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Suspected abductors
of the elder sister of the traditional ruler of Efire town, in
Ogun-Waterside, Adetokunbo Adeniyi yesterday called the king to
announce a reduction in their ransom from N600m to N55m.

The victim, 70-year
old Sikiratu Lamina, who was also allowed to speak to her family on
telephone, said she could not identify where she is being kept.

The woman was
abducted last Wednesday at gun point from her home in Efire, in the
presence of her two children, by four men riding motorbikes. The
kidnappers, numbering about four, arrived at the house pretending to be
officials of the State Security Services {SSS}.

She was later
ferried away in speed boat, while they left her wrapper at the shore
for her family to locate the route of where she was taken to, believed
to be somewhere within the creek between Ondo and Ogun States.

NEXT further learnt
that the kidnappers got in touch with the traditional ruler of the
town, who is the junior brother of the victim, asking him to raise the
ransom demanded before she could be let off the hook.

The monarch said
the kidnappers had earlier requested for N600m, which they later
reduced to N150m. By the time they called him yesterday, they had again
reduced it to N55 Millon.

Seven suspects arrested

The man, however,
expressed shock over the incident and the amount demanded for, saying:
“where do they expect us to get the money and I wonder what they want
from a 70 year old innocent woman?” The royal father, who said he could
not believe his eyes, said this would be the first time, such incident
of kidnapping will be happening in the state and appealed to security
operatives to rise up to the challenge.

When contacted, the
Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi
confirmed the stories, adding the command had arrested seven suspects,
with further assurance that the authority is on top of the situation.

“We have so far arrested seven suspects, and our men are
investigating further. I want to assure you that we are on top of the
situation,” said the police spokesperson.

With the exit of
the former Vice Chancellor, Attahiru Jega, the Congregation of the
Bayero University, Kano (BUK) has graded the four contenders for the
vacant position of the university’s vice chancellorship.

The contenders
include the acting vice chancellor, Abubakar Adamu Rasheed; Auwalu
Hamisu Yayadu; Mansur Malumfashi; and Magaji Garba Azare. Announcing
the result over the weekend after the congregation, which took place at
the Professor Musa Abdullahi Auditorium, the returning officer, Abdul
Yuguda, said Mr Rasheed, a professor of English, assumed a first
position in the ranking with 370 votes, while Mr Yayadu, former Special
Adviser to late Head of State, Sani Abacha, on Legal Matters, of the
faculty of Law came second with 70 votes. The current Librarian of the
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Mr Malumfashi scored 34
votes, while Mr Azare of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, scored 2 votes in absentia.

Congregation is the gathering of all Degree holders working in the
university, both from the academic or non academic units, and their
input is one of the criteria to measure the acceptability of the
various contenders in the vacant position. The position became vacant
following the appointment of the Mr Jega as INEC Chairman. Mr. Yuguda,
however, said the ranking is not a final verdict in the selection
exercise, saying it is one of the processes of electing the vice
chancellor. He said the outcome of the ranking will be submitted to the
Governing Council for deliberation along with other criterion. Former
editor and academic, Mr Rasheed, is presently the acting Vice
Chancellor of the institution.

Some northern
leaders have cashed in on the issue of zoning to plot the
disintegration of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and such
individuals should steer clear of the affairs of the party, the
National Vice Chairman of the PDP North West Zone, Danladi Sankara has
said.

Mr Sankara, who was
speaking over the weekend in Kano, said the issue of rotational
presidency is purely a PDP affair and promised that the PDP will
resolve the issue without undue external interference.

He said it was
unfortunate that some ‘so-called leaders’ were threatening to pull the
north out of the PDP if the presidential ticket of the party was not
zoned to the region.

“First of all,
those you refer to as Northern leaders threatening the PDP were
speaking for themselves,” he said. “It is an empty threat. The people
making all the noise are not even members of a political party other
than the PDP, then how come they have taken it upon themselves to
indulge in trouble shooting over an issue that is purely and squarely a
PDP affairs? Let me tell the truth. All those who claim to be speaking
for the North over the issues of rotation and zoning have, all along
since 1998, been working tirelessly against the interest of the PDP.”
Mr Sankara said these people are very well known enemies of the party
whom he said are probably nursing ‘a false belief’ that they could
overheat the system to achieve their sinister motive; of crippling the
party.

“But it is a tall order that cannot be achieved,” he said.

The PDP is in full
control of 16 Northern states, with only three states in the hands of
opposition. With all sense of modesty and responsibility, I declare
categorically that the whole 19 states will be won by PDP in 2011
general election. Mr Sankara advised those people making inflammatory
statements to exercise caution and resist the temptation of fighting
proxy wars because of the grave danger these constitute to democracy
and peace of the nation.

