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The seven newly appointed Deputy Inspector Generals
of Police were inaugurated yesterday in Abuja, amidst a frank admission
by the chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC), Parry Osayande,
that he almost quit the police force.

Mr. Osayande, while decorating the seven DIGs, charged the officers “to see the new promotions as an act of God.”

He further urged the new leadership of the Force to
understand that “only the President has the power to appoint people he
can work with effectively and, therefore, they should work as a team
during their tenure.”

The former police officer said he almost resigned his
appointment two months ago due to “certain issues”, but was vague about
his reasons.

“It’s due to certain things,” he said. “I was trying
to exercise my fundamental human right of freedom of movement and
association. Nothing more or less.”

The acting Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim,
had earlier told the new management of the Force to prepare for the
great task ahead of them so that what happened to their predecessors
would not repeat itself during their tenure.

“We are aware of the circumstances that brought us to
the fore today. I urged you all in the new management not to behave
like in the past, so that we will not fail,” Mr. Ringim said.

New offices

Immediately after their decorations, the DIGs were
assigned offices. Ivy Okoronkwo, from Abia State, made history by
becoming the first female Deputy to the IGP in the history of Nigeria
Police.

Azubuko John Udah, also from Abia, takes charge of
the administration department. Ganiyu Dawodu, a Lagos indigene, heads
investigations. Sardauna Abubakar of Sokoto State is to take charge of
the E department, training; Audu Abubakar from Kebbi State will be in
charge of the B department, operations.

Others include Saleh Abubakar, Bauchi State, who will
be in charge of the C department, works; and Mohammed A. Yesufu, Delta
State, will occupy the office of F department, planning, research, and
statistics of the Force.

Mrs. Okoronkwo, who responded on behalf of the newly
decorated officers, thanked the Federal Government for giving them the
opportunity to serve in the present capacity and pledged their loyalty
to government and the new IGP.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
has embarked on the process of enlightening politicians who may want to
win elections at all cost, its chairman, Attahiru Jega, said yesterday
in Abuja.

Mr. Jega spoke at a lecture titled,
‘Elections and Democracy in Africa: Restoring Nigerian Leadership,’
organised by the United States Embassy.

Responding to concerns raised by some
Nigerians about the 2011 elections, the INEC boss said the commission
has been engaging politicians in discussions to intimate them on the
provisions of the electoral laws, so as to bring civility into the
process of political contestation.

Mr. Jega regretted that the political
terrain has been tainted with the desperation to win elections, but
insisted that it has to change if the nation must have credible polls
next year.

“In this engagement, the underlying
point is bringing civility into the process of political contestation
and campaign, and I think the parties are responding,” he said.

“The terrain has been infused with the
mindset of do-or-die attitude. But it has to change. It is something
that is deep-rooted and so it will take time to change,” he added.

Mr. Jega said that the commission is re-orientating politicians “for them to have the right mindset to accept defeat.”

On the voters register, the INEC
chairman said it was one of the reasons the commission asked for time,
and assured that the commission would satisfy the needs and aspiration
of Nigerians. He explained that so many flaws were discovered in the
previous register, hence it demanded for more time so as to have
credible polls.

“We are working hard now to have a new
voter register. We are going to satisfy the needs and aspirations of
Nigerians. It is a bit slow, but it is going on. The thing is to get it
right,” he stated.

Mr. Jega said the commission is
prepared to collaborate with youth groups in the country that have the
agenda of change, but admitted that it is facing the challenge of
identifying the genuine ones.

According to him, some of the groups
are being misdirected and, therefore, cannot fit into the commission’s
agenda to bring about credible elections in the country.

Repeat June 12

Earlier in his lecture, Richard Joseph,
a professor of International History and Politics at the Northwestern
University in the United States, said the bomb attempt by a Nigerian,
Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, last December, and last Friday’s incident
have implications for the political security of Nigeria.

He noted that something must give way
in order to sustain democracy in the country, just as he asked
politicians to do away with pursuing electoral victory at all cost.

Mr. Joseph said Nigeria could embark on
the journey of claiming democracy, mandate protection, and enthronement
of accountability, adding “we cannot run away from what happened on
June 12, 1993.”

While praising the leadership qualities
of the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, the professor said the
2011 polls should be used to repeat the credible election of 1993.

