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A few days after it became clear that
the National Assembly will defer the date for next years election,
federal lawmakers from Rivers State pulled truncated a long vacation
and sat down for a crucial meeting.

To the legislators, the request for
more time by the Independent National Electoral Commission, was a
welcome opportunity and the immediate and far-flung import of the shift
in dates was not lost on them.

They understood that a postponement could mean an alteration of the constitution and, especially the Electoral Act.

As aspiring returnees to the National
Assembly in 2011, the Rivers State lawmakers understood that the
amendments , as events will later prove them right, could provide the
needed antidote to a deadly political ailment facing them: the
almost-certain prospect of losing their party tickets next year.

That possibility hung over at least 11
out of the 16 members representing the state at the federal assembly.
It however worsened as the rift between the lawmakers and their
governor, Rotimi Ameachi, deepened ahead of 2011.

“If the first INEC timetable had been
maintained and the party primaries held in October 2010, it was quite
clear that almost all of them would have gone. And they all knew that,”
a member who does not want to be quoted, said.

So while the nation was grappling with
the worry of what consequences a last minute deferment of polls may
bring to the struggling electoral system, the Rivers State lawmakers
forged a position, agreeing to seek succour in the proposed amendments.

In the end, according to lawmakers who
agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, self preservation moves by
the Rivers contingent shaped the lawmakers amendment of the Electoral
Act in ways that is now generating tension in the country. “Not that
this kind of problem was not found in other states. Of course it
existed in almost every state. But that of Rivers was the most notable
and it affected almost all the members,” another member of the House
told NEXT.

Those who spoke said although there had
been widespread quest for a super antidote to the threat of the loss of
party tickets facing majority of the members. So they came up with the
two proposals to protect their jobs – the Right of First Refusal,
earlier defeated by public outcry, and now the automatic membership of
the highest decision making body of political parties by members of the
National Assembly. Both proposals were formulated by lawmakers from
Rivers.

However, during phone interviews on
Friday, two members of the House from the state, Igo Aguma and Asita
Honourable, denied this claim.

While Mr.Aguma’s rejection was
sweeping, (he described the charge as a “total farce”), Mr. Honourable
said he could not confirm if the second proposal has roots in the
state, but he acknowledged that majority of members from that state
have strong sympathy for both clauses – a position he said he is
personally opposed to. “It is selfish, it is immoral and it is without
conscience,” he said.

But those making the allegations
highlight the state’s intricate polity. Mr Ameachi’s disagreement with
the lawmakers dates back to the annulment of Celestine Omehia’s
election as governor of the state in 2007. Majority of the state’s
representatives and senators had supported Mr. Omehia, who served only
for three months before he was fired by the Supreme Court,

Yet, unlike other states with similar
circumstances where lawmakers promptly switched loyalties to the new
government, majority of the lawmakers in Rivers remained at odds with
Mr. Ameachi, insiders say.

By August this year, only two out of
the 13 House members from the state stood a chance of winning a return
ticket in 2011, namely Mr. Honourable and Andrew Uchendu. Incidentally,
the two were not in support of Mr. Omehia.

“The INEC request became the turning
point for the members. It gave them more time to manoeuvre,” said one
member. Fighting their corner With the prospect of a new Electoral Act
amendment, the 11 lawmakers, allegedly led by Mr. Aguma, the chairman,
House committee on Gas Resources and Olaka Nworgu, launched the first
attempt through the “Right of First Refusal” clause, which would have
required incumbents to declare first, whether or not to continue in
office, before anyone else.

Mr.Honourable confirmed that the clause
originated from the state although he could not be sure of those who
pushed it. “They introduced it to corrupt the system. No matter what
they say, their intention is to protect their own future and not the
future of the people they represent,” he said.

With the tremendous public condemnation
that greeted the plan, the proposal was withdrawn before an official
presentation was made at any of the legislative chambers.

Weeks later, the lawmakers introduced
the bill seeking to make them members of the National Executive
Committees of political parties, considered as a “backdoor entrance” of
the earlier bill.

“This would tantamount to legislative
rascality and parliamentary gambadoism,” a member, Patrick Obahiagbon,
said at a press conference where he condemned the plan on Monday. At a
separate interview, Mr. Obahiagbon said he saw it his responsibility to
oppose the clause “with every strength I have”.

