Nigeria Content Online

The Lagos State
governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday said that the state has
employed 300 additional sweepers to clean its waterways.

Mr Fashola
announced this at the opening of the 2010 Street Sweepers Workshop
organised by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the
Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

The governor also
presented wheelchairs to 10 physically challenged persons, out of the
25 engaged to sweep some of the pedestrian bridges in the metropolis.

The two-day workshop, which ends on Friday, has as its theme, “Cleaner Lagos, safety first”.

Mr Fashola
explained that the offshore sweepers would complement the over 10,000
street sweepers in the state, saying they were icons of change.

“You are critical
contributors to the improvement of our lives and healthy living and are
as important as doctors and nurses,” he said.

He said that various experts had been contracted to deliver papers on safety, a sign that the state government cared for them.

Mr Fashola also
presented certificates of performance, grinding machines and generating
sets to the best 10 sweepers in the state.

Ola Oresanya, the
Managing Director of LAWMA, said that 57 street sweepers lost their
lives in accidents along the highways since the inception of the
service in 2007.

“Health and safety
of lives on the roads have been the greatest challenges being faced by
the sweepers and that is why we have decided to focus on safety first
in this two-day workshop,” he said.

Last Thursday,
Attahiru Jega finally got his wish. The INEC boss was all smiles after
both chambers of the National Assembly approved the INEC budget at
N87.7bn.

A NEXT investigation can reveal, however, that this figure has been vastly inflated.

Aside from the
controversial N13.7bn, which was tacked on at the last minute as a
“profit margin,” other figures in the budget have also come under close
scrutiny. The largest purchase items on the budget are the Direct Data
Capture machines, which the new INEC chief has repeatedly stated will
cost exactly $2000.

The data machines
are intended to be used for registering voters and conducting the
elections. The machines are not single units but a composite which
include: a fingerprint scanner, a high resolution camera, a backup
power pack, an integrated printer and a laptop.

Cheaper alternatives

NEXT contacted
various international suppliers of the aforementioned components and
the highest quotation for the combined total was no more than $1134. A
Digita Persona fingerprint scanner costs $58.76 a unit. A 20.0 USB
Webcam costs no more than $11.98 a piece. A 14” Dual Core Laptop with a
320GB hardrive can be obtained for $525.77. A 16-24V Power Battery
backup which offers uninterruptible power supply can be bought for
$170.62. Finally, a top of the range Canon BJC-85 Portable Colour
Bubble Jet printer is available for $367.37.

The total cost for
all of these items is $1134.50, almost $900 cheaper than the stated
$2000. In naira terms this equates to a differential of N16.2bn.

Kayodu Idowu, Mr Jega’s media aide, said that the specifications of the required components were very sophisticated.

“The specifications
for the machines are designed to ensure durability,” he said. “We have
to ensure that these machines have value and as such they are long term
investments.” He added that he was not at liberty to disclose the exact
specifications but that all interested parties could find out directly
from the electoral commission.

Supplier palaver

However, according
to a source close to the procurement process, the high cost of the data
capture machines indicates that INEC did not explore different options
when preparing their budget. The source added that a Bangladeshi firm,
which was initially detailed to handle the bulk of the supply, has been
frozen out by other interested parties.

“The contract for these machines alone is being handled by over 10 different suppliers,” the source said.

“They (INEC) have
divided the supply into three streams: data integration, hardware and
software supply. Due process was not followed, talk less of the public
procurement act. The most capable, one company that managed the data of
almost 100 million voters in Bangladesh, was not even considered.

“Now, some of the
approved suppliers are going back to them because they don’t know how
to execute the contract.” Mr Idowu denied that the identity of the
suppliers had been finalised by INEC.

“We are still
deliberating on various applications and no name has been finalised,”
he said. “Time is a key factor, yes, but we have to engage with
reputable suppliers.”

Keeping it local

One of the local
companies bidding to supply electronic voting material agrees that INEC
could save much more money by looking inwards. Nigerian communications
satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Ltd claims that the commission could save almost
N20 billion if it used its locally designed smart cards to capture
biometric data.

Ahmed Rufai, the
company’s managing director, said, “With our proposal, each voter’s
card would have an in-built smart card which would hold all the
information required for registration and voting.

