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The gubernatorial
candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Akwa Ibom
state, Larry Esin, has rejected the victory of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) candidate, Godswill Akpabio, describing it as a sham.

He also faulted the
decision of some political parties in the state to congratulate Mr
Akpabio on his victory in an election he said full of illegalities.

Speaking yesterday
in Uyo, Mr Esin explained that to accept the state’s gubernatorial
election which was riddled with irregularities was to entrench
criminality into the country’s polity.

“To accept the
results of April 26th election is to applaud illegality and entrench
criminal behavior into our politics, this will not serve either side
well,” he said. “There was no election in Akwa Ibom State, and there is
overwhelming evidence to prove this. The Akwa Ibom people were denied
their right under the constitution to choose their leaders and
government. This is a grave violation of our fundamental human rights.”

Mr Esin said there
was evidence to prove that the governorship election in the state was a
fiasco and that the election was a ridicule of the political integrity
of the state and country.

The opposition
politician, who said the endorsement of the election was a sham,
described the action as akin to dining with someone whom you had caught
stealing your precious jewelry.

While urging his
supporters to remain calm and not take the law into their hands, Mr
Esin maintained that any democracy built on a weak platform would
degenerate into chaos, anarchy, corruption and deprivation.

“Cases of ballot
box snatching, intimidation, killing, and the use of underage voters
were not only commonplace in the elections, but evidence of the
violation of the universal adult suffrage,” he said, saying results
obtained from such method should be nullified.

The director of the
media and publicity committee of the Akpanudoedehe Positive Change
Campaign Organisation, Thomas Akpan, also said their lawyers were
collating all available facts for presentation at the tribunal which
would commence sitting in the state on Wednesday.

Mr Akpan, who said he believed in the judicial system, said his group would not relent in getting back their mandate.

“We cannot allow
that kind of robbery to go unchallenged. It’s a stolen mandate. We will
get it from him in the court. We cannot allow our mandate to lie there.
We are going to challenge it in court. We’ll take back our mandate
because Akpabio is not going to have it in peace,” he said.

Opposition noise-making

However, the state
commissioner for information and social re-orientation, Aniekan Umana
has insisted that the position of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
and the CPC was “noise-making” devised to heighten political tension in
the state.

“It is about
noise-making. They know the due process, not even the noise and
post-election riot in the north could stop Jonathan from being elected
president of the country,” he said. “In Akwa Ibom State, Godswill
Akpabio clearly won. So, no matter the amount of noise-making. When
Babatunde Fashola won in Lagos State, the Peoples Democratic Party
honoured itself gallantly when Ade Dosunmu congratulated Fashola. What
then is the noise here about?”

Mr Umana advised losing candidates to follow the path of honour and congratulate the governor on his victory in the polls.

“They think Akwa Ibom is where they will come and seek financial
benefits where they did not sow. That is not the case,” he said. “Akwa
Ibom is for the Akwa Ibom people and will be developed for Akwa Ibom
clan. That is what Akpabio is championing, the true development of the
state, not an attempt to sell out the state in whatever interest in the
name of selfish political scheme.”

The Inspector
General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, has been summoned by a Chief
Magistrate Court in Abuja to explain why he should not be committed to
prison for his continued disobedience of court orders.

His offence, as
contained in Form 49, is contempt of court for refusing to release a
man suspected to be an informant to the State Security Service, Aliyu
Tasheku, who for eight months had been unlawfully detained at the Force
Criminal Investigations Department in Area 10, Garki, Abuja, the
country’s capital.

“Take notice that
the applicant will on the 10th day of May 2011 at the hour of 9 0’clock
in the forenoon, apply to this honourable court for an order for your
committal to prison for having disobeyed the order of court,” reads
Form 49, which was signed by the court registrar on May 3 and
acknowledged the next day by the Commissioner of Police in charge of
Legal matters.

Mr Ringim, who is
being summoned along with two other police officers, Ezekiel Rimans and
Bala Inusa of the Police Force Headquarters legal department, had
earlier been served Form 48 dated April 6, warning him of the
consequences of disobeying Chief Magistrate Binta Mohammed’s March 28
order granting Mr Tasheku bail.

