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The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP)
has challenged the federal government to explain its hurriedly shared
$1 billion among the three tiers of government on the eve of the new
year.

The Federal Accounts Allocations Committee had on
December 31 shared the money with the federal government, taking $458.3
million, the 36 state governments $232 million, and the 774 local
government areas taking $179 million. Also, the derivative states will
share $130 million.

In a statement by its spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, on
Sunday, the CNPP wondered why the FAAC meeting was “secretly and
hurriedly convened to share the money, regretting that the Excess Crude
Account (ECA), which is the nation’s safety net, had reduced from over
$20 billion as at June 2007 to less than $3 billion today.

“How can President Goodluck Jonathan account for the
hurried sharing of $1 billion to the three tiers of government on the
31st of December 2010? Of what urgent purpose was the $1 billion meant
for? Is it for politicking? Is it New Year bonus? Why was this meeting
on the eve of the New Year of the FAAC convened secretly,” the group of
opposition parties, asked.

The CNPP said it was alarmed because all indices point to less than
altruistic disbursement, adding that “it is highly regrettable to
finger President Goodluck Jonathan whose government is cap in hand on
borrowing binge, to covertly disburse ECA for political gains.”

The Senate
Majority Leader, Teslim Folarin, was on Monday quizzed by the Police
over the gruesome murder of Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo).

Mr Folarin, who
was at the state’s police command headquarters on invitation, was
interrogated for about three hours at the office of the state’s
Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta, before he was moved to the
Crime Investigation Department (CID), Iyaganku, to write his statement.
The lawmaker was accompanied to the police command by Lekan Balogun,
leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) coalition in the state,
Yekeen Adeojo and Wole Oyelese, both chieftains of the party and
governorship aspirants; Ayoade Adeseun, Chairman, House Committee on
appropriation, Sarafadeen Alli, former secretary to the Oyo State
government, some of the suspended members of the Oyo State House of
Assembly, and many other members of the coalition.

Police almost
created a scene at the command headquarters yesterday when some senior
police officers with the Commissioner of Police wanted to push the
lawmaker into the hilux pickup van that was to convey him to where he
was to give his statement. He was about being pushed to the pickup van
when Mr Adeseun and other members supporters insisted that he should go
in his own car.

Accusing the police of bias

Earlier, before
going in for interrogation, the crowd that came with Mr Folarin had
accused Mr Bolanta of working for the state governor, Adebayo
Alao-Akala.

They shouted him
down when his men prevented them from going in with Mr Folarin to his
office, saying nothing must happen to him.

Journalists
waiting for information were prevented from coming close by the police
as he was driven out of the premises in company of some senior police
officers and their subordinates.

Speaking with
pressmen at the command’s headquarters, Mr Balogun said they had to
come with the Senator to show their solidarity as one of them.

He said he still maintains his stand that the CP was placing his interest above his professional calling.

According to him,
what he witnessed at the meeting between his team and that of the
police showed that nothing has really changed yet.

Until around 5.00
pm yesterday, Mr Folarin was still with the police where he was
reportedly made to give explanations to his alleged link with the
killing of Eleweomo, factional leader of the National Union of Road
Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo State, who met his untimely death
shortly after the local government congress of the PDP at Ona-Ara kast
Thursday.

As at press time,
it was not certain whether the senate leader will be detained or
released on bail as it was learnt that just as he was leaving the
premises of the state’s CID after giving his statement, he was
recalled, while some policemen were drafted to conduct a search on his
house.

NEXT also gathered that the police might bring him to court for prosecution today.

After last
Thursday’s incident, the police had withdrawn police aides attached to
the senator and interrogated them on what they know about it.

It was also
speculated that if he had not shown up yesterday, there were plans by
the police to declare him wanted today, probably, to embarrass him.

Since the major
crack within the Oyo PDP over the second term ambition of Mr
Alao-Akala, the murder of Eleweomo was about the major casualty.

A staunch
supporter of the governor, Eleweomo, reportedly led an army of thugs to
disrupt a session of the state House of Assembly where an impeachment
move against the governor was to be proposed.

Some of the lawmakers deposed to the move were injured, while the state House of Assembly suspended all of them.

With about 48 hours
to the Delta State gubernatorial re-run election, six governorship
aspirants yesterday took the stage to let the electorate know what
their plans are for the state.