“The machines they
want to import are nothing more than metal boxes. Instead of sending
out all that money to develop other economies, why not explore local
solutions that can offer the same or better value?” Mr Rufai added that
aside from initial meetings, there has been no further contact from the
commission.

“We are working
with a consortium of local hardware manufacturers. We made our proposal
over two weeks ago and the chairman vowed to come and visit our
premises. So far, that has not happened.”

Repaying excess

An INEC official
said that the issue of excessive costs was irrelevant at this stage
because the commission would refund any surplus money.

“The reason you may say these costs are high is because of time,” the source said.

“Therefore, in the
interest of time, we needed to move quickly. Our calculations had to go
for the upper limit rather than going back with our begging bowl in
case we ran out of money.

“Besides, the chairman has already given assurance that all extra
monies appropriated to the commission would be refunded to the
treasury. If at the end of the day, the chairman does not deliver, then
you can start questioning the amount spent. This is a transparent
process and will be tracked all the way.”

The
federal government may soon roll-out punitive measures against senior
civil servants who abstained from writing last Monday’s competence and
promotion pre-qualification examination organised by the Office of the
Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

The examination was
conducted at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, for senior
civil servants on Grade Levels 14 to 16, otherwise referred to as the
directorate cadre.

Investigations
carried out in Abuja during the week showed that the government was not
happy with the widespread condemnation and boycott of the examination
orchestrated and spearheaded by the Association of Senior Civil
Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN). A senior official at the Head of Service’s
office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the
government views the abstention as a clear case of the insubordination
and indiscipline that it has been trying to tackle in the public sector
service.

He said a
far-reaching government decision is in the offing, no thanks to the
angry reactions from most of the senior civil servants who wrote the
examination, and who have accused the Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Steve Oronsaye, of disrespecting the court case filed by
the ASCSN.

The judge handling
the case, however, threw it out last Wednesday, saying further hearing
on it is useless as the test had already taken place. David Okorowo,
the judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, struck out a motion seeking
to stop the test but consequently adjourned the substantive suit to
October 22 for hearing.

Mr Oronsaye is said
to be reviewing the exercise and all the issues surrounding the
boycott. A senior official in his office said that if the federal
government goes ahead with its plan to sanction the absentees, it could
result in outright sack, suspension, or non-promotion of all those that
would be identified.

The Chief Press Secretary to Mr Oronsaye, Tope Ajakaiye, confirms this.

“The civil service
has rules and regulations,” he said. “This (body of rules and
regulations) is what is called Public Service Rules. There is a
procedure for seeking redress if a civil servant feels his or her case
was not fairly treated. But what they did is obviously wrong. For every
act of indiscipline in the civil service, there is a sanction. At the
right time, they will be sanctioned. Do not forget that the Federal
Government of Nigeria issued the directive that they disobeyed. I can
assure you that they will be sanctioned at the right time.” Mr
Ajakaiye, who did not state the particular punishment the government
will mete out, explained that over 3000 civil servants actually sat for
the examination. He said the process witnessed no ugly incident,
whatsoever.

Widespread condemnation

Some civil servants who sat for the test were, however, unimpressed with its handling.

A Director in a
government parastatal, who didn’t want to be identified, said, “The
examination is the worst exam the public service could be subjected to.
The training has no bearing whatsoever with the kind of questions we
were asked to answer. Essentially, the questions were meant to be
applied to the training organised to meet those kinds of questions. For
instance, the training I attended, which was the first batch, we never
had course materials. Even after our training, the exam did not take
place until after six months. There were others who finished
immediately and went for the test. I am sure they are the ones that
will be lucky to pass.

“If officers are to
be subjected to this kind of test, there should be a procedure, maybe a
handbook, a textbook in which you know where you concentrate and pass.

A situation in
which an exam is prepared so that people can fail from the beginning, I
do not think is good for this country. That man (Oronsaye) may have a
good idea but the implementation is very horrible.” Another participant
at the test, a female Assistant Director, said she took the test
against her will in order not to risk sudden termination of her job.

Legal protection

Public sector
experts say the federal government may take some time before
sanctioning the absentees because a wait-and-see position was necessary
in respect of the court case.

According to legal
experts, one possible means such senior civil servants could take to
protect their jobs is to explore the full options of respite provided
by the laws of the land.

