Nigeria Content Online

The
Senate president, David Mark, has declared that the May 29 handover
date is sacrosanct and crucial under the current process of
constitution amendment.

He made the
declaration on Monday in Abuja during a public hearing organised for
the second amendment to the 1999 Constitution. He cautioned the
leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to
be guarded about the new time line and ensure that the elections do not
overflow into a date beyond 30 days before the May 29 handover date.

He also debunked allegations that the lawmakers were embarking on the second review with skewed interest.

“We don’t have
ulterior motives and we do not need to have,” Mark said. “What we are
doing is in the best interest of the nation and whatever we need to do,
we will do because it is in the interest of the nation.” The second
amendment to the 1999 Constitution is basically to alter the
constitution so that elections will be held not earlier than 90 days
and not later than 30 days before the end of tenure of the running
office. It is an amendment to the current constitutional time frame
which stipulates that elections should hold not earlier than 150 days
and not later than 120 days.

Atahiru Jega,
chairman of INEC, who was at the public hearing said the body was
satisfied with the pace and tone of the amendment being done by the
lawmakers.

He confirmed that
the new 90/30 time line proposed by the bill was the time frame the
election management body requested earlier.

“We are sure that
when this is concluded, the coast will be clear for us to deliver to
Nigerians the credible elections we promised,” Jega said. “So far, we
are satisfied.” Joseph Dawodu, the president of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) who also attended the hearing, said the bar was happy
with the lawmakers’ progress on the amendment. He supported the time
line but warned that if the new one fails, “we might have a situation
which will not be pleasant.”

Corruption in courts

The second
amendment to the 1999 constitution is in two parts. The first covers
the election time line while the second proposes a solution to the
inconsistent judgments on governorship elections arising from appeal
courts and the rising corruption at that level of jurisdiction.

The new amendment
seeks to make the Supreme Court the court of finality in governorship
election cases, with another tweak, which gives the chief judges of
states power in the appointment of appeal court judges to seat in
governorship cases in their respective states.

The bill also proposes to make magistrate court judges appoint-able as members of governorship election tribunals.

Mr Dawodu, however,
warned that contestants shouldn’t be given a blanket right to take
their cases up to the Supreme Court, except in cases where the issue
for determination is not fact but law.

Femi Falana, the
former chairman of West African Bar Association (WABA) was the only
dissenting participant. He was of the opinion that the vices which the
lawmakers are trying to avoid at the lower courts also exist in the
Supreme Court.

He also argued that if governorship cases are allowed to go that far, some of the cases will linger for too long.

The amendments are expected to be concluded before the end of the month.

The Goodluck/Sambo
Campaign Organisation restated yesterday that the plan by four
presidential aspirants, under the banner of Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), to pick a consensus candidate to run against President Goodluck
Jonathan, would fail.

Sully Abu,
spokesperson of the organisation, said in Abuja that it has faith in
the ballot box as the only viable means through which Nigerians would
determine who their next president would be.

Four presidential
hopeful from the north, namely Ibrahim Babangida, Atiku Abubakar, Aliyu
Gusau, and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State have being pursuing a
consensus arrangement, which might end in one of them being picked to
contest the primaries. The supporters of the aspirants constituted a
17-member committee last month to achieve that purpose.

But Mr. Abu derided
the consensus arrangement, saying it was a gang up that would fail
because it was not based on any principle or programme, neither was it
in the interest of the Nigerian people, who, according to him, have
seen such gang-ups in the past come to nothing, in spite of the
unnecessary dust raised.

“The consensus
arrangement being pursued is based on sheer opportunism and driven by
an undemocratic and illiberal spirit. That is why they have continued
to be at pains to explain that they are at work, irrevocably committed
to the success of the arrangement,” he said.

The organisation’s
media chief noted that Nigerians would pick their president during the
forthcoming elections based on their conviction as to who best
represents their hope for fundamental change against the disastrous
policies and politics of past leaders.

Nigerians wish

Nigerians,
according to him, are by overwhelming evidence, rooting for the
Goodluck/Sambo ticket, and alleged that “this is what is making our
opponents desperate, so desperate indeed as to contemplate a gang up of
people who are otherwise very strange bedfellows.”

Meanwhile, the
organisation has said that the nation’s economy is right on track, as
testified by the finance minister, Olusegun Aganga, last week.

Mr. Abu, in a
statement, alleged that the opposition groups are now resorting to
scare mongering on the state of the economy after failing dismally with
their scare tactics to frighten Nigerians about the nation’s political
space.

