Nigeria Content Online

The 19th
Commonwealth Games were declared open on Sunday in a spectacular
ceremony that should help repair the damage to India’s image caused by
a calamitous build-up to the sporting festival.

The preparations
for the $6 billion (3 billion pounds) “friendly games” have been marred
by a series of setbacks to India’s ambition of showing off its soft
power by hosting its biggest sporting event for nearly three decades.

Organisers are
hoping to put all that behind them over the next 11 days of sporting
competition between mostly former British colonies but there were still
boos on Sunday from the crowd for chief Games organiser Suresh Kalmadi.

Britain’s Prince
Charles, who was greeted with chants of “India! India!,” read out a
message from his mother Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Commonwealth,
and India’s President Pratibha Patil was also given a prominent role.

“I am delighted to
declare the Games open,” said the Prince after delivering the message
which had travelled in the Queen’s Baton relay from London on a 190,000
kms journey through the 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth.

President Patil
then gave her own address, concluding to huge cheers from the 60,000
crowd in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by saying: “The Commonwealth
Games now really are open, let the Games begin!” Cheers replace jeers
Those cheers were a stark contrast to the jeers that greeted Kalmadi
when he gave his speech but in keeping with a festive and friendly
atmosphere in the stadium, illustrated when the Pakistan team were
given a rousing reception despite the tense relations between the
neighbours.

The huge security operation around the stadium and city involving
some 100,000 police and military personnel was a reminder of the safety
concerns that kept some athletes away from the Games.

Global funding for
malaria is less than half the $4.9 billion needed in 2010 to prevent
and treat the disease that kills around 850,000 people a year, a study
showed on Saturday.

Researchers writing
in The Lancet medical journal said that 21 countries — including 12 in
Africa — now get enough or nearly enough donor help to control disease.

However, 50 countries where most people at risk of the disease live do not get enough funding to fight malaria.

“Our analysis
identified 10 African countries and five in Asia that are short of
necessary funds and have low domestic income,” said Bob Snow of the
geographic medicine centre at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in
Nairobi, who led the study.

The researchers
assessed the level of malaria risk for 93 countries, where the disease
is endemic and calculated the financial requirements to control it.

They found that international financing for malaria control has risen to $1.94 billion this year from $0.73 billion in 2007.

The Roll Back Malaria advocacy group estimates $4.9 billion is needed in 2010 to adequately control malaria.

According to the World Health Organisation, about 3.3 billion people
— half of the world’s population — are at risk of malaria, which is
spread by mosquitoes.

Former minister of
the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai has launched
an appeal fund aimed at cushioning the effects of the recent flood
disaster in some part of the northern states of the country.

Mr el Rufai called
on well meaning individuals in the polity to come to the aid of
thousands of those who were displaced by the flood disaster.

“We are trying to
reach out to well meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of those
affected by this disastrous flood with relief materials.

When it happened in
Pakistan, the United Nations came in, other countries came in; I
thought people can come in and complement NEMA,” he said.

“After thinking
about it, I thought that why not try and organise something to
galvanise people to do something, because right now those affected
really don’t have anything. Whatever we are able to realise, we will
give the relief agency operating in the area for onward distribution.
This initiative is like an appeal fund for cloths, rice, corn, millet
and all other edible items, the victims need building materials too and
anything that people can spare. I mean whatever we get from people will
do.”

He also said he was
not impressed with the performance of the National Emergency Relief
Agency (NEMA), saying some of the agencies of government spend more
time on awarding contracts for supplies than they are at solving the
problem. He said similar agencies at states levels are equally not
helping matters.

Soliciting for support

“That is why I am
making calls to some of my wealthier friends and asking them to
donate,” he said. “Those that want their names mentioned, we will do so
and we would acquiesce to request by those that want to remain
anonymous.” He said though he would prefer donors to buy the relief
materials themselves, a dedicated account would be opened to keep any
donations made in cash.