Asked what impact
the court case could have on the examination, especially as it has
already been conducted, Mr Ajakaiye said the Head of Service was not
aware of any case in court against him or his office.

“A court case
usually involves two or parties, each of which must be properly served
with the court papers. As at now, we are not aware of any court case
that has been instituted by any group. As I am talking to you right
now, the HOS has not been served any notice.” About 104 plaintiffs
filed the suit, challenging the directive from the HOS Office
compelling them to write a competence examination. Apart from the HOS,
the other defendants are: the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC)
and the Attorney-General of the Federation, who is also the Minister of
Justice.

The plaintiffs are
arguing that their promotion to the next directorate cadre is vested in
the Federal Civil Service Commission, the 2nd defendant, as provided in
the relevant sections of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic and not in the Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, the first defendant.

The FCSC, which
could not be reached for official reaction to the test as at the time
of going to press, has remained silent on the examination.

Commenting on the discipline displayed by those who defied the rains
to write the examination, Mr Oronsaye said, “It is interesting that
while the association was calling up people not to register for the
test, many of its members actually turned out to register. Here, they
have written the test.”

The Falconents
definitely conquered in Germany, and the women in Nigeria decided to
rub in the failure of our senior national team, the super chickens,
through their elaborate celebration of our girls who we, in the spirit
of patriotism, agree are all under 20.

Here in Abuja,
where the Falconets were warmly received by the Ministers of Women
Affairs and Education, amongst other dignitaries, girls were recently
banned from one of the oldest trades in the world: ashawo, opio,
prostitution or commercial sex work. The FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed,
was kind enough to extend some form of amnesty to those girls who are
willing to give up the trade and, like the militants in the Niger
Delta, submit their weapons of mass destruction, distraction or
attraction and take up new noble trades of hairdressing, tailoring and
others.

The women were
apparently banned from only their nocturnal activities, because the
mandate to arrest them only holds for those low class ones who stand in
different corners of Abuja at night to wait for their customers. Law
enforcement officers were empowered to arrest both the traders and the
buyers when caught in the act of peddling, which might be a bit
difficult to prove, unless the he-goat is caught directly on top of the
she-goat. Even at that, it might be hard to prove that the girl is not
a girlfriend or even wife, with our popular Abuja marriage where young
men and even old men and ladies live together on credit; that is,
without carrying out the normal traditional marriage rites.

However, since men
have learnt to shoot without missing, the birds have learnt to fly
without perching. The operations of the night girls have continued
unabated, with the help of GSM technology. One call and the customers
know where, when and how to meet. More recently, though, the dress
culture of our youth has muddled up the waters. It is very difficult to
tell a street girls from a supposedly well brought up girl on our
streets, with about 70 per cent of our women revealing body parts as
their style of dressing.

This, dear reader,
is the drift of my script. The number of ‘indecent dressers’ have since
multiplied 10-fold in Abuja. I watched some ladies on national
television talking about women’s right and one of them, while answering
the question of the presenter as it concerns indecent dressing, said,
“Women should be allowed to dress the way they like”.

Stealing is their style

Every ordered and
dignified society that wants to genuinely progress and be reckoned with
does not allow its people to dress the way they like. Even in America
where people are mostly free to do the things they like, there are some
restrictions in the dress culture of the youth in certain universities.

Have we not seen
what happens to a people who talk the way they like? Sleep the way they
like or drink the way they like? You cannot even laugh or eat the way
you like once you are outside your home. So, if you dress the way you
like, you should be prepared to reap the consequences. Our society is
already bedevilled with men who steal and loot the way they like, and
some women want to support them by dressing the way they like?

It is the thunder that announces to the blind that it is going to
rain. If these kinds of women are not stopped from talking the way they
like on national television, it might take earthquakes, tsunamis and
wild bush fires to announce to us our impending doom. Let those who
have ears hear.

Aderemi
Banjo, the protem national chairman of the Mega Progressive Peoples’
Party, on his plan for the party and how he intends to defeat the PDP
in next year’s election. Excerpts:

Vision for the party

I was formerly in
Alliance for Democracy (AD). I contested in 2007 as a House of
Representatives member and I have been a functionary during the time. I
am going to my 40s and I believe that the politics we have now is for
the Generation Next.

