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There is hope that Olubunmi Agbana, the father of, an Gbenga
Agbana, assistant editor at Punch newspapers, who was kidnapped on his farm at
Irele-Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State on Saturday by some
gun-wielding youth, may regain his freedom soon.

The 74-year-old captive was overpowered and bundled into the
booth of his car before being driven away after arriving at his farm..

A security source told NEXT via telephone that operatives of the
State Security Service and the police were close to making arrests in
connection with the kidnap. “The SSS has a clue to what is going on concerning
the incident and they may swoop on some person any moment from now,” the source
said. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Ekiti State, Jimoh
Mohammed, also via telephone, stated that the police were working hard to free
the man from his captors.

The PPRO, who declined information on their strategies, said
they were closing in on the abductors of the elderly man.

Mr Agbana, who has relocated to Ado-Ekiti to follow up his
father’s release, told journalists on Monday that his father’s car, a Nissan
Primera, had been found where it was abandoned by the kidnappers.

Abandoned car

He said that the cap the abductors used to blindfold his father
when he was being taken away was also found in the car, and some other
instruments used for the operation.

“We have found his car where it was abandoned. The car was
abandoned at Ayedun. It has been taken to the police station with all the
instruments used for the operation. A cap used to blindfold him was found in
the car and other things,” he said.

The incident has generated several reactions, as prominent
persons in the state have condemned the act, saying it was strange to the
culture of the people of Ekiti.

The Commissioner for Information in the state, Taiwo Olatubosun,
while condemning the act, urged residents to be vigilant and supply security
agencies with useful information to foil criminal activities.

Kidnappers early in the year, abducted the Attah of Ayede-Ekiti, Adeleye
Orisagbemi and the then provost of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti,
Gabriel Olowoyo and four others. Five of those kidnapped by the gunmen died in
an auto crash in Kogi State while they were being driven to their captors’
hideout.

IT and electronics firms, Zinox and Thermocool, have been
approved to supply the Direct Data Capture machines needed by the Independent
National Electoral Commission for the voters’ registration.

Attention about the status of the multibillion naira contract,
for which eight companies had earlier been screened, rose after the release of
the elections timetable last week, with the registration exercise scheduled for
the first two weeks of November, 2010.

But officials of the commission have cautiously avoided
commenting on the contract which is expected to be delivered in six weeks.
Yesterday, none could formally confirm insider information that the two
companies scaled pre-security screening and won the bids.

Preparations going well

However, the purportedly successful companies, NEXT was
informed, are deeply against the scheduled time.

At a meeting later yesterday with the Save Nigeria Group, led by
Tunde Bakare, the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, said the commission has “gone
very far” with the preparations and is “proud of the achievements” made so far.

“What we will do, God willing,” he said, “will be better than
what has been done in the past and we are proud of our achievements so far.”
The N74 billion contract for the acquisition of the machines had been split
into three key components: the supply of the hardware consisting of a laptop, a
web cam and a finger printing device; supply of the software needed to drive
the entire process and lastly, the expertise to integrate the various
components into one functional unit.

The companies earlier shortlisted include: Dimension Data, Image
Technology, Resourcery ltd, Basmak, Pacific Millennium and Joint Komputer
Company, Zinox and Google. The firms were subjected to security checks.

Zinox Technologies, owned by a Nigerian, has the capacity to
deliver the 120,000 direct data capture machines needed for the exercise within
eight weeks, its chairman, Leo-Stan Ekeh, has pledged.

Avoiding past mistakes

Mr Jega yesterday promised that the commission will avoid the
mistakes of past administrations in every of its engagements.

Part of that will be a centralized recruitment of election
monitors and officers, which the Save Nigeria Group alleged the commission’s
officials have commenced in connivance with state governors.

“The Public Affairs sections in some INEC state offices are
allegedly compiling lists of election monitors from governors’ offices,” said
Mr Bakare, observing that Mr Jega was like the former Super Eagles coach, Lars
Largerback, who was hired only three months to the last World Cup, and led the
team’s worst outing, to the Mundial.

“Lagerback was hired three months to a tournament we had four
years to prepare (for), the same way you were hired few months to elections
that we had many years to prepare,” Mr Bakare said. “He failed but got his full
pay and left from Johannesburg. You will have nowhere to go back to, so you
cannot afford to crash,” the group told Mr Jega.

The chairman promised that allegations that monitors were being
recruited would be investigated, “if that exists”.