Officially, both chambers have insisted
the intent of the bill was to deepen democracy in the political
parties. Mr. Aguma, a co-sponsor of the bill in the house, reiterated
that position to NEXT. He said political parties have lost focus, and
remain only a vehicle for winning elections. “Can you tell me the
ideology of the PDP, ACN or ANPP? They simply don’t exist,” he argued.
“We need a structure whereby the parties meet government.” That, he
said, he was confident the lawmakers can deliver if they become members
of the parties’ NEC.

The bill has garnered unquestionable support by lawmakers in both chambers, and won smooth passage through two readings.

The likely hood of David Mark, the
senate president, and Dimeji Bankole, the Speaker of the House,
returning are also shaky and they both reportedly assented to the
proposal in the belief that it would enhance a larger return of
incumbent members, which in turn will help them retain their offices.

Mr. Bankole is said to be working on
reconciling with his home state governor, Gbenga Daniel. Part of the
bargain, NEXT understands, was that the former Speaker of the Ogun
state House of Assembly, Titi Oseni, who wants to contest for Mr.
Bankole’s seat, has been prevailed upon to step down.

Mrs Oseni however denied she has been asked to step down. ‘I will not step down for anyone,’ she said.

Omoyele Sowore, a fair-complexioned man with a round face, was
having lunch – pounded yam and okra soup – at a packed and noisy African
restaurant in the Bronx District of New York that Monday afternoon when one of
his three mobile telephones rang. As Sowore, 39, a New-York-based blogger,
journalist and activist, munched his meal, he spoke in low tones to the caller
at the other end.

Sowore is the founder and chief reporter of one of sub-Saharan
Africa’s most popular and feared websites. A major story was unfolding in his
native Nigeria that day and the caller, a ‘top confidential source within the
ruling establishment’ (he said at the time) had called to offer him a scoop.

“Are you saying he is being flown abroad tonight? Who are those
accompanying him?” Sowore asked, raising his voice a little above the din. Then
he went quiet for a while as he listened attentively to the informant’s
response, his left hand pressing the phone to his left ear and his right hand
making a rhythmic journey between his plate and his mouth.

The call over, after about ten minutes, a smile sprouted from
the edges of Sowore’s lips. He then cut short his lunch, paid his bill and
hurried to his car, a green Toyota Highlander, parked four blocks away. He
flung open the trunk of the car and pulled out a backpack containing a white,
internet-ready Apple computer. Standing by the front door of the car, his
laptop placed on the driver’s seat, Sowore placed more calls to two other
sources in Abuja.

He then pounded out a news report announcing to the world that
the Nigerian president, Musa Yar’Adua, had fallen terribly ill and was being
rushed to a Saudi hospital. The report went live on Saharareporters.com at
exactly 1p.m. – a full five hours before an official statement from the
presidential villa announcing the trip. Sowore thus became the first to report
the beginning of a journey from which Yar’Adua never returned.

Mr Sowore’s distinctions are legion. In the five years that he
has run his site, he has become Nigeria’s version of Julian Assange, the
controversial Australian internet activist. His blog, SaharaReporters.com, is
also as audacious as Assange’s WikiLeaks, a secret-spilling organization that
publishes sensitive and classified documents that would have been otherwise
unavailable to the public. In fact, Philip Shenon, a former investigative
reporter for The New York Times, and author of “The Commission: The Uncensored
History of the 9/11 Investigation”, in a recent article for the Daily
Beast,referred to SaharaReporters as Africa’s WikiLeaks. But while Assange
scouts the entire world for sensitive and confidential documents, Sowore has
made Nigeria his forte.

Operating from a cubicle in an expansive office he shares with
another media organization in mid-Manhattan, Sowore documents sordid details of
corruption, misgovernance,dishonesty and ineptitude by Nigerian government
officials, institutions,corporations and individuals.

“Our mission is to do as much evidence-based reporting as
possible. We want to make sure that we consistently shame and make life
difficult for the thieves plundering Nigeria and holding down the country’s
progress,” Sowore, who also teaches Modern African History at the City
University of New York and Post Colonial African History at the School of
Visual Arts, New York, said with a snort of disgust one recent Wednesday
afternoon, as he worked on an article accusing Nigeria’s President Goodluck
Jonathan of profligacy.

