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It was like a drama
on Sunday morning, February 27,An Abuja bus driver yesterday
confiscated the shoe of a passenger at the Wuse Zone 4 Bus Stop.

The passenger, who
simply called himself Joshua, had boarded a Nyanya bus at Sky Memorial
Bus Stop, Wuse Zone 5 at about 9:15am yesterday.

According to Ralph
Okechukwu, who was one of the passengers in the bus, trouble started
when Joshua had insisted on paying N30 instead of the usual N40 for the
service rendered by the bus operator.

“To be sincere, the
driver is not to blame because the conductor called the fare for each
destination. The man did not approach either of them to tell them the
amount he has but he entered thinking that he can pay any amount.
However, when the passenger and the conductor began to exchange verbal
words, the driver came down from his seat, advanced to the passenger
and pulled off the right-leg shoe,” he said.

Although the
passenger did not make attempt to fight back, Mr Okechukwu said the bus
driver, in anger, threw the shoe into his vehicle and zoomed off.

Off with shoe

Mr Joshua however
said he was not aware of the said transport fare named by the
conductor. “The conductor did not tell me anything when I was entering
the bus. He was only lying,” he said.

Effort by the
passers-by to get the shoe recovered from the bus operator were
unsuccessful. Bewildered by the attitude of the bus operator, some of
them who spoke to NEXT said “To me, it is inhuman for the bus driver to
have exhibited such attitude. Maybe the man has no other money with
him. The driver and the conductor should have forgiven him because no
one is perfect,” one of the passers by, Deborah Suleiman said.

Acceptance of the party

Well, it is the
fastest growing political party in Akwa Ibom state. I can tell you with
all amount of certainty that while other parties are going down in
terms of membership, we are increasing every other day, with more
members coming to join us. Nigerians are almost imbibing the culture of
one-man-one-vote and the era of vote stuffing and extreme rigging is
all gone for good and with that, the vote of the people will count. So
whoever the electorate wants are the people that will represent them,
so it won’t be all business as usual.

The electorate will
decide on who and which party they want to govern them. And if you
follow the event, if you walk the streets in Akwa Ibom, you will be
able to know that Peoples Democratic Party only exists in paper and as
the election days approach, it becomes clearer that the Action Congress
Nigeria are coasting home victorious. So, we will win the election.

Challenging party primaries

There hasn’t been
any problem per se, but we only had a challenge. You know our party
stands for internal democracy and preaches it all over. But in one
federal constituency, Itu/Ibiono Federal Constituency to be precise, we
have four aspirants. One scored 363, the other a little over 100,
another one 14, and the last scored a little over that. But we don’t
know how the third placed man made the list. However, we have made
representation and I think the party is looking at that.

Failure of the state government

You know we are
almost receiving the largest chunk of revenue, in terms of derivation
and funds from Federation Account and most Akwa Ibom people have not
seen projects on ground. There is no transparency and openness in
governance. Besides, if you came to Akwa Ibom, the greatest problem we
are now having is the level of insecurity. People are asking why this
event is almost paralysing activities in the state. There is no social
life in Akwa Ibom at the moment, basically because the government has
failed to provide security and has failed to protect lives and property.

You know there is
an adage that says, “Show me your friend and I will tell you who you
are?” Basically, the people that make up the PDP-led government in the
state, their integrity are questionable and it is almost an established
fact that the state government is almost making it an acceptable norm
that if you don’t belong to a cult, you cannot be part of the
government. There was an amalgamation of cult groups and the state
governor, in the guise of youth organisation and all that, was there in
person and inaugurated that body. So, when these hoodlums unleash their
havoc on the people, people tended to ask why do we have government?
And these people are walking the streets and are being patronised by
government.

State of insecurity

Things are bad in
terms of kidnapping and this has almost turned into a political way of
caging people that have opposite views. Just a few days ago, a
prominent paramount ruler, James Robert Obot of Nsitubman Local
Government, was murdered in cold blood. So, cases of serial killing and
kidnapping abound in the state and most of the people that have been
kidnapped have come back to say if you hold divergent views, they will
kidnap you, extort money from you so that you don’t have the fund to
muscle up any opinion.

I am sure the DG
(Director-General) of SSS (State Security Services) does not know about
this and I want to believe that the Director of SSS in Akwa Ibom does
not know what the governor is doing. He has applied for so many SSS
personnel and when they are now posted to the state, he off-loaded them
to persons who do not have business to be attached with these personnel.

Now, the objective
of keeping these personnel is that on Election Day, they will use them
as if they are on official duty. This could have an over-bearing
influence on the voting populace. They can use them to scare the
electorate. They can use them to commit all kinds of havoc and you know
without these personnel, they themselves cannot come out on Election
Day to commit the crime by themselves. My call to the DG of SSS is that
he should ensure that these personnel should be withdrawn. If they have
excess SSS personnel in Akwa Ibom State, they should be withdrawn and
deployed to the states where they are needed.

Political credential of ACN governorship candidate

John James
Akpanudoedehe had been a chairman of Uyo Local Government. It was the
largest Uyo Local Government before the military now decided to split
them. When the 4th republic came alive, he was elected into the Senate
in 1999 to 2003. Soon after that, he was appointed by the late
president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as Minister of State for FCT and you
know FCT is a mini-state. I think he has a good pedigree in governance.
The support is massive for ACN has been massive. The only thing PDP
have that we don’t is they have been utilising the state media very
well. They have propaganda, you know they are in power. They will
normally have more resources than we have.

