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Scores of elderly
women from Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State have
relocated to Calabar, the state capital, protesting that last
Saturday’s council election conducted in the state did not hold at
Erei, their community , hence no result can be declared for the council
wards there.

Led by an
octogenarian, the women (some of whom were half nude) said the
landslide victory ascribed to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
candidates was a fluke, as no voting took place at Erei. Some of the
women flaunted their breasts in anger, claiming “soldiers and mobile
policemen were used by card carrying members of the PDP to hijack
election materials”.

The protest took
the women to the headquarters of the Cross River State Independent
Electoral Commission (CROSIEC), who arrived just when the chairman of
the commission, Patrick Otu, was announcing the second set of results.
From the commission’s secretariat on Bishop Monagh Avenue, Calabar, the
women thereafter marched to the Governor’s Office on a similar mission.

The women were accompanied by Frank Owali, the APGA chairmanship candidate for the area.

With anger on their
faces, the elderly women, numbering over 50, chanted war songs
denouncing the council polls and called for fresh elections, especially
in Biase, as the people there did not exercise their franchise. No
official of the CROSIEC came out to address them.

The
placard-carrying women said since they were denied the opportunity to
vote, they could not vote for candidates of their choice. They called
on the state governor, Liyel Imoke, to prevail on the leadership of the
CROSIEC to reschedule the Biase Local Government council elections, as
voting materials, including result sheets for the area were allegedly
carted away by some influential PDP members in the area.

Arrested and detained

Leader of the Erei
women, Gloria Ekor Owali also stated that some of their children were
arrested and detained at the state police headquarters, Diamond Hill in
Calabar, over Saturday’s polls, for protesting the hijack of their
ballots. They accused Emil Inyang, the chairman of the Biase Local
Government who has been re-elected for a second term, and Alex Ukam,
the lawmaker representing the area in the House of Representatives, of
using armed soldiers and mobile policemen to prevent the electorate in
the area from choosing those they wanted as chairman and councillors
for the area.

“We came out to
vote, but we did not see materials, yet they have written results,
declaring Emil Inyang winner,” the protesting women said. “If this is
what electoral reforms is all about, it then means Nigeria is not yet
ready for true democracy.” They said about 67 armed soldiers,
accompanied by 12 mobile policemen in two trucks, allegedly invaded
their communities, led by some stalwarts of the PDP, to arrest people
who were perceived to be working against the PDP.

The women,
therefore, appealed to the state Commissioner of Police to release
their children whom they said were wrongly arrested.

The Erei women,
during their protest to the governor’s office, urged Mr Imoke to
prevail on the authorities of the 13 Amphibious Brigade, Nigerian Armed
Forces Calabar and the state Commissioner of Police to release their
children from detention, as “they are not criminals”.

There was mild
drama at the federal secretariat, Abuja, yesterday, when the Minister
of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, arrived at the premises to see
a number of workers locked outside the gates for coming late to work.
The head of service, Stephen Oronsaye, had directed that the doors be
shut against civil servants who come to work after 8.30am.

The lockout was
part of efforts to enforce the strict attendance regime Mr Oronsaye
began a few weeks ago. The gates remained shut for almost three hours
and senior civil servants, including a permanent secretary, were denied
entry until the minister’s arrival led to the opening of the gates. Mr
Wogu, however, denied ordering the gates open, saying the gatemen on
hearing his siren must have flung them open, thus allowing all the
civil servants who had been locked out to rush in.

Fence mending

A spokesman for the
head of the civil service, Tope Ajakaiye, however, tried to diffuse the
tension, saying that Mr Oronsaye had not explicitly directed that the
gates be locked.

“The Head of
Service is merely trying to eradicate late-coming in the service.
Permanent secretaries were told to ensure that their wards came on
time, not that they should lock the gate,” he said.

Mr. Wogu also
claimed that he did not intend to overturn Mr. Oronsaye’s directive,
stating that he was merely trying to get into his office.

“How can I go above what the Head of Service has directed?” he asked.

“The situation is embarrassing. I honestly did not mean for the gates to be opened for everyone,” he said.