Although Sowore is based in New York, 5, 269 miles from
Nigeria, he has become the nemesis of many a corrupt and inept official in his
country. He has amassed a long list of trusted sources within Nigeria’s ruling
establishment and its corporate world. And his website, in recent years, has
become one of the most visited and trusted sources of news on the oil-rich West
African nation.

According to Alexa, an organization that tracks site traffic
around the world, SaharaReporters is among the top 10 most visited news sites
in Nigeria. It’s Facebook page also buzzes with activity.

Sowore moves around New York with a roller case containing an
i-Pad, two Apple laptops permanently hooked to the internet, three mobile
phones, a T-Mobile line devoted to text messaging, a Verizon line for voice
calls and another T-Mobile line exclusively for international calls. “I’m like
a doctor. I get a lot of emergency calls, and an average of 30 calls a day from
my sources in Nigeria and other parts of the world,” he said one recent Friday
evening as he drove out of a parking lot in Manhattan.

He also has a backpack containing a canon rebel camera for
still photography, a Panasonic Lumix camcorder, an extra pair of clothing and
some toiletries, in case he is not able to make it back to his New Jersey home
because of a breaking story.With these tools, the blogger has broken a large
number of major stories that have made a huge impact on the country of 150
million people, including bringing down some highly placed government
officials.

“The fear of SaharaReporters is the beginning of wisdom for
corrupt officials in Nigeria and the joke in the country is that politicians,
public office holders, security officials, corporate giants and other well
placed individuals do not go to bed without checking SaharaReporters,” Bukola
Oreofe, a New York-based pro-democracy activist, who has followed the site from
its inception, said. “And when they wake up in the morning, they also rush to
check whether SaharaReporters has published their indiscretions or exposed
their hidden skeletons.”

Site for exposing evil

From presidents to state governors, senators to ministers, and
businessmen to anti-corruption operatives, Sowore’s website has exposed and
disgraced more than a few public officials. He has also pelted successive
administrations with scathing criticisms. It was SaharaReporters which
consistently published the accounts of the corrupt acts of a former Nigerian
Justice Minister, Mike Aondoakaa, until the Barack Obama administration could
tolerate the official no more. His U.S. visa was cancelled and he and his
family were barred from entering the United States. For years, Sowore beamed
his searchlight on James Ibori, a former state governor of Delta State and
steadily assailed the Nigerian government with embarrassing information of his
alleged plunder of state resources. The former governor escaped to Dubai when
the government moved to prosecute him. He was later arrested in Dubai where he
is facing an extradition trial.

Nigeria,OPEC’s sixth largest producer of crude and one of
America’s top suppliers of oil, is Africa’s most populous country and the
world’s most populous black nation. Although it has enormous oil resources,
earning about $25 billion a year according to the Revenue Watch Institute, it
remains among the poorest countries in the world, ranking 158th out of the 182
countries rated in the United Nation’s most recent Human Development Index.

Corruption is rife, with a huge chunk of the country’s revenue
routinely stolen by corrupt administration officials and their collaborators in
the corporate world.Unemployment is skyrocketing. Basic infrastructures are
broken down. And the country’s elections are usually flawed, its leaders often
lacking legitimacy.

“Sowore is angry at a Nigerian nation that has huge potential for success
but has remained largely underdeveloped,” said Shola Oshunkeye, an editor with
Nigeria’s Sun newspapers during a recent visit to New York. “As a result of his
anger, Sowore is usually restless and applies no breaks in pushing to the
public domain any information that could expose the ineptitude,insincerity,
corruption and wheeling-dealing tendencies of the country’s public officials.”

My earliest memory of Sam Amuka Pemu, the Vanguard publisher, comes from an essay I read in the Drum magazine when I was a boy. The column was Sad Sam, and it showed the young Amuka already balding (perhaps he was just clean-shaven). In any case his head was Sahara bare when everyone else spotted afro. To my young eyes, he looked so tough – not the sort to flinch from evil. He looked like the original combative journalist, cynical and aggressive.

The piece itself was titled, ‘My eyes have seen the glory of God,’ and the glory of God for Sam was a young man in a molue who gave up his seat for an old woman. I don’t remember the details, yet that piece has stayed with me over the years and I still wonder why. Perhaps it was the face and the tone, and the fact that I was reading that ‘racy’ magazine for the first time.

I have never bothered to see Mr Amuka-Pemu in person, because whatever he is, he will never live up to that image of his that I saw in Drum as a boy. It may even have played some role in my desire to become a journalist: to be so sure of yourself and your role in society, to be so feisty and gloriously free to go where you please and write what you see.

