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The fight against kidnapping and other related crimes took a new
dimension in Benin, the Edo State capital on Thursday, as traditional priests,
herbalists and traditional worshippers gathered at the King’s Square to invoke
curses on kidnappers and other perpetrators of evil acts in the state.

This was at the instance of the Benin traditional ruler, Oba
Erediauwa, who directed that curses be placed on all those involved one way or
the other in any form of criminality in Edo State, as a way of cleansing the
society. The Oba had recently offered to tackle the menace of social vices in
the city through traditional means.

About 60 traditional worshippers gathered at the King’s Square
where they made sacrifices of animals and poured libation over the animals
before placing curses on the kidnappers and other criminals in the land.

The Chief Priest of Benin Kingdom, Nosakhare Isekhure, said the
purpose was to ensure that peace reigns in the land.

“The country has been unstable for some time now as a result of
kidnapping and violent robberies,” he said. “The Benin people are traditionally
not Christians. We are traditionalists. In order to put a stop to the state of
insecurity, we just have to place a curse on them to stop all these activities
that threaten lives and property in Edo State so that there will be peace.
Besides, those who want peace must prepare for war. The Oba has said that for
peace to reign, we must mobilize the most effective tool.”

The Iyase of Benin, Sam Igbe was optimistic that the action of
the traditional worshippers would deter criminals from their evil ways and put
an end to kidnapping that has almost become a daily affair in the land. “We
shall wait and see, but we hope it will put an end to it (kidnapping). But if
they don’t fear themselves, they probably would be sorry for themselves,” he
said.

Seeking legal support

He said efforts were been made to give the action of the
traditionalists a legal backing, as “we are trying to liaise with the state
House of Assembly and the Commissioner for Justice”.

Mr Igbe advised the people to give useful information about
kidnappers and other criminals to the law enforcement officers because “police
are not magicians; they cannot perform without adequate information”.

The chairman of Oredo Local Government Area, Omorogieva Gbajumo,
welcomed the development and described it as an added measure to the efforts of
the police in stamping out criminality from the land.

He told the press that the act was to ensure that peace and
tranquillity reign in the land and also called on both the Christian and Muslim
bodies to organize their own prayers against the evil acts.

Traditional denominations like the Asigidi, Ayelala, Osokpekan and others
participated in the exercise which took them round some major streets in Benin.

Importance of open primary elections

The solution to the country’s
sacrifice of merit on the alter of political exigencies is to put in
place a proper democratic system.

The foundation of democracy is absent in our country. Why is it not there?

Because primary elections are not
done. In fact, in the last few elections, if you observe, there were no
sincere elections. People were handpicked from here and there.
Handpicking is not election, it is more like an appointment. They would
say consensus, who is the consensus? The electorate should have the
consensus. Let them be given the chance to give their votes and to say
yes we want Mr. X and not Mr. Y. That has not been done. This problem
is not only the PDP’s. This problem is in every party in this country.

PDP’s zoning and Goodluck’s Eligiblity

There is need to have a sense of belonging. That is why the party instituted a zoning system.

If the zoning system stands, the
right thing is for the next president to come from the North. Because
Obasanjo has given us two tenures, I remember Obasanjo and I spoke
about that face to face in 2003 when he was going to go back for the
second term. I was advised to turn down my ambition and to allow him go
for a second term and he did say we would allow the North to also have
two terms.

And it was because of what he said
that late Abubakar Rimi and (Barnabas) Gemade went to court and made
sure they contested because they wanted to contest and they did.

I did not because we were told to
allow Obasanjo to go for one more term. And he did say, at that time,
‘after this term I will make sure, as the president, power shifts to
the North.’

Finding the best amongst us

The zoning formula could be
discarded if eventually meritocracy was to be the order. My answer is
simple. We can only find the good ones if the platform of democracy is
properly put in place which, at the moment, is not there. So let’s put
in place a proper democratic system. We have credible people all across
the country and it doesn’t matter where he or she comes from. We are a
population of over 140 million. We have people who are sincere, but are
never given the chance.

