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The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Muhammed
Ali Ndume, has said he is a beneficiary of what he describes as the
“allocation” of votes during the 2007 general elections in the country.

“In 1999, there was no election, there was selection,” Mr. Ndume
said. “In 2003, there was no election, there was selection. In 2007, it became
worse, there was allocation. I am a beneficiary. I want to be elected. I want
to be elected in 2011,” Mr. Ndume said.

The All Nigeria Peoples Party representative stated this while
addressing protesters at the National Assembly complex in Abuja yesterday.

The protest was organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),
the Trade Union Congress and civil society groups to demand for electoral
reforms and for the removal of Maurice Iwu as the chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr. Ndume told the protesters that the opposition members in the
National Assembly have become incapacitated saying “the opposition in the
National Assembly and in a democracy is supposed to be doing what you are doing
now, but we are paralysed.”

Impartial umpire

The legislator, representing Damboa/Gwoza/Chibok federal
constituency of Borno State, said he supports the recommendations of the
Muhammadu Uwais-led commission on electoral reform and is opposed to the
senate’s recommendation that the president continues to appoint INEC heads.

“You can’t be a player and choose the umpire. The appointment of
the INEC chairman must be done according to Uwais recommendation. You should
stand up and support us that are struggling for that. Secondly, elections must
be completed before swearing in of anybody. Now there is a senator that is to
be sworn in or yet to be sworn in after three years of litigation,” Mr. Ndume
said.

The legislator further challenged the protesters not to relent
in their demand for electoral reforms and not to put the blame of failure of
the reforms on legislators alone.

“It is not enough to request for electoral reform. We must ask for credible
elections. It is not enough to put blame on the minority leader because I am a
Nigerian too.”

The House of Representatives, yesterday, approved a ₦347.6 billion budget for Abuja this year,
once again giving the Federal Capital Territory the highest annual spending
plan, when considered as a state.

The amount is separate from the ₦138.4 billion allocated last
week in the federal budget under the FCT ministry for major projects in the
capital city.

According to lawmakers, a greater portion of the amount approved
will go to capital expenditure, which targets developmental projects, as the
city battles to contain its rapidly rising population.

The proposed Abuja metropolitan rail project, expected to begin
this year, receives ₦76.8 billion as part of the total capital expenditure,
which stands at ₦278.2 billion. The recurrent cost is fixed at ₦69.4 billion.

Fund for the Abuja Light Rail project- expected to connect the
expanding suburbs of the city – is the second largest capital allocation after
engineering services, which is assigned ₦111.7 billion.

Atai Aidoko, the Chairman of the House Committee on the FCT,
said the approved amount would be applied to the completion of on-going
projects in the territory.

“One hundred per cent of the allocations to the transport
secretariat will be used for the railway project,” he said. The territory’s
satellite towns receive ₦20.2 billion for their infrastructure.

Harmonised allocation

Usman Nafada, the Deputy Speaker, said the allocations have been
harmonised by the Senate. The passage of the appropriation bill, done after
repeated rescheduling, came on Wednesday after members adopted the report of
the House Joint Committee on the FCT, FCT Area Councils and Ancillary Matters.

The report included proposed allocations of ₦269.9 million to
the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council -whose establishment, proposed in a
bill, is yet to be passed by the National Assembly.

Some lawmakers, led by the House Chairman on Business and Rules,
Ita Enang, opposed the allocation, including the funding to the council in the
budget as it presently has not been set up by law.

“We should do the right thing and delete the council,” Mr. Enang
urged his colleagues.

The House resolved against the argument, saying the provisions, though
anticipatory, remain lawful since the government unit exists, though the
processed bill has yet to make it independent.

The former Minister
of State for Power, Nuhu Wya, said Tuesday that Nigeria’s total power
generation slumped to 1500 Megawatts in the middle of his tenure, down
from the 3700 Megawatts he met in December 2007.

