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Parking has become
a major issue in Victoria Island and some parts of Lagos Island, Ikoyi
and other parts of the city. The many high-rise office complexes
hosting hundreds of staff have inadequate parking spaces.

Owing to the lack
of parking space at his office in Victoria Island, Yomi Olorunowo does
not take his car to work on most days. Many who work in the same area,
though faced with the same problem as Mr Olorunowo, still take their
cars to work and park them on both sides of the streets, sometimes at
locations quite far from the office, where the cars may not be safe
being under nobody’s care.

“Most of the time,
I don’t bring my car to the office, because apart from the trouble of
driving hold-up, I don’t like bringing it because each time I come with
it, I always have problems with finding a place. My office parking
space takes only about five cars and it is the MD (managing director)
and top officials that park there. Others park outside along the
street.

“So if you come
late, you will discover that the whole place is filled with cars and
there is no space to park and you will have to find somewhere to park,
maybe the next street. So I come to work by car on Mondays and Fridays,
sometimes only Fridays,” Mr Olorunowo said.

Lack of planning

According Samuel
Agogo, an urban and regional planner, it is the fault of respective
government agencies who failed to ensure that adequate provisions were
made for parking in Victoria Island which was built from scratch.

“This is the type
of thing that happens when the master plan of a district is not
properly done and followed to the letter. You know, Victoria Island was
meant to be largely residential, but over the years it has turned to
almost completely commercial. And as they were building those large
buildings, they didn’t know that a lot of people will work there and
many of them will have cars and will have to park them somewhere.

“That is what
planning is; you need to project and put these into consideration. The
planner should have considered whether or not the district will need
some general parking lots; maybe like what you have at the Marina.
Those parking spaces there are doing Lagos Island a lot of good.
Imagine if there was nothing like that, where in Lagos will all those
cars park? In fact, I know some people who work in Victoria Island and
Ikoyi who park their cars there and take a taxi to the office,” Mr
Agogo said.

Apart from the
inconvenience this causes the car owners who park by the roads at the
risk of losing their cars to theft, or some parts of the cars to
burglary, or even having them bashed by other cars plying the streets,
the cars parked on the roadsides cause traffic congestions. This
happens especially during the evening rush hour.

One of the areas
notorious for this is the tail end of Kofo Abayomi Street in Victoria
Island, where the organisations there, including oil giant Total
Nigeria Plc, and Philips Project Centre (PPC) Limited, park their
official vehicles on both sides of the street. To complicate it, there
is the Goodies Supermarket adjacent to the Total building. The
supermarket has no parking space, therefore, their many patrons park by
the road. As a result, that part of Kofo Abayomi Street is usually a
traffic bottle neck, irrespective of the time of day.

Parking at own risk

Some public
buildings, like eateries, banks, malls, in the city usually have this
sign: ‘Cars parked at owners’ risk’ absolving the organisation of any
responsibility in the event of any damage of vehicles or theft of
vehicles parked in the premises. This has always been contentious, with
patrons of such eateries or banks arguing that since there are security
guards at the car parks, there should be some level of guarantee that
items in the vehicle would not be stolen.

However, at some
other public places like the Bar Beach, and big event centres, with a
lot of people having to park on roadsides and nearby open spaces,
touts, popularly called area boys, hold sway. They decide who parks
where and collect money from the owners of the cars, with the promise
of keeping watch over the vehicles. But almost immediately, they leave
the car and goes for another one, unless the owner of a particular car
gave them a huge amount of money and promised to give more.

Towing of vehicles

Indeed, the problem
of parking is not restricted to Victoria Island; it affects every part
of Lagos. Earlier this year, the Lagos State Traffic Management
Authority, LASTMA, started impounding vehicles seen parked by the
roadside. According to the regulation, it is not acceptable to have
cars parked on both sides of a road, reducing the width of the road
usable by motorists.

According to
Babatunde Ajasa, a computer engineer, he had parked by the roadside and
went into a friend’s shop at Amara Olu Street, Agidingbi, Ikeja. On
returning, he saw some LASTMA officials towing his car away. When he
asked what the problem was, he was told he had parked illegally – on
the wrong side of the road.

