Archive for nigeriang

The leopard of Agbarha Otor

12/04/2010 No comments

Bruce Onobrakpeya shows us round the Niger Delta Cultural
Centre, venue of the annual Harmattan Workshop he started in Agbarha Otor,
Delta State, in 1998. The workshop is now in its 12th year (“we missed a year,
in 2001,” he tells us).

“Oladapo Afolayan introduced stonework in 1998,” Onobrakpeya
informs as he leads a tour of designated workshop spaces for the various visual
art disciplines. In a couple of weeks at the centre, an artist can produce up
to six pieces; one is donated to the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation (BOF), which
organises the workshops. Stone pieces from previous years are on display, but
the stonework is now done in the open air outside, as it generates a lot of
dust. We are shown the Printmaking section, which is large, because “we need
water, we need space to move around.”

The Onobrak Etching Press, proudly Nigerian in manufacture,
stands to one side. University of Benin MFA students were standard participants
in previous years, but not now, as there’s no one taking Printmaking at UNIBEN.
Touching a kiln used for firing ceramics, Onobrakpeya says, “We’ve toyed with
ceramics in the past.”

How Harmattan started

The Harmattan Workshop is “a retreat where artists can meet,
think and share ideas. If you can get good ideas, those ideas can go into the
art.” Onobrakpeya was inspired to start the programme after his own “positive
experience” in workshops of the past. As a student at the Zaria School of Art
in the 50s, he bowed to “peer pressure” and studied Painting, which was the
“respectable” thing to do.

Things changed when University of Ibadan Extra Mural Lecturer
Ulli Beier and Michael Crowder (then Minister of Information, also in charge of
the Exhibition Centre, Marina, Lagos) made contact with the Zaria Group.
Onobrakpeya later attended art workshops organised by Beier in Osogbo, Ife and
Ibadan in the 60s. A nine-day printmaking workshop in Osogbo had a profound
effect on the young artist. “My eyes were opened,” he says. “It changed my
direction. Similarly, an artist’s direction can be changed [at the Harmattan
Workshop]. And if you have not found your direction, you can find it in a place
like this.”

Looking back, Onobrakpeya reflects that, “Beier and the
influence of the late [Susanne] Wenger were very important in my development as
an artist.” In 1975, he attended the Haystack Mountain School of Art and Craft
in Maine, US. “I realised that people, whether they’ve gone to a normal art
school or not, can still benefit from the workshop environment.” Haystack was
the inspiration for the layout of the Niger Delta Cultural Centre, right down
to the accommodation chalets constructed from wood. “The scenario is that we
wait for ‘Oyinbos’, but I thought, why don’t we do it ourselves?”

Keeping BOF going

BOF’s workshops are extremely popular, not just with artists but
with local women who come in droves to learn jewellery making. “We remove
poverty from people’s lives. Those who learn jewellery and textiles, they go
and eat with [the skills]. We employ local people. When the place is buzzing
with activity, the locals see, they see the calibre of people. There was a time
Agbarha Otor was fighting for a local government. They stood up proudly and
said: ‘we have this, we have that, and above all, we have a museum.'”

BOF is a non-profit organisation that relies on funding and
donations. Ford Foundation, once a mainstay of funding, has not supported BOF
in the last two years, the policy focus having changed to museums. Some support
comes from art organisations like Arthouse Contemporary, Terra Kulture and
OYASAF, while galleries like Signature and Mydrim sell BOF artworks. Proceeds
from the sale of Onobrakpeya’s art also go into the running of the centre, but
more funding is needed to keep the centre going. “This place will only continue
to go on if the alumni will contribute to help it grow,” he says. Artists Kunle
Adeyemi and Adeola Balogun are among the alumni helping to facilitate workshop
sections in 2010.

The present and the past

There are three sessions this year, as well as two weeks in
August when artists can work unsupervised. BOF plans to seek UNESCO sponsorship
for artist residencies from all over the world. Onobrakpeya urges for an
exhibition to showcase the fact that Nigerians have been creating art for 50
years, noting that it was the Trade Fair Exhibition that brought a crop of artists
including himself to prominence during independence.

The 2010 Harmattan Workshop was billed as a platform for
discussing the gains and failures of art production since 1960. There are
reminisces about art patronage in the 60s, especially the Thursday-Thursday
Show on McEwen in Ikoyi, Lagos, where Jean Kennedy Wolford opened up her home
to showcase artists, free of charge. “On Thursdays, I would go and they would
put lots of money in my hands and I thought: my God, I could live on art! £35
was a lot of money then,” Onobrakpeya recalls.

