Nigeria Content Online

The Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) in University of Calabar, on Monday
embarked on a three-day warning strike in solidarity with their
colleagues in some state universities.

Addressing newsmen
at its secretariat, the union’s chairman in the university, Chike
Ekeopara, said the strike followed a resolution by the national
executive of the Union, at a meeting held in Calabar in September.

He said that the
strike was to draw the attention of Nigerians to the state of affairs
in some state universities. He recalled that in 2009, the union had
entered into an agreement with the Federal Government which he said was
a benchmark for all the universities in the country.

Mr. Ekeopara said
the agreement was binding on all the universities in the country,
including both the state and private institutions. According to the
ASUU chairman, all the Northern state governments and many of the
South-West state governments have implemented the agreement.

He lamented the failure of the South South and South East state governments to implement the agreement.

He said, “this
strike is embarked upon as a warning strike to the state governments
where we have state universities. They should implement that
agreement.’’

Mr. Ekeopara also
warned politicians against undermining the education of Nigerian
children, adding that it would not augur well for the growth and
development of the country.

He advised the state governments concerned to do everything to
implement the agreement to avoid total strike. He said that after the
three-day warning strike, lecturers would return to the classrooms, and
await further directives from the national executive of the union. All
the state-owned universities in the South East have remained closed for
months now over the non-implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FG agreement by
the state governments.

The Ogun State
government, yesterday, declared the Isheri axis of the state and its
environs as a disaster zone. The area has been affected by serious
floods caused by heavy rainfall and water released from the Oyan Dam by
the Ogun Osun River Basin Authority.

Governor Gbenga
Daniel made the declaration when Mohammed Sani-Sidi, the
Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA), visited
the state to assess the damage caused by the flood. Meanwhile, the
technical group set up by the state government to explore ways of
addressing the situation, said through its preliminary report that the
construction of three artificial lakes in the affected areas would end
the flooding.

Soliciting help

The flood has
caused massive destruction of property, economic hardship and the
displacement of hundreds of people. Mr Daniel noted that apart from
palliative measures put in place through the State Emergency Management
Agency, the construction requires major funding that is beyond the
capacity of the state government. He added that if urgent steps were
not taken, the long bridge on the Sagamu Expressway, linking Lagos with
other parts of the country, may be weakened by the flood and eventually
collapse. He lamented that this year had been a most challenging one
for the state in terms of natural disasters, recalling that a major
rainstorm ravaged Sagamu four months ago destroying over 50 houses and
several school buildings.

Similarly, another rainstorm ravaged Abeokuta, the capital,
destroying four major bridges and several houses. He described the
flood in the Isheri axis as well beyond the capacity of the state
because of the level and degree of the disaster. Mr Sidi said he came
with his officials to commiserate with the people of the state, adding
that he would also visit the affected areas with a view to determining
the extent of damage and making necessary recommendations to the
federal government.

The Federal Government will introduce
an electricity pricing regime in November before it sells off
distribution companies and allows private investments to build power
plants in the country.

“Pricing and regulatory issues are
being sorted out and should be completed next month,” Barth Nnaji, an
adviser to Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, said in an interview
on October 8 in Abuja.

The government will then be able to provide “the appropriate information to buyers as to what tariffs they can expect,” he said.

The market-determined plan will replace subsidised prices where consumers pay six naira ($0.04) a kilowatt, he said.

Goodluck Jonathan on August 26,
announced a plan to end the state power monopoly and allow private
investments in generation. The government will sell 11 distribution
units of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and allow private
companies to build gas-fired, coal-fueled and hydropower plants.

The government wants to increase output to 14,019 megawatts by 2013.

Six companies, including Goldman Sachs
Group Inc., Standard Chartered Plc, have expressed interest in advising
on the sale of the power generation and distribution companies that
will be completed by the first half of next year, the adviser said.

