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Ahead of next
week’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Delta
State, the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta yesterday carried out a small
exercise for its marines.

Over 15
ready-to-deploy naval vehicles, aided with navy helicopter, ‘Augusta
09’, high-speed cruising yacht, and two marshal-class gunboats were
among the equipment rolled out for action in the Delta waterways.

The fleet would be
used on 26th of April, 2011 to assist the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) in ensuring the smooth governorship and
state House of Assembly elections, the Commanding Officer of the unit,
Henry Babalola, said.

Mr Babalola, who
led other senior naval officers, said the exercise was directed by the
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) to check the preparedness of the Navy for
the election.

“The operation
today is to assure the citizenry that we are ready to provide an
enabling environment for the successful conduct of the gubernatorial
and House of Assembly, as well as National Assembly that were postponed
in some states,” he said.

“The show of force
is a directory given to us by the CNS as part of our statutory duty to
help INEC in critical areas such as use of naval helicopters to convey
materials to areas that are not accessible by land and to escort INEC
boats to take materials to the riverine communities,” Mr. Babalola
said.

The commanding
officer of NNS Delta said the Navy was committed to providing adequate
security in the waterways to safeguard the electoral materials and INEC
personnel.

“All the naval
fleets paraded during the flag-show would be deployed for consistent
patrol of the waterways as part of its statutory function to provide
security for the polls on water and land, as well as check influx of
people in the waterways during the elections,” he further said.

Mr Babalola also
said there is heavy security arrangement for Delta State, saying
besides its consistent patrol of the waterways, the NNS Delta would
contribute a platoon to aid the Joint Task Force (JTF) in its
‘Operation Restore Hope’ as well as a ready-to-deploy standby platoon
in case of emergency.

“Every of our
fleets and personnel would be on election duty and we are looking at a
strength of almost 1700 personnel ready-to-be deploy on that day,” he
stated.

Closed waterways

He further said two
marshal-class boats would patrol the Escravos waterways while its
capital ships, ‘NNS Zaria and NNS Ogulawaba’ would be rolled out to
patrol the sea to check influx of foreigners sneaking into the country
during the election.

The commanding
officer said one of the fastest boats on the NN fleet, Marshal-class
boat and another power gunboat, Papa 219, would be rolled out in
addition to deployment of more personnel for consistent patrol of the
waterways in the state.

He added that
throughout the period of the election, movement would be restricted in
the waterways to check influx of people in the waterways.

“We would keep
patrolling the waterways to dominate it and prevent illegal activities.
The no movement order on land is also applicable on the waters as from
8am. We will not expect to find people or persons moving on the
waterway at this time. The curfew will be strictly enforced on the
waters until the end of it all and anybody find moving at this time
would be arrested and release after the elections,” he said.

The Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) command of the State Security Service (SSS) paraded two
men in Abuja yesterday for allegedly abducting and attempting to use an
eight-year-old boy, Lokoja Abeshi, for money rituals.

The legal officer
of the command, Tom Aniefiok, told journalists while parading the
suspects – Jonah Jabah, a palm wine tapper, and Alhaji Mamman, both
35-year-old residents of Garaku in the Kokona local government area of
Nasarawa State – that Master Abeshi had been staying with the chief
suspect, Mr Jabah, before he lured him to Abuja.

The suspects
allegedly told the young boy they wanted to enroll him in a school in
the city and the unsuspecting boy did not have any premonition that
they wanted to harm him.

Mr Aniefiok said
the two suspects had owned up to the crime and would soon be handed
over to the police for further investigation and prosecution.

He advised members
of the public to take proper care of their wards and devote more time
to them in order to avoid such occurrences. He also urged members of
the public to promptly report such matters to the relevant security
agencies.

“On the 13th April
2011, the FCT command of the State Security Service (SSS), acting on a
tipoff, arrested two suspected ritualists at Durumi II, Garki, Abuja.

“The suspects,
namely Jonah Jabah and Alhaji Mamman, abducted one Lokoja Abeshi (a lad
of eight years) with the aim of sacrificing him for money ritual; one
Muhammed G. Ibrahim, who tipped off the service and in whose residence
the suspects were arrested, stated that the suspects brought the boy to
his residence to be sacrificed for money ritual,” said Mr Aniefiok.