A gallery for
contemporary art

The Niger Delta Cultural Centre – set in scenic countryside with
an outlay of chalets for participants and guests – is only Phase 1 of BOF’s
plans. An adjoining seven-acre land has been acquired for the construction of
proper workshop sections, as well as exhibition and conference facilities.

The four-level building that serves as the main set-piece on the
site, was designed by Demas Nwoko in his beloved impluvium style; and was built
from 1989 to 1998. “The advantage of this is light and air,” Onobrakpeya says.
Everywhere one looks, there are artworks in every medium, made by former alumni
of the Harmattan Workshop; prominent artists (Uche Okeke, Olu Amoda et al)
along with a sizeable collection by the master printmaker himself.

“We don’t just limit ourselves to what is locally available
alone; we get the best from elsewhere as well,” he explains. Where original
artworks are not available, their prints are shown. The Niger Delta Cultural
Centre displays prints of Susanne Wenger’s Osun Grove sculpture, Yeye Mopo:
“This is our lady who just died – fantastic!” he says of the work. A wall
section has photographic reproductions of German printmaking, Cezanne and Henry
Moore: “To get the pieces is expensive, but the photography of them is an art
in itself.” Perkins Foss’ exhibition of Urhobo art, ‘Where Gods and Mortals
Meet’ is also given a poster display. When we come to a 1972 picture of The
Ovie of Orughworun, we see the connection between the many adornments worn by
the subject and Onobrakpeya’s installations. The artist readily concedes the
connection, saying, “I love this [image]. Some of this has reechoed in my work.
This is installation in itself; different things put together can become art.”

Aside from hosting workshops, “The aim [of the Niger Delta
Cultural Centre] is to create a gallery for contemporary art. You don’t have to
go to a museum in Lagos or Abuja to see these things,” he insists. Also
displayed are objects that are fast becoming relics, including: instruments and
utensils from bygone eras, finials for staffs used by the Ogboni cult and other
totems. “We are losing so much of our material culture. We collect these things
not just for fun, but as a record, to remind people.”

The perennial artist

Art historian Dele Jegede has said of Bruce Onobrakpeya, “He was
the curious wanderer, the quiet but discerning inquirer who participated in Ru
Van Rossem’s printmaking workshop in Ibadan in 1963 and latched upon a medium
that suited his spirit.” The experimental artist incorporates car and computer
parts in his work. He explains, “From childhood, I’ve been fascinated with the
inside of an engine. People don’t see the engine, it’s covered up. But the
inside of an engine is beautiful.”

When someone observes that ‘Skyscraper’, made from engine parts,
is futuristic, Onobrakpeya replies that such works are only futuristic in the
sense that, “In our environment, people don’t appreciate these things.” He is
attached to them all the same. ‘Akporode Shrine’, his plastographs first
exhibited in 1995, take their inspiration from traditional shrines. Onobrakpeya
says, “In Yorubaland and Edo, the art of making a shrine is aesthetic. The
priest derives pleasure in putting these things together.” In performance mode,
he picks up a ‘fly-whisk’ art-piece from the Akporode Shrine installation and
swishes it about. Seeing a camera, he puts down the whisk, joking that, “They
will call me Baba Olorisa!”

We pass the ‘Jewels of Nomadic Images’ installation inspired by
Fulani herdsmen and the Opon Ifa (divination board), and proceed upwards to the
topmost floor which contains massive paintings by Onobrakpeya. The print-works
echo strongly. “The paintings come out of the prints,” he explains. “The prints
become studies and the paintings come out of them.” But even a master
printmaker has his limitations; most of the paintings here have never been
exhibited. “They don’t’ see me as a painter,” he says.

Into the future

Asked about the preservation of art in the non air-conditioned
rustic atmosphere of the centre, Onobrakpeya replies, “They preserve as well as
anything preserves in this environment, humans, trees… We have a problem with
white ants; we are always working to drive them away. We have a problem with
the weather. But it is all part of the process. White ants, weather; they
create patina.”

At the end of each workshop, Onobrakpeya and his helpers ask
themselves if they should go on or fold up. “The answer is: continue, because
we are doing a good job. Since we started, we now have about three people who
have [initiated] foundations that run workshops,” he said, citing Peju
Layiwola, copper repousse artist Bola Oyetunji and leather man Obi Leda (Obiora
Onuoye). Proof that BOF’s work is relevant, Onobrakpeya argues. “People have
participated, they’ve gone from being just small artists to being recognised
artists. The local people [and those] elsewhere now accord some respect to art,
because of this place.”