Following the
October 1st bombing in Abuja, and subsequent bomb threats in the Three
Arms Zone of the Federal Capital Territory, the National Assembly
management has heightened its security check.

The security checks
and restrictions commenced on Monday, as shuttle buses were barred from
the Assembly premises. The acting deputy clerk in the National
Assembly, Olumuyiwa Adejokun, confirmed the new security measures,
saying he was informed that the Assembly is one of the targets for the
bombers.

Mr. Adejokun said
the decision to stop the shuttle buses from coming in was to control
the inflow of visitors into the Assembly. Other measures which the
management has planned to deploy include restriction of visitors’
movement and a log to monitor the frequency of visits to every office.

Henceforth,
visitors would not be allowed to drive their cars into the premises
too. “They will park outside,” Mr. Adejokun said.

With the new
arrangement, non driving staff and visitors would trek about 500 metres
from the gate to their various offices. However, Mr. Adejokun said the
measures are in the best interest of everybody.

“For the safety of every human being communing in here, we need to do this,” he said.

He also stated that
some strategic offices in the Assembly complex would henceforth be
closed to the public, including restriction on the use of personal
laptops to access the free Internet facilities provided by the
management.

National issue

Meanwhile, the
Senate will, today, deliberate a motion on the October 1st bomb blast.
The debate will be led by Anthony Manzo, of the People’s Democratic
Party, Taraba State, drawing the attention of the Senate to the
incident, which he described as a national embarrassment, for necessary
legislative action.

The Senate is
expected to come up with resolutions condemning the act and to urge the
government to tackle the rise in insecurity in the country. It might
also hasten the passage of an anti terrorism bill, which is currently
before the legislators.

The blasts, which
the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, allegedly
claimed responsibility for, have been roundly condemned by Nigerians
and the international community.

The area where the bombs went off, about some hundreds of metres to
the Eagle Square, has been cordoned off since the incident occurred.

Some of the
international journalists drinking at the hotels in Abuja were knocked
off their bar stools when they heard the announcement that the First
Lady of the world’s 6th largest oil and gas producer was donating bags
of rice, not for the millions displaced by floods in Jigawa or Cross
River, but to anybody that cared in the capital city, Abuja.

Nigerian colleagues
helped out with explanations – it was to mark the 50th anniversary of
Nigeria’s independence. Why did the present from Mrs. Patience Jonathan
cause a stir, or commotion, the foreigners drilled deeper. But, they
did not get satisfactory answers to their questions.

Food donations by
royalty and the rich are made globally to refugees and populations in
disaster areas as an ameliorative expedient. In Nigeria, the poor are
often fed by the rich, especially during festive occasions.

Rice is presently
expensive in Nigeria. The country is not one of the leading global
producers, but a net importer of the commodity, despite the existence
of a Cereals Research Institute of Nigeria, CRIN, the West African Rice
Development Agency, WARDA, and the International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, IITA.

A third and
neglected factor in that “bags-of-rice,” debate, is the decency or
decorum of the idea and distribution process. Nigerians relish in
throwing money at beggars from the windows of their massive cars, which
is demeaning and in some way, a form of self-abuse, not self-esteem.

First of all, Mrs.
Jonathan must be congratulated for confirming to the world at Nigeria’s
golden jubilee that the country is stunted in econimic growth, despite
its oil wealth. She has definitely taken cognisance of the fact that
fish catches at her home-town, Okrika, are no longer what they used to
be. Finfish landings are drastically reduced by post-harvest losses,
thanks to poor refrigeration from regular power cuts. Levels of
pollution through industrial and domestic waste in shellfish, shrimps,
oysters, and periwinkles have increased.

Instantaneous pity
and generosity are common with women, but should the Jonathans return
to Aso Rock next year, the First Lady will have enough time to study
the causes of poverty in Nigeria. Patience Jonathan’s charity and
kindness are meant well, but must be planned for effectiveness. It is a
problem also faced by international aid organisations. Administrative
overheads of aid assistance often overshoot the actual poverty
alleviation on ground.

Open the door

Mrs. Jonathan may
perhaps then initiate the adequate funding of rural development, food
security initiatives, agricultural research and environmental
management in Nigeria.

Our development is
erroneously skewed in favour of urban areas. If 70 percent of Nigerians
are rural dwellers mostly living on below a dollar a day, is that not
where food aid should be directed, and not at the Blackberry-carrying
city people in Abuja?