“It is unfortunate
that NEMA did not live up to expectations of those affected by flood at
a period the victims, spread across states like Jigawa, sokoto,
Zamfara, Yobe and Kano, were in pain,” Mr el Rufai said.

The federal government recently announced the release of about
N1.6billion to the states of Sokoto and Kebbi to provide relief for the
victims of the flooding.

Former military
president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has said that he will only serve
one term if elected president in 2011, because of the principle of
rotation adopted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Mr. Babangida,
who was speaking to newsmen in Dutse on Sunday after a closed door
meeting with Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido said because of the PDP
stance on rotation, he will only serve four years.

He pointed out that
late president Umaru Yar ‘Adua served for one term and that he will
complete the second term and thereafter any person from any other other
region could take over. “We must be seen to be respecting our
arrangement and the party’s constitution, hence my desire to serve for
only one term,” Mr. Babangida said. He also stated that President
Goodluck Jonathan and any other aspirant from the the South could not
contest the 2011 presidency without amending the PDP constitution
first.

Condemn the blast

He condemned the
October 1st bomb blast, which he said has sent a bad signal about the
country, saying government must do everything possible to address the
lingering insecurity. He said Nigerians must all work hard to fight the
growing problem. “Security of lives and property is the collective
responsibility of all and sundry, we must all join hands to fight the
monster which is threatening our peaceful co existence,” he said.

Six out of the
eleven suspended House of Representatives members will return to an
Abuja High Court today, as the substantive suit challenging their
suspension begins.

The lawmakers –
Dino Melaye, Independence Ogunewe, Solomon Ahiwinahwi, Bitrus Kazeh,
Abba Anas Adamu, and Austin Nwachukwu – were accused of starting a
crisis in the House of Representatives in June and were subsequently
suspended.

They had asked the
court to restore them to their legislative functions, pending the
determination of the suit they brought challenging their suspension
from the House.

However, Mr. Adamu
Bello, in his ruling, held that “court cannot grant an order of interim
injunction, as sought by the plaintiffs, in view of the fact that there
is a challenge to the jurisdiction of the court as laid down by the
Supreme Court. Granting such an injunction would amount to reversing
the orders of the House of Representatives.”

He stated that all
process should be in before the October 4 date ( Today), adding that
the court will not entertain any excuse of the date.

In their joint
motion, argued by Femi Falana, the embattled lawmakers insisted that
they were elected for a tenure of four years and that neither the
Speaker nor anyone else had any right to cut the tenure short for any
reason.

They claimed that
their suspension had denied their respective constituencies
representation in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, and urged
the court to set aside the suspension slammed on them on June 22,
pending the final determination of their main suit.

Dismiss the suit

However, the Speaker urged the court to dismiss the motion of the suspended lawmakers for being frivolous and lacking in merit.

The Speaker of the
House, Dimeji Bankole, through his counsel, Afolabi Afolayan, argued
that what the suspended lawmakers were asking for is a shortcut to
justice, adding that there would be nothing left for court to
adjudicate upon once the embattled lawmakers were returned to their
seats.

He also argued that
the plaintiffs failed to give undertaking for damages in their
affidavit in support of the interlocutory motion, as demanded by law,
and urged the court to refuse the motion for being defective.

But the national
leadership of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has directed
the 11 suspended members of the House of Representatives to withdraw
their case against the House.

At a meeting between the group and the national working committee of
the PDP, led by its chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, on August 4, the
suspended lawmakers were told that the only way the party could
intervene was for them to ask their lawyer to stop the case.

A
legal battle between four-year-old David Olawale and the Nigeria Police
is scheduled for hearing tomorrow at the Federal High Court, Ibadan.

David is
challenging the alleged abuse of his fundamental human right by one
Sunmonu Ojediran, an Inspector attached to the Ogun State Crime
Investigation Division (CID), who allegedly shot and killed his father,
Olawale Babalola, on June 1, 2010. Apart from the police inspector,
Master Olawale also joined the Inspector General of Police and the
Commissioners of Police in charge of Oyo and Ogun State Commands in the
suit.