Mr. Wya has been
re-nominated for a new term by the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan,
while his colleague, the substantive minister of power, Rilwan
Babalola, has been dropped. It is, however, not yet known if he will
remain at the Ministry of Power.

Speaking at the
senate ministerial screening where his nomination was considered for
approval yesterday, Mr. Wya told lawmakers that our nation’s power
generation capacity was itself unstable from his assumption at the
ministry on December 24, 2007, to his removal in early March 2010.

“I don’t want to
delve too much into that,” he said in response to a question raised by
a Senator on what the actual problem with electricity in our country is.

“But it is
important to say that we were faced with a challenge of what we could
not control.” The challenge, he said, was the inadequate supply of gas
which officials of the ministry have echoed in the past.

During an earlier
remark, which the senators rebuffed, the former minister had claimed
that the ministry under his watch, “toured the nation and was able to
improve power supply to a level which, however, was not commensurable
with the money spent.”

Power failure

The former minister
admitted, in response to a question by the Senate President, David
Mark, that the power production level plunged to 1500MW in the middle
of his tenure as the Minister of state.

“I thought you will
answer in a straightforward manner, whether power generation dropped or
increased during your stay in office,” Mr. Mark said, to which the
nominee confirmed there was a significant crash in the generation
level, a situation which he said was mainly caused by gas shortage.

Key officials of the power ministry had, before the dissolution of
the federal cabinet by Mr. Jonathan, repeatedly explained the extent of
the fall in power generation in the country. This was especially as the
December 31, 2009, target date for increasing the power generation to
6000MW, elapsed.

Murtala Yar’adua,
the nephew of Umaru Yar’Adua, the president, yesterday appeared for the
Senate ministerial screening, promising “youthful energy” to the
cabinet, in a move seen as a knock on the group that tried to keep the
ailing president in power.

Mr. Yar’Adua was
the 16th nominee to be screened by the Senate on Tuesday. He harped on
offering the nation his private sector experience and “youthful
energy”, which will lead to finding “new ways of doing old things.”

“The energy of
youth is very important.” Mr. Yar’Adua told the senators. “I can draw a
lot of experience and advice on new ways of doing new things.”

Although he did not
condemn the ‘old ways’ of doing things, he said energy was apparently
lacking in the cabinet. “Energy is what we need,” he said, promising a
bridge to reconnect the old generation of leaders with the youth. “We
find there is (a) disconnect between our generation and yours, and I
hope to bring hope for that connect,” he added.

Mr. Yar’Adua’s
nomination is seen as an attempt by the acting president’s team to
dispel the uncertainty that has clouded President Yar’Adua’s tenure. He
faced less inquiry from the senators on Tuesday, as he made remarks
touching more on contemporary procedures of governance, rather than on
politics.

Organised plenary

Unlike the chaotic
screening session witnessed the previous day, the Tuesday plenary was a
lot more organised. The senate had taken about 45 minutes before the
plenary started properly to hold a closed door session during which
they resolved the grouse generated from the previous screening.

The senate plenary
started at about an hour before midday and lasted till about 6pm,
during which the senate screened 24 nominees, bringing the total number
of screened nominees to 27. A new nominee, Aliyu Idi Hong, the former
minister of state for health, was added to the list that already has 39
nominees.

Although the
screening of Sanusi Dagash, a former senator, was expected to be
stormy, he was allowed to ‘bow and go’, a gesture Mr. Dagash said
surprised him. He was accused of pitching the Senate against President
Yar’Adua over the 2008 budget passage. He, however, started out by
apologising to the senators collectively after he admitted lobbying the
senators individually before the screening. The senators chorused “go
and sin no more” as he headed out of the red chamber.

Evasive ministers

During the
screening, each nominee was asked an average of three questions, which
were answered swiftly. The re-appointed nominees were screened first.
They were each asked to assess their performance in the last cabinet
and then say why they should be re-appointed.

