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Health workers in Nasarawa State, including doctors
at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital have suspended their four-month
old strike following an appeal by the state’s governor-elect, Umaru
Tanko Al-Makura.

The health workers, who are under the aegis of
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Medical and Health Workers Union of
Nigeria and National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, had
embarked on an indefinite strike in order to force the state government
to implement the new salary structure approved by the federal
government for health professionals.

The workers said their colleagues in other states
have started benefiting from the new wage structure, wondering why the
state government was unwilling to follow suit. As a result of the
strike, activities in most of the state’s hospitals were paralysed over
the past four months. Majority of the residents also resorted to
alternative health providers because of complaints that the fees
charged by private hospitals were prohibitive.

This is said to be one of the reasons why the state
governor, Aliyu Doma of the Peoples Democratic Party lost to his
opponent, Mr Al-Makura of the Congress for Progressive Change. The
governor-elect, during his acceptance speech, appealed to the health
workers to return to their various posts and promised that he would do
everything possible to meet their demands.

Mr Al-Makura, yesterday thanked the health workers for returning to work.

“We extend our gratitude to you for heeding our
appeal to discountenance the recalcitrant posture of the out-going
administration by suspending your protracted strike action,” he said.
“Your prompt response to our clarion call is a testimony of your
responsiveness and desire to contribute to the enthronement of a new
social vista in Nasarawa State.”

Rescue from despair

The governor-elect further assured the workers that
they, and indeed all workers and people of the state, will not be
subjected to rejection by his administration. “Never again will you and
the people of Nasarawa State, be watched as you suffer in silence
before your leaders,” he said.

He also assured workers in the state of his
commitment to their welfare, pledging to rescue them (workers) “from
the throes of despair and agony into a life of hope, fulfilment and
relief.”

The workers reached the agreement to suspend the
strike at an emergency meeting held in Lafia last Sunday. The state NMA
chairman and secretary, Clement Onwube and Musa Abdullahi, directed all
the health workers to resume work on Tuesday.

“Consequent on the passionate appeal by the Nasarawa
State governor-elect, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to doctors to suspend the
on-going strike action on the premise that our demands will be
expeditiously attended to on assumption of office,” the men said. “That
considering the attendant effects of the strike action on the good
people of Nasarawa State as well as the passionate appeal of the
general public.

“We, hereby, suspend the four-month old strike with effect from 8am
on Tuesday, May 2011 and all our members are hereby directed to resume
work in their various locations on the said date.”

Some leaders of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by its acting national chairman,
Bello Mohammed met with President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday in Obudu
Ranch, where the president is currently on retreat, with heads of some
government agencies.

The meeting, a PDP
source revealed yesterday, was in connection with the zoning of
principal positions in the National Assembly and the nature and
character of the president’s next cabinet.

The national
secretary of the PDP, Kawu Baraje, who is currently outside the
country, is expected to join the party’s team today.

“Apart from the
composition of the new federal cabinet, the issue of the zoning of the
principal positions in the Senate and House of Representatives is also
expected to feature in the talks between the president and PDP
leaders,” the source said.

Intensive lobbying
has already commenced for the principal positions in both chambers of
the federal legislature even though the party has not decided on the
zoning formula. It was also learnt that the PDP leaders will discuss
the composition of the national executive committee of the ruling party
following Mr Jonathan’s victory.

It is the tradition
of the party to overhaul the National Executive Committee (NEC) and
National Working Committee in line with new zoning arrangement after
every major election. The NEC was last reshuffled in 2008 after the
election of late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The national chairmanship of the PDP is expected to return to the
North in the new arrangement while the position of the National
Secretary will revert to the South.

The business
manager of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in Akwa Ibom
State, Chukwuemeka Otiji, has expressed fears that the non-payment of
electricity bills owed by customers in the state, currently standing at
N900 million, was capable of crippling the electricity company if the
debt was not paid.

Mr Otiji, who said
this in Uyo yesterday, added that the amount could ground the company
as it relied on such payments to run its operations since they were
operating without government subvention.

Speaking with
members of the customers consultative council, Uyo Business District,
Mr Otiji explained that 81 out of 755 substations in the district had
been vandalised since 2009 and that the management of the unit had been
able to replace only 48 of the vandalised substations through help from
benefiting communities.

“I’m therefore calling on you to appeal to members of your communities to pay their bills promptly,” he pleaded.

He stated that the
business unit, which was formerly one, had been split among the three
senatorial districts of the state to include Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ekpene.
He advised the people not to build houses or do business under low or
high-tension lines of the company.

“A lot of people
have received injuries or have died as a result of snapped conductors
either resting on their buildings or falling directly on them. We
should always avoid doing anything under the PHCN lines,” he advised.