I remember saying in one of my
books that Nelson Mandela was locked up for 27 years; but in Nigeria.
people are not locked up like Nelson Mandela but I want to tell you
that the apartheid of Nigeria is as bad as what happened in then
Apartheid South Africa. The only differnce is that we are all of the
same colour. There’s a big distinction between those people who believe
that Nigeria belongs to them, and they are in minute numbers, and the
others.

The best of us, including myself, have been locked out.

Mandela was locked up. We are locked out of every system.

We are running a system where the
good ones are locked out. Part of what we are doing today is to see how
we can penetrate to ensure we are now part of the system to bring
change. As you know, there’s also a reform in the PDP and I am a member
of that reform group. The reform is to bring changes to the party.

The PDP reform group

The reform conference is now opening its eyes properly to see what
is going to happen. There should be a platform that gives everybody
that sense of belonging by allowing the electorates to choose who will
represent them. This can only be possible when the framework for
democracy is put in place to ensure that not only general elections,
but also primary elections are credible.

An unabashed U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told President Barack
Obama on Friday he was sorry for leaving him behind to manage the oil
spill but was thrilled to be watching the World Cup.

“I am honoured to be (here)
representing the United States. The president is angry,” Biden told a
group of dignitaries at the U.S. consulate in Sandton, near
Johannesburg.

Biden, who arrived in South
Africa with several family members about a day ahead of the kick-off to
the sports spectacle, told the group not to take the U.S. side lightly.

The United States play England
in their opening Group C match on Saturday and the Irish-American Biden
expects to be in attendance cheering on coach Bob Bradley’s side.

“In the spirit of a genuine Irishman, we are going to beat England,” Biden said.

The British oil company BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill has given President Obama one of the biggest problems of his presidency.

The Vice President also offered
his condolences to former South African President Nelson Mandela whose
great granddaughter was killed in a car crash on the eve of the World
Cup opening.

Olayide Olaosebikan is a United Kingdom-based Nigerian. A
Lecturer and Management Consultant by, he is also a politician of the Action
Congress interested in becoming the next governor of Ogun State – the seat
currently occupied by Gbenga Daniel of the People’s Democratic Party.

But for the nature of our politics and the culture of the
practitioners therein, Olaosebikan’s ambition would not have courted my
curiosity. After all, he is a Nigerian eminently qualified and constitutionally
empowered to so aspire. However, owing to the obtainments in Nigeria’s
political landscape; and the dramatis personae involved in the political
theatrics of, especially, the Gateway State, where so many questions remain
unanswered and so many issues remain unresolved, seeing trouble and
determinedly walking into it on the part of the aspirant could not go
unquestioned.

I wanted to be educated on what he wanted in Oke Mosan, that
committing his hard-earned resources to a project like this should be his next
cherished ambition.

Looking rather un-flustered, Olaosebikan determinedly began to
reel out what he has in store for his people and why he is the “right man for
the job.” Good talk; lofty aspiration; it seemed. But are these ingredients
enough to prepare a broth in a land where stuffers, snatchers and vampires who
have tasted power have become so engrossed in it that exiting will be the last
word in their political bible? Maybe! Maybe not! So, I got rather confused, not
convinced! On a personal note, I have on several occasions wondered why we are
so blest as a country and as a people.

With each passing day, credible people move away from politics
for fear of dear lives, thereby leaving the stage for mediocres and political
never-do-wells to thrive. Fifty years after independent nationhood, Nigeria
remains a country where people with genuine interests are not only shortchanged
but are crudely dealt with for daring to be patriotic. It is only the more
fortunate ones who end up as exiles.

Without doubt, politics is all about issues. It is about
morality and credibility. Above all, it is about loyalty to the country, not to
any particular individual, however strong or powerful. Put succinctly, it is
all about a leader’s ability to match words with action.