An investors’ forum will be held from October 14 to 15 in the
capital, Abuja, that will be attended by representatives from General
Electric Co., Rolls Royce Group Plc, and companies from China, South
Korea and India, Mr Nnaji said.

Members of the Ondo
State chapter of the Labour Party have been divided over the recent
congresses conducted at various wards and local governments in the
state.

The crisis, NEXT
gathered, started when the old executive members from wards to local
governments were sacked without any notice from the state government.
Most of the affected members, who are foundation members of the party,
claimed they did not benefit from government before they were voted out.

They also accused
the state government of spearheading the congresses, knowing that they
have not been compensated for their efforts in building the party.

The aggrieved
members also alleged that most of the newly elected officers from ward
to local government levels were recent defectors from the Peoples
Democratic Party.

A statement issued
on behalf of the affected politicians, over the weekend, by their
spokesperson, Philip Jayeoba, said failure to address the issue will
spell doom for the party in the forthcoming elections.

Mr. Jayeoba noted
that if urgent step was not taken, the aggrieved members of the labour
party would defect enmasse to other political parties.

“I want to inform
Mr. Governor that some of us lost our children, jobs, and valuables to
ensure that LP won in the April 14, 2007 general elections. Despite all
our efforts during the election, we were neglected by the leadership of
the party,” he said.

“To do the worst,
they voted us out during the congresses; even some people were
handpicked and forced on some of us who started the party from the
scratch,” he added.

Accept your defeat

Mr. Jayeoba
appealed to the state governor and the leadership of the party in the
state to wade into the matter before it becomes uncontrollable.

“We want to implore
the leadership of the party to urgently take a step to address the
issue. The party leadership should not forget they promised that level
playing ground will be provided for all but the reverse is the case, as
some cabals have hijacked the structure of the party from ward level to
the state level,” he said.

The publicity
director of the Labour Party in the state, Seyi James, said the issue
of congresses should not generate controversy because every member is
free to contest for any position. He said the aggrieved members should
learn to accept defeat because the modalities for the congresses are
clearly stipulated in the party’s constitution.

“The modalities of the congresses are clear for every members of the
party to see. LP has plans for every member of the party and the entire
people of the state. Mr. Governor has promised to touch the lives of
everybody, but he cannot do it at once. Our people should realise the
fact that there is global meltdown, which has affected the country,”
Mr. James said

A governorship candidate of the
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Kano State, Abba Anwar, has
said that the ambition of Mohammed Abacha, who joined the CPC recently,
does not pose any threat to his aspiration to govern the state.

Mr. Anwar, who made the declaration at
a forum organized by the Kano State Correspondent’s Chapel over the
weekend, said “For me, I never feel threatened by the coming of
Mohammed, because we have different programmes and I know the terrain
well”.

“I have been there for a while. I
welcome him and pray for him to stay in the party. I feel encouraged
and thrilled because he is a blessing to the party.”

The candidate said his priority is to restore law and order in Kano if elected governor of the state.

“I want to restore law and order, I
don’t want to be popular and I don’t want second tenure my aim is to
have a conducive atmosphere for ethical governance so that I will
restore people’s confidence in governance,” he assured.

Mr Anwar promised to use government
funds to execute and pursue human-oriented programmes, noting that in
the area of water supply, he would maintain and use the existing dams
in the state in a more systemic manner to ensure steady water supply.

He proposed the building of a new Kano that will restore confidence
in the minds of the people, through increased internally generated
revenue that will open up partnership investment to the outside world
and the industrialization of the state, where the teeming youths will
be gainfully employed.</

An Akwa-Ibom-based medical doctor, Esin Nkereuwem was on Saturday, kidnapped by unknown assailants in Uyo.

Mr Nkereuwem, a
former deputy governorship candidate in 2003, on the platform of the
All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the state, also had his car stolen
by the assailants. The car was however, recovered by the police
yesterday. The kidnappers are believed to be demanding N5 million, as
payment before their victim is released.