How he died

According to the
affidavit sworn to by the widow of the deceased, Opeyemi Olawale, who
filed the suit on behalf of his son, the alleged killing happened when
her husband was out to buy some drugs for her few hours after she had a
stillbirth on May 31. “That he (the husband) volunteered to purchase
the drugs outside the hospital and that was the last day I heard or saw
him alive,” she said. Mrs Olawale also stated that all efforts to
locate the deceased was futile, until when one of his friends informed
her that he had been killed by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad
(SARS) in Ogun state.

According to her,
the man told her that the deceased was shot during an argument that
ensued between him and police officers who brought an armed robbery
suspect from their office to Ibadan to effect his arrest, over an
allegation of receiving stolen vehicles. “On arrival at the agreed area
at the Nigerian Breweries Area of Ibadan, my husband was arrested and
upon [the] argument that ensued, my husband was shot by the 3rd
respondent (Mr Ojediran) and died as a result of the gunshot,” she
said. The widow, who said she had been receiving strange messages since
the killing of her husband, had been arrested twice over the matter.

Seeking justice

She said her
insistence on seeking justice was responsible for the arrests, adding
that during the latest arrest, which happened last month, she fainted
at the Eleweran headquarters of the Ogun state Police command where she
spent days answering queries from police detectives. In a suit number
FHC/IB/C8/65/2010, which comes up for hearing today, the younger
Olawale, who is the only surviving child of the deceased, is praying
for the court to declare the shooting and killing of his father without
justification as a gross violation of Sections 33(1) and 34 of the
constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria 1999.

The plaintiff also wanted an order of the court declaring the
breaking into her house in the name of searching as a breach to private
and family life and contravenes section 37 of the Nigerian
constitution. The widow is also praying the court to restrain the
defendants from further harassing, victimising, disturbing, arresting,
detaining or subjecting her to any form of indignity, inhuman or
degrading treatment even as he asked for the release of the corpse of
her husband for befitting burial. Besides all this, the plaintiff is
asking for a compensation of a sum of N100 million for the alleged
wrongful killing.

The faction of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State opposed to the state
governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, is holding a rally in Ibadan, the state
capital, today, to register their readiness to thwart the governor’s
ambition to run for a second term under the party’s platform in the
state.

The rally is
scheduled to hold at the Akingbade, Old Ife-Road, parallel secretariat
of the party and will be addressed by the internal opposition leaders,
including Lekan Balogun; former governor, Rashidi Ladoja; former deputy
national chairman of the party, Yekeen Adeojo; and former minister of
special duties, Wole Oyelese, among others.

For a long time,
the coalition had consistently slugged it out with the governor and his
team over the constitution of the incumbent executive of the party in
the state, describing the February 2008 election that produced them as
illegal, having been held in utter disregard to a court injunction
restraining it.

Steps taken to
correct the frosty situation, including the intervention of the
national executive of the party, have not yielded any tangible result.

The group has also
consistently called for a fresh congress since a mediation team led by
Ike Nwachukwu held reconciliatory meeting with the faction, where it
was openly observed that the state executive was not properly formed,
and an implementation committee was formed to midwife a properly
constituted executive.

Legal suit against governor

Sources informed
NEXT that all logistics to make today’s rally a big success has already
been put in place, as all the individuals and parties involved are
working hard to achieve that.

The coalition has
also gone to court to stop the proposed primaries of the party in which
Mr. Alao-Akala is billed to be announced as the party’s sole
governorship candidate in the 2011 elections.

The case will be heard at an Abuja High Court this week.

The
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) said yesterday that the former
minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai lacks the moral
standing to advise its leader, Muhammadu Buhari to retire from politics.

Mr el-Rufai was
reported to have told Mr Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida, both former
heads of state, that they were too old to contest the forthcoming
presidential election. The former minister argued that most countries
of the world are run by younger people. Messrs Buhari and Babangida are
in their late 60s.