And who knows, it may also have a tiny part in why I started writing the Danfo Chronicles.

I have recently been reading Sigmund Freud’s ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ again, and it seems that so much of what we become as adults have their root in our childhood.The other night as I took the big bus from Obalende to Oshodi, with almost as many people standing as were sitting, I thought my eyes had seen the glory of God when a young man left his seat for a woman who had just entered. He had looked at her and smiled, and suddenly he was standing up and she was smiling back and moving towards his seat. But things happen fast in a Lagos bus and she was slow. An old man who had been standing there all the while, dashed in front of her and took the seat and, as harried reporters used to say, hell was let loose.

People urged the old man to leave the seat – the young man even said he was no longer vacating it for anyone – but baba would not budge. “Na you say you no wan seat again and I dey here before her.” Finally, the conductor intervened, though as always it was about the money for him. People who get to seat pay N100, those standing pay N70, which was what the baba had paid. Would Baba therefore pay the balance of N30 now that he has a seat? Baba said no. Would he refund N30 to the young man who was now standing? Baba would do no such thing.

“Wetin she for payam?” he asked, pointing to the lady who now looked sad and kept apologising for causing the youth his seat. The drama was endless; everyone had an opinion.

“Leave baba and let’s go” said a chap sitting beside me, suddenly standing up. “I say let’s go. Matter don end.” His voice carried a warning, as if he would take on anyone who said anything more, and as no one did, he sat back again.

As the bus left, I turned to him, “Are you saying what the baba did was right?” “Xcuse me” he said, “but you know the baba before? You no see say na troublemaker? Look at me.” So I looked, though I am not sure I can say what I saw here without opening myself up for libel.

“Before, I for stand up carry the baba throway out of the bus. No be all this noise una dey make. You dey feel me?” I said I was indeed, feeling him. “But trouble no good. Na me dey tell you. People are making money and we are talking of seat. I say leave matter.” I left matter.

The Senate president, David Mark, has expressed support for the
creation of additional states in the country.

Mr. Mark, while speaking to airport reporters at the
presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, on his way to
Abuja, after the conferment of a chieftaincy title on him from Egbaland in
Abeokuta, Ogun State, disclosed that the creation of more states enhances
proximity between the leaders and the led.

“I think truly that the agitation for state creation is an
agitation to bring governance nearer to the people. That is what it means in
effect,” he said at the weekend.

“Could you have imagined what the situation could have been if
Lagos was not created out of the old Western Region, or if we didn’t have more
states in Nigeria?” He asked.

Admitting that there are states in the country that are not as
productive compared to some others, the Senator said that the need for more
states outweighs arguments of a particular state’s viability.

“I know the argument is there are states now that don’t appear
viable, but that itself is not enough argument to stop the agitation for state
creation,” he said.

The public will decide
number

On the number of additional states to be created, Mr. Mark
disclosed that Nigerians will decide on the number of states required for the
country, adding that an open dialogue on the issue will be conducted.

“It is the will of the people. You know, we are going to subject
this to public discussion and at the end of it, we will gather opinion and see
where the preponderance of the opinion swings to,” he said.

Mr. Mark, however, disclosed that the media, the general public,
and the National Assembly have a role to play in the creation for additional
states.

“It depends on you; for the media has a critical role to play.
The public and parliamentarian have a role to play. We all have something at
stake and if we play our part, everything will be alright,” he said.

Imo State Attorney General, Ken Njemanze, appears to have been caught in the middle of a dispute over a traditional throne. He is alleged to have used his position as the state’s Attorney General to influence the judgement of the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri over the dispute in which he is considered an active participant.

A group known as Imo State Concerned Citizens Abroad based in Slovakia sent a petition dated July 19, 2010 to the National Judicial Council (NJC) accusing the Mr. Njemanze of colluding with Mojeed Owoade, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Owerri, to fraudulently subvert an earlier judgement of an Imo State High Court, Orlu, over the matter between the state (plaintiff) and Cyracus Amaechi Mkpado (accused).

Another group, the Concerned Citizens of Orlu based in California, United States of America, also petitioned the NJC on the same matter calling on the body to investigate Mr. Njemanze, Mr. Owoade and another justice of the Appeal Court in Owerri, Helen Ogunwumiju, for what it termed “their roles in this travesty of justice”.