“I begged and
people around there begged them until one Lagos State official now came
around and asked them to release me because I didn’t know that I was
not supposed to park on that side of the road. There was no sign at all
to say, ‘Don’t park here’. So as far as I was concerned, I did nothing
wrong. But I still had to give them some money before they left me
finally. Since that day, I’m always very careful with parking anywhere.
I always make sure I totally go out of the road,” Mr Ajasa said.

NEXT sought to know
from the Commissioner for Transportation, Bamidele Badejo, why some of
the vehicles parked on the roadsides in Victoria Island are never
impounded, and how the ministry intends to solve the roadside parking
problem. However, enquiries sent to his mobile phone were not answered.

Parking spaces will soon emerge

But the
Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Francisco
Abosede, said the government has in recent times ensured that no
property development is allowed to go on without provision for the
required parking spaces.

“In recent times,
no development permit was ever issued without adequate car parking
provision which we initially calculated at 90square metres of floor
area per car but after study and also considering international
standards which Lagos megacity is observing, we have since adopted
35square metres of floor area per car parking provision.

“We have discovered
that planning permits for buildings are not observed on site. Example
is Glo towers on Adeola Odeku, that converted two floors of parking in
the building to offices. Government sealed the property until the two
floors were reinstated back to parking and many more like that. With
the new law, before your (building is) insured, which is a must, your
approval and development on site must correspond,” Mr Abosede said.

According to the
commissioner, some big car park projects have been approved and they
are on-going in Victoria Island. These projects are expected to solve
the parking problem on the island.

“Major proposals
are on. Standard Charted Bank is developing six floors of parking
(spaces) opposite (Silverbird) Galleria on Ahmadu Bello Way,
Intercontinental Hotels at Kofo Abayomi Street, with almost 1000
parking spaces on four floors. All newly approved 15 floors have a
minimum of three floors of parking, etc. Government is also looking at
various locations to see what can be done since construction of car
parking provision is commercially not viable in a Public Private
Partnership,” he said.

By the time the car
park projects are completed, Mr Olorunowo might then be able to bring
his car to work every day, provided the parking fee will not be too
exorbitant.

“If they can build such parks, it will be a big relief for people
like me, at least I will be bringing my car to work. But the problem
with such projects might be that when they finish it, they may be
charging like N500 per day which will be costly, instead of the N200
that most existing car parks collect,” he said.

Grace Ike (not real name) lost her innocence at the age of 12.

Her violator was
her father who, for over a year after deflowering her, repeatedly
defiled her in his one-room apartment located in Surulere, a suburb of
Lagos State, where he lived with his wife and five children.

Miss Ike’s story
is one of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, which had
continued unabated until the timely intervention of concerned
neighbours, women and children rights activists, and the Lagos State
Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development (MYSSD).

It all began in
mid 2009 when Mr. Ike would put some substance in his eldest daughter’s
drink to make her sleep. Dead to the world, he would mount her and
incestuously defile her. Recalling the first time this happened, the
little girl said, “I woke up feeling pains all over my body. I did not
know what happened to me,”As the abuse went on, Mr. Ike, a “prophet” of
a white garment church in the area, no longer fancied “taking her” in
her subdued state. He began openly demanding sex from his daughter,
with the threat that if she refused, he would still drug her and have
his way.

Be your neighbour’s keeper

This continued
until sometime in May 2010, when Miss Ike confided in a ‘prophetess’,
by name Precious, whom her father regularly took her to for prayers.
“The girl is always afraid of her father. He used to beat her terribly.
So I told her to tell me the truth what is going on. She now confessed
and said her daddy has been sleeping with her. I could not believe it
because of the trust I have for this man,” Ms Precious said.

“I now sent for
him and asked him. He started pleading. He said he doesn’t know what
comes over him, but that anytime he promises himself he’ll stop this
kind of thing, if he sees the girl his manhood will just stand up. He
swore before God and man he would never do it again.” Rather than stop,
Mr. Ike gave his daughter a sound beating, while forbidding her to ever
see Ms Precious, who by this time had got in touch with a direct
neighbour living in the same building with the Ike family.