In a statement in
Abuja, the party said age is not a determinant of performance in
office, adding that Mr Buhari has integrity and experience which he
will bring to bear if elected president next year.

“This remark by el
Rufai has finally revealed his shallow grasp of global political
history, and also his complete ignorance of the issues at stake in the
Nigerian polity. Whatever is his motivation for such bandy-legged
pronouncement, we wish to remind him that there are some salient and
undeniable points he needs to consider before raising his fingers in
the direction of Buhari,” the statement signed by its spokesperson,
Daniel Aghanya said.

“el Rufai should
consider that age is not one of the criteria for governance, but
integrity, accountability and a connection with the governed. These
sterling qualities Buhari has, but el Rufai, is currently embroiled in
corruption charges leveled against him for his questionable
administrative actions during his tenure as FCT minister.” The party
noted that Mr Buhari spent all his years as the head of state,
petroleum minister and chairman of the defunct Petroleum [Special]
Trust Fund (PTF) without an iota of corruption charges against him
during and after discharging his duties in these capacities, stressing
“this has nothing to do with age but character and a sense of
patriotism in the discharge of one’s duty as an able public servant.”

Beyond compare

The Congress for
Progressive change warned Mr el-Rufai not to compare himself to the
former head of state, in their contribution to national development.

“We really do not
know the virtues el-Rufai wants to teach the Nigerian people,” the
party said. “Definitely, it is impossible to give what you don’t have.
Malam el-Rufai has no democratic credentials, in spite of his so called
youthful age.

“Second, El Rufai should remember that, unlike what he perceives,
men and women shaped by proper political experience through their young
years have found opportunities of using such to effectively serve their
nation at epoch-making dispensations in such countries.”

A
legal battle between four-year-old David Olawale and the Nigeria Police
is scheduled for hearing tomorrow at the Federal High Court, Ibadan.

David is
challenging the alleged abuse of his fundamental human right by one
Sunmonu Ojediran, an Inspector attached to the Ogun State Crime
Investigation Division (CID), who allegedly shot and killed his father,
Olawale Babalola, on June 1, 2010. Apart from the police inspector,
Master Olawale also joined the Inspector General of Police and the
Commissioners of Police in charge of Oyo and Ogun State Commands in the
suit.

How he died

According to the
affidavit sworn to by the widow of the deceased, Opeyemi Olawale, who
filed the suit on behalf of his son, the alleged killing happened when
her husband was out to buy some drugs for her few hours after she had a
stillbirth on May 31. “That he (the husband) volunteered to purchase
the drugs outside the hospital and that was the last day I heard or saw
him alive,” she said. Mrs Olawale also stated that all efforts to
locate the deceased was futile, until when one of his friends informed
her that he had been killed by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad
(SARS) in Ogun state.

According to her,
the man told her that the deceased was shot during an argument that
ensued between him and police officers who brought an armed robbery
suspect from their office to Ibadan to effect his arrest, over an
allegation of receiving stolen vehicles. “On arrival at the agreed area
at the Nigerian Breweries Area of Ibadan, my husband was arrested and
upon [the] argument that ensued, my husband was shot by the 3rd
respondent (Mr Ojediran) and died as a result of the gunshot,” she
said. The widow, who said she had been receiving strange messages since
the killing of her husband, had been arrested twice over the matter.

Seeking justice

She said her
insistence on seeking justice was responsible for the arrests, adding
that during the latest arrest, which happened last month, she fainted
at the Eleweran headquarters of the Ogun state Police command where she
spent days answering queries from police detectives. In a suit number
FHC/IB/C8/65/2010, which comes up for hearing today, the younger
Olawale, who is the only surviving child of the deceased, is praying
for the court to declare the shooting and killing of his father without
justification as a gross violation of Sections 33(1) and 34 of the
constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria 1999.