Attempted murder

Cyracus Mkpado was charged by the state for attempting to kill one Chima Mkpado by shooting him during a marriage ceremony on December 31, 1991. The shooting was believed to have been precipitated by their quarrel over the kingship stool of Umuzike autonomous community in Orlu local governemnt area, which Cyracus Mkpado was occupying then.

When the case came up for hearing at an Imo State High Court, Orlu, Mr. Njemanze was part of the legal team representing Cyracus Mkpado. On February 22, 2007 Benjamin Njemanze, the presiding judge, passed a guilty verdict on the accused. Ken Njemanze entered a plea of leniency on behalf of his client on the ground that he was a first offender. The judge subsequently sentenced him to five years imprisonment with the option of N500,000.00 fine, which was promptly paid in full by the accused.

Following the verdict of the High Court, Cyracus Mkpado was stripped of his position as the king of Umuzike and his opponent, Chima Mkpado, appointed as the king-elect of the community.

Controversial appeal

However, after the payment of the fine, Mr. Njemanze on behalf of his client, filed an appeal contesting the judgement of the lower court. However, before the conclusion of the appeal Mr. Njemanze was appointed the attorney general of the state. He, however, through his law firm reportedly continued to act as the counsel to the appellant despite being the chief legal officer of the state.

Trouble came when the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri upturned the decision of the lower court. The verdict of the appellate court led to a situation where the two parties resumed their claim to the throne.

Supporters of Chima Mkpado claimed that the proceeding at the Appeal Court was rigged. They accused Mr. Njemanze of abuse of office. According to them, he colluded with Mr. Owoade and Mrs. Ogunwumiju to subvert the true course of justice.

“The Attorney General, Barrister Ken Njemanze’s stand in this matter shows a conflict of interest and is apparent that he is still operating as the accused council rather than in the interest of the Imo State as the current Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Imo State.”

Conflict of interest

This situation was described as an “infamous conduct” by Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based lawyer, as it places the attorney general in the compromising position of being the counsel to both the appellant and the respondent. According to Mr. Ogunye, it is clear from the conduct of the attorney general that he “deliberately wanted to sabotage the administration of justice”.

However, Mr. Ogunye berated Chima Mkpado for not acting as at when due.

“The person that is crying foul now has every right at the Court of Appeal to file an application challenging the decision of the attorney general as the counsel to the appellant asking the court to disqualify the attorney general’s chambers from appearing because of conflict of interest.”

Another Lagos-based lawyer, Charles Musa, said as much as the action of Mr. Njemanze may not be strictly illegal, it is not ideal.

“It is not neat”, he said. “There may be conflict of interest. It would have been better if he was not involved; his chambers should not have touched the case.”

However, he said that sometimes it may not be practical to ask a lawyer to hands off all cases involving the government.

“Once he leaves his chamber to become the attorney general he may want to argue that he is no more the lawyer handling it. He has resigned from the chamber and he cannot close the chamber because he becomes attorney general.”

According to Mr. Musa the allegation that the attorney general influenced the decision of the court of appeal to his favour is far-fetched.

“To say that he influenced the Court of Appeal, No, unless there is prove”.

In a telephone interview with NEXT, Mr. Njemanze completely denied having anything thing to do with the decision of the Court of Appeal.

“I have nothing to do with the case,” he said. “It is ridiculous for them to accuse me of influencing the court of appeal. I have no interest whatsoever with the case, I’m not from Orlu; I’m from Owerri. So what is in it for me? I have resigned from my former chamber and I have nothing to do with their work there. It is a busy place with senior lawyers, so why will I want to get involved in their operations?”

Mr. Njemanze also promised to make available all documents relating to the case to show that his hands are clean.

Meanwhile, in a letter dated August 4, 2010 and signed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, the NJC, while referring to the petition sent by Imo State Concern Citizens, gave the judges two weeks to respond to the accusation levelled against them.

Efforts made by NEXT to know the present status of the case has not yielded any result, as the commission had not responded to our enquiry before we went to press.

GLANCE BOX:

1. December 31, 1991: Cyracus Mkpado was accused of attempting to kill Chima Mkpado with a gun during a traditional marriage ceremony at Umuowa, Orlu.

2. February 22, 2007: An Orlu High Court, Imo State found Cyracus Mkpado guilty as charged of attempted murder and sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment with an option of N500,000.00 fine.

