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If the Super Eagles
of Nigeria eventually lodge in the Hampshire Hotel, Ballito, Durban,
for the South Africa 2010 World Cup, and play in the final slated for
Soccer City, Johannesburg, on July 11, the Nigeria Football Federation
(NFF) would have saved $627, 000 (N94.3 million).

As the NFF
continues to insist on the Hampshire Hotel as base for the Eagles, it
emerged yesterday that it is the world football governing body FIFA,
and not the NFF, that will be paying for the Eagles accommodation
during the World Cup. Every player in the World Cup irrespective of
where they are from is eligible to $400 (N60,000) per day for hotel
accommodation and feeding.

Apart from the 23
players for each team, FIFA will also pay for 27 other officials
including coaches, media officers of the federation; 50 people in all.
Anyone not among the 50 will be responsibility of the federation.

This is clearly stated in FIFA regulation governing participation in the World Cup, under Article 36.

With Nigeria
settling for Hampshire Hotel which cost about 738 South Africa Rand
(About $100) per night, including breakfast, the NFF will be able to
save up to $350 on each player per day. Since the players are going to
pair two in a room, the NFF will be spending about $100 day per room
for two players thus saving $700 per day on the 23 players. Also, since
the 27 other people will probably be officials, coaches and the
federation’s media officer, who will stay alone, the NFF will save $300
on each of the 27 officials per day.

The Eagles will
move into the Hampshire Hotel Ballito on June 3. If the team crashs out
in the first round which ends on June 25, they would have stayed in the
hotel for 23 days, and the windfall that accrue to the NFF will be
$193, 200 on the players, and $186,300 on the officials.

But if the Eagles
make it to the final at Soccer City on July 11, and they continue to
stay at Hampshire Hotel, they would have stayed in the hotel for 38
days and the NFF would have made a total of $319,200 on the players and
$307, 800 on the officials. This amounts to $627,000 for the 38 days
that the Eagles will be in South Africa.

Other provisions in Article 36

The only
responsibility of the NFF and other participating member associations
will be adequate insurance cover for the whole delegation, players and
officials; board and lodging during the final competition in excess of
the amounts paid by FIFA and costs associated with additional members
of the association’s delegation in excess of 50 people.

Apart from the
$400 that FIFA is paying for each delegation per day, FIFA will bear
the costs of the following: a contribution towards the preparation
costs incurred by the participating member associations in accordance
with a set tariff to be fixed in due course by the FIFA Organising
Committee; business class air travel costs for 50 people from each
participating member association between a city to be designated by the
FIFA, a contribution towards the costs of board and lodging for 50
people from each participating member association in accordance with a
set tariff to be fixed in due course, (the tariff which was set
recently is $400 per head) starting five nights prior to each team’s
first match and ending two nights after its last match.

The FIFA Organising
Committee will determine these rates based on an average of rack rates
in the official venue-specific team hotels; doping control expenses.

Mum is still the
world from the NFF as its secretary and chairman are not reachable, but
a member of the board confirmed that FIFA has approved $400 per day for
all the member of delegation, that the 50 people will be entitled to
that amount. He also confirmed that all 50 will travel business class
at FIFA’s expense.

On why they federation settled for such hotel when FIFA has approved
$400 and they could get hotel that is five star for about $200, the
member said it is only the Chairman and the secretarye,Taiwo Ogunjobi
as well as others who inspected the hotel and made the choice that can
comment about that.

Sports

SPORT STONES: Who will miss Ndanusa?

When the first and
second list of ministers were released during the week and Sani
Ndanusa’s name was missing, sports buffs and fans celebrated.

For all his knowledge of sports, Ndanusa short’s spell was one we never pray to experience again.

His failure in all
area of sports administration and management strain the descriptive
power of any adjective. There are rumours of a final list, and members
of the sports family are praying that Ndanusa’s name will not be on
that list.

A look at the
present list reveals who may likely be the sports minister if
background is anything to go by. But who really cares about background.

Ndanusa’s failure has proved that being in sports for long does not make you a better manager.

The school of
thought that usually argues that the reason we have not fared well in
sports is because our past administrators do not eat, drink and sleep
sports before their appointment has been defeated, at least for now.

Ndanusa had a good
knowledge of sports before he was appointed, yet he is reputed as being
the worst sports minister ever since we returned to civil rule, and
that is why many are praying that he does not come back.