So I am optimistic
that the vibrant youth of today will have a role to play in building a
future that we desire of our tomorrow. That is why we are sensitizing
the youth on how to manage their roles. We don’t want them to be
deceived and disenfranchised, and we don’t want their voters’ cards to
be used against their future by giving them money and robbing them of
the future. With all this, we will be sure that there will be people
whose votes will count in the 2011 election.

Challenges ahead of the party

One of the
challenges I foresee now is the task ahead of us. Like I said, I am
determined that we will stand against the tyrant Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) and another thing is how we are going to mobilize people
into our party, to come on board. Also, to mobilize people for the next
voters registration so that they can participate in electing people
into governance themselves. You know that without a good structure and
a good platform, there is no way to have good governance and those are
the challenges that we are set to face.

Vision for the future

I can see a bright
future; I mean the kind of future that America had. You understand, we
want to be innovative because we can’t afford to put round pegs in
square holes again. We want a situation where individuals can begin to
start asking for their rights. So, the youth are supposed to be the
ones that have information for the next generation and if I can
recollect, in 1978, Obasanjo was addressing some group of youth and he
told them that “you are the leader of tomorrow” and an average youth
even right since then was supposed to be above or around 30 years old.
Now, imagine those people that are called the leaders have, however,
not portrayed themselves as true leaders.

Obasanjo that
encouraged the youth years ago, later turned around and wanted a third
term in office, while the youth were all around the streets looking for
jobs. Then when is it that the tomorrow will come and when are those
leaders he referred to then taking over?

Assessment of Lagos state

For now, we want to
build on what every other person has done, and not to condemn. We know
we can do better, considering the likes of the progressive elements we
have brought together. We can reason together as one Nigeria without
been dictated to. So that is what I think.

Whatever they are
doing now in Lagos, the assessment is not really a means to affect or
influence us, but to serve as a basis for the delivery of our promises
on bringing quality leadership to the doorsteps of all Nigerians.

Godfathers in politics

I have leaders in
politics. They were before me, but no one is a godfather to a visionary
mind and I can promise you that Mega Progressive Peoples Party leaders
are capable minds that have earned legacy and if you look at the
members of the executive of the party, then you will know that when it
comes to the Mega Party, it is a progressive party and the issue of
leadership is what we know and there is no room for godfatherism.

The 469 members of
the Senate and House of Representatives are frustrating the
anti-corruption effort of the federal government, Emmanuel Ayoola, the
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
offences commission (ICPC) said recently.

Out of the N2
trillion recurrent expenditure in the 2010 budget, N138 billion is
meant for the National Assembly – some 6.6 per cent of the budget. Only
two ministries: Defense and Education, have a higher recurrent
expenditure.

The lawmakers were
recently involved in a war of words with former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo, who ruled the country for eight years, accused
the lawmakers of corrupt activities, including beefing up the budget
proposal of the presidency so as to have personal gains. The minority
leader of the House of Representative, Mohammed Ndume, who did not deny
that the legislators were corrupt, accused the former president of
breeding corruption while in office, including giving “N50 million each
to members of this House to extend his tenure.” Though Mr Ndume made
the statement in public at a media briefing, anti-corruption agencies
appear unwilling to investigate the allegations.

Femi Babafemi, the
spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
denied the commission’s knowledge of Mr Ndume’s statement. “I am not
aware of it,” he said; while Folu Olamiti, the spokesperson of the
ICPC, was non-committal.

Human rights
lawyers and anti-corruption crusaders say the agencies would have
failed to perform their duties if the allegation is not investigated.

“The EFCC cannot
just sit down as a lame duck and say they are not aware. EFCC cannot
wash off its hands like Pontius Pilate and say they have not received a
petition and are not aware of it,” said Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based
human rights lawyer. “Now that this man has come publicly to say this
actually happened, it is the duty of the EFCC to say, ‘Mr Lawmaker,
come forward. Come and give us a statement’, and then commence
investigations.”

Olanrewaju Suraj of
the Movement Against Corruption (MAC), believes Mr Ndume’s statement is
a confirmation of a widely held opinion. “The guy is just making a
confirmation of what we have said actually happened during the madness
of this tenure elongation thing,” Mr Suraj said. “Except the EFCC is
also shying away from its duties and responsibilities, investigations
can be commenced immediately. We need to know where those monies were
gotten from.” However, the ICPC, whose chairman, Emmanuel Ayoola,
stated last week that they would commence investigation on the
allowances of the legislators based on Mr Obasanjo’s accusation,
explained that the legislators were also hindering his commission’s
efforts.

