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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.

Leaders of
political parties in Delta State have raised alarm over what they
describe as increasing rate of politically-motivated violence across
the state.

They called on the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Federal Government
and security agencies in the country to wade in to avoid bloodshed
during the April polls. Chairman of the Registered Political Parties in
Delta State, Obaro Unuaefe who raised the alarm at a press conference
held at the Press centre, Warri, noted that the recent attack on
members of the Peoples’ Progressive Party (PPP) in Warri could lead to
total breakdown of law and order in the state if not properly checked.

Last Thursday, the
House of Assembly candidate of the PPP for Warri South Constituency 11,
Vincent Okudolor and his supporters who were on campaign tour to
Edjeba, Warri, were attacked by political thugs suspected to be
supporters of a House of Assembly aspirant residing in the area. The
incident led to the destruction of five vehicles and burning of about
eight houses belonging to members of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and inflicting of injuries on persons
who were within the vicinity of the attack.

Mr. Unuaefe, who
described the incident as callous, unwarranted and a breach of the
fundamental rights of PPP members in Edjeba, called on the state
government to provide a level playing ground for all political parties
to canvass for support. He pointed out that the much publicized peace
and security of the state may be ridiculed if the spate of attacks
continues unabated.

The political
leader also warned that political parties in the state will not succumb
to the threat and intimidation allegedly being carried out by some
candidates of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic party; saying they are
prepared to go to the polls to decide who is popular. “The political
parties should give the electorate the opportunity to decide their
leaders and not intimidate opponents,” he said.

Mr. Okudolor, who
was at the centre of the attack, appealed to federal and state
government, INEC and security agencies to come to his aid to enable him
participate in the forth-coming elections.

Not armed

The politician,
refuted accusations that he carried a gun to the rally, said it
wouldn’t have been possible for the thugs to inflict him with such a
deep cut if he was carrying a gun. “I would have used it on them before
they inflict any injury on me,” he said.

He said his
opponents should realise that they are all brothers who had lived
peacefully in the past and therefore should not allow politics to tear
them apart as there is life after tomorrow. “I and my supporters are
prepared for a free and fair election and prepared to take whatever may
be the decision of the electorate ,” he said.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the Peoples Democratic Party has not discarded its controversial zoning policy.

Mr Obasanjo, who spoke at the grand finale of the PDP presidential campaign rally at Eagles Square, Abuja, vowed that as an apostle of principle of zoning Of elective and appointive positions, he would not dump it at this point in the nation’s history.

“We are the only party that enshrined federal character in our constitution through zoning and rotation and we should be proud of that. For us and for the foreseeable future, it remains so far,” he said. “I am an apostle of federal character under Murtala/Obasanjo administration and I cannot now preach anything different.
“The accident of history of the recent past must be understood once again that it was an unexpected situation. And PDP as a party has addressed that issue.”

The former president’s position contradicts President Goodluck Jonathan’s position, which he stated last year when he appeared at the PDP national secretariat to submit his nomination form. Mr Jonathan had said that it is only after the election of president and vice president that the other key political offices will be zoned.

Mr Obasanjo, who is the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, disclosed that at the recent meeting of the Board, Mr Jonathan tabled the issue of zoning a day after former Head of State Ibrahim Babangida, former vice president Abubakar Atiku and former National Security Adviser, Aliyu Mohammed Gusau raised the matter.

According to him, he (Obasanjo)was subsequently mandated by the Board to meet with them with a view to discussing the matter.

He said he met with Mr Babangida last Sunday and assured him that the principle of zoning was still alive in the party.

“At the last meeting of the BoT of our party last Saturday, the issue was tabled by the President and it was raised by three distinguished members of our party a day before that BoT’s meeting with the President.

“I was mandated to discuss the constitution of our party with the distinguished members of our party. They are General Ibrahim Babangida, General Aliyu Muhammad and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“The following day, that was last Sunday, I took up the matter with General Babangida who expressed to me that the issue is not the accident of history, rather it is the issue of perception in some quarters that federal character, zoning and rotation agreed by the PDP have jettisoned and permanently discarded.