Most of the
re-appointed nominees were, however, evasive with their reactions to
questions. Most claimed they had performed well but could not state
specific projects they executed while in office.

Godswill Orubebe,
who headed the Niger Delta ministry, for instance, while reacting to a
question on whether the amnesty program for the repentant militants in
the Niger Delta has performed well, said, “Amnesty so far is on the
move and I believe (that) the level we have reached now only needs
re-invigoration to move forward.” Mr. Orubebe said the Niger Delta area
did not witness massive constructions during his reign because they
were still planning on how to develop the area. “Planning takes a long
time,” he said.

Other nominees like John Odeh, who headed the environment ministry,
and Humphrey Abba, who was a minister of state for commerce, also
claimed their best achievements as ministers were plans, studies,
program blue prints and “well organised” workshops.

The Acting President, Goodluck
Jonathan, should embrace the national gender policy that states
reserving 35 per cent of all political appointments for women and
therefore, create wider room for women to participate in governance, a
woman activist and executive director of Equity Advocates, Ene Ede, has
said.

Women activists have expressed concern
over the few women ministerial nominees on the list sent to the Senate
for screening by the Acting President.

“It is the greatest shock to see only
very few women nominated for appointment in the new list,” Ms. Ede
said. “Already, there is what some people call ‘democratic deficit’,
where women have not been accorded their right of place in the polity.
We should have been asked to manage at least 10 slots. And what is
wrong with getting the 35 per cent prescribed by the national gender
policy? Consider the services and contributions that women have
rendered to make the society more comfortable.”

Incidentally, the theme for the 2010
International Women’s Day celebration is ‘Equal rights, equal
opportunity: Prosperity for Women.’ This, Ms. Ede said, underscores the
need to give women a voice in politics, saying history has proved that
women have done exceedingly better than their male counterparts in some
cases, in both traditional and even sophisticated economies.

Qualified for any post

“A woman can head
the Ministry of Defence,” she said. “There are lots of women who have
retired from the armed forces. Why can’t we pick any of them, or are
they not qualified? They can also head power or the petroleum ministry.
If we want real and genuine change, we can get women to head some key
ministries. There is no ministry in this country that cannot be headed
by women.”

She also urged Mr. Jonathan to bring fresher faces to government so as to give his government more dynamism.

“Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo will tell you that he owes a huge part of his success
to the calibre of women he brought in,” she said. “We still have women
who can do better than men, after all we never knew they existed
before. So let us stop all these recycling. Let us see younger women
coming in.

“The Senate, too. I know they are very gender sensitive and so we
would like to see how they will bring the gender sensitivity to bear on
the screening.”

A Sharia court
sitting in Kaduna on Tuesday upheld last week’s ruling that an online
discussion on the first wrist amputation in the country be banned.

The online forum
was launched by the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), a civil society
organisation, to mark the 10th anniversary of the first Sharia-court
ordered amputation in Nigeria – that of Buba Bello Jangebe, alias ‘Kare
Garke’ (ranch raider), by the Zamfara State government.

The Magajin Gari
Sharia court last week ordered the CRC and its head, Shehu Sani, to
suspend its online debate on the amputation through an interim
injunction that restrained the respondents from opening a chat forum on
Facebook, Twitter, or any blog for the purpose of the debate on the
amputation of Mr. Jangebe pending yesterday’s hearing of the case.

It’s only a forum

Mr. Sani, the
director of CRC, speaking to NEXT immediately after the ruling,
confirmed that “the Sharia court judge just finished judgement and he
upheld the ban of Facebook and Twitter chat on the amputation.”

Mr. Sani said the
chat forum was launched on Twitter and Facebook two weeks ago and was
initially challenged by the Muslim Brotherhood Association of Nigeria.

“We (the CRC) are
utterly surprised at this ruling because we only wanted to create a
forum for people to hear their views on whether what happened is
justified or not,” he said. “This group (the Muslim Brotherhood
Association of Nigeria) approached us and appealed that we close the
chat that was already running online for about ten days, claiming that
people can come around to attack Sharia law and the amputation
doctrine.”