The majority of
government ministries and agencies are situated in the wings of the
Federal Secretariat, including the ministries of Power, Niger Delta,
Labour and Productivity, Science and Technology, Aviation and the
office of the Minister of State for Information and Communication.

A pound of flesh

Prior to the labour
minister’s arrival, civil servants loitered around the premises in
groups, discussing their ordeal. Others sat in their cars, reading.

At the Phase II
building of the secretariat, a group of them forced their way in when
it was opened for a high-profile visitor, but those at the Head of
Service side of the secretariat were locked out up till 11am.

One of the workers,
who asked to remain anonymous, said he was not told about the lockout
beforehand. He accused the federal government of being callous, saying
that instead of punishing civil servants, the government should look
for ways of improving workers’ welfare by providing good roads, an
effective transport system and low cost housing estates not far from
the city centre.

“Asking us to come
to work early without considering the reality of the situation on
ground amounts to demanding for a pound of flesh,” he said.

Many civil servants
said their meagre resources and high cost of rent in Abuja, forced them
to make do with accommodation in surrounding towns such as Suleja,
Madalla, Masaka, Kuje, Gwagwalda, and Mararaba. However, the increasing
numbers of people coming from these locations has led to heavy traffic
on the roads.

A female civil
servant, who also declined to be named, said she left her home in
Gwagwalada at 6.30am. “It is accommodation problem,” she said. “We
cannot fly to work; there is hold-up on the road.”

Not just civil servants

Along with civil servants, visitors who came to conduct business at the government offices were also locked out.

Chukwuemeka Onodi,
a pensioner from Enugu State, said he came to register his biometric
information at the Head of Service’s office at the secretariat.

“It is a terrible situation; I never saw this kind of thing while in
service,” he said. “There are other methods of dealing with
latecomers.” Wale Samuel, of the Civil Society Action Coalition on
Education for All (CSACEFA), also condemned the action, calling it
“insensitive.” A visibly furious Mr Samuel said, “Let them go and live
in Nyanya, face AYA holdup then come back and give us the directive.”

If the threat from
members of the Oyo State chapter of the National Union of Road
Transport Workers (NURTW) is anything to go by, the entire landscape of
Oyo State may soon witness an orgy of violence.

That, at least,
was the import of a message from Lateef Akinsola Oluwatoki (aka Tokyo),
reinstated chairman, over the current state of the union in the state.

Mr. Akinsola, in a
letter dated August 30, and forwarded to major traditional rulers and
political leaders in the state, threatened to “reclaim” his “stolen
mandate at all cost.”

The state
government had proscribed the union on August 8, less than 24 hours
after an order to reinstate Tokyo as the authentic state chairman of
the union was carried out. It then directed local councils to appoint
men to collect motor vehicle dues at motor parks.

Rather than douse
the tension, however, the move has further aggravated it as members
loyal to Tokyo alleged that the government only attempted to regain
what it lost openly through the back door.

They alleged that
the appointed park managers are members loyal to Lateef Salako (aka
Elewe-Omo), who took over from Tokyo when he was illegally removed, but
was asked by the National Industrial Court (NIC) to vacate the seat for
him. Mr. Salako is said to be an ally of state governor, Adebayo
Alao-Akala.

Mr. Akinsola
described this as undue interference in union matters by the state
governor, Alao-Akala, and promised to resist it. He accused Alao-Akala
of hindering the rule of law by ‘unilaterally’ proscribing the union.

Academic and economic activities yesterday stood
still for several hours at the University of Benin and the entire
Ugbowo area of Benin City as students of the university, particularly
those from the College of Medicine, protested the non accreditation of
the faculty and that of dentistry by the Medical and Dental Council of
Nigeria (MDCN).

The students, who numbered several thousands, refused
to speak or talk to journalists until they meet with the vice
chancellor of the university, Oyuki Oshodin. The few who volunteered
comments said those of their colleagues who are to graduate in few
weeks’ time would not get their licence to practice as medical doctors
and dentists, despite the more than seven years they had spent in the
school.

“It is sad that the school authority had shown a
nonchalant attitude to our plight,” one of the students said, adding
that her colleagues are in despair over the future of their education.