The villagers that
provide the bulk of our grains, tubers, vegetables, and fruits are
dying of malnutrition, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. We take their statistics,
receive international donor assistance on their behalf, and then spend
the money buying project vehicles, installing air conditioners and
computers in the city, and paying a horde of incompetent consultants.

Poverty will never
vanish through hurling rice bags at people. The successful democracies
on earth are based on a free market economy backed by institutional
pluralism. Within this structure, opportunities are created for people
to feed themselves.

James Brown used to sing, “I don’t want nobody to give me nothing. Open up the door, I’ll take it myself.”

Last week’s bomb
blast in Abuja has taught residents of the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT) to learn to take extra security measures by sleeping with one eye
wide open, such that they would not hesitate to push the panic button
at the slight suspicion of any threat to their safety.

Yesterday, there
was massive panic around the vicinity of the NNPC Towers, the
headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, following
rumours of a bomb scare within the imposing edifice, located along the
ever-busy Herbert Macaulay Way, in the Central Business District of the
city.

Most commercial
vehicle operators and other motorists who saw a huge build-up of
vehicles and human traffic around the NNPC building went to town with
the information that the masterminds of last Friday’s bomb blast had,
perhaps, relocated their trade to the building.

According to the
rumour, work had been forced to hastily close for the day, while staff
were being hurriedly evacuated as a result of the “incident.”

Majority of the
people around the vicinity of the building did not wait to confirm the
veracity of the speculation, as they made frantic turns in the opposite
direction in the bid to escape.

Security drill it was

Words spread fast,
as the whole town was engulfed in palpable panic, with some people who
may not have gone near the area telling others they met heading in the
direction of the NNPC building to make a detour to other places.

But NNPC’s
spokesperson, Levi Ajuonuma, in a terse response to NEXT inquiries,
asked members of the public to disregard the rumour for what it is.

“Please, disregard
such rumour. We did a simple routine security drill and people see it
as a bomb threat,” Mr. Ajuonuma said in a text message.

NEXT gathered that,
as part of the need to prevent a repeat of last week’s ugly incident,
most key government establishments and organisations have taken extra
precaution by carrying out various measures to update their security
systems, to prepare them for any posssibility, including a bomb
incident.

It was learnt that
as part of its security precaution, the security department of the
corporation had organised a programme to reinforce its security system
to ascertain safety of staff and members of the public.

Part of the measures, NEXT learnt, was to ensure that all vehicles
attempting to enter the premises were subjected to a thorough extra
security checks, an exercise that caused a long traffic snarl around
the entrance of the headquarters building.

President Goodluck
Jonathan’s administration came under severe fire yesterday after two
groups accused his government of bullying and victimisation in an
effort to destabilise his political opponents.

The Ibrahim
Babangida campaign organisation said they will remain resolute and firm
in the face of what they described as “executive brutality and
intimidation” from the presidency.

The Northern
Political Leaders Forum, known as the G-15, yesterday, asked President
Jonathan to resign, in the wake of the October 1st bombings.

Following the
arrest of its coordinator on Monday, the Ibrahim Babangida campaign
organisation also said they remain resolute and firm in the face of
“executive brutality and intimidation” from the presidency.

The group called a
press conference in Abuja, yesterday, to address the allegations
leveled against Raymond Dokpesi, who was briefly arrested by the SSS on
allegations of complicity in the twin bombings.

The deputy
coordinator of the team, Kanti Bello, said the only reason why Mr.
Dokpesi is being hunted is because he rejected the appointment as
director general of the President Goodluck Jonathan campaign
organisation.

“In rejecting the
appointment, Dokpesi informed the world of his belief in the zoning
arrangement of the PDP, where the presidency stays in the north,” Mr.
Bello said.

Resign now

The northern
group, in a statement signed by Adamu Ciroma, also called Mr. Dokpesi’s
arrest a “desperate attempt to validate President Jonathan’s hasty
investigations and prove his predetermined theory right.”

The lengthy
statement rounded off by denouncing Mr. Jonathan’s administration,
saying he was “incapable of leading the nation fairly and that he is
desperate enough to want to hang mass murder around the neck of unnamed
Northerners to achieve his second term.”

The group said Mr. Jonathan should, therefore, resign or face possible impeachment proceedings in the National Assembly.