Mr Otiji decried
situations where people molest PHCN staff in the course of their work,
saying, “Management frowns at this barbaric act and therefore appeals
to this august gathering to assist PHCN by advising youths in your
respective communities to desist from such act.

“The company will
not hesitate to disconnect electricity supply to any such community or
area that prevents our officials from carrying out their official
duties, if we realise the area is not safe for our field workers to do
their work,” he said.

The newly elected
chairman of the customers consultative council, Uyo Business District,
Emmanuel Ebong, promised to work with the organisation’s management for
smooth service delivery in the area.

Mr Ebong, who said electricity was an important national resource,
enjoined members of the council to support the business unit to achieve
efficiency.

The election of the
governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki as a senator has become the
subject of litigation. A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
and a senatorial contestant in the party’s primary election, L’Aziz
Ayinla Kolawole Jimoh wants the governor’s election as senator
overturned.

Mr Jimoh asked the
Federal High Court in Abuja to declare that at the time of collection
and submission of nomination forms for the senatorial election, Mr
Saraki was a presidential contestant.

Mr Jimoh went to
court to seek for a declaration that the purported election of Mr
Saraki as the PDP senatorial candidate for the Kwara-Central senatorial
district at the re-run of the party primary election which was held in
Ilorin on Saturday, January 29, 2011, is illegal, unconstitutional, and
therefore null and void. In the suit, the PDP is the 1st defendant
while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the 2nd
defendant, and Mr Saraki is the 3rd defendant.

Mr Jimoh also
sought a court order to restrain the PDP from authenticating,
recognising, or accepting the result of the re-run primary election,
and the nomination of Mr Saraki as the PDP’s senatorial candidate for
the Kwara Central senatorial district.

Furthermore he said
that he paid for, and was duly issued with the nomination form to seek
nomination as the PDP senatorial candidate in the district.

“Apart from myself,
one Gold Sola Isiaka from Ilorin-West of the Kwara-Central district
also obtained and paid for the necessary forms of the party and was
also screened and cleared to contest the primaries of the party,” Mr
Jimoh said. “I know that myself and Gold Sola Isiaka were screened and
cleared to contest the 1st defendant’s primaries on 30th day of
December 2010 by the screening panel committee of the 1st defendant.”

He stated that only
he and Mr Isiaka contested for the party ticket at the party’s primary
election held at the Ansar ul-Islam School, Okekere, Ilorin on January
7, 2011.

“At the end of the
said election, I was credited with 12 votes while Gold Sola Isiaka was
credited with 1,064 votes and he was accordingly declared the winner,”
Mr Jimoh said.

No internal democracy

Mr Jimoh said that
while at home on Friday, January 28, 2011, the secretary of the Kwara
State PDP, Yekini Ilobu brought to him a letter from the state chapter
of the party. The letter stated that Mr Isiaka, the elected senatorial
candidate of the party had withdrawn and a proposed re-run election was
slated for January 29, 2011. He said that at the re-run primary
election, Mr Saraki and one Yunus AbdulRahaman were listed as the
aspirants.

“I know that the
3rd defendant and Yunus AbdulRahaman were not aspirants at the close of
nomination and screening on December 29, 2010 and the primary election
held on January 7, 2011,” Mr Jimoh said.

He also said that
by the result of the re-run election, Mr Saraki was declared the winner
with over 1000 illegal votes and the result was sent to the INEC who
received and acted on same.

“Even though I did
not appear in the purported re-run, I was credited with five illegal
votes by the agents of the PDP and Mr Saraki who conducted the re-run,”
Mr Jimoh said. “I know that with the withdrawal of Gold Bola Isiaka, I
became the candidate of the party who is to be confirmed at the re-run
primary election and whose name is to be submitted to INEC.”

He added that the
conduct of the PDP in accepting and adopting Mr Saraki and, or any
person other than himself as the senatorial candidate is against the
spirit of internal democracy and democratic governance.

The acting chief judge of the Federal High Court, Ibrahim Auta,
ordered Saraki to file his response and the matter was adjourned to May
26, 2011 for hearing.

Even with Obiora
Akubeze already ordained as Archbishop of Benin Archdiocese, the
members of Edo Liturgical Group appear undaunted in their quest to oust
him. They have again appeared before Justice Rowland Amaize of the
Benin High Court with another demand. This time they are seeking the
return of the case challenging Mr Akubeze’s ordination to the state
chief judge, for the case to be reassigned to another judge for retrial.

The group had two
weeks ago secured an injunction to stop the ordination of Mr Akubeze as
Archbishop of Benin on the ground that he is of Igbo descent. They are
demanding for a Benin bishop in his stead. The same court, however,
overturned its former decision on the injunction, thereby permitting
the ordination of Mr Akubeze last week.