3. March 5, 2007: Cyracus Mpkado appealed the judgement of the Orlu High Court

4. June 25,2010: The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri upturned the verdict of the High Court and acquitted Cyracus Mkpado of attempted murder.

The National
Chairman of All Nigerian Peoples Party(ANPP), Ogbonnaya Onu yesterday
expressed concern over the insecurity of lives and property across the
country.The former governor of Abia State also said ‘‘more worrisome is
the increasing spate of assassinations of innocent citizens across the
country’’.

Fielding questions
from newsmen in Umuahia during a one-day sensitization visit to Abia
State, Mr Onu said, “ all Nigerians are worried. Security is very
important,the ANPP is worried, we have been victims living in a very
unsecured environment. We have lost our National Vice Chairman, North
East who was assassinated and he died in cold blood in his own house
and those who went there removed nothing except his life.” He said “we
are extremely worried that people no longer go to bed with their two
eyes closed because of the fear of armed robbers and of late,
kidnapping and what is worrying us is that the situation is getting
even worse”.

Vibrant opposition

On the growing fear
that the country might be heading towards a one party state, the ANPP
leader said democracy would not strive without a vibrant opposition.

“So,we do not
believe, and I know that it is unacceptable to most Nigerians,if not
all Nigerians ,that we should have one party rule,” he said. “The ANPP
believes that there ought to be competition in the political arena. We
are convinced that once there is competition in the political arena,
that Nigeria will develop at a very fast pace. The problem we have
today will not be there.” He said the party was not formed to serve as
an opposition party because it believes it can win power through the
vote of the people to form a government at all levels.

Giving insight into
the procedure the party would adopt in selection of its candidates for
the 2011 election, Onu said, “we will not interfere with the people in
terms of choosing who is to represent them. We are leaving the
situation to internal democracy”.

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday warned
criminals who continue to hide under acronyms to engage in criminal
acts of self-enrichment that they no longer have a hiding place, as
orders have been given to law enforcement agencies to hunt them down.
The President also affirmed that government will continue to pursue its
programmes for the re-orientation, rehabilitation and reintegration of
all genuine militants who had laid down their arms under the amnesty
programme.

He commended the military high command and officers
and men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta for
the safe rescue of the seven foreign and 12 Nigerian oil workers held
by kidnappers in the region, yesterday.“While the Federal Government
will continue to take all necessary steps to guarantee the safety of
lives and property, as well as the security of oil workers and
installation in the Niger Delta, all law-abiding citizens have nothing
to fear,” the president said.

The security forces yesterday handed the freed
hostages to their employers on Thursday.The release of the hostages is
seen as a victory for Mr Jonathan’s administration.

Charles Omoregie, commander of a military taskforce
in the Niger Delta, said the military had taken over several suspected
militant camps in the region’s three main states, including those run
by a newly emerging kingpin, known as Obese.“Two camps have been taken
over in Delta, two in Bayelsa and three in Rivers … (The hostages)
were all rescued from Obese’s camp here in Rivers state after a
sustained military operation.” He said the raids started on Monday and
that Obese, thought to be a newfield commander of the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)militant group, had contacted the
security forces via former militant leaderswho accepted amnesty last
year to tell them he was ready to surrender.

Mr Omoregie praised the role that former MEND field
commanders, including Boyloaf and Farah Dagogo, who acceptedlast year’s
amnesty, played in ensuring the release of the hostages.

Shocking Experience

The seven expatriates were taken from an offshore oil
rig operated by exploration firm Afren on November 7. Eight of the
Nigerians were abducted from an Exxon Mobil platform a week later,
while the remaining four were employees oflocal construction firm
Julius Berger.

One hostage, Canadian Robert Croke, described the ordeal.“It was a
shocking experience. They gave us mattresses to sleep on,virtually
nothing else. We were begging for food and water because what we were
exhausted,” he told reporters. “We were not maltreated, they were not
hostile to us, it was just that we lacked the basic necessities.”

The Senate
yesterday denied doing any selective work in favour of certain
proposals for state creation submitted to it by people agitating for
new states.

The senate
spokesman, Ayogu Eze, on Thursday in Abuja, denied allegations that the
senators have shortlisted a list of new states which they intend to
rubber-stamp during the state creation exercise.

