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About 200 corps
members of Ondo State origin who were evacuated from some northern
states arrived Akure yesterday. The corps members who converged in
Bauchi State before they were moved to Akure, were received at the
government house by the state governor, Olusegun Mimiko.

“Government must do
something for them,” he said. “Those who have completed their
programme, we will give them jobs. During the Jos crisis, we did
similar thing, they have been asked to come back on Thursday to address
their complaints.” Mr Mimiko urged indigenes of Ondo State not to allow
the incident to douse their sense of patriotism and remain committed to
fostering national unity and development.

“Every country
goes through her own difficult times, but I still encourage you to
still appreciate the fact that Nigeria is a wonderful country, a great
nation. Our manifest destiny is that Nigeria will be a leader of
nations,” Mr Mimiko said.

United Nigeria

While commending
President Goodluck Jonathan for the matured way in which he had been
handling the crisis, Mr Mimiko said, “no matter how insurmountable the
situation had been in the past, Nigeria had always come out more united
and strong and I believe this will not be an exception.” Fisayo
Ogunmola, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, commended the state
government for its prompt response to the situation, a development
which he noted had further re-invigorated their confidence in the
government’s concern for the welfare of its citizens.

“We want to
appreciate the government’s quick response to our plight and the
demonstration of its caring heart posture which had saved our future as
the country’s leaders,” he said.

The state government, according to Ogunmola, provided logistic support for their movement to their various destinations.

Ogun State

Similarly, in
Abeokuta, state officials also received some 150 youth corps members
brought back to the state in two luxurious buses and taken to the
Moshood Abiola Stadium, before they later left to their various homes.

The Ogun State
Commissioner for Environment, Olukoya Adeleke-Adedoyin, who led an
earlier rescue mission during the crisis in Plateau State said the
state government will accommodate those who do not want to go back to
their station.

“The government must have a rethink about this NYSC scheme. People
who come from the North that are serving here, we don’t harm or kill
them. The journey was very terrible. No food, no water, nothing to eat,
they really suffered a lot.” He said.

The police yesterday arrested some journalists during a morning raid on a printing establishment in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

In what some people
have described as the effort of the state government to muzzle media
establishment known to be strong critics of government ahead of today’s
state elections, policemen numbering about 12 were said to have stormed
Aswill printing press ,located along Akpan Etuk Street, in Uyo at about
12am on Monday.

Managing Editor of
Pivot Newspapers, Clifford Thomas, who was one of the persons arrested
by the police at the printing press, said the men came in fully armed
and asked to see the manager and director of the establishment.

The manager, the
director and some other staff of the press were taken away by the
police. Mr Thomas and his staff were subsequently released when no
incriminating evidence against the government was found in their
publication.

During the raid, Mr
Thomas and his men were ordered to sit on the floor, their phones and
other communication gadgets were seized. Narrating his experience to
NEXT, Mr Thomas said the leader of the police team told him that the
deputy commissioner of Police instructed them to come to the printing
press and check for anything that might be construed as an attack on
the state governor.

“The police were
quite polite; they did not beat or harass anybody, except that the
experience of being taken off your work when you were progressing at a
speed and they stopped you was very traumatic,” he said. “The leader of
the police team informed me that he was acting on instruction. He said
the deputy Commissioner of Police instructed them to come to the
printing press and check those newspapers or anything that is an attack
on Godswill Akpabio.”

Gagging the media

“To swamp on a
printing press that was merely printing newspapers show that there is
no freedom of the press and the fundamental rights of people have been
breached. I don’t think they want democracy to survive. Democracy
thrives on free press,” he said.

Editor-in-Chief of
Insight Newspapers, one of the papers printed at the raided printing
press, David Augustine, confirmed that the printing press was actually
raided and that copies of Global Concord newspaper were taken away. He
however said his newspapers were not seized by the police.

“The target of the
raid was not myself or my paper,” he said, adding that he could not
ascertain the motive behind the raid as he was not there.

When the Police Public Relations Officer, Onyekaozuru Orji was contacted on the issue, he feigned ignorance.

The Ekiti State
Police Command has mobilized 7,500 police officers that will work with
the State Security Service, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps
and other paramilitary organisations during the elections in the state
today.