Equal to the task

“I have said it
several times that the PDP is a credible party that has tested internal
conflict resolution mechanism; we can resolve our issues by ourselves
without external influence,” he said. “It is not late for people of
good conscience to sit down together and discuss the issue with the aim
of removing doubts, suspicion and bad blood generated by the activities
of the political opportunists who attempted to create distrust and
disaffection between the North and the good people of the South over
this contentious matter.

“Secondly, the PDP is a responsible political party and it is equal
to the task of resolving all the issues concerning 2011 presidential
elections.

A group of former
Peoples Democratic Party members led by the former Speaker of the House
of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, who recently defected to the
Congress for Progressive Change, said they will not return to the PDP
despite pressure on them to do so except serious reforms happen in the
party.

Sadiq Abubakar
Yar’Adua, who spoke for the group, said in an interview on Sunday, that
the 12-year-old PDP has abandoned the vision of its founders, noting
that it would be fruitless to return to the party where their efforts
to restore the vision would not be appreciated.

Those who decamped
to the CPC last month, apart from Mr Masari, include former Senate
Leader, Mohammed Liman; former senator Saidu Yandoma as well as some
serving federal and state legislators.

“We cannot return
because the PDP has lost focus. PDP has abandoned the vision of the
founding fathers and we have tried as much as possible to see it
reformed but this has not been appreciated,” Mr Yar’Adua said.

“Some people have
approached us but it is not about ourselves but about the people. If
PDP is willing to reform then we can think of returning.”

He alleged that governors elected on the platform of the PDP have hijacked the party.

Mr Yar’Adua, a
former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign
Affairs, debunked claims in some quarters that the defectors would not
be comfortable in the CPC due to the alleged dictatorial tendencies of
the party’s leader, Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him,
the new party has internal democracy, which he says is lacking in the
PDP, while its programmes are people-oriented.

“CPC is a good
party with ideological direction and its programmes are people-based,”
he said. “We are not strange bed-fellows. There is compatibility
ideologically and the party respects the right of the people. It is not
so in the PDP.”

The former lawmaker
also said the CPC is taking shape everywhere in the northern part of
the country, stressing “very soon, it will be all over Nigeria.”

Rule by law

Meanwhile, the
national leadership of the CPC has assured that the party will rule in
accordance with the provision of the country’s constitution if Mr
Buhari is voted into power next year, spokesman of the party, Dennis
Aghanya, said in Abuja.

Mr. Aghanya said
the party has embarked on interactions with various groups and
individuals in the last few days, adding that during such interactions
some people pledged to support it in the background.

“At some of the
interactive sessions, some of the groups bared their minds on why they
remained on the fence without coming out openly to back any
presidential candidate. They said the candidature of General Buhari
remains the only available option for the country to get it right, but
that the previous elections he won were denied him,” Mr. Aghanya said.

“They expressed the
fear that their open support for him might spell doom for those of them
who are in corporate businesses as the government might chose to
witch-hunt them.”

“General Buhari made it clear to them that sitting on the fence might spell a greater doom for the entire country.

“The government of Muhammadu Buhari, if our party gives him the
ticket to run under the CPC platform, will concentrate on repositioning
the country rather than witch-hunting people based on their past
atrocities.’’

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, at the weekend, signified his intention to contest the 2011 governorship election.

Mr Fayose, who disclosed this to reporters at a
campaign rally organised by the Labour Party in Emure, however said the
outcome of the Appeal Court will determine whether he is actually going
to contest for the governorship election. “I will contest the poll only
if the incumbent Governor Segun Oni wins the appeal filed to challenge
his election by the Action Congress governorship candidate, Dr Kayode
Fayemi,” he said. “I was wrongly removed from office in 2006 and I
still have the right to re contest. The only reason that I may drop my
intention is if the AC governorship candidate won at the appellate
tribunal.”

Mr Fayose is making his first categorical declaration on his
political ambition since he joined the LP, and kicked of his
electioneering for the first time. He was impeached on Ocotober 6,
2006, by 24 out of 26 lawmakers in the state assembly, along with his
deputy, Biodun Olujimi, on corruption charges. The lawmakers passed a
guilty judgment on Mr Fayose, whom they earlier accused of embezzling
state funds, particularly over the Ekiti State Poultry Project handled
by his childhood friend and contractor, Gbenga James. Mrs Olujimi is
presently is presently serving under Governor Oni as Commissioner for
Works.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
yesterday named Kunle Odidi of the Labour Party as the winner of
Saturday’s bye-election into Ilaje state constituency II election in
Ilaje local government area of Ondo State.

Mr. Odidi polled 8,777 votes to beat Otitoju Atikase
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 6907 votes in a
fiercely contested election.

The seat became vacant following the sack of the PDP
candidate by the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, Edo State. The
Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the lower tribunal which had
sacked Mr.Atikase.