Despite the court’s
pronouncement and several verbal and written reminders to the Police to
respect the law, the police had defiantly refused granting bail to Mr
Tasheku, who is accused of conspiracy, belonging to a prohibited
religious sect (Boko Haram), and inciting disturbance.

A recalcitrant force

Instead of
remanding Mr Tasheku at the Kuje Prison as directed by the court, the
Police detained him further at the Force Criminal Investigation
Department’s cell. For over a month after he met all bail conditions,
he was still not released. The Police on May 4 instead transferred him
to Maiduguri, where his lawyer, Kevin Okoro, remains uncertain of his
fate.

“This is the height
of gross disrespect for the constitution and the laws of this country.
It is a slap on the face of the judiciary, a disgrace to the democracy
Nigeria claims it practices,” Mr. Okoro says. “First, the police
breached his fundamental rights by exceeding the statutory period to
detain him. They refused him bail, now they are disobeying court orders
and have taken him to Maiduguri where nobody knows what will happen
next.”

In an initial story
published by NEXT on April 10, the Police Force spokesperson, Yemi
Ajayi, had been asked why the Police have refused to release Mr Tasheku
and disobeyed the court order. His response was that Mr

Tasheku has never been detained at the Force CID.

“We’ve searched and
gone through our records, there’s nobody that has been detained by that
name at Force CID. We don’t have anybody like that,” Mr. Ajayi had said.

This, however,
won’t be the first time the Police would deny the existence of Mr
Tasheku who for the first five months after his arrest on October 20,
2010, had been locked up at the Force CID without being charged to
court and allegedly tortured.

In an apparent case
of perjury, a police litigation clerk, Jonah Wutu, with the consent of
the Inspector General (the first respondent) had on March 8, 2011 lied
under oath to an Abuja High Court judge, Ishaq Bello, when a motion was
filed asking for the enforcement of Mr Tasheku’s fundamental rights to
personal liberty and dignity.

“The name of Mallam
Aliyu Tasheku is quite strange to the Force Headquarters of the Nigeria
Police. There is never a day when the first respondent order (sic) the
arrest and detention of the second applicant (Mr Tasheku) in any of the
Nigeria Police cell. There is nobody with a name Mallam Aliyu Tasheku
in the Force CID cell at areas 10. Garki, Abuja,” Mr Wutu said.

This lie was
uncovered after civil society organisations mounted pressure on the
Police, who eventually charged Mr Tasheku on March 28 at the Chief
Magistrate Court 1 at Wuse Zone 2, Abuja before Ms Mohammed who granted
him bail.

When Mr Ajayi was
told that NEXT in the first week of May actually visited Mr Tasheku,
who by virtue of his long detention had been christened “Presido cell
3”, at Force CID before his transfer to Maiduguri, he said the Police
legal department would counter the court’s notice for the IG to be
committed to prison.

“I cannot respond
to any of this [referring to the Form 48 and Form 49]. You can go ahead
with your story, after which we will consult our legal department for
advice,” he said.

The agent nobody wants

The gaze in Mr
Tasheku’s eyes while at the Police Force CID revealed a tired and
dejected looking man. Coming out of cell three dressed in a faded brown
Kaftan and looking much older than 39, Mr Tasheku stretched out his
hand. Under a muffled voice and with a solemn frown he pleaded for help.

“I have been told
they want to transfer me to Maiduguri. Why they want to take me there,
I don’t know. I am not from Borno, even my family is not from there. I
don’t know what the police are planning or what will happen to me
there,” he had said.

Mr Tasheku is
assertive of what he says he knows. He arguably has answers to numerous
issues revolving around Nigeria’s seeming failure in fighting terrorism
and tackling the Boko Haram issue in Northern Nigeria.

He readily mentions
names of past and serving heads of the SSS and the Police, including
former Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro, all whom he said for
several years he constantly gave information on the activities of Boko
Haram.

But like the Police, the SSS have denied any knowledge of him.

The Service spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, stated categorically that no records exist of Mr. Tasheku in their database.

“I took time to go
through our records. He is not an informant to the SSS. If he had been
our informant we would owe him a duty to protect him unless he goes to
do things that are inimical to the Service. He has never been our
informant because we don’t have his details in our records,” Ms. Ogar
said.

Though a man not
many are willing to associate with, Mr Tasheku’s opinion was evidently
respected and sought by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the
Voice of America who in October 2010 interviewed him on solutions to
ending the Boko Haram crisis. His response during the interview, which
he said he got clearance from top security officials to grant, got him
arrested a week later.

“All I told the BBC
is if Nigerian government want solution they should stop arresting Boko
Haram members, release all those arrested, allow members to perform
their religious worship in peace and they should be treated with
equity,” Mr Tasheku said.

These were the same
things listed in the Police First Information Report (FIR) which the
Police used as evidence to charge him to the Chief Magistrate Court,
stating the interview incited public disturbance.

Mr Okoro is,
however, apprehensive of the tactics deployed by the Police and the
presidency, despite his petition dated March 31, 2011 calling on
President Goodluck Jonathan to prevail on Mr. Ringim to obey the court
order to release his client.

Several phone calls and delivered text messages at getting the
presidential spokesperson, Ima Niboro, to state the present situation
with Mr Okoro’s petition went unanswered.

The leadership of the House of Representatives should
ensure an accelerated passage of the National Tobacco Control Bill as
passed by the Senate, anti-tobacco group, the Environmental Rights
Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said to journalists
yesterday in Lagos.

The National Tobacco Control Bill was passed by the
Senate on March 15 this year, and it is currently awaiting a concurrent
passage by the House of Representatives and a presidential assent
before it becomes law.

“We are strongly in support of the concurrent passage
of the bill as passed by the Senate because it conforms to the
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and meets most international
standards and obligations regarding tobacco control,” said Akinbode
Oluwafemi, a director at ERA/FoEN.

“The bill is a veritable tool that will help Nigeria
to fight a deadly addiction, thereby protecting many lives and saving
costs of medicare.”

Speedy passage

The National Tobacco Control Bill, sponsored by
Olorunnimbe Mamora, a senator representing Lagos East constituency, was
first introduced to the Senate in 2008. After undergoing a second
reading in February 2009, a public hearing was held five months later.

Mr Oluwafemi appealed to the principal officers of
the House of Representatives to ensure that the tobacco bill is passed
this week, so it could be listed as “one of the dividends of
democracy.”

“The Senate has led the way,” continued Mr Oluwafemi.
“We hereby call on the House of Representatives to ensure a quick
passage of the bill as delay may be dangerous.”

The bill stipulates a fine of not less than N200 and
not exceeding N1,000 or imprisonment to a term of not less than one
month and not exceeding two years for any person who smokes tobacco
contrary to the provisions of the Act.

“We are very optimistic that for the first time, we
have a comprehensive bill that is taking enforcement very seriously,”
said Mr Oluwafemi.

“But beyond that, tobacco control is actually
citizen-enforced – the number one thing is to have the law, once we
have the law and the law states that smoking is prohibited in public
places… we can draw the attention of law enforcement agents to it.”

On the implication of the failure of the House to
pass the bill, Mr Oluwafemi noted that it would amount to “a waste of
energy and resources.”

“If it is not done, all the efforts, all the energy, all the
resources that have been committed both by the Senate and everybody is
going to go back to the start again and I think that is not the new
Nigeria we are all thinking about,” said Mr Oluwafemi, who also
expressed faith in the ability of the House to pass the bill. “If they
fail to do that, it’s going to be a colossal waste to the nation in
terms of resources. Of course, every day counts because lives are
lost.” </

Few days to the end of Adebayo Alao-Akala’s
administration as the Oyo State governor, cracks are appearing within
its ranks as the commissioner for health, Babalola Owolabi has accused
other government officials of plotting to take his life.

The commissioner, who raised the alarm in Ibadan at
the weekend, accused ‘some desperate, greedy and intellectually
percolated cabal’ in the state government of being behind the plot.

Mr Owolabi, who was attacked at the weekend by a
group of armed gang suspected to be assassins, said he is suspicious
that his assailants are after his life for being outspoken and denying
them the chance of a last minute raid on the state’s treasury.

