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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.

Pakistani security
officials reacted with skepticism on Sunday to a U.S. assertion that
Osama bin Laden was actively engaged in directing his far-flung network
from his compound in Abbottabad where he was killed on May 2.

Washington said on
Saturday that, based on a trove of documents and computer equipment
seized in the raid, bin Laden’s hideout north of Islamabad was an
“active command and control center” for al Qaeda where he was involved
in plotting future attacks on the United States.

“It sounds ridiculous,” said a senior intelligence official. “It doesn’t sound like he was running a terror network.”

Pakistan, heavily
dependent on billions of dollars in U.S. aid, is under intense pressure
to explain how the al Qaeda leader could have spent so many years
undetected just a few hours’ drive from its intelligence headquarters
in the capital.

Suspicion has
deepened that Pakistan’s pervasive Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
spy agency, which has a long history of contacts with militant groups,
may have had ties with bin Laden — or that at least some of its agents
did. The agency has been described as a state within a state.

Pakistan has
dismissed such suggestions and says it has paid the highest price in
human life and money supporting the U.S. war on militancy launched
after bin Laden’s followers staged the September 11, 2001, attacks on
America.

The Obama administration

has seen no
evidence Pakistan’s government knew bin Laden was living in that
country before his killing, the U.S. national security adviser said on
Sunday.

Prime Minister
Yusuf Raza Gilani is scheduled to “take the nation into confidence” in
parliament on Monday, his first statement to the people more than a
week after the incident embarrassed the country.

Pakistani officials
said the fact that there was no internet connection or even phone line
into the compound where the world’s most-wanted man was

hiding raised doubts about his centrality to al Qaeda.

Analysts have long
maintained that, years before bin Laden’s death, al Qaeda had
fragmented into a decentralized group that operated tactically without
him.

“It’s bullshit,”
said a senior Pakistani security official, when quizzed on a U.S.
intelligence official’s assertion that bin Laden had been “active in
operational planning and in driving tactical decisions” of the Islamist
militant group from his secret home in the town of Abbottabad.

On Saturday, the
White House released five video clips of bin Laden taken from the
compound, most of them showing the al Qaeda leader, his beard dyed
black, evidently rehearsing the videotaped speeches he sometimes
distributed to his followers.

None of the videos was released with sound. A U.S. intelligence
official said it had been removed because the United States did not
want to transmit bin Laden’s propaganda. But he said they contained the
usual criticism of the United States as well as capitalism.

If anyone thinks
America has a particularly peaceful or passive president, the commando
raid that killed Osama bin Laden is one more reminder they’re wrong.

Unlike his
predecessor, George W. Bush, Barack Obama avoids calling his security
policy a “war on terrorism,” but from Kabul to Cuba, Mr Obama is still
fighting it hard.

“He was able to
have a strong foundation of anti-terrorist efforts,” said former Bush
spokesman, Ari Fleischer. “All that is what Barack Obama continued,
that George Bush started.”

For the mission
against bin Laden, Mr Obama decided to send US troops into Pakistan
without its government’s approval, on the basis of intelligence that
may have been collected through torture.

Mr Obama has
escalated the US effort in Afghanistan with an additional 30,000
troops, so that there are now 100,000 Americans fighting the longest
war in US history.

There are roughly
47,000 troops still in Iraq. They are being gradually withdrawn, but no
faster than the pace planned before Mr Obama was president.

Mr Obama brought
America into its third overseas conflict with its air strikes in Libya,
a country that posed no immediate threat to American security or
interests, but has a long history of support for terrorism.

Mr Obama has also
decided to maintain the US prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo
Bay and increase drone attacks against suspects in Yemen and Pakistan
as well.

The muscular
tactics aren’t all popular inside the US or out of it either, but at
least for now Mr Obama is profiting politically.

A new CNN/Opinion
Research Corporation poll conducted right after the bin Laden raid
found that two-thirds of respondents approve of how the president is
handling terrorism. In fact, they like it better than the rest of his
work in the White House. The poll indicates that just over half of
respondents express approval for his performance as president.

Mr Obama is not a bellicose leader, and even won the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts at better international relations.

In fact, before bin Laden’s death, some of Mr Obama’s opponents questioned his commitment to fighting terrorism.

Now both they and
his supporters are reminded that Mr Obama isn’t especially gentle when
he believes America’s security is at risk.

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