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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.

Dideolu Awolowo, the wife of the late politician
, Obafemi Awolowo praised the Ogun state governor, Gbenga Daniel for
contributing his quota to the development of the state.

She said this when the governor paid her a
valedictory visit at the Awolowo’s home in Ikenne, noting that the
Daniel administration has changed the face of Ogun State through
meaningful people-oriented programmes and projects in consonance with
the template of late Obafemi Awolowo.

The matriarch of the Awolowo family made
reference to the Free Trade Zones, renewal of critical infrastructure,
construction of roads and housing estates across the state,
establishment of a new university and polytechnics and development of
the grassroots. “You have touched the lives of the people of Ogun
State. The tree of good governance and economic development that you
have planted during your tenure will continue to grow. You have not
disappointed the Awolowo family; you have not disappointed the people
of Ogun State. You have succeeded in your present endeavour, your
detractors will not succeed in pulling back the hand of the clock of
progress,” she said.

Similarly, Ebenezer Babatope, former minister of Transport and long
time associate of the Awolowos who was also in Ikenne during the visit,
described Mr. Daniel as one of the prides of the Yoruba race who has
consistently followed the footsteps of Obafemi Awolowo in his deeds.

The new Resident
Electoral Commissioner in Ekiti State, Hussain Pai, has called on staff
of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state to
work assiduously at becoming role models for their counterparts across
the country. Mr Pai said this in Ado Ekiti yesterday while taking over
the office from his predecessor, Isyaku Maigoro, who recently retired
from the Commission.

He said the staff
must see it as their duty to conduct free, fair and credible elections
in 2011. He said he hopes to build on the good legacies left behind by
his predecessor by ensuring that no staff of the commission circumvents
existing rules in the conduct of an election. The commissioner promised
to discharge his duties very effectively and ensure that the elections
were devoid of crisis. He praised Mr Maigoro, who was described by
staff of the commission as highly experienced and unbiased.

Earlier, Mr Maigoro urged commission’s staff to support his
successor and ensure that Nigerians are proud of their conduct of the
elections. He reminded electoral officers in all the 16 local councils
of the state and other top management staff of the commission to allow
the new INEC boss the benefit of their wealth of experience. “The REC
has a serious role to play in the conduct of 2011 , but his role could
only materialise if the Electoral Officers and other staff that are
directly connected to the conduct of elections are responsible and
alive to their responsibilities”, he said.

Lagos doctors have
criticised the state government for “insulting the medical profession”,
vowing to continue with the ongoing industrial action, after an
emergency congress yesterday.

The strike embarked
on by the Medical Guild, comprising of doctors employed by the state
government, is going to four weeks, and the congress still saw an
overwhelming vote in favour of the continuation of the strike. Edamisan
Temiye, the Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Lagos Chapter,
described the state government’s attempt to demote the striking doctors
as “retrogressive” and “unacceptable”. The doctors are pressing for the
implementation of agreements reached with the state government to pay
the Consolidated Medical Salary (CONMESS), among other issues, but the
state government was said to have offered to demote the workers before
the agreements to be met.

“It is sad the
Lagos state government is not only reneging on its promise but also
engaging in the blackmail of the medical profession,” he said, accusing
the state government of breaking the labour law. “If you are on step
nine on a particular level, they now demote you to step two, and earn a
salary of step two worker. So all the seven years you’ve gained, you
will lose and get stuck at that step two for ‘only God knows how long’.
They have demoted doctors’ level in the state; some are losing up to
N160 000 compared to their counterparts working across the road or in
other hospitals; and that is unacceptable.”

Sack threats

Mr Temiye also
described as ‘insulting’, the state government’s allegation that the
ongoing strike was politically motivated, adding that doctors in
federal hospitals across the state would soon be joining their
colleagues in state hospitals, on a solidarity strike. Reacting to a
recent call for the sack of all striking doctors by the state’s former
governor, Bola Tinubu, he said the state doctors are currently
overworked and that it would be impossible to find replacements should
the doctors be dismissed from service. “We believe it’s a threat and it
will remain so, and if they go ahead and sack the doctors, we will see
how they are going to replace them,” he said. “Lagos State has less
than one-third of the doctors they employ, so there no enough doctors
in the first instance. I don’t see any doctor working somewhere else
and coming to Lagos State to pick slave wages when he can get something
else better.”