Counsel to the
plaintiff, Jonathan Aghimien (SAN), expressed displeasure over the way
the court vacated its order restraining the Catholic Church from
installing Mr Akubeze as archbishop, saying that he was not properly
served. This he said was responsible for his absence in court on the
day the lawyer to the respondent, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), secured the
order vacating the restraining order.

Mr Aghimien said
that a lawyer in his chamber signed for the process on Good Friday
(April 22), adding that someone drew his attention to the matter over
the telephone. He argued further that one could not be served court
processes through the telephone. He noted that what pained him the most
was that he was made to appear as if he dodged the court. He therefore
sought for the transfer of the matter to another judge for
adjudication, alleging that his clients were being intimidated and
harassed, threatened with de-robing as knights of the Catholic Church.

“This is not the first time a member of a church would be going to court, especially on issues of administration,” he said.

Responding, the
counsel to the defendant, Mr Ozekhome, said a lawyer in the plaintiff’s
lawyer’s chamber signed for the court processes, saying that great
damage would have been done to the image of Nigeria if the order was
not vacated to facilitate the installation of the archbishop. Mr
Ozekhome said the judge gave an undiluted ruling, adding that they
agreed that the case should be transferred to another judge.

Having listened to both parties, the trial judge, Justice Rowland
Amaize, therefore granted the prayer of the petitioners and ordered the
case to be returned to the chief judge for re-assigning to another
judge.

The Ogun State
governor-elect, Ibikunle Amosun yesterday constituted a transition
committee to work with the relevant organs of government to plan and
work together towards his (Amosun) swearing-in scheduled for May 29,
2001.

Mr Amosun had
written to the out-going governor, Gbenga Daniel requesting him to
allow the committee members to have access to information and
facilities required to achieve a hitch-free transition.

The Committee is
headed by former secretary to the state government, Poju Adeyemi, while
other members include: Sam Durojaiye, Olumide Ayeni, Muyiwa Oladipo,
Yewande Amusan, Dolapo Atekoja, Adebayo Fari and Aderonke Folarin.
Others are: Lekan Adegbite, Gbolahan Dada, Ibrahim Jimoh, Lanre Tejuoso
and Olufemi Allen.

Content of letter

“I have great
pleasure to forward to Your Excellency the attached list of the members
of the transition committee that has been constituted to liase and
interface with the relevant organs of the government to plan and work
together to achieve a smooth and orderly transition leading to the
inauguration of the new administration on 29th May, 2011.” It was
stated further in the letter personally signed by Mr Amosun that: “It
is my understanding and, therefore, a request for the kind
consideration of Your Excellency that the committee will have access to
information and facilities required to achieve the objectives of a
hitch-free transition.

He also used the letter to thank the out-going governor, “for the
telephone call during which you congratulated me on my victory at the
polls. I am most grateful for this demonstration of goodwill and trust
that I can count on these in months and years ahead.”

The Action Alliance
(AA) in Oyo State on Tuesday protested against the exclusion of its
logo from the list of political parties which appeared on ballot papers
in the last elections.

The Oyo State
chairman of the party, Babatunde Anifowose-Kelani, who led some other
party officials to address a press conference at their Ibadan office
yesterday, sought the support of all Nigerians to fight the alleged
injustice.

In a speech
presented to the press, the party chairman accused the hierarchies of
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of conniving with
some expelled members of the party to ensure that the AA was not
registered by the electoral body.

According to him,
despite fulfilling all the laid down rules of the electoral act on
party participation in elections at record time, the INEC still denied
them the right to be part of the April poll.

“The nominations
were concluded but when it was time for submission, INEC refused to
accept the completed forms it gave out to us earlier on a trump-up
excuse that there existed a crack in our national exco.

“It was, however,
discovered that INEC was acting out a script by a cabal within the
commission. They sponsored non-members to camouflage as national
officers of AA so as to make it look as if there was a crack.

“We tried to make
them see the truth that we have no crack in our party but they would
not listen. Investigation has, however, revealed that some charlatans
within INEC are conniving with some powerful but disgruntled
politicians who were members of our party up till 2006 to get Action
Alliance deregistered so as to ensure their illicit activities while in
AA is covered up,” he alleged.

Mr Anifowose-Kelani
further alleged that all court orders the party obtained and served on
the electoral body with respect to the attempts to deny them
participation were ignored.

He said as far as he and the party are concerned, there were not elections in Oyo State.

According to the
chairman, Oyo is the strongest base of the AA, adding that they fielded
candidates in almost all the electives post available in the state.

But to his
consternation, the logo of the party was missing in the ballot papers
for the elections, except that of the state House of Assembly.

Against the constitution

Mr Anifowose-Kelani
said the case of the systemic exclusion from the elections was already
in court and would be followed to a ‘logical conclusion’.

He also debunked
the rumour that the state leadership had collected money from some
individuals to play spoilers role in the victory of the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) in the elections.