As Bruce Onobrakpeya, 77, heads downstairs in his labyrinthine centre built
for art, the questions inevitably turn to what will happen to this place when
he is no longer around. The master printmaker says those who come after him can
do as they please. He spreads out his hands as if to encompass all the artworks
and declares, “I have lived my life with them, gone through the process and I
have found it meaningful. If future generations don’t think so, I don’t care.”

entertainment

EMAIL FROM AMERICA: How to be married (Part 3)

12/04/2010 No comments

My marriage therapist has been married seven times to absolute
jerks (her bitter emphasis) and she has divorced their sorry behinds (her
bitter emphasis) each time. It never fails, just before we start my therapy
session, she assures me that men are beasts and then she starts to cry
inconsolably. Why do I have a marriage therapist?

I don’t know, it came with my health care package, well, until
my brother Bwana Obama came to ruin it with “health care reform!” Every married
person in America should have a therapist, especially the men. Marriage in
America is hard. Here, men actually have to do things around the house, nothing
is taboo, nothing! I know this Ndigbo-American who has an Ozo Chieftaincy
title, his wife is always asking him to stop at the store and buy her sanitary
pads (gulp!).

It is true. This one day, I was riding around with Chief Ozo
(not his real name) doing manly things like looking for a cheap bottle of
Chilean Malbec when Chief suddenly said, “nna men, abeg mek we go store, I wan
buy pad!” I was surprised, but you know this is America, anything can happen.
Tufiakwa! So I asked suspiciously, “Ehn, chief, why you want pad? Abi your
period don come?”

He explained that it was for his wife, she was fond of making
him buy un-Chiefly things like pads and lip gloss. So we dashed into the store,
quickly grabbed one box and raced to the aisle to buy it quickly before anybody
would notice. The sales lady at the counter could not find the price on the
sanitary pad, so, what does she do, this wicked lady? She gets on the store’s
loudspeaker and loudly yells for help while waving the brightly coloured box of
pads over our heads: “SANITARY PADS! PRICE CHECK ON SANITARY PADS!” We were
mortified but it is the law in America, you can’t buy something without the
price! Chief Ozo is no longer my friend.

My dad Papalolo is a great marriage counselor. I have fond
memories of him laying the charm thickly on my mother Mamalolo (and come to
think of it, on every woman that met his roving eyes). He knew what to say and
he was generous with sweet nothings. Women liked that. He would say absolute
nonsense like, “ah my princess I am going to make you omelette today, with
sausage on the side, this your mouth is so pretty, it is not for eating eba!” I
swear I am not making this up; he would pluck things from the bush he called
“flowers” and bring them into the house, present it to Mamalolo and say, “here,
for you, my dear!” I think he had been watching too many oyinbo and Nollywood
romance movies.

My father observed that I was a bookworm who seemed interested
only in the company of fellow men, reading things that didn’t have pictures of
naked women in them. So this one day he asked me, “enh, my son, you are always
with other men, reading books, don’t you like women? Tufiakwa! Olorun ma je!”
My father always lapses into Igbo and Yoruba epithets under stress. I told him
that I love women but I am tongue tied in their presence. He said, “Ah, my son,
it is easy, tell them nice things! If they are pretty, tell them, they like
that! They will smile at you and once a woman smiles at you enh, you are half
way there. Even if she is not pretty, tell her she is pretty! She will smile
and then she will be pretty! All women are pretty. Here is a bottle of Gulder
beer. Drink it, it will loosen your tongue and you won’t be too shy to talk to
women!” I drank it. He was right. Gulder loosens tongues.

Papalolo also taught me never to appreciate the beauty of another woman in
my wife’s presence. He would say, “My son, never, ever, tell your wife that
another woman is beautiful. You might as well just shoot yourself. If you are
driving and madam is by your side and you see a beauty, don’t let your jaw drop
like a fool. Immediately start saying things that are the opposite of what is
going through your head, “Enh, Mamalolo look at that ugly woman, look at her
fat head! Look at her big stomach like Obasanjo! Look at her legs like
toothpicks, Mamalolo, there is no woman as pretty as you, Allah!” I am not sure
Mamalolo was fooled though. One day we were in the car in a go-slow in Benin
City when this gorgeous Naija man looking like Denzel Washington sauntered by
flexing his fine muscles. Mamalolo got excited, hit Papalolo in the arm
severally and cackled: “Enh, Papalolo! Look at that ugly man, look at his fat
head! Look at his big stomach like Obasanjo! Look at his legs like toothpicks!
Papalolo, there is no man as handsome as you, Allah!” Papalolo did not smile.

entertainment

Dreams in a Time of War

12/04/2010 No comments

Ngugi wa
Thiong’o’s childhood memoir, ‘Dreams in a Time of War’ is quite simply
enchanting. Every thinking human being should have a copy of this
wondrous memoir. Ngugi returns with full force to the playground of
ideas and shames those who suspect he is a spent force. He puts
together many ingredients of a lived experience and serves the world a
delightful stew of recollections. It is impossible to put this book
down. The man can tell a story.

