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The Secretary of the Peoples Democratic
Party, George Egu, has accused the deputy governorship candidate of the
All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Jude Agbaso of jumping bail
while he was in the United States.

According to the originating summon
filed at the Federal High Court Owerri, on Tuesday, April 5, by counsel
to Mr. Egu, Mike Ozekhome, Mr. Agbaso committed an offence in New York
and jumped bail.

Mr. Ozekhome explained that a warrant
was issued for the arrest of Mr. Agbaso. The plaintiff further argued
that Mr. Agbaso by virtue of being a fugitive cannot remain the running
mate of Rochas Okorocha in the forthcoming governorship election in the
state.

Mr. Ozekhome stated that if Mr. Agbaso
was found guilty of the allegation then Mr. Okorocha will cease to be
the gubernatorial candidate of APGA as both of them run an inseparable
ticket.

Mr. Ozekhome also asked the court to
grant him leave to publish the notice in a national newspaper to ensure
that all the respondents get the notice. He also pleaded for
accelerated hearing of the case maintaining that time is of essence in
view of the forthcoming election.

The presiding judge, F. A Olubanjo
granted Mr. Ozekhome leave to publish the originating summon in two
national newspapers. It also gave the respondents seven days from the
date of publication to respond.

While denouncing the accusation against Mr. Agbaso as rubbish, a
chieftain of the APGA in Orlu local government, Dan Igwe, said that it
is the product of a party which is coming to terms with its
unpopularity and is employing desperate measures to stop the winning
run of his party.

All persons charged
with kidnapping and armed robbery in Edo State will hence forth, face
trial in the court without legal representation.

This is because the
state chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has decided to
withhold all appearances for such persons till further notice. This
decision was reached at the monthly general meeting of the association
in Benin City.

The lawyers, in a
statement signed by Ede Asenoguan, Secretary of the state branch of the
bar association, said this was because “legal practitioners and
judicial officers are now being targeted by kidnappers.” The lawyers
made reference to the recent kidnapping of the Chief Registrar,
Customary Court of Appeal of Edo State, Agnes Aigbaogu and Aliu
Okunega, a retired high court judge, who were both kidnapped in Benin
City recently.

Medical doctors in the state have also in the past, withdrawn services to protest the kidnap of one of their colleague.

But the bar
association said it has decided to write letters to the state
Commissioner of Police, the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner
for Justice and the Director of Public Prosecution that cases involving
kidnappers and armed robbers be treated with dispatch and advice given
promptly.

Provide security

The bar association established a committee mandated to work with the police.

“The Bar hereby
call on the government of Edo State to beef up security in Edo state
with a view to safeguarding lives and properties in Edo State,” the
association said.

The United States ambassador to
Nigeria, Terence McCulley, has revealed that his country, through the
U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), and the British
government, through the DFID, has committed $35 million (N5.25 billion)
to help support credible national elections through the provision of
technical support to INEC.

Mr. McCulley, who spoke at a forum on
democracy and good governance jointly organised by the US embassy and
its UK counterpart in Abuja, yesterday said free, fair, and credible
elections are an important part of the process.

He urged Nigeria to take the necessary
steps towards achieving its potential by embracing democracy and
strengthening the institutions, practices, and values of democratic
governance.

He, however, acknowleged Nigeria as an
emergent force on the world stage, demonstrating its economic capacity
and engaging the world as a leader in ECOWAS and at the UN.

“Democratically governed nations
deliver safer, more just, more prosperous lives to their citizens,
which if strong, are more likely to secure, deter aggression, expand
markets, promote development, and combat terrorism and crime,” he said.

He said his country is not seeking for
a particular formula for a democratic construct, because “democracy is
as diverse as the global community.”

Mr. McCulley, who noted the challenges
faced in the botched National Assembly elections, said the underlying
challenge remains to conduct peaceful, free, fair, and transparent
elections.

The ambassador, who said the national
elections present a golden opprtunity for Nigeria to demostrate lasting
commitments to democratic values and institutions, warned the political
leadership and all those who aspire to lead, to refrain from engaging
in inflamatory, rhetoric, or supporting acts of intimidation.

“Violence has no place in a democratic
society,” he said, calling on all political parties to respect the
results of these elections.