We will always
remember Abdulrahman Gimba for pulling down the Amos Adamu hegemony in
sports, Isaiah Mark Aku will be remembered for his battles with the
sports cabal which he won, Isa Muhammed, with all his faults, will be
remembered for leading Nigeria to win the Abuja 2003 All Africa Games,
these are guys without a background in sports.

But what can we remember a bonafide member of the sports fraternity for if eventually he does not come back.

Agenda for the next minister

One of the first
agendas for the new sports minister is to clean the mess that Ndanusa
left. This begins with salvaging our preparation for the Commonwealth
games. As today, Ndanusa and officials of the National Sports
Commission have not done anything about Team Nigeria’s preparation for
the games.

The only thing
related to the Commonwealth Games is planning to pull Team Nigeria out
of the control of the Nigeria Olympics Committee. As at today,
officials of the National Sports Commission are planning to join the
Commonwealth Games Association. The reason for this is simply parochial
and pure nepotism. The calculation is, if Ndanusa does not get elected
as the president of NOC, he will be the president of CGA.

While millions of
Naira is being spent on this project, and hosting of association
chairmen who will vote for Ndanusa in the election, athletes are crying
for training grants and money owned them since 2008. For Nigeria to
have a good appearance in New Delhi, the new minister of sports must,
as matter of urgency, pay athletes that are being owned. The likes of
Damola Osayomi, Nurudeen Salem and Halimat Muhammed, and a host of
other track and field athletes have made up their minds to boycott the
games unless their money is paid. Apart from athletes, officials and
ex-athletes are owned millions of naira. One keeps wondering what
happened to all the money appropriated for athletics in the last few
years if the federation has so much debt.

Government
resources that are being wasted on Ndanusa’s inordinate ambition to
become the NOC president can be used to pay the athletes.

But it is not just
athletics, the other sports like boxing, basketball, volleyball,
tennis, weight-lifting, wrestling, judo and other are facing similar
problems, if not worse.

The states of our
stadia are terrible. There are no facilities and equipment for
athletes, and one could go on and list the challenges.

The new minister
may not be able to solve these problems due to the shortage of time as
the administration ends in May 2011, but the new minister can avert the
pending disaster of the Commonwealth Games by paying athletes their
dues so we could win a medal or two in New Delhi.

The minister must also probe the Hoddlegate scandal and get to the bottom of the bribery scandal.

Was Glen Hoddle
lying or did the members of the panel actually demanded bribe from him.
I tend to believe Hoddle’s story because if Hoddle had played the ball,
he would have gotten the job and everybody would have kept quiet.

The new minister
must unveil the member of the panel that demanded money from Hoddle, he
must also let Nigerians know why Lars Lagerback who was earning about
$300,000.00 per annum in Sweden suddenly increased in value and he is
now going to earn $1.5 millions in five months. Who negotiated on
behalf of Nigeria, did they ask for Lagerback’s last pay slip. If they
did and saw what he earned, why the astronomic jump in salary, or was
it a case of Lagerback co-operating where Hoddle did not give them a
separate invoice for his wage and the kick back.

The task before the new sports minister is huge and I don’t envy him
at all. So who will miss Ndanusa? The cabal that are feeding from
sports, his election spin doctors and sports marketers.

Sports

Nigeria, last among equals

After a guided tour
of all the nook and crannies of Hampshire Hotel, Ballito,
KwaZulu-Natal, where the Super Eagles of Nigeria will camp for the
South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, which begins from June 11, the
General Manager of the hotel, Rodney Bull, still finds it difficult to
show this reporter, Aisha Falode of AIT Television, and two other
journalists based in South Africa, rooms in the hotel with two separate
beds.

All the rooms we
inspected had single beds. Falode and this reporter insisted on seeing
rooms with double beds, since players normally stay two in room.

For the umpteenth time we asked again. “Just give me a minute, they will get the keys,” Mr. Bull responded.

We were in Ballito for about two hours, and we never saw the rooms with separate beds.

Are the boys going
to be sleeping two on a single bed? We could not answer the question
since Bull did not show us rooms with two separates beds, nor inform us
that the hotel is making arrangements for rooms with two separates beds
before our boys arrive.