Frustrating fight

Mr Ayoola explained
that, for three years, the National Assembly has failed to pass a law
that would make his commission’s work easier. The existing ICPC act
prescribes that the commission can only begin corruption investigations
when it receives a petition on the alleged crime.

“The National
Assembly has been dealing with the amendment of the ICPC act, in which
is put an express provision permitting us to be proactive. That has
been on for the past three years,” Mr Ayoola stated. “We’ve gone for
public hearings in the Senate; we’ve gone for public hearings in the
House. We’ve submitted our memorandum, but up till now, the amendment
has not been passed.” However Mr Ogunye, who stated his utmost respect
for the ICPC chairman, disagreed with him.

“The delay (in
passing the amendments) may be because members of the National Assembly
themselves are corrupt. I would rather act and wait for the court to
then say that you cannot act because you don’t have a petition to
commence investigations,” Mr Ogunye stated.

Efforts to get the two chambers of the National Assembly’s reactions were unsuccessful.

Ayogu Eze, the
Senate spokesman’s telephone was switched off, while Eseme Eyiboh, the
spokesman of the House of Representatives, did not answer our telephone
calls.

Though Mr Ayoola
claims that the commission is already finding “ways and means of
breaking out of the limitation,” and that no Nigerian is being treated
as a sacred cow, investigations show that federal lawmakers may be
enjoying a break.

For instance,
Dimeji Bankole, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has not
once been invited for questioning by any of the agencies, despite
various allegations levied against him.

Missing Report

Farida Waziri, the
EFCC chairperson, told journalists on June 7, that her commission has
sent a report of its investigations into the N2.3billion Peugeot car
scandal involving the leadership of the House of Representatives, to
the presidency. Mr Jonathan, through his spokesman, has denied the
claim. Yet, the commission has kept mum on the report.

When asked on the
status of the report, Mr Babafemi said, “I don’t know.” Anti corruption
fighters, however, condemn the EFCC’s position on the report.

“Submitting a report to the presidency already shows that they
either don’t have a case that they want to pursue or there have been
some underhand dealings that is also connected with them,” Mr Suraj
said. “There is no immunity for the Speaker, where we can say they are
hiding under immunity or they have been barred by immunity for the
Speaker.”

The three Nigerians recently arrested by marine
police in Akwa Ibom State while attempting to smuggle 55 nationals of
Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso to Gabon for onward movement to Europe,
will soon be prosecuted, officials of the National Agency for
Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) have said.

The agency also said at least 85 persons involved in
human trafficking have been successfully prosecuted by the Agency since
2003 when it was established.

Speaking to journalists yesterday in Benin City,
Chuzi Egede, the Executive Secretary of the NAPTIP, said the 55
foreigners have since been re-united with their families through their
various embassies, just as he said that the agency has achieved 100 per
cent in the prosecution of arrested persons involved in human
trafficking.

“Only two weeks back, we received about 55 victims
who were rescued from the high sea by the marine police in Akwa Ibom
State and we have since reunited them with their families,” he said.
“All of them were from neighbouring countries of Togo, Benin, Burkina
Faso and the likes and, through their embassies, we have been able to
take them to their countries and the three Nigerians who were
trafficking them to Gabon are in our custody and as soon as
investigations are completed, they will be prosecuted in our law
courts.”

Rehabilitated victims

Mr Egede said the agency had successfully convicted
20 persons as at July this year, adding that the agency has
rehabilitated about 800 victims. The agency has rehabilitation centres
in seven zonal offices of Lagos, Benin, Enugu, Uyo, Maiduguri, Kano,
Sokoto and Abuja. “When we see victims, they are taken to these
shelters and they are rehabilitated and the experts are there to give
them all the care they want,” he said.

The agency’s Director, Counselling and
Rehabilitation, Lilly Oguejiofor, said the National Policy on
Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons in Nigeria has even
been adopted by other countries in West Africa for use in the
rehabilitation of trafficked persons within the sub-region.