“We are going to investigate it very thoroughly. We have a mechanism to
catch them now and we will make them face the law,” he said.

The Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, yesterday declared that
he was not desperate for the acquisition of the controversial N100 billion bond
which he claimed was the only option left to any government to bail the state
out of bankruptcy.

Speaking at the formal presentation of the Master Plan and flag
off of the Abeokuta Central Business District (ACBD), Mr Daniel said that the
decision of his administration to access the bond market was based on sound
financial and fiscal projections, and as such, it would not show any
desperation to access it.

“The government would adopt a ‘wait and see’ attitude,
especially because of the needless controversy the bond matter had generated,
due mainly to the way the former leadership of the House treated what was
essentially a fiscal measure,” he stated.

The governor was embroiled in a controversy with the former
leadership of the State House of Assembly, which insisted that the executive
should convince the public on the need for the bond, before it could be
approved by the legislature. But the bond story took a twist, last Monday, days
to a public hearing on the matter, when the former Speaker of the House, Tunji
Egbtokun, was impeached and a new Speaker, Soyemi Coker, emerged through the
actions of a group of nine lawmakers. In a quick session, the Coker-led
Assembly hurriedly approved the controversial bond, which had earlier been
subject to public debate on Wednesday.

High interest rate

Daniel said the inability to access the Bond Market at the appropriate
time was costing the government about N400 million monthly, being the cost of
the high interest rate it was paying on the facility used to finance existing
infrastructure such as the multi-billion naira New Secretariat building and
other major developmental projects in the State. He said, based on sound
financial projections, he was sure that if his administration did not take the
bond, the succeeding one would do so because that was the only way to maintain
the pace of development and finance projects and growing expenditure in the
state.

According to the governor, the people of the state should brace up for the
consequences if the bond was not eventually accessed in the life of his
administration, as there was no desperation to access the bond market at all
costs. He said it was wrong for people to insinuate that the bond was being
intentionally sought at the twilight of his administration, noting that the
process actually begun in 2007 while all relevant documentation and
notification had been concluded by 2008.

The Ekiti State governor, Segun Oni, affirmed that his party
will achieve success in any election in the state whenever the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) is ready to conduct a poll in the state.

Speaking on his political future, following INEC ruling out the
state for the gubernatorial elections next year, the governor said that “even
when the Independent National Electoral Commission has no say as to whether
governorship election will hold in Ekiti State 2011 or not, we in the Peoples
Democratic Party are prepared for elections anytime, any day.”

INEC’s chairperson had listed Ekiti amongst the states that will
have their gubernatorial elections in 2011, even though re-run elections held
mid-way into the incumbent governors’ regimes. Other states affected are
Baylesa, Cross River, Sokoto and Adamawa.

Mr Oni, who addressed a crowd of supporters at the party’s
secretariat along Ikere Road in Ado-Ekiti upon his arrival from a foreign trip,
said that either way, he would be contesting the governorship election on the
platform of the PDP anytime the court says the election should hold. “People
have been phoning and sending messages, asking what the difference is between
2011 and 2013. I want to assure everybody here that the issue of whether
governorship election will hold in Ekiti in 2011 or not is a constitutional
matter, which can only be determined by the Supreme Court.

INEC has no say

“We have capable lawyers, who are already working on the matter.
On this issue, INEC cannot have any position at all. It is preposterous for
INEC to take any decision on it. INEC is also a party to the outcome of
whatever the Supreme Court says on it. INEC should, therefore, not play to the
gallery.

“I only urge the courts to act expeditiously on the matter so
that it can be put to rest soonest. But whichever way it goes, whether INEC is
holding governorship elections in 2011 or 2013, we in the PDP are ready and I
can say it categorically here that I will contest and honestly, I am not new to
contests.

“In 2006, I came in just two weeks to the primaries and despite
the manipulations here and there, I came third before God came with His own
verdict. If just two weeks to the delegate contest then, I had 978 votes; the
person who came first had 1,200 while the second position had 1,028 votes, I
don’t think anyone in his right senses would believe that he can defeat a
sitting governor to get his party ticket,” Oni said.

Calling on PDP members to mobilise the people for the coming voters
registration exercise, Mr Oni said, “All indigenes of the state, who are of
voting age must register and it is our duty to mobilise our people, both at
home and outside the state to take part in the exercise.”

The Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has debunked allegations by
Raymond Dokpesi that the group had directed threat messages to him.

MEND said that it
has never issued a statement at Mr Dokpesi or anyone involved with the
coming general elections. “For the record, there has never been a
statement from MEND directed at Chief Dokpesi or anyone involved in the
2011 presidential race,” the group stated. “MEND is apolitical and our
focus remains fighting the injustice in the Niger Delta.”

Mr Dokpesi, the
Chairman of Daar Communications Limited and the Director General of the
presidential campaign for former military president, Ibrahim Babangida,
over the weekend, alleged that threats were issued at him from camps
loyal to the presidential ambition of the incumbent President, Goodluck
Jonathan. He also alleged that the group threatened to kidnap his son.

MEND disowned the threats, stating that Mr Dokpesi “may be
misinformed into believing that statements from an association of
miscreants calling itself the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) with
false claims of affiliation with MEND is true.” “We reiterate that we
have no knowledge of any group known as the Joint Revolutionary Council
or JRC.” It then urged the public to “ignore statements to the
contrary.”

In an effort to
forge a united front ahead of next year’s general elections, the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Edo North Senatorial District
over the weekend held a peace rally where it called on its members to
bury whatever differences they had and work as one body again.

At the well
attended meeting, held in Fugar, headquarters of Etsako Central local
government council, the party members unanimously picked the Chief of
Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan and former deputy governor of the
state, Mike Ogiadomhe, as the leader of the party in Edo north.

They also passed a
vote of no confidence on former number two citizen, Mike Akhigbe,
accusing him of anti-party activities. Mr Akhigbe, had before the
meeting acted as party leader in the area since the death last year of
Inu Umoru.

Those in attendance
include House of Representatives leader, Tunde Akogun; Yisa Braimaoh, a
senator; former speaker of the state house of assembly, Zakawanu
Garuba; state and federal lawmakers among others.

Mr Ogiadomhe, who
was pleased by the unanimous vote, said the meeting was necessary to
prepare the party to take over the state by the next elections. He said
it was not proper for the PDP to control the federal government and not
be able to hold its own in the state.

“I cannot be the Chief of Staff to the president and when everybody is talking about his place, I will be quiet,” he said.

“So, we must work
together and make sacrifices when you have to. This is the time to
start preparing to regain what God has given to us. God gave us
something and we allowed it go, we must reclaim it now.” He thanked the
people for finding him worthy to lead the party and stressed the need
for all aggrieved members of the party who are still sitting on the
fence to declare their positions and tow the path of peace. He affirmed
the support of the zone for Mr Jonathan’s presidential ambition.

Akhigbe is unwanted

The motion for the
adoption of Oghiadomhe as the senatorial leader was moved by Victor
Ohiosimua and was seconded by Adams Ellyikazobor.

“I appreciate all
your sentiments and I have assured you in my earlier address that my
support for the party is total. I do not know whether this was planned
before, all the same I thank you for the confidence you just reposed on
me,” Mr Ogiadomhe said.

The state chairman
of the party, Dan Orbih, urged party members not to attend a similar
meeting which has been fixed for the area by Akhigbe.

“There is need to
start to address the leadership questions of the PDP in Edo North,” he
said. “The time has come for us to chose a leader that will think about
the overall interest of the party, it is time we have a leader that
will promote and represent our interest. Leaders don’t appoint
themselves, but through popular process, those who parade themselves as
leaders of this party should think twice. The party is not aware of any
other meeting summoned by any other person in Edo north so we warn all
legal party members not to attend.”

A similar peace
meeting was called by Samuel Ogbemudia for Edo south PDP, where party
members loyal to him and Anthony Anenih met together without rancour
for the first time in two years.

The Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) says Muhammadu Buhari’s candidature is still
treated as a rumour until party officials adopt him during its national
convention.

Dennis Aghanya, the
spokesman of the CPC, who disclosed this yesterday, said other members
of the newly registered party might show interest in the race, adding
that it would be against its constitution to impose anybody on the
party without following due process.

He said the party
is not only trying to consolidate in all the states of the federation
but also engaging in talks with other political stakeholders ahead of
the 2011 general elections. “We have not officially adopted Buhari as
being speculated as our presidential candidate. I am not also aware
that we have officially adopted any other person as our candidate. So,
his (Buhari) candidacy is still a rumour,” Mr Aghanya said during a
telephone interview. “We are a party that respects the law and follows
due process. We don’t want to be seen as imposing anybody. Our party is
spreading in all the states and other members may be interested in the
position.