But it wasn’t just
absence of double beds in the rooms that arose our curiosity. The
swimming pool in the hotel is the size that you find in most residence
buildings. Small swimming pools that at best, could only be used by two
or three adults at most at a time. When we asked Mr. Bull if the hotel
has another pool elsewhere, he said no. Any plan to build one before
our boys arrive, the answer is also no.

So assuming after training about five or six of our boys and they want to swim, what will happen?

“That is the pool we have. The players and the other guests in the hotel will use it.”

We looked at each other in amazement. Share pool with guests? Other guests in a camp for players competing in the World Cup?

We got the biggest
shock when we got to the gymnasium. Apart from its small size, it
lacked the equipment and facilities one finds in a modern gym for
average athletes, how much more of those campaigning in the World Cup.
Like the swimming pool, Mr. Bull told us our players will share the gym
with other guests.

The rooms, the
swimming pool and the gym are not the only problem with the interior,
when we visited last month. Men were still at work, putting finishing
touches to ensure that the hotel is ready for the Eagles. A manager who
identified himself as Vijay promised that the hotel will be 100% ready
before the Eagles arrive Ballito.

Nature of Ballito

When the Nigeria
Football Federation said it has found a base for Eagles in Ballito,
anybody who is familiar with South Africa will be delighted, because
Ballito is a holiday resort renowned for its excellent hotels.

Established in 1954
as a private town by the Glen Anil Development Corporation, it is about
40 minutes away from Durban. The town has been voted as the most
popular holiday resort many times. Ballito boasts an abundance of
sporting clubs and hotels.

As we drove to
Ballito, we all commend the NFF decision to get a base for the Eagles
in such a popular and exclusive holiday resort.

But our
commendation soon changed into condemnation when our driver pointed at
the hotel from the highway, “that is Hampshire Hotel.” He pointed to
the right, “we just need to turn at the untarred road and we will be
there in two minutes.” No, this can not be the hotel for our Eagles.
Maybe this is just the hotel annex, and the main hotel should be
somewhere.

One thing that
struck one was that the hotel was still under construction, the
security is porous, there is no fence, and there is no plan to
construct one, and it is located by the roadside. In Nigeria where
hotels are very expensive, when Eagles are playing the World Cup
qualifiers in Lagos, they stay in TransCorp Hilton, Le Meriden, Lagos
Sheraton or Eko Holiday Inn and Suites when they play in Lagos. So, in
South Africa, why take them to hotels in the category of two or three
stars?

Ballito is just 40
minutes away from Durban, the city with the highest population of
Nigerians in South Africa, so who will stop fans from invading the
hotels? With Nigerian police that apply force, it is a Herculean task
controlling fans from invading Eagles camp when they stay in fenced
hotels in Abuja and Lagos. How will it be with the South African
police?

If the hotel is not
good enough, the training pitch located at Ashton International
College, Ballito, a few minutes from the hotel, is in terrible shape.
Joe Erasmus, who introduced himself as Senior College Head, said the
entire community is delighted to have the Eagles in Ballito. Erasmus
said the school has made history after being chosen by the Eagles.
Asked how the Eagles will train on a pitch that is in bad condition. He
replied that he didn’t want trouble, so he would rather not comment on
that. But there has to be a miracle between now and June 3 before the
Eagles could train on the pitch.

Our opponents’ hotels

Whereas the Eagles
are still talking about the suitability or not of hotel and training
pitch, their opponents have put that behind them. Argentina, the
country Nigeria will play come June 12, seem to have the best base of
all the 32 teams competing at the World Cup.

Diego Maradona and
boys have chosen the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre
(HPC), which is Southern Africa’s first elite performance sports
facility. It boasts of world-class training facilities, medical
services, accommodation, nutritional food, scientific expertise,
research and hospitality. The facility has local and international
reputation for excellence and success.

Greece, another opponent of the Eagles, will be staying at Beverly Hills Hotel, Umhlanga Rocks,

KwaZulu Natal. This
hotel is renowned for its superb personal service and luxury
accommodation. It overlooks the Indian Ocean, and offers glorious views
of miles of unspoilt beaches.

South Korea,
another country in our group, will be based at Hunters Rest, a paradise
beautifully situated in the foothills of the Magaliesberg just outside
Rustenburg. This 6000-hectare resort, boasts many splendid facilities
that help to make it one of the most sought after destinations in South
Africa.

