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Former governor of
Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, said that the Action Congress
(AC) is working assiduously to unseat the ruling Peoples’ Democratic
Party (PDP), come 2011 general elections.

Mr. Tinubu, one of
the prominent personnel of the Action Congress, while speaking to
aviation correspondents at the presidential wing of the Murtala
Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, on issues affecting the new voter
register, declared that his party will not pardon the excesses of any
political platform that tries to jeopardise the peaceful conduct of the
polls.

“As for May 29, we
are in a hurry to send away PDP. But if they have to still do their
mosquito style of election, then we will resist. We will do everything
possible to strengthen the path of democracy in this country,” he said.

Expressing his
support for a new voter register, the former governor disclosed that
Nigeria will only hold credible elections with the new register in
place, as he describes the old register as faulty and unrealistic.

“I don’t think we
can conclude that we will not have free and fair elections yet, but I
agree hundred percent that we must have a fresh voters register. A new
registry of voters that will produce reliable, very viable and
biometrically compliant voters register that will eliminate all
duplications, and all irregularities.

“This is the way to
start the beginning of the next fifty years, after the first fifty
years of Nigeria’s independence,” he said.

Mr. Tinubu
maintained that it will be a huge disgrace should Nigeria fail to
conduct smooth elections, and that the entire components of the former
registry is corrupt, as he added that the former chairman of the
Independent and National Electoral Commission (INEC), Maurice Iwu,
reproduced the old voter register.

“It will be a
shameful thing to have all the professionals and the competent and
capable human resources that we have in this country if we cannot do
that (peaceful elections) for our nation. Otherwise, it will be a
disaster.

“There is no way
they can patch up what is now on ground, for you cannot plant a mango
and expect to reap corn, there is no way. Once the foundation is bad,
the entire structure will collapse. So, this voter register that they
think they will panelbeat is a record that is irreparable,” he said.

Explaining that the
current registry is impracticable, the AC stakeholder argued that the
Attahiru Jega’s administration in the electoral commission should be
given the right to have a new voter register, as he further indicted
the ex-boss of the commission.

“The software that
associated with it (current voter register) was pirated by Iwu’s
administration, let him sue me. I know the address of the Canadian
company; they didn’t pay for the software licence.

“That is why it is unworkable. You can’t panelbeat this management
to produce a reliable voter register, otherwise it’s garbage in garbage
out, from chaos to crisis and to more catastrophic consequences,” he
said.

Senators have
called for the creation of one more state in the South East region, as
well the appointment of one more Supreme Court judge to balance the
nation’s federalism.

The senators made
the call on Wednesday while confirming the newly appointed justices of
the Supreme Court. The appointment of Bode Rhodes-Vivour and Suleiman
Galadima as Justices of the Supreme Court bring the number of judges at
the Supreme Court to 17, however, the senators argued that the South
East and North East region of the country were not adequately
represented in the appointments. Ayogu Eze (PDP Enugu state) argued
that the regional imbalance in the appointment reflects the
marginalization South East region and the need for a new state in the
region to balance national representation. “Currently, the South East
region has five states while the rest regions have six each; there is
need for balance in these areas,” he said.

Ike Ekweremadu, the
deputy senate president also expressed surprise, saying that he is
“worried that we have two Supreme Court Justices.” He however claimed
that “there is every need for balance across the geopolitical zones.”
Arguing in the same line, Smart Adeyemi (PDP Kogi state) and Chairman
of the senate committee on federal character, said it was imperative
the lawmakers considers the creation of one more state in the South
East region to balance the principle of federal character.

Responsive representatives’

Confirming the
determination of the senate to embark on state creation, David Mark,
the Senate President, told a group campaigning for the creation of
Hadejia State that following the successful completion and passage into
law of some amended sections of the 1999 Constitution, the National
Assembly is now poised for creation of more states. Mr Mark, while
receiving the delegates, said the state creation exercise is paramount
in response to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians. “As elected
representatives of the people, we carry the burden of the people and we
respond in a manner that would meet their yearnings and aspirations,”
he said.

According to Mr Mark, the senate shall consider every state creation
request on its merit and it must include but not limited to economic
and political viability of the proposed state. He expressed optimism
that creation of more states would bring government nearer to the
people and usher in an era of even development and healthy competition
between and among the federating states.

The Ogun State Police Command yesterday
announced a major breakthrough in crime fighting with the recovery of
heavy artillery, which includes rocket launchers and a number of
dynamites from armed robbers, as well as the arrest of two members of
the gang.

The bandits were said to have arrived
Abeokuta last Tuesday to rob some banks in the town, after their failed
attempt in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, where they had earlier killed
three policemen.

Showing the recovered artillery and the
arrested suspects to journalists at the Eleweran Police headquarters in
Abeokuta, commissioner of police, Musa Daura, said the command acted on
information about the plot of the bandits.