Workers in Ogun
State have called on the state governor, Gbenga Daniel to pay their
Cooperative Union dues allegedly deducted from their salaries before he
leaves office.

The appeal was
made at the 2011 Delegate Conference l of the Nigeria Labour Union
(NLC), Ogun State Chapter held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto,
Abeokuta. Clement Adeniyi, Chairman of the Congress in his welcome
speech said: “We shall be grateful to your Excellency Sir, if the rest
of our cooperative union dues, pension deductions from our salaries
could be settled before the expiration of your administration.”

Mr Adeniyi used
the occasion to appeal to Mr Daniel to quickly accede to the new
N18,000 minimum wage. “We still have much belief in your saying that no
kobo would be left unpaid on money deducted on workers’ salaries and
allowances. Our prayer is that the resources by which all these will be
settled shall be provided by God in Jesus name.” Mr Adeniyi said.
However, in his speech, the governor represented by his consultant on
labour matters, Wale Oduntan, said: “Eight years into our stewardship
and casting the relationship between our administration and organised
labour into retrospect, I can confidently affirm that this has been a
most rewarding partnership. For this reason, I express sincere
appreciation to the entire labour community of Ogun State for their
support.”

On the new
N18,000.00 minimum wage, Mr Daniel said, “I therefore avail myself of
this golden opportunity to allay your fears over the fate of the new
N18,000 minimum wage in Ogun State. It is a decision that will not be
delayed for the next administration to handle.”

The police in
Kaduna yesterday recovered the sum of N250,000 from two men who
allegedly snatched the money from a woman coming out of a new
generation bank on Ahmadu Bello Way in the Kaduna State capital.

An eye witness
confirmed that the two suspects who came with a motorcycle waylaid
their victim at the bank gate, and as the woman was coming out of the
bank, they snatched her purse containing the money and sped off.

According to the
eye witness, it was the woman’s shouting of “Barawo” (thief in Hausa)
which attracted the police stationed at the NEPA Roundabout very close
to the bank, that led to their arrests.

The arrest of the
two suspects, however, attracted the presence of many commercial
motorcyclists popularly known as “Achaba” riders who demanded that the
Policed should hand over the suspects to them so that they could burn
them to death for using a motorcycle in the robbery.

Their threat to
burn down the bank if the two suspects were not released to them was
resisted by the combined team of the “Operation Yaki” outfit who used
force to disperse them around the bank premises.

Meanwhile, the suspects have been remanded in Police custody for further investigation.

Few days to the
rescheduled National Assembly election, Police in Osun State have
recovered arms and ammunition from hoodlums suspected to be political
thugs in the state.

The arms recovered include 19 pomp Italian guns, one cutlass, eight live cartridges and one automatic pistol.

Parading the 11
suspects at the headquarters of the state police command, the state
Commissioner of Police, Peter Gana said the suspects were arrested
after a tip off.

The leader of the
gang who identified himself as Sheu Olawumi said when interrogated by
journalists that all the 11 members of the gang paraded were card
carrying members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) from Lagos
State.

Mr Olawumi could not however produce his membership card as he alleged that the Police confiscated it when he was arrested.

He said he is a
driver at Ojota Motor Park in Lagos and claimed that the items were
given to them at a meeting of the ACN in a part of Lagos State by a
chieftain of the party who they always refer to as “Jeje”.

Police is committed

The Commissioner of
Police, however, reiterated the commitment of the state command of the
police to ensure a peaceful conduct of the Saturday election, even as
he promised to investigate the matter. He said “the state police
command will not regard anybody as a sacred cow in the present events
as any person indicted would be brought to book not minding whose ox is
gored.” The command, he said is prepared to curtail and contain any
attempt by any group, sector or individual to thwart the relative peace
the state is experiencing now.

“This is also a
warning signal to political parties and their thugs to ensure that they
maintain absolute decorum during their party’s rallies as the police
are prepared to deal decisively with any untoward situation,” he added.

The Inter-Party
Advisory Council (IPAC), a coalition of political parties in the
country, yesterday warned party leaders against preaching violence and
making baseless allegations against the federal government and the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The chairman of
IPAC, Osita Okereke, who spoke on behalf of the group in Abuja, said it
remains opposed to violence by any political party before, during and
after the elections, which begin Saturday with the rescheduled National
Assembly elections.