Blame the boy

Mr Ibrahim, a
Muslim cleric, reportedly told the two men that he only prays for
people with problems but does not do rituals. He also reportedly told
them he was going to assist them by getting somebody to help them and
thereafter alerted the service. This led to the arrest of the two
suspects.

“One of the
suspects, Jonah Jabah, who claims to be the boy’s uncle, resides at
Garaku, Kokona LGA of Nasarawa State; he blamed his bad luck and
misfortune in life on the lad (Lokoja). Hence he resolved to sacrifice
the boy,” Mr Aniefok said.

Mr Mamman told
newsmen that he led Mr Jabah to the supposed ritualist when he told him
that the boy had a “bad spirit” and “needed prayers.” On his part, Mr
Jabah said he was a palmwine tapper and also owns a supermarket in his
village. He said the boy, whom he described as being “just like my
pikin,” had been staying with him since he was born.

Mr Jabah said he
had earlier taken the boy to several spiritualists when he learnt that
the boy used his powers as a member of a secret cult to scuttle his
supermarket and palm wine-tapping business.

He said it was when he could not find the solution he needed that he
contacted his friend, Mr Mamman to take him to a mallam who will help
him use the boy to perform the money rituals. He said Lokoja’s evil
powers were what led to his decision to use the boy for money making
rituals to salvage his situation.

Following the
perceived irregularities that characterised the conduct of the National
Assembly elections in Benue State, the immediate past governor of the
state, George Akume, has called on Senate President David Mark and the
former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Barnabas Gemade to return the people’s mandate to the rightful owners.

Speaking in his
Makurdi residence yesterday, Mr Akume revealed that Messrs Mark and
Gemade did not win senatorial elections in their respective senatorial
districts given the declining popularity of their party, the PDP. He
alleged that the incumbent member of the House of Representatives for
Makurdi/Guma federal constituency, Emmanuel Jime and Iorwase Hembe of
Vandeikya/Konshisha federal constituency stole the mandate of the
people and they should return same.

According to Mr
Akume, the PDP in the state disregarded the warning of security
operatives and were responsible for the violence in the state during
the national assembly election.

“PDP introduced unprecedented violence but the ACN supporters voted for their candidates overwhelmingly,” he observed.

He lamented that a
32-year-old Aondongu Abuku was killed at about 11am on the election day
at NKST Anakaa polling unit in Logo Local Government, claiming
knowledge of those alleged to have participated in the killing.

Mr. Akume argued
that electoral materials were not sent to other polling units in
Oturkpo, adding that in Ado and Obi local governments, no election was
conducted. He, therefore, urged the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC to nullify the election in those places.

The former governor
called on the INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega to remove the State Resident
Electoral Commissioner, Nasir Ayilara, stressing that the ACN in the
state has vowed to fight and reclaim its mandate until the last person
was dropped. “We cannot be threatened or intimidated,” he declared.

Edo State students
have recorded another mass failure in the November/December 2010 NECO
examination, results from the National Examinations Council (NECO) has
shown.

Out of the 25
subjects taken by students from the state, none of the participating
students had up to 50 per cent pass mark in the examination set for
graduating secondary school students.

This has raised
concern among relevant parties, with teachers and parents trading
blames as to who is responsible for the poor academic performances of
students in the state.

Those who spoke to
NEXT on the development attributed the cause of the mass failure to
many factors, including lack of qualified teachers, particularly in
private schools, and the premium they place on money. Others include
lack of reading culture among the students, and loss of societal
values. Owners of private schools were also indicted in the mass
failure of students, as many of them have turned their schools to
‘miracle centres’, where students easily indulge in examination
malpractices after paying high fees to the school owners.

Solomon Osarenren,
who teaches Mathematics in a private school in Benin City, blames lack
of seriousness on the part of the students, lazy approach to study, and
lack of infrastructure in the schools, as some of the factors
responsible for the decline in the performance of the students.

“So long as
students attach more importance to mundane things and spend more time
surfing the Internet and watching movies, it will be difficult for them
to excel in their studies. After all, students of those days performed
even better than students of today, even without those infrastructures
that are in schools of today,” Mr Osarenren said.

An educationist,
Roland Asoro, who decried the rate of mass failure in examinations in
the state in particular and the country at large, advised the
government to take proactive steps to address the trend. He called for
regular training and re-training of teachers, as well as the provision
of learning aids in the schools.