The group then filed a suit against the online debate at the Magajin Gari Sharia court on Friday, 19 March 2010.

Mr. Jangebe had his
right wrist amputated on March 22, 2000, for theft, making him the
first convict of the Sharia law, which 12 states in Northern Nigeria
adopted in 1999 shortly after the nation returned to civilian rule
following 15 years of military dictatorship.

Unnecessary debate?

Abu Sufyan,
chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood Association of Nigeria in Kaduna,
however told NEXT over a phone conversation that his organisation was
trying to protect the image of Islam by challenging such a debate.

“As Muslims, we see
no reason why there should be a debate on an issue that we believe is
our doctrine and which Jangebe (the amputee) himself did not contest
when it happened, because it is a doctrine we believe in,” he said.
“The issue concerns on the belief and Ideology of Islam, which is to
protect the Islamic rights which is bidding on all Muslims.”

Mr. Sanni however
insists that his group “shall not relent in our right to express our
views, therefore we are heading straight to the Upper Sharia court on
Monday to challenge this ruling and if we lose there, the battle moves
to the Sharia court of appeal and the Supreme Court in that order.”

Of freedom of expression

A lecturer in the
department of Journalism at the Lagos State University, Jide Jimoh,
however called the ruling ‘a sad development.’ “This manner of ruling
negates the Section 22 and 39 of the Nigerian constitution and goes
against all binding local and international instruments that guarantees
freedom of expression and association,” he said.

Gbenga Sesan, an
ICT consultant and social media expert, expressed amusement. “I laugh
because Facebook and Twitter are beyond the jurisdiction of the Sharia
court, noting that the server on which the information is hosted is not
in Nigeria,” he said.

However, he raised
the fear that the error of allowing this ruling to stay will create a
precedent for “that will be a huge assault on the freedom which the
internet provides.”

He advised the CRC
to create another group (in a physical space that cannot be touched by
a Kaduna-based court) and register new accounts while they ‘comply’
with the court ruling in the interest of avoiding the injection of
religious sentiments into the ongoing series of events.

“The internet is a
tricky place to issue or uphold rulings because of the free – and
possibly anonymous – nature of cyberspace,” he said.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, has gone to a Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

High Court in
Abuja, seeking an order committing Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo to
prison for allegedly publishing a libelous statement over his (Dikko)
certificate, and writing to the acting president on the matter.

Mr. Dikko, through
his Counsel, Amobi Nzelu, in a motion on notice brought pursuant to
order 41 Rule 2 of the Court Civil Procedure, said the actions amount
to contempt of court and “malicious and reckless” disobedience of an
order handed down by Abubakar Talba of the FCT High Court on October 7,
2009.

Specifically, Mr.
Nzelu in an affidavit in support of his motion on notice, said that
upon assumption of office by Mr Dikko as the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Mr. Keyamo and Scroll Publishing Limited and others, began to
publish libelous statements/publications against his client regarding
alleged forgery of certificates by the customs boss.

Attached to the
motion on notice was a letter sent to the acting president, Goodluck
Jonathan, by Mr. Keyamo titled “Forgery of certificates by the
Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko: the grand
cover-up”.

Mr. Nzelu said his
client filed an action in court restraining Mr. Keyamo from further
publishing the statements against him, and that on October 7, 2009, Mr.
Talba gave “an order of interim injunction restraining the
defendant/respondents, including the respondent who is the fourth
defendant/respondent in the suit, from publishing or further publishing
any libelous statement against him.” He said the order is still
subsisting and has not been vacated by the court, but that Mr. Keyamo,
in a flagrant disobedience of the court order, wrote a damaging letter
on Mr. Dikko to the acting president, which was copied to the Director
General of State Security Services (SSS), the National Security Adviser
(NSA), the Inspector General of Police, the Minister of Finance and the
Attorney General of the Federation.