In what appears to
be a clear endorsement of the yet to be declared intention of Goodluck
Jonathan to contest next year’s election, the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) yesterday said the contest for the party’s 2011 presidential
nomination is open to all aspirants.

The chairman of the
party, Okwesilieze Nwodo, who disclosed the party’s position after its
National Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, however, cautioned
that the party has not completely abandoned its zoning arrangement.

Asked if the party
had done away with zoning, he said, “When former President Olusegun
Obasanjo emerged, he chose a Northern Muslim, Atiku Abubakar, as his
vice president. When the (former party) chairman resigned, he was
replaced by another chairman from the South Eastern zone. Our Senate
President, Speaker, Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker are from
different zones of the country. How then can PDP be said to have
abandoned zoning or rotation?” Mr Nwodo pointed out that the party had
not always adhered to the arrangement in the past. He said it was only
rigid about rotating power to the southern part of the country in 1998
because of the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

But in 2003 and 2007, the contest was thrown open to all aspirants, irrespective of their zone.

“If our late
president were alive today, we wouldn’t be contesting his right to run
for a second term under our national constitution. It was his
entitlement,” he said. “This will, of course, not exclude any other
aspirant from any part of the country from contesting the presidential
primary, as it has become the custom of our party.”

Later, Solomon Lar,
the founding chairman of the party, told the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) that Mr Jonathan will be serving out the terms of the
Yar’Adua/Jonathan joint mandate.

According to
reports, a proposal on the zoning arrangement was presented by Mr Nwodo
and it was unanimously adopted. The chairman had proposed that Mr
Jonathan, currently serving out the joint mandate of the
Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket, had the right to run for a second term under
the party’s national constitution.

“In the zoning
formula, we did not envisage that a serving president will die in
office. Today, Jonathan, by the dictates of the party constitution, is
serving out the term of the mandate given by the people of our dear
country. That being the case, the party believes rightly that Jonathan,
who is part and parcel of the mandate, has a right to contest the
remainder of their joint ticket in 2011,” he said. Ibrahim Shema, the
governor of Katsina State, had moved a motion for the adoption of the
continuity of the mandate and was seconded by a member of the PDP Board
of Trustee, Tony Anenih.

A source, who asked
to remain anonymous, told NAN that the motion did not receive any
opposition, adding that the party granted a waiver to people from
Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Abia and Niger States, who intend to return to its
fold.

Dangerous primaries ahead

In a reference to
supporters of the zoning arrangement, Mr Nwodo noted that “reforms are
sometimes hard to accept, especially when we are called upon to abandon
old ways of doing things. In preaching these reforms, we may have hurt
the sensibility of some of our members. We, thereby, present our
unreserved apology. But we, however, continue to appeal that these
reforms be accepted by all our party members.” In his address, Mr
Jonathan pleaded with members of the party to exercise decorum in the
months ahead, as the party prepares to conduct its primaries.

“Wherever two
people stay, they must disagree. Husband and wife must disagree.
Siblings belonging to the same parents must disagree, and as a party,
we must disagree, but what makes us strong is that we have the ability
to resolve our differences.” He also appealed to members to hold
dialogues instead of switching parties.

“When you have
crisis, the faction that is disgruntled will first of all give their
votes to another person. Even though they will regret later, but in
anger they will dash their votes out. But by God’s grace, we will be
resolving our crisis internally. We will not argue it in the public.”

Other party matters

Mr Nwodo announced
that sections of the party constitution, especially those that affect
delegates in the party’s primaries and convention, will be amended in
line with the provisions of the recently-passed 2010 electoral Act.

Though the
resolutions of the NEC meeting will be made public today, sources at
the meeting said the online registration of members was suspended in
the interim.

The source, who
declined to be named, also said that the council accepted the return of
the Abia State governor, Theodore Orji, to the party. However, he only
narrowly got its waiver to contest in 2011 under the party platform.

Most of the party’s governors spoke vehemently against the waiver,
demanding that he goes back to his ward and register, as stipulated by
the party’s constitution. It took the intervention of President
Jonathan to sway the council.

Incumbent Paul Kagame won 93 per cent of the votes in
Rwanda’s presidential election, final results showed on Wednesday,
after a campaign that critics said was marred by government repression.