A daughter of the
victim, who confirmed the kidnap, told NEXT that “he was kidnapped on
Saturday. The kidnappers are asking for 5million naira. They allowed us
speak to him on his telephone number, so we know he is alive and well.”

Though the
kidnappers are insisting on the payment of the ransom, NEXT learnt that
the matter has been reported to the police and is at present being
investigated by the Akwa-Ibom police command.

The kidnap of Mr
Nkereuwem, who is a Russia-trained specialist in Obstetrics and
Gyneacology, increases the speculation making the rounds that
opposition politicians in the state are targets of kidnappers.

Last week, on October 6, the wife of an ANPP gubernatorial
candidate, Sam Ewang, was kidnapped in front of her husband’s school,
Beulah International School, few weeks after he declared his intention
to contest the gubernatorial election in the state.

The Nigeria Bar
Association (NBA) has said the suspension of the Senior Advocate of
Nigeria title of former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of
Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, did not follow due process saying it was
ordered by the wrong body. It, therefore, called for the reversal of
the decision.

The body, in a
statement signed by its president, Joseph Bodunrin Daudu, the statutory
body responsible for such disciplinary measures is the Legal
Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and not the Legal
Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), which issued the suspension.

Mr. Aondoakaa was
last week stripped of the title for a period of six months pending the
determination of a petition on his misconduct while he was the nation’s
chief law officer between 2007-2009.

On the argument
that the privileges committee possess powers to remove its appointees
from office, just as it is empowered to appoint, the NBA stated that
the Legal Practitioners Act, under the maxim Generalia Specialibus non
derogant, displaces ‘the general’ as it “does not envisage a
withdrawal, removal or suspension of the rank of Senior Advocate of
Nigeria” citing Section 5-(1)-(8) and 6 of the Legal Practitioners Act.

The association
stated that the rank of SAN is a leadership position, conferred only on
persons who have shown exemplary character and, consequently it can
only be taken away where another statutory body, the Legal
Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, adjudges the person accused of
infamous conduct or breach of any of the rules of professional conduct.

The NBA president
said the LPPC, notwithstanding its eminent membership, “cannot and is
not equipped to deal with matters of discipline.”

He added that the
LPPC’s foray into “looking at matters of the discipline of a lawyer
under the guise of suspending a person of the rank of SAN is ultra
vires, illegal, unconstitutional and therefore null and void.”

Error in procedure

The NBA also argued that the LPPC’s action against Mr Aondoakaa was pre-emptive as the petition is yet be to adjudged.

Mr Daudu said a
petition is a mere allegation which carries with it the presumption
that the object is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He said it is
condemnable to punish a person with the full weight of the law, such as
suspension or temporary stripping of the rank of SAN and public odium
attached to it and at the same time admit that the petition has not
been proven.

“We stand for the
promotion of the Rule of Law and regardless of the personality of the
person involved herein, we cannot acquiesce to a situation where a
person, legal practitioner and senior advocate is punished even before
the allegations are established against him, moreso by a body that
clearly has no jurisdiction to inquire into matters of alleged breach
of professional ethics,” the NBA president said.

“Unless and until the laws are changed, the power to discipline a
legal practitioner, silk and non silk alike, is vested exclusively in
the LPDC” the statement read.

President Goodluck
Jonathan never contacted the former chairman of DAAR Communications,
owners of the African Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower Radio,
Raymond Dokpesi, to head his campaign organisation, the Goodluck/Sambo
Presidential Campaign Organisation, said yesterday in Abuja.

The organisation
was reacting to Mr. Dokpesi’s media interview at the weekend in which
he denied he said he was being roped into the October 1 bomb attacks
because of his refusal to head Mr. Jonathan’s team.

Mr. Dokpesi, who is
the director general of Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation, was
quizzed last week by the State Security Service (SSS) over his alleged
involvement in the incident. He is believed to be reporting daily to
the security organisation.