Call for fairness

We made
representation to National Broadcasting Corporation for access to the
media and since we have made representation, they’ve started to cave in
a little. However, we don’t know how the events in the next few weeks
will be like and if will start be able to sell our programmes on the
state media. My call to INEC (Independent National Electoral
Commission) is to remain the unbiased umpire which we expect them to
be. They should allow the votes of the people to count rather than
allow themselves to be used by the government for purposes other than
overseeing the elections fairly.

he Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) has mandated airlines, agencies, and the
various parastatals in the sector to train their employees in the
efficient delivery of customer services to travelers.

The directive, a
fallout of the incessant complaints from both domestic and
international air travelers, is aimed at eliminating the occasional
fighting encountered at the various airport terminals between ticketing
and reservation officers of airlines and air passengers.

The civil aviation
regulatory agency said the training will enable airlines and industry
stakeholders to know their rights as well as intimate them on the
rights of travelers.

“We strongly
recommend that your organisations embrace the training programme being
offered by the consultant in order to raise customer service delivery
standards in the industry through nominating members of your staff to
participate in the programme,” said Adamu Abdullahi, director, consumer
protection unit, NCAA, in a message to airlines.

Mr. Abdullahi said
the mandatory training will uphold the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) standards and recommend practices that apply
globally in the industry, adding that the authority has given the
consulting firm the power to make sure that the key players in the
sector abide by the training.

Passengers’ rights

Daniel Young,
managing director of Karamba Consulting Limited, the company expected
to conduct the exercise, disclosed that the training, which commences
from next month, will also focus on the rights of passengers, noting
that travelers will be made to know what is expected of them and how
they are to go about their grievances when disappointed by an airline.

“We are going to
mount posters at strategic locations belonging to airlines and various
agencies, notifying them of their rights and those things expected of
them whenever they are on a journey and at the airport,” he said.

Mr. Young disclosed
that at the end of the training, employees of various airlines and
agencies in the sector will be able to “satisfactorily relate” with
their customers, and the issue of disagreements and fighting at the
airports will be reduced to the barest minimum.

“The training will
enable us cut down on check-in time and procedures, decongest the
airport should there be need, help airlines make more money, help
revenue agencies generate adequate funds, and make passengers
appreciate travelling experience when at our airports,” he said.

There have been series of reports of passengers battling with
ticketing and reservation officers at terminals over issues ranging
from unexplainable flight delays, cancellations, and rescheduling, a
situation viewed by experts as poor customer delivery services on the
side of airlines and other service providers at the airport.</

A Federal High Court in Abuja at the weekend warned
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to stop delaying
the prosecution of Bayelsa State government officials facing charges of
money laundering and diversion of public funds.

The commission had, on March 23, charged four top
officials of the state government, namely: Francis Okoruko, Abbot
Clinton, Ikhobo Anthony Howells, and Sylva Opuala – Charles. But since
their arraignment, trial until now was yet to commence.

Presiding Judge, Donatus Okorowo told the EFCC that
the several adjournments made in the trial have been at their instance
and warned that it will not fail to strike out the charge against the
accused persons if the prosecution fails to come up with its witness on
March 11, 2011, the adjourned date to conclude his evidence .

Mr Okorowo issued this warning following a request
for adjournment made by Ugochukwu Ezekiel on behalf of EFCC’s
prosecutor, Festus Keyamo, who was not in court. Mr Ezekiel requested
for the adjournment on the ground that the prosecution witness is
absent.

But counsels to the accused persons, Chris Uche and
Sunday Ibrahim Ameh, called on the judge to take note of the lack of
diligence on the part of the prosecution. They further argued that the
absence of Mr Keyamo at the trial underscored the lack of commitment
and diligence to dispose off the matter, noting that Mr Keyamo was in
error to direct another lawyer to represent him.

The lawyers said their clients were eager to conclude
trial so as to get the criminal charge hanging on their necks
discharged as they were sure of their innocence.

The judge agreed with the defence counsel that the
prosecution was responsible for the series of adjournments and was not
happy with Mr Keyamo for sending another counsel.

Not so speedy

At the last hearing, both defence counsels, on the
basis of wanting a speedy trial, had withdrawn their objection to the
admissibility of a document sought to be tendered in evidence by Mr
Keyamo.

Mr Keyamo had sought to tender the statement made to
the EFCC by the 2nd accused person, Clinton Abbot, through his
prosecution witness 1, Adebayo Adeniyi Oluwasegun, but Messrs. Uche and
Ameh objected to the procedure on the premise that it would offend
Section 36 [a] of the Evidence Act since he (Oluwasegun) was not
incidental to the statement being made. After a spell of arguments, the
Judge was to adjourn the matter to enable him rule. But Counsel to the
accused persons, eager to make progress with the trial, agreed to
withdraw the objection after Mr Keyamo had entered an undertaking that
he will not rely on any other Investigating Police Officer (IPO) to
tender any further evidence.

Consequently, the statement sought to be tendered was
later admitted in evidence after which the police officer recounted
steps he took in the course of investigating the case.

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Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is the strangest head of state I’ve ever met.

When I asked him about democracy he threatened to sue.

“If you or someone
else says that Libya is not a democracy then it would be considered an
insult,” he said. “We could go to court to redeem honour from that
insult.”

The conversation
was back in 2005 at his tent in Tripoli, a single-room structure made
of colourful textiles in the middle of a heavily guarded compound.

We sat on plastic
garden furniture that had been carefully hand-cleaned by a man in an
orderly’s uniform, while a small goