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The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties has condemned the presence
of the chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission at
the voter’s registration of the president in his hometown on Saturday.
The party, in a statement on Sunday, expressed its outrage at the
presence of the INEC boss Attahiru Jega, accompanying the president,
Goodluck Jonathan, during the latter’s voter registration at his
hometown Otuoke, Bayelsa State on Saturday.

The CNPP called on the
electoral umpire to ignore the style of followership practised by his
predecessor in office, calling on him to “wake-up, abandon the ignoble
cult followership, which converted former Independent National
Electoral Commission’s chairmen into puppets of former president, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo and be on top of his duty post as an impartial
umpire.” “We had expected Professor Jega to be on top of his duty post
at INEC Headquarters Abuja; receiving reports of non-arrival and
late-arrival of officials and materials and the worrisome report of
malfunctioning DDC Machines, which has become the metaphor the
exercise,” the party said. The CNPP warned that “Nigerians do not want
the extension of the voters registration exercise under any guise.”

After an
assassination attempt against a Washington lawmaker that took the lives
of six other people, many Americans debated this week whether their
politics, culture and country have grown too violent.

“The anger, hatred,
bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous,” said
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who is investigating the crime.

The U.S. guarantees
the right to own a gun in its constitution and millions of its citizens
are proud of it. But no prominent political figure is as fond of gun
talk as Sarah Palin. The Republican activist has urged her followers,
“Don’t retreat, reload!” Before last November’s Congressional
elections, she also posted a map of the U.S. online, highlighting her
opponents’ home districts with gun-sight cross-hairs, as if taking aim.

One of the
districts she targeted belongs to Gabrielle Giffords, the Democratic
Congresswoman who is now recovering from a bullet wound to the head
suffered in last week’s rampage.

Giffords objected
to Palin’s map at the time. “When people do that,” she said, “they’ve
got to realize that there are consequences.” The truth is that
journalists and media personalities, politicians and protestors of both
the right and left tend to favor violent metaphors. Palin is hardly
alone.

There is also no
indication that the 22-year-old suspect who was charged with carrying
out the rampage ever saw her map or drew his inspiration from any one
source in particular.

“Acts of monstrous
criminality stand on their own.” Palin said. “They begin and end with
the criminals who commit them.” Is she right? Is it simplistic and
inappropriate to blame the crimes of a single deranged gunman on the
attitudes of an entire country that is law-abiding and peaceful for the
most part? Or are America’s angry politics and plentiful guns a
combination that was bound to turn deadly?

President Barack Obama cautioned against any quick conclusion but suggested Americans do have to be more civil.

“We can be better,”
he said. “We may not be able to stop all evil in the world but I know
that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.” Many American
politicians have tried to keep politics out of the collective grief and
mourning that have followed the attack, but they haven’t quite
succeeded.

Jonathan Mann
presents Political Mann on CNN International each Friday at 18:30
(CAT), Saturday at 3pm and 9pm (CAT), and Sunday at 10am (CAT).

The Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) has asked the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF)
and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to file criminal charges
against a senator, Iyiola Omisore, over his recent comments on the
president of the Court of Appeal and other members of the court.

The national
publicity secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed, said recent
advertisements paid for by Mr. Omisore and published in some national
dailies regarding a Court of Appeal’s ruling on the appeal for the 2007
gubernatorial election in Osun State that favoured the ACN candidate,
were contemptuous of the legal institution.

Mr. Adoke should
“stand up and protect the integrity of the nation’s judiciary by
immediately filing a criminal contempt charge against Iyiola Omisore
over his recent attacks against the president of the Court of Appeal
and other members of the court,” Mr. Mohammed said.

He also quoted some part of the advertorial which he said did not show sufficient respect for the judiciary.

“It is now
abundantly clear that Ayo Salami’s Court of Appeal has a special squad
that he deploys to prosecute Action Congress of Nigeria’s (read Bola
Ahmed Tinubu’s) agenda,” the advertorial said in part.

“While I pray that
God judges these knavish judges without mercy or compassion for
delivering a manifestly fraudulent judgement, let it be known that the
last has not been heard as far as the matter of the Osun Governorship
Appeal is concerned.”

Contempt of court

The ACN claimed
that Omisore’s “irresponsible frontal, crude, and unsubstantiated
attacks on the Court of Appeal and its members” constitutes contempt of
the court.

“If it (contempt of
court) had been committed in the course of the proceeding, it would
have amounted to contempt in the face of the court, in which case the
Judge would have put him in the dock immediately and summarily imposed
sanctions until he has purged himself of the contempt,” Mr. Mohammed
said.