‘Dreams in a Time
of War’ is a graceful, moving ode to the relentless pursuit of
enlightenment by a child born into the war that passes for life in
sub-Saharan Africa. The writers Barack Hussein Obama, Chinua Achebe,
Toyin Falola and Wole Soyinka have explored the same theme with
uncommon eloquence and pathos. Ngugi simply adds a stunning, powerful
salvo to that repertoire of musings.

This is a memoir
narrated simply, prose shorn of gimmickry and most importantly,
bitterness. Ngugi has mellowed and this attitude provides graceful
wings to a soaring delivery. He also performs the very sly trick of
making the reader bear the burden of becoming really angry about all of
the unnecessary roughness that Africans of his generation had to bear
just to live through the day. Brilliant. Even the title says a lot
about Ngugi’s generosity of spirit. Upon reading the memoir, a mere
mortal would be forgiven for calling it ‘Nightmares in a Time of War’.

Born in 1938 in
pre-colonial Kenya, there were so many anxieties hovering around the
writer as a child: The descent of his father into despair and
decrepitude, marital abuse, separation and the rejection of Ngugi and
his siblings on his mother’s side; the brothers’ struggles for survival
during World War II and the Mau Mau uprising; and the challenge of
holding on to family bonds as he and his mother coped with trauma and
tragedy. These stresses shaped Ngugi’s childhood and his worldview. Yet
by all accounts he proved to be a star student.

This is a highly
disciplined documentary of Ngugi’s early childhood. We see a precocious
child weaving tales of his childhood experiences and the tortured
history of his clan with tales from the Bible. The sense of wonder his
ancestors must have felt upon stumbling into a modern city like Nairobi
makes the reader gasp with the same emotion. “Before their eyes were
stone buildings of various heights, paths crowded with carriages of
different shapes and people of various colours from black to white.
Some of the people sat in carriages pulled and pushed by black men.
These must be the white spirits, the mizungu, and this, the Nairobi
they had heard about as having sprung from the bowels of the earth. But
nothing had prepared them for the railway lines and the terrifying
monster that vomited fire and occasionally made a blood curdling cry.”

Ngugi fashions a
gorgeous tapestry of stories that pulls together all the racial and
ethnic relationships and tensions in pre-colonial Kenya, the result is
a carefully scripte oral history fused with the written. Clear-eyed
observations of the human condition politely but insistently hammer
home crystal clear conclusions. This is not only about Kenya; it
connects the dots of our shared humanity everywhere in the globe. There
are few books that I have read in my lifetime that radiated from a
single locus and connected all these dots everywhere without losing
their focus.

The author’s
relationship with his mother Wanjiku wa Ngugi is exceedingly moving. It
compares to Obama’s narrative about his mother Stanley Ann Dunham
Soetero (Dreams From My Father). They shared the same traits: that
gentle push for excellence and a fierce nurturing spirit. Throughout
the book, Ngugi’s mother is the guiding spiritual force holding the
book together. This is motherhood at its best peeping fiercely through
the mean legs of patriarchy. In return, Ngugi doted on his mother and
lived to please her. We also see strong similarities in temperament
between Ngugi’s father and Obama’s Kenyan father.

The book’s editing
is a delight, kudos to the publishers, Pantheon Books of New York.
There are minor quibbles: the chapters are strangely not numbered and
it was tough keeping up with the cast of characters in Ngugi’s clan. A
genealogical chart would have been helpful. Regardless, this is an
important book, full of authentic history. It reminds us that we should
not take for granted the valiant struggles of our warriors of old. They
fought the good fight, for us and the land. They were not perfect
people, but they had heart. May this book inspire us to pursue anew the
dream that our ancestors fought and died for.

entertainment

Ondo Speaker defects to Labour Party

12/04/2010 No comments

Ondo Speaker defects to Labour Party

The crisis
rocking the Ondo State House of Assembly deepened on Sunday as the
Peoples Democratic Party suspended the Assembly’s new Speaker, Samuel
Adesina, and his colleague, Pius Adebusuyi, for the role they played in
last Thursday’s impeachment of former Speaker, Taofik Abdulsalam.