The apirants who
participated in the live debate were Onokpite Ogbe, of the Citizens
Popular Party (CPP); Veronica Bamuza-Mutu, of the All Nigerian Peoples’
Party (ANPP); Abel Edijala, of the Labour Party (LP); and Peter
Oghenevwogaga, of the Accord Party (AP).

There was also
Emmanuel Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former
governor whose election was annulled by the Elections Petition Tribunal.

The gubernatorial
aspirant of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Great Ogboru, sent a
letter to the panel that he would not participate in the debate.

The debate, which
involved questions from journalists and some members of the audience,
centred around the candidates’ manifestoes, infrastructural and
economic development of the state, and the aspirants were given 90
seconds to respond.

Plans for the state

The aspiring governors took two minutes each to reel out what they would deliver to their people if elected into office.

“This is a year we
are going to have tremendous change in the history of our state. What
Labour stands for is welfarism. We need a welfarist, capitalist
government that has the peculiarities of a welfarist state,” said Mr.
Edijala.

In his speech, the
CPP candidate, Onokpite Ogbe, who spoke with an American accent,
maintained that his aspirations would be focused on youth development.

“I’m running the
race because of you guys. My people have been suffering since 1999 and
that’s why I’m running this race. To assist my people. If elected
governor, I’m gonna work hard for the people. I’m gonna focus on
health, schools, and I’m gonna work with local government chairmen,”
Mr. Ogbe said.

On his part, Mr. Uduaghan stated that his development agenda would be two-pronged.

“When you are
talking of infrastructural development, there are two of them – the
ones that will attract investment like ICT, power, and industries.

“Another is social development, like schools and hospitals. The things that people need on a daily basis,” said Mr. Uduaghan.

The LP candidate,
Mr. Edijala, blamed the poor state of infrastructures in the state on
shoddy jobs executed by low rate contractors.

“PDP has been on
infrastructures in the state for 12 years. World certified
professionals have not been engaged and sub standard jobs are being
done all over,” he said.

Power generation

As an oil producing state, some of the aspirants admitted that the state should have no business with epileptic power supply.

Mr. Edajile
questioned the rationale behind the state government’s massive
investment into generating power only to transfer it to the national
grid.

“Recently, we have
spent N29 billion to transfer electricity to the national grid. We have
to fight as a state to ensure that the reforms in the power sector are
holistically reviewed,” he said.

Sourcing for
alternative avenues of power generation, according to Mrs. Bamuza-Mutu,
is the panacea for stable power in the state.

“I’ll look into
other areas that generate power: gas flares, solar plants, and gas
turbine. But first of all, we should state that Delta will generate
power independent of the federal government,” she said.

However, the CPP
candidate maintained that power is a federal affair and he would simply
work the federal government in that regard.

“I can’t say a lot about power right now until when I get into the seat,” said Mr. Ogbe.

Mr. Uduaghan promised to complete the ongoing Delta Power Project.

The debate also touched on other issues such as health, security, and wealth creation.

While the AP, ANPP,
and PDP candidates promised to create agro based economies, the
candidate for the CPP said he would invite his friends from all over
the world to help diversify the state’s economy.

On the issue of security, the LP candidate promised to borrow a leaf from Lagos State by partnering with the police.

“We have to do
identification of Delta citizens. A lot of people come from outside to
commit crimes. We are going to identify every Deltan, and if possible,
tag them. The technology is already there,” he said.

The ANPP candidate said that job creation, especially in rural areas, is the way out of security problems in the state.

While the AP
candidate promised to give the youth “hope”, the CPP candidate said
he’d work with police officers and local government chairmen.

The two-hour debate ended with handshakes and hugs between the gubernatorial candidates.

Attahiru Jega, the
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
yesterday said in Abuja that both local and international observers
would be properly accredited for the voter registration and the general
elections.

He told the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum that: “We are going to naturally allow
observers both domestic and foreign, but there is a process of
accreditation. Any group that wants to observe will need to apply and
to be properly accredited. We are not, this time around, going to allow
anybody to just come and say that they are observers, we have to ensure
that there is discipline in that process,” he said.

He added that a
guideline had been developed for both monitors and observers, adding
that although the law did not allow for monitoring, the commission
could devise an administrative mechanism for it. “I think that some of
the problem of the past is that people were observers but they were
also assumed to be monitors and in the process they created additional
chaos and problems.

No constituency delineation for now

Mr Jega added that
the commission will work with the existing polling units for the voter
registration and the general elections because there was no time to do
proper constituency delineation.