This will be the third bye-election the ruling party
in the state will win since Olusegun Mimiko took over the mantle of
leadership last year. The party had earlier won bye-elections in Akure
North State Constituency and Akoko South East/West Federal Constituency.

While declaring the result of the election around
early yesterday, INEC returning officer in Ilaje local government,
Stephen Ojo said the Labour candidate was the winner of the keenly
contested election.

Further breakdown of the election showed that PDP scored 829 votes in Aheri ward while Labour polled 1,326.

PDP had 485 in Etikan ward, while LP scored 490, and
in Mahin ward, PDP had 249, LP, 2,425; Mahin ward II, PDP-1717;
LP-2,634; Mahin ward III, PDP-1,203, LP, 1,968 and Mahin ward IV, PDP
scored 183 as against LP,

204.

Elections however did not hold in some wards and units in Mahintedo, as unknown gunmen attacked about 20 staff of the INEC.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party in the state
has called for the cancellation of the election which it described as a
daylight robbery. The party said it was rejecting the outcome of the
election because the result was not the true reflection of peoples’
wishes.

The PDP also said it was ready to challenge the
result at the tribunal, urging the president of the court of Appeal to
urgently constitute the election petition tribunal to entertain the
cases of fraud perpetrated by the LP during the bye election.

Mixed reactions

The party, at a press conference addressed by former
commissioner of information in the state, Eddy Olafeso, accused the
police of colluding with the ruling party to rig the bye-election.

Mr Olafeso lamented that the police that was supposed
to be an unbiased empire suddenly became the accomplice of the Labour
Party in the rigging spree.

“In view of the abnormalities, the PDP rejects the
result in totality as it does not reflect the wishes of the people. We
hereby call on the president of the Court of Appeal to constitute the
election petition tribunal to entertain our petition,” he said. “We
also condemn in strong terms the activities of some policemen during
the election. In fact, the police has turned themselves into a catalyst
for the successful rigging of all re-run elections in Ondo state”.

The party also indicted the Administrative Secretary of INEC for colluding with the ruling party to manipulate the bye-election.

“We condemn the activities of the administrative
Secretary of INEC for perverting justice by showing bias by openly
identifying with the Labour Party in violation of the electoral act by
replacing the returning officer with Assistant Director at INEC right
in the middle of the collation process,” Mr Olafeso said.

The state government has, however, commended the
sense of duty and responsibility shown by some officers of the Nigerian
Police and other law enforcement agents who ensured that the election
was successful.

The State Information Commissioner, Ranti Akerele
said the Labour party won the election because the people of the state,
particularly the people in Ilaje constituency, are focused on the
continuing efforts to receive democratic dividends.

“The Labour Party controlled government of Ondo State has always
known that in any free and fair election held in the state, it would
come out tops, defeating the feeble efforts of the dying PDP in Ondo
State,” he said. “Saturday’s election in more than one way showed the
commitment of the people of Ondo State to the Labour Party and the
government of Olusegun Mimiko and the rejection of the deep purse and
violent ways of the Ondo State PDP.” The PDP had suffered major
setbacks in the state in the last few months with massive decampment of
members of the party to the Labour party.

America is fighting a border war. With itself.

This week,
President Barack Obama and his attorneys won a major battle. A judge
overturned portions of a controversial new law in the southern state of
Arizona aimed at fighting illegal immigration.

“Arizonans are
already very angry at the federal government,” CNN Correspondent
Jessica Yellin said. “I suspect this will only turn up the heat on that
rage.” The law has set-off a national debate about the roughly 11
million foreigners who live in the U.S. without permission and what the
country’s 300 million lawful residents should do about them.

Arizona is the most
popular route in for the ‘illegals.’ Washington has placed guards,
fences, cameras and sensors in the desert along the border.
Nonetheless, thousands of illegals from neighboring Mexico, further
south in the Americas and even as far away as China, keep finding a way
in.

“They’re doing anything and everything they can to come across,” said Thomas Rudd of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Arizona says Washington just isn’t trying hard enough to stop them.

In frustration, it
adopted a law directing its state and local police to question people
about their immigration status during any routine interaction, if there
is reason to be suspicious. Immigrants would be required to carry their
papers at all times.

President Barack
Obama called the law a ‘misguided’ effort that will target minorities
for police attention and infringe on the national government’s
constitutional authority over immigration.

The judge agreed to some extent and overturned several key provisions. But politically, the president has reason for concern.

Arizona’s law in more popular nationwide than he is.

Our CNN/Opinion
Research Corporation pollsters found that 47 percent of the public
approves of the job he’s doing overall, but fully 55 percent support
the law he is fighting.

Obama could have let Arizona have its way; no one expects the president to approve of every measure adopted in every U.S. state.

Instead he chose to challenge the law and has won. But there will be
appeals. The court case is hardly over and the political battle has
barely begun.

