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Media organisations
in Nigeria are corrupt and do not report events if they are not bribed
to do so, Rotimi Akeredolu, the President of the Nigerian Bar
Association, said in Lagos on Thursday.

Mr. Akeredolu, who
was guest speaker at the distinguished Management Lecture organised by
the Nigeria Institute of Management, said, “Our journalists must strife
to strike the realistic balance between the demands of their profession
and the parochial interests of money bags.

“I know a number of
them are here. If you don’t give them money, this thing would not be
published. You can say I said so. Quote me in the paper. ”

During the lecture,
titled ‘Management of the Electoral Process: An imperative for
government of the Nigerian state,’ Mr. Akeredolu called for a reform of
the electoral process in a way that election tribunals would conclude
all cases before victorious candidates are sworn into office.

“No candidate must be allowed to deploy the resource of the state to fight opponents,” he said.

New electoral process

Another lecturer at
the event, Jonah Elaigwu, a professor of political science at the
University of Jos and President of the Institute of Governance and
Social Research, condemned the number of political parties in Nigeria.

“We must
re-register political parties. Any party that does not win 10% in any
election at the three levels of government put together should be
de-registered immediately,” he said.

Mr. Elaigwu advised President Goodluck Jonathan not to contest in next year’s presidential election.

“President Jonathan
has a right to contest like any Nigeria, but let me advise him. In
spite of people pushing him to run, I would suggest that President
Jonathan should not… let him give us regular electricity; he would
have written his name in gold. Secondly, President Jonathan should not
contest, not because of zoning; but as an umpire who is not a
participant.”

Speaking, the
United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders, said the US is
looking towards the achievement of free and fair elections in Nigeria
in 2011 and would be partnering the country to achieve the objective.

She, however, said that despite the appropriation fund allocated to
the commission in 2010, “what we are hearing is that the money has not
been released into the election account.”

The crisis rocking
the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Edo State chapter, reared its ugly
head again yesterday, as Ehigie Uzamere (senator, Edo South) hit back
at Owere-Dickson Imasogie, the Edo South PDP leader (Tony Anenih’s
faction), who had earlier berated Mr Uzamere for his role in the
clearance of the Edo State representative on the Niger Delta
Development Commission (NDDC) board.

Mr Uzamere had
aided the hitch-free clearance at the Senate, of Don Omorodion, an
Action Congress candidate, for the NDDC job. This, however, did not go
down well with Mr Imasogie who, in an interview granted to a
Benin-based weekly magazine, said, “Uzamere must explain” his apparent
romance with an opposition party’s candidate.

But Osaretin
Enogieru, an aide of the senator, said in a press statement issued
yesterday that it is curious that Mr Imasogie did not complain when Mr
Anenih nominated three commissioners into Adams Oshiomhole’s cabinet.

The statement also
made reference to Mr Anenih’s call to the other two senators from Edo
State to support the nomination of Jude Ise Idehen, also of the Action
Congress, by the presidency for the NDDC job, which Mr Imasogie never
complained about.

“If you castigate
the senator for clearing Mr Omorodion, an AC candidate, what will you
do to Mr President who is the party’s number one leader?” Mr Enogieru
said.

He further stated
that Mr Omorodion, who was nominated by Goodluck Jonathan, has no
established or proven legal or constitutional impediment to warrant his
rejection, as was the case with the first nominee (Jude Ise Idehen).

Diabolical wickedness

“It would have
amounted to diabolical wickedness on the part of the senator to lobby
for Omorodion’s reject without a good cause,” Mr Enogieru said.
“Senator Uzamere had a duty to honour and respect the wishes of senior
citizens of Edo South who symbolize the sociopolitical and cultural
conscience of Benin Kingdom and who wanted Omorodion cleared, and to
Edo State which was losing out in the affairs of the NDDC during the
period because the state had no representative on the board and a Delta
State representative was overseeing Edo.

“The electorate and the people of Edo South remain the centrepiece
of Senator Ehigie Uzamere’s sociopolitical policy, as his mandate is a
cross-partisan mandate freely given by indigenes and residents of Edo
South, irrespective political bias, religious affiliation and sex. His
responsibility, therefore, is to all without let or hindrance.”