Vehicular and human traffic along Ugbowo/Lagos road
were blocked by the protesters, even though the protest was peaceful.
It, however, made travelers to go through a hectic time finding their
way out of the city.

When NEXT visited the school premises, the entrance
gate was closed. The vice chancellor was also prevented from coming out
of the premises. The camera man attached to DBN Television was
manhandled by the visibly angry students who refused to say anything to
journalists.

When contacted on phone, Osaze Osarenren, public
relations officer of the university, said the students protested out of
ignorance, as the school had already put machineries in motion to meet
the demands of the MDCN.

“It was suspension of accreditation and they gave us
12 months to put those things right, and if we didn’t do, they can now
sanction us,” he said.

“We have been meeting with the ministry of education
on this matter, and things are being put in place. Before the end of
the ongoing examination, which is not even the finals, all these things
would be done. In fact, the vice chancellor and some senior officials
are airborne on Arik Air (3.05 pm) to Abuja on the same matter,” he
said.

Medical council seeks intervention

Meanwhile, the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA), yesterday, in a statement signed by its chairman,
Philip Ugbodaga; secretary, Emmanuel Ighodaro; and public relations
officer, Kennedy Alohan, urged the council of the university and that
of Igbinedion University, which was also affected, to quickly meet the
demands of the MDCN so as not to create vacuum in the profession.

“As a responsible association, we support efforts by
the council at ensuring the maintenance of standards in medical
education in Nigeria Universities. The loss of accreditation by these
universities to train doctors has very serious implications for the
already comatose health sector in our state and country,” the council
said.

“We, therefore, call on the authorities of the affected universities
and the respective heads of the colleges of medical sciences to work
very closely with the MDCN, with a view to quickly addressing the
issues that led to this unfortunate situation,” it said.

A Joint Nigeria-Brazil Energy
Cooperation Working Group was yesterday inaugurated by the Vice
President, Namadi Sambo. The group is to enhance bio potentials in the
country.

Speaking at the inauguration of the
committee in the State House, Abuja, Mr Sambo noted that this is part
of the policy of the current administration to develop the key sectors
of the economy, stating that to attain Vision 20:2020, adequate
infrastructure must be put in place.

He noted that since the federal
government is seeking to accelerate development of the hydro potential
in the country, exploring synergies with Brazil was a welcome idea, as
it has comparative advantage in a variety of areas, including hydro
power generation, renewable energy and deep water exploration.

Need for coordination

He urged the committee to “fast track
the process of preparing the final position of the agreement as Brazil
will be going to elections soon”, noting that “in the past, bilateral
agreements have suffered delays due to lack of proper coordination”.

The vice president noted the need for
raising a technical team to proceed to Brazil, stressing that “to
express our determination toward the success of the Joint Cooperation,
our actions should determine our seriousness.” He disclosed that Brazil
had indicated interest in partnering with Nigeria toward ensuring an
accelerated completion of the Zungeru Hydro Power plant and that the
Mambilla hydro power plant has been incorporated into the bilateral
agreement, which Brazil is willing to bankroll from the scratch on a
turnkey basis.

He added that they are also interested in oil and gas, including bio-fuels, power and capacity building.

The agreement for Nigeria-Brazil Energy
Cooperation was signed in July, 2009 and President Goodluck Jonathan
had urged that the joint working group be set up to work on the
agreement.

The members of the Joint Working Group
include Ministries of Power, Petroleum, Finance, Water Resources,
Environment, Nigerian Energy Commission, Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and National Electricity Regulatory Commission.

In another development, the Vice
President also had a briefing session with the Debt Management Office
(DMO) which was centred on the recruitment and promotion of staff in
the organisation.

The VP in the meeting approved the
request submitted by the Director General of the DMO, Dr. Abraham
Nwankwo, to promote and employ new staff in the organisation.

Earlier, the Director General said 120 officers of various categories are needed in the organisation.

He also sought the approval of Mr
Sambo, who is the Chairman of the DMO Board, including seven senior
officers to be promoted as Chief Operating Officers and Assistant Chief
Operating Officers respectively.

He said the posts will soon be advertised.

Ahead of 2011
general elections, the Chairman of Okehi local government council in
Kogi State, Suberu Adagu Abubakar, has reassured the people of the area
that there will be peaceful, free and fair elections unlike in the past
where the area witnessed acts of violence during elections.