Both men,
however, upturned political calculations in the state yesterday when
they defected to the Labour Party at separate events. Mr Adesina left
the PDP at Odigbo with his supporters while Mr Adebusuyi announced his
defection at Igbara Oke.

Two other members
of the PDP who spearheaded the impeachment against the former speaker,
Bakkita Bello and Igbekele Bolodeoku, were, however not affected by the
suspension and no disciplinary action was taken against them.

Mr. Bolodeoku moved the impeachment motion that ended the reign of Mr. Abdulsalam as the Speaker of the assembly.

The PDP, in a
statement issued at the weekend in Akure by its Publicity Secretary,
Adeyemi Adedipe, said, “The Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State
received with shock the news of the illegal change in the leadership of
the Ondo State House of Assembly.

“It has however
been confirmed that the purported removal of the house functionaries
was initiated, contrived and executed by the Labour Party government.

“The PDP totally
disowns the purported change that seeks to impeach the Speaker and his
deputy. Our party views strongly the unwholesome participation in the
duo of Adebusuyi and Adesina as anti-party action which will not be
condoned in any manner whatsoever.”

The party also urged security agencies to probe the alleged forgery of signatures of PDP members used for the impeachment.

“The party
resolves to support all other members in the Ondo State House of
Assembly in their petitions before the security agencies in the quest
to investigate all those behind the criminal forgeries of signatures
that purportedly served the purpose of carrying out the unlawful
removal, which action is inimical to the peace and orderly conduct of
Ondo State,” the PDP said.

“We appeal to our
teeming supporters and the entire people of the state to remain calm as
our people will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the rule of
law, accountability and transparency prevails as alchemy for good
governance in Ondo State.”

Fighting his removal

Mr Abdulsalam is
seeking assistance from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the state
and national level for his reinstatement. He vowed not to vacate the
seat, saying the impeachment exercise was not done in line with the
nation’s constitution as the 16 people who carried out his purported
impeachment did not meet the two-third requirements.

The party’s
leadership is also planning to meet with lawmakers in the lower and
upper chamber for succour, although it is unclear how this could help
as an earlier intervention in the removal of the Edo State speaker by
the National Assembly came to nought.

Security details attached to the impeached Speaker and his Deputy were also withdrawn over the weekend.

Mr. Abdusalam, who confirmed the withdrawal in a telephone interview, said he would not allow the illegality to stay.

“I will not allow
the purported act to stay because the impeachment was done by only
fifteen people, which is not the right thing,” he said.

The defection of the two PDP members and the likely defection of
Messrs Bello and Bolodeoku would increase the number of the Labour
Party legislators in the Assembly, giving the party a majority and push
the PDP into the minority.

newstoday

Senatorial aspirant seeks commitment against electoral violence

12/04/2010 No comments

Senatorial aspirant seeks commitment against electoral violence

A Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial aspirant in Oyo state, Jumoke
Akinjide, has called for more commitment in the fight against violence
and thuggery in the nation’s politics.

Ms. Akinjide, who
spoke with journalists after attending the party’s senatorial district
meeting at Iyana-Ofa, at the weekend, said every individual and
organisations with a stake in the polity must be fully involved to
fight the menace.

Getting involved

“We cannot bring
everything to the law enforcement. We need to attack the problems at
all levels, from the family, schools, law enforcement and candidates.
Everybody needs to come out and take responsibility,” she said.

Arguing that it is
possible to stamp out violence in the nation’s politics, the candidate
said the new Electoral Act should hold candidates and parties
responsible for violence committed by their followers and supporters
during campaigns and elections.

“I believe that the
aspirants should make sure that their supporters are not rowdy and that
we should introduce civility into Nigeria’s politics,” she said. “I
believe the burden is upon the aspirants to make sure that violence
does not happen. We can borrow a leaf from football. For years,
football in the UK was legendary in its violence and the only way that
they are able to curb it or to almost eradicate thuggery and violence
in British football is to fine the clubs. If we have a set of rules
that hold the aspirants and the party responsible for their followers
because they chose the people who will follow them, that would also
help to test their minds on the problem.”

Emergence of women candidates

While reiterating
that women are ready to take their place in Nigeria’s politics, Ms.
Akinjide explained that several of the women in the race for the next
elections are more qualified than their male counterparts.

She canvassed
conscious efforts in encouraging women participation in politics,
saying they are pushed back because of cultural challenges and the
violence that characterise the political landscape.

Ms. Akinjide,
daughter of a former Attorney General of Nigeria, said greater
participation of women in politics would to control the menace of
violence in politics.

“I am a mother and
that is why we are arguing for more women in politics,” she said. “The
advent of women in politics will also go a long way to reduce the level
of violence in politics. This is something that has deterred women from
coming forward. It takes some amount of bravery and faith in God to be
able to come out in a terrain that is still very rough.