The Federal
University of Technology Akure (FUTA) Alumni Association has donated a
set of laboratory equipment worth N10 million to the institution, to
aid teaching, learning and research.

The research
equipment, a total of 47, included: cooled incubator, RMS Lauda, Vacuum
Drying Oven, Dehumidifier and over head projector that were acquired
free of charge from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA) Ibadan, where there are some old students of the institution.

While presenting
the equipment to the school, the National President of the Association,
Gbenga Gbarada, said the association was geared up to give back to the
institution that had trained them to reach limelight.

“It all started in
Lagos when we came together and asked ourselves what should we do for
our school, FUTA–because we believed we must assist the institution
that made us what we are today–that we came about the idea of these
equipment,” he said.

Mr Gbarada, who
commended the management of the institution for being endowed with good
human resources, said “We have absolute confidence in the leadership of
FUTA to use the equipment to bring up more intellectuals.” He assured
that the association would not stop assisting the university, recalling
that last year it organised a N4.5 billion capital launch for the
school and also organised a seminar for the final year students.

Grateful school

“Last year, the
association organised a N4.5 billion capital launch for the school and
this is one of the follow ups. We are still looking for other ways we
can assist the school,” he said. “It may be in agriculture because this
is a university where agriculture is fully on ground; we are trying to
get companies that can give us tractors and farm implement for the use
of the school.

“Also, last year,
we organised an empowerment summit for the final year students of this
school to enable them stand on their own after graduation so that they
will be employers of labour and not employees of labour. These are some
of the ways by which the association is helping the university.

The Vice Chancellor
of the institution, Bisi Balogun, said the association has done
wonderfully well. He said the gesture was beneficial, especially when
the university system had declined owing to under-funding.

“What we have here will go a long way in enhancing the research
capacity of the lecturers, research capacity of our doctorate students,
research capacity of our undergraduate students. We are grateful about
this,” he said

No fewer than 150
workers of Skyways Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL), Lagos, were on
Thursday sacked, Isaac Orolugbagbe, the managing director, announced.

This is coming
after the recent sack of the company’s immediate past managing
director, Chike Ogeah, and some workers after the new owners, Sifax
Group, took over.

The Bureau of
Public Enterprises (BPE) had in 2009 sold SAHCOL, the only subsidiary
of the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, to Skyways, with a
six-month ultimatum to settle labour-related issues.

Speaking with
journalists at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Mr.
Orolugbagbe said the sack was part of the ongoing restructuring of the
company, noting that those sacked were workers who had “bad records”
and who had served for over 25 years.

“The new management
inherited an over-bloated staff after acquiring SAHCOL, and it is not
possible for us to continue with the large number,” he said.

All former military
heads of state and their deputies since independence in 1960 are to
enjoy monthly salaries and allowances, like their elected counterparts.

This was agreed by
members of the House of Representatives, who passed into law a bill
amending an Act on the remunerations of the former Presidents and heads
of state.

The bill is titled,
“A Bill for an Act to Provide Remuneration of former Presidents, Heads
of Federal Legislative Houses and Chief Justices of the Federation and
other Ancillary Matters, 2010.” It was recommitted to the Committee of
the Whole in order to enable the House debate the constitutional and
incidental matters pertaining to the bill.

The former military
leaders are Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida,
Abdulsalami Abubakar, all of who are still alive. Those dead are
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Murtala Muhammed and Sani Abacha.

Others who are to
benefit from the salaries and allowances are former vice presidents;
former Senate Presidents and their deputies; former Speakers and their
deputies; and former Chief Justices of the Federation.

The allowances are
to be worked out by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal
Commission (RMAFC). The position of the representatives is, however,
opposed to that of the senators, who last March, while passing the
bill, excluded former heads of state who seized power through coups,
from enjoying the remunerations.

Senate says no

By this development, the two chambers will now set up a conference committee to harmonise their positions.

During the debate
on the executive bill, the chairman of the Committee on Rules and
Business, Ita Enang, argued that the constitution has already given the
former military leaders a role by making them members of the Council of
State. He said there was nothing wrong with allowing them the salaries
and allowances paid to the former leaders of executive, legislative and
judicial arms of government.