We are still
consolidating in the states and we are talking with other political
stakeholders. But now that INEC has released timetable, we will move on
quickly.”

Mr Aghanya,
however, said that in the choice of its flag bearer, the party will
consider a man or woman who has uncommon integrity like Mr Buhari, its
founder. He confirmed that if the party eventually picks Mr Buhari as
its candidate for the presidential polls, his running mate who would
come from the Southern part of the country, would be expected to
possess similar attributes as the former military head of state.

“We are not just
going for anybody,” he said. “There are some basic attributes we want
in our vice presidential candidate considering our ideology. Such a
person has to be credible like Buhari. He should be somebody you can
beat your chest and say yes, this person has integrity. He should also
be somebody that is a bridge builder between the north and the south.
So, we want somebody of Buhari’s stature.”

Planning the convention

The CPC spokesman
said with the release of the election timetable by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), the party’s will soon organize
its launching/national convention.

According to him, the agenda of the programme would have been concluded by next week.

Meanwhile, the CPC
has condemned plan by the federal government to raise the pump price of
petroleum products within the next six months.

Mr Aghanya, said in
a statement on Sunday, that if the government goes ahead with the plan
as revealed recently by the finance minister, Olusegun Aganga, it will
worsen the already difficult situation the common man is facing. “This,
if implemented, will be adding to the pains the masses are already
going through as a result of the non availability of the basic
infrastructures due to bad and corrupt leadership of the PDP,” he said.

“On what basis does the government intend to carry out this new policy?

Petroleum is the
pillar of virtually all the economic and social activities in any
developed, developing and static society. Ours, being a static one,
mostly depends on this God’s free gift to sustain life.

We should learn to think before we act than acting before we think.”

Udoh Essien, a 37-year-old Nigerian fashion specialist based in Germany, has been arrested for allegedly trafficking cocaine.

According to the
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the suspect was nabbed at
the weekend during the screening of passengers at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

“Scanning machine
at the screening area revealed that he had ingested suspected
substances during the outward screening of British Airways passengers,”
said Mitchell Ofoyeju, spokesperson for the agency.

Mr. Ofoyeju
disclosed that the suspect allegedly excreted 75 wraps of the powdery
substances that tested positive to cocaine weighing 1.27kg while under
observation by officials of the agency.

According to the
anti-narcotics agency, Mr. Essien is said to be a rising fashion
designer of repute, who had participated in several international
fashion exhibitions, adding that the suspect has a show room in
Ogunlano drive Surulere, Lagos and another in Germany.

The suspect in a
statement from the agency, however, claimed that he wanted to use the
proceeds from the business to open an online fashion shop, and that
financial difficulties led him into the illicit trade.

“I had financial
problems and was under pressure. My intension was to close my Surulere
shop and concentrate on my shop in Germany.

I have been approached severally to traffic drugs because I travel a lot but I always turn them down,” said Mr. Essien.

Frustration with work

The suspect, who
was to earn 4,500 Euros from the deal, further said: “all I needed was
to complete my online fashion shop, because I have many products. It
was due to frustration and desperation that I agreed to smuggle drugs.”

Hamza Umar, the
anti-drug agency commander for MMIA, warned drug traffickers not to
risk smuggling drugs through the Lagos airport, saying they would be
caught.

Mr Umar disclosed
that the apprehended suspect’s claim that he is a “first offender” is
being investigated, adding that the suspect will be prosecuted
according to the demands of the law.

“The suspect will be charged to court soon,” he said.

The Federal
Government will require a minimum of $10 billion (about N1.5trillion)
in annual investment in power generation, transmission and distribution
infrastructure if it is to guarantee stable electricity supply in the
country.

Special Adviser to
the President on Power, Barth Nnaji, who stated this at the weekend as
guest in a national television programme monitored in Abuja, said the
insistence for private sector partnership in the development of the
nation’s power sector is based on the point that government alone
cannot handle the responsibility.

“At least $5billion
is required every year to take care of infrastructure for power
generation, while additional $5billion is needed to deal with
distribution and transmission facilities. The government just cannot
afford it. It is far beyond what government can invest in all sectors.

“There is need for
both foreign and local investors to come in so that the system can
become more robust and for the nation to get away from talking about
3,500 mega watts (MW) to the quantum of power that other developing and
advanced countries have. That is when the country can begin to talk
about stimulation of the economy,” he said.

