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The deputy chairman
of the Board of Trustees of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC),
Sule Hamma, on Tuesday, said the party sympatises with the northern
elements within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who felt
betrayed by the alleged zoning arrangement agreed upon some years ago.

Speaking with
journalists in Abuja, Mr. Hamma, who was also the director general of
The Buhari Organisation (TBO), however, ruled out the involvement of the
CPC and its leader, Muhammadu Buhari, in the search for a consensus
candidate among the presidential aspirants on PDP platform from the
north.

“We see (Adamu)
Ciroma as a friend and as an honourable person, as a very conscientious
senior Nigerian citizen that is committed to ensuring justice within his
own party,” he said.

“So far as that is
concerned, we sympathise with anybody that has been betrayed by a
political partner or associate, no matter which party he is in, because
we stand for principle and we insist that people must be responsible and
must also discharge obligations freely entered, irrespective of what
are the circumstances,” he said.

Mr. Hamma dismissed
reports that Mr. Buhari distanced himself from the search for a
consensus candidate because he would rather prefer to face Goodluck
Jonathan in the election to a candidate from the north. According to
him, the retired military general is not afraid of contesting against
any candidate.

The CPC chief urged Nigerians to ignore the PDP, which he said, does not respect agreements freely entered into.

“There is no doubt
about the fact that the issue that has created this wave within the PDP
is one of treachery and betrayal by the PDP dominant group that is in
power today, that is unwilling to recognise and accept the provisions of
the constitution of the party, and the agreement that was entered into
between the northern elements within the PDP and their southern
brothers,” he added.

He admitted that
there is a group of people in the country who are determined to deny Mr.
Buhari the opportunity of returning to power.

“First, the issue of
a cabal; no matter how enlightened they may be, is completely
objectionable to us. We insist that Nigerians are capable of electing
their leaders.

“We insist that in
the twenty first century, Nigeria will be defined in terms of the
strength and stability of its democracy, its openness, and its
transparency, and its participation and responsiveness to the need of
its own people.

“Nigerians will not be accepted or judged as a civilised democratic country if it is controlled by a cabal,” he said.

The rains which
started at about 5.30 a.m., lasted for three hours, flooding many parts
of the town except Summit and Nnebisi Roads, as well as the Asaba-Benin
highway.

The flood also
affected the Government House and Okpanam Roads where the House of
Assembly, Police headquarters, Legislators Quarters Federal and State
Secretariats are located. Vehicular movement was disrupted on many roads
while residents were seen wading through their flooded homes and
streets.

When contacted on
telephone to comment on the development, the state Commissioner for
Environment, Bello Orubebe, declined comments, saying he was busy with
political matters.

The National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed that, as of October,
about 500,000 were displaced due to the devastating floods in many parts
of the country.

Mohammed Sani-Sidi,
the director general of the agency, disclosed this today during a Rapid
Assessment tour of flooded communities in Bayelsa State.

“The country has witnessed the debilitating effects of flooding in states like Sokoto,

Jigawa, Kebbi,
Nassarawa, Lagos, Ogun, Cross River and Akwa Ibom,” Mr Sani-Sidi said.
“We are now victims of this fate wherever you go: North, South, East or
West.”

He blamed the floods
on weather patterns in the country, and all over the world, which have
resulted in adverse ecological imbalances.

“Although flooding
in communities along the Niger trough and coastal communities is not new
to us, what is worrisome is the severity of these cases as we have
witnessed, and the extreme weather conditions experienced globally due
to climate change.”

Disaster prevention

Mr Sani-Sidi said
there was a critical need to make communities more resilient by funding
disaster and risk-reduction activities, safer building methods and
protecting critical infrastructure. He said disasters do not occur in a
vacuum and advocated more communal action to prevent them.

“There is also a
need to imbibe the culture of disaster prevention,” he said. “This can
only be done if we all know that it is wrong to build on water channels,
blocking drainages with refuse, felling trees indiscriminately without
even planting new ones. We all must come together to right the wrongs we
have all individually and collectively brought on our environment.”

Mr Sani-Sidi said
while his agency will do all in its capacity bring relief to the victims
whose livelihoods were washed off by the flood, there is a need for the
establishment of well structured and properly funded state emergency
management agencies to manage disasters in their localities.

“The environment remains our most valued possession and legacy which
we must all strive to protect. Let us all join hands in protecting our
common interest,” he said.

The State Security
Service (SSS), yesterday, defended its questioning of Raymond Dokpesi,
the Director General of Ibrahim Babangida’s presidential campaign
organisation, shortly after the Abuja bomb blasts on October 1.