Also contributing,
Cyril Madubum (PDP, Anambra) supported the argument, saying Section 316
(2) of the constitution has, by implication, recognized the former
military rulers as once occupying the office of the head of state.

“Any person who
immediately before the date when this section comes into force holds
office by virtue of any other constitution or law in force, immediately
before the date when this section comes into force, shall be deemed to
be duly appointed to that office by virtue of this constitution or by
any authority by whom appointments to that office fall to be made in
pursuance of this constitution.”

In justifying the
removal of the former military leaders from the list of beneficiaries
last March, the senators had argued that including them would amount to
encouraging future coups.

The Senate
President, David Mark, a retired Brigadier General and governor under
the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida, had said during the debate
that it would discourage people from coming to power unconstitutionally.

“This is to
discourage other ways of getting into power through unconstitutional
means; the only way recognised by the constitution is through the
ballot box and not through the barrel of the gun,” he said.

Some army personnel
can now work in a more conducive environment, following the
construction and rehabilitation of office facilities at the MHYOUNG
Barracks at Yaba, Lagos, on Thursday.

The Chief of Army
Staff, Abdurrahman Dambazzau, the Minister for State for Defence,
Murtala Shehu Yar’Adua, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, and other
senior government officers were present at the commissioning of nine
structures which include: administrative blocks, three warehouses, a
general store, a dental lab store, canteen, RSM office, guard house and
stores offices, as part of the flag-off of the 2010 Army Day
celebration.

In his welcome
address, U.S. Essien, a major general, said the construction and
rehabilitation of the facilities was carried out by direct labour,
involving the Nigerian Army engineer corps.

“About six months
ago, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. A.B. Dambazzau, tasked the
Nigerian army engineers to demolish the dilapidated temporary
structures that serve as the central medical stores and reconstruct new
ones by direct labour.

“The new facility
is what we are commissioning today,” he said, adding, “Work for the
project was scheduled to last for 18 weeks but after the 15th week, we
had completed the construction, in spite of the adverse conditions.”

More projects

Lt General Dambazzau said the army will be positioned to carry more direct labour initiative in the country.

“The resources are
very limited and this is why we engaged in the direct labour project,
first to save cost, and to maximise the little resources we have. To
save time and more especially to develop human capacity, there is need
to develop our personnel, to engage them in national development not
only for the army but for the nation as a whole.

“We all know that
the importance of appropriate storage facilities for drugs and other
medical equipment until they get to the end-users cannot be
overemphasised. I am glad that this facility has met the standard of
the UN level 2 stores.”

The guest of honour
at the event, the Minister of Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode, who was
represented by Murtala Shehu Yar’Adua, the Minister of State for
Defence, said the ministry will continue to support the army and other
defence parastatals to carry out their duties effectively.

Also, Mr Yar’Adua
said the Ministry of Defence will soon meet with the federal government
to discuss the issue of the retirement of senior army officers, an
issue which has caused a rumble in the military.

“The Ministry of
Defence will continue to support government agencies both morally and
financially to carry out their functions. In regards to the retirement
of some army officers, we will have a meeting with the federal
government very soon and the issue will be addressed. Salary increment
is another issue, but we have limited funds; but the government is
looking into it,” said Mr Yar’Adua.

An army of thugs,
suspected to be members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers
(NURTW) in Oyo State, attacked some members of the Action Congress (AC)
in Ibadan, the state capital, Wednesday evening.

The victims, who
reportedly sustained serious injuries, were coming from an enlarged
rally of their party held at Idi-Arere area of the town, on the day of
the incident.

Apparently to
forestall possible breakdown of law and order, the state police command
had stationed a truckload of police personnel at the rally area, which
is just a walking distance to Beere, the most dreaded trouble spot of
the town.

However, the
attackers hung around waiting for the AC members, and intercepted them
on their way home. Four people were reportedly injured in the process.

The party faithful
at the rally freely barraged Adebayo Alao-Akala, whose government, they
said, have failed to impact positively on the state and its people.
Though NEXT could not readily establish whether the attackers are
members of the opposition party, Olubodun Rasaq, personal Assistant to
Abiola Ajimobi, an AC governorship candidate, said the hoodlums were
known members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He explained that
they had the information on the impending attack beforehand, saying
that was why they requested for police protection at the rally.