Mr. Nnaji said, for
the first time steps have been taken to remove the bottlenecks that
have always frustrated efforts by previous administrations to
permanently address the problem, pointing out that apart from the
Electricity Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), passed to provide the legal
framework for effective operations, government has also established a
holistic plan that connects players from wholesale generation and
distribution, to how consumers would benefit under the new regime.

“This is the first
time that government would march implementation with plans, by way of
implementation of the Act, and actually taking steps to begin to
actualize most of the plans that have been on the drawing board since
the early 1980s”, citing the issue of construction of hydro stations,
like the Mambilla power Station, which has been since 1982, adding that
for the first time government has moved towards actual implementation.

Too big for government

In spite of the
efforts, the presidential adviser, who is also the Chairman, Geometric
Power Limited, which is handling the construction of an Independent
Power Plant (IPP) in Aba, Abia State, said government has since
realized it cannot solve the problem alone.

“The private sector
must step in and take responsibility in providing electricity in the
country,” he said, adding “that is why the president is saying that
from next year generation and distribution will go into private hands
as a way of reducing all kinds of issues that are in the system,
including the corruption.

Asked if the
private sector would not be overwhelmed by the high level of
corruption, which has rendered their involvement in other sectors
unsuccessful, Mr. Nnaji said: “Private sector cannot corrupt itself. If
one invests money, one cannot steal from oneself. It is just the bottom
line. It is only when people are looking at government as another
establishment that that can happen. Private sector would drive
efficiency and sustainability and ensures that there is actual
investment, so that the Federal Government does not continue to be the
only one to invest.”

“We are beginning
to have more stable supply of power, though there are some areas with
transformer challenges. This modest improvement will continue until the
country reaches adequacy of supply.

Over the coming months, consumers are going to witness this improvement.”

Ready private sector

An Infrastructure
Specialist, Oliver Andrew, who also appeared as guest on the programme,
said there is a credible government plan in place to address the
challenge of infrastructure in the power value chain under the road map
launched recently by the government.

He identified the
plan to include issues of facilities to take care of fuel supply to the
power generation plants; strategy for power evacuation; liberalization
of the gas sector under the National Gas Master Plan (NGMP);
involvement of independent power distribution companies to handle the
distribution of the power generated to the consumers in line with the
dictates of the market forces.

According to Mr.
Andrew, the private sector is now ready to come in with the
infrastructure needed to get the sector running having seen that
government has plugged the gaps, pointing out the N500 billion
Infrastructure Intervention Fund by the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN)
for the provision of more capital for infrastructural development will
help attract more foreign direct investment (FID) to facilitate the
needed short term impact.

The minister of
Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia, has condemned a recent essay on
Nigeria by a former United States envoy to Nigeria, John Campbell.

In the essay, which
was published last week, Mr Campbell predicted that the 2011 polls
could tear Nigeria apart and that it could lead to post-election
sectarian violence, paralysis of the executive branch and even a coup.

“I have just read
with dismay, excerpts from Ambassador John Campbell’s latest essay on
Nigeria, entitled “Nigeria: Dancing on the brink” published in local
and international electronic and print media. It contains his doomsday
analysis of Nigeria’s 2011 elections and their aftermath,” Mr
Ajumogobia said at the weekend.

He said it was
unfortunate that the former diplomat, unlike his several illustrious
predecessors and worthy successor, “appears to take delight in inciting
instability in Nigeria with his entire thesis based on a worst case
scenario and seeming relish in willing it to occur.

“Perhaps Ambassador
Campbell seeks credibility for his suspect claim to in-depth knowledge
and expertise on matters concerning Nigeria,” the minister said.

Limited understanding

Mr Campbell’s
analysis, he said, is based on an obviously jaundiced and clearly
limited appreciation of the facts and dynamics of the current Nigerian
politics.

“This disturbing commentary is not only divisive but is also irresponsible and dangerous,” the minister said.

He said Nigeria is
committed to organizing credible elections in 2011 and in spite of the
acknowledged and self-evident challenges posed by the proposed INEC
timetable, the process is moving forward in a credible and transparent
manner.

“Ambassador
Campbell and his ilk would do well, if unable to add value, to keep
silent and observe as Nigeria takes definite steps to consolidate her
12 year old democracy and perhaps try to seek relevance in other more
constructive ways,” he said.