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The letter written by the Attorney General of Lagos State, Supo
Sasore, advising all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the state
not to appear today before the 7-man ad hoc committee investigating financial
allegations made against the executive government of Lagos State met the fury
of the lawmakers yesterday.

This has prompted the House to summon Mr. Sasore to appear
before it today.

The probe committee is expecting the MDAs to present requested
documents relevant to its assignment today but the attorney general, in his
letter that was read at the plenary session of the House yesterday, advised the
MDAs “that they are under a legal duty not to acquiesce in actions that may
undermine the process of the Court of Appeal.”

The continued sitting of the probe panel amounts to contempt of
the court to the fact that there is an appeal suit and a pending motion for
injunction on the investigation saga, as explained in the letter, which was
written on the advice of Bamidele Aturu, a lawyer, to the attorney general.

Mr. Aturu in a letter written to the attorney general on May 6
asked the attorney general “to use your good offices to prevail upon the
defendant (House of Assembly), if need be, by using your constitutional power,
to ensure that [the defendant] does not do anything to frustrate the appeal and
motion for injunction pending before the Court of Appeal.”

Mr. Sasore, based on Mr. Aturu’s advice, asked the probe
committee to “await the outcome of the appeal case and the motion for
injunction before the court of appeal.”

Background

A Lagos High Court presided by Justice Abiru had on March 16, in
the case Richard Akinola vs Lagos House of Assembly, dissolved a 5-man
committee set up by the House to investigate allegations levelled against the
executive government by The True Face of Lagos group because the House did not
follow due process.

In its next sitting after the judgment, the House dissolved the
committee but upon another allegation made by the same group, another 7-man
committee was constituted.

An appeal was however filed by Mr. Akionla, even though he won
at the High Court and a yet-to-be-granted injunction to stop the new committee
was sought.

Bone of contention

As explained in his letter, Mr. Aturu, who is Mr. Akionla’s
lawyer, said they have gone to the Appeal Court because the High Court refused
to construe the provision of section 128(a) and 128(b) of the 1999 constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as requested.

“In other words, the court did not agree with us that the power
of the defendant to conduct investigation under section 128 must be predicated
on the existence of a pending bill to make a new law or correct defects in
existing law relating to the subject matter of investigation,” he said.

Rising to oppose Mr. Aturu’s claim, Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu
constituency), who is a member of the probe committee, said the claim is only
true for Section 128(a). He said Section 128(b) empowers the House to also hold
investigation in order to expose corruption.

Mr. Agunbiade also said that the ministry of works and
infrastructure had already obliged the probe panel the requested documents.

“I don’t think there is anything in law or common sense that
will stop the House from investigating allegations of corruption,” said Adeyemi
Ikuforiji, the Speaker of the House.

“The attorney general, who I have a lot of respect for as a complete
gentleman, got it all wrong. He should be brought to this House [Tuesday] to
explain what we don’t already know.”

Iyiola Omisore, chairman of the Senate committee on
appropriation, and a governorship aspirant in Osun State, spoke with MICHAEL
BAMIGBOLA in Osogbo. Excerpts:

His impeachment by the
State House of Assembly as deputy governor of Osun State.

I have forgotten everything that happened between Bisi Akande
and I. I am a Yoruba man from Ile-Ife, which is the source of all Yoruba, and
as a Yoruba man, I have to respect elders. Believe me, in all sincerity and
honesty, I owe no grudge against Chief Bisi Akande. God has only used him to
elevate me in life.

He thought he was persecuting me, but God was using him to
prepare higher ground for me. I may not be where I am now if not for Akande’s
victimization. God, who knows the end of a thing from the beginning, allowed
Akande to do all that he did for me to ensure my lifting in life. Recently, we
met at the airport and I greeted him. I will continue to greet him whenever I
meet him. The rest is now history.

The implosion of Alliance
for Democracy, under which he became deputy governor of Osun State in 1999.