He said he deployed his men to the
front gate of the police headquarters, where the bandits were to pass
through to the town, adding that the hoodlums, on sighting the
policemen, immediately opened fire.

“It was at this stage my men engaged
the bandits in a shootout, which lasted for over 20 minutes, and the
superior firework of the command forced the gang to abandon their
vehicle and ran into various directions into the bush at a nearby
village.”

From all over

The commissioner said the police arrested two of the seven suspects and recovered their operational vehicle, a Hyundai Elantra.

Items recovered from the vehicle and
shown to journalists included one military multi-purpose machine gun
number KN 276, two military rocket launchers, four dynamites, three
strands of explosive cords, 115 magazines painted military colour fully
loaded with 30 rounds of live ammunitions each, and a Mazda bus
snatched by the bandits to escape from the scene of the shootout.

One of the robbery suspects, Obinna
Ajah, confessed to the crime. He said his gang members converged in
Ibadan, on Monday night, to carry out the bank robbery operations,
which eventually failed. He said it was as a result of the failed
operations in Ibadan that the gang resolved to visit Abeokuta, before
luck ran against them.

“When we arrived Abeokuta, we noticed
the presence of policemen who already mounted road block for us, so we
opened fire, which the police also returned in force. We had to run
into the bush where I was later arrested,” Mr. Obinna said.

The suspect said the gang, numbering
about fifteen, came from Lagos, Ebonyi, Abeokuta, and Ibadan for the
operations after contacting themselves through telephones.

Happy Daniel

Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, who
came to see the volume of the recovered artillery and the suspects
while being paraded said, “what we saw here today looks like a joke,
but it is something very big. Capturing them is just one issue, but the
amount of sophisticated weapons which you have all seen is something
that is very scary. It’s also something that we have not witnessed in
this state.”

He congratulated the police for overpowering the bandits. Mr. Daura
assured journalists that the runaway members of the gang will soon be
arrested.

The owners of the popular musical,
‘Fela! on Broadway’, were shocked on Tuesday night when Nobel Laureate,
Wole Soyinka, suddenly slipped away, ignoring the elaborate birthday
reception organised for him in New York.

Mr. Soyinka was at the Eugene O’Neill
Theatre venue in midtown New York to see, for the first time, the
highly entertaining musical woven around the life and music of his
cousin, the late Afrobeat musician and activist, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Apparently unaware of the Nobel
Laureate’s dislike for any outward celebration of his birthday, the
show owners had ordered a rectangular gorgeous birthday cake, which
they planned to present to the professor on stage at the end of the
performance.

Food, drinks, and tables were also
reserved at the next-door Serafina Hotel, where the 76-year-old writer
was to be hosted to a reception.

But somehow, Mr. Soyinka got wind of the plan, and he sneaked out of the “shrine”, just as the cast was taking their bows.

Unaware that the Nobel Laureate had
left the venue, the talented Sahr Ngaujah, who acted Fela, grabbed the
microphone and announced to the audience,

“This is a very special night for us
because we are visited today by Fela’s cousin, the great Nobel
Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka. Today also happens to be his
birthday.”

Ngaujah had hardly finished when two
female members of the cast appeared onstage with a rectangular
white-red-blue birthday cake.

The audience clapped and buzzed with
expectation, hoping that the professor would move onstage to make a
brief remark and cut the cake.

But Mr. Soyinka was long gone and the
audience, which had a good number of Nigerians, and scores of
journalists, were disappointed. A birthday song was, nonetheless, sung
for him.

Honour for organisers

Okey Ndibe, a professor of Literature
at Trinity College, who saw Mr. Soyinka hurrying out of the theatre and
waving down a taxi, said the Nobel Laureate told him that he did not
want the performance to be about him, but about Fela.

“He said he did not want to grant
interviews or be celebrated,” Mr. Ndibe explained to Stephen Hendel,
lead producer of the play.

“He said it is a great play, but that
he would come back unannounced to watch the play again and meet the
cast,” Mr. Ndibe said.

Publisher of SaharaReporters.com, a
popular online news website, Omoyele Sowore, who drove Soyinka from his
hotel to the play, also explained that the professor had an early
flight for South Africa on Wednesday and could therefore not wait for
his birthday song.

Mr. Hendel said although the professor
did not wait for the reception, his presence at the “shrine” to watch
the play was an enough honour for him and his team.

“We have so much respect for Professor Wole Soyinka,” he said. “For
us to have one of the greatest men of the world come to see the show is
a great honour for us. It is a thrill for everyone,” he said.

Visibly angry ex-militants, protesting the shabby
handling of the post-amnesty programme, stormed the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) Press Center in Warri, Delta State, yesterday,
causing pandemonium among the residents and passers-by in the area.