For Algeria, they
have chosen Zimbali Hotel, a 370 hectare (925 acre) residential and
resort estate, located on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. The hotel
overlooks the incredible Indian Ocean. Its golf course is the first in
Africa to be designed by former British Open and South African Open
champion, Tom Weiskopf.

Our not so rich
neighbour, Cameroon, will be based at The Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga.
A review of the hotel by Sunday Tribune gives an insight into what it
look like: “The grand dame of local hotels, the Oyster Box, is about to
step back on the stage – not treading gently but making a sweeping
entrance. It’s been no ordinary revamp. The new Oyster Box Hotel
splashes of colour, elegant bedrooms, a cool blue terrace, exotic
detail and attentive staff like porter, Smanga Mthethwa.”

Another not so rich
neighbour, Cote d’ Ivore, will be based at Riverside Hotel and
Conference Centre. This unique hotel and conference centre is situated
on the banks of the Vaal River (See box for list team hotels and Google
their names for information and images).

Lagerback on Eagles’ base

Surprisingly, the
Eagles coach, Lars Lagerback, was said to have inspected the Eagles
hotel and was said to have been pleased at what he saw, said the Media
Coordinator, Idah Peterside.

“We visited the
hotel and the coach is very happy with it. The place has been renovated
and put in the right shape for the World Cup and it has been approved
by FIFA. So, we don’t foresee any problems. We also looked at the
training ground and the pitch is in good shape,” Peterside said.

If Lagerback is
satisfied, as Peterside told the media, then the Swede’s standard and
taste must have taken a spiralling fall from the time he took Sweden to
World Cup in 2006.

For the Germany
2006 World Cup, Lagerback chose The Park Hotel, Bremen, as base. The
hotel is one of the Leading Hotels of the World, a perfect combination
of a country idyll and city life (See image of Park Hotel and compare
with Hampshire Hotel).

A diplomat with the
Nigeria High Commission in Johannesburg said he was disgusted when he
saw the hotel. He claimed that NFF members did not contact the High
Commission before they settled for the hotel.

He said the hotel is insecure, and it does not befit Nigeria.

“Go and look at
where other countries are staying and look at where Nigeria is staying;
it does not befit us. There is no security, the gym and the pool are
sub-standard. Well, we don’t have any problem with NFF, we will get in
touch with Rotimi Amechi.

“The Presidential
Task Force seems to have all the money. We will get a befitting hotel
for the Eagles. Lulu and NFF members can stay in Hampshire Hotel,”
said the diplomat.

Sports

Ondo to close 200 unregistered schools

Ondo to close 200 unregistered schools

In
the wake of last week’s accident involving tens of pupils of an
unregistered school in the state, the Ondo State government has
announced plans to tackle the spread of mushroom nursery and primary
schools in the state.

The State
Commissioner for Education, Adenike Fatogun, said at a news conference
in Akure on Monday that the state government was not happy with the
spread of illegal schools in the state and that new guidelines for
operators of private schools in the state have been finalised with a
view to reducing quackery in the educational system.

“The state
government could no longer fold its arms and allow mediocrity to ruin
the future of the pupils who are supposed to be the future leaders,”
Mrs. Fatogun said. “We are totally dissatisfied about the operation of
some nursery and primary schools in the state and that is why we are
reviewing the guidelines to make sure that they conform with the normal
standard obtainable in anywhere across the country.” An official of the
state Ministry of Education in Akure said no fewer than 200 unapproved
nursery and primary schools have been recommended for closure in the
state.

“Area Education
Officers (AEO) in the 18 local governments in the state have also been
directed to inspect all private schools in their jurisdictions and
verify whether they are registered with the state government,” he said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

Packed like sardines

“The Education
Officers are also saddled with the responsibility of ascertaining
whether the facilities and environment where these schools operate meet
the required standard.” The Commissioner also said government would no
longer tolerate the way some schools load pupils inside the school
buses like sardines.

“Government will no longer tolerate the use of rickety buses to transport students to school.

We have discovered
that some schools packed pupils inside the school bus like sardines.
Such act is highly dangerous and needs to be tackled urgently,” she
said.

