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A Federal High Court
sitting in Osogbo, Osun State has restrained the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) from using Rufus Oluwatooyin Akeju as the
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the state. The court further
directed INEC directed INEC to immediately appoint another REC for the
state.

The State chapter
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had dragged INEC and Mr Akeju
before the court citing allegations of bias against Mr Akeju and
describing him as a “sympathiser” of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN). Mr Akeju hails from Lagos State and is believed to have been
nominated for the post by the Lagos State government.

Presiding judge,
Babs Kuewumi in his ruling restrained Mr Akeju from conducting the
election in Osun State and also restrained INEC from using him in the
state as the REC in the coming elections.

The PDP while
citing Section 14 (3) of the 3rd Schedule to the 1999 constitution
sought for a declaration that Mr Akeju cannot impartially conduct or
supervise the conduct of a credible election in Osun state in April
2011.

The case

In an originating
summons deposed to by the state PDP counsel, Kayode Adesiyan, the party
explained that based on the allegation of bias levelled against Mr
Akeju, the court should order INEC to transfer him from Osun State to
any other state in Nigeria to conduct or supervise the conduct of the
April 2011 general elections and appoint a new REC for Osun State.

The party also asked
for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd defendant
(Akeju) from conducting or supervising in any manner whatsoever the
conduct of elections into various political positions in April 2011 in
Osun State.

The state PDP
further urged the court to grant, “An order of injunction directing the
1st Defendant (INEC) to appoint forthwith or transfer a new Resident
Electoral Commissioner to conduct or supervise the conduct of April 2011
elections in Osun state”.

In a 28-paragraphs
affidavit in support of the originating summons which was deposed to by a
member of the Elder Caucus of the PDP in Osun state, Raphael Ayotunde
Towobola, he alleged among other things that prior to the appointment of
Mr Akeju as the REC, he had lived and worked in Lagos State as a
Special Assistant in the government of former Governor of Lagos State,
Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He explained that by
virtue of his former position, he was under the strong influence of Mr
Tinubu, a leader and chieftain of ACN, a political party which is
presently governing Osun State and that he cannot claim to be non
partisan.

Mr Towobola cited an
instance where a member of the ACN in Atakunmosa-East Local Government
during the last registration exercise seized and broke the Direct Data
Capturing Machine and he was promptly arrested by the police but instead
of Akeju to ensure the prosecution of the culprit, he swiftly “directed
the police to release the criminal.”

Presiding judge, Mr Kuewumi adjourned the matter till 6th of April, 2011.

Heavy clashes broke
out on Monday in the town of Duekoue, in western Cote d’ Ivoire, between
forces loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his rival in an election
dispute, residents and combatants said.

Duekoue has remained
under Mr. Gbagbo’s control since Cote D’Ivoire’s 2002-3 civil war, but
rebels who seized the north of the country and now back his rival
Alassane Ouattara have pushed towards the town as the country’s
post-election crisis turns increasingly violent.

The rebels said they
had taken Duekoue, lying in a region that produces around 250,000
tonnes of cocoa a year for the world’s top grower.

“The town of Duekoue
has been under our control since 7 a.m. (0700 GMT). We are conducting
search operations throughout,” said Lacine Mara, a spokesman for
pro-Ouattara forces in the west.

Mr. Gbagbo’s forces confirmed the fighting but said they remained in control of at least part of the town.

“Our men have been
in combat since about 2 a.m. (0200 GMT) this morning with the rebels,
who tried to take the town. We control one part and they control the
other,” said Yao Yao, operations chief of Gbagbo’s Front for the
Liberation of the Great West (FLGO) militia.

A violent dispute
over the presidential election last November that was meant to draw a
line under the country’s civil war has instead restarted it, after Mr.
Gbagbo refused to step down despite U.N.-certified results showing that
he lost.

Up to one million
Ivoriens have now fled fighting in the main city Abidjan alone. Others
have been uprooted across the country and around 100,000 from the west
have crossed into neighbouring Liberia, according to the U.N. refugee
agency.

Pro-Ouattara forces
have already seized four towns in the west and Mr. Gbagbo’s forces fear
that if they capture enough important towns, they will be able to march
south to the port of San Pedro, which ships about half Ivory Coast’s
cocoa crop.