It, however, noted
that “it is the duty of the AGF to file an action against Iyiola
Omisore because it is the constitutional duty of the AGF in such
situations to protect the integrity of the court and our judicial
system by filing an action which enables the court to exercise its
disciplinary jurisdiction.”

The Minister of
Justice was reminded that failure to act in defence of the integrity of
the judiciary would mean that he has failed in his primary
responsibility to the nation’s system of justice.

The former deputy
governor to Adebayo Alao-Akala during his 11-month stint as Oyo State
governor in 2006, Azeem Gbolarumi, has told his former boss to forget
about his ambitions to return to office in the next governorship
election.

Mr. Gbolarumi, who
described last week’s People’s Democratic Party primary where Mr.
Alao-Akala won the governorship ticket as illegal, expressed his
surprise that his name was not included in the ballot papers used at
the primary after he had been screened by a PDP committee in Abeokuta,
Ogun State.

Speaking with
journalists at his Bodija, Ibadan residence at the weekend, the former
aide to the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Lamidi Adedibu, said he
was not informed of his disqualification, declaring the process of the
governor’s emergence illegal, null and void and of no effect.

Messrs Gbolarumi
and Alao-Akala were former allies and close associates of the late
Adedibu, but since the demise of their political godfather, they have
split into different groups to further their political interests. Apart
from his former boss’ victory, Mr. Gbolarumi also challenged those of
other PDP candidates, who emerged through the party’s congresses
conducted last week, saying they fell short of provisions of law.

Threatening to
challenge the process in court and before the national body of the
party, he promised not to allow the governor get away with is victory
and promised to fight the battle to a logical conclusion.

Failed congress

The politician also
expressed his displeasure with the last congress of the party which was
ordered by the National Working Committee of the PDP. Alleging that
this was not conclusive, he said the Independent National Electoral
Commission officials and party members sent from Abuja to supervise the
election did not witness the process where state executive officers
were purportedly elected.

“With the outcome
of the said state congress, nothing has changed and it was natural that
the incumbent governor had, through that illegal process, secured an
undue advantage over other party contestants which he utilized at the
illegal primary.

“That is why we
will not fold our arms and allow somebody to foist himself on the rest
of us. No, it will not happen and we are going to fight it out,” he
said.

The INEC officials fled the state after the local government
congress held at Ona-Ara local government of the state turned bloody,
leading to the death of Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo), the state’s
factional leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers
(NURTW), and the subsequent arrest and incarceration of the senate
leader, Teslim Balogun.

The Federal
Government at the weekend advocated for the establishment of a common
regulation and ethics for media practitioners within member nations of
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Minister of
information and communications, Labaran Maku, said at the opening of
the ECOWAS Ministers of Information and Communications meeting in Abuja
that the role of the media, particularly during conflicts, is too
crucial to be left to the practitioners alone, if the developmental
goals of the region are to be realised.

The meeting was
preceded by that of communication experts in the region, which reviewed
the ECOWAS Commission Communication Policy and Strategy, to recommend
series of proposals to be adopted by the ministers.

“ECOWAS must define
the ethics of the media, without necessarily controlling the practice
of journalism. The time has come to engage the various stakeholders to
ensure that we have a system in place that renders every professional
journalist accountable for his actions, to compel them to obey the core
values of the practice.

“If we have this,
the region will be leading the way in defining the rules of engagement
for media practice, to compel government to be accountable to the press
and the press to be accountable to the citizens of the various
countries within which they are practising,” Mr. Maku further said.

Acknowledging the
media as a strong positive force for development, the minister said it
can also be a negative force, adding that in situations of conflicts
and political instability within nations, the media are hardly neutral
as they take sides with combatants, resulting in the division of the
citizenry and making it difficult for reconciliation to take place.

“Because of the
power and reach of the media, if government cannot professionalise the
practitioners as well as have common rules of engagement to hold them
accountable to the communities they serve, they could contribute to
crisis,” he said.

Freedom of information

He challenged
participants to develop a policy that will support the growth of the
media sector, as well as inculcate in the practitioners the core values
required to make them function as unifiers. He called for the promotion
of freedom of information across the region.

“If we really want
to run a democracy that is accountable to the people, and think about a
proper communication process between the governed and their leaders,
then the sub-region, of necessity, needs a freedom of information bill
that cuts across the entire sub-region, because citizens have been
finding it difficult to access information.