“I, on behalf of the BoT, allayed the fears and I promised a public report and to brief the party members about it. What I am saying simply is that federal character, zoning and rotation in our party is alive and kicking.”

The former president said the party will continue to maintain the principle of zoning in the area of key political and governmental positions as long as it remains the ruling party in the country, adding that it will only be discarded “when unity, stability and democracy have been fully established with full confidence and trust by everybody in the system, within the polity and among participant.”

Describing Mr Jonathan’s offer to serve for only one term as a sacrifice, Mr Obasanjo argued that rather than vilify him, he should be encouraged. He said that he does not know who will succeed the president but that he could ‘reasonably’ guess where the person will come from.

“I don’t know who will be president of Nigeria after Dr Goodluck Jonathan, that is in the hand of God. But with the PDP policy, I can reasonably guess from where, in terms of the section of the constitution, the successor of President Jonathan will come. And no internal democracy or complication will be there to destroy it,” he stated.

Mr. Obasanjo said he supported former Presidents Shehu Shagari and Umaru Yar’Adua to get to power, insisting he never put ethnicity, regional or religious consideration while doing so. He said he worked for them to succeed him because they could strengthen the unity, stability and democracy of Nigeria.

Also speaking, Mr Jonathan assured that his administration, if elected, will give Nigerians a good administration, especially in the areas of infrastructural development, security and welfare.

His deputy and running mate, Namadi Sambo, FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, PDP National Women Leader, Inna Ciroma and the director general of the campaign of Jonathan’s campaign organisation, Dalhatu Tafida also delivered good will messages.

All the serving governors of the PDP and new governorship candidates spoke at the rally and assured Mr Jonathan that they will get their people to vote for him.

Doctors in the employ of the Lagos State government have suspended the industrial action which paralyzed public healthcare in the State for seven weeks.

The doctors, during a press briefing after an emergency congress in Lagos on Saturday, said they have reached an agreement with the State government and will be back to work on Monday.

Executives of the State medical guild also announced that the sacked former chairman of the guild, Ibrahim Olaifa, has been reinstated.

They also added that the suspension was based on the promise of the Lagos State government to commence the implementation of the new doctors salary scale (CONMESS) and also to consider the downward review of their taxes.

Many residents lost family members during the seven week impasse between the doctors and the State.

Over the past four weeks, there have been consultations within and outside the National Assembly by aspiring senate presidents from the ranks of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their sponsors – or godfathers. The lobbyists and aspirants have been contacting prospective senators and party leadership, including the busy President Goodluck Jonathan seeking for support.

There are four major contenders for the seat; three from the current sitting senators, all bandying different criteria favouring them for the job and all hoping for support from Mr. Jonathan. The contestants are not deterred by the first huddle of winning the April 2nd election, neither are they held back by the possibility of the seventh Senate not being dominated by PDP lawmakers.

The contenders

The senate president, David Mark, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, who are both lobbying for the return of the full line up of Senate’s current leadership are proponents of a non-zone inspired leadership of the Senate, just like in the presidency. They are favoured by experience and acceptability.

They are pitched against two major opponents. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, a close ally of Mr Jonathan is supposedly pushing for a South West Senate president. Mr Obasanjo, according to sources, has lobbied the incumbent to favour zoning the Senate presidency to the South West and is presenting Iyabo Obasanjo, his daughter, and Bode Olajumoke for the position.

From the outside, Danjuma Goje, the governor of Gombe State is hoping to come to the senate and is also nursing an ambition of becoming the Senate president. He has allegedly gotten a nod from President Jonathan and party officials that the Senate presidency will be dedicated to the North East zone. A party official who does not want to be named said zoning the Senate presidency to the North East is a precondition for the zone to support the presidential ambition of President Jonathan.

No zoning formula

“As it is now, there is no zoning formula,” an official of the party told NEXT in confidence. “Until the president wins, nobody can lay claims to any other position.” In September 2010, President Jonathan who is also the leader of the party denounced the party’s zoning arrangement while submitting his nomination form at the Wadata plaza headquarters of PDP.