“This election year is the year the women will take full place in
politics, especially in the PDP. We have more than enough women who are
very qualified for any position in this country, the position of
president of Nigeria inclusive. What we may say is that we might not
have enough women come out to fill the quota. But if it is 10 or 20 per
cent that came out, it is better for the people who have come out to be
encouraged. If that happens, in the next election more women will come
out.”

newstoday

Senatorial aspirant seeks commitment against electoral violence

12/04/2010 No comments

Senatorial aspirant seeks commitment against electoral violence

A Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial aspirant in Oyo state, Jumoke
Akinjide, has called for more commitment in the fight against violence
and thuggery in the nation’s politics.

Ms. Akinjide, who
spoke with journalists after attending the party’s senatorial district
meeting at Iyana-Ofa, at the weekend, said every individual and
organisations with a stake in the polity must be fully involved to
fight the menace.

Getting involved

“We cannot bring
everything to the law enforcement. We need to attack the problems at
all levels, from the family, schools, law enforcement and candidates.
Everybody needs to come out and take responsibility,” she said.

Arguing that it is
possible to stamp out violence in the nation’s politics, the candidate
said the new Electoral Act should hold candidates and parties
responsible for violence committed by their followers and supporters
during campaigns and elections.

“I believe that the
aspirants should make sure that their supporters are not rowdy and that
we should introduce civility into Nigeria’s politics,” she said. “I
believe the burden is upon the aspirants to make sure that violence
does not happen. We can borrow a leaf from football. For years,
football in the UK was legendary in its violence and the only way that
they are able to curb it or to almost eradicate thuggery and violence
in British football is to fine the clubs. If we have a set of rules
that hold the aspirants and the party responsible for their followers
because they chose the people who will follow them, that would also
help to test their minds on the problem.”

Emergence of women candidates

While reiterating
that women are ready to take their place in Nigeria’s politics, Ms.
Akinjide explained that several of the women in the race for the next
elections are more qualified than their male counterparts.

She canvassed
conscious efforts in encouraging women participation in politics,
saying they are pushed back because of cultural challenges and the
violence that characterise the political landscape.

Ms. Akinjide,
daughter of a former Attorney General of Nigeria, said greater
participation of women in politics would to control the menace of
violence in politics.

“I am a mother and
that is why we are arguing for more women in politics,” she said. “The
advent of women in politics will also go a long way to reduce the level
of violence in politics. This is something that has deterred women from
coming forward. It takes some amount of bravery and faith in God to be
able to come out in a terrain that is still very rough.

“This election year is the year the women will take full place in
politics, especially in the PDP. We have more than enough women who are
very qualified for any position in this country, the position of
president of Nigeria inclusive. What we may say is that we might not
have enough women come out to fill the quota. But if it is 10 or 20 per
cent that came out, it is better for the people who have come out to be
encouraged. If that happens, in the next election more women will come
out.”

newstoday

Justice minister seeks bar association’s support

12/04/2010 No comments

Justice minister seeks bar association’s support

The Minister of
Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello
Adoke, has solicited the support and cooperation of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) in the fight against corruption in the country.

Mr. Adoke spoke during a courtesy visit to the association’s headquarters in Abuja last Friday.

“I am therefore soliciting support of the Nigerian Bar Association so that we can move this country forward,” Mr. Adoke said.

“The fight against
corruption is uppermost in the mind of this administration. When we
were being inaugurated, the acting president said he has zero tolerance
for corruption.

“We must do
everything possible to work with all stakeholders to fight corruption,
because it is a cancer that is very terminal, and I believe that the
NBA has a lot of role to play in this respect in the days ahead.”

Working as partners

The minister promised that the ministry would keep the association informed of whatever they were going to do.

“I want to assure
you that we are going to come out with our action plan, but before we
do that we are going to call for the input of the NBA, through the
president, and whatever we do we are going to take you into confidence
from time to time,” Mr. Adoke said.

“We are not going
to attack you, we are going to work as partners to move forward, we are
not going to be partners at war, that era is past.”

Mr. Adoke said that
he was not happy with the NBA’s relationship with the Office of the
Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

“I have not been
happy with the development relating to the office of the attorney
general and the bar association because [the] NBA is a very critical
member of the society and is my constituency. I believe whoever is
appointed the AG represents the NBA.”

In his response,
the association’s president, Rotimi Akeredolu, said it is going to work
closely with the AGF on a number of issues.

