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One of the strong
points of former information and communications minister, Dora
Akunyili, is her ability to confound expectations, and this she
confirmed last Wednesday when she left her former colleagues in the
Peoples Democratic Party to defect to the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA) on whose platform she plans to contest the Anambra
Central Senatorial ticket. Mrs. Akunyili, last Wednesday stunned the
nation when she resigned her appointment from the federal cabinet to
pick the senatorial form of the APGA. Many politicians, including the
Anambra State governor,

Peter Obi, hailed
her action as courageous and wise. But others saw it as a risk. Yet to
some others, her adoption of the APGA platform made no difference. But
it is a different kettle of fish for some of those vying for the same
seat in the party who feared there was an orchestrated move by the
party hierarchy to foist her on APGA, despite early assurances by the
party that there would be no favoured candidates. While receiving her
into APGA, its national chairman, Victor Umeh told Mrs. Akunyili there
would be no automatic ticket for her as she would have to endure the
rigours of a primary election.

Apparently not
satisfied with that assurance, the only APGA House of Representatives
member from Anambra State, George Ozodinobi, who represented Anaocha,
Njikoka and Dunukofia federal constituency from 2003 to 2007, fired the
first salvo when he accused Mrs. Akunyili of political prostitution.
According to him, there was no reason why she should leave her party,
PDP, for APGA at a time when she was needed by President Goodluck
Jonathan in his election bid. Mr. Ozodinobi believed she might have
taken the decision based on assurances of an automatic ticket, even
though he did not buy the idea she had been adopted by the party.

“Adoption is not a
proper word because no one has said anyone is to be adopted. But if we
can pre-empt what is happening, something must have given her the
confidence to come out and want to join APGA between now and January
2nd when there will be primary to begin to know the grassroots; to know
even the name of her ward’s women’s leader and stand for an election in
APGA to win the primary,” Mr. Ozodinobi said.

A level field

He threatened to go
to court if eventually she was adopted by the party. “I believe in the
rule of law. The Electoral Act says every party must do primaries. Let
there be transparent primary. That’s all I’m asking for. Nobody is
above the law. And the courts are there for redress to be sought if
things are done to the contrary,” Ozodinobi warned.

But APGA insists
there will be a level playing ground for all the candidates. In a chat
with NEXT in Awka, the state vice chairman, North, of the party,
Fidelis Okafor, assured the other candidates they had nothing to fear.

“To the best of my
knowledge, yes, APGA intends to do a transparent primary. That’s what
we’re preparing for and that’s what we promised our aspirants. The
issue of who picks APGA tickets will solely depend on the outcome of
the primaries,” Mr Okafor said. He said it was natural for aspirants
such as Mr Ozodinobi to be apprehensive, but assured that nobody in the
party, no matter how highly placed, was thinking of an automatic ticket
for Mrs Akunyili.

“Akunyili, like others, is desirous of running for senate and APGA is her choice as she has told the world,” Mr Okafor said.

But while her new
party appears happy to have her, given her intimidating credentials,
other parties say they are not intimidated. Underwhelmed opposition
parties Afam Ilounoh, state publicity secretary of the People’s
Democratic Party, PDP, while welcoming Akunyili into the race said his
party had nothing to fear.

“It’s an
interesting development. She’s well known and well respected. The game
has become even more interesting now she has thrown her hat into the
ring, but PDP has nothing to worry about as it will win next year’s
elections in Anambra State. In no way are we intimidated by her entry.
Anambra is a PDP state and PDP will take it over in 2011,” Mr. Ilounoh
said.

Tony Nwafor Okafor,
a leader of Congress for Political Change (CPC), said Mrs Akunyili’s
entry was just like any other person’s. He said she needs to win her
party’s nomination first before other parties could worry about her
candidacy. “After that, she should brace up to face other parties’
candidates. She may have been successful as NAFDAC boss and in other
positions, but she has never been elected. This time she should prepare
for battle,” Mr. Okafor, who boasted that CPC would sweep the stakes,
said.

For the Action
Congress of Nigeria, Mrs. Akunyili’s entry into APGA had not added
anything to APGA’s electoral fortunes, even as the party spokesperson
said it amounted to a vote of no confidence on PDP which she left.

