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There are strong
indications that Teslim Folarin, Senate majority leader, may join the
campaign train of Oyo State governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, to route for
his second term ambition in the state.

Events at the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally at the Ibarapa zone of the state
on Monday, give credence to the suspicion as some of the close allies
of the Senate leader, who had shown stiff opposition to the governor,
showed up to identify with him and other candidates.

Ademola Akeem Ige,
former chairman of the Ibadan South East local government and close
associate of Mr. Folarin, was at the rally, held at Eruwa, Ibarapa East
local government of the state, where he pledged his total support for
the governor and his ambition, as well as informed the gathering that
the soft-spoken Senate leader would soon join the train.

Mr. Folarin, who
was recently docked and detained for alleged involvement in the murder
of Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo), factional leader of the National Union
of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo State, was believed to have
suffered the humiliation because of his opposition to the second term
ambition of the governor.

Mr. Ige told the
bewildered gathering that Mr. Folarin would join the campaign team in
the next two weeks to champion the governor’s ambition in Ibadan and
ensure his eventual victory at the poll.

According to him, since Mr. Folarin remains a leader of the PDP in the country, he would not work against its interest.

The governor had
recently given hint on Mr. Folarin’s return to the fold when he
announced at the state executive council (Exco) chambers, where he
signed the 2011 appropriation bill into law, that he had already
secured the approval of some eminent members of the opposition against
his second term bid, to work for the party in the April polls.

One toe in the water

NEXT, however,
gathered that the leader of the upper chambers of the nation’s National
Assembly may have made up his mind to join as speculated, but still
waiting for the right time and intervention from the national office of
PDP before coming to the open.

While speaking
further at the campaign rally, Mr. Ige urged the people of the state to
vote en-masse for Mr. Alao-Akala and all other PDP candidates for “the
good work of the party to continue in the state.”

He stated that the
governor had done far better than any of his predecessors in office and
deserves to be given the chance to do more.

Taofeek Arapaja, deputy governor of the state, appealed to other
aggrieved members of the party to come back and work for its success in
the next elections, saying the governor’s performance is enough to
campaign for him.

Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo’s faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in
Ogun State, and that of Gbenga Daniel, will know their fate on March 3.
A Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Abdul Kafarati on
Tuesday fixed the date to resolve the crisis over who is the
governorship candidate of the party in the state.

The Obasanjo
faction, led by Mr Olurin had secured a court injunction restraining
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the People’s
Democratic Party from accepting or acting upon the results of the
primaries conducted by Mr Daniel’s faction pending the determination of
the substantive suit filled by the former on the matter. The two
factions had conducted parallel gubernatorial and National Assembly
primaries that led to the emergence of different winners.

In his argument at
the substantive case yesterday, counsel to PDP Lateef Fagbemi told the
court that the Joju Fadairo-led executive is the authentic executive of
the party in Ogun state saddled with the responsibility of conducting
primary elections. And urged the court to recognise the primary
election conducted by the factional chairman, Mr Fadairo on the ground
that a judgment delivered by an Ogun State high court recognised Mr
Fadairo as the authentic chairman of the party in the state.

But counsel to Mr
Olurin, Olagoke Fakunle however told the court to discountenance the
submissions of Mr Fagbemi on the ground that the Mr Fadairo led
executive conducted an illegal primary election in violation of a
subsisting court order which sacked him. He however prayed the court to
dismiss the arguments of Mr Fagbemi and urged the court to hold that Mr
Olurin is the validly elected governorship candidate of the party in
Ogun State.

The governor of
Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, has said that it will be difficult for all
states in Nigeria to implement the N18,000 minimum wage recently
approved by the National Assembly.

Mr. Saraki, who was
in Lagos with President Goodluck Jonathan for the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) campaign, told journalists in an interview at the
presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, that though
state governments are willing to carry out the mandate, the development
may not thrive in some states because of the challenges they face.

“Some states are
going to have a lot of challenges with implementing it; not because
they don’t want to implement it, not because they don’t believe that
workers should have the minimum wage, but you know the realities that
we are facing,” he said.

Late last year,
after it approved the minimum wage of N18,000, the National Council of
States (NCS) advised President Goodluck Jonathan to deliver their
request to the National Assembly. The bill, however, has been passed by
the Assembly but is yet to be implemented in most states across the
federation.

Asked if he will
implement the new minimum wage in his state, Mr. Saraki disclosed that
the issue should not be politicised, adding that though he is left with
only two months in office, he would ensure that workers in his state
are treated fairly.

“I am aware that
the law has been passed; more so, I know that there are one or two
things that we have talked about from revenue allocation review and all
the sort of constitution amendment reviews.

“As of now, I am
worried as much as you are, so I think that very soon there will be a
forum that will allow us look at the issue of implementation. But there
is no doubt about it, except we want to play politics with it,” he said.

The Kwara State
governor said that he is working on getting things set before he
vacates the position as helmsman in his state, and advised other
governors not to disappoint workers in their respective states.

The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) will, today, release the final
figures for the 2011 voters register with only a marginal difference
from the provisional figures released on February 21.

NEXT learnt that a
review carried out after the exercise to weed out instances of multiple
registration and other irregularities showed less than one percent drop
in the provisional figure of 67, 764, 327 million registered voters in
the country. Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Katsina states have the highest
number of voters in the country, according to the provisional list
released by the commission.

Kayode Idowu, spokesperson to INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega was non-committal about the release yesterday.

“The law requires that the voters’ register be published 30 days to the election, so that is it,” he said.

He also said he
cannot confirm the difference between the figures displayed before and
that expected tomorrow since he is not sure of the source of our
information.

“I am not saying
the disparity will not be less than one per cent, but I cannot
corroborate because I don’t know where you got the figures,” he said.