He said that issues
of the administration of justice are very important to both offices,
adding that the association has a very important role to play in the
profession, but has been more or less relegated to the sidelines.

Mr. Akeredolu said the NBA would rally round the minister to ensure
that his tenure yields many dividends. He also urged lawyers to see one
another as friends and to avoid allowing arguments in court to create
disaffection among them.

newstoday

Opposition faults Akinjide on Oyo governorship

12/04/2010 No comments

Opposition faults Akinjide on Oyo governorship

The Action Congress (AC) in Oyo State has condemned a statement credited to former minister of justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Richard Akinjide, in which he allegedly remarked that only Ogbomoso zone is entitled to the governorship seat of the state in 2011.
He reportedly made the comment during last week’s Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Elders’ Forum where state governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala was unanimously adopted as the party’s candidate for the 2011 governorship election by the party elders.
Peace in Oyo
Mr. Akinjide had also, in an interview with NEXT last month, expressed his support for the second term bid of Mr. Alao Akala.
“There is peace in Oyo State and Governor Akala, whom I support is doing very well and if he want to get a second term, I will back him up on it and he will win and his opponent swill lose in the election,” he said. “There were eight by elections in Oyo State under Governor Akala, and we won all. We did not only win them but the opponents lost to wide margins. So, where is the problem?”
However, in a statement released in Ibadan on Sunday, the AC’s director of publicity and strategy in Oyo state, Wasiu Adewale Olatunbosun, described the comment as cowardly and one made to prepare a soft-landing for the senatorial ambition of Mr. Akinjide’s daughter.
“The political and legal abracadabra of 1979 which robbed the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, an opportunity to emerge President, was spearheaded by the likes of Akinjide and Nigeria still suffers from that mistake till today,” the statement said. “The same person is now again at the forefront of promoting mediocrity and incompetence in order to actualise a personal desire by hook or crook. This is another coup against the masses and it must stand condemned by all well-meaning indigenes and residents of the state.”
High disadvantage
The party maintained that such an arrangement will put other zones like Oke-Ogun, Ibadan, Oyo and Ibarapa at a “high disadvantage”.
It also used the medium to comment on what it called the lopsidedness in appointments into the State Civil Service under the Akala administration, which it said has jettisoned the principle of due process.
The AC equally frowned at the delay in the payment of staff salaries and poor condition of public facilities in the state.
“All appointments now take place at the governor’s private residence on weekends when lists are always prepared by politicians and close friends,” the party said. “These happen while most qualified graduates are made to cough out varying sums without them getting any job.
“Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state has improved to over one billion naira monthly while close to three billion naira is received as monthly allocation from the federation accounts with inflow of proceeds from the excess crude accounts and other sundry sources, yet workers cannot get their entitlements as and when due.”

newstoday

Residents fault Abuja council election

12/04/2010 No comments

Residents fault Abuja council election

The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) disappointed residents of the
Federal Capital Territory when it failed to conduct the hitch-free area
council elections it promised. Although the polls produced winners,
stakeholders have judged them as flawed.

Public anger

The election was
scheduled to start at 8 am, but in some centres, especially in the
Municipal Area, it did not begin until a few minutes after midday.

Many voters who
trooped out in the morning to vote waited endlessly for the polling
officials, mainly members of the Nigerian Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to
arrive. Some left for their homes in anger and wondered why the
government could not get things right for once.

Onyeke Isiaka, an Abuja resident, blamed the electoral commission for failing to deliver on its promises.

“Despite all the
announcement and assurance they gave us, we are here and they are not
to be found anywhere. They will blame us for not coming to vote, saying
there is voter’s apathy, but that is not the situation, as you can
see,” he said.

An inefficient organisation

When polling
officers eventually showed up at the polling centre in Area 2, Garki,
they complained that the electoral commission had refused to pay them
their allowances and therefore, refused to work.

The corps members
told NEXT that they had slept on bare floors at the commission’s FCT
headquarters the night before, and were served bad food at 4:00 am.
They accused the commission of planning to cheat them. Some of the
corps members had to be given partial payment before they would agree
to go to the polling stations.

The commission
also did not provide the staff with polling desks. A corps member at
the Area 8, Garki, polling centre said they were given only a cubicle
and voting materials, but were not given desks or chairs.

“When we got here,
there was no place to sit down. They did not give us desks. It was just
the cubicle and the materials,” said the corps member, who requested
anonymity. “They told us that when you get there you will find some
seats, but when we got here, the people here weren’t friendly and
before we could get a place to sit down, it took some time.” The corps
members had to plead with nearby residents to provide them a chair and
a table, but the votes had to be poured on the ground to be counted as
the table they got was too small to contain the materials.