“The equation has not changed one bit with her entry,” ACN’s Anambra State publicity secretary, Madukaife, told NEXT.

According to him,
Mrs Akunyili had just succeeded in reducing the Igbo quota in the
federal cabinet. He said ACN would win the three senatorial seats on
offer in the state.

Support from above
However support is coming Akunyili’s way from an unexpected quarter. A
prophet, Rama Asuzu, from the ancient Nri Kingdom in Anambra State,
wants Nigerians to support Akunyili so that she could even become the
senate president.

“I wish that a
woman would be the senate president in the next dispensation and the
expected woman is Prof Dora Akunyili. She will perform more than she
did at NAFDAC and in her former ministerial position because she is a
chosen vehicle that will take the less privileged beyond the shores of
lack of want,” Mr Asuzu said.

He added that Mrs Akunyili was destined to use her position to give succour to orphans and widows.

“This will be a manifestation that will encourage women to keep
participating fully in the Nigerian polity in order to save the country
from the vicious circle of unreason,” he said.

One of the strong
points of former information and communications minister, Dora
Akunyili, is her ability to confound expectations, and this she
confirmed last Wednesday when she left her former colleagues in the
Peoples Democratic Party to defect to the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA) on whose platform she plans to contest the Anambra
Central Senatorial ticket. Mrs. Akunyili, last Wednesday stunned the
nation when she resigned her appointment from the federal cabinet to
pick the senatorial form of the APGA. Many politicians, including the
Anambra State governor,

Peter Obi, hailed
her action as courageous and wise. But others saw it as a risk. Yet to
some others, her adoption of the APGA platform made no difference. But
it is a different kettle of fish for some of those vying for the same
seat in the party who feared there was an orchestrated move by the
party hierarchy to foist her on APGA, despite early assurances by the
party that there would be no favoured candidates. While receiving her
into APGA, its national chairman, Victor Umeh told Mrs. Akunyili there
would be no automatic ticket for her as she would have to endure the
rigours of a primary election.

Apparently not
satisfied with that assurance, the only APGA House of Representatives
member from Anambra State, George Ozodinobi, who represented Anaocha,
Njikoka and Dunukofia federal constituency from 2003 to 2007, fired the
first salvo when he accused Mrs. Akunyili of political prostitution.
According to him, there was no reason why she should leave her party,
PDP, for APGA at a time when she was needed by President Goodluck
Jonathan in his election bid. Mr. Ozodinobi believed she might have
taken the decision based on assurances of an automatic ticket, even
though he did not buy the idea she had been adopted by the party.

“Adoption is not a
proper word because no one has said anyone is to be adopted. But if we
can pre-empt what is happening, something must have given her the
confidence to come out and want to join APGA between now and January
2nd when there will be primary to begin to know the grassroots; to know
even the name of her ward’s women’s leader and stand for an election in
APGA to win the primary,” Mr. Ozodinobi said.

A level field

He threatened to go
to court if eventually she was adopted by the party. “I believe in the
rule of law. The Electoral Act says every party must do primaries. Let
there be transparent primary. That’s all I’m asking for. Nobody is
above the law. And the courts are there for redress to be sought if
things are done to the contrary,” Ozodinobi warned.

But APGA insists
there will be a level playing ground for all the candidates. In a chat
with NEXT in Awka, the state vice chairman, North, of the party,
Fidelis Okafor, assured the other candidates they had nothing to fear.

“To the best of my
knowledge, yes, APGA intends to do a transparent primary. That’s what
we’re preparing for and that’s what we promised our aspirants. The
issue of who picks APGA tickets will solely depend on the outcome of
the primaries,” Mr Okafor said. He said it was natural for aspirants
such as Mr Ozodinobi to be apprehensive, but assured that nobody in the
party, no matter how highly placed, was thinking of an automatic ticket
for Mrs Akunyili.

“Akunyili, like others, is desirous of running for senate and APGA is her choice as she has told the world,” Mr Okafor said.

But while her new
party appears happy to have her, given her intimidating credentials,
other parties say they are not intimidated. Underwhelmed opposition
parties Afam Ilounoh, state publicity secretary of the People’s
Democratic Party, PDP, while welcoming Akunyili into the race said his
party had nothing to fear.