However, in our own clime, politics has gone beyond being the
survival of the fittest. It is now the exclusive preserve of the meanest and
the crudest. Mere men with narrow loyalty have taken positions and, as such,
the more one is at home with Nigeria’s political abracadabra, the easier the
success. Here, it is the unrighteous who is able to maintain his rule while the
virtuous can only go a-grieving. That is why it has become practically
difficult for the Olaosebikans of this world to challenge the status quo.

Oscar Wilde might have had Nigeria at the back of his mind when
he described democracy as nothing other than the “bludgeoning of the people, by
the people, for the people.” Here, political vipers and backstabbers who only
politic for self-serving interests thrive, while patriotic citizens are reduced
to mere means to self-satisfying ends.

Will Nigerians ever learn some lessons about history? Michael
Ani left the electoral stage without using his experience to advise Nigerians
on how to get it right. Victor Ovie-Whiskey, Eme Awa and Ephraim Akpata all
died without muttering or uttering a word with regard to what actually went
wrong; or why they went wrong in the first place.

While no one seems to know the whereabouts of Abel Goubadia,
Humphrey Nwosu is still alive, but more as an outsider in power than one man
sure enough of himself to sincerely convince Nigerians that he actually knew what
his job as umpire entailed during Nigeria’s trying times.

As a way of getting out of the woods, we are being advised to
vote and make our votes count. We are being asked to vote and jealously guide
our votes. Wait a minute: with the way politics is being played in Nigeria, is
any politician worth dying for? In any case, how do we protect ourselves from
hoodlums and assassins who daily taunt us with guns and allied weapons? For
instance, if we protect our votes, how do we protect the vote-protectors from the
ravaging guns of those who are ready to do anything to ruin everything?

Not that alone, “can two walk together, unless they are agreed?”
The galling truth is that, in our own country, while the ruling party is
disorganized and willing to self-destruct, the opposition is grossly loose,
particularly scattered and practically unfocused.

But things cannot continue this way. There is an urgent need to
carry on board credible and competent people. They need to be encouraged, not
scared. They need to be empowered, not emptied.

Essentially, there is an urgent need for sincere soul searching.
As such, even while we can do nothing about the past other than classifying it
as a bucket of ashes, we need to carry it along with us even as we strive to
build a future where our votes will not only count but also be seen to have
counted.

May God save us from the hands of our rulers!

Komolafe writes in from
Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State

The Nigeria Bar Association has urged the Senate to look into
the case of Sani Yerima’s child marriage, saying that he cannot continue to sit
in the hallowed chamber of the Senate, contributing in the making of laws which
he claims do not bind him.

The Bar said attempts being made by some individuals and groups
to trivialise Mr Yerima’s disgraceful act are also political.

“We state without any equivocation that the act of contracting
any arrangement to satisfy the hedonistic urge of any individual is criminal,”
Rotimi Akeredolu, the national chairman of the association, said. “It becomes
even more worrisome to note that these people strive to hide under a popular
religion which preaches continence.”

The association also berated Mr Yerima’s manner of “clinging to
a supposed aspect of his religion, which allows a child barely out of the
cradle to warm his bed. The abiding injunctions on honesty, philanthropy and
continence, among others, on which all religions stand, are of little
significance to this man.”

While referring to Mr Yerima’s argument, when he was invited by
a child protection agency in Abuja, that he only recognized Sharia law and not
whatever the federal law said on his action, the NBA leader said, “The position
of the Bar is that this man cannot continue to sit in the hallowed chamber of
the Senate, contributing in the making of laws he does not believe in.

“Characters like this man should not be allowed to hide under
religion to perpetrate acts inimical to the wellbeing of the citizens of this
country, most especially children who must be protected by reasonable adults.
The news that a former child-wife was divorced for him to marry a new child, as
his fourth wife, in line with what he perceives as his religious obligation,
must rile the sensibility of decent people.”

The leadership of the Bar, specifically referring to Micheal
Aondoakaa and the ongoing litigation against him, assures Nigerians that it
will not shield any member of the NBA who has been accused of any wrong-doing.