Mr Keyamo’s letter,
which was attached to the suit, said in part: “I am totally ashamed
this minute to be a Nigerian as I write this. For more than six months
now, it has become public knowledge that the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Abdullahi Inde Dikko has been pointedly accused of forging his
WAEC Certificate and that of the Nigerian Institute of Management and
yet nothing has been done by the authorities up till this minute.

“I have decided to
bring this to your attention because what frustrated the investigation
before now is the family tie between Alhaji Dikko and Hajia Turai
Yar’Adua, the wife of the ailing president. This is because before now
I have written to ALL the security agencies on this matter, and all of
them developed cold feet because of Hajia Turai Yar’Adua.”

The letter further
asked for how long the nation can continue to tolerate a
Comptroller-General of Customs “whom the whole world knows has
questions to answer regarding the authenticity of his certificates and
who is being blackmailed left, right and centre by those who know but
have decided to cover him up? How can the Chief Security Officer of the
nation’s borders — land, air and sea — perform without fear or favour
with such an albatross hanging around his neck? The security and
economic implication of a Comptroller-General of Customs who is
susceptible to blackmail is very grave indeed and cannot be
over-emphasized.”

Legal militancy

Mr. Keyamo also
narrated how, on October 22, 2009, he secured an order at the Chief
Magistrates Court, Wuse Zone 6, for the police to probe the
certificates and report to the court, and how the police bluntly
refused to do anything about the matter.

“Curiously,
immediately the order was given, the Chief Judge of the FCT directed
the investigation of a spurious petition written by Mr. Dikko against
the magistrate, which petition was never served on us, and which
effectively stopped the progress of the case.

“In all of these,
there is a grand cover-up of this very, very messy issue and it is
causing all of us shame and embarrassment. Even a section of the press
that should uphold high standards in public life has blacked out the
issue and refused to talk about it. Instead, some hired goons of Alhaji
Dikko have taken out paid adverts attacking my person with the hope of
silencing me. I have remained unbowed because such attacks only
re-invigorate my determination to see to the end of this national
shame”.

Mr. Nzelu, in a
reply to the letter, said, “Despite the order of the court which has
not been set aside by any superior court or the same court, Festus
Keyamo went ahead on March 24, 2010, to circulate the malicious
publication concerning the person of our client. The only deduction
from the conduct of Festus Keyamo is that he feels he is above the law
and can get away from any thing. He will be proved wrong sooner than
later.

“Festus Keyamo
should confine himself within the norms of the profession by allowing
the court to determine this matter one way or the other. He should
equally season his language so that the dignity of this our cherished
profession will be intact. He should not sensationalise the matter nor
be allowed to overheat the polity of the nation. There is no militancy
in the legal profession. That, he must be told in no mistaken terms.”

The memory of
theatre legend, Hubert Ogunde came to the fore on Tuesday March 30 in
Abeokuta, Ogun State, at the launch of his complete musical works, now
packaged for public consumption.

The ceremony
attracted dignitaries and high ranking traditional rulers from across
the South-West, including the Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade; Owa Obokun
Ijesaland, Adekunle Aromolaran,Alake of Egbaland; Adedotun Gbadebo; and
Awujale of Ijebuland, Sikiru Adetona, among others.

The launch event,
held at the Hubert Ogunde Hall of the June 12 Cultural Centre in
Abeokuta, was also attended by the children of the late theatre guru,
both at home and from abroad. The programme was sponsored by the Ogun
State government.

The musical package
contains 95 tracks, all composed and performed by Ogunde, who died 20
years ago. The ceremony featured artistic performances, a screening of
Ogunde’s famous Yoruba film, Aropin N’Tenia, as well as a rendition of
his classic song, Yoruba Ronu.

The Ogun State
governor, Gbenga Daniel–who was accompanied to the venue by his
counterparts from Osun and Ekiti States, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Segun
Oni–later unveiled the work at the ceremony venue, which was filled to
capacity.

