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Traffic on several
roads within Lagos Island ground to a halt yesterday as officials
diverted vehicles around the Tafawa Balewa Square, venue of the
presidential campaign rally of the People’s Democratic Party, to
adjoining roads.

The traffic
situation was worsened by the absence of representatives of the state’s
traffic management agency, LASTMA, leaving only officials of the
Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to manage the huge traffic
flow within and outside the state.

“Just for me to move from Bonny Camp to City Hall, where my office is took two hours,” said Olaoluwa Adeleke.

“Massive crowd”

According to some
of those who tried to manage the traffic, vehicles were cordoned off
Balewa square to allow for the “envisaged mammoth crowd” expected at
the venue. And though President Goodluck Jonathan also thanked the
people for “turning out massively” to welcome him, the fact was that
less than a quarter of the square was filled up.

The turnout
appeared not have matched the organisers’ expectations, and in order to
cover this up, people were urged to come down from the shaded
spectators’ stand and move to the front of the podium under the
scorching sun.

Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, who arrived the venue quite early, was heard
complaining about the poor turn out to a member of the organising
committee, and shortly after that supporters were moved to fill the
space in front of the podium.

Many of the groups which attended the rally are from the South-South and South-East zones of the country.

It’s a holiday

Offices operating
within the TBS complex did not open for business as a result of the
rally and a number of them complained about the loss in revenue.

“You know
businesses in Lagos do not sleep. So, you are losing so much any day
that you cannot operate,” said Johnson Akeni, who operates a business
centre in one of the shops.

A woman who
identified herself as Madam Abeni however said she would not have
minded sacrificing her daily sale if the rally will lead to progress in
the country.

Finance minister finances rally

NEXT also
discovered that the minister of finance, Olusegun Aganga, help finance
the rally. On the back page of the programme of event, where the usual
appreciation is printed, Mr. Aganga was noted as a major financier.

“We wish to convey
our profound appreciation to the national leadership of our great party
for their immense financial contribution toward the hosting of this
programme. Equally worthy of mention is the invaluable financial
assistance of the Honourable Minister for Finance, Olusegun Aganga,”
said the Appreciation page, signed by Tunji Shelle, the party’s state
secretary.

However, when the organisers realised how bad that would read, they
retrieved the booklet and cut out Mr. Aganga’s names, dumping the
cut-out pieces in one corner of the TBS.

No fewer than 3,000
policemen have been deployed to the venue of the President Goodluck
Jonathan campaign rally in Ondo State today.

This is in addition
to the military personnel from the 323 Artillery Brigade of the
Nigerian Army drafted to the venue to provide adequate security. Aside
from this, anti bomb squad had been deployed to the venue of the event
to ensure that lives of people are safe.

The image-maker of
the Ondo State Police Command, Adeniran Aremu said that adequate
security would be provided at the venue of the rally.

He said the police will not hesitate to deal with anybody or group of person trying to foment trouble at the venue of the rally.

According to him,
“The police in Ondo State are poised to ensure that the rally is
successfully. We are not going to take chances as we are ready to deal
decisively with anybody or group of persons who may want to foment
trouble at the venue of the rally.”

The Publicity
Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party in Ondo State , Adeyemi
Adedipe disclosed that two former Commissioners in the state Yele
Omogunwa and Segun Ojo will officially join the PDP.

Mr Omogunwa left the cabinet of Olusegun Mimiko before the conduct
of the Primaries of the Labour Party over allegations that the party is
not ready to provide a level playing ground for the party’s primaries

Reports that
Belarus has delivered three attack helicopters to Ivory Coast strongman
Laurent Gbagbo in violation of U.N. sanctions have not been confirmed,
U.N. diplomats told Reuters on Monday.

U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office issued a statement overnight
saying that Ban “learned with deep concern that three attack
helicopters and related materiel from Belarus are reportedly being
delivered” for Ggagbo’s forces.

“The first delivery
arrived reportedly on a flight which landed this evening and additional
flights are scheduled for tomorrow,” it said. “This is a serious
violation of the embargo against Cote d’Ivoire which has been in place
since 2004.” Diplomats said Mr Ki-Moon’s allegation was based on
reports he had received from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ivory
Coast.

But U.N. Security
Council and other diplomats said on condition of anonymity that neither
the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations nor the Security
Council’s so-called Group of Experts that monitors sanctions violations
could confirm the allegation, which Belarus has denied.