Threats and attacks

A gang of ‘four to six hefty men’ reportedly attacked
the commissioner at Conoil filling station, Mokola, Ibadan around 8.30
p.m. when he wanted to refuel his car on Friday.

According to him, the men, who were armed with knives
and other dangerous weapons, trailed him to the scene and attacked him
from the back after he alighted from the car.

Just two days before the attack (on Wednesday), Mr
Owolabi was accosted, beaten and almost striped by some thugs while he
was leaving the executive chambers of the Governor’s office after
attending the weekly state executive council meeting.

It took the intervention of the state
attorney-general and commissioner for justice, AbdulSalami Ladi
Abdullahi, for him to escape.

His offence, according to sources in the government
circle, was his “audacity” to blame Mr Alao-Akala for the Peoples
Democratic Party’s poor performance in the general elections.

Giving his comments on the role of cabinet members in
mobilising and campaigning for the elections, the commissioner
reportedly told the governor that he committed a grave political
blunder by allowing the hospitals in the state to remain shut for about
eight, owing to a strike by state’s health workers.

Mr Owolabi also said he pleaded with the governor to
address the issues the doctors and other health workers were agitating,
but that the governor ignored his reasoning.

‘Sense of responsibility’

Apart from his perceived effrontery, Mr Owolabi added
that he attracted the wrath of his adversaries in the cabinet for
allegedly declining the request to release N250 million from his
ministry’s treasury to an Ibadan-based socialite, arguing that there
existed no legitimate purpose and documents to justify the disbursement.

He was said to told a friend that he was not ready to do anything he would not be able to justify after leaving office.

Despite expressing fear for his life, Mr Owolabi
declined to suspects in the attacks, ‘in order not to jeopardize the
course of investigation’. He said he had reported the attacks and
expressed his fears to the Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta
as well as State Security Service (SSS) in the state. Both of them, he
said, promised to protect his life and property.

“I am still a member of the state executive council
and I am under allegiance not to reveal what are not for public
consumption. But, all my actions have been out of very serious sense of
responsibility and trust to the Executive Governor of Oyo State and by
extension the good people of Oyo State,” Mr Owolabi said.

No retreat

Mr Owolabi, who said he would inform the governor of
his travails today (Monday), said his beliefs and position has not
changed, despite the attacks.

“I will not be a party to any last minute arrangement
to deplete the resources of our commonwealth, and to my mind, this is
being true to the cause. I intend staying on the course,” he said.

He added that he plans to continue working with the present
administration till the end, explaining that his life is not more
important than that of ‘NYSC members who paid the supreme price in a
bid to salvage and rebuild this nation’.

The Delta State
chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has told the
gubernatorial candidate of the Democratic Peoples’ Party (DPP) in the
just concluded general election in the state, Great Ogboru, to
challenge the outcome of the polls won by the incumbent governor,
Emmanuel Uduaghan, if he is dissatisfied with the result.

Chairman of the PDP
in Delta State, Peter Nwoboshi told newsmen at the Benin Airport over
the weekend that the victory of the incumbent governor was a clear
testimony of the wish and will of the electorate.

“This is the fourth
time that PDP has defeated Ogboru, not the third time and I think it is
a clear statement to him that he is not wanted by the people of Delta
state,” Mr Nwoboshi said.

He challenged Mr
Ogboru and all others who are opposed to the Independent National
Electoral Commission’s (INEC) announcement of Mr Uduaghan as governor
to prepare their legal arsenal and meet the party in court. Mr Nwoboshi
added that the PDP was not afraid of any of its opponents.

“I think twice
beaten, twice shy. But this one is not twice beaten. This is four times
beaten, four times shy,” the party chairman said. “PDP is rooted in the
state and whatever you are having represents the wish of the people and
the will of the people. Ogboru has tested his might four times and he
had lost four times. So it is the acceptability of PDP in Delta state
that is in place.”

Nothing to fear

On the criticism
trailing the gubernatorial election, which some opposition politicians
said were rigged, Mr Nwoboshi said it was a case of a bad workman
blaming his tools.

“Politics is a
profession. You have to be grounded in it. You have to learn the
intricacies of politics,” he said. “In every election, these people are
bound to be quarreling with their tools that this person rigged, this
person did not rig. These are people who are not strong.”