The spokesperson of
the police in the state, Jimoh Mohammed, who made the disclosure in a
telephone interview, said the officers have started displaying a ‘show
of Force’ to alert the populace that they are ground.

Mr Jimoh said the
officers will provide adequate security for election officials and the
electorate to facilitate the success of the polls.

He also said no
police orderly would be allowed to escort their principals to the
polling units during today’s elections in consonance with the
guidelines for the conduct of the elections

Also, the Resident
Electoral Commissioner in Ekiti State, Halilu Hussaini Pai yesterday
disclosed that all materials for the conduct of today’s National and
State Assembly elections have been distributed to the Electoral
Officers in the sixteen Council Areas of the State.

Mr. Pai in a chat
with journalists in Ado Ekiti, said the electorate would witness prompt
take off of the accreditation exercise and voting in all the 177 wards
and 2, 195 units across the State.

He promised that
the Commission will conduct free, fair and credible elections, advising
members of political parties to be law abiding and orderly during the
polls.

Mr. Pai called on
all the security agencies in the state to fully enforce the restriction
of human and vehicular movement tomorrow.

The governor of the
State, Kayode Fayemi, has threatened to deal with anyone who foments
trouble during the conduct of the National and State Assembly elections
in the state.

The governor, who
made the statement while distributing 100 motorcycles to some
commercial motorcyclists at the Government House yesterday, urged the
electorate to troop out en masse and cast their votes for the best
candidates.

Mr Fayemi assured
that all measures had been put in place to ensure the security of lives
and property during and after the elections.

He urged the people
to remain committed to the ongoing electoral process and eschew any act
that could disrupt the peace of the state.

Meanwhile, a
detachment of soldiers that were drafted into the state has taken
strategic positions in all the sixteen local government areas of the
state.

Ahead of tomorrow’s
2011 gubernatorial election, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and
the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Jigawa State, have entered into
what they described as a “local” political alliance against the state
governor.

Speaking to newsmen
in Kano over the weekend, the Jigawa State ANPP governorship candidate,
Ibrahim Hassan, said the decision was reached, following an exhaustive
discussion between the two parties on how to defeat the ruling party
PDP in the state.

Mr Hassan revealed
that talks between the governorship candidates have been on for about
two weeks, pointing out that discussion with the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) is equally on, saying that an agreement would
be reached before the election on Tuesday.

A strong team

“Legally speaking,
based on the Electoral Act, most of the windows of alliances and
mergers have been closed as you are aware now it is not possible to
even substitute a candidate but what we have is a sort of political
understanding between us for the purpose of the election,” he said.

He said the
decision was taken after a thorough consideration of the outcome of the
previous elections, alleging that the ruling party, the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) tilted the elections in its favour, despite the
assurance given by INEC that the conduct of the elections would be
credible.

He further lamented
that the PDP took advantage of the ignorance of the people, especially
those in rural communities through financial inducements, to win the
last National Assembly elections in the state, pointing out that such
intrigues by the ruling party would be tackled at the forthcoming polls.

He remained
confident that the inter-party political arrangement in the state, will
succeed, and would be extended to other opposition parties.

The Conference of
Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has called on President Goodluck
Jonathan to consider ability during the composition of his cabinet,
saying his appointments should be based on competence and integrity
instead of party affiliation.

The Secretary
General of the group, Willy Ezugwu said in Abuja yesterday that: “We
are very much aware that there are already talks of a government of
national unity; an all inclusive government; and a government that will
compensate those who worked for the emergence of President Jonathan.
All these less reasons are not enough as determinants of the people the
president should appoint,” he said.

The coalition said
it is on record that forming a government of national unity is usually
an excuse for the ruling class to appoint or nominate friends and
family members and, in some cases, outrightly incompetent cronies to
occupy public offices at the detriment of the people.

Competence needed

“Whether
considering his PDP members or members of any other party joining his
government, President Jonathan must remember that Nigerians voted for
him and not his party, which rates poorly among the populace anyway.
The least President Jonathan can do is to populate his cabinet with the
best brains Nigeria has to offer home and abroad as there is no short
supply of these.” The CNPP scribe said.