Ogunde’s offspring
trooped out to sing a number of their father’s favourite songs. As they
did so, many guests stood up in excitement.

Beneficial to all

Speaking on behalf
of the Ogunde family, one of his daughters, Sunbo Badamosi, said the
package of his musical work was for the benefit of all and sundry. She
also expressed the family’s appreciation to all who contributed to the
success of the package.

She added that plans were underway to revive the Ogunde Film
Village, while her father’s home in Ososa would soon be turned into a
museum for the benefit of culture. Badamosi also assured that the
family would not relent in their efforts to ensure that Ogunde’s legacy
lives on.

Gbenga Daniel, the Ogun State governor,
yesterday alleged that the Yoruba people have no common agenda, making
them “like a sheep without shepherd”.

Mr. Daniel, who spoke at a meeting of
governors and traditional rulers of the south west states held at the
Governor’s Lodge, Oke-Igbein, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said
the Yoruba race now wanders in the wilderness of disunity and
infighting. “Today, the Yoruba nation is in disarray and our people now
speak with Babel of tongues, with no common agenda in sight,” Mr.
Daniel said.

The state governor expressed doubt over
the emergence of a Messiah for the race, waxing biblical and asked
rhetorically, “Where is the Moses to lead our people out of its (their)
Egypt, and where, and when we can find the Joshua to lead Yoruba into
the land of her unity of purpose?”

He argued that what is noticeable is
the claim of leadership of a divided people, stressing that while all
desire to head the kingdom, none seems to ponder, in practical terms,
on the existential condition of the kingdom within an empire called
Nigeria.

Mythical curse

“Or are we condemned to the mythical curse of Alaafin Aole, as we wander aimlessly in the wilderness of disunity?” he asked.

He added that the
traditional rulers have a major role to play, to rally the people
behind an economic agenda for the benefit of their race.

“I dare say our
traditional rulers have much to do because of the general assumption
that they are fathers to all; and their respective stool is guaranteed,
not by the colour of the partisan politics, but by the custom and
tradition of their people.”

Some of the traditional rulers at the meeting included the Ooni of Ife and the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland.

Governors of
Plateau State’s neighbouring states will soon converge in Jos, the
capital of Plateau State, for an on-the-spot assessment of the causes
of the persistent ethno-religious conflicts in the area, with a view to
finding a lasting solution to it.

This resolution was
part of an agreement reached at a meeting of the Solomon Lar-led
Presidential Panel on Jos Crisis and the northern governors at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

The Acting
President, Goodluck Jonathan, presided over the meeting; governors and
deputy governors from Bauchi, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Taraba, Kano,
Adamawa and Plateau States were in attendance.

Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, reacted to the proposed tour of his state by his other colleagues:

“The northern
governors, in their last meeting, agreed that they will visit me in Jos
and we will sit down and look at the problems affecting the northern
states and Plateau to ensure that we get to the roots of these crises.

“It is Plateau
today, it could be somewhere else again. I don’t pray so. But it is
good that we sit down. Until we have peace in the north, it will be
difficult for investors to come and do business. Nobody will like to
come and set up a business and tomorrow, it will be set on fire.”

He said he expects
that when the governors meet, they will tell each other home truths as
leaders who have sworn to defend the constitution of the nation.

Pariah to investors

The governor argued
that the entire northern part of the country could become a pariah to
investors if there is continued unrest in the region, and that this
would further diminish its development fortunes. “Besides, the peace of
Plateau is the peace of the entire north,” he emphasised.

Mr. Lar, who was a
former governor of the state, also said the meeting is very important
because “the character and the nature of the problem have taken a new
dimension in the sense that those who are affected don’t live in one
place. They are all over the neighbouring states and when the
neighbouring governors have discussed with us, we will go back and take
the necessary action to implement what we have discussed.”

The date for the meeting is to be conveyed to the respective governors.