No going back

Ayobode Williams,
the Medical Guild chairman, said the doctors would continue to stay
away from work until the state government honours the agreement it
reached with them. “Our agitations still remain the same because the
state government has still not fulfilled their own side of the
bargain,” he said. “The congress has voted and said that the strike
would continue, not until the government implements CONMESS to the
letter and reinstate our past chairman (Ibrahim Olaifa), and the tax
issues that we requested for.”

At the congress, 336 doctors had voted in favour of the continuation
of the strike, while 38 doctors voted against its continuation; 11
doctors abstained from voting.

Kirikiri, the
relatively quiet town in Lagos State which gives the famous prison its
name, woke up last Saturday to a crowd that had turned out to celebrate
the release of Olabode George, the former chairman of the Nigerian
Ports Authority, who ended his prison term that day. Over 1,000 George
supporters, dressed in ‘uniform’ traditional attire popularly called
‘aso ebi’ along with elaborate headgear, flocked to the sleepy town.

Stella Onyekwere, a
fruit seller, said that there were so many visitors that it was
difficult to get through them to her home near the Kirikiri Medium
Prison.

“The number of
people that came here today, I have not seen it in Kirikiri before,”
she said. “They were plenty. You see them with different uniforms. See
the women with their gele. People full everywhere.”

A few residents said that the unprecedented turnout made them afraid.

“Come and see the
security people that came to guard him (Mr. George),” said Mrs.
Onyekwere. “They were many and they were wearing their black. That
black suit is not ordinary o. If you see the kind of guns they arranged
inside the suit, you will fear.”

According to
another Kirikiri resident, who identified himself simply as Samuel,
some of the supporters of the released prisoner had been in the
neighbourhood since Friday night to beat the restriction of movement
due to the Lagos State monthly environmental sanitation.

“In fact, they have
been busy since yesterday night; that is when many of them came,” he
said. “So this morning, they were ready. Many politicians were here. I
saw this Alao-Akala (Oyo State governor) and other PDP governors. Even
(Goodluck) Jonathan, came here in the night around 3am.”

“But seriously,
this is not good now,” Samuel went on to say. “Somebody that stole
billions of naira, they were coming to celebrate him like this, but
there are many innocent people inside there (Kirikiri Prisons). If it
was a poor man that stole money, they would have left him to die there
and they will bury him there. That’s why you can’t blame people who are
doing everything possible to make money.”

Hours later, the
release of Mr. George from prison was the talk of the town. At each
stretch of shops, restaurants, and bars, people were discussing it,
either quietly condemning the jamboree or loudly telling how they
scrambled to pick the cash that Mr. George threw in the air for his
supporters. Posters bearing the image of Mr. George were posted on
walls with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) logo and the
inscription, ‘The Joseph of our Time.’

While the fanfare
was going on, restaurant owners made a killing by doubling food prices.
Eno Akpan, who runs a restaurant in the area, said she regretted
opening her shop late after the environmental sanitation. She had sent
her daughter ahead, who sold plates of rice for N300 instead of the
usual N150.

“If I knew it will be like this, I would have prepared everything,”
she said. “I can even sell a plate for N1,000 and they will buy.”

President Goodluck
Jonathan has urged Nigerians to place national building above personal
interest. Mr. Jonathan, who is the presidential flagbearer for the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also urged all political parties and
candidates to elective offices to steer clear of false, malicious,
spiteful, malevolent and wicked campaigns against their opponents. He
spoke in reference to a publication in a national daily, which reported
that the PDP voted N2.9billion to capture the southwest. The PDP had
lost some states in the zone to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
which now controls three states to PDP’s two, while the labour party
controls one. The presidential spokesman, Ima Niboro, said the
president “noted with regret and sadness the totally false, malicious
and repugnant lead report.