I am sure you are aware that we had crisis in AD in 2001. AD
crisis actually started in year 2000, immediately after the election. When Bola
Ige was appointed minister by the PDP-led government and Afenifere disagreed
with him. That gave birth to Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), which culminated
in crisis in all the south western states. So, at that point in time, there
were factions in AD and that is why there is no strong personality in AD any
more in the South West.

The issue of leaving AD or not did not even arise this time
around because AD, as far as I am concerned, died in 2003, and whoever wants to
contribute his quota to the country politically must find his level. I joined
the PDP because I believe in the ideology of the party and I know I can
contribute to national development through the party.

The impression in certain
quarters that Osun State is lagging behind its mates in the south west.

I don’t agree with you. I don’t know where you get your
information. Going by the UNDP reports, Osun State has the largest critical
manpower in this country, and when you have human capital development, you have
everything. Osun State is the most urbanised state in this country, as you
know. The state is also blessed with a governor who knows the ways to develop
the state. By the time we came in, there were lot of crises and Oyinlola has
made the state stable in the last seven years. When you look at the state,
there is peace and this brings about development.

His work at the Senate to
ensure that meaningful budgets are passed at the appropriate time.

This is my third year as chairman, Senate committee on
appropriation, and I think we have always been working to ensure that budgets
are passed as at when due. None of my members is corrupt; neither am I corrupt.
There is nothing like corruption in the Senate. Mr. Akinyele is still alive,
maybe you heard about his name before. He was director of budget in 1983 during
the Shagari era, and I talked with him on budget matters. The 1980 budget was
signed in August 1980.

Luckily for us, this year’s budget is the fastest in the history
of this country because there is agreement between the Senate and House of
Representatives. There is a lot of work that budget involves. Many people don’t
really understand this. The interest of the 36 states, including Abuja, should
be balanced. Everybody wants everything and the money is not like the Ocean, it
is not limitless. The problems of this country are enormous and I am just
looking at some people the way they condemn government on what the government
is doing.

His ambition to govern
Osun State next year.

It’s good to have a plan, but I don’t contest at a wrong time.
There was no primary election I participated in that I lost. I won all my
primaries in the last 15 years. I believe this is God’s time and there is no
need to be doubtful. All what we should be praying for is that that God should
choose the best person for us.

I believe in God that I
will get the ticket of the party. In addition, I believe I am the choice of the
people of Osun State and the best person for the assignment. I have the
experience and the wherewithal to rule the state. Even when I was in detention,
my people voted for me and I won the senatorial election with wide margin. That
goes to tell you how much the people want me.

The reported insinuation
that the Ooni of Ife is not in support of his ambition

Kabiyesi is not a politician, and we should not drag him into
politics. The truth is that there are political differences amongst the people
of Ile-Ife. But that does not mean that the palace is part of the crisis. There
are about six people contesting the post under PDP from Ile-Ife, and it is
normal that everybody will have his or her preferred aspirant. The Palace of
Ooni belongs to Ife people and Ooni is our king, and we should preserve and
respect him as well. I want to tell you there is nothing of such and I want to
keep calm and remain focused.

Efforts of the Senate to
ensure early passage of Electoral Reforms bill

We at the National Assembly are not sleeping on the passage of
the Electoral Reforms bill. We are going to look at the submissions of Mr.
President, and define it with what we have on the ground. I must, however, say
that none of the members of the Electoral Reforms Committee has ever contested
election before. So, they are all paper recommendations. There is need to sit
down and look at it critically.

The crowded field of
governorship aspirants

It has become all comers race. In those days, before you can
come out to contest to become governor or Senator, you have to weigh yourself
first. Some people are supposed to contest for councillor and they are now
contesting for the governorship position. In politics, you have precedence.
What we have today is posters war. Everybody pastes posters everywhere because
they want to negotiate for positions and we have gone beyond that, for God’s
sake. There are more credible people, more experienced people who are within
the party that are not coming out to contest for the governorship position
because it is not their time.