“It’s an
interesting development. She’s well known and well respected. The game
has become even more interesting now she has thrown her hat into the
ring, but PDP has nothing to worry about as it will win next year’s
elections in Anambra State. In no way are we intimidated by her entry.
Anambra is a PDP state and PDP will take it over in 2011,” Mr. Ilounoh
said.

Tony Nwafor Okafor,
a leader of Congress for Political Change (CPC), said Mrs Akunyili’s
entry was just like any other person’s. He said she needs to win her
party’s nomination first before other parties could worry about her
candidacy. “After that, she should brace up to face other parties’
candidates. She may have been successful as NAFDAC boss and in other
positions, but she has never been elected. This time she should prepare
for battle,” Mr. Okafor, who boasted that CPC would sweep the stakes,
said.

For the Action
Congress of Nigeria, Mrs. Akunyili’s entry into APGA had not added
anything to APGA’s electoral fortunes, even as the party spokesperson
said it amounted to a vote of no confidence on PDP which she left.

“The equation has not changed one bit with her entry,” ACN’s Anambra State publicity secretary, Madukaife, told NEXT.

According to him,
Mrs Akunyili had just succeeded in reducing the Igbo quota in the
federal cabinet. He said ACN would win the three senatorial seats on
offer in the state.

Support from above
However support is coming Akunyili’s way from an unexpected quarter. A
prophet, Rama Asuzu, from the ancient Nri Kingdom in Anambra State,
wants Nigerians to support Akunyili so that she could even become the
senate president.

“I wish that a
woman would be the senate president in the next dispensation and the
expected woman is Prof Dora Akunyili. She will perform more than she
did at NAFDAC and in her former ministerial position because she is a
chosen vehicle that will take the less privileged beyond the shores of
lack of want,” Mr Asuzu said.

He added that Mrs Akunyili was destined to use her position to give succour to orphans and widows.

“This will be a manifestation that will encourage women to keep
participating fully in the Nigerian polity in order to save the country
from the vicious circle of unreason,” he said.

The governor of
Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, on Friday called for negotiations with
lecturers of the Lagos State University (LASU) chapter of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the ongoing industrial action.

Explaining that
the state is willing to pay the workers their wages, Mr. Fashola, while
speaking to reporters at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed
Airport (MMA), Lagos disclosed that his government has other pressing
needs that require financial attention.

“We are concerned
about the strike and we expect that some understanding [will] prevail
in our negotiations with the striking workers for we cannot afford that
this strike continue in the interest of the students. But here we are
as we continue to negotiate and discuss with them to see the reason;
this is not a case of unwillingness to pay but our inability to do so
if we must attend to all other competing social responsibility of the
state,” he said.

The governor
argued that the increase of employees’ wages by the federal government
should not be mandated of the states, adding that the lecturers should
be considerate of the plight of their students.

“The point really is that this is not an agreement we were part of.
The federal government negotiates a salary structure with its own
staff, it cannot impose that on the states and that really is the
substance but we believe that dialogue will be the critical element and
lecturers should be showing restraint and concern for the students
whose academics are being affected. Here we are too, we are dealing
with the problems of infrastructure; even the school, we are dealing
with the issue of accreditation, new classrooms, new libraries and it
is from this same purse where salaries are meant to be paid and the
money to re-acredit and to build all these structure,” he said.

WikiLeaks’ founder
Julian Assange has declared that he is the victim of a smear campaign
after being freed on bail over rape allegations and sent to spend
Christmas at an English country house. The 39-year-old Australian
computer expert said that curbs on him, which he described as “hi-tech
house arrest,” would not halt the release of official secrets. Assange
walked free from a London court Thursday, freed on 200,000 pound
($312,500) bail after nine days in London’s largest jail. Sweden wants
to extradite him for questioning over alleged sexual assaults on two
WikiLeaks’ volunteers.

“This has been a
very successful smear campaign and a very wrong one,” Assange told the
BBC after arriving late Thursday at the country house in Suffolk,
eastern England where he will spend Christmas and the New Year.

He said he expected further attempted smears from the Swedish authorities but did not elaborate.