The service had
accused Mr. Dokpesi of exchanging texts messages with some of the
persons suspected of complicity in the twin blasts. Counsel to the SSS,
Alex Izinyon, said the service was statutorily empowered to invite any
person for questioning on matters bordering on national security. “The
issue in this case which led to the invitation of the applicant by the
first respondent relates to bomb blast where several innocent Nigerians
lost their lives,” he said. “It has to do with state security which the
[service] is legally empowered to investigate.”

According to the
service, Mr. Dokpesi had been invited to clarify a statement made by
Edmond Ebiware, a suspect arrested in connection with the attack, who
said he had met Mr Dokpesi some days before the bomb blast and claimed
he received N4 million from him. “In the process of his investigation,
Mr Dokpesi was granted bail and requested to show up for further
investigation,” said Mr Izinyon.

Mr. Dokpesi is suing the service over the interrogation, which lasted
several hours. He is seeking a declaration that his arrest and
detention were unlawful and a violation of his rights. Mr. Izinyon
warned that if the court intervened in the matter, it would tie up the
hands of the service and impede its efforts to promote national
security. He urged the court to dismiss the suit for as “vexatious,
frivolous and constituting gross abuse of judicial process.”

A witness, Sunday
Medugu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the accident occurred
at 12.30am stating that the car, was coming from Dutse town through the
Gaya-Kano road before colliding with the bus at Fanisau junction.

The witness said the
loaded fuel tanker was coming from Kano when it ran unto the accident
scene, “It swerved off the road into the bush and caught fire
immediately,” he said.

The FRSC Commandant in Jigawa, Malam Mohammed Hussaini, told NAN that
officials of the road safety commission got to the scene after he was
informed. He said they evacuated seven victims to Rasheed Shekoni
Specialist Hospital and the General Hospital, Dutse.

One out of every six persons will suffer stroke across the world, a U.S-based Nigerian neurologist, Olajide Williams, has said.

Speaking at the
first Nigeria-Florida Neuroscience Partnership Conference on Tuesday in
Lagos, the neurologist noted that there was low public awareness on how
to recognise the symptoms of stroke.

He said that the
symptoms of stroke included sudden weakness, weak eyes, sudden
imbalance, and catastrophic headache, adding that the utmost time to
treat stroke is the first 90 minutes of attack.

Mr. Williams, an
associate professor at Columbia University, said that there were two
types of stroke – hemorrhage, which is too much blood in the brain, and
ischemic, which is low blood in the brain.

According to him,
Nigeria has only 50 neurologists to manage its 150 million
population,while Florida has 800 neurologists to take care of 16 million
people.

He urged the Federal Government to invest in telemedicine in order to link up with foreign-based neurologists.

“Health workers need
to involve people from other sectors, including school children,
musicians, and artistes on how to recognise symptoms of stroke,” he
said.

Michael Finkel, a
professor and president, World Neurology Foundation, said that the
partnership would provide opportunity to create a model for neurological
services and that the foundation’s objective was to serve as a
catalyst for thepromotion of neurological care and education in
countries in need.

The four-day
conference was organised by the Nigeria Stroke Society (NSS), World
Neurology Foundation, Florida Society of Neurology, and Nigeria Society
for Neurological Sciences (NSNS). It would focus on stroke, movement
disorder, headache, epilepsy, and clinical neurology, said the
organisers.

Last minute
intrigues and horse-trading are trailing tonight’s meeting of the
Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) which is expected to lead to a change in
the leadership of the organisation.

Some of the
governors, who announced the choice of Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State as
the new chairman of the forum and those opposed to his emergence have
arrived the federal capital and have been engaged in series of meetings
ahead of tonight’s general meeting.

It was learnt last
night that the two groups are still holding on to their positions on Mr
Daniel’s reported emergence, despite the overtures being made by their
colleagues to back down on it. The NGF erupted in crisis last weekend
when Mr Daniel was announced as the replacement for Bukola Saraki, who
has since joined the presidential race. Benue State Governor, Gabriel
Suswan announced the election of his Ogun State counterpart.

But the director
general of the NGF Secretariat, Assisana B. Okauru, said the
announcement, made on the NTA 9pm network news, had “created some
confusion in the public on the distinction between the PDP Governors’
Forum and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.”

He also said that a meeting of the forum had been scheduled in Abuja to pick a new chairman for the body.

Some of the
governors, including Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Ibrahim Shekarau of
Kano State and Babangida Aliyu, who chairs the Northern Governors Forum,
have also dissociated themselves from the purported election of Mr
Daniel.

It was gathered that
the governors who installed Mr Daniel last weekend are mostly those
supporting the ambition of Goodluck Jonathan to contest the presidency
while a few of them opposed to the president are insisting that the Ogun
State governor should not be accepted.

Besides, some of the
governors are also demanding that a proper election should take place
to pick the new chairman. This, they say, does not necessarily mean that
they are opposed to the emergence of the Ogun State governor. But that
they want things done right.