Some of those who are contesting for governor today have not
worked in their life before. Governor is their first employment. I was asking
those people in AC in Ekiti State whether Fayemi has ever worked with anybody
in his life. I know he has not worked in his life. He wanted to go and serve in
Government House. These are the critical issues we need to look at and put
sentiments apart. We are not in Anambra State. How can we have 47 aspirants in
a state? There is no reason for anybody to be afraid of me. It’s because they
have nothing to offer. They want to bargain and bargain cheap at the end of the
day.

The Nigeria Bar Association has charged President Goodluck
Jonathan to make real his promises to deliver on the expectations of Nigerians,
especially asking him to ensure justice is done in corruption cases such as the
Halliburton and Siemens bribery scandals.

The association, in a statement issued by its chairman, Rotimi
Akeredolu, said “it is reassuring to hear from him that the issue of corruption
will be tackled headlong. There are many outstanding cases which constitute
serious embarrassment to the country in the international circles that this
out-going administration must look into urgently.”

The lawyers, however, expressed their surprise at the slow pace
of investigations into the Halliburton and Siemens bribery scandals.

“Some politicians have constituted themselves into a criminal cartel,
wielding tremendous influence in government circles,” said Mr. Akededolu.
“These people are treated specially, to the ludicrous extent that they choose
the venue of their interaction with law enforcement agents.

They insist on being treated like kings while the country groans
under the yoke of their criminal acts. It should not be difficult for this
government to send the right signal to corrupt elements that it will not be
business as usual.”

No more webs

Mr. Akeredolu congratulated Mr. Jonathan on his swearing-in as
the new president, and expressed the satisfaction of the bar association with
the cautious strides already taken by him while acting for his late
predecessor.

He, however, charged him that “Nigerians will not accept any
excuse for non-performance. As the president stands on the threshold of
history, we must not fail to tell him that the only legacy that will secure his
place in the pantheon of the gods, several years after he must have joined his
ancestors, is to institute the process that will culminate in the conduct of a
credible election.

The removal of (Maurice Iwu) the chairman of INEC should not be seen as an
end in itself. Time is not the friend of this administration. The President
cannot afford to fail.”

Following last Sunday’s three hours of power outage at the
Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, the airport on Monday
witnessed “frequent” power interruptions which also disrupted flight
operations.

Though the crowd of air travellers at the departure terminals
reduced compared to the number present at the halls on Sunday, hundreds of
passengers were still seen at the terminal awaiting their flights.

“The power here has been on and off for uncountable times and
this is mainly because of yesterday’s complete breakdown that lasted for more
than three hours,” said an employee at the airport who spoke on conditions of
anonymity.

According to the source, the situation affected operations,
though airlines were taking measures to air lift their customers.

“Any little power failure will definitely affect activities
here, not to talk of an over three hours power outage of yesterday and frequent
on and offs of today,” he said. “The good thing is that airlines are working
hard to fly their passengers.”

Commenting on the issue, an employee of Aero Contractors, at the
departure terminal, disclosed that the power failure crashed most of the
systems of airlines at the terminal, adding that the crowd present, as of the
time of filing this report, was as a result of the power failure and incessant
interruptions.

“It took more than necessary time to get the flight list out,
and this is because our systems went down after the power failure,” he said.

“As you can see, part of this office is not powered, the air
conditioner is not working, the fans are switched off and all this is done just
to have enough power to operate our systems so that passengers can fly to their
destinations.”

The staff called on the aviation ministry to work on infrastructure
at the airport, stressing that it is high time “this embarrassment on
passengers and airport users is stopped.”

Officials comment

Akin Olukunle, the spokesperson for the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria, disclosed that the power outage of Sunday was discovered
to be “a shorting of seven of the cables” supplying power to the terminal
building, adding that power was, however, restored to the one of the arms of
the airport immediately the problem was determined.