Over the next few
months, the neighbour became vigilant and more suspicious when he
noticed that besides always beating his daughter, Mr.Ike frequently
entered the common bathroom shared by the residents of the building to
watch his daughter while she took her bath. After questioning her, she
opened up to the neighbour who immediately contacted the International
Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), which promotes the rights of women
and children.

Effective synergy

Afterwards, in
conjunction with Media Concern, another NGO advocating women and
children’s rights, the case was reported on November 18, to the Lagos
State Social Welfare Department under the MYSSD, located at the
Coker/Aguda Local Council in Surulere. A visit to Miss Ike at the
private school she attended in Surulere revealed the emotional and
psychological scars she was already suffering while in Junior School 2.

“She has been in
the school since JS1 but she does not really open up to anyone in
school. Most of the time, she is withdrawn and very fearful. One other
thing we have noticed is she has eye problem. Since her father is the
only person who comes to the school we’ve mentioned these to him. We
know she has a mother but she has never come once,” said the school’s
coordinator, who identified herself as Nkap.

The next day, two
welfare officers from the welfare department obtained an Emergency
Protection Order from the Chief Magistrate of the family court at
Surulere, E. B. Daodu, who ordered the evacuation of Miss Ike “from the
custody of her biological father and provide accommodation for her” at
a government centre in the state.

The rescue

That same evening
of November 19, the welfare officers together with police officers from
the Ijeshatedo Police station evacuated Miss Ike from her home. It was
while arresting her father for defilement that her mother found out for
the first time the incest that had been ongoing for over a year.

“What would happen
is he would send his wife to go and meet her relatives while he would
abuse this little girl. Sometimes she would even be in the room when he
abuses her. But she would just be snoring away, like as though drugged,
while he would threaten the little girl not to shout,” said Chigoziri
Ojiaka, FIDA’s Lagos State branch chairperson.

When our source
spoke to Mrs. Ike, she said “We have been married for 13 years and she
(Miss Ike) is our first child. She is 12 years. I never knew what was
going on and she never told me. We are close so I don’t know why she
didn’t tell me.” Further questions, however, revealed that she was not
close to her mother as she didn’t even know her daughter’s menstrual
cycle and couldn’t give any justifiable reason why she never checked up
on her daughter’s performance in school.

While being
questioned by Police officers of the State Criminal Investigation
Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba, where his case was transferred for
onward prosecution, Mr. Ike confessed to the crime. He was quick to put
the blame on the proverbial scapegoat for all sin committed – the devil.

“Yes, she is my
biological daughter. It is true I did it but it is the devil’s work. I
don’t know what came over me. I am ashamed. I couldn’t control myself.
It is the devil. Please I am sorry. I can only ask God for
forgiveness,” Mr. Ike said.

A call for professionalism

One strong
indication from Miss Ike’s case is the synergy exhibited between the
public, civil society organisations and government establishments in
realising a successful operation leading to Miss Ike’s rescue and the
arrest of her father.

However, much
needs to be done in educating and training the right personnel on
imperatives in handling victims of sexual violence especially minors.
In Miss Ike’s case, she was taken to several offices and made to
recount her story several times. This led to more officers telling
other colleagues who then came asking her more questions on her ordeal.
Also noticed was the profanity being used by the police officers in the
presence of the 12-year-old child.

According to
Folake Bankole, Media Concern’s victim advocate, who has monitored the
case from the onset, such unprofessional conduct could lead to the
victim suffering more trauma.

“Yes, the police
need to interview the victim. But it is important who is doing the
interview. The victim should not be made to recount the ordeal over and
over because this will not help the victim who is in the process of
healing,” says Ms. Bankole.

“Also it is not
just anybody and anywhere this should be done. It also matters how the
questions are asked so as not to send the wrong signals to the victim
which might make him/her guilty. Dealing with victims is a very
technical process which belongs to professionals only.”