The president explained that it is only after the president and the vice president have emerged in an election that the party can decide which zones present leaders of the National Assembly positions.

“The office of the President and other elective offices like Senate Presidency, Speaker and National Assembly Officers, PDP has reasonable control as long as we are in the majority. Those offices could be zoned. But, before you zone those offices, the President and the Vice-president would have first emerged,” the president had told reporters.

“The president is the leader of the party and nothing has changed,” our source said.

Nevertheless, the three groups are tossing around claims to the senate presidency due to the new zoning arrangement that may emerge should Mr Jonathan win the April elections.

In a free-for-all contest, the Senate president is the most influential senator at present and is most favoured to win the contest should he win his Benue south constituency, on April 2nd. The Senate president, however, faces a tough battle back home. His long-standing opponent, Lawrence Onoja is contesting on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which is threatening to sweep the state off PDP’s grip.

Mark’s challenge

Before now, Mr Mark was most favoured for the job following his close association with the president before the PDP primaries. The senate president was also the first to crystalise support from Mr Jonathan for the seat but due to the heightened numbness in their relationship and the president’s ever changing political promises, the Senate president’s chances have grown weaker recently.

Mr Ekweremadu is standing by his boss despite subtle calls from his south eastern colleagues for the position left for the South East. Mr Ekweremadu’s insistence on the return of Mr Mark as the Senate president and the current line up of Senate leadership is a sign of loyalty. However, it puts him in the position of next-in-line for the job should the senate president fail at home.

The agenda to return

Mr Mark as the Senate president is at present popular amongst his colleagues from the South and amongst the northern senators who feel differently about zoning the senate presidency to the North East.

Mr Olajumoke is said to have obtained the support of his state government to return to the senate despite being in the opposition because he also has the support of Mr Obasanjo. He will be serving his third term in the senate – good experience for a senate president – but will face serious opposition from Ms Obasanjo who hopes to be the first female senate president riding on her father’s support.

From all indications, based on legislative experience, Mr Goje will be least favoured for the office.

The casual passerby
who sees reconstructed buildings along major roads may think that
Zaki-Biam has recovered from the 2001 military invasion.

But those directly affected still bear the scars a decade later.

Simon Awua Gesa,
the 56 year old farmer who lost his father, Emmanuel Agwaza, an aunt,
as well as Pila Tsutsu Biam, chairman of the Zaki-Biam Yam Market
Association which lost nine members still bear the brunt of the
invasion.

Apart from human
losses, these residents also lost property running into millions of
naira and are yet to recover from the double blow.

Zaki-Biam was among
several communities in the Katsina-Ala/Ukum/Logo federal constituency
invaded by the Nigerian military in 2001 as reprisal for the killing of
19 soldiers.

Reports stated that
the local militia had captured and killed soldiers in civilian vehicles
and without proper military uniforms during the Tiv and Jukun communal
violence that year, believing that they were Jukun militia from Taraba
State.

Awua Gesa, Simon’s 70 year-old father, was among scores of people rounded up by the soldiers at the yam market and killed.

His house in Zaki-Biam was also destroyed a day after he was killed.

Hembadoon Agwaza,
Emmanuel’s aunt, who lost all her property when the five-bedroom flat
of her brother, Agwaza Aluga was destroyed, developed hypertension as a
result of the loss and died within one month of the invasion.

Apart from the loss of lives at the market, its stalls and all their contents were completely razed.

“My greatest pain
is the burden of training my father’s children the way he would have
done if he were alive,” Mr. Gesa lamented.

“Most of them cannot proceed beyond secondary school, now.” The late Gesa left behind four wives and over 30 children.

“We’ve not been
able to reconstruct my father’s flat which was one of the best in town,
I can’t say all hope is lost but unless God does a miracle I don’t see
how we can do it,” Mr. Agwaza stated.

Mr. Biam maintained
that the invasion had slowed down the development of the yam market
because the traders who had lost everything have not recovered enough
to pool resources to provide needed amenities there.

“We need a fence to
secure the market, boreholes, and more toilets, all these have not been
provided as a result of the invasion,” the market chairman stated.