He said it is also crucial that the competent people who the president will appoint are shielded from the influence of the PDP.

“The election is over, party and ethnic considerations with other
forms of cronyism are done away with from this moment and should
instead be replaced by national interest,” he said.

In order to secure
the support of former president Ibrahim Babangida for his second term
bid, Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has reportedly
promised to help Mohammed, the former president’s son, to succeed him
in 2015, NEXT has learnt.

Mr Aliyu, who is a
cousin of Mr Babangida has also contacted Mohammed’s two sisters, Aisha
Shinkafi who is married to the governor of Zamfara State, and Halima,
the last child, to seek their support for his re-election. Aminu
Babangida who is the second son is said to be largely unavailable
because he mostly lives abroad.

Sources say
although the former military President has not made any public comments
in support of Mr Aliyu’s candidacy, Mohammed’s siblings have began in
various ways to campaign for the incumbent who is the PDP candidate in
tomorrow’s election.

Halima is
reportedly more excited by the idea of her brother becoming the state
governor in four year’s time and has taken the matter to heart,
campaigning a little more vigorously for Mr Aliyu’s reelection. On the
eve of the gubernatorial election yesterday, she met with some opinion
leaders in Zone C, which is overwhelmingly a CPC stronghold, to
convince them of the merits of voting back the governor.

Our source said she
made the argument that it is better for the incumbent to get a second
term than allowing anyone else from another zone to win the polls which
might deny the zone their chance for another eight years.

Our turn

The governor has
been eager to reverse the tide of opposition against the PDP in the
zone. The first non PDP senator in the state emerged from the zone
during the parliamentary election, and the people voted en masse for
Muhammadu Buhari two Saturdays ago.

Mrs Shinkafi has also made phone calls to many opinion moulders, urging them to support Mr Aliyu’s bid.

The Babangida
children have for the most part lived in Minna, but their father’s
birthplace is Wushishi which falls under zone C. According to the PDP
zoning arrangement in the state, the zone is billed to produce the next
governor of the state after the tenure of the incumbent who hails from
zone B.

Sources say
Mohammed has since gone to Wushishi to acquire a PDP membership card so
that he would be well placed to launch his campaign from there at the
appropriate time.

Uneasy friendship

The governor who
assumed office in 2007 has had an uneasy relationship with retired
General Babangida whom he had on more than one occasion traduced in the
media. He once suggested that Mr Babangida’s tenure as president
contributed to the backwardness of the north.

The governor has
never shown the former president the kind of fawning adoration he got
from the previous governor of the state, Abdullahi Abdulkhadir Kure,
who treated the Babangidas like royalty. Unlike Mr. Kure who got the
job partly as a result of the support of Mr Babangida, Mr Aliyu, a
lifelong bureaucrat owed his position to the patronage of Olusegun
Obasanjo who was then Nigeria’s president.

Mr. Babangida had
preferred another candidate, Muhammadu Gunna, who won a controversial
PDP governorship primary but couldn’t contest in the election because
he was under investigation by the EFCC for money laundering.

The overtures

However, as the
governorship election approached the governor’s popularity waned, no
thanks to a series of unkept promises and the Buhari phenomenon which
engulfed most of the north. His confidence of winning the polls
nosedived when in two successive elections he lost in his polling unit.

Since then, the
governor has sent emissaries to all those with whom he has had a
falling out. About a week ago, he sent delegates to meet with the
former governor, Mr Kure, to ask for his forgiveness. The emissaries
reportedly quoted copiously from the Quran to convince the former
governor on the vitues of forgiveness.

A source who was
at the uphill mansion of the former president two months ago, said
Akeem Afebua who is Mr Babangida’s spokesperson had walked in to ask
Mr. Mohammed when he intends to begin his campaigns.

According to this
source, Mr Mohammed had chuckled, but another friend from the INEC
office who was there said, “we are making preparations. We already have
a warehouse of campaign material.’’

When NEXT contacted Mr Afegbua, he denied that there is such a deal.

“You must know that
the governor and the General are cousins. And in what way has Mohammed
campaigned for the governor? Has he said anything publicly?’’

Reminded of the comment he made on the day he came to visit, Mr. Afegbua said: “I was just joking.’’