“The former
commission started the process of constituency delineation but had not
finished it but we realised that there was no time for us to do it, so
we have decided to restrict ourselves to the existing polling units,”
he said.

According to Mr
Jega, the commission has done extensive harmonisation of the polling
units with the Geographic Information System (GIS) coordinating and
that about 90 per cent of the polling units across the country had been
properly mapped out.

“There are still
areas in Adamawa and the Mambilla Plateau as well as the creeks in the
Niger Delta and few places that we haven’t got GIS to coordinate,” he
said.

He expressed
concern at what he described as lack of internal democracy in most
political parties. According to him, “Our worry in the commission is
that it does not appear as if our politicians and the political parties
are learning the lessons that we ought to have learnt from our past
mistakes and past errors, unfortunately, these are being repeated.
Internal party democracy is very important in our democratisation
process and in ensuring that there is a credible electoral process in
place but from what we are seeing, there is a serious concern.” Mr Jega
expressed regrets that the commission was receiving complaints that
some parties are not following due process during their congresses. He
restated the determination of the commission to rekindle the confidence
of the populace in the country’s electoral process.

Part of this process is the decision of the commission not to use
vendors for ballot papers and by ensuring that ballot papers are
printed by the best security printers in the world. He said for now,
the commission has put a stop to the registration of more political
parties.

Former Vice
President and presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, alleged that President Goodluck
Jonathan is desperate to make his political rivals the scapegoats of
the latest bombing incidents in Jos and Abuja.

A statement by his
Campaign Organisation in Abuja, accused Mr Jonathan of inciting the
public against them through the administration’s paid agents to link
his (Mr Abubakar) recent comments, to the latest bomb blasts.

A bomb had exploded
in the Mammy market in Mogadishu barracks last Friday killing many and
injuring others. The incident took place barely one week after series
of such attacks in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

The organisation
said that newspaper adverts by the President’s agents are already
making insinuations that Mr Abubakar was connected to the two incidents.

While condemning
violence in any form, however, the organisation observed that Mr
Jonathan is taking advantage of national grief to hang the
responsibility for the terrorist incidents on the necks of main
political rivals, particularly the former vice president.

It also declared
that any president who exploits the bomb incidents to incite public
hatred against his opponents with the purpose of framing them up is as
guilty as the yet-to-be identified bombers.

“In a moment of
national crisis, President Goodluck Jonathan must demonstrate sobriety
and cool-headed posture rather than losing his head to impetuous
emotions,” the organisation said.

“The President
should allow security services to carry out intensive investigations
instead of using the incident to frame up political opponents whom he
perceives as stumbling blocks to his ambition.

The President’s tacit approval of linking his opponents to the bombs is dangerous politics.

“The President cannot surpass Atiku’s commitment to national
security. Such wicked insinuations, if not stopped, can complicate the
efforts to identify the bombers,” the statement maintained. Sully Abu,
media spokesman of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation, said
“There are ongoing investigations by the security and law enforcement
agencies into the blasts and whosoever is fingered by the
investigations will be brought to book.” Mr Abu stated this in a text
he sent to us.

The minister of state for foreign
affairs, Idi Hong, said on Sunday that Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, currently
in a London hospital, was no longer “in grievous danger.” “With the
state in which I have seen him, not as a minister now, but also as
somebody with a background of medicine, I think he is stable. “He is
not in any serious or grievous danger because the care is up to
standard,” Mr. Hong told the Europe correspondent of the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) in London after visiting Mr. Ojukwu. “With the statistics
and figures I have seen so far, I think we will say that he is really
improving.

The vital statistics of the human person is within the
normal range and very soon he will recover,” he added. Mr. Hong,
accompanied by Nigeria’s acting High Commissioner to the UK, Dozie
Nwanna, had earlier delivered a special message from President Goodluck
Jonathan to Bianca, Ojukwu’s wife. Mr. Ojukwu was flown to London after
spending three days in the intensive care unit of the University of
Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, after he suffered a stroke.

Mrs.
Ojukwu, who described Mr. Jonathan as a great leader, expressed
gratitude for the message, saying: “It is a sign of a great leader with
a great deal of empathy not just for a single individual but for the
people he seeks to lead,” she said.

An emergency
meeting of security chiefs was held yesterday behind closed doors in
Abuja. The meeting, which was presided over by President Goodluck
Jonathan, was summoned to deliberate over the spate of bombings and
security breaches across the country.

A source said the
president ordered the security chiefs to discuss and find how to bring
the violence that has become common across the country under control.