Ironing out disagreement

Mr Okauru confirmed
to NEXT in a telephone interview that an election will be conducted
during the forum’s meeting tonight. “Nothing has changed,” he said. “The
governors will meet to elect a chairman and I do hope you will be there
at the Kwara State Governors Lodge. It is holding 8pm. Yes, there is
disagreement and that it why a meeting is being convened.” Lagos State
Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola yesterday flawed the announced election
of Mr Daniel as the new Chairman of NGF.

While speaking with
journalists at the 2010 Kuramo Conference on Law and Development in
Lagos, he said that “the process was undemocratic and indeed subversive
of the will of other governors, who are the members of the forum.” Mr
Fashola said that the decision of those behind the handpicking of the
Ogun state governor as the new chairman of the forum called for internal
vigilance as the country goes to poll next year.

“It is not a crisis per se, but it is really bothersome,” he said.
“It bothers me that this kind of thing can happen in a party that
professes to have a free and fair election.”

Regional integration of Africa and the meticulous implementation of policies are pivotal to the continent’s economic fortunes, said Paul Boateng, the former UK’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Mr Boateng, while speaking on Tuesday at the maiden edition of the Kuramo Conference on ‘Developing Economies: Rethinking the Present, Shaping the Future’, said Africa is “destined to become the continent of the present century,” but warned the continent’s political elite to embrace transparent democracy and service delivery. “African governments will not be able to escape the need to make some significant policy choices,” he said, “What is vital is that these choices should reflect African priorities – determined by African people in democratic dialogue with those they have freely chosen to lead them based on information freely and regularly available, through open and transparent institutions of governance.”

Harnessing existing resources

Though he would not absolve the western countries of complicity in Africa’s dilemma, he said Africa, by harnessing its existing resources, is capable of solving its problems. “Africa is not just about charity and aids, it has capacity to solve global problems,” he said. He, however, blamed the continent’s retrogression on political leaders for not propounding and implementing “sound policies.” “If the ‘tiger economies’ had focused only on primary education they would not be where they are today,” he said. “Bad policy by donors and global multi-lateral institutions was made worse by Africa’s political elites who themselves failed to either challenge those actions or present viable alternatives. They lacked the vision of their predecessors, missing opportunities to advance the welfare of their peoples and focusing instead on their own self aggrandisement and enrichment.”

Using his own childhood experience as “the grandson of a cocoa farmer” in Ghana, Mr Boateng recommended effective transport system and adequate funding of researches and the proactive application of research results. “My grandfather’s cocoa was the highest grade because he was the beneficiary of the best scientific research then available from the West African Cocoa Research Institute,” he said. “The cocoa was then transported by direct rail link and commanded the highest price and low transport cost. Unfortunately, Africa’s transport costs are the highest in the world. World Class Scientific Research Centres and Railway system no longer exist and this will surely hamper Africa’s future progress.”

Building a great city

Jesse Jackson, a former US Special Envoy for Africa, emphasised that Africa’s leaders “must have a passion for transparency and integrity,” while speaking on ‘Urban Citizenship – Rights and Obligation.’ Mr Jackson said great cities are built, not by the wealth and privileges of a few, but by the workers and fair wages. “We live in a world of globalized capital,” he said. “Now we must globalize human rights, workers rights, women’s rights, children rights and environmental security. Our tilted tax structure expands privileges for the top two per cent [of the population], thus [creating] a turbulent imbalance between the very rich and the very poor, imbalance in trade, major bank collapse without oversight and bailout without link to investment and lending. This calamity of errors and greed is bankrupting cities and states. Lagos, this is not the way to do it.”

Governor Fashola, the conference’s host, said he conceived Kuramo conference to be Africa’s voice on global issues. “The idea behind Kuramo is a response to my belief that at the turn of a new century and with globalization, a new legal order is imperative in order to make our world more inclusive and to secure it for the next generation,” he said, vowing that the conference will not end as a talk show. “The recommendations that will come out of this conference will be documented as the Kuramo Declaration and we shall immediately setup a committee which will work out the advocacy and implementation strategies.”

The Federal Government is poised to
address the menace of oil bunkering and security at the ports, vice
president, Namadi Sambo, said on Monday, in Abuja.

Speaking while representing President
Goodluck Jonathan at the Inter-Ministerial/Inter-Agency meeting on
human capital development master plan for the amnesty programme at the
State House, he said “the meeting was to articulate ways to
rehabilitate ex-militants and other Niger Delta youths in the Nigerian
Seafarers Development training programme.”

He also said that at the end of the training, there would be more personnel to take care of the nation’s coasts.

Mr. Sambo noted that “the incessant
insecurity at our coasts is as a result of inadequate coast guards who
may give information and perfectly protect the coasts,” and added that
“there is need to train more people as coast guards.”