The Commissioner,
who also decried the way some school buses carry pupils to schools,
said she personally intercepted two school buses in Akure during the
week which were overloaded with pupils.

While advising
parents to be concerned about the security and welfare of their
children, Mrs. Fatogun warned that any private school in the state that
violates government’s directive will have its license revoked.

She disclosed that
the ministry will soon commence new registration of all private schools
in the state with a view to re-branding the educational sector and
identify quacks who only run schools for their selfish reasons.

De Soto lectures Nigerians on the Rule of Law

De Soto lectures Nigerians on the Rule of Law

Renowned Peruvian
economist, Hernando De Soto, has urged Nigerian leaders to focus on
utilisation of the nation’s resources to build a system of Rule of Law
for the country.

Mr. De Soto, who
was the lead discussant at the second annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium
held at the Muson Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos yesterday, also asked
Nigerians to come together and find a common ground to define a system
that will work for everyone.

Speaking on the
topic: ‘This House Must Stand! Pulling Nigeria back from the brink’,
the president of the Lima-based Institute of Leadership and
Development, which is revered as one of the two most important
think-tanks in the world, described the rule of law as an opposite to
anarchy. This, according to Mr. De Soto, “is not chaos” as “anarchy is
a situation where different types of laws operate.”

Mr. De Soto, the
author of a best seller, The Mystery of Capital; Why Capitalism
Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, explained that
formalisation of the nation’s resources from human to material
resources gives value to resources which then will enhance the world to
relate with it.

Comparing the
development of the West to the poor regions of the world, the economist
wondered that despite the technology and education bestowed on the poor
nations over the last five decades, “they remain the same.”

“We have refused to
learn how they formalised their economy to make it work for them over
the years. Formalisation is getting things under the Rule of Law, which
is invariably securing things. Rules fall into place and make people
that do not know each other deal with each other. The Rule of Law is
needed for people across the globe to work with each other.”

Femi Falana, a
member of the panel of discussants, however demanded that the concept
of the Rule of Law must be redefined globally. Mr. Falana argued that
the concept must be redefined from the way the West has defined it and
called for a new international economic order which he referred to as
“a just rule of law.”

“The Nigerian house has fallen and we are trying to re-build the house by the Rule of Law,” Mr. Falana said.

Middle class action

Maryam Uwais, who
was recently appointed on the Presidential advisory committee to the
Vice President, called on all Nigerians to “focus on a larger picture;
we need to think beyond the fragments that divide us.” Babatunde
Ahonsi, a former senior program officer with the Ford Foundation, said
that Nigeria’s problem is a twined crisis of government and
development. He argued that for the Rule of Law to work in Nigeria, the
middle class must jettison the habit of ‘siddon look’, which he said is
an attitude that ignores the happenings in the nation. He also called
on the middle class to connect with progressive members of the elite
who are interested in making Nigeria great again by “using what we
have, by coming together to form a vanguard that will let Nigerians
come together and rebuild the nation.”

The annual colloquium is organised by a committee of friends to mark
the birthday of the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, to
discuss topical issues affecting Nigeria.

Robbery syndicate in aviation handling firm apprehended

Robbery syndicate in aviation handling firm apprehended

The Murtala

Mohammed Airport (MMA) Police Command on Monday announced the arrest of

a group of employees with the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company

(NAHCO), alleged to have been stealing from the aviation firm.

The process of the

arrest, which came after the group broke into the ground handling

company’s warehouse and made away with two plasma television sets and a

carton containing 100 mobile phones, commenced on March 23, following a

report to the police.

“We quickly moved

into action by arresting one Sunday John, a staff of NAHCO, who led

detectives to his house in Otta, Ogun State,” said Danazumi Doma,

Commissioner of Police MMA Command, at the police headquarters, Lagos.

Mr. Doma disclosed

that 21 pieces of “expensive” wristwatches and seven automatic electric

door handles believed to have been stolen, were also recovered from the

suspect’s apartment, adding that through Mr. John, the command

apprehended two other employees of the company involved in the crime.

“Through the first

suspect, two members of the syndicate, namely Alen Akin and Ahulor

Alexander, all staff of NAHCO, were also picked up and the remaining

items stolen from the warehouse on the night of March 22, were

recovered,” he said.