It was gathered
that the president expressed concern that security has become a
challenge, thus leading to loss of lives and raising fears over the
elections coming up in April.

On the eve of
Christmas, series of bombs exploded in different areas of Jos leading
to the death of over 80 people, while another exploded at a People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) rally in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State. On December 31,
there was a bomb explosion at the Mogadishu Barracks in Abuja, killing
four persons while several others were injured.

Terrorism adviser to be named

At the end of the
emergency security meeting yesterday, it was announced that an adviser
to the president is to be named in the next one week. Although the name
of the adviser was not revealed, it was gathered that the announcement
was delayed because of the need to make some consultations and carry
out some security checks on the appointee.

The Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) had in 2008 installed CCTV in some strategic areas in
Abuja and its environs. However, the functionality of these gadgets has
come under question in view of recent events.

Briefing
journalists after the meeting, the special adviser to the president on
media and publicity, Ima Niboro, said, “The president convened an
emergency meeting of the National Security Council to address the state
of security in the country. The meeting also reviewed the bomb incident
of New Year’s eve and condemned them as an act of terror. Mr. President
in the next one week is to appoint a special adviser on terrorism.

“Mr. President will
work with the National Assembly to ensure the speedy passage of the
anti-terrorism bill. Government will also introduce CCTVs in public
places for access control. Regulations are also underway for the access
control for both public and private establishments.”

He disclosed that a
presidential committee on the control of explosive and other incendiary
materials will also be set up as well as a committee on public
enlightenment on general security awareness amongst citizens.

In the build up to
the elections, Mr. Niboro said “the police have been directed to ensure
the prompt arrest and prosecution or political thugs,” adding that “all
armouries licenced by the police are to be further inspected to
regulate how the materials are imported and used in Nigeria.”

Those present at
the emergency security meeting, which was chaired by the president
include: the minister of defence, Adetokunbo Kayode; the minister of
interior, Emmanuel Iheanacho; the minister of police affairs, Humphrey
Abba; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed;
Chief of Staff, Mike Oghiadomhe; director general of State Security
Service, Ekpenyong Ita; National Security Adviser, Andrew Azazi; Chief
of Defence Staff, Oluseye Petirin; the Chief of Air Staff, Dikko Umar;
Chief of Naval Staff, Ola Ibrahim; Chief of Army Staff, Azubike
Ihejirika; and Hafiz Ringim, the Inspector General of Police.

The recently
reached truce between the two factions of the Enugu state People’s
Democratic Party will be put to test as the party will later today
elect its flag bearers for the Enugu State House of Assembly election
at a party primaries.

The deal was
reached between the two factions; Sullivan Chime’s, the governor and
Okwesilieze Nwodo’s, the party’s national chairman in Abuja,last week
Tuesday at a peace meeting mediated by President Goodluck Jonathan and
his Vice.Both factions reached a power sharing deal which gave Mr Nwodo
some level of influence in the state’s party executive while letting
the governor hold the major control. The one week old peace may,
however,collapse today as its foundation will be tested by the outcome
of the congress.

NEXT gathered that
though the governor’s faction retained the chairmanship of the party,it
also plans to ensure that most of the candidates emerge from its camp.
The governor’s faction controls most of the current political office
holders in the state including the deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu and the Senate spokesman, Ayogu Eze.

While the leading
faction favour a “return to office” (continuity) policy that guarantees
a return ticket for most members of the faction, Mr Nwodo’s faction
wants the primaries open to all interested aspirants,apparently to
inject new loyalists into the state power brokers’ cadre.“If any of the
factions accepts defeat, then there will be peace in the party, but
that will be difficult,” Clement Ogbonna, a neutral member of the party
said.

Controlled democracy

Mr Ogbonna said
although the governor has warmed himself into the hearts of the people
since 2007, he is still finding it difficult to hold sway with
emergence of Mr Nwodo as the party’s national chairman and his
subsequent increasing interest in the state’s party politics.

“You don’t expect to have a party national chairman from your state and he will not have any say in the party,” Mr Ogbonna said.

Patrick Eze, a
member of Make Your Votes Count, an NGO advocating for true democracy
in the state, however said the power tussle in the state is an
indication that the party is still very far from practicing internal
democracy and that PDP still practices godfatherism.

“If at all there is
voting in the congress, the delegates can only vote those either
faction have approved and that way, we still can’t get the best hands
in government,” Mr Eze said.