A report from the
expert group (parts of which were read to Reuters by several diplomats)
said that as of Monday afternoon in Ivory Coast, it was “able to
confirm that no aircraft landed” that would meet the description of
Mi-24 attack helicopters.

However, the group
said there was a large military presence at Yamoussoukro on Monday,
indicating that they might be expecting such a delivery in the near
future.

“We’re trying to
figure out if this allegation is credible or not,” a council diplomat
told Reuters. “There’s a lot of confusion.” Diplomats said their
understanding was that the helicopters were being shipped in parts and
had not necessarily come directly from Belarus or with Minsk’s official
approval.

A post-election
power struggle between Mr Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara,
almost universally recognized as winner of a November 28 poll, risks
pushing the top cocoa grower back into full-blown civil war.

The 15-nation
Security Council had planned to discuss Mr Ki-Moon’s allegation on
Monday morning but they postponed those talks until there was more
information, council diplomats said.

301 passengers and 16 crew members of the British Airways who
left Nigeria from Lagos to London in the late hours of Saturday last week
arrived their destination about two days after.

The travellers, who left the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, Lagos aboard a BA74 aircraft landed at the Tamanrasset airport in
Algiers around 2.30am after an equipment cooling exhaust in the plane developed
a technical fault, a situation which made the pilot of the aircraft to enforce
an emergency landing.

The media consulting firm for the carrier, The Quadrant
Company, on Monday revealed to NEXT that the affected passengers of the flight
have been evacuated from Algiers and have all landed at the Heathrow Airport,
London.

“A replacement B747-400 aircraft was sent to Algiers to pick
the customers up and they are all now in London with those who have connecting
flights already heading from their destinations,” said Chidiebere Onorha, media
representative of the Quadrant Company in Lagos.

According to the airline’s consultant, the travellers got to
London at about 9pm on Sunday, adding that they were transferred to another
aircraft with less Club Seats compared to the original one that took them out
of Nigeria.

“They were diverted to Algiers because Algiers is halfway from
here to London and the aircraft from London got there at about 4.45pm. It takes
about three hours from Algiers to London and the reason for their getting to
London in the evening was due to the processes of transfer from the original
aircraft to the new one,” he said.

According to British Airways, a number of passengers had to go
through downgrades upon arrival of the sent aircraft due to the fact that the
plane had less comfort in contrast to the original plane which took them out of
Lagos, Nigeria.

Meanwhile, NEXT could not reach any of the travellers who are currently in
the United Kingdom, as the carrier did not make this possible prior to press
time.

The Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) on Monday expressed gratitude to retired Justice
Mamman Nasir, the District Head of Malumfashi in Katsina State, over
his support to ensure the success of the voter registration exercise in
the area. The Electoral Officer (EO), Kabir Ibrahim, made the remark in
an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Malumfashi. He
said Mr Nasir ensured adequate mobilisation of traditional rulers and
subjects in his domain. Mr Ibrahim said about 137, 000 eligible voters
were registered across the 213 polling centres. The EO said that
minimal number of complaints were received during the display of voter
register, noting that three days were added in the area due to some
minor problems identified in the area. Meanwhile, a civil society
organisation, Support Group Initiatives, has petitioned the CJN and
Chairman, National Judicial Council, against the appointment of the
former President, Court of Appeal , Justice Umaru Abdullahi as a member
of the reconciliatory panel to bring to rest the ongoing legal tussle
between the CJN and the incumbent president of the Court of Appeal,
Justice Ayo Salami.

Ondo State
governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has commissioned community projects worth
N350 million as activities marking his second term enter the second
week.

This is coming on
the heels of the world bank’s commendation of the one-year old Safe
Motherhood project tagged “ABIYE”, initiated by the Olusegun Mimiko
administration in Ondo State and aimed at providing health facilities
to tackle the challenge of maternal mortality.

Mr Mimiko, who
encouraged people to maintain peace in the land before and during the
April 2011 elections, said that Nigeria will be better if all
stakeholders commit to credible elections.

According to the governor, “for many years, we have shared the
vision that we can take this state to the next level with the
determination that we can do it, dint of hard work, being focused and
above all, with prayers for direction by the Almighty.” Mr Mimiko
stated that with all the grassroots development-based programmes, gone
are the days that government will from the seat of power determine and
dictate the type of infrastructure to give to the communities without
knowing what they actually desire.