A happier ending

For Miss Ike,
she’s happier at the Social welfare office as she says she doesn’t have
to fear going home and being abused any longer. She has begun making
new friends at the state’s welfare home and holds on to her dream of
becoming a lawyer, as she says she wants to grow up to help other
people just as she was helped.

“I don’t want to
go back. I am happy here because I can study my books,” the little girl
said as she held the hand of the female welfare officer who took her to
the government official bus en route to her new home.

The politics of the
Southwest took another interesting turn at the weekend as an Appeals
Court voided Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s three years and six months reign as
governor of Osun State. The court ruled that the 2007 election was
actually won by the candidate of the Action Congress (AC) candidate in
the said election, Rauf Aregbesola, who was sworn in on Saturday as the
governor of the state.

Prior to the
ruling, however, about 15 members of the PDP had shown interest in the
governorship race and obtained the N3 million intention of interest
form sold by the party secretariat. The party had been consumed by the
fight over which of these aspirants would get the ticket to replace Mr
Oyinlola, until the whole house of cards came tumbling down.

The court ruling
means there would not be any governorship election in Osun State next
year, as Mr Aregbesola will serve out his four years. The state thus
joins others such as Ondo, Edo,

Ekiti and Anambra where there would be no governorship election in 2011.

The judgement also increases the number of states lost by the PDP to the opposition ACN to three.

Delivering its
judgement in Ibadan on Friday, the five-member panel led by Clara
Ogunbiyi said the Election Petition Tribunal which heard the petition
brought by Aregbesola erred by upholding the declaration of Mr Oyinlola
by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner
of the election.

For the ACN’s
candidate, Friday’s judgment was a result of resilience and tenacity.
Having failed before the initial tribunal, headed by Thomas Naron, the
petitioner went to the Court of Appeal where a retrial of the case was
ordered on the ground that the panel failed to admit useful evidences
that could help in proper discharge of the matter.

Mr Aregbesola also suffered another loss when the matter was retried by the second tribunal, headed by Garba Alli.

The tribunal ruled
that he failed to prove his allegations of over-voting, ballot stuffing
and other electoral malpractices beyond reasonable doubt.

But succor came his
way last Friday, when all his 26 grounds of appeal, collapsed into
five, sailed through before the Appeal panel.

Delivering her lead
judgement, Mrs. Ogunbiyi posited that the petitioner had provided
enough grounds for the tribunal to rule in his favour, having presented
evidences of discrepancies in the strength of registered voters and the
number of votes recorded for the election.

Benefit of tenacity

Mr Aregbesola was
contesting the votes in 10 out of the 30 local government councils of
the state, where he alleged that there were irregularities and
non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2006.

In the 4-hour 37-
minutes judgment, Mrs Ogunbiyi, chided the lower tribunal for
validating the election of Oyinlola, despite the barrage of substantial
evidence and exhibits presented by Aregbesola’s counsel, saying that
its failure to consider the evidences amounted to a display of
jaundiced view of the whole matter. The other justices,

M. L. Garba, P.A. Galinge, C. C Nweze and A. Jauro also took turns to align with her.

In declaring
Aregbesola, the court said “An order is hereby given that the votes in
the 10 local governments are voided and the election of Olagunsoye
Oyinlola is hereby nullified”. The presiding Justice continued by
saying “in considering the reliefs sought, it is my opinion that the
2007 election in Osun state cannot be said to have complied with the
Electoral Act. From the above, a candidate can only be declared winner
if he polls the majority lawful votes. Having voided elections in the
ten local governments, there is no doubt that the first appellant
(Aregbesola) won the elections and has satisfied the requirements of
the Electoral Act. Olagunsoye Oyinlola,

who was returned as
governor of Osun state, was not validly elected as he did not score the
highest number of votes as required. The first appellant having been
shown to have won the highest votes is hereby declared as the governor
of Osun state in the 2007 election.”

The controversial
local governments are: Atakumosa, Ayedade, Boluwaduro, Boripe Ife
Central, Ife East, Ife South, Ifedayo, Isokan and Odo Otin.