Mr Abubakar, who
disclosed this while speaking in an interview with the reporters in
Lokoja, said the youth district have learnt their lessons and will not
allow themselves to be used again.

The council boss explained that there is relative peace in the
senatorial zone where his council is located following the series of
peace meeting, seminars, symposium and peace advocacy to every nook and
crannies of the zone. He stated that efforts are being made to
rehabilitate must of the youths who are prone to restiveness in the
area, adding that the result now is inherent in the five local
government areas with everybody is going about their normal businesses.

The Zamfara State
governor, Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi, on Monday signed an agreement for the
construction of a petroleum refinery in Gusau, the state capital.

Mr Shinkafi, at a
ceremony to mark the beginning of the project, said the state
government was committed to the early completion of the project, in
spite of its financial constraints. He said that the project, which
would gulp 1.5 billion euro (about N270 billion), was awarded to an
internationally renowned petroleum engineering company, BSM -APCL-
Swinglehurst. According to him, the project is to be closely supervised
by the NNPC.

The governor
reiterated that the project was pivotal to industrial development of
the north western part of the country, and would provide job
opportunities and economic growth.

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends
of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described the invasion of
Ogbunugbene community in Bayelsa State by the Joint Military Task Force
on the Niger Delta (JTF) as an affront which may derail the Federal
Government’s amnesty programme.

The ERA/FoEN’s caution is coming on the
heels of reports that the attack at the weekend was carried out by JTF
personnel who came in gunboats that were stationed at Agip’s Ogboinbiri
Flow Station, close to the community.

According to the group, few days before
the invasion, which left some locals wounded and houses destroyed, an
oil spill was reported at Agip’s facility in the community, following
which community folks mobilised some youth to protect the site from the
activities of individuals who may want to cash in on the situation to
steal contents spewing from the facility.

It was, however, gathered that the
soldiers invaded the community and engaged the youth in a shootout
which left some dead and others seriously injured. Houses were also
destroyed, leading to mass exodus of the people to safer communities.

Unjustified attack

“This brutal action of the JTF on the
Ogbunugbene people cannot be justified in any civilised society. These
soldiers are supposed to be responsible to the people of the Niger
Delta and should protect lives and property, and not hunt the people
down,” said ERA/FoEN executive director, Nnimmo Bassey.

Mr Bassey decried what he called the
“gradual and systematic muscling of locals” in the guise of reining in
on alleged criminals in the Niger Delta region, even as he pointed out
that the recurrent unprovoked invasion of the JTF on innocent
communities in the region was capable of disrupting the amnesty
programme and the peace process already in place.

“While we will never support any
unlawful action on the part of local people, oil corporations cannot be
absolved from neglect of their facilities. We totally reject the JTF
idea of labeling entire communities as criminals as a pretext to these
unlawful invasions, which only leave trails of destruction, maiming,
killing, and displacement of the community people,” he said.

Mr. Bassey, who condemned the invasion, demanded an immediate probe from the federal government.

“What is playing out here is the
consistent agenda of oil corporations to instigate crisis in
resource-bearing communities, where they allow their facilities to
wreak havoc so as to label the people as vandals, as a step to
unleashing mayhem and decimation on such communities,” he said.

The chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation,
Iyiola Omisore, has blamed journalists for the delay of the passage of
the Freedom of Information bill.

The former Osun State deputy governor, who featured
at the guest forum of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo
State council, on Monday, noted that supporters of the bill were not
ready to agree with the responsibilities that go with free access to
information.

According to him, the nation’s legislative arm could
not pass the bill after several months of its proposal because media
leaders were not ready to allow inclusion of clauses for penalties for
publishing inaccurate information and falsehood.

Freedom and responsibility

“We want freedom of information. To every freedom,
there must be responsibility. What we attached to it (FoI Bill) you
people do not want to take it. We invited the NUJ people to come and
speak with us that if you do this, this is your penalty.

“You are free to write anything, but if you write
what is not true, you go to jail. I was in detention for three years
for the lies published by Tempo magazine against me. And immediately I
was arrested, they folded up,” he said.