But, perhaps, the
thugs, realising that an attack in the heavy presence of officers of
the Nigeria Police, State Security Services (SSS) and the Civil Defence
Corps could be suicidal, deferred it till the end of the rally and a
distance away from the rally area.

The police authorities, have, however, dismissed the alleged attack, describing it as political.

Police denial

Olabisi Okuwobi,
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Oyo State command, said the
rally was peaceful, adding that no attack occurred before, during and
after the rally.

She advised
politicians to always be truthful and be weary of sending wrong signals
to the world about the situation in the state, in order not to scare
way would-be investors.

Former governor of
the state, Lam Adesina, in his own speech, condemned Governor
Alao-Akala for allowing the issue of new Teachers Salary Structure
(TSS) to degenerate to the level of the teachers calling for an
indefinite strike.

“Teacher-government
face-off is getting worse because this government does not recognize
teachers; it does not take care of them. Let me warn Governor Akala not
to try sacking any teacher. If he does, God will sack him. AC
government will restore free education and free health at all levels in
Oyo State as from next year.

“In my four-year tenure, we received N48 billion but Governor Akala
has received N250 billion so far. Let him account for what he has done
with the money,” he said.

NEXT columnist,
Pius Adesanmi, is among three Nigerians shortlisted for the inaugural
Penguin Prize for African Writing. He is listed with Chika Ezeanya and
Tanure Ojaide, along with 13 other African writers.

The prize comes
with a cash award of R50000 (about N1million), a publishing contract
with Penguin Books South Africa, and worldwide distribution via Penguin
Group companies.

The competition,
organised by Penguin Books South Africa, is broken into fiction and
nonfiction categories, with a prize winner emerging from each category.

Messrs Adesanmi and
Ojaide are shortlisted for nonfiction, while Ezeanya is in the fiction
category. Organisers had called for entries of unpublished full length
works of between 60,000 and 100,000 words in length. Approximately 300
submissions were received from authors across the continent.

Others on the
shortlist are Ellen Banda Aaku (Zambia), Moraa Gitaa (Kenya), Shubnum
Khan (South Africa), Isabella Morris (South Africa), and Mukoma wa
Ngugi (Kenya, shortlisted for last year’s Caine Prize) in the fiction
category; and South African writers Andrew Barlow, Ruth Carneson, Ahmed
Mortiar, Anli Serfontein, and Tebogo Tlharipe, for non-fiction.

Members of the
opposition party in Osun State House of Assembly have approached an
Osogbo High Court seeking an order to nullify the screening of the
state Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) members while an appeal
were pending in court on the matter.

Led by Timothy
Owoeye, the legislators that are members of the Action Congress (AC) in
the Assembly, through the suit number HOS/M70/2010, are seeking the
order of the court to declare the screening of the chairman and members
of OSSIEC while the Appeal, in suit number HOS/M41/2009, was still
pending as an abuse of court process. In the originating summon, dated
June 29, 2010, the AC lawmakers also wanted the court to determine
whether “the filing of a stay of execution of a judgment by a party
against whom the judgment is given has not put the judgment in abeyance
until the ruling on the application is delivered.” They also wanted the
court to determine whether an appeal properly filed at the High Court
registry is for onward transmission to the Court of Appeal could be
properly terminated at the same high Court registry by mere filing of
notice of withdrawal of Appeal.

The trend

The summon, which
was filed by Kolapo Alimi, counsel for the plaintiffs, Minority Leader,
Mr. Owoeye, also averred that on March 27, 2010, an attempt was made to
serve him a notice of withdrawal of appeal at the premises of the state
House of Assembly which he rejected upon perusal that showed his name
was not written on it. On March 30, 2010, Mr. Owoeye claimed that
members of the House of Assembly were served with the list, and the
curriculum vitae of nominated chairman and members of the OSSIEC.
Amongst whom were, retired Justice Titus Oyeyemi Adewuyi, Remi Alabi,
Bamidele Isola Ezekiel Ogunjuyigbe, Adebisis Gbolagade, Razak Adegbite
and Akinboye Ogunola.