“It is important we state this in the light of the recent
judgment delivered by a Federal High Court in Calabar on the suitability of the
immediate past Attorney General of the Federation, Mike Aondoaaka to hold
public office or any position of responsibility.

“We hasten to state, without gloating, that the Bar feels
vindicated on its positions on national issues which certain political jobbers
twisted to paint us with the brush of partisanship undeservedly. We expect more
of those whose activities have brought this country to this sorry pass to be
exposed,” Mr Akeredolu said.

Oyo crisis

The Bar, however, warned Goodluck Jonathan to check recent
political attack on the House of Assembly in Oyo State by some hoodlums.

It said that the action “is a litmus test for this
administration. It is treasonable to employ the force of arms to disrupt a
legislative process. It is akin to waging a war against the people. These
political charlatans got away with all manner of atrocities under Olusegun
Obasanjo. Mr Jonathan must follow his words with deeds which give hope.” The
NBA, however, hailed the appointment of the new Independent National Electoral
Commission boss, Attahiru Jega, and urged him to start on a clean slate.

Attempts by the fugitive former governor of Delta State, James
Ibori, to seek political asylum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ran into a
hitch Thursday after police authorities in Dubai revoked the bail it granted
him on May 13.

The spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), Femi Babafemi, said the commission had received official report on the
bail revocation. “I can confirm that Mr Ibori is in custody, we were briefed by
the authorities in Dubai,” he said.

EFCC sources said his arrest was based on the conviction of his
associates in UK, the protest from Nigerian authority and the threat to retrieve
the license of flight Emirates Airlines and evidence from the EFCC supporting
the fact that he fled from Nigeria to evade justice.

On what the EFCC plans to do next, Mr Babafemi said “we will
just continue to ensure that he be brought to answer questions either in Nigeria
or in the UK.”

The EFCC had declared Mr. Ibori wanted as part of its
investigation of alleged misuse of state funds while he was governor. Its
operatives were on his trail before he sneaked out of the country and turned up
in Dubai.

The former Delta State governor was arrested in Dubai by the
police on the orders of the International Police (INTERPOL). The operation is
linked to the British Metropolitan Police, who has been fighting to have Mr.
Ibori extradited to the United Kingdom to face other fraud charges.

Early this week, his sister, Christine Ibori-Ibie, and his
female friend, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, were jailed by a UK court after they were
found guilty of all charges of money laundering and mortgage fraud.

The women were also found to have helped the former governor
move an estimated £70 million worth of looted funds through several London
banks during his reign in office from 1999 to 2007.

Mr. Ibori, who was declared wanted by the anti-graft agency
weeks ago, in connection with the illegal disposal of 528 million shares
belonging to Delta State in Oceanic Bank, refused to turn himself in and
thwarted all efforts by the EFCC and the Nigeria Police to arrest him.

A security source, however, said the revocation of Mr. Ibori’s
bail, following which he was clamped into a Dubai jail, was only one more step
in the efforts of the MET to take him to London.

A member of the House of Representatives, Rasaq Adewusi, has
accused the group of ‘progressives’ calling for the resignation of the Speaker,
Dimeji Bankole, of selfishness.

Mr. Adewusi, who is the Chairman of Committee on Pension, told
journalists in Abeokuta that the group is not fighting the cause of the
majority of lawmakers and challenged them to present their allegations when the
House resumes.

He said it was ridiculous for the group to have asked the
speaker to resign when plenary has been suspended.

“As I see it, it is more of personal that is the way I see it.
You cannot just stand up and say the Speaker must resign when we have suspended
plenary session about six days ago,” he said.

The lawmaker said the group, consisting 12 members, is too small
to challenge the leadership of the House.

‘The house is the house of 360 members and with the number of
people that have gathered together as a group, I think when we get to the
bridge we shall cross it. It is just a matter of when we come together in the
house, the reason behind their asking the speaker to resign his speakership
would be known,’ he said.

Beyond the cars

Mr. Adewusi said the Speaker’s opponents are bringing up
forgotten issues in their fight against him.