“Our suppliers were contacted immediately we discovered the
fault that caused the outage and they supplied the cables that were being used
to currently solve the problem,” he said.

“The management of FAAN appeals to the travelling public to bear with us for
the inconveniences occasioned by this unfortunate incident.”

The Northern Youth Movement for Positive Change has reiterated its decision to continue to campaign for the election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

The group, which recently pasted the posters of Mr. Jonathan across the Abuja metropolis, urging public support for him in 2011, also says it will continue its campaign whether the President distances himself from their activities or not.

Mr. Jonathan, who was still Acting President at the time, moved quickly to distance himself from the campaign.

In a draft reply to Mr. Jonathan’s response to their activities, exclusively e-mailed to NEXT, the group gave several reasons for its actions while urging Mr. Jonathan to focus on electoral reform, power and anti-corruption before the 2011 presidential election.

They also deny presidency’s claim that their activities is a distraction to smooth governance.

The group said it was moved to reply following a description of the group by Mr. Jonathan’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Ima Niboro, as a “distraction”.

Not a distraction

The letter reads, “The Northern Youth Movement for Positive Change recognizes the right of His Excellency to distance himself from the activities of the movement, given that in truth there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever between the President and the movement. For this reason the movement does not begrudge Mr. Niboro but wishes to refute the untrue import of his remark.

“The Northern Movement for Positive Change hereby makes it crystal clear that it is only those who are enemies of true democracy that are distracting the president and certainly not a patriotic and grassroots oriented organization like the movement which was set up to rescue the nation from the clutches of its cabalistic enemies.”

Furthermore, the group refuted the government’s assertion that it was a distraction which activity was merely heating up the polity. It stated that its support and campaign for Mr. Jonathan were borne out of its genuine interest for Nigeria and, thereafter, demanded state protection.

It states further: “In the view of The Northern Youth Movement for Positive Change, only election riggers would quake at the prospect of comprehensive electoral reforms; only kleptomaniacs would dread the government’s anti-corruption drive; and, only the cabal that imports and markets generators would fear the worst now that Jonathan is personally overseeing the electricity sector.”

The Northern Youth Movement for Positive Change writes-off allegation that the president is merely doing all these because he wants to run for office come 2011, as utter nonsense.

“Are those who are saying this implying that a president who doesn’t plan to run should just sit down at The Villa doing absolutely nothing but the looting of the treasury? Apparently this is their view of public service. What a shame!”

Agenda for the President

The group also reminded Mr. Jonathan to address the needs of the people of Nigeria especially electoral reform as the Constitution demands of him whether he plans to run for presidency in 2011 election or not.

The letter concludes, “It is the projection of The Northern Youth Movement for Positive Change that given the short space of time available to the President before the upcoming elections, it will be enough for Nigerians that he implements electoral reform for everyone’s vote to count. If he however goes ahead to give us light in our homes and offices, and brings the rogues, crooks and pathological criminals in the corridors of power to book, he would indeed have surpassed the expectations of the vast majority of Nigerians and the rest of the world.

“Finally, The Northern Youth Movement for Positive Change wishes to serve notice of its determination to continue canvassing support for the president until he is inaugurated in his own right as president. When 2011 comes we shall see who can prevent the people’s choice from carrying the day.”

Some federal civil
servants have called for the decentralisation of their pre-promotion
training programmes to reduce the challenges faced in converging on
Abuja from all parts of the country.

The workers are
attending a compulsory pre-promotion training at Public Service
Institute of Nigeria, Dutse, FCT. The is workshop organised by the
Office of the Head of Service of the Federation in collaboration with
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Office.

The training,
which witnessed a large turn-out of civil servants from all the states,
was for officers on grade levels eight to 16 who are due for promotion
in 2010.

Some of the participants on grade level 14 who spoke to journalists decried the poor management of the training programme.

They complained of the lack of accommodation and poor organisation.