Speaking on states creation, Mr Omisore explained
that the National Assembly is still struggling to see how the feat
would be achieved before the current federal legislative term winds up.

He admitted that the death of the former president,
Umar Musa Yar’Adua, slowed down some of the work lined up by the
National Assembly for the current season.

He explained that the assembly had three items as paramount in its agenda and has already achieved two of them.

States creation

The three, he disclosed, are constitution amendment,
passage of electoral reform bill, and state creation, adding that among
the three, state creation is the only one left and its process has
reached an advanced stage.

On the issue of the jumbo pay the lawmakers allegedly
appropriated for themselves, the senator said the allegations were not
true, saying the constituency allowances are not given to them in cash,
but are appropriated in the budget and the projects for which they are
meant are handled by relevant government agencies.

Commenting on the adoption of President Goodluck
Jonathan by the southwest chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
last Saturday, Mr Omisore said the zone has not done anything against
the zoning formula entrenched in the party’s constitution.

As an aspirant in the Osun State governorship race,
Omisore admonished that all Nigerians must ensure that the next
election is free, fair, and credible, and he cautioned politicians from
playing the game against the rule.

He advised politicians to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship in the
next election, saying they must be ready to admit failure when it comes.

Following alleged
high rent by the management of the operators of the Murtala Mohammed
Airport 2 (MMA2), Lagos, banks using the facility are beginning to
vacate the terminal.

With the likes of
Access Bank already out of the new domestic terminal since April this
year, Oceanic Bank followed suit on Monday as it pasted notices on its
doors and ATM machines located at its stand at the airport.

A source at the
bank who prefers anonymity, said that the amount collected as rent by
Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) is “so expensive and very
high” for the bank, adding that the same situation might have prompted
the decision taken by Access Bank to quit the terminal.

The notice on the
bank’s stand at MMA2, however, directed customers on how to locate its
new place of operation, adding that transactions will not be carried
out on Monday and Tuesday, but will commence on Wednesday.

“Please be informed
that we will be re-locating from Murtala Mohammed Airport II (MMA2) to
OBI Village (BDC Complex) opposite Arik Airlines Office effective
Wednesday 1st September 2010,” the notice reads, adding “In view of
this development, our last working day in MMA II will be on Friday 27th
August, 2010. We will not be open to customers on Monday 30th and
Tuesday 31st August 2010.

The branch will resume full banking operations at our new location on Wednesday 1st of September 2010.”

Meanwhile,
passengers and airport users were seen in large clusters using the ATM
machines of Guarantee Trust and Skye Banks, the two remaining banks at
the terminal, as they expressed displeasure with the development.

“Since these are
the only machines at our disposal, we have to queue up and make
withdrawals as we hope they don’t leave like others,” said Anyaogu
Sunday, a passenger at the terminal.

Aero may also leave

Still on the same
issue, another source with Aero Contractors, the oldest commercial
carrier in the country involved in domestic and regional air transport
business and a sister company to Oceanic Bank, said that the airline
has plans to leave the new terminal for the old domestic terminal
christened the General Aviation Terminal (GAT).

According to this
source, the cost of operating from the new terminal is “far higher than
that of GAT,” stressing that though the airline has not made up its
mind on when to move out, it will vacate the airport if nothing is done
as pertaining the charges collected by the operators of the terminal.

“There are plans
by Aero to leave MMA2 and start operating from GAT because of the high
operational cost it incurs carrying out flight services from the new
terminal,” the source said.

It should be noted
that Arik Air, the country’s largest commercial carrier is carrying out
its domestic flight operations from the General Aviation Terminal, and
on different occasions, managers of the new terminal have challenged
why Arik is still operating from the old terminal.

Bi-Courtney counters

The managers of the
new terminal, however, refuted any form of high or increased rent.
According to Bi-Courtney, tenants have been called upon to renew their
rents.

“We would like to state categorically that we have not effected nor
made any demand for increase in rent from any of our tenants,” said
Femi Kolawole, chief corporate services officer for Bi-Courtney in a
statement. “On the contrary, tenants whose leases are expiring have
been invited to renew their leases, at the same prices as their
expiring leases or at reduced rates.”