Mr Nwoboshi also
condemned militants in the Niger-Delta region who threatened to disrupt
oil installations because of what they viewed as the imposition of Mr
Uduaghan on the people of the state. He said majority of the militants
in the Niger-Delta are with the state government, same as the ordinary
residents of the state.

“We are all
Deltans. Nobody was brought from outside, so nobody is afraid of the
other person,” he said. “There is no cause for alarm.”

The senator elect
for the Delta North senatorial district, Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa,
attributed the secret of the PDP’s victory in the state to hard work
and an ability to reach out to the people.

“We have worked
very hard, reaching out to the people during the elections and the
campaigns. Our opponents usually run,” he said.

Mr Okowa urged those who lost in the polls to take it as “the way God wants it”.

“We thank Deltans
for what they are doing. We hope that as they have chosen us, we will
continue to do our best to meet their yearning and we hope that we are
able to develop our state and leave a better state for us all,” Mr
Okowa said.

The readiness of
the incumbent governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, to accept defeat and
his pledge not to challenge the victory of Rochas Okorocha in last
Friday’s governorship election is a commendable gesture from a patriot
who wants the best for his state. The Imo State commissioner for
information and strategy, Elvis Agukwe, has said.

According to Mr Agukwe, “It takes maturity for Ohakim to offer a hand of fellowship to the governor-elect.”

Major roads and
streets in Owerri, the Imo state capital, were shut down on Saturday by
jubilant residents of the state following the declaration of Mr
Okorocha as governor-elect for the state by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr Okorocha’s
victory followed the eventual conclusion of the governorship election
in the state that went into supplementary polling.

Apparently,
reactions to Mr Okorocha’s victory reflected the expectations of the
people as several bottles of champagne were freely popped by roadsides
and commercial taxi drivers and tricycle operators offered free rides
to jubilant commuters. Not to be left out of the celebration, popular
restaurants, and even local food joints, dished out free food and
drinks in the spirit of the moment.

‘The sanctity of agreements’

To win the
election, Rochas Okorocha, who ran under the platform of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), polled a total of 336,859 votes to
defeat Ikedi Ohakim of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered
290,496 votes and Ifeanyi Araraume of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) who bagged 107,068 votes.

In the first
official reaction after Mr Ohakim congratulated Mr Okorocha and pledged
not to pursue the matter in court, the state commissioner noted that
the governor’s gesture was a testimony to the fact that the election
was beyond him as a person.

“I said it before,
and I repeat it now, the election was beyond Ohakim as a person. It was
about the future of Imo State and the sanctity of agreements. The
people have spoken, we have accepted the verdict,” he said.

He made it clear
that in days to come the people of Imo would miss Mr Ohakim as,
according to him, the country still yearned for his leadership.

“Nigeria has not
heard the last of Ohakim. He may have finished with the task of being a
governor, but I believe we still need his services in the future,” he
said.

Man of peace and destiny

Mr Agukwe said he
disagreed with the notion that Imo people rejected Mr Ohakim, noting
that the margin of victory, about 46,000 votes, did not confirm that
assertion. He said what happened was that godfathers, whom he described
as “political deities”, conspired to scuttle the second term ambition
of the governor because they were refused the key to the treasury of
Imo State.

“These were people
used to squandering the state’s resources and they refused to come to
terms with Ohakim’s resolve to ensure that Imo people benefit from
their sweat,” he said.

The official
however commended Imo people for remaining calm and peaceful throughout
the period of election, noting that the fact that no blood was shed was
due to the peaceful disposition of the governor.

“Ohakim as a man of
peace and destiny demonstrated that he was not desperate to remain
governor. That’s why he restrained his supporters in the face of
extreme provocation,” he said.

He called on the people to extend the same cooperation to the
incoming governor to ensure the sustenance of the “legacy of peace”
left by Mr Ohakim.

Olusegun Mimiko,
the Ondo State Governor, has called on the state’s Direct Labour Agency
to intensify efforts towards completing the ₦150 million Moferere
market in Ondo town.

The Governor, who
made the call at the weekend during an inspection tour of the first
phase of the market, reiterated his administration’s commitment to
providing conducive environment for the people of the state.