“The issue of cars they are talking about has gone to rest for a
very long time. Nobody has ever returned the cars. I don’t want to pre-empt
their action, when we get to the house by June 22, we will know, they will tell
the house,” he said.

The National Food and Drug Administration and Control Agency
(NAFDAC) will today, at its Lagos office, introduce a solution meant to be the
silver bullet against the monstrous fake drug business in the country.

The data collected from a three-month trial of the Mobile
Authentication Service (MAS), an SMS-based solution implemented by Sproxil Inc,
will also be discussed at the meeting with drugs manufacturers and retailers.

The innovative technology has been described as most suitable
for checkmating fake drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the counterfeit drugs
business is estimated to be worth about $75 billion, because it utilises the
ubiquitous mobile phone platform.

The model is as simple as a consumer walking into a
pharmaceutical store to buy drugs, which would have a scratch panel. The
consumer scratches the panel and sends the code on it to a well-advertised
number through SMS. A confirmation message will be sent back confirming the genuineness
or otherwise of the drug. If the drug is counterfeited, the consumer is
expected to inform NAFDAC.

Anti-counterfeit
officials

This model, which will also be effective against all forms of
counterfeited and sub-standard products, will turn consumers to an independent
army of “anti-counterfeit officials,” one as big as the entire Nigerian
populace, if implemented efficiently.

The document, which was exclusively obtained by NEXT, was
prepared by a national committee inaugurated by Paul Orhii, NAFDAC’s Director
General, in June 2009.

The committee consisted of representatives of the
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), Nigerian Representatives of
Overseas Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NIROPHARM), and mPedigree, the company
marketing the product.

The committee submitted its report, Deployment of National
Electronic Anti-Counterfeiting Platform for Regulated Products in Nigeria, in
September 2009. Thereafter, Biofem agreed to use its “highly counterfeited”
product, glucophage, as a “guinea pig” and in February, NAFDAC announced a
trial project, to be implemented by Sproxil.

The feasibility of the guideline document requires several
partnership agreement and understanding among several components of the design
including telecommunication companies, drug manufacturing companies,
Information Technology Company, and NAFDAC.

However, Biofem-Spiroxil partnership has, within a shorter
period, produced an implementation platform for the technology and the trial
has received positive feedback from industry stakeholders.

For a detailed report on
this, read NEXTonSunday

The senate committee on environment have threatened to shut
down the five stone mining companies operational at Mpape, a suburb of Abuja,
for none compliance with environmental safety laws.

The threat came after the committee, led by its chairperson,
Grace Bent (PDP Adamawa state) and the National Environmental Standard and
Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) paid an unscheduled inspection visit to
the quarries.

Mrs Bent and Ngeri Benebo, the director general of NESREA,
expressed dissatisfaction with the level of compliance with environmental laws
by the various quarrying companies in the area.

Some of the five stone mining companies operational in the
suburb have been blasting and crushing rocks in Mpape for over 30 years, but
none of them have an environmental impact assessment certificate or a plan on
how to remedy the environment after mining. Neither did any of the mining
companies have a corporate social responsibility project in the community.

The worst offender, according to the inspection team, was
Julius Barger Plc. They are the longest stone blasting company in the area, but
had neither an Environmental Impact Assessment certificate nor an Environmental
Management Plan. Their site also had a lake developing from their previous
mining pit which inspectors said was untreated and breeding mosquitoes.

“Can Julius Barger do this in Germany?” Mrs Bent asked the site
manager. “This is totally unacceptable in Nigeria.”

Non compliant miner

The senate committee chairman therefore gave them an ultimatum
of two weeks to develop an environmental management plan and conduct an
environmental impact assessment on the site adjourning community.

“We are giving you two week to do this or we will come back
here and shut this place down,” she said. “We cannot tolerate this; it is
totally unacceptable to us.”

Like Julius Barger, Arab Contractors and the rest of the
Chinese companies mining stones at the suburb were blasting the rock, causing
earth tremors, polluting the air with dust, and producing unsafe lakes from old
mining pits but have never conducted and environmental impact assessment on the
site.