Nigerians hoping to
see the outcome of investigations into the N9 billion scandal in the
House of Representatives, may have to wait a little longer.

Investigations by
NEXT indicate that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), which are both investigating the allegations, may
have hit a brick wall and may not conclude investigations anytime soon.

“Though our
investigations are ongoing, we are presently stuck at some point, but
we will ensure we complete our investigations,” a senior official of
the ICPC close to the investigation said at the weekend.

Indications are
that the cause of the ‘temporary halt’ mentioned by the ICPC source
involves a man believed to be behind the companies that received the
inflated contract. The man, who is believed to have fled to England, is
being trailed by the anti-corruption agencies.

“Already, we have
confirmed that there was inflation of prices in the contract. But, the
man central to the companies that secured the contracts escaped to the
UK when we wanted to bring him in,” an ICPC investigator told NEXT.

The investigator,
who declined to mention the suspect’s name, explained that the
commission might seek the man’s extradition if he fails to return to
the country to explain his role in the scandal.

The fraud
allegation started in the House of Representatives when some members
accused the speaker, Dimeji Bankole and the house leadership of
mismanaging N9 billion of the N11 billion capital vote received by the
house between 2008 and 2009.

The legislators,
who called themselves “the progressives” and led by Dino Melaye,
addressed a press statement on June 16, 2010 during which they gave Mr
Bankole one week to resign or be removed.

The legislators,
who also called for a probe of the house finances, further accused Mr.
Bankole of authorizing “a spurious, vexatious, and reckless expenditure
profile at a time when there is so much economic hardship.”

In other to prove
that they were right with their accusations, “the progressives”
submitted their petition and accusations to the EFCC and ICPC for
investigation.

Inflated Purchases

Some of the items
the “progressives” accuse Mr. Bankole of purchasing at inflated prices
include torchlights, which have a market price of less than N2000 per
unit, at N18000 each and 400 units of Samsung 40 inches LCD television
sets, which cost N160,000, but were purchased at a unit price of N525,
000. Others are the purchase of 800 units of HP Desktop computers,
which cost N160,000 but were purchased at N330,000; and sharp digital
photocopy machines (model 5316), purchased at N270,000 as against
N160,000.

“The progressives”
also accused the house leadership of wasteful expenditure in the
purchase of seven SUV cars for Mr. Bankole and his deputy, Bayero
Nafada.

When contacted to
give the official position on the status of their investigations, the
spokesmen of the two agencies gave similar positions.

“We are on it. Our
investigations are ongoing,” said Folu Olamiti, the resident media
consultant of the ICPC, who refused to give further comments. Femi
Babafemi, the EFCC spokesman asked this reporter to call back to
confirm the status of the case but efforts to contact him later were
unsuccessful.

Even the judiciary stalls

In the heat of the
allegations by “the progressives”, the House of Representatives
suspended Mr. Melaiye and 10 other members indefinitely, following a
rowdy and violent session.

The suspended
members, however, approached the court demanding a reversal of their
suspension and that their arrears since their suspension be paid in
full. After listening to the arguments of both parties, Muhammed Adamu,
judge of the federal high court Abuja who is presiding over the matter
announced that the judgement would be delivered on November 15.

After two
postponements however, Mr. Adamu is yet to give his ruling. The case
has now been adjourned to December 2 for ruling on the legality or
otherwise of the legislators’ suspension.

Two of the eleven members who were suspended have been recalled by
the House of Representatives. The lawmakers, Ehioge-West Idahosa and
Gbenga Onigbogi, withdrew their case from the court and apologized for
their actions.

The former governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chukwuma Soludo, is under the
radar of British crime investigators who want to understand his role in
the N29 billion polymer banknote contract issued during his tenure.

Between 2006 and
2009, the Central Bank carried out currency reforms that saw the
introduction of polymer bank notes to replace the paper notes of the
country’s lower denominations. In late 2009, media reports alleged that
top CBN officials had received bribes in order to grant an Australian
company, Securency International Pty Ltd, the contract which saw the
Australian company supplying Nigeria with at least 1.9 billion pieces
of the polymer substrate.

The contract is now
the subject of a multi-national investigation straddling Vietnam,
Malaysia, Australia, the UK and Nigeria, from which about N3.5 billion
was paid out in slush fund. Investigators believe that millions out of
the amount were paid to top Nigerian politicians and bank officials.

Investigating the Scandal

International
sources who spoke to NEXT in confidence, said that feelers from the
on-going investigations by the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) point
to the fact that Mr. Soludo has become a subject of their
investigations. NEXT had earlier reported that the former bank chief
directed contract processes in the CBN as well as the Nigerian Security
Printing and Minting PLC, of which the CBN has a 77% shareholding.

“SFO is
investigating the Nigerian deal in the UK. Soludo may be tied to a lot
of those Nigerian deals which explains why the SFO may be investigating
him,” our source said.

The SFO’s spokesperson in an email exchange with NEXT however declined to confirm or refute the claims.

“Without wishing to
be unhelpful, I am unable to provide any further details. The
investigation is ongoing. For guidance; it is not SFO policy to confirm
or deny the names of suspects in its investigations,” Katie Winstanley
of the SFO said. Ms. Winstanley further said that the SFO has arrested
at least five people so far in connection with the on-going
investigation.

A source within the
EFCC, who asked not to be named, however confirmed that the SFO had
indeed contacted the Nigerian anti-graft agency in relation to the
investigations involving Mr. Soludo.

“There may be
something like that. I know that there has been intelligence exchange
between the EFCC and the SFO concerning this matter. It is an on-going
investigation which was not initiated by the EFCC,” our source said.

In the months
following the media reports, several anti-corruption agencies within
and outside Nigeria have launched investigations into the scandal. In
Nigeria, the initial enthusiasm showed by the Nigerian Police, the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the National
Assembly has since waned. None of the Nigerian investigations have
yielded any results.

Efforts to get obtain reactions from the official spokesmen for the EFCC and the CBN were unfruitful.

Sharing the contract commissions

Documents obtained
by NEXT show that Securency, whose parent company is the Reserve Bank
of Australia, paid about $23 million dollars in suspect commissions to
a company domiciled in a tax haven, Seychelles. The company, SPT
Limited, further commissioned two other agents to secure the Nigerian
contracts.

The Australian
media, championed by The Age, is claiming that the agents chosen had
close links with top government and CBN officials. One of the agents,
Joseph Raad, who was appointed as a ‘confidential sub-agent’ by SPT
LTD, is Iceland’s honorary Consul General to Nigeria. SPT, which stood
to gain 12% of all contract deals secured from Nigeria, pledged to pay
its agents between 4.5-5% of the contracts worth.

Former president
Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday laughed off the emergence of his erstwhile
deputy, Atiku Abubakar, as the consensus candidate of the North in next
year’s presidential elections.

Mr. Atiku had, on
Monday, been named the presidential aspirant of the region by the
Northern Political Leaders’ Forum led by Adamu Ciroma.

Mr. Obasanjo, who
was approached by reporters while leaving the council chambers of the
presidential villa where he had, alongside three other former heads of
state, attended the National Council of State meeting, was initially
reluctant to respond to questions from journalists on his former
deputy’s chances at the polls.

But unable to avoid
the throng of persistent journalists for long, he comically cleared his
nose with his inhaler for a long while before replying in pidgin
English: “ah, I dey laugh o!”

Rather than complete his statement or speak further on the issue, however, Mr. Obasanjo turned into a preacher.

He said he had
always prayed for happiness in life and now he is a happy man. He went
ahead to pray for journalists who were eagerly waiting for him to make a
full comment on the question they had asked him.

“My prayer for you is that you will always have happiness in life” he said, and he got a loud chorus of “amen”.

Katsina state
governor, Ibrahim Shema, who was also approached for his reaction,
merely told journalists that Mr. Atiku is just a presidential aspirant
and that the north will speak for itself at the appropriate time.