The state
government had, in the last two years, constructed new markets in
Akure, Ikare, Owo, Okitipupa, Iju/Ita-Ogbolu among others – in order to
avert the dangers of road-side trading and create conducive environment
with necessary modern amenities for business transaction.

Mr Mimiko thanked
the traditional ruler of the town, the Osemawe of Ondo, Victor Kiladejo
for mobilising the market women to cooperate with the agency so that
the project can be completed on schedule.

“As you can see,
our people are very happy, they are excited because they know that this
government is a government that stands by its words. Let me use this
opportunity to appreciate the team that is working on this site for the
job well done. I want to appeal to you to put in more efforts and
ensure that this project is completed on schedule,” he said.

The Senior Special
Assistant to the governor on Direct Labour, Mobolaji Tunde-Suara, who
conducted other top officials of government round, said the Moferere
market had over 600 open stalls for traders, administrative offices,
security posts and conveniences.

She explained that 110 stalls had been allocated for goat sellers,
and 150 stalls for fowl sellers. The yam section gets 100 stalls while
sellers of used cloths and perishable items got about 250 stalls.

The National
Assembly election petitions tribunal in Kwara State has received three
petitions from candidates challenging the result of the April 9
elections results in the state, secretary of the tribunal, Uju
Mesiobi-Emeto has said.

Although many
political parties earlier threatened to challenge election results,
only three were able to meet up with the May 1 deadline for filing of
the petitions.

Mrs Mesiobi-Emeto
however said at the weekend in Ilorin, that the tribunal was ready to
ensure free hearing for all political parties involved in the cases.

The first petition
was filed by the Kwara Central senatorial district candidate of the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Oloriegbe Ibrahim Yahaya and others
against the winner, Abubakar Bukola Saraki of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The second petition
was filed by the Kwara South senatorial district candidate of the ACN,
Ibitoye Anu Ayodeji and others against winner and incumbent senator,
Simeon Sule Ajibola of the PDP and INEC.

The third petition
was also filed by the Kwara Central senatorial district candidate of
the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Bilkisu Tinuola Gambari
against INEC and Mr Saraki of the PDP, who won the election in the
district.

Mrs Mesiobi-Emeto
said although the tribunal had expected more petitions, only the three
petitioners were able to comply with the deadline given by law. She
said whoever did not bring their petition before May 1 did not meet the
deadline and would not have their petitions accepted.

“The petitioners
were given 21 days by law to file their petitions, while the respondent
have seven days within which to respond, while the petitioners also
have seven days to reply to the response,” she said. “The tribunal has
a period of 180 days from the day of the commencement of the hearing of
the petition to deliver its judgment on the matter before it.”

Two teams

On the governorship
election petitions, Mrs Mesiobi-Emeto said the tribunal has not
received any complaints, noting that there is still time for the
petitioners to tidy their papers and file them for adjudication.

The election
petition tribunal in Kwara State has two batches of justices sworn in
to adjudicate on election matters in the state.

The members of the
four-man batch ‘A’ of the tribunal, who are expected to adjudicate on
the senatorial, federal house of representatives and state House of
Assembly elections petitions, include A.A. Adebara, E.B. Mohammad, M.A.
Akoja and H.A. Saleeman.

The members of the
two-man batch ‘B’ of the tribunal who will oversee the governorship
elections petition, are H.O. Ajayi and I.B. Garba.

No date has been fixed for the inaugural sitting of the tribunals in Kwara State .

Members of the
Election Petition Tribunal for Ogun State are expected to arrive
Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, today to look into some petitions
which have been submitted by aggrieved losers and their parties at the
just concluded general elections in the state.

NEXT gathered at
the weekend that about six petitions have been received by the
tribunal, which is expected to use the magistrate court complex located
in the Isabo area of the town as its operational base.

Incumbent senator
for Ogun Central, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello who contested under the platform
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost to the candidate of the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Gbenga Obadara, was among the
petitioners who were seeking redress at the tribunal. Also, the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) filed a suit against the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) and candidates of both the Peoples Party of
Nigeria (PPN) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before the
tribunal over the April 9, 2011 national assembly election.