The ex-militants, who came in large numbers, blocked
all entrance to the Marine Quarters, where the press center is located,
causing road users and residents to scamper to safety, just as
motorists make a detour to other routes.

Carrying various placards, they threatened to go back
to the creeks as from August 5th, 2010, if their demands were not met
by the Federal Government.

The over 200 former warlords and their boys, led by
‘Generals’ Augustine Oges and Kingsley Muturu, among others, invaded
the No. 12, Gbiaye Street, temporary abode of the Warri Correspondent
Chapel of the NUJ, at about 4.30pm in a violent protest that lasted for
close to two hours.

Traffic was held up for several hours in the area as
the ex-militants mounted several barricades on the strategic road that
leads to Okumagba Avenue and other parts of the Oil City.

The protesters, who gave the Federal Government a
7-day ultimatum, which expires on the 5th of August, 2010, said the
federal government must set the machinery in motion to rehabilitate
their members or else they would return to the creeks.

They vowed to make the region ungovernable for the
various state governors and the Federal Government if their members are
not documented and engaged in the ongoing programmes.

Second phase of protest

Mr. Oges and other protesters told journalists that
despite the protest they held in Abuja, nothing has changed, and warned
that yesterday’s protest at the Press Centre was a follow-up to the one
held earlier this month in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan’s promise that a
second phase of documentation would be carried out to take care of them
and their members was yet to be fulfilled, and therefore, they could no
longer guarantee holding back their foot soldiers.

He denied media reports that they had apologised to the special adviser to the president on amnesty, Timi Alaibe.

“It is not true that we have apologised to Mr.
Alaibe. That report is completely untrue because we know that some boys
were given money to go back and make that apology. The situation is
still as it is and this (Warri Protest) is the next phase of our
action,” he said.

“We dropped our arms since October last year, but
nothing has happened to us since then. Hence, we stormed Abuja in July
7 to demand for proper documentation of our members who are yet to be
documented.

“Time is running out, and we do not want Timi to
handle the second phase of the amnesty. The president should allow
another competent Nigerian to handle this crucial phase of the amnesty.
Timi has paid some boys to come and apologise to him over the protest
to Abuja.

“We do not want him again, and we are appealing to the president to
beware for him not to rock the boat of his administration. We are
giving the president from now till August 5 to address our issue,
otherwise, we will go back to the creeks and make this country
ungovernable. Enough is enough,” he threatened.

The senate, on Wednesday, delayed the approval of the
N236.58 billion 2010 budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC) for lack of details and bogus overhead cost.

The NDDC budget, which has an allocation of N12.84
billion for personnel and overhead cost, also had an allocation of N226
billion for capital budget. However, the senators criticised the budget
for lacking detailed projects in which the capital budget was to be
applied on.

In a bid to pass the budget expeditiously, even
though the budget is coming late, the senate has asked the chairman of
the senate committee on NDDC, responsible for the budget, to submit all
the details of the budget to the senate by Thursday for possible
consideration and approval.

Beyond Thursday, the senate will embark on a two
months vacation, and the promoters of the budget fear the commission
will be stranded if the senate does not approve the budget before going
on vacation.

“We are actually hard pressed – two wrongs cannot
make a right – let us get the details tomorrow and see whether we can
pass it,” the senate president, David Mark, told the NDDC committee
chairman, James Manager (PDP, Delta State).

The decision of the senate to reconsider the budget
with its full details was reached after a heated debate in which some
senators unsuccessfully called for a piecemeal approval of the budget,
while some of the senators from the Niger Delta region called for the
approval of the budget without the details.

According to Mr. Manager, the NDDC committee has all
the details sent to it by the presidency and will tender them on
Thursday. He, however, notified the senate that NDDC is notorious for
submitting budget proposals late.

“If the next year budget does not come by September
this year, they should forget it. We won’t be taking their budgets
outside September anymore,” the senate president said.

The NDDC act stipulates that they submit their next annual budgets before the end of September of the current fiscal year.

Bogus Overhead

Although the budget has a total of N12.84 billion
proposed to be spent on overhead and personnel, the senators criticised
it saying it is bogus.

The senators criticised some allocations in which some offices proposed to spend up to half a billion naira on personnel alone.

“The overhead cost is completely overboard,” Lee
Maeba (PDP Rivers State), said. The budget contains provisions like
N529.26 million for personnel and overhead cost for the managing
director’s office, N456.8 million for the corporate affairs office,
N330.38 million for the directorate of legal services, and N676.3
million for the directorate of planning, research, statistics, and MIS.

The budget also includes an allocation of N90 million for condolences and marriages.

“There is too much money for personnel and overhead cost.” Ahmed
Lawan said. “Are we trying to settle some cabal in Port Harcourt or are
we trying to build infrastructure in the region?” Mr. Lawan queried.