But in a statement
yesterday, titled ‘Disclaimer: Dokpesi was never under consideration’,
the president’s campaign handlers said Mr. Dokpesi was never approached
for the job.

“The attention of
the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization has been drawn to
certain utterances by the Director General of the Babangida Campaign
Organization, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, to the effect that he was
suffering an imagined political persecution because he declined to head
our campaign organisation.

“Nothing could be
farther from the truth. At no time was Chief Dokpesi considered for
such a role. He never made it to anybody’s short list or long list,”
the statement, signed by Sully Abu, its spokesperson, said.

The organisation
said Mr. Dokpesi’s claim defies political common sense “as such
position is normally given to someone outside the geographical zoneof
the aspirant. Dokpesi, being from the South South, as is President
Jonathan, could never have been considered for such a position.”

Campaign tour

Meanwhile, the
organisation, led by its director general, Dalhatu Tafida, will today
arrive in Sokoto in the north west geo-political zone, to begin a
nationwide “meet-the-stakeholders” tour.

Harry Akande, the
former Board of Trustees chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party
(ANPP), has declared his intention to contest in next year’s
Presidential election on the platform of the party.

Mr. Akande made the
declaration during a tour of some northern states, saying there is
increasing pressure on him to run for the plum job. He said he will no
longer ignore the pressure.

Last month, the
billionaire businessman lost in a bid to become chairman of the party
during its national convention on September 19. He lost to the current
chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu by 1479 to 3945.

Race to win

His entry into the
race brings to three the number of ANPP members wishing to vie for the
presidency. The others are the governor of Kano State, Ibrhahim
Shekarau and Bashir Othman Tofa.

“People requested
me to run presidency, the overture is high and I don’t think I will
keep off from the will of the people. I will be running for presidency
to win election, and not to posture or put my name on the list,” Mr
Akande told party faithful in Katsina.

“Gone are the days
when people say that what is important is to participate at the
Olympics and not winning the medals. That is simply a case of wanton
waste of resources and energy, as well taken failure as a norm.” Mr
Akande noted that his entry into the race was premised on his
commitment to women and youth development in the country.

He pledged to
manage the resources of the nation prudently, adding that Nigeria could
rank among the best countries in the world if it finds a man who can
provide the right leadership.

The politician said
he is still in love with the ANPP despite his failure to become
chairman, stressing that “the party belongs to the people and those who
have the interest of the people at heart must resist every attempts by
some few individuals turning it to their personal political
instrument.” He added, “My advocacy and struggle in the party is to
establish that ANPP belongs to the people and the real people must be
given the right to choose their leader. Consensus is no more a
contemporary language in politics, election is the hallmark of every
good Democracy.”

The Jigawa State
Governor, Sule Lamido, on Sunday, said that though faced with series of
challenges, Nigeria has been pliable when it comes to handling crisis.

Mr Lamido, while
speaking to aviation correspondents on Nigeria at 50, at the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, Lagos, said that crisis and dissenting voices will
always abound in a country that is trying to remain united, and advised
that the ability of leaders in the country to manage their challenges
is what truly counts. “There must be problem in life because nothing in
this life is so ideal,” he said. “There will be crisis, differing
voices and whatever it is, but it is the capacity and the ability to be
able to overcome such kind of things that is most important and Nigeria
has such kind of capacity. Nigeria has been so resilient.”

Mr Lamido said that Nigeria has made positive achievements in the
last 50 years, and urged Nigerians to be thankful to God for the feat
the country has attained. According to him, Nigerians have worked hard
for the country to stay together. “For Nigeria at 50, I think the
journey has been very, very easy,” he said. “Though sometimes there
have been some difficulties in our evolution, but there again like a
growing nation there will always be some challenges, and I think that
whatever thing anybody would say there have been some remarkable
progress in Nigeria. I think we must thank Allah almighty for keeping
us united, and for giving Nigerians the commitment to stay together.
And I think so far it has been very, very eventful not minding what
people will say.”