Assange angered the
U.S. authorities after his organization began releasing some of the
250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables it had obtained, teaming up with
newspapers around the world to amplify their impact.

Assange said his opponents had seized on the accusations against him to attack WikiLeaks.

“One only needs to
look at the sneering smile of Defense Secretary (Robert) Gates upon
hearing of my arrest… to understand the value to opponents of this
organization,” Assange said. Gates last week described Assange’s arrest
as good news. Assange is accused of having unprotected sex with one
woman, and sex with another while she was asleep.

“HI-TECH HOUSE ARREST”

As part of his bail
conditions, Assange must stay at the sprawling house owned by former
British army officer Vaughan Smith, situated close to the city of
Norwich, around three hours’ drive from London.

Smith has said that
the Internet connection at the house is not good. Assange, who must
report to police daily, abide by a curfew and wear an electronic tag,
said the conditions were “a gross impediment to my work” but would not
stop him.

“Now that I am back
to assist directing of our ship, our work will proceed in a faster
manner. But as we have seen with my absence, things are well set up to
proceed even without my direct involvement.” Assange told reporters
soon after his release that he was more concerned the United States
might try to extradite him than he was about being extradited to Sweden.

Assange and his
lawyers have voiced fears that U.S. prosecutors might be preparing to
indict him for espionage over WikiLeaks’ publication of the documents.

Australian police said WikiLeaks was not committing any criminal offence in Assange’s home country by releasing the U.S. cables.

Celebrities such as journalist John Pilger, film director Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Khan are backing Assange.

Janice Game, 63,
who lives opposite the Georgian house said she had come out to see
reporters waiting in the snow for Assange to drive through the gates of
the 650 acre estate.

“I do not think that Vaughan would have him at the house unless he believed completely that he was innocent,” she said.

Nicholas Ibekwe,
now an award-winning reporter, did not have such a good start. As a
rookie reporter, one of his earlier stories was so salacious that his
editor asked him to take it elsewhere.

“Go to Sahara Reporters,” the editor said.

Mr. Ibekwe had been
in a bus that morning when a girl sitting behind him suddenly squealed,
pointing at the man beside her who was hastily pushing something down
his pants. She was talking so fast that her lines ran into each other,
like a child painting in watercolours. It took some time to separate
her words from sobs and string a meaning together. Apparently, this
fellow had, without investigating her taste, brought out his penis
right there in the bus as she bent her head, and proceeded to wag the
thing close to her face.

“Why did he show that to me?” she asked in horror.

Mr. Ibekwe’s story
tried to answer this question, and show how a peddler of sex-on-transit
met his Waterloo. But the reporter’s story, including comments by
passengers, were considered too risqué for a family newspaper, and Mr.
Ibekwe ended up with a lecture instead of a byline.

I took a bus from
Obalende to Oshodi recently, and a boy on the bus made such a gallant
effort to woo a deaf girl that Mr. Ibekwe’s report came to mind.
Although, nothing as brazen as the whipping out of privates took place,
the entire “conversation” – full of gestures, vigorous mime, and missed
cues – left little to the imagination. When the girl spread her palms
to ask what he wanted, he cupped the palm of his hand and put a finger
through. The girl covered her mouth in shock.

It was high drama and the young Cassanova’s brother who was sitting beside me ran commentary.

“Kunle is like that,” he told me. “He likes girls too much. Our father is tired of talking.”

When the conductor
came round, Kunle paid for the girl and gestured that his brother would
pay for him. My seatmate had to pay for two, and he wasn’t too happy.

“Kunle,” he warned, “Wait first. I hope you know that you cannot bring this kind to the house?”

The girl,
blissfully deaf, was giving Kunle her full attention. By now their
public romance was in full swing, and bemused passengers egged them on.
She was laughing at the boy’s reckless use of sign language. While she
could convey a lot by a small gesture, a twirling of the fingers, the
boy had to dramatise everything, talking the whole time, sometimes
forgetting that she couldn’t hear him.

“How much will you take to follow me home tonight?” Kunle asked, using a combo of words, signs and dance.

The girl put her palms together.