“The entire report
has no factual basis and its contents are a product of the
mischief-driven imagination of its authors,” he said. “President
Goodluck Jonathan who has been busy touring all the states of the
federation, including the southwest, in an all-out effort to win the
hearts and minds of Nigerians in the traditional and
politically-correct manner, has absolutely no need to resort to any
underhand tactics to win the coming presidential elections.” He also
stated that the president and his supporters across the country are
working extremely hard to achieve success in the elections in an
indisputable and transparent manner.

Rule of law

Mr. Niboro said the
tumultuous crowds that have attended the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign
rallies across the country and the increasing endorsements of the
ticket by other political parties, royal fathers and interest groups
clearly point to the success of the president’s untiring campaign to
convince Nigerians to give him a fresh mandate for four years.

“As he continues to
show by word and action, President Jonathan remains fully committed to
free, fair and credible elections in April. His being a candidate in
the elections has not affected this commitment in any way,” he said.

The statement also
explained that Mr. Jonathan is also a firm believer in the doctrine of
separation of powers and the rule of law.

“He is fully committed to upholding the independence of the
judiciary at all times and will never be part of any conspiracy to
misuse security agencies for partisan political purposes or impugn the
integrity of the judiciary for private ends,” Mr. Niboro said.

Electoral reforms,
the consolidation of the Amnesty programme, increase in power supply
are some of the achievements of the administration of Goodluck Jonathan
and his deputy, Namadi Sambo in the few months they have been in charge
of affairs in Aso Rock. The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party, (PDP), Rufa’i Alkali said this at the weekend in
Benin. Mr Alkali, who addressed journalists during a brief stopover of
the presidential trail in Benin City on a campaign trip to Delta State,
said this makes it obvious why Nigerians must return Messrs Jonathan
and Sambo back to office through their votes come April 2011. He said:
“What we are saying is that if we know that we have won the elections,
we would have gone home and stop campaigning, why should we waste time
resources and energy and carry our president around the country at high
risk to campaign? No, we believe we can win but we cannot win without
reaching the people. That is why you must reach them, talk to them and
also promise them things they will understand. So, we are prepared to
go extra mile to reach the people, and that is what we are doing, that
is why we are not sleeping.”

Promoting peace

Mr Alkali said one
area of interest to the government is to ensure that the nation
continues to live in peace and harmony, as against insinuations that
the PDP-led government has failed in tackling the incessant security
breaches across the federation.

“This party, this government initiated and then encouraged and
supported the movement of the electoral reforms that today Nigerians
are celebrating, so the issue of security is also being looked at very
seriously,” he said. “The issue of security of lives and property is
the fundamental requirement of the government. Government is busy
tackling these issues of security breaches as we observed in Jos,
Bauchi. But remember that most of these issues were inherited by this
government. Most of what this party has been doing is to address these
problems.”

The Resident
Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Isyaku Maigoro, has
identified intimidation of opponents by political office holders as
being responsible for the violence experienced during elections. The
electoral officer, who is retiring from the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) today after the expiration of his tenure,
said Nigeria will continue to witness a flawed election as long as the
doctrine of win at all cost remains. Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Saturday,
Mr Maigoro called for attitudinal change among all those involved in
the electoral system for Nigeria to join the league of advanced
democracies in the world. “A situation whereby a governor or any other
political office holder goes to the polling unit with thugs to cast
their votes always resorted to intimidation of opponents and had always
been causing serious problems among politicians,” he said. “But a
situation whereby a politician goes to cast his vote solely without
anybody escorting him will enhance peaceful conduct of election and I
am convinced that Nigeria will start to get it right the day this habit
is embraced.”

Afraid of losing

He said politicians
always create situations to either mar the electoral process or ignite
crisis when they realise that they are losing. Mr Maigoro expressed
confidence in the ability of the leadership of the electoral Commission
to conduct a free, fair and credible election in 2011.

The REC also warned against taking politics as a business by
Nigerian politicians, saying this is the only anti-dote to winning at
all costs attitude of politicians.