“The rebels want to
take Duekoue and Guiglo so they can easily descend on San Pedro,” Mr.
Yao Yao said. “We won’t let them.” The violent stand-off has led to 462
confirmed deaths, according to the U.N. Last week around 15,000
pro-Gbagbo youths turned up at army headquarters to enlist, raising
fears that all out civil war is now unavoidable.

“Since this morning,
the military and the militias have been fighting with the rebels, who
have taken control of the main road leading to (rebel-held) Man,” said
cocoa trader Daouda Fadika. “We’re hearing heavy weapons fire and
Kalashnikovs.” A Reuters reporter in the main city of Abidjan also
reported shooting and heavy arms fire on Monday, from areas where
insurgents seeking to oust Gbagbo are pushing towards the city centre.

Ouattara has been internationally recognised as president but remains
holed up in an Abidjan hotel, protected by a ring of U.N. peacekeepers.

President Goodluck
Jonathan has promised to push for legislation that will upgrade the
current status of primary education and protect the teaching profession.

He made the promise
yesterday in response to requests from a delegation of the Nigeria Union
of Teachers (NUT) who paid him a courtesy call at the State House,
Abuja.

The meeting is part
of the president’s series of consultations with various interest groups
across the country ahead of next month’s general elections.

Mr Jonathan, who
described himself as a member of NUT and the Science Teachers
Association of Nigeria (STAN), said laws are made for good governance
and his administration will ensure that the laws of the land protect the
educational system in order to ensure that the system produces quality
pupils and students.

“As a nation, we
must work together. I always say that no one owns the nation. Laws are
made for good governance, and that is why we have a National Assembly.
We just changed the constitution because of the elections; so, if we
have to amend the constitution to protect the teaching profession to
ensure that we produce pupils and students that will have qualitative
education, there is nothing wrong.” Mr Jonathan also promised to speed
up action on the establishment of the National Secondary Education
Commission in order to support the Universal Basic Education Commission
which caters for pre-primary, primary and adult and non formal
education.

“We are studying
final proposal and we will set up a commission for Secondary Schools, in
order to lay a solid foundation for tertiary education in the country,”
he said.

Living wage wanted

The National
President of NUT, Michael Olukoya, appealed to Mr Jonathan to push for
legislation that will give teachers a professional national wage
structure and reflect the status, profession and societal relevance of
teachers in the country.

“Nigerian teachers are among the worst paid professionals not only in Africa but in the entire world,” he said.

“ A critical
problem which has for years defied solution is the status of primary
education, which today, stands out as an orphan which no one wants to
own up to. Whereas the federal government says it has no role to play in
that sector, except through intervention fund under the Universal Basic
Education Act, the state governments claim that primary education is
the responsibility of the local government.” He further commended the
President for the Presidential Summit on Education held in October 2010
and the establishment of the Presidential Task Force on Education and
promised to support him to realise his political ambition.

The Education
minister, Aisha Ruqqayatu, Labour minister Emeka Nwogu, minister of
state for Education, Kenneth Gbagi, minister of Aviation, Fidelia Njeze,
Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe and Information minister, Labaran Maku
were in attendance.

Americans are
startled to find their country suddenly in yet another war, under the
command of a president who once won the Nobel Prize for Peace.

“I do not
understand the mission because as far as I can tell in the United
States there is no mission and there are no guidelines for success,”
said Republican Senator Richard Lugar.

The mission is
Libya, where a growing list of countries are establishing a United
Nations-authorized no-fly zone to protect civilians in the uprising
against Moammar Gadhafi.

But Washington and
its allies have also called for Gadhafi’s ouster and their intervention
may offer a tempting opportunity to help arrange it. American officials
have been consistently vague about that part of the plan.

President Barack
Obama, honoured with the Nobel in 2009 for favouring “dialogue and
negotiation,” hardly rushed into the Libya plan.

His administration
seemed reluctant to take on another war in addition to the costly and
exhausting conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of Obama’s
opponents and even supporters argued that the U.S. had both a moral
obligation to help the rebels and an opportunity to unseat a rogue
leader who had annoyed Washington for decades and would likely lash out
against it again.

CNN Analyst David
Gergen said that after weeks of inaction, the president’s decision to
get involved was a sudden ‘head-snapping’ change of course.

CNN’s most recent poll finds that Americans support it, with one very real concern.