Mr Asoro also
admonished parents and guardians to supervise and regulate activities
of their children at home, with a view to making them more responsible
and serious.

Some parents,
however, said that the bulk of the blame should not be attributed to
them alone. They argue that teachers are also responsible for the poor
performance of students in external examinations.

A parent, Osarobo
Asemota, whose child attends one of the private schools in Benin City,
argued that teachers can only give what they have academically.

According to her,
many of the teachers, especially in some private schools, lack the
minimum qualifications required. She also called for consistency in the
educational policies of government.

“We want all
concerned to urgently address this ugly development. If things continue
the way they are, ten years from now, the country may inherit half
baked workforce,” Ms Asemota said.

When contacted on phone, special assistant on education to Governor
Oshiomhole, Alli Sule, said: “We are still studying the result at the
ministry level. We shall come out with our position later.”

Three people,
including a councillorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in Ede South Local Government Area of Osun State, have been
arrested by the police for allegedly printing ballot papers to be used
for Tuesday’s state House of Assembly election.

The candidate,
identified only as Lateef, the computer operator at a business centre
and the proprietor of the centre were arrested at a building located
along Polytechnic road, Ede at about 9.45pm yesterday.

It was gathered
that the suspects, who have since been detained at the state Criminal
Investigations Department (SCID) of the state Police Command in Osogbo
were arrested by a team of detectives from the state CID while printing
the ballot papers at the business centre.

The suspects were
alleged to be scanning pictures and inserting INEC VIN number on the
forged voter cards when they were caught by the police who stormed the
area after a tip off.

Lateef, who is
the councillorship candidate of the PDP for Ward 09, Oloki-Akoda,
Ede-South Local Government Area of the state, was said to be behind the
operation. The forged INEC voters’ cards were for Ward 09, Oloki Akoda
in Ede-South Local Government council.

He was alleged to be acting the scripts of some eminent politicians in the town.

Lateef and some
men suspected to be members of his party reportedly came to the shop
with a Hilux Pick-Up vehicle at about 8.30 pm yesterday.

Spooked by opponent

The suspects were
unlucky when a councillorship aspirant of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) for Ward 02, Ede-North Local Government Area, Gbadebo
Babatunde Sodiq, visited the business centre where the voter cards were
being forged to make a phone call.

Mr Sodiq alerted security agents who made the arrect.

The suspects were
later taken to ‘A Division Police Station, Ede, from where they were
transferred to the state Criminal investigation Department (CID),
Osogbo for further investigation.

The spokesperson
for the police in the state, Oluwagbemileke Taiwo ,who confirmed the
arrest of the suspects said the matter is still being investigated.

“The command would not relent until those involved in the matter are brought to book to serve as deterrent for others,” he said.

Next week’s
governorship and house of assembly elections in Katsina State are under
threat following the mass displacement of National Youth Service Corps
members from their various places of primary assignment.

The corps members,
numbering about 500, had to be evacuated from several local governments
in the state where they had been serving as presiding officers in the
ongoing general elections.

The rescue
operation by security agencies which has continued since Wednesday,
April 20, was necessitated by the violence which erupted in the state
following last week’s presidential elections.

In Daura local
government, the home town of the presidential candidate of the Congress
for Progressive Change (CPC), Muhammadu Buhari, at least 100 corps
members were escorted by fully armed soldiers in seven hired commercial
buses to the NYSC orientation camp in Katsina, the state capital. The
army’s response arose after the lodgings of some corps members,
including several churches and shops of non-indigenes, were totally
razed.

“We have lost all
our belongings. Everything we had is gone,” said Wale Odusanya, who
shared the burnt lodge, provided by the Local Government Education
Authority, with seven other corps members.

“I don’t have anything. All my money, ATM cards, everything gone. We don’t know what to do.”

Threat of no elections

The chaos
reverberating across the state saw corps members in their hundreds also
fleeing Funtua, Musawa, Bakore, and several other local governments for
the NYSC camp. At the camp, corps members told the Commanding Officer
of the Nigerian Army 35 Battalion, Emmanuel Etuka, a lieutenant
colonel; the Katsina State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Mohammed;
the Director of the State Security Service; and other NYSC officials
that they would not take part in the governorship elections scheduled
for April 26.

“No more elections.
We are going home. Home sweet home. We are not doing any more,” chanted
the corps members as they made their displeasure known.