IPAC, composed of
representatives of the nation’s political parties, had on March 8, this
year, signed up to a Code of Conduct to eschew violence and sanction
any breach of the code. Mr Okereke stated that IPAC would also not
condone a situation where parties level spurious and unfounded
allegations against the government and the electoral body, adding that
such was capable of undermining these institutions and precipitating
crises.

“IPAC, among
others, has the responsibility to observe and monitor the
implementation of the Code of Conduct, 2011 and shall identify,
investigate and sanction violation of the Code of Conduct by any
political party in accordance with existing laws,” he said.

“IPAC is committed
to ensure strict compliance with the Code of Conduct because we believe
it will conduce to peaceful electoral process. Violence will take us
nowhere. It will only cause hysteria in the polity and put the nation
on the edge. The nation can make progress peacefully and that is what
IPAC seeks to achieve in concert with the INEC.”

Mr Okereke, who is
also the national chairman of African Liberation Party (ALP), said IPAC
has already begun work on a profile on each party with a view to
detailing violent acts, tendencies and preachments as well as overall
compliance and non-compliance with the Code of Conduct.

He said that a report would be made to INEC and other relevant agencies for necessary actions.

In a veiled
reference to the allegation made by the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) against the federal government and INEC, Mr Okereke said that the
council is worried that some parties have resorted to making unfounded
allegations against the INEC and the federal government.

“This will not augur well for the process. There is need to
reinforce the integrity of the electoral process. This cannot be done
by making spurious and unfounded allegations as some parties and their
leaders are now wont to do.” Mr Okereke also appealed to Nigerians to
go out en masse on Saturday to cast their votes, saying free, fair and
credible elections would strengthen the nation’s democratic
institutions and bolster people’s believability in and respect for them.

The Federal Executive Council yesterday urged Nigerians to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the benefit of the doubt and provide the body with all the support it needs to make the National Assembly election a success.
The Minister of Information and Communication, Labaran Maku, who briefed journalists after the weekly executive meeting which was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, said no sacrifice is too much to bear for the success of the elections.
He also said the federal government has not sought to have control over INEC’s budget and planning, but has provided everything the commission requires for a successful conduct of the elections.
“As you do know, INEC is independent of the executive arm of government, because INEC is an ombudsman,” he said. “We have done everything possible to remove the last vestiges of any control of the federal executive on INEC. So, INEC is an independent body, with its own budget, with its own planning. It deploys its own resources. What we have done, especially since last year, is to make available to INEC every requirement, every financial requirement that INEC has asked for the successful conduct of the general elections.”
The commission had postponed the National Assembly election, which was to take place last Saturday, by one week due, to logistic problems, including the late arrival of the ballot papers to be used for the elections.
Mr. Maku said although there were several concerns last weekend on the subsequently postponed election and the deployment of logistics in some places, he believes the electoral body will deliver.
“I believe that, with this postponement, INEC is handling all those issues that were raised by observers, politicians and actors concerning the level of preparations that we saw last week,” he said.
He also said the Presidency hopes that the postponement of the election will give the electoral body ample opportunity to address all the lapses which called for the postponement.
“It is our hope and belief that, come this week, INEC will now have the opportunity of using the postponement to address all the issues, especially the question of having adequate vehicles to transport materials from distribution centres to polling centres, and back to collation centres,” he said.
“It is very important because if those logistics arrangements are inadequate, then they create room for individuals to go in and help, and that help indeed can tamper with the security of materials and the outcome of elections. It is our belief that all of us as stakeholders, the media, the political class and members of the public, would be working along with INEC in terms of support, in terms of prayers, in terms of monitoring and indeed in suggestions, so that most of these problems would be addressed in the forthcoming rescheduled elections.”
Mr. Maku could, however, not confirm the possible postponement of the elections in some states as he said the only authority that can take decisions in terms of the postponement of elections is INEC.
“INEC has not informed the government and the public if there are some states where elections might not hold. So the only authority that can answer this question properly is INEC,” he said.

President Goodluck
Jonathan has appealed to religious leaders in the country to pray for a
successful conduct of the forthcoming general elections, in view of the
activities of “desperate politicians” who are ready to kill for
political gains.