Confirming the

arrest of the syndicate, an employee at the aviation handling company,

who asked to remain anonymous, disclosed that the arrest of the group

was the right thing to do, adding that it was unfortunate to figure out

that the perpetrators of the crime were workers in the company.

“Their arrest is

the best thing at this time, although no one had expected that the

thieves will be employees of NAHCO,” the source said.

The MMA police commissioner stated that the suspects will be prosecuted according to the demands of the law.

“All those involved will be charged to court as soon as we conclude our investigations,” he said.

Mr. Doma further

disclosed that the police has been able to eliminate violent crime at

Lagos airports, adding that there has been “drastic” reduction in the

forging and faking of receipts, invoices, and other documents used to

fraudulently clear cargoes at the various aviation ground handling

companies.

“Touting at MMIA has reduced and we have been able to record

considerable success in the war against commercial motorcycle (okada)

operators at the airports,” he said.

Dismiss suit against me, urges Jonathan

30/03/2010 nigeriang One comment

Dismiss suit against me, urges Jonathan

Even as the Senate
yesterday commenced the screening of ministerial nominees sent by our
acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, hearing in a suit that Farouk
Aliyu, a former House of Representatives member filed, continued in
Abuja.

Mr. Aliyu, in the
suit, is challenging the resolution of the National Assembly that
sanctioned the elevation of Mr. Jonathan to acting president. He is
challenging the National Assembly’s resolution of February 9, and
asking that a Federal High Court declares it illegal. The defendants in
the suit include the acting president, Attorney General and Minister of
Justice, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Acting President Jonathan asked the court to dismiss the suit challenging his acting position.

The acting
president’s position is shared by the former Attorney General of the
Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Adetokunbo Kayode, who is the
fourth respondent in the suit.

The defendants,
including the Senate and the House of Representatives, told the court
that it would be in the interest of justice to strike out or dismiss
the suit.

They argued that it disclosed no cause of action, adding that it lacked locus standi.

Canvassing more
grounds upon which the court, presided over by Adamu Bello, should
throw out the suit, the former AGF in his notice of preliminary
objection, noted that the suit did not disclose any reasonable cause of
action. Besides, he prayed the court to dismiss the suit because there
was no dispute between the plaintiff, Mr. Jonathan and the AGF, even as
he asked the court to hold that the “suit is an abuse of court process”.

Similarly, Ken
Ikonne, who also challenged the suit on behalf of the Senate,
emphasised that the plaintiff lacked locus standi in respect of the
suit.

But counsel to
plaintiff, Victor Kalu, prayed the court to declare the resolution of
the National Assembly on Jonathan as illegal and unconstitutional.

The case was adjourned to April 20, for further hearing.

Jonathan affirms commitment to free polls

Jonathan affirms commitment to free polls

The acting
president, Goodluck Jonathan on Monday restated our federal
government’s determination to strengthen Nigeria’s electoral laws, to
ensure credible elections in our country.

Speaking during an
audience with members of the Alumni Association of the National
Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (AANI) led by its president,
Jani Ibrahim, Mr. Jonathan observed that, with the amendment of the
electoral laws and the cooperation and support of Nigerians, free and
fair elections would be possible.

Mr. Jonathan also
commended members of the association for their immense contributions in
offering advice on several policy issues, and assured that “government
would do its best to tackle the issues of power and security,
especially kidnapping which have become a source of great concern”.

He called on
Nigerians to always aim at doing things that will promote our country,
noting that “there is no other country we can call our own”.

Pursue good governance

Mr. Ibrahim said
the association noted the huge potentials our country is endowed with
and was hopeful that the Acting President’s tenure will record giant
strides, especially in resolving the urgent challenges our country
currently faces in power supply, ethno- religious crisis, corruption
and electoral reform.

Mr. Ibrahim said
history has shown that it is not necessarily the length of a government
that matters, but the decisiveness and eventfulness of its tenure.

He thus urged the
acting president to use the tremendous goodwill he enjoys to vigorously
pursue good governance and resolve the many issues that plague our
nation today.

Ogun protesters seek governor’s intervention

Ogun protesters seek governor’s intervention

Some indigenes of
the Ogun West Senatorial District yesterday caused huge traffic jam for
hours in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, following their peaceful
protest over the two ministerial nominees from Ogun State.