“There is no list
of states to be created that has been drawn by the national assembly,”
he said. “That matter is not being considered right now but we hope
that we will consider it in the life of this sixth national assembly.”
He added that currently, the lawmakers are only receiving requests and
collating such requests and that the issue of state creation has been
relegated until the constitution review exercise is finished.

“We don’t have any
reason whatsoever at this stage to eliminate any request or to include
any request because we have not started the consideration of any
request,” he said.

Mr Eze said all the
requests for creation of states are with the senate’s 44-member ad hoc
committee on the alteration of the constitution, which would bring out
criteria for selection of the states to be created – in accordance with
section 9 of the constitution – “when the time comes.”

“All the requests
that have been received are with us, we have not drawn up any list, we
have not thrown away any request, and we have not taken any request
onboard. All of them are intact as they have been made,” he said.

He insisted that
the state creation exercise will follow the same pattern with that of
the constitution alteration, as outlined in section 8 and 9 of the
constitution. He added that it is through such a process that the
lawmakers will determine which states would be created, depending on
the mood of the public.

Altruistic lawmakers

He also added that
the insistence of the lawmakers that the president need not sign an
amendment to the constitution before it becomes effective is not an
“ego trip,” but a necessary argument that will benefit the constitution
in the end.

He also defended
the ongoing amendment to the 2010 electoral act, part of which seeks to
make the lawmakers members of the National Executive Committees (NEC)
of their various parties.

“We are not making laws for ourselves because we are not going to
stay in the national assembly forever,” he argued. “We think that if
you pull in the representatives of the people into the decision making
bodies of the parties, we are making it more democratic; we are
bringing in more voices, and views; we are enlarging the political
space within the parties and increasing the participation.” He added
that the amendment is not strange, considering that only a few parties
in Nigeria do not have all their national assembly lawmakers as members
of the NEC.

The Enugu State
House of Assembly has, for a second time, rejected the amendment of
some sections of the 1999 Constitution as proposed by the National
Assembly.

Ruling on the
motion, the Speaker, Eugene Odoh, advised his colleagues at the
National Assembly to heed the rule of law irrespective of the interests
they might be canvassing.

According to him, there is no justification for the inclusion of the electoral timetable in the Constitution.

“Such a provision
should remain in the electoral act because human factors may
necessitate a change in any date,’’ the Speaker said.

Also, Mr. Odoh
reminded his colleagues that a few weeks ago, a Federal High Court in
Lagos declared the first constitutional amendment as “null and void’’,
since the president did not give assent to the amendments.

“We shall
communicate to the National Assembly our total rejection of the
amendment but if any court of competent jurisdiction states otherwise,
we will abide by it

“No court has
given any stay of proceedings in respect of the Federal High Court
judgment and since human nature is flexible and dynamic, it may not be
proper to put such timetable in the constitution,’’ he said.

Moving the motion,
Johnny Obidinma, the Leader of the House, urged his colleagues to
reject the provisions of the amendments as contained in clauses 1 to 11.

Paul Anikwe,
(PDP-Ezeagu), suggested that provisions of the 1999 Constitution should
be used to conduct the 2011 general elections, since the judgment of
the Lagos High Court had not been vacated.

Cletus Enebe,
(PDP-Awgu North) said that provisions of the second constitutional
amendment would promote constitutional crisis as section 132 (2) of the
1999 Constitution made provisions for days within which elections
should be conducted.

Legislators present
during the proceedings, unanimously voiced a rejection of the Act to
alter the Constitution (First Alteration).

In another
development, Abel Chukwu, Chairman, Joint Committee on Works, MDGs and
Judiciary, presented a report of the public hearing held on the Public
Procurement Bill and Regulatory Authorities.

He noted that many
of the contributors objected to a governor being chairman of the bureau
because there could be other state matters that might require attention
of a chief executive and could thus delay public procurement.

Debate on the
report for possible passage was deferred to a later date to be
determined by the Rules and Business Committee of the House.

NAN

The factional
deputy Speaker, Ogun House of Assembly, Edwards Ayo-Odugbesan, on
Thursday, dismissed insinuation that PDP institutionalised corruption
in the country.

Mr. Ayo-Odugbesan,
who said that corruption was not the creation of the party, called for
the immediate sack of Yinka Odumakin as the spokesman of the Save
Nigeria Group (SNG) over the alleged bias and issuance of such
allegation.

He said it would be wrong and unfair for anybody to point fingers at PDP for masterminding corruption in the country.