Democratic Republic
of Congo has arrested more than 30 people after a group of armed men
attacked the residence of President Joseph Kabila in a suspected coup
bid, authorities said on Monday.

Information
Minister Lambert Mende said seven people were killed during the
fighting that followed Sunday’s attack on Mr Kabila’s Kinshasa
residence, up from an initial toll of six.

Mr Mende said
around sixty men armed with light weapons, rocket propelled grenades
and machetes attempted to break into Mr Kabila’s house but were
repelled by the Republican Guard, one of whom was seriously injured.
Fighting then spread to a nearby army base before calm was restored.

“At the moment we
have no idea (why this happened) but there are lots of rumours,” Mr
Mende said in an interview, adding it was not clear whether there was
foreign involvement.

Mr Mende said some
of the attackers appeared to have military training but he denied
suggestions that the attack had been carried out by members of the
Republican Guard who were unhappy with their living conditions.

A presidential source said on Sunday that Mr Kabila was not in the residence when the attack happened and that he was safe.

Mr Kabila came to
power when his father was assassinated in 2001. He faces presidential
and parliamentary elections in November this year, the second such
polls since the official end of the 1998-2003 war.

In a controversial
January 15 move, parliament backed proposals by Mr Kabila to reduce the
presidential vote to a single round, getting rid of the possibility of
a run-off between the two leading candidates if neither has an absolute
majority.

The change means the winner can claim the presidency with less than
50 percent of popular support. That is seen boosting Mr Kabila’s
chances of victory because of the fragmented state of the opposition.

Foreign powers
accelerated efforts to help oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on
Monday as rebels fought government forces trying to take back strategic
coastal cities on either side of the capital, Tripoli.

Mr Gaddafi’s forces
have been trying for days to push back a revolt that has won over large
parts of the military, ended his control over eastern Libya and is
fending off government assaults in western cities near Tripoli.

It is difficult for reporters to move around western Libya and reports of fighting were hard to verify independently.

But witnesses in
both Misrata, a city of a half a million people 200 km (125 miles) to
the east of Tripoli, and Zawiyah, a strategic refinery town 50 km (30
miles) to the west, said government forces were mounting repeated
attacks.

“An aircraft was
shot down this morning while it was firing on the local radio station.
Protesters captured its crew,” a witness in Misrata, Mohamed, told
Reuters by telephone.

“Fighting to
control the military air base started last night and is still going on.
Mr Gaddafi’s forces control only a small part of the base. Protesters
control a large part of this base where there is ammunition.” A
resident of Zawiyah, called Ibrahim, told Reuters by telephone: “We are
expecting attacks at any moment by brigades belonging to (Gaddafi’s
son) Khamis.

They are on the
outskirts of the town, about 5-7 km away. They are in large numbers.”
In the capital, Mr Gaddafi’s last stronghold, a Reuters reporter saw
about 400 people protesting in a square in the Tajoura district, an
area already partly outside his control.

Soon after, men in sports utility vehicles pulled up and fired into the air in an attempt to disperse the protest.

Sanctions

Foreign governments
are increasing the pressure on Mr Gaddafi to leave in the hope of
ending fighting that has claimed at least 1,000 lives and restoring
order to a country that accounts for 2 percent of the world’s oil
production.

The U.N. Security
Council on Saturday slapped sanctions on Mr Gaddafi and other Libyan
officials and imposed an arms embargo and froze Libyan assets.

European Union
governments approved their sanctions against Mr Gaddafi in Brussels on
Monday, implementing the U.N. resolution sooner than expected.

In The Hague, the
International Criminal Court prosecutor said he would finish a
preliminary examination of the violence within days, after which he
could open a full inquiry — a step mandated by the Council that could
have taken months.

France proposed an emergency summit of EU leaders for Thursday, EU diplomats said.

In an address to
the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton said Mr Gaddafi was using “mercenaries and thugs” to
suppress his own people and said the Libyan leader must step down
immediately.

“Gaddafi and those
around him must be held accountable for these acts, which violate
international legal obligations and common decency,” Mrs Clinton said,
adding that nothing was off the table as the international community
considers its next steps.

A U.S. official in
Geneva said a central aim of sanctions was to “send a message not only
to Gaddafi … but to the people around Gaddafi, who are the ones we’re
really seeking to influence”.