The commission had
also promised to provide food for the polling staff, and though the
contract to do this was awarded, the food was not delivered during the
elections. And some polling stations, such as the one located in Old
Secretariat in Area 1, Garki, did not have a single police officer
assigned to them.

The situation
worsened when, at about midday, commuters were busy plying the road as
if nothing serious was going in the city. There were no policemen on
hand to check their movement or provide safeguards against possible
election riggers.

Low participation

INEC’s poor
management may have been responsible for the low voter turnout at
Saturday’s elections. For instance, one polling centre at Section 1,
Area 2, Garki, had 1325 registered voters, but only 47 people voted;
while a second unit in the area had 565 voters with only 35
participating. Another unit in Section 2, Area 2, Garki, 235 out of the
350 registered voters came around, but in a Wuse polling centre,
located at Niger Insurance Staff Quarters, there were 891 registered
voters, but none of them came out at all to cast their votes. In Prince
and Princess and Gaduwa Estates in Duboyi, voting started at about 1:00
pm for an election that is expected to end at 3:00pm.

A polling staff in
Wuse, who declined to be named, hinted that some voters came out twice
in the morning, but when they did not see the any staff, they went home
and vowed never to return.

INEC blames NYSC

When contacted,
INEC FCT resident electoral commissioner, Stephen Manya, admitted that
the commission did not do its best in providing adequate logistics, but
blamed the corpers for the late commencement of voting exercise.

“Materials are
there, but corpers are complaining that unless they are paid, they will
not move. That is what is causing this delay within the metropolis. We
are addressing the issue. We have released money to pay them, the money
has been there. Some of them were paid around 4 pm on Friday, but I
wonder why all were not paid at the same time. I don’t know what
happened, they didn’t pay them and now the corpers are holding us to
ransom.”

Promises unfulfilled

INEC chairman,
Maurice Iwu, had stated at a stakeholders meeting organised for the
April 10 polls, that conducting a free and fair election in the FCT was
significant because the territory was one of the most cosmopolitan
centres in the country.

“Although the
election of April 10, 2010 is what many will see as ordinary council
polls, the election is of tremendous importance and should be of great
interest to all Nigerians. For one, the FCT election is the second
stride in our reassuring march to 2011 general elections,” he said.

Mr. Iwu said the
FCT has emerged as a signpost to the outside world on prevailing
tendencies within the urban elite, and that what happens in FCT
reverberates across the country.

However, this dream may not have been realised in the Saturday elections.

newstoday

Ex-governor warns against election rigging in Ekiti

12/04/2010 No comments

Ex-governor warns against election rigging in Ekiti

Former governor of
Ekiti State and governorship candidate of the Labour Party Ayodele
Fayose, at the weekend, said the Labour Party would stand firm against
any attempt by any party to impose unpopular candidates on the people
of the state during the 2011 General elections.

Mr. Fayose, who has
had a running battle with the incumbent governor, Segun Oni, said the
Labour Party is ready to take over the state through votes from the
masses.

“I want to warn
against rigging and violence in the next general elections holding in
2011, God will expose any party that is trying to cause trouble during
the election,” he said. “I urge you all supporters of Labour Party not
to engage in violence or thuggery in order not to bring the party to
disgrace. I will not resort to violence despite provocations from some
quarters.

“Despite the
burning of my water tanker and part of my office, my supporters and I
remain untroubled because they are aware that their political enemies
want to provoke them into violence in order to bring the party to
disrepute.”

Mr. Fayose, who
visited the tomb of the late founder of the Christ Apostolic Church,
Joseph Ayo Babalola, to pray for success in the 2011 election, said the
people of Ekiti are ready for a change.

Law against posters

The former
governor, who was well received by supporters of the party, trekked to
the church, where he called for prayer for the success of his ambition.

Mr. Fayose, who
conducted the prayer session, ensured that all the people who
accompanied him to the church, including party members, participated
actively in the session.

“There is nothing prayer cannot do, I am very sure that with prayer, LP will take over Ekiti State,” he said.

The former
governor’s campaign has pitched him against the PDP controlled state
government, mostly over what the government said was the indiscriminate
pasting of Labour Party posters.

Some of the party’s
supporters were recently arrested for pasting Mr. Fayose’s posters
around Ajilosun area of Ado-Ekiti, a decision which the candidate said
was carried out by government to destabilise and witch-hunt him.

Mr. Oni however denied the allegation levelled against by Mr. Fayose.

“There is a law against indiscriminate pasting of posters on public
property and anybody caught would be prosecuted for violating the law,”
Mr. Oni said.

newstoday
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