When asked to
comment on the emergence of a consensus candidate from the region ahead
of the polls, former head of state, Muhammad Buhari replied that his
party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), has nothing to do with
the issue of zoning.

“Zoning is a purely
PDP affair, but CPC’s constituency is the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Anybody, anywhere can contest for any office he think he can achieve,”
Mr Buhari said.

Lawmakers of the
Action Congress of Nigeria, in line with their party’s leadership, on
Thursday broke ranks with their colleagues over the ongoing amendment of
a section of the 2010 Electoral act to enable lawmakers become part of
the executive council of their parties.

The ACN lawmakers,
who said the amendment was self-serving, announced their position on
Thursday after a meeting with the party leadership in the National
Assembly complex, Abuja.

They said the
current amendment of the electoral act, which seeks to order all
political parties to have a National Executive Committee comprising all
the federal lawmakers, offends the Constitution and stifles the ability
of the parties to make their own constitutions and decide who attends
their executive committee meetings.

“Instead of the
feeble defence offered by its authors, that it will strengthen internal
democracy in the political parties; we say unequivocally that it can
only succeed in turning the parties to political zombies,” Usman Bugaje,
the party’s national secretary who represented the party chairman said.
“How can a zombie party thrive on internal democracy? This is a paradox
that is glaring to all except those behind the obnoxious misadventure.”
Mr Bugaje argued that prescribing uniform constitution for the parties,
with regards to the constitution of the party’s NEC, the conduct of
primaries and the other party guiding principles in the 2010 electoral
act, would limit the choice of which party Nigerians could opt for.

“This to us is like
prescribing one medicine for all ailments. This is wrong. It is not for
the National Assembly or INEC to tell all parties how to conduct their
primaries. Democracy cannot grow through such regimentation. We reject
it in its entirety,” Mr. Bugaje said.

Internal democracy

The PDP-led national
assembly, however, had argued that the various amendments in the 2010
electoral act will ensure internal democracy in the political parties.

“The talk about
internal democracy, as a reason for regulating party primaries, by the
PDP-led National Assembly, is a smokescreen, self-serving move. While
the PDP may have a reason for doing that – to satisfy a faction, we at
the ACN do not have such problems and should not be railroaded into one a
one-size-fits-all kind of arrangement. It is up to parties to determine
how their candidates will emerge,” Mr. Bugaje said.

The party criticised
almost every amendment in the electoral act, ranging from the
sequencing of elections to the proposed amendment which will make most
of the legislators member of their party’s NEC.

“We believe that the
ongoing attempt by federal lawmakers to gate crash into NECs of various
political parties is anti-democratic, self-serving and downright
unconstitutional. The national assembly as a whole whether senators or
House of Representatives fully associate ourselves with the position of
the party on this issue,” Mamora Olorunmibe, leader of ACN caucus in the
national assembly said.

Femi Gbajabiamila,
leader of ACN in the House of Representatives corroborated Mr. Mamora’s
stance. He also said some members are being victimized for opposing
contents of the proposed 2010 Electoral act amendment bill.

Strolling while the
Nigeria’s National Anthem is being recited may soon be punishable by
law, as the Senate on Thursday passed its bill through second reading.

The advancement of
the bill is a significant step in standardising its rendition as well as
protecting the National Anthem, which most of the senators agree is
currently exposed to risk of annihilation.

The bill is
sponsored by Osita Izunaso PDP from Imo state who also sponsored the
bill to mandate doctors to treat accident victims without police
reports.

“Our National Anthem
if not backed by law, might be rightly jettisoned into the historical
dustbin if any President feels he does not like it,’’ Mr. Izunaso said.

The bill seeks,
among other things, to give a legal framework to the National Anthem and
gives protection to it against unwarranted tampering and abuse.The bill
is to make the playing of the Nigerian Anthem a revered, respectful and
solemn occasion and prescribes penalties for anyone who deliberately
brings contempt and ridicule to the act.He lamented that the national
anthem which “encapsulates our collective pride and patriotism, is not
backed up with any legal instrument.”

Significant bill

Currently,there is no legislature on the use of the National Anthem.