Their workers were also not protected with safety kits, neither were they
insured. Kamel Eljilbal, who represented the management of Arab Contractors
Ltd, argued that the company had the necessary certifications; but Ihebinike
Kevin, an official of the federal ministry of environment, countered his claims
saying the ministry had no record of such certifications and neither did they
have any post mining plans from the company. The other mining companies which
the team visited also argued they had certificates and permits but could not
present them.

The deputy Senate
president, Ike Ekweremadu, who is also the head of the Senate committee
on constitution review, has affirmed that the president need not sign
the amended constitution before it becomes binding and effective.

“I’m surprised that such an argument is coming up,” he told reporters in an interview in Abuja, earlier in the week.

He argued that the
constitution will automatically become effective once the required
two-third of the state Houses of Assembly assent to it.

“I don’t know who
is engineering that because section 9 says an Act of the National
Assembly for the alteration of constitution will be conducted in a
manner provided by that section 9. Don’t forget we copied from the
American constitution. Once the American Congress passes the
Constitution Amendment and it is sent to the state, just like in our
own, and you have the requisite number, it becomes automatically
operative. No American president has ever signed a constitutional
amendment. “

Last bus stop

He further argued
that for the constitution to make provision for two-third of the
members of the National Assembly and two-third of the state Houses of
Assembly to ratify it means that that alone is the “last bus stop.” The
deputy Senate president has always argued that since Nigeria’s
constitution is modelled after that of the United States of America, it
will not require the assent of the president to alter it.

“Amendment of the
constitution, according to section 9, does not require presidential
assent,” he said in a Senate workshop in Kaduna, October last year.

He had argued
against the opinion of Tayo Oyetibo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who
lectured the Senate on steps to successfully amend the Constitution in
that workshop.

Mr. Oyetibo had
said that unlike the American Constitution, which states clearly that a
law is valid with the assent of a certain majority of their National
and State Houses of Assembly, the Nigerian Constitution is ambiguous
about it, and that that leaves the president with the power to validate
any law.

Mr. Oyetibo then
advised the senators to rephrase section 9 of the 1999 Constitution to
reflect the validity of a law, with just the assent of a certain
majority of the National and State Houses of Assembly.

The deputy Senate
president also confirmed that the National Assembly is yet to transmit
the harmonised copy of the draft amended Constitution to the State
Assembly.

“We are meeting
with the Houses of Assembly on the 15th of this month to formally hand
over the harmonised version to them,” Mr. Ekweramdu said.

“We appeal to them
to deal with it in a matter of a week or two. We intend to extend
invitation to the governors, or at least find an opportunity of meeting
with them to also seek their support at this last lap of this exercise.
So, we are not expecting any problem.”

He further defended
the Senate’s position on some key issues in the amended constitution
that pitched the lawmakers against the public. Such issues like
allowing people indicted for corruption and embezzlement by
administrative panels to run for public offices, and cross carpeting
for elected lawmakers.

“The constitution
has made sufficient provisions on things that could disqualify you. If
you have been found guilty by a court for offences regarding
disqualification, you will not contest election. But it went further in
section 66(i) and said that if you are indicted by an administrative
panel of inquiry and that indictment is accepted by the Federal
Executive Council and State Executive Council, you are disqualified.
But we said no, that those other copious provisions, regarding areas of
disqualification on criminal ground, they are enough.

“Those who will be
disqualified are those who are found guilty by a court of competent
jurisdiction, and that is what is in our constitution. A lot of people
seem to misunderstand it clearly. In America, where we copied our own
constitution, people move from party A to B and they don’t lose their
seats. It is only the Parliament that it says if you cross carpet
without a genuine reason, you will lose your seat.

“But in the Executive, there is no such thing. Why isolate the
Parliament? And meanwhile, we have a provision in the constitution for
freedom of association. How do you reconcile it? And for you to amend
that section to say you cannot cross carpet, then you have to go and
amend the constitution regarding the freedom of association and that
requires a higher threshold,” Mr. Ekweramdu added