The protesters,
who stormed the major streets of the town, were seen carrying placards
denouncing the list. The protesting Yewa/ Awori, who are also
clamouring to produce the next governor for the state, trekked through
Ita-Oshin, Oke-Sokori, Ita-Eko, Ibara, Omida, Oke-Ilewo, Oke-Igbein,
Kuto and Presidential Boulevard before finally stopping at Governor’s
Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

They took their grouse and complaint against the ministerial list to the governor, Gbenga Daniel.

“This is the sixth
ministerial nominations and appointments from Ogun State since 1999,
without a single person from Ogun West,” the protesters said.

The protesters
were received by the governor, Mr. Gbenga Daniel and his deputy,
Salimot Badru-Makanjuola, who incidentally is from Ogun West Senatorial
District.

Kayode Ajibola, the leader of the protesters, said their action was planned to claim their rights.

“There are three
senatorial districts in each of the states of the federation. Two of
them, that is Ogun Central and Ogun East, have cornered all federal
appointments. It is not only unfair, it is ungodly. Who wants to create
another Delta-like militants in Ogun State?” A leader of the area, Ayo
Otegbola, said the district was fighting a just cause. “We have the
right in all standard to have a slot,” he said, noting that the zone
had since 1999 being agitating for equal representation in the state.

Mr. Daniel, who
looked worried over the rejection of his nominees and their
replacements, Jubril Martins-Kuye and Nojeem Alao, said the protest
came at the right time.

Blame the cabal

He assured the
protesters that the letter of complaint submitted to him, would be
taken to Abuja for Mr. Jonathan’s necessary action, just as he warned
the protesters to avoid violence.

“It is good that
you protest. I want to assure you that Ogun West is important in Ogun
State. Your loyalty must therefore be reciprocated,” he said.

Mr. Daniel also attributed his political travails to ‘some cabal’
whom he said operate only for their selfish interest. He was for the
first time reacting to the rejection of his ministerial nominees by the
federal government.

Ekiti lawmakers protest reduction of constituencies

29/03/2010 nigeriang No comments

Ekiti lawmakers protest reduction of constituencies

Members
of the Ekiti State House of Assembly at the weekend rejected the
reduction of the constituencies in the state from 26 to 24 by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The lawmakers also
resolved to send a delegation to the National Assembly to protest what
they described as a slap on the people of the state.

A unilateral reduction?

The chairman of the
House Committee on Information, Adebayo Morakinyo, said it is wrong by
any standard for any commission or government agency to unilaterally
reduce the number of constituencies in Ekiti State without consulting
the people of the state.

The two constituencies removed from the present 26 are Ekiti East and Oye constituencies.

“The assembly
received a letter from the Independent National Electoral Commission
over the matter, stating that the result of the 2006 National
Population and Housing Census was used to arrive at the decision to
increase the number of constituencies in some other states,” Mr.
Morakinyo, a Peoples Democratic Party legislator, said. “The action is
not only an injustice of the highest order, but also a slap on the
entire people of Ekiti State. I don’t know the business of INEC in
reducing the constituencies of Ekiti State. This matter does not
concern local governments; constituencies don’t receive allocations
from the Federal Government allocations are given to states and local
governments.”

He said the state
assembly would not accept the reduction carried out by INEC, and urged
the National Assembly to throw INEC’s recommendations into the dustbin.

‘Battle ready’

Mr. Morakinyo added
that the electoral body has nothing to gain by promoting a reduction
when the people of the state are clamouring for an increase from 26 to
32 constituencies.

The deputy speaker,
Saliu Adeoti, criticised the merging of Ekiti East and Oye
Constituencies, saying Ekiti people would not accept the reduction.

“We have 26
constituencies and we were expecting six more to be created; but they
are saying that they have reduced by two. We say no to constituency
reduction in Ekiti State, we will not accept anything less than 26. We
want six more to be created and that is our position,” Mr. Adeoti, who
is an Action Congress member, said.

Mr. Adeoti said the
lawmakers will summon a meeting with traditional rulers, leaders of
various political parties and the National Assembly’s leadership to
find a lasting solution to the INEC decision.

“It (is) sad that the constituencies which were overpopulated were
not split; rather INEC decided to reduce the number of constituencies
in the state from 26 to 24.The whole of Ekiti Stat is battle ready to
correct the injustice meted on the people of the state by INEC,” he
said.