Fully 70 percent
favour an air-campaign to protect civilians but exactly the same number
oppose putting U.S. troops on to the ground.

“It’s a very very fragile kind of support,” said Gergen, a former White House aide.

“The overall
feeling is that people are uncertain what we’re trying to do. They’re
very reluctant to get involved in a war with another Muslim country.”
In fact, some Republican and Democratic lawmakers immediately began
questioning the decision.

Some are opposed
to vaguely defined military action in a country which poses no direct
threat, others question the cost or oppose it on constitutional grounds
as a decision that the president can’t legally make without
authorization from Congress.

Three wars at once. It’s bound to make any nation nervous.

Jonathan Mann
presents Political Mann on CNN International each Friday at 18:30
(CAT), Saturday at 3pm and 9pm (CAT), and Sunday at 10am (CAT).

Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s policy of asking voters to vote
and wait is a recipe for violence at the polling booths and collating
centres, some residents of Plateau have opined. Under that arrangement,
voters, after casting their votes, would wait for the completion of the
exercise so that votes would be counted in their presence and the
scores announced instantly. The policy also suggested that the voters
should escort the ballot boxes and make sure they are submitted to the
collation centres where they would also wait for the results at such
centres. But some residents, who reacted to that, argued that such
situation would encourage violence as the crowd could get unruly and go
beyond the control of the two or three policemen usually assigned to
such voting and collating centres. ‘‘The intention is genuine, but if
you look at the violence that trailed the campaigns, you will agree
with me that such privileges could misfire as they will surely be
abused,” Mr Yunana Dalyob, who works with a secondary school, said.

‘‘The fact that miscreants will take up residence at the polling
booths may also scare many people from going to vote,” he said. But
Salmanu Jari, a trader, believes that such policy will promote
transparency in the electoral system as there will be no room for
electoral officers or government officials to manipulate figures. He,
however, called for more security officials as the privilege could be
abused by desperate youth who he claimed usually take drugs before
going to such voting and collating centres

The former Governor of Lagos State and
leading member of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, has
urged the Federal Government to ensure the release of the party’s
governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, John James Udoedehe.

Mr. Tinubu made the call in Ilorin on
Saturday while presenting the party’s presidential candidate, Nuhu
Ribadu and his running mate, Fola Adeola, to party supporters.

He said Mr. Udoedehe’s arrest was
politically motivated. He recalled that the candidate was arrested and
arraigned in court over the recent crisis between the party and the PDP
in the state.

Mr. Tinubu said that the ACN was
prepared to effect a change in governance in the country through the
ballot box and not through violence, so as to ensure the socio-economic
development of the nation.

In his speech, Mr. Ribadu tasked the
people of Kwara and Nigerians in general to ensure the victory of the
party in the elections by voting for all its candidates vying for
political offices .

The governorship candidate of the party
for Kwara, Dele Belgore, stressed the need for the people to troop out
to exercise their civic rights and to monitor their votes.</

The immediate past
governor of Akwa Ibom State, Victor Attah, yesterday broke his long
silence over the recent judgment of the Supreme Court ordering that 86
controversial oil wells from the state be given to Rivers State,
blaming the incumbent governor, Godswill Akpabio, for the loss.

“Whatever may have
since happened to the oil wells in Akwa Ibom must be seen as the sole
responsibility of the government of Barrister Godswill Akpabio. If he
has lost our oil wells, it would be yet another testimony of how he
has, through fumbling ineptitude, negated the gains that I had won, and
the development that I had put in place for Akwa Ibom State. I think it
time Godwill Akpabio should own up to his monumental failures and stop
seeking to heap the blame on me,” Mr. Attah said in a statement in
Abuja.

Mr Attah, who
claimed he was not aware the two states were in dispute over the oil
wells until he read reports of the judgment, said he was constrained to
react to a statement credited to the state’s Commissioner of
Information, Aniekan Umanah, on behalf of Mr. Akpabio that he should be
blamed for “trading the interest of the state for selfish personal
political interest.”

“I would have
thought that the stories of my resource control fights with the former
President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, were well known and indeed
documented. Since it seems that there are people who were in diapers at
the time, and have refused to grow out of them, I am constrained to
make this clarification,” Mr. Attah said.