He made this call
yesterday when he received the 2010 Hajj operations report presented to
him by the head of the federal government delegation and Amirul Hajj,
the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, at the Council Chamber
of the State House, Abuja.

“This is a period
that we require your prayers more because we have individuals sometimes
that are quite desperate and who want to kill, who want to maim people
because of political office,” Mr. Jonathan said.

“There is nothing
Allah can’t do. Your prayers will help to reduce these excesses of some
of us who are politicians. I believe that the religious leaders have
roles to play in shaping our polity and you can admonish us to keep
away from politics of tribalism, politics of ethnicity, and of course,
the issue of religious intolerance that are somehow becoming a key
factor in our day-to-day activity,” he added.

The president said
the report is coming at a most auspicious time because of the political
activities going on in the states. He promised to study the report and
utilise the recommendations in order to properly regulate the Hajj
operations, stating that his administration decided to institutionalise
the office of the Amirul-Hajj in order to modify the Hajj operation in
line with exigencies of the period.

A smoother Hajj

The Sultan, who led
the delegation, thanked Mr. Jonathan for the opportunity given to them
to serve the country and recommended modalities on how to improve on
the exercise.

He also called on
government to examine the report of the committee which contained the
challenges faced, with a view to improving on subsequent Hajj
operations.

The Sultan said the
report is to also help the Federal Government commit less financial
resources in future, as well as strengthen the National Hajj Commission
of Nigeria to perform more effectively.

He said even though
the 2010 exercise was successful, the delegation faced many challenges
such as the new feeding arrangement at Muna and Arafat and the
transportation system newly introduced by the Saudi authorities.

Sensitive election
materials, including ballot papers and result sheets to be used in the
National Assembly election will be delivered to polling centres by
commercial transporters, NEXT has learnt.

The materials will be deployed to respective areas at least 24 hours before the hugely-anticipated elections on Saturday.

The April 9
rescheduled parliamentary elections is deemed critical to the
credibility of subsequent elections, as well as the well-battered image
of the commission which plunged further after Saturday’s cancellation
of the national assembly election. It will expectably also shape the
future of the Attahiru Jega’s leadership of the electoral body.

“If he fails this
time, there will be no other option for him than to leave; it is make
or mar,” said Victor Umeh, who chairs the All Progressive Grand
Alliance (APGA).

Though much of last
week’s failure had been blamed on late arrival of the materials from
foreign vendors, the commission yesterday acknowledged that part of its
troubles – though it said this was to a lesser extent – was scarcity of
vehicles that could convey materials and officials to voting spots.

In areas where
accreditation and voting took place across the country, officials
arrived aboard city buses and cars; while in some places, materials
were reportedly transported with personal cars.

Yet, a N600million
contract for the purchase of more than 500 Hilux pickup vans, meant to
deal with the situation, was awarded months ago. The delivery had also
been delayed, along with the election materials.

Mr. Jega’s
spokesperson, Kayode Idowu, said yesterday that 530 vans finally
arrived in Nigeria this week. This highlighted the tenuous planning
structure the commission maintained in the weeks ahead of the botched
election, while it sustained assurances of normalcy in the open.

The vehicles, some
of which were sighted around the commission’s headquarters in Abuja,
are being dispatched to the states ahead of the elections on Saturday
and the final ones will arrive the various states latest Thursday, he
said.

Vet the transporters

But to pick up the
slack, the commission formally sanctioned the use of “screened and
vetted” transporters to augment its vehicles in delivering the
materials and staff.

“Last week,
adequate transportation arrangement may not have been made, but now I
believe Saturday will be different,” Mr. Idowu said.

“It cannot be
possible for INEC alone to have vehicles that will cover the 120,000
polling units. The RECs have directives to engage transporters, but
they should be vetted and well screened.”

Part of decisions
reached with the Resident Electoral Commissioners on Tuesday, NEXT was
informed yesterday, was that the ballot papers and the result sheets
are to be moved to their respective areas at least 24 hours before
elections. This is a measure which the commission hopes will almost
completely eradicate incidence of late arrival of materials for
accreditation, which is due to commence by 8am.

“The commission is taking adequate measures to contain the hitches
that arose from transportation and logistics deficiencies on Saturday,”
Mr Idowu said.