jobs in the new government.

“We have tried to
put together a mix that takes into account the different forces in the
country to create the conditions to be able to start reforms,”
Ghannouchi told Europe 1 radio.

Ghannouchi rejected suggestions that the Ben Ali “dictatorship” would continue under a new guise.

His foreign
minister, Kamel Morjane, said during a visit to Egypt that the interim
government would respond to issues that had angered protesters, such as
corruption, and would be preparing for new elections.

“It may be possible that the next government will not have any member of the former government,” he said.

Paris-based opposition leader Moncef Marzouki arrived at Tunis airport to be met by 200 cheering supporters.

“The revolution must continue,” Marzouki, who went into exile after being harassed by Ben Ali’s intelligence services, said.

In Tunis on
Tuesday, people in several parts of the city reported hearing sporadic
gunfire overnight but there was significantly less gunfire than on
previous nights.

A Reuters
photographer in the Ariana suburb of Tunis said local people were
organising neighbourhood groups to clean up the damage left by several
days of lawlessness.

The government
says at least 78 people were killed in the unrest, and the cost in
damage and lost business was $2 billion. Ghannouchi promised to release
all political prisoners and to investigate those suspected of
corruption Those behind the killing of demonstrators would face justice.

An Egyptian man
set himself on fire in Cairo and another one tried to follow suit,
echoing an act of self-immolation in Tuni sia that triggered the mass
protests that ousted the president. Similar cases have been reported in
Algeria and Mauritania. The wave of protests has hit stock and currency
markets from Jordan to Morocco amid fears that the Tunisian unrest
would spread abroad.

Almost eight years
after his exit from the Osun State government secretariat, a former
governor of the state and national Chairman of the Action Congress of
Nigeria, Adebisi Akande yesterday returned to the Bola Ige house,
government secretariat, Osogbo where he rededicated the governor’s
office constructed by his administration with a call on the people of
the state to support the present administration in its bid to right the
wrongs allegedly committed by the immediate past administration of
Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

The administration
of Mr Akande, who served as governor of the state between 1999 and
2003, started the construction of the governor’s office which houses
the offices of the governor, deputy governor, secretary to the state
government, chief of staff to the governor and top civil servants in
2001 and completed it in 2003 towards the end of his tenure.

However, Mr Akande
did not have the opportunity of occupying the office before his
administration ended and he lost to Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2003 governorship election.

Amidst rousing
ovation from a gathering of civil servants and politicians, the former
governor who described his four-year-tenure as a period of sacrificial
service to his state, noted that he constructed the much praised state
secretariat with the meager resources at the disposal of the state
during his tenure.

Ethos of prudence and accountability

While recounting
how he governed the state, Mr Akande said prudence, transparency and
accountability were his watchwords, adding that the achievements
recorded by his administration created a niche for him in the country.

As a committed
disciple of Obafemi Awolowo, Mr Akande said he followed the legacies of
the late statesman and his mentor, Bola Ige in running the affairs of
the state.

“When I came on
board as the governor of Osun State in 1999, there was paucity of fund
and resources in the state. We were living at a building built by the
late Awolowo, and we were happy, since we believe we were elected to
serve and not to enjoy the luxury of office. There was no money to
cater for the needs of the people of the state, but God helped us and
we succeeded at the end of the day,” he said.

He advised the
incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola to reduce extravagant spending if
he wants to succeed in office, and enjoined the governor to give
agriculture priority, saying the state could be more developed than
others if the agricultural sector is well developed.

Describing Mr
Aregbesola’s administration as a replica of his government, Mr Akande
urged the governor to construct a new government house at a serene
location within Osogbo, the state capital.

He described the immediate past administration as “a parasite which
has been cut off from the state” and called on the people to support
the present administration.

The U.N. Security
Council on Tuesday delayed a vote on sending additional troops to Cote
d’Ivoire, where the blue helmeted peacekeepers have been under attack,
due to Russian objections, council envoys said.

The 15-nation
council was set to vote on a resolution to send an additional 2,000
peacekeepers to help the 10,000 U.N. troops and police in the U.N.
peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire, known as UNOCI. But diplomats
said Russia raised last-minute objections on Tuesday morning about the
language.

“It’s obviously a
delay tactic,” one diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Another diplomat said council members would have to satisfy Moscow’s
demands in order to get the resolution approved.

“We need Russia on
board,” the diplomat said. “We have to listen to them.” He added that
he hoped the council would vote on the troop increase on Wednesday at
the latest.

British Ambassador
Mark Lyall Grant confirmed that Russia, whose oil giant Lukoil is
exploring for crude in Cote d’Ivoire, had issues with the draft
resolution. “They want a delay in the vote,” he told reporters ahead of
a council meeting. Alassane Ouattara is widely recognized by Western
and African governments as president-elect of Cote d’Ivoire, after the
electoral commission proclaimed him winner of the Nov. 28 presidential
poll. The results were certified by the U.N. mission but rejected by
incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

Gbagbo has refused to resign and retains control of government buildings, state television and the security forces, while Ouattara’s parallel administration is based in a U.N.-guarded hotel under siege by pro-Gbagbo forces.

Russia, like the
United States, Britain, France and China, is a permanent veto-wielding
council member and can prevent the passage of any Security Council
measure. The resolution, which was drafted by the French, has already
been amended to accommodate Russian objections regarding the explicit
naming of Ouattara, diplomats said.

A Jan. 12 draft
text welcomed declarations of the African Union and west African
regional organization ECOWAS recognizing Ouattara as the president of
the world’s top cocoa producer. The latest version does not mention
Ouattara by name. Reuters obtained both draft resolutions.

One diplomat said
that Russia’s objections to the language “appeared minor on the
surface.” The Russian delegation had asked to reorder several
paragraphs and add language on “freedom of expression,” several
diplomats said.

“They’re not substantive objections,” a diplomat said. “So we’re
really not sure what they are trying to accomplish. The Russians have
been causing problems on Cote d’Ivoire from the beginning because they
think we shouldn’t take sides.”