No deal

Denying the
existence of any signed agreement between him and former Rivers State
governor, Peter Odili, upon which the Supreme Court allegedly relied
for its judgment, Mr. Attah demanded that Mr. Umana be asked to produce
the agreement, since nobody else has corroborated his claim.

According to him,
at the time of his government’s dispute with the Federal Government
over the oil wells, the incumbent Secretary to the state Government,
Umana Okon Umana, was the Commissioner of Finance, while the present
Deputy Governor, Patrick Ekpotu, was the Commissioner of information,
and Mr. Akpabio, the then Commissioner for Environment and Mineral
Resources, who was better placed to know the true position of things
about the issue.

Mr. Attah said Mr.
Umanah (his former Commissioner of Finance), has since challenged the
present Rivers state government to produce the signed agreement on the
oil wells, while Mr. Ekpotu has insisted on delimitation of boundaries
by the National Boundary Commission (NBC), and expressed disappointment
that Mr. Akpabio is holding a contrary opinion.

“Two governors
cannot sit down and agree on what should be the boundary between them.
That is the statutory function of the National Boundary Commission
(NBC). If the agreement indeed exists, it cannot be genuine. There was
never a time the issue of oil wells was discussed in isolation between
Rivers and Akwa Ibom. It was always along with Cross River.

“So, how could only
two of the three governors involved have sat down to sign an agreement
that was used as a basis for the judgment? How come two boundaries
(between Cross River and Akwa Ibom as well as between Rivers and Akwa
Ibom ) were always involved, and now we are talking about only one
boundary in the judgment?

“Obasanjo took oil
wells from Akwa Ibom and gave some to Cross River on the East and River
State on the West without any explanation to his action.

“I was not aware at
all that Akwa Ibom was in court with Rivers State for 86 oil wells. I
don’t know for what reason that Akpabio did not want to involve me.
Whether for reason of inadequacy of ideas or pride, Akpabio wanted to
prove a point to himself and to the world that either whatever Attah
did, he could improve on it, or in fact that Attah did nothing, and he
did everything, and he did not want it to appear that Attah was in any
way involved in his winning back the remaining 86 oil wells.

“Perhaps, he wanted
to prove to the whole world that Attah failed in retrieving the 172 oil
wells Obasanjo took from Akwa Ibom, and that he was the one that got
everything back. But, now he has lost even the 86 wells that I got.
Therefore, to save face, they must quickly put the blame on Attah. That
is why he did not want to involve me. I would not want to be involved,
though for the sake of the state, I would have loved to,” he declared.

On the way forward,
he pointed out that since it is obvious that there was neither
technical nor legal basis for what Mr Obasanjo did, the NBC should sit
down to resolve the issue of boundaries between all the states on an
equitable basis.

Forty-five
registered political parties, under the aegis of the Concerned
Political Parties (CPP), have opposed the plan by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accredit voters before the
commencement of voting.

The parties said in
Abuja at the weekend that if implemented, “the freedom of voters to
come, vote and go or stay would have been abridged.”

INEC recently announced that voters will be accredited from 8 am to 12.30 pm before voting will commence.

Leader of CPP,
Yahaya Ndu, who spoke on behalf of the group, argued that with the
plan, there might be chaos and anarchy, alleging that it is a ploy to
truncate the April polls.

Mr Ndu, who is the
chairman and presidential candidate of the African Renaissance Party
(ARP), recalled that contrary to the acclaimed success of the January
governorship poll in Delta State because of the measure, the CPP has
discovered that there were incidences of violence that led to the death
of some people.

“This indeed led
the INEC Chairman to visit Ughelli and announce the cancellation of the
Ughelli election. Much to the chagrin of stakeholders, INEC Chairman
reversed the cancellation and upheld the results as earlier announced,”
Mr Ndu said.

‘Parties are here to stay’

Mr Ndu criticised
the commission over its alleged threat to de-register political
parties, adding that the group will go to court to challenge the
provision as enshrined in the Electoral Act, which he claimed runs
counter to international norms as well as the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Stating that the constitution guarantees freedom of association, Mr
Ndu asked INEC to discharge its responsibilities in a responsible
manner because of the need to succeed in the April elections.

The remaining two
Osun State-born board members of the Ladoke Akintola University of
Technology (LAUTECH), David Ogunsade and Oladapo Ojewoye, were
discharged last Thursday, signalling a probable end to the raging
ownership tussle between Osun and Oyo states.