The Conference of Nigeria Political
Parties (CNPP) has rejected the timetable of elections provided by the
National Assembly in the amended 2006 Electoral Act, saying it would
not allow for credible polls next year.

The group, in a statement by its
Secretary General, Willy Ezugwu in Abuja, said the harmonised version
of the amended Electoral Act adopted by the Senate and the House of
Representatives, means National Assembly elections will come up before
the presidential election as well as gubernatorial and state Houses of
Assembly elections.

The CNPP asked politicians in the
country to reject the arrangement, insisting that it is capable of
instituting one party system in the country.

“There is obvious danger in the domino
effect that will follow once the result of presidential election is
announced. The People Democratic Party has already shown those in the
opposition what it means not to be on the side of government,” the
statement said.

“Once a particular political party
(even if not the PDP) wins the Presidency, the most likely thing is for
people to immediately queue up behind that party because no one wants
to be in the opposition, especially since our federalism still runs
like a unitary government.”

The CNPP described as laughable the
reported denial by the federal lawmakers that they were not induced to
do President Goodluck Jonathan’s bidding while working on the electoral
laws.

It noted that since Mr. Jonathan is the
leader of the PDP, no member of the National Assembly elected on the
platform of the party could stand up to him during his meeting with
them on electoral matters.

“Who does not know that the President
is automatically the party leader in the PDP which presently controls
the National Assembly? How many of the lawmakers were bold enough to
challenge the President during their meeting with him and is it not
also a curious coincidence that the criminal change to the order of
elections came just after the meeting,” it said.

The group observed that the President
sounded convincing on his promise of credible elections by appointing a
radical Attahiru Jega to head INEC, but stressed “this has now shown
that the only improvement being made to the electoral process is the
seeming image of the professor.”

Doctrine of necessity

The body stated that the country is now being forced to hastily prepare for elections.

The CNPP asked the National Assembly to
invoke the doctrine of necessity to shift the elections to April next
year in order to sort out some issues inherent in the amended
constitution and Electoral Act.

“From the look of things, it is
important that the federal lawmakers must again invoke the doctrine of
necessity to shift the elections to April next year,” Mr Ezugwu said.

“This will allow enough time to sort
the mess they created through their un-coordinated amendment of the
constitution and electoral law.

“The National Assembly must also
quickly change the Electoral Act to revert to an order that will not
enslave other level of elections to the outcome of the presidential
election.

“The old trick of crippling INEC by
delaying funding is being applied by the present government again and
this should not be allowed.

“A situation where the electoral
commission has just days to secure N74 Billion for compiling the voter
register is a stark reminder that Mike Tyson, Desmond Tutu, Nelson
Mandela and the late Michael Jackson may yet be able to find their way
into the register and vote in several states of the federation.”

But spokesman of the House of
Representatives, Eseme Eyiboh, said the group is raising an unnecessary
alarm when it ought to engage in public enlightenment on the
forthcoming elections.

Mr. Eyiboh expressed surprise that the CNPP is raining the matter
even though the National Assembly gave it an opportunity to participate
in the public hearing preceding the amendment of the Electoral Act.

A new bill advanced
by the House of Representatives seeks to ensure a greater participation
of Nigerians in the telecommunications sector and will mandate
companies to reserve at least 30% of total shares to Nigerians.

The lawmakers said
the bill is designed to foster more local ownership and management of
the telecoms sector, which is currently dominated by foreign groups,
and an actual transfer of technical capacity that will boost indigenous
operations in the sector.

The new, bill
titled, “A bill for an Act to make provisions for Nigerians to acquire
interest in telecommunications companies carrying on GSM in Nigeria and
other matter connected therewith,” and “A bill for an Act to facilitate
electronic transactions in Nigeria and other related matters and” were
presented for public hearings last week.

While declaring the
hearing open, the speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, said the
Nationa Assembly intend to stimulate local participation in management
and ownership of the GSM sub-sector.

He said the
question of local content, presently obtained in the oil sector after
National Assembly passed its legislation recently, should go beyond the
mere acquisition of operational licenses.

“Without the
acquisition of appropriate technology, managerial know-how, and
enhancing the share of our peoples’ participation in the telecoms
industry, the aim of the overall policy on local content will be a mere
ritual that will not translate into local ownership of the Nigerian
economy,” Mr. Bankole advised.

Culture of efficiency

On the Electronic
Transfer bill, the speaker said the intent is to provide a legal
framework to facilitate electronic financial transactions in the
country in order to institute a culture of “efficiency, transparency
and probity”.

The House chairman
on Communications, Dave Salako, whose committee is in charge of
developing the two bills, said Nigeria’s savings and investments in the
nation’s telecommunication industry will help stimulate economic growth.

The bill when passed would mandate all GSM operators to comply with
the provisions of the law within one year and six months, respectively.