“It is not true
that we collected money for this struggle. We were already in court
before the elections were conducted. It is not that we are just
starting now. I even expect the beneficiary of this injustice to join
in this crusade because it could be their turn tomorrow,” he said.

The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Attahiru Jega says the
inspiring leadership of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) had
shamed those he described as “unscrupulous persons” who wanted to
derail the April 2011 general elections.

Mr Jega made the remarks in a letter of appreciation, dated April 27, to Maharazu Tsiga, the NYSC director-general.

“It is clear that
but for the inspiring leadership of the patriotic men and women of the
corps, the designs by the unscrupulous persons to derail the elections,
by intimidating and scaring away the corps members, would have been
realised,” he stated.

The letter said
history would bear witness that the unyielding commitment to the
survival of the nation’s democracy inspired the corps members.

It added that the corps members defied reckless purveyors of violence to render selfless service as INEC ad hoc staff.

“It is, therefore,
beyond a shadow of doubt that Gen Tsiga, along with the entire staff
and membership of the NYSC, has demonstrated this virtue to the highest
degree.

“I am certain that
the history of our democracy will not be complete without a mention of
the laudable role you and your organisation have played,” the letter
further stated.

The INEC boss
expressed regret over the violence, which affected some corps members,
and expressed heartfelt condolences to those who lost loved ones to it.

The letter described them as “martyrs of our democratic aspiration as a country.”

The governorship flag bearer of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA), in Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has alleged that there are
plans to rig next Friday’s supplementary governorship election in the state.

Mr Okorocha who made the disclosure in a news briefing in
Owerri, the Imo State capital, hinged his allegations on video clips obtained
with spywares deployed into the field by his party.

In the recording which had vivid pictures of some government
officials addressing observers and another tearing up ballot papers voted
against the PDP in Nkwerre council area of the state, Mr Okorocha lamented the
inaction of the law enforcement agencies in the state.

The evidence

Another clip from Oguta council area showed where some hoodlums
held youth corps members hostage in a bush while thumb-printing of the ballot
papers went on.

Mr Okorocha who was flanked by Martin Agbaso, the zonal vice
chairman of APGA, Chris Ejike Uche and his deputy, Mr Jude Agbaso also
displayed fully thumb-printed fake ballot papers recovered last Sunday by
soldiers.

Lamenting the desperation to rig the Friday supplementary
election by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the APGA governorship
candidate, while noting his party’s preparedness for the election listed
conditions for their participation in the supplementary poll on Friday.

Mr Okorocha demanded that the Resident Electoral Commissioner
(REC) in the state, Selina Oko should be removed and Austin Okojie, one of the
four RECs deployed for the make-up election, dropped for his role in the
subversion of APGA’s mandate to govern Imo State in 2007.

He also demanded that no staff of the Federal University of
Technology, Owerri (FUTO) recruited as INEC adhoc staff should take part in the
collation of the Friday election result.

The Senate will today resume to a pile of significant bills that may suffer huge setbacks if not passed within the month.

The 2011
Appropriation Bill, the Petroleum Industry Bill and the Freedom of
information Bill are expected to top the agenda. However, bills like
the Anti Money Laundering bill and Anti Terrorism bill, which is
awaiting passage by the House of Reps and subsequent harmonisation, may
have to be carried over to the next session of the assembly.

According to the
spokesperson for the senate, Ayogu Eze, the senate will give top
priority to “working out the details of the 2011 budget and sending it
for presidential assent.”

The 2011 budget was passed shortly before the lawmakers went on the election break but its details have not been sorted.

Mr Eze added that the senate would also focus on the FOI bill which was also passed by both chambers before the election break.

“The FOI bill will equally be given accelerated treatment in harmonising the two versions passed by both chambers,” he said.

The bulky
Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which the senate dumped after a pressure
group called for its accelerated passages would also receive attention,
according Mr Eze.

He said the PIB
will equally receive urgent attention considering its overall short and
long term impact on the Nigerian economy.

The decision of
the senate to consider the PIB, Mr Eze said, is “considering too that
those campaigning for it (to be passed) have changed tactic from
blackmail to civilised messages which appeal to the conscience of all
concerned.

“The point we have
been trying to make is that no one loves Nigeria more than the
legislators. We are equally patriotic and committed to policies and
laws that will promote Nigeria’s growth for today and tomorrow,” the
senate spokesman added.

A couple of other
equally important bills may however not be passed in this session of
the senate. The Anti Money Laundering Bill and Anti Terrorism bill
which has been passed by senate may have to wait for a fresh start in
the incoming session of the National Assembly as it does not appear in
the priority list of the senate. Although it has been passed by the
senate, it has not been passed by the House of Reps. The senate,
however, still has a role to play in its final harmonization and
passage.