Meanwhile, the
United States yesterday called for a prompt trial of Nigerians who
registered more than once as voters, saying such a move will prove
INEC’s commitment to credible polls.

A US delegation led by the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights,

Maria Otero and US
Ambassador to Nigeria, Terrence McCulley, told officials of INEC led by
Mr Jega, at a meeting yesterday, to make true the commission’s promise
to deal boldly with multiple registration.

Mr Jega had spoken
harshly against repeated registration by prospective voters, assuring
more than once that the commission’s registration machines have been
configured to detect offenders who will be prosecuted by INEC.

At a meeting with
members of the House of Representatives during the January
registration, he said only six people had been charged for the offence
after the first two weeks of the exercise, affirming that more
prosecutions will be made.

Ready to help

An official of the
commission who attended the meeting with the American team, who prefers
anonymity told NEXT that the issue of double registration featured
prominently at the meeting held behind closed doors.

“The chairman was
asked how the commission intends to deal with multiple registration and
although his response seemed satisfactory, they (American delegation)
specifically asked him to ensure those found guilty are punished,” the
official said.

Such a move, the
team is said to have advised INEC, will send a message that the
electoral body is not willing to condone fraudulent activities such as
rigging during elections in April.

The American team
also include: USAID Mission Director, Ray Kirkland and USAID Democracy
and Governance Team Leader, Minnie Wright.

Speaking to
journalists after the meeting, Solomon Soyebi, the INEC National
Commissioner in charge of Information, said the team only conveyed
America’s goodwill to INEC and their commendation for the efforts put
in by the electoral body ahead of elections.

But other sources said the US team made broad inquiries on how the
commission is preparing for the elections and how the US government can
be of help.

A Federal High
Court in Abuja on Tuesday, ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices
and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to pay N5 million as
damages to Edugie Abigail Abebe, a Permanent Secretary in the Federal
Ministry of Transport for unlawful arrest.

Presiding Judge,
Donatus Okorowo also gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining
the anti-graft agency and the Police from further harassing or
intimidating Mrs Abebe over the same subject matter.

He also ordered the
ICPC to issue a written apology and publish same in at least one of the
three National Newspapers that carried the story of her arbitrary
arrest from office on June 2, 2010.

Operatives of the
commission had stormed the headquarters of the Ministry in Abuja,
arrested, handcuffed and dragged Mrs Abebe from her office on the 6th
floor of the building to the ICPC headquarters for questioning over an
allegation about the award of contracts for the rehabilitation of the
Lagos-Jebba railway lines.

In the course of
its investigations on the matter, the ICPC invited her through a letter
dated June 2, 2010, to report to their office on June 7, 2010, but the
ICPC team leader, Wellington Nkemadu who went to serve her the letter,
was angered when staff of the Ministry denied them direct access to Mrs
Abebe who they said was anchoring a meeting at that time. The men
forced their way into the office and dragged Mrs Abebe out. The judge
held that though the ICPC has a right to do its job, such right must be
exercised in line with the express provisions of the constitution.

“Records before the
court indicate that the applicant was not directly investigated since
she was yet to occupy the office when the alleged crime was committed.

“The applicant
having shown by affidavit evidence that her right was breached is
entitled to an enforcement of the rights and the 1st Respondent, ICPC,
is liable to the actions of the 2nd Respondent, Nkemadu, who is its
officer.

“It is hereby
declared that the invasion and forceful dragging of the applicant
through the stair case, treating her like a convict by officers of the
1st respondent led by the 2nd respondent and team of police men whose
chief officer is the 3rd respondent, Police IG, is unconstitutional and
unlawful.

“A person who
suffers wrong in the conduct of another is entitled to damages;
consequently I award N5m as damages against the respondents.

“The 1st respondent is to issue a written apology and publish it in
at least one of the three Newspapers that published the story when the
applicant was arrested,” the judge ruled.

The controversial
lawmakers of the troubled Ogun State House of Assembly known as the
G-12 yesterday made a dramatic and controversial return into the House
of Assembly where they held a plenary and allegedly approved the 2011
Appropriation Bill of N1.5 billion.

NEXT gathered that
the lawmakers arrived the complex at about 10.25am accompanied by
security men and headed into the chambers where they sat for about two
hours.

During his recent
two-day official visit to the state, the President, Goodluck Jonathan,
did not make any comment over the unresolved crisis between the
legislative and executive arm of government. Journalists were barred
from witnessing the sitting, but Ayo Giwa, Chief Press Secretray to the
factional Speaker, Soyemi Coker, later issued a press statement at
about 3.00pm informing newsmen that the lawmakers had approved the
budget.

He said the
breakdown of the figure showed that a sum of N42,756,822,000:00k was
appropriated for recurrent expenditure, N14,140,800,000:00k for
servicing of loans, pension and gratuities while N48,654,844,284:00k
was for capital expenditure.

The release added
that Mr Coker noted with appreciation, the painstaking efforts of the
Inspector-General of Police to re-open the House for plennary
notwithstanding the long closure due ostensibly to a desire to uphold
the rule of law and security of lives and property.

Mr Coker in the
statement stressed that despite the closure of the House of Assembly
Complex, other legislative duties in form of committee sittings and
oversight functions were performed.

He said the House also passed a resolution endorsing the bid of Mr Jonathan to emerge as President in the April 2011 elections.

As at the time of
filing this report, it was not clear whether the re-opening of the
Assembly complex was on the order of the Presidency, or
Inspector-General of Police.

The Assembly had been under lock since September, 2010 following the
controversy which trailed the sudden emergence of nine out of the 26
lawmakers announcing the sack of other 15 members. The nine lawmakers
have since been joined by three other members from the sacked 15.

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.