A federal civil
servant from Lagos State, who pleaded anonymity, stressed the need for
adequate arrangements before the commencement of the training, saying
one of the best options was to decentralise the exercise.

“Those of us in
the south zones should be made to attend the training in Lagos, while
those from the northern part of the country should be brought to
Abuja,” he said.

Another civil
servant from Ebonyi blamed the poor arrangement on the lack of
up-to-date data on participants, adding that the organisers should be
held responsible for the poor arrangement.

“Up till today,
nobody attended to us,” he said. “We have written our names on several
lists, yet nothing tangible is coming out of the exercise. This
morning, it was when we insisted that nothing would take place here and
sent a delegation to the Head of Service that they came to tell us to
go and come back on May 17.

This is very
unfair; a lot of us have been sleeping here as a result of a lack of
accommodation. This is unacceptable; it is most reprehensible.”

A top official of
the institute, who also pleaded anonymity, confirmed that the institute
was supposed to provide facilities for the training classes.

He explained that
the training sessions were supposed to be divided into four groups for
easy coordination, stating that workers on grade levels eight to 10
were supposed to be trained at the Administrative Staff College of
Nigeria (ASCON), Badagry, Lagos; while level 12 officers at the Centre
for Management Development (CMD).

He said that CMD should be held responsible for the lapses witnessed in the group that they were supposed to train.

“The Office of Head of Service of the Federation has done its part by ensuring that each group is taken care of,” he said.

The participants on grade levels eight, 10, 15 and above are
currently undergoing the training at the institute, while those on 14
were told to go and come back on May 17. Those from Abuja were
dismissed on Tuesday for lack of proper arrangements.

The
traditional ruler of a community in Benin Republic (Ketu), Alao
Alade-Ife, has said that Yoruba speakers in the Republic have concluded
arrangement to sign Memorandum of Understanding {MOU} with the
government to pave way for more recognition of their culture,

Mr. Alade-Ife, who
informed journalists about this development during a visit to him, led
by Albert Ashipa, the Chairman of Imeko-Afon Local Government area of
Ogun State, also said a proposal to include Yoruba language in the
school curricula had been forwarded to the appropriate authority of the
French speaking country. He expresses optimism that, the proposal will
scale through.

‘We have equally
made a meaningful move to ensure that Yoruba language henceforth has a
place in the school’s time table and curricula, and so far we are
optimistic on this,” he said.

The monarch, who
went down memory lane, said the Yorubas were the original settlers in
the country, before the French colonization of the territory and
subsequent demarcation turned his people into a minority in the country.

“The first son of
Oduduwa, who is Alaketu, founded Ketu, Popo and Safe towns, all which
are now situated in Benin Republic,” Mr. Alade-Ife said.

“Even with the development, the Yoruba would not sell their birthright by forgetting their culture and origin.”

Due recognition

The traditional
ruler added that he was at the forefront of a campaign for the
recognition of the Yoruba nation in Benin Republic.

“There is a need to give us our proper and right recognition, we are
the founder of major towns in the country before the colonization,’ he
said. ‘But it is only the land that is demarcated. Our origin, culture
and rightful place in the country cannot be demarcated’ The Royal
father, who said the Federation of Yoruba would be launched in the
country between 22 and 23 of May, 2010, said the government had
acknowledged the calling for a memorandum of understanding between it
and the Yoruba.

Hundreds of travellers were, on Sunday, left stranded at the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, because of power failure at the facility.

An employee of the airport, who asked not to be named, said the three-hour blackout was caused by a broken cable which transmits power to the terminal.

“We cannot power the airport, whether generator or not, for the cable is of vital importance,” the source said

Hours after the blackout, the public affairs manager for the airport, Akin Olukunle, said the problem had been rectified and apologised to passengers for the inconvenience.
Officials had complained that poor power supply at airports is affecting service delivery.

Officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the agency in charge of airports in Nigeria, have often complained that irregular power supply is a challenge to them.