The plaintiff also wanted an order of the court declaring the
breaking into her house in the name of searching as a breach to private
and family life and contravenes section 37 of the Nigerian
constitution. The widow is also praying the court to restrain the
defendants from further harassing, victimising, disturbing, arresting,
detaining or subjecting her to any form of indignity, inhuman or
degrading treatment even as he asked for the release of the corpse of
her husband for befitting burial. Besides all this, the plaintiff is
asking for a compensation of a sum of N100 million for the alleged
wrongful killing.

Last
Friday, I heard that Tahir was dead. Of all the millions of people in
the Federal Capital Territory, Tahir just had to be one of the eight
people killed by the bombs that went off during the national day
celebrations.

But why do I think
that someone else should have died in place of Tahir? Why do I think
that Tahir’s death is more a loss than some other person’s death; not
just to me or his family but to Nigeria as a whole? You see, Tahir was
no ordinary Nigerian. He was not your typical docile, self-seeking,
corruption-prone, law enforcement officer. He was an A-Class officer of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). You only had to
meet with him once to perceive the potentials in this young man; you’d
know instinctively that this was no ordinary agent but one who was
bound for greatness. He had that rare combination of love for Nigeria
and a sense of justice which has since been eroded from the senses of
the average Nigerian.

I remember watching
him proudly as he marched up the stage barely one month ago to receive
the third place prize after an intensive five-month long course at the
EFCC training institute. Tahir was not just loyal to his country, he
was one of the most intelligent officers in his cadre.

I met Tahir over
the telephone sometime in 2009. I got on the phone and within seconds,
we were already teasing each other like we had been friends for
decades. Tahir had just gotten married and I was demanding that my cake
be sent from Abuja to Lagos. I don’t know why it was so easy to be
friends with this young man. Maybe because we had mutual friends whom
we both trusted and loved; maybe it was just because Tahir was such a
great person.

The last time I saw him was three days ago, he took his 6-month old girl from my arms and left my office with his pretty wife.

“We are coming back soon,” he said. He didn’t and will not be.

I met Tahir in
person for the first time later in 2009. I was on an official
assignment in Abuja. The exchange between Tahir and I was like that
between siblings. It did not matter that he was a Muslim Fulani and I,
a Christian from the Niger Delta. He helped me with my assignment,
drove me about in his car. Some people you meet, and the first steps of
friendship is taken with caution and suspicion. Not so in this case. We
spoke of his wife as though I had met with her already and as though we
were sisters. By the time his life was wasted by last Friday’s bombing,
I had met his wife, his daughter, his siblings and his parents.

Tahir was a good
man. I don’t say this because he is no more or because he was my
friend. Why do bad things happen to good people? This was the question
I asked myself when one of our mutual friends called me to share the
horrible news.

“Just so that you
don’t hear this from anywhere else, I want to let you know that Tahir
was killed today,” he said. My response was of course the classic one
of disbelief. Tahir? What was he doing around Eagle Square? More so
when another friend told me that Tahir had stopped him from going to
Eagle Square that fateful day. A friend says it is destiny, but what
kind of destiny culminates in a violent death when you have done good
all your life?

Not mad in vain

When I read that
suspected agents of MEND had detonated bombs around Eagle Square and
that about eight people had died, my reaction was of mild irritation. I
had seen the MEND warning which asked people to stay away from the
square, and specifically away from trash cans and vehicles around the
Eagle Square. I was not angry enough at MEND’s unconvincing ‘fight for
emancipation.’ I did not realise that everyone who had just lost their
lives mattered.

But after spending
a whole night tossing and turning on bed, worrying about Tahir’s young
wife, his baby, his siblings, his parents; I am angry. I am mad at a
government that deludes itself that it is a sovereign nation when it
cannot provide security for its citizens. Mad at a group of reckless
young men who claim that they are fighting for equality and justice but
may really be fighting for nothing more than their pockets and bank
accounts.

But I will not be mad in vain. I will live life as Tahir did. I will
take risks and live life for the greater good of my country. Life is so
short, why waste it on meaningless living? So help me God.