“Ten what?” asked
Kunle eagerly, “N10?” and he brought out a N10 note to show her. She
shook her head vigorously. “Oh, you must mean ten tens then,” he said,
taking out a hundred naira note. But the girl laughed.

“You people are hard to understand,” said Kunle who delved into his pocket to fish out a crisp N1,000 note.

“Kunle!” exclaimed
his brother, “You said you had no money when we went to eat, and now
you want to give N1,000 to a deaf girl, abi?”

Loverboy, deaf to
recriminations, was busy pressing the money on the girl. She shook her
head, and brought her palms together, again. Kunle was now confused.

“She said she wants N10,000,” said an old man beside him, helpfully.

Kunle flipped his lid and abandoned pantomime altogether.

“You are a thief,” he shrieked. “If I give someone like you N10,000, how much will I give the ones who can talk?”

And there was politically-incorrect hearty laughter all round.

“Good for you,”
said his brother, alighting as the bus came to a stop at Iyana Oworo.
“Are you going to come down now or are you following the deaf one
home?”

Still, our friend
continued to press the girl to reduce her charges. The driver engaged
gears, warning that he wouldn’t be stopping until Oshodi.

“What of N3,000?” Kunle asked, one eye on the door as the bus began to move.

Suddenly, as if on cue, a number of voices shouted: “Kunle!” and he scrambled out of the bus to fits of laughter.

Allies of
presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara urged Ivoriens to join a new
march through Abidjan to seize the state broadcaster’s building on
Friday, raising fears of more violence in a dispute over last month’s
election.

A failed attempt by
Mr. Ouattara’s camp to occupy the building on Thursday left at least 10
protesters dead as they clashed with security forces armed with live
rounds, while pro-Ouattara forces waged a brief gun battle with forces
loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in central Abidjan. The United
Nations, the US, African states and others have called on Mr. Gbagbo to
stand down after the November 28 poll they say was won by Mr. Ouattara,
but which Mr. Gbagbo insists was rigged by rebels who still hold the
north after a 2002-2003 civil war.

“We will continue
to march,” Mr. Ouattara’s spokesperson Patrick Achi said by telephone
after Thursday’s violence in the West African nation’s economic capital
heightened fears of a return to all-out conflict.

A Reuters
eyewitness said there were few early signs of protesters gathering on
the streets of Abidjan, which were much quieter than usual. Many shops
remained shut and there was little traffic in the streets.

The success of Mr.
Gbagbo’s forces in repelling the march on state TV and radio on
Thursday suggests he retains a strong grip on key parts of the armed
forces, including the presidential guard that witnesses said played a
major role in Thursday’s incidents.

Mr. Gbagbo’s
government spokesperson said at least 20 people were killed in
Thursday’s anti-Gbagbo street protests in Abidjan, 10 of them
demonstrators and 10 security forces. Mr. Ouattara’s rival government
said security forces had killed 14 protesters when they opened fire on
them. Mr. Gbagbo’s camp has alleged that some of the protesters were
armed, while Mr. Ouattara’s allies have cited the presence of armed
Liberian militias in Abidjan attacking demonstrators. Both sides deny
the allegations of the other camp.

Violence flared
elsewhere in the country on Thursday as pro-Ouattara rebels and
government forces exchanged fire for hours in Tiebissou, the central
town marking the line between the rebel-held north and government-held
south after the war.

“Both the
pro-Gbagbo FDS (security forces), and the pro-Ouattara former rebel New
Forces (FN), appear battle-ready, and it would take very little to
spark all-out confrontation,” said Rolake Akinola, Africa analyst for
VoxFrontier Consulting.

Fear of a
disruption to supplies in the world’s top cocoa grower pushed future
prices close to four-month highs reached last week. The key March cocoa
contract in New York rose $24 to end at $3,003 per tonne on Thursday.

All eyes will be on
the actions of the local U.N. peacekeeping force if the situation
deteriorates. The United Nations has about 10,000 soldiers and police
in the country. The force has a mandate to protect civilians but said
its job was not to protect the march. Separately, a top-level African
Union delegation is due in Abidjan on Friday to attempt discussions
with both sides on the crisis. However the continental body has said it
does not think a power-sharing deal similar to that reached by Kenya
after disputed 2007 elections would not be acceptable.