He also claimed
that his advice to the Assembly not to violate the law by screening the
persons named on the list while the appeal was pending in court was
overruled by the Speaker, Adejare Bello.

He however
mentioned in the 15 paragraph affidavit that he and other members of
the AC caucus staged a walk out of the floor of the parliament to
protest their grievance with the development.

An Osogbo High Court presided over by Justice Jide Falola had
earlier this year, ruled that the composition of OSSIEC was illegal,
while the state government filed a notice of appeal but in a twist,
sent a fresh list of OSSIEC members to the parliament for screening and
approval. No date has yet been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

Henceforth,
associations seeking registration as political parties are expected to
establish and maintain functional and verifiable offices in at least
two-thirds of the 774 local government areas in the country in order to
qualify for registration.

They will also have at least 10,000 registered members in at least two-thirds of the 36 states.

These are some of
the conditions adopted by the House of Representatives yesterday to
streamline the numbers of political parties in the country.

The adoption was
based on the report of the House eight-member ad-hoc committee it set
up on June 1, which made the recommendations.

Others
recommendations by the committee, chaired by the minority leader,
Mohammed Ali Ndume, and which were adopted by the House at the
resumption of the review of the amendment of the Electoral Act, are
that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall have
powers to deregister any party which breached any of those requirements
for registration; or which fails to win a seat in the National or State
Assembly election; and that the commission shall verify the claims of
the associations seeking registration, and publish same in at least
three national newspapers before registration.

However, following
a suggestion by the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, the House rejected a
proposal by the panel that INEC should forward report on the parties
registered to the National Assembly, not necessarily for approval, but
for the records.

Following the
adoption of the recommendations, a new subsection will be inserted
under Section 80 of the substantive Electoral Act, while Section 83
will be amended to read “Power of the Commission to register and
de-register political parties.”

The committee was
set up to synthesise the views of members on the issue of political
parties registration in a Bill for an Act to establish the Independent
National Electoral Commission and make appropriate recommendations to
the House. However, the amendment will scale through if the Senate
concurs.

The members of the
committee are Mohammed Ali Ndume, Ita Enang, Cyril Maduabum, Abdullahi
Shuiabu Hashiru, Ibrahim Mustapha, Lanre Agoro, S.Y. Ahmed, and Hannatu
Jankara (Assistant Clerk of the House), who is the secretary.

Mr. Ndume said,
during its assignment, the committee consulted widely with members of
the House and that at its meeting, all the options were considered.
“The members of the committee, after exhaustive deliberations, came up
with recommendations which they felt would go a long way in creating
broad-based national political parties.”

He also explained
that the committee did not request the parties to have two-thirds
registered members in all the local government areas and the states at
the same time, to avoid ambiguity.

He said the
intention of the panel was not to give powers to the National Assembly
to approve the parties that applied to be registered by the commission,
but just to have such information in its record.

Heated debate

The issue of the
number of parties to participate in the 2011 general elections had
generated a heated debate in the House when it began the amendment of
the Electoral Act with some members, particularly those in the
opposition, calling for a two-party system while others demanded a
multi-party system that will only have five parties.

Yet, others
insisted that the multi-party system, as presently obtained in the
country, should be left intact in the Act. Most of the members of the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has about 280 members in
the lower legislative chamber, canvassed the registration of five
parties. Some of the lawmakers had argued that since the return of
democracy in the country, the number of the political parties has risen
from three to 57 because of the grant given to the parties, and which
is usually pocketed by their leaderships without fielding candidates
during elections.

They noted that
some of the leaders of the parties, which they described as “portfolio
parties”, only become active politically when it is time to receive the
grants. On two occasions, the lawmakers could not vote on the amendment
to Section 80 of the Electoral Act 2006 to include a clause regulating
the number of parties in the country.

However, on May 20,
amid protests and rowdiness, which spanned over an hour, the House, by
a vote of 172 to 48, dumped the proposal for a two-party system. But
members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Action Congress (AC),
and a handful of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House, who
wanted a two-party system, kicked against the result and staged a walk
out in protest.

The minority parties were led by the same Mr. Ndume during the walk out.