He said the resources at the market are being channelled towards the reconstruction of the structures.

Libyan rebels backed by allied air strikes recaptured the strategic
eastern town of Ajdabiyah on Saturday, pushing out Muammar Gaddafi’s
forces.

Rebel fighters danced on tanks, waved flags and fired in the air by
buildings riddled with bulletholes after an all-night battle that
suggested the tide is turning against Gaddafi’s forces in the east.

A Reuters correspondent saw half a dozen wrecked tanks near the
eastern entrance to the town and the ground strewn with empty shell
casings. There were also signs of heavy fighting at the western gate,
the last part of the town taken from government troops.

“Everything was destroyed last night by our forces,” said rebel
fighter Sarhag Agouri. Witnesses and rebel fighters said the whole town
was in rebel hands by late morning.

Capturing Ajdabiyah is a big morale boost for the rebels after two weeks spent on the back foot.

Gaddafi’s better-armed forces halted an early rebel advance near the
major oil export terminal of Ras Lanuf and pushed them back to their
stronghold of Benghazi until Western powers struck Gaddafi’s positions
from the sea and air.

Air strikes on Ajdabiyah on Friday afternoon seem to have been decisive.

The African Union said it was planning to facilitate talks to help
end the war, but NATO said its operation could last three months, and
France said the conflict would not end soon.

In Washington, a U.S. military spokeswoman said the coalition fired
16 Tomahawk cruise missiles and flew 153 air sorties in the past 24
hours attacking Gaddafi’s artillery, mechanized forces and command and
control infrastructure.

Western governments hope the raids, launched a week ago with the aim
of protecting civilians, will shift the balance of power in favor of
the Arab world’s most violent popular revolt.

In Tripoli, explosions were heard early on Saturday, signaling possible new strikes by warplanes or missiles.

GADDAFI OFFERS PROMOTIONS

Libyan state television was broadcasting occasional, brief news
reports of Western air strikes. Mostly it showed footage — some of it
grainy images years old — of cheering crowds waving green flags and
carrying portraits of Gaddafi.

Neither Gaddafi nor his sons have been shown on state television
since the Libyan leader made a speech from his Tripoli compound on
Wednesday.

State TV said the “brother leader” had promoted all members of his
armed forces and police “for their heroic and courageous fight against
the crusader, colonialist assault.”

The United States said Gaddafi’s ability to command and sustain his forces was diminishing.

Officials and rebels said aid organisations were able to deliver
some supplies to the western city of Misrata but were concerned because
of government snipers in the city center.

Gaddafi’s forces shelled an area on the outskirts of the city, killing six people including three children, a rebel said.

Misrata has experienced some of the heaviest fighting between rebels
and Gaddafi’s forces since an uprising began on February 16.

At African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, AU commission chairman
Jean Ping said on Friday the organization was planning to facilitate
peace talks in a process that should end with democratic elections.

It was the first statement by the AU, which had opposed any form of
foreign intervention in the Libya crisis, since the U.N. Security
Council imposed a no-fly zone last week and air strikes began on Libyan
military targets.

But in Brussels, a NATO official said planning for NATO’s operation
assumed a mission lasting 90 days, although this could be extended or
shortened as required.

France said the mission could go on for weeks.</

One thousand protesters, gathered in Tahrir square — the epicenter of Egypt’s uprising — chanted nationalist slogans and called for Mubarak and other figures from his government be tried for corruption. They also called for the release of the country’s political prisoners, MENA said.

Tahrir square in central Cairo has become a popular gathering point for demonstrators since the wave of anti-government protests that toppled Mubarak on Feb 11.
In a separate protest in downtown Cairo, 1,000 Coptic Christians gathered to demand the release of protesters they said were detained in a previous protest, and called for speedy investigations into recent incidents of sectarian strife.

And in a third protest also in central Cairo, 500 people gathered in front of Egypt’s state television and radio building, demanding that all employees hired by Mubarak’s government leave their posts for what they said was “incorrect and misleading” coverage of the anti-Mubarak protests.

REUTERS