The governing board
of the institution formally sent forth the duo at a colourful ceremony
at the university premises. It was also learnt at the event that the
government of Rauf Aregbesola, Osun state governor, did not include
funds for the institution in its 2011 budget proposal to the state
House of Assembly, fuelling the suspicion that he might have backed
down on his vow to challenge the move of his Oyo state counterpart,
Adebayo Alao-Akala, to solely secure the university for Oyo State.

The two states have
being at loggerheads over attempt by Mr. Alao-Akala to unilaterally
take over the management of the institution established by the old Oyo
state, out of which Osun was carved in 1992. The development has
created tension and disruption of academic activities, but the Oyo
State governor remained adamant in his intention as he had appointed
all staff to man all the key offices of the institution.

Case settled

The Pro-chancellor
and Chairman, Governing Board of the University, Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN);
the Vice Chancellor, Moshood Olanrewaju Nassar; the Registrar, Niyi
Fehintola, and other principal officers, as well as the Osun State
members of the Council, were present at the occasion. “The case is
finally settled as the Osun state government has failed to include
LAUTECH in its budget for 2011. Members of the Osun state on the
Council of the institution have been sent forth and they have expressed
their happiness for making them to serve the institution for the number
of years spent,” Mr Nasir, said to emphasize that LAUTECH is now solely
owned by Oyo.

Mr. Ogunsade, who
served on the board for six years, said the experience was worthwhile.
The Vice Chancellor also used the occasion to comment on the state of
fees in the university. “Contrary to the wild rumour going around that
school fee of LAUTECH was increased across board, it is only
non-indigene fresh students that paid N110,000, while the indigenes
paid N90,000. All stale students paid N40,000 only,” he said.

“So, contrary to rumour making the rounds, the increment was not
made across board. Parents and guardians should not allow their stale
children to rip them off by collecting the amount meant for fresh
students.”

The federal
government at the weekend doled out cash rewards to Nigerian athletes
who won medals for the country at various international sports
championships since 2009.

At a dinner
organised for the athletes at the Banquet Hall of the presidential
villa, President Goodluck Jonathan commended them for their indomitable
spirit and commitment to excellence, noting that they left no one in
doubt that given the enabling environment, Nigerian youth can hold
their own any day against the best of the world.

The President
urged the Nigerian Sports Commission and other sports agencies in the
country to do everything possible to improve Nigeria’s records at the
forth coming Olympics in London and other championships.

“The 2011 All
African Games in Maputo, Mozambique, and the 2012 Olympics in London,
England are around the corner. Now is the time for our sports
administrators, the various technical teams and our gallant sportsmen
and women to do all that is necessary to ensure that Nigeria not only
come tops at the All African Games but also emerge among the top
nations at the London Olympics,” Mr Jonathan said.

He added that his
administration will always recognise and reward outstanding service to
the fatherland in all spheres of national life.

At the reception
for the Falcons last year, the president had promised to specially host
all athletes who had won in different categories, with cash prizes to
got with it.

Earlier, the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, said the
President has set a precedence in the nation’s democratic dispensation
by rewarding deserving athletes with financial incentives beyond the
traditional presidential handshake.

“We had a
presidential directive to include every athlete who had done this
nation proud at one event or the other within the given period,” he
said.

The athletes and
officials who were awarded various cash prizes each ranging from N150,
000.00 to N1.5m include the gold-winning Falcons at the 2010 African
Women Championship in South Africa; the silver-winning Golden Eaglets
team at the 2009 U-17 FIFA World Cup in Nigeria; medalists at the Youth
Olympic Games, Singapore 2010; African Scrabble Championship, Ghana
2010; and the African Junior Wrestling Championship, Egypt 2010. Others
include the silver-winning Falconets at the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women World
Cup in Germany; medalists at the Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010; the
African Athletics Championship, Kenya 2010; the World Junior Athletics
Championship, Canada 2010; the World Wrestling Championship, Russia
2010; the African Scrabble Championship, Ghana 2010; African Senior
Wrestling Championship, Egypt 2010; and the All African Senior
Badminton Championship, Kenya 2010.

The president, clad
in the traditional Nigerian green and white jersey along with his wife,
Patience Jonathan; Vice President Namadi Sambo and his wife as well as
Senate President David Mark and his wife later posed for group
photographs with the victorious contingents.