“It is important
that we have a media that unites across the boundaries of tribe,
religion and have common values and ethics that can help the media
stand above the divisions and offer both parties in conflict the
opportunity to express themselves without being part of the conflict,”
he said.

On the place of
technology in communication management, the minister called for
transparency, pointing out that in this modern age, there are only a
few things that could be hidden from the public.

ECOWAS Commission
president, James Victor Gbeho, stressed the need for revisiting of the
instruments that underpin the region’s integration agenda, if the
vision of transforming from an ‘ECOWAS of states into an ECOWAS of
people’ is to be realised by 2020.

He said no other area requires more urgent attention than information and communication, which he described as the key drivers.

He also said there was need to forge agreement on a mechanism for
effective citizen participation in the integration process, as well as
ensuring the region’s security and competitiveness on global market of
ideas, innovation and trade.

Tunisian
politicians were trying to form a unity government on Sunday to
maintain a fragile calm two days after President Zine al-Abidine Ben
Ali was ousted by violent protests. Tanks were stationed around the
capital Tunis and soldiers were guarding public buildings, but after a
day of drive-by shootings and jailbreaks in which dozens of inmates
were killed, residents said they were starting to feel more secure.

The official who
was in charge of security for Ben Ali is to appear in court on charges
of stoking violence and threatening national security.

Sunday is not a
working day in Tunisia and the streets were quiet, but some people were
moving about, shopping for food. For the first time in days, a handful
of commercial vehicles – vans and pick-up trucks – could be seen making
deliveries. The only occasional sounds of gunfire overnight were a
marked change from the heavy shooting the previous night but analysts
say there may be more protests if the opposition believes it is not
sufficiently represented in a new government.

The speaker of
parliament, Fouad Mebazza, sworn-in as interim president, has asked
Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to form a government of national
unity and constitutional authorities, and said a presidential election
should be held within 60 days. Mr. Ghannouchi held more talks on Sunday
to try to fill the vacuum left when Ben Ali, president for more than 23
years, fled to Saudi Arabia following a month of protests over poverty
and repression that claimed scores of lives.

While there have
been relatively positive noises from the talks so far, the negotiations
may run into trouble when they get down to the detail of which parties
get which cabinet post and how many of the old guard are included.

Coalition talks

Ahmed Ibrahim, head
of the opposition Ettajdid Party, said he and other party leaders would
met Ghannouchi on Sunday. Ahead of the meeting Mr. Ibrahim explained
that “the main thing for us right now is to stop all this disorder. We
are in agreement on several principles concerning the new government.
We will continue to discuss. My message is to say no to Gaddafi: we do
not want to go backwards,” he said, in reference to a speech by Libyan
leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who said Tunisians were too hasty to get rid
of Ben Ali.

Opposition parties
want assurances that presidential elections will be free, that they
will have enough time to campaign, that the country will move towards
greater democracy, and that the power of the ruling RCD party will be
loosened. Two opposition parties have also already said the two-month
deadline for holding elections is too soon.

Another opposition
leader, Najib Chebbi, said after talks with Ghannouchi on Saturday that
elections could be held under international supervision within six or
seven months. Beirut-based commentator, Rami Khouri, said it could take
a while for Tunisia’s opposition of secularists, leftists, and
Islamists to coalesce because there was no unified movement.

The ousting of
Tunisia’s president after widespread protests could embolden Arab
opposition movements and citizens to challenge entrenched governments
across the Middle East.

Dozens of Hamas
supporters rallied in Gaza holding large posters of Ben Ali bearing the
words: “Oh, Arab leaders, learn the lesson.”

Western and Arab
powers have called for calm and unity. The French government called on
Tunisia to hold free elections as soon as possible and said it had
taken steps “to ensure suspicious financial movements concerning
Tunisian assets in France are blocked administratively”.

White House
spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said Ben Ali’s departure could give the
Tunisian people a say in how they are governed and if elections are
free and fair it would deal a blow to the Al Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb militant group.

REUTERS

South Sudan’s
polling centres closed their doors on Saturday after a week-long vote
on independence from the north that could end a vicious cycle of civil
war with the creation of the world’s newest nation.

Former U.S.
president, Jimmy Carter, leading a mission observing the vote, said
turnout could reach 90 per cent and that it seemed likely the south had
voted for independence. Exhausted polling staff processed a straggle of
voters on the final day in the southern capital Juba. Some officials
were so tired they were sleeping behind their dusty stalls.