A grenade was thrown into a rush-hour crowd in the
capital Kigali, wounding at least seven people. Analysts said the
attack appeared to be aimed at producing a political crisis.

Kagame, widely lauded for rebuilding Rwanda and
establishing peace in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, won the last
election in 2003 by a similar margin. Wednesday’s results still have to
be signed off by the Supreme Court.

“We are very happy with the conduct of the electoral
process, from the campaign to the voting itself. We did not get reports
of intimidation from anywhere,” said Charles Munyaneza, executive
secretary of the electoral body.

Turnout for Monday’s election was more than 95 per cent in all the nation’s five provinces.

Kagame’s nearest rival, Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo
of the Social Democratic Party, won 5 percent. Prosper Higiro of the
Liberal Party garnered just over 1 per cent and Alvera Mukabaramba of
the Party for Peace and Concord 0.4 per cent.

Opponents said the other candidates were a democratic
smokescreen and stooges of Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). They
also said the campaign playing field had been uneven, with three
would-be opposition candidates prevented from registering to contest
the ballot.

One of them, Victoire Ingabire, head of the United Democratic
Forces party who faces charges of funding rebels in neighbouring
Democratic Republic of Congo and espousing genocide ideology, rejected
the result.

Grenade attack

Police spokesman Eric Kayiranga said seven people
including two children were wounded in a grenade blast outside a Kigali
bus park on Wednesday evening.

“It was thrown into the middle of a crowd. It was
rush hour and people were going home. Three suspects were arrested on
the spot,” he told Reuters.

The attack was “a terrible and cowardly act of
violence”, he added in a police statement. “There are no other security
concerns in Kigali or around the country,” he said.

Security agents quickly sealed off the area, denying
access to journalists. Eyewitnesses put the number of wounded at closer
to 20 and said bloodstains were visible on the roadside.

“Grenade attacks are never an attempt to overthrow
the government but rather to influence the political climate. At most
they could provoke the RPF to clamp down on civil liberties and thereby
create a political crisis,” said Rwanda expert Jason Stearns.

Another regional analyst who cannot be identified
said: “It does show that opposition to Kagame is unlikely to come via
the ballot box.” Human rights groups pointed to mounting violence
during the run-up to the election after the shooting dead of a local
journalist and the killing of an opposition official who was found
nearly beheaded in July. The government strenuously denied any
involvement.

“It was a climate of intimidation and exclusion of
the opposition and critical voices. It was a climate of fear,” Carina
Tertsakian, Rwanda researcher for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters by
telephone from London.

The European Union congratulated Rwanda for the calm
atmosphere on polling day and high voter turnout and said the election
marked a new stage in Rwanda’s democratic process and development.

But it said it was concerned by the pre-election incidents and called for swift and transparent investigations.

Kagame has been in control of the land-locked nation
of 10 million people since his rebel army swept to power in the
aftermath of the genocide of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus
in 1994.

Despite being poor in natural resources, Rwanda is a rising star in
Africa for donors and investors with Kagame feted as a visionary leader
and African icon. The International Monetary Fund forecasts its economy
will expand by an average of 6 percent in the medium term.

The Ogun State Police Command yesterday
said it has arrested 1,523 suspected criminals, while 5230 ammunitions
of different sizes were seized from armed robbers between January and
July this year. The Commissioner, Musa Daura, made this known while
receiving the executive of Correspondents Chapel Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) Ogun State Council, who paid him a courtesy visit in
his office at Eleweran, Abeokuta.

Mr Daura also said the police have
recovered 137 vehicles of different types during the months, adding
that 52 cases of murder and five cases of kidnapping were handled.

He attributed the success recorded so
far to the doggedness of his officers and the good working relationship
between his command and the press.

The Chairman of the Correspondents
Chapel, Kunle Idowu, promised that journalists in the state will
continue to promote the good works of the command.

He said, as the fourth estate of the
realm, journalists will continue to promote goodwill between the police
and general public so that their constitutional duties will be carried
out with less stress.

“We know the challenges that Nigeria
police is facing today, but in spite of that, you still perform
creditably well in reducing crime to its barest minimum in the state.
This, journalists in Ogun State can attest to,” he said.

While calling for more commitment from the rank and files of the
force, Mr Idowu called on the government and well-meaning individuals
to continue to assist police so that the society will be crime free.