Henry Anyanwu, a regional manager of the agency at the Port Harcourt International Airport, said on May 5, that “Power is the greatest problem we have at the airport. Diesel is the problem”.

“We use average of four trucks monthly, which is about 136,000 litres every month. This is because all the six generators here are not yet in operations.”

There’s a huge sticky mess floating towards the southern United States. It is crude oil but it is politics too.

“Obviously, there’s going to be a significant challenge and we are going to be working overtime,” said President Barack Obama.

The challenge began
with an explosion aboard an oil rig last month that killed eleven
workers. Oil spewing from the undersea well has formed a slow-moving
slick big enough to be seen from space.

The catastrophe has brought back memories of Hurricane Katrina, the last natural and political disaster to befall the region.

Katrina roared
ashore in 2005, flooding New Orleans and stranding thousands of its
residents. The world watched on television as people pleaded for help
that, in some cases, took days to come.

Even then, as a
little-known senator, Barack Obama criticized the Bush Administration
for what he called its slow response. Many other Americans did too.

Like Katrina, the spill is proving to be a much bigger problem than government officials first expected.

With the leaking
well more than a kilometer below sea level, they relied heavily on the
oil industry for expertise and equipment.

Some Republicans are raising questions that the president will find familiar.

“The American people deserve to know why the administration was slow to respond,” said Republican Congressman Mike Pence.

From the very
outset, Obama and his aides repeatedly blamed BP, which was operating
the well and organizing the efforts to plug it. And the president has
his defenders.

“The Obama
administration has done nothing wrong,” said Katrina historian Douglas
Brinkley. “This has been British Petroleum not having a Plan ‘A’ or
Plan ‘B’ or Plan ‘C’ or Plan ‘D.” With so much of the oil still at sea
there is no accurate way to calculate the eventual environmental or
economic damage it will cause when it comes ashore, but the price tag
is already being tallied in the billions of dollars.

BP has already acknowledged that it’s responsible for the leak and will offer compensation for the damage it causes.

But at the White House they are also concerned about the potential cost. They don’t want the president to pay it.

Catch Political Mann on CNN International Fridays at 1730, Saturdays at 0430, 1400 and 2000 and Sundays at 0900 (All times BST).

The
national leadership of the Labour Party, at the weekend, made a
passionate appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately
commence the process for a fresh and transparent registration of voters
in country.

The Party, in a
communiqué issued at the end of its 8th National Executive Council
meeting held in Akure, at the weekend, argued that the present Voters’
Register was totally dubious and full of errors.

The Labour Party,
in a communiqué signed by Dan Nwanyanwu and Abdusalam Abdukardir Salam,
National Chairman and National Secretary of the Party respectively
added that the current voters’ register could not be relied upon for
conducting credible polls in the country.

“We want to enjoin
President Jonathan to ensure that credible elections are conducted on
the basis of one person, one valid vote are put in place.

The Party also
lauded the recent sack of the former boss of the Independent National
Electoral Commmisssion (INEC), Maurice Iwu, saying that his leadership
was characterized by manipulation of votes and fraud in the
announcement of winners of elections.

‘As a party, we are satisfied with the removal of Maurice Iwu because he was not with the job given to him to do.

All we want
Jonathan to do is to appoint credible people to man INEC, people who
will able to conduct credible elections for the nation,” the party said.

The party also
commiserated with the immediate family of the late former President
Umaru Musa yar’Adua and the entire nation over what they termed
“painful exit of a man of peace,”.

For wage increase

The party’s NEC
equally threw its weight behind the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and
the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) in their agitation for the
payment of minimum wage of N52, 200 for workers in the nation.

It assured that
the party would be consciously re-positioned by aggressive drive to
further expand its membership base in all states of the federation,
resolving that the Party’s Congresses in all wards, Local government
Areas and States be held and concluded in August 2010 based on the
approved guidelines issued by the National Working Committee (NWC) of
the Party.