Final results are
due before February 15, but could be announced as early as the
beginning of next month. The vote caps a 2005 peace agreement that
ended decades of civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the
south, where most follow Christianity and traditional beliefs. Northern
officials have appeared increasingly resigned to losing the
oil-producing south – which makes up a quarter of the country’s land –
allaying fears conflict could reignite.

Mr. Carter, leading
one of the largest observation missions, told reporters in Khartoum a
handful of centres had reported 100 per cent turnout and were already
tallying the results. “We already know that in the south there’s been
about an average of 90 per cent (participation) from the stations we’ve
observed and I think they are representative,” Mr. Carter said.

In the few centres
where he had seen counting under way, he said, the votes “were
practically unanimous in favour of separation, with only a few ballots
to the contrary. “It’s highly likely that the referendum result will be
in favour of separation,” he said, but added that no one should
prejudge the outcome.

At least 60 per
cent of registered voters needed to take part for the result to be
binding. That point was reached just four days into the vote, according
to the organising commission. Mr. Carter also said the vote had
probably met international standards and Khartoum said it would
recognise the result, meaning all southerners must do now is wait to
celebrate their independence day, likely on July 9.

The former U.S. president played down threats of popular protests in the north following the vote.

“My hope is that
the opposition parties in the north will be brought into consultations
with President (Omar Hassan al-) Bashir’s party and that they will
prepare for modifications for the constitution,” he said.

Southern
independence campaigners have described the vote as a chance to throw
off decades of perceived northern repression. Mr. Bashir said in a
speech in Khartoum state that neither the north nor Muslims had ever
oppressed the south, but rather the divisions were the legacy of the
ex-colonial power, Britain.

“The south has been a burden on Sudan from independence until today,” he said on state television.

More than 182,000
exiled southerners have returned to the south since the end of October,
according to U.N. figures, many of them fearing repercussions in the
north after the vote. South Sudan’s government believes that figure
could rise to as much as half a million by the beginning of July, said
the U.N.’s deputy humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Lise Grande.
“Services are already overstretched. With more people coming back there
will be tremendous pressures on agencies,” she said.

REUTERS

Two days into the
voter registration exercise, residents in many parts of Lagos State
have continued to experience slow-paced operation at the centres.

The exercise, which
commenced on Saturday nationwide, has been hampered by technical
hitches in Lagos. “This is not what I expect at all,” says Okechukwu
Johnson, a resident of Oregun, who came to register at one of the
centres in Alausa area of the neighbourhood, where registration has not
started as at 12 noon even though the registration officials arrived as
early as 9am. “I expect to see the same vigour with which [Attahiru]
Jega has been boasting in the media at the registration centre. But
imagine I have been standing here for almost two hours and I don’t even
know whether I will be able to register today because this machine is
not working.”

Problems with machines

A survey of most of
the centres revealed an impressive turnout of people interested in
registering. In some centres, people offered assistance to get the
exercise underway as early as possible. Officials of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), were noticed struggling with the
operations of some of the machines. According to Azeez Akinola, a
resident of Ikosi area in Ketu, the inability of the attendants to
operate the machines could disenfranchise many voters.

The situation was
the same in Ikorodu, Mile 12, Ketu, Ojota, Iyana Ipaja, Surulere ,and
many other parts of Lagos. The exercise was characterized by excessive
delay in the registration of each voter. Some of those who turned out
to be registered said it was taking between 30 minutes and an hour to
register a single voter with the Direct Data Capture machine. Sesan
Daini, a resident of Ikorodu, said that in Igbogbo area of Ikorodu
Constituency II, where there are five registration centres, only one
centre worked on Saturday. “It is a deliberate thing by Jega, I
believe,” he said. “I remembered Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
called Jega to use the Delta State gubernatorial election to test run
the DDC machines so that any unforeseen anomaly can be corrected. He
refused. If we cannot have proper registration exercise, how can we
have credible election?”

Wasiu Ogunrinde, a
civil servant, who lives in Mile 12, said that he was at the Omo-Banta
centre to register on Saturday but left without doing so after a
three-hour wait. One of the attendants told us yesterday that they had
technical problem and today the same excuse is being given as the cause
of delay.”

Improvement soon

Adekunle Ogunmola,
the Lagos State INEC Electoral Commissioner, however, assured Lagos
residents of an improved registration exercise as from Monday. “Let me
just tell you that we are busy in the office now rectifying the various
faults we have noticed,” he said. “As from tomorrow [Monday], I can say
that twenty percent of the centres will be able to register people in
less than five minutes.”