“I cannot stay in a
place where people want to kill me for no reason. They said the problem
is political, yet they have being targeting corpers. Here at Funtua,
innocent people have being burnt alive and they are saying we should go
back. Never. I am not going,” said a corps member who gave her name as
Cynthia, as she went to collect a mattress from the camp store.

Mr. Etuka and heads of other security agencies however assured the corps members of their security in the camp and afterwards.

“Your security was
threatened far above what we could guarantee. That is why we have
brought you here until normalcy returns and you can go back. Your
safety is our concern and we‘ll ensure you remain safe,” Mr. Etuka said.

The Conference of
Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) says it will not congratulate
President Goodluck Jonathan on his victory at the last Saturday’s
presidential poll until he explains the source of his campaign funds.

The group said in
a statement by its national publicity secretary, Osita Okechukwu
yesterday, alleging that Mr Jonathan, who was the candidate of the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) violated the provision of the 2010
Electoral Act by overshooting the N1 billion recommended by the Act for
presidential campaign.

“CNPP cannot
congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan when on the last count,
outside the breaches, he violently violated section 91 of the 2010
Electoral Act by spending over N100 billion in his campaign hence
corrupting the electoral process,” said the group.

“Please, help me
calculate the amount of money Jonathan’s campaign council spent on
advertisement on electronic, print and social media network alone; it
is over N17 billion.” Mr Okechukwu said. The statement added that the
CNPP is aware of “how billions of naira were doled out across the
country to induce voters by sundry groups in the name of President
Jonathan and thus expanding the budgetary spending.”

Neighbour to Neighbour group

The group wondered
who funded the “Neighbour to Neighbour” group, a component of the
president’s campaign outfit, asking “did it discover electricity or a
window in the computer?” “CNPP will congratulate President Jonathan
when he comes clean on the amount spent and the sources, failing which
the legitimacy crisis will linger,” the CNPP spokesman said.

According to
Section 91 (1) subsection 2-7 of the Electoral Act 2010, the maximum
election expenses to be incurred at a presidential election shall be N1
billion while that of a governorship candidate is N200 million. The Act
also pegs the campaign expenses of a senatorial candidate at N40
million while that of a House of Representatives candidate is N20
million. The Act also provides corresponding penalties for those who
violate the provisions.

At least 10,000
people have been displaced in Kano State following the crisis that
engulfed some northern states shortly after last Saturday’s
presidential elections, the director general of the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) has said.

Mohammed Sani-Sidi,
who led a Special Presidential Committee on the Plight of Displaced
People to the Kano State police commissioner, Dan’Azumi Doma, also said
not less than 100 people were arrested in connection with the crisis.

The NEMA boss, who
commended the swift response of security agencies in controlling the
situation, told the displaced people that the team was undertaking
on-the-spot assessment inspection of the trouble spots.

He assured them
that the government would continue to protect and provide basic need of
people in the Internally Displaced Peoples Camps (IDPCs) pending the
return of normalcy to the affected communities.

“President Jonathan
has directed that we should ensure you are adequately provided with the
basic needs as relief materials are being transported to various
locations to improve the condition and plights of innocent people,” he
said. “So far, many more trucks are being dispatched from our strategic
warehouses to meet the demand. However, from the preliminary reports by
response agencies, the crises were neither religious nor ethnic, so we
should be cautious of inputting sectional sentiments into this.”

No gatherings permitted

Mr Doma told the committee that though properties were destroyed and many injured, there was no loss of life in the state.

“There was no
single record of death from the recent incident in Kano and no single
corpse was deposited in the mortuary,” he said.

Mr Doma has,
however banned all forms of political gathering in the state, saying
the police would deal with anyone violating the order.

“No form of
political gathering, including rallies and campaigns would be condoned
until after the governorship election,” he said.

Mr Doma, who urged
leaders of political parties in the State to strictly abide by the
directive in the interest of peace and stability, said the action was
part of measures taken by the police to checkmate the spread of the
violence and reduce apprehension and anxiety among the people,
particularly those taking refuge at military and police barracks.

Mr. Doma also pleaded with parents to caution their children and wards against committing acts capable of breaching the peace.

“The Command and
indeed other security agencies have commenced investigation to
apprehend the sponsors and the brains behind the dastardly acts, no
matter how highly placed they are in society,” he said.