German Foreign
Minister, Guido Westerwelle said after meeting Mrs Clinton that he was
proposing a 60-day freeze on money transfers to Libya, and believed
other countries were open to the idea.

“We must do
everything to ensure that no money is going into the hands of the
Libyan dictator’s family, and that they have no opportunity to hire new
foreign soldiers to repress their people,” he said.

But there was less
support among foreign ministers in Geneva for an Australian proposal to
stop Mr Gaddafi’s forces attacking rebels from the air.

Asked if he had
discussed a no-fly zone in his meeting with Mrs Clinton, Russian
Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov retorted: “Absolutely not. It was not
mentioned by anyone.”

Resentment

Revolutions in
neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt have helped to ignite resentment of four
decades of often bloody political repression under Mr Gaddafi as well
as his failure to use Libya’s oil wealth to tackle widespread poverty
and lack of opportunity.

The 68-year-old leader has vowed to fight to the death, but a spokesman struck a new, conciliatory tone on Monday.

Mussa Ibrahim told
reporters in Tripoli that government forces had fired on civilians, but
said this was because they were not trained to deal with civilian
unrest.

He said the
government was still in control of Zawiyah, even though reporters who
were taken there at the weekend saw a town centre under rebel control.

“What you saw was
only the centre,” he said. “We allowed, we let these people with their
guns to stand there. Zawiyah has not fallen. The government could have
easily killed them and has not done so, because the government has not
been not bloody.” He said the revolt had “started as a genuine peaceful
movement.”

“We also believe it
is time for change,” he said. “But this movement has been hijacked by
the West … and by Islamic militants.” Regional experts expect rebels
eventually to take the capital and kill or capture Mr Gaddafi, but add
that he has the firepower to foment chaos or civil war — a prospect he
and his sons have warned of.

In the eastern city
of Benghazi, opponents of Mr Gaddafi said they have formed a National
Libyan Council to be the “face” of the revolution. They said they
wanted no foreign intervention and had not made contact with foreign
governments.

Oil

Opposition forces are largely in control of Libya’s oil facilities, which are mostly located in the east.

Fatih Birol, chief
economist of the International Energy Agency, told Reuters Insider TV
in Paris that industry reports suggested Libya’s oil output had been
halved.

Bank of America,
Merrill Lynch estimated in a note to clients that Libya was losing
about 1.2 million barrels per day, or 75 percent of its pre-revolt
output, and said the unrest could mean Libyan supplies were unavailable
for months.

Industry sources said actual shipments were at a standstill.

Benchmark Brent oil futures were slightly lower at just under $112 a barrel.

Wealthy states have
sent planes and ships to bring home expatriate workers but many more,
from poorer countries, are stranded. Thousands of Egyptians have been
streaming into Tunisia, complaining that Cairo has done nothing to help
them.

The United Nations
refugee agency said on Sunday nearly 100,000 people have fled violence
in Libya in the past week in a growing humanitarian crisis.

The battle line
seems to have been drawn between the two prominent child rights groups
in Akwa Ibom State – Stepping Stones Nigeria and the Child Rights and
Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), over the decision of the former to
sever all ties with the latter.

On February 18,
Stepping Stones Nigeria, an international charity organisation working
to defend the rights of the child, announced the termination of its
partnership with CRARN, one of its Nigerian partners. According to a
statement from the UK group, the trustees of Stepping Stones Nigeria
arrived at the “unanimous decision” following receipts of “a number of
unproven but very serious allegations” regarding the conduct of a
senior CRARN staff member.

The group further
stated that following CRARN’s failure to promptly and effectively
comply with its demands to suspend the individual in question pending
an independent investigation; they have ceased all forms of
partnership. “Stepping Stones Nigeria treats any and all issues of
child protection with the utmost gravity,” said Felicitie Holman, Chair
of Trustees of Stepping Stones Nigeria. “Following these allegations,
we demanded that CRARN immediately suspend the staff member concerned
and cooperate with a full and independent investigation as a matter of
urgency. Sadly, CRARN failed to comply and we had no option but to
terminate the partnership, in line with our Child Protection Policy and
Memorandum of Understanding. We regret that this action has had to be
taken; however we must ensure that all of our partners adhere to the
highest standards of child protection, accountability and transparency.
We will do everything in our power to assist any further investigation
into these allegations.”