“The alarm by the
Atiku Campaign Organization and their use of selective information on
the state of the economy flies in the face of the evidence of robust
growth being recorded.

“The minister of
finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, this week, stated categorically that the
economy enjoyed a 7% growth in the first half of this year. Indications
are that a double digit growth could be recorded by the end of next
year,” he said.

Mr. Abu also stated
that the organisation’s optimism about the economy was fuelled by the
Jonathan administration’s commitment to massive investment in power and
infrastructure, designed to transform the way Nigerians live and work.

He said that investors were responding enthusiastically to the new
climate, as indicated by the massive interest in the opportunities
presented in the power roadmap drawn up by the administration.

About 10
communities in Abia State have benefited from the distribution of
electric transformers and accessories worth N35 million under the
constituency project of Stanley Ohajuruka — a member of the House of
Representatives.

The News Agency of
Nigeria reports that the projects contained in the 2009 National Budget
were jointly executive by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power and
the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Enugu zone. The benefiting
communities drawn from Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency include:
Amakama, Ihiteude Ofeme, Mgboko Nkwoegwu, Isiadu Ibeku, Ihim Ibere,
Ndagbo Isiama, Okwulaga Afaraukwu and Ohokobe Ndume, Isingwu Ohuhu and
Umuobasi. Ohajuruka.

The member representing the area in the House, who is also a
gubernatorial aspirant with the PPA, stated that he attracted the
projects owing to the “backwardness of the areas in infrastructural
development.” He said that gesture represented what he would replicate
in the entire state if elected governor.

Medical
practitioners in Plateau State have asked the state governor, Jonah
Jang, to find out the killers of their colleague, Osareti Osagie.

Osagie died on
Thursday after being shot on Wednesday by unknown persons who invaded
his residence at Rayfield, Jos. The killers made away with an
undisclosed amount of money, a laptop, two mobile phones and his car,
which they later abandoned.

The doctors, who
staged a peaceful demonstration to the Governor’s Office, were led by
Victor Pam, the Chairperson of the state’s Nigerian Medical Association
(NMA). They asked Jang to use his “powerful influence” to ensure that
the perpetrators were brought to book. “This is the only condition that
will reassure the doctors and other law-abiding citizens in the state
that their lives are safe,” they said.

The medical practitioners expressed concern that the murder of Osagie might be the beginning of a frightening trend.

The British government has expressed
its willingness to collaborate with the federal government in bringing
the October 1 bombers in Abuja to justice.

Mr Henry Bellingham, the British
Minister for Africa and the United Nations (UN), gave the pledge at a
presentation on Nigeria by the All Parties Parliamentary Group (APPG)
at the London Parliament. According to Mr Bellingham, the British
government would also cooperate with Nigeria in the fight against
terrorism in any form. “We will support the Nigerian government to
bring to justice the bombers of October 1. We know what it is like to
be on the receiving end of a terror attack,” he said.

The minister explained that Britain
believed strongly in values and was passionate about human rights,
pointing out that the intention was not to lecture any country on human
rights, rather “we will work as friends”. Bellingham said Britain
intended to intensify its bilateral relations with Nigeria and
expressed delight at the volume of trade between the two countries.

Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to
the UK, Dozie Nwanna, gave the assurance that the Abuja bombings would
not affect the electoral process. He also reiterated the government’s
commitment to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections next
year.

Nduka Elueunor, a
legal practitioner in Asaba, Delta State, has established a primary
school which offers free education to children from less privileged
families.

Located at Anwai,
the school, A-Nur Fountain Academy, began academic activities in
September and already has an enrolment of 410 pupils spread in the
kindergarten and primary sections.

Fifty per cent of
the pupils, according to the proprietor, are in the kindergarten, which
has three classes, while the remaining children are in the primary
unit. Elueunor told the News Agency of Nigeria that pupils in the
school were mainly from farm settlements in Anwai community and
environs as well as the Hausa community at Cable Point area of Asaba.

To get children
from Asaba to the school, a distance of about three kilometres, he said
that he provided a bus. He also said that he provided free uniforms to
the pupils, but added that he and the parents reached an agreement that
they would provide books. “This was as a result of an upsurge in
enrolment. The school currently had nine teachers, six of whom were
NYSC members who had their primary assignments elsewhere in Asaba, who
are providing their services to the school free.”