Although the
current speaker of the house of representatives, Dimeji Bankole, said
he had accepted his loss at the last election in good faith, his party
still went ahead to file a petition on his behalf to challenge the
victory of his opponent, Segun Williams of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN), who won the seat to represent Abeokuta South federal
constituency at the house of representatives.

The PDP filed a
total of five petitions, while the ACN and its candidate in Yewa
North/Imeko-Afon federal constituency, Adeniyi Akanbi filed only one
petition to challenge INEC and the candidate of Peoples Party of
Nigeria (PPN} Rasaq Adewusi, who was declared winner of the election in
that constituency.

The PDP candidates
who joined the suit with their party at the tribunal include Mohammed
Odunowo, who contested for the Ogun East senatorial seat and lost to
the ACN’s Gbenga Kaka; Babatrunde Fadun who contested for the Ogun West
senatorial seat but lost to the ACN’s candidate Babalola Odunsi and Mr
Ajibade, who lost the house of representatives election to Mr Adewusi.

The PDP filed its
petitions on April 29 while the ACN filed its petition on April 30,
2011. The concerned parties to the various suits were said to have been
served.

Information pasted
at the premises of the tribunal showed that all the petitioners had to
pay N400,000 as security cost before filing their petitions.

However, efforts to speak with the secretary of the tribunal, Mr Eze, did not yield positive results as he declined comment.

“I was not authorized to talk to the press,” he said.

Forces loyal to
Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi are hiding tanks and artillery and using “shoot
and scoot” tactics in Misrata, frustrating NATO air efforts to break a
weeks-long siege of the rebel-held Libyan city.

Despite repeated
bombing raids by the Western alliance, Gaddafi loyalists continue to
lay siege to the city and its vital port — making it one of the
bloodiest battlefields of Libya’s two-month-old conflict.

Rebels say
pro-Gaddafi forces are concealing tanks in buildings and artillery
beneath trees, firing from civilian-populated areas and near mosques.
“NATO can’t strike those places,” said Safieddin, a rebel spokesman in
the city.

Government forces
have abandoned the city centre to the rebels, but are entrenched in the
built-up outskirts, sometimes firing from the open and scuttling for
cover between buildings.

“There are houses
there. It’s not as densely populated as downtown Misrata but still it’s
the city,” said NATO’s senior military officer, Admiral Giampaolo di
Paula.

“So therefore they
are still continuing to use the tactics of shoot and scoot and that’s
why we need to continue to systematically degrade their military
firepower,” he said.

Two graphic examples came earlier this week.

After after two
days of NATO bombing raids, pro-Gaddafi forces rained artillery on the
port as an aid ship docked to evacuate hundreds of African migrant
workers and wounded Libyan civilians. Five people were killed, rebels
said, and hundreds were left stranded on the dock.

On Saturday,
pro-Gaddafi artillery strikes destroyed four fuel storage tanks in
Misrata, insurgents said, leaving the city facing fuel shortages.

“NATO is working, but Gaddafi’s forces are also working,” said a second rebel spokesman in Misrata, named Abdelsalam.

“Piece by piece”

“NATO has been more successful at destroying troops and military vehicles on the move than static forces,” he said.

“Every tank or
rocket battery destroyed by NATO is immediately replaced. Add to this
that they have been hiding tanks in the sand and inside buildings and
that they fire artillery rounds from under trees.” Rebels and residents
say the government forces’ snipers and mercenaries, many of them
sub-Saharan African migrants forced to fight, are holed up in
buildings, firing freely.

Libyan officials
deny that government forces are attacking civilians in Misrata, and say
they are fighting armed gangs linked al Qaeda. Media access is limited,
making it difficult to verify reports from battle zones.

Human rights groups
say hundreds of people, including many civilians, have been killed in
the fighting in Misrata, about 200 km (130 miles) east of the Libyan
capital, Tripoli.

Much of the city centre is in ruins.

Critics say NATO’s
inability so far to silence the guns demonstrates the limits of waging
war from the skies — amply demonstrated in the 1999 NATO bombing
campaign in then-Yugoslavia to force the withdrawal of Serb forces from
Kosovo. It took 78 days, and the credible threat of ground forces,
before Slobodan Milosevic’s forces retreated.