Ayogu Eze, the
senate spokesman, said the bill is very significant as it will save the
current national anthem from the fate of the initial one.

“If we have had the
bill like the one on the floor now years ago , the old anthem will
still be in existence, because if you ask me, the old one is better than
this new one.” Mr. Eze said.

Mr.Izunaso said it
is regrettable that successive past governments “either out of oversight
or lack of political will did not care about this thereby exposing our
national anthem to the vagaries or vicissitude of tomorrow.” Every
senator who spoke supported the bill. They said if passed, the bill
would help to strengthen the sense of our national identity within and
outside of Nigeria.

The bill was
referred to the senate committee on interior matters , which would hold
public hearing on it and report back to the senate, possibly before
their tenure expires in May 2011.

Veteran filmmaker, Tunde Kelani, has
defended the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, against
criticism over his suggestion that filmmakers should befriend pirates.

Mr Fashola had, while declaring open the
2010 Association of Movie Producers (AMP) Eko International Film
Festival at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, on Monday referred to
pirates as “our brothers and sisters”. He also told filmmakers to
constructively engage pirates in order to have a win-win situation in
the fight against the menace.

“Let us understand that, they do not
dislike you. It’s not that they have a personal quarrel with you but
there is an economic opportunity there and that is the best way they
have responded to it,” Fashola had said.

However,speaking during a courtesy visit
to NEXT on Thursday, Mr Kelani, who has lost substantial revenue on
‘Arugba’, his latest film, due to piracy, said Mr Fashola meant well.Mr
Kelani, who described the Lagos State governor as the number one fan of
the entertainment industry, said people have misunderstood the man as
he would never succumb to illegality.

“I know Babatunde Raji Fashola very well
and I’m privileged to know that he has great plans for the reformation
of the entertainment industry in Lagos. Personally, he has identified
with artists and he is the number one fan of the entertainment
industry,” he said.

Reforming the industry

The award-winning filmmaker, member of a
panel Mr Fashola set up to reform the entertainment industry in the
state,disclosed that the committee had submitted its report.

“He has great plans for the
entertainment industry in Lagos State. He is passionate about that
industry. The governor knows the importance of ‘Eko’, the city of Lagos
as a major entertainment hub in the whole of Africa and [his] government
is ready to claim the number position in the entertainment
destination,” Kelani said.

Kelani, who also spoke in support of a
number of film events and festivals across the country, said it is an
indication of growth that will also boost tourism in the country.

“It’s an aspect of packaged culture which leads to tourism. This is
going to drive tourism because everybody knows that at this particular
time of the year, it is Akure, this particular time, it is Ibadan, Port
Harcourt or Yenagoa.”

The Northern
Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) on Thursday refuted reports claiming that
its consensus candidate, Atiku Abubakar, beat former military
president, Ibrahim Babangida, by a single vote.The rebuttal was
contained in a press released by the forum’s secretary, Bello Sabo
Abdulkadir.

Mr. Abdulkadir said
the report cannot be true because he was the only non- member of the
NPLF present at the voting and that none of the reporters spoke to him.

“Unknown to the
peddlers of this false report, I, Bello Sabo Abdulkadir, Secretary to
the consensus Committee was the only person present, who was not a
member of the committee,when the voting to choose the consensus
candidate took place. Yet, even I have no idea which member of the
Committee voted for which candidate simply because the voting was by
secret ballot and no member volunteered any information to that effect,”
he said, adding that “the forum would have totally ignored the report
if the report did not also attribute its story to ‘a source, who
witnessed the vote.”

He said the report
in question failed tenets of journalism in the sense that none of the
reporters spoke to him or to any member of the consensus committee. “As a
matter of fact, each member of the committee has assured me that they
have never met with any of the reporters nor spoken to any since the
conclusion of the process. How then did the reporters come about their
vote count, not to talk of matching votes and voters to specific
candidates? The report is, to say the least, highly irresponsible and
regrettable,” the statement said.

He also apologised to “all whose hard earned reputation the report
seeks to tarnish, especially the aspirants who submitted themselves to
the consensus process.”