‘Serious allegations’

While throwing his
support behind Ms Holman, the Director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, Gary
Foxcroft, said that the recent allegations against the CRARN staff
member and the organization’s failure to take appropriate action to
enable an independent investigation to take place necessitated the
termination of the partnership. “Stepping Stones Nigeria has invested
significant effort and resources into our work with CRARN over the last
5 years… We are in no way prejudging the outcome of this situation,
but we feel that swift action is required,” he said. “As Director of
SSN (Stepping Stones Nigeria), I have no hesitation in giving this
decision my full backing… We will now look forward to strengthening
our existing partnerships and develop new ones to help more children in
the Niger Delta access their rights and realise their full potential.”

When asked the
nature of the allegations against the senior CRARN official, Mr.
Foxcroft said, “We are not in a position to discuss the nature of the
allegations but we would like to emphasize that it was CRARN’S failure
to effectively and promptly respond to the allegations that resulted in
our Trustees deciding to terminate the partnership.”

A hidden agenda

Bassey Ukang,
CRARN’s administrative officer, said that plans by the UK group to
sever ties with them had been hatched over a month ago according to a
letter they received inviting them to a meeting in Ghana where one of
the key agenda was the termination of the partnership. “CRARN actually
did not buy this idea given the huge amount of money made on the heads
of Akwa Ibom children, mostly those from the CRARN centre,” he said.
“While trying to negotiate that, they came up with uncanny sorts of
allegations which they claim involved some key staff and want those
staff to relocate to an unknown place in Abuja while their phones and
laptop confiscated.”

CRARN said that it
appealed to officials of Stepping Stones Nigeria, who wanted to invite
European Union human right lawyers for an investigation, to consider
their memorandum of understanding before inviting any third party since
it is a matter to concerns children. “While waiting for their reply, we
received information from the Ibom Forum discussion group that they
have terminated partnership with us due to unproven allegations,” said
Mr Ukang. “Are they justified? We do not understand the instrument of
which they used in terminating the partnership because immediate
termination must take about three months while gradual termination will
take about a year plus.”

Seeking redress

The two groups had
borne the brunt of hostilities from the Akwa Ibom State government, as
well as court cases by Helen Ukpabio, a Calabar-based evangelist and
movie producer, over their campaigns against child witchcraft. “If they
say they have terminated (our) partnership, it is not a big deal but we
hope to evoke the spirit of the MOU (memorandum of understanding) and
that of the law to deal with the situation,” said Mr Ukang, adding that
there are over 200 children under their care. “So all the funds made
from publicizing the children of CRARN will be remitted to them and not
the other way round. If (they) terminated the partnership, where are
they going to use the money they collected on behalf of the children of
CRARN? It is a rash and hasty decision and an attempt (to) fulfil the
Ghana plans in disguise.”

The World Bank at a
round table on armed conflicts on education, an event organised by
UNESCO yesterday in Abuja said the economic woes and sectarian violence
being experienced in some parts of the country are responsible for the
decline in the level of education in such areas. Speaking on behalf of
the World Bank, Senior Education Specialist, Tunde Adekola, in his
submission said: “Armed conflicts disrupt the education sector and the
learning process of children. The socio-economic uncertainties in the
country make many vulnerable to resort to violence.” He therefore,
urged the government to provide what the World Bank terms “social
safeguards and net worth to cater for the citizenry, especially women
and children who are the most vulnerable during crises.” Mr Adekola
said: “There should be a safety net for those that had contributed to
nation-building because everyone is susceptible to the uncertainties
and vulnerabilities in the system.” Also speaking, the Senate Committee
Chairman on Ethics and Privilege, Omar Hambagda, stated that most
crises in the country are more economic than religious or political.

Mr Hambagda traced
the Boko Haram conflicts in Bauchi and Borno States to inept political
leadership. “The council chairmen don’t stay in the office and the
governors are always globe-trotting, so when the SSS send security
report, the government’s response is inadequate and slow,” he said.

The deputy
missioner of the Islamic group, Nasfat, FCT chapter, Abdulkadiri
Apaokagi stated that the right of children needs to be protected during
crisis, just as he criticised the removal of religious education from
school curriculum.

The cleric
described religion as a mitigating factor in crisis reduction,
stressing that the absence of religious education in schools promoted
lack of respect for the sanctity of human lives.

Mr Apaokagi called on the Federal Government to increase the
budgetary allocation to schools, insisting that the nation has enough
money to surpass the United Nation’s recommendation on education
spending.