He further disclosed that the Federal
Government is determined to acquire more helicopters and sub-marines to
fight illegal bunkering and other insecurity problems on the country’s
waterways.

The vice president said sustainable
peace in the Niger Delta can only be achieved if there is enough
surveillance by the security agencies.

A technical committee was set up to
work on modalities for the training. The committee was mandated to
discuss insecurity at the ports and creeks; address the immediate,
medium, and long term issues of illegal-bunkering and internal
collaborators; co-opt other security agencies like the Navy, Air-force,
Police, and Maritime Security Agency (MSA) for effective report.

The committee, which comprises the
director general of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency
(NIMASA); minister of transport; the group managing director of NNPC;
and the managing directors of Nigerian Ports Authority and Petroleum
Technology Development Fund, who were also at the meeting, has nine (9)
days to complete its report.

Speaking at the meeting, the director
general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration, Mr. Temisan Omatseye,
said the present state of affairs in seafarer training in Nigeria can
be traced to the demise of the state owned Nigeria National Shipping
Line (NNSL).

He was, however, optimistic that the
agency has taken practical steps within the existing Nigerian Seafarer
Development Programme training framework with foreign countries
including Vietnam, South Africa, India, Philippines, and Egypt, to
train space commitment of 2,150 Ratings in the next six (6) to seven
(7) months.

In his observation, the special adviser
to the president on Niger Delta, Mr. Timi Alaibe, lamented that the
Niger Delta states are not taking advantage of the programme by sending
more contingents for the training, adding that only 6,500 people, which
represent fifteen percent of the number of people for the training,
showed interest.

He urged the Nigerian Maritime
Administration to speed up with the programme, which according to him,
“will reduce the crime rate in the area.”

He also told journalists that the
blowing up of the AGIP oil pipeline in Bayelsa State on the 29th of
0ctober, was an isolated criminal incident, adding that this did not
mean there was a resurgence in the activities of militants in the
region.

He emphasised that judging from where
they were coming from, the security situation in the Niger Delta has
improved because of the amnesty programme, noting that from below
700,000 barrels per day, Nigeria is now producing over 2 million
barrels per day.

The special adviser, who attended the meeting to streamline the
processes of integration and training of the over 7,000 ex-militants,
both in the country and abroad, insisted that despite the hiccups being
experienced, the amnesty programme was on course.

The Court of Appeal
has deferred judgment on an appeal filed by Rauf Aregbesola, the
governorship aspirant of the Action Congress (AC) in the 2007 elections
in Osun State.

The five-member
panel, led by Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, said this after listening to the
arguments of counsel to the parties in the suit.

Mr. Aregbesola is
contending the judgment of the Governorship and House of Assembly
Elections Petitions Tribunal of Osun State of May 28, 2010. The
tribunal upheld the declaration of Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) by the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) as the winner of the said election.

Arguing on behalf
of the petitioner, Akin Olujimi, a Senior Advocate, said his client is
faulting the lower tribunal judgment because it has failed to consider
the weight of evidence put before it before making its conclusions.

Mr. Olujimi made
specific reference to Boripe local government, where the number of
votes allotted to the PDP candidate were far much more than the total
number of names available in the voters’ register there.

He said whereas the
total number of the eligible voters, according to INEC’s voters’
register, is 12,631, the commission recorded 14, 497 for the PDP
candidate.

He also pointed out
that besides many discrepancies in the number of eligible voters in the
register and the number of votes recorded during the election, the
commission could only produce register for four wards, out of the 11
wards in the local government, “meaning that there are no register for
the remaining 7 wards in the council,” the counsel said.

Fairy tale

The petitioner
alleged that one F.O. Nafiu, a PDP agent, who signed exhibit 196 before
the court, signed nine out of the 11 documents containing the results
of the election in Boripe local government.

This, he argued, could not be possible under election pressure, given the distance between the wards.

He then submitted
that the tribunal had failed to consider all the irregularities, which,
according to him, were enough to make it void all votes from the
affected area and declare the candidate that pools the majority votes
in the remaining vote cast as the winner of the election.

Having argued his
point before the appeal panel, Mr. Olujimi urged it to set aside the
judgment of the lower tribunal, cancel the votes of areas in
contention, and declare his client winner of the election because with
the remaining votes, he scored the highest.

But, Yusuf Ali,
lead counsel to Governor Oyinlola, said the tribunal could not have
judged otherwise because the appellant failed to prove his allegations
of fraud beyond reasonable doubt.

He said most of the
issues which the case rested upon are criminal, and needed concrete
evidence to prove, which the appellant has failed to avail the court.

He said the appeal does not deserve any other action from the panel than a dismissal, urging the panel to do same.

After listening to the two and the counsel representing INEC, its
officials, as well as others representing other parties to the suit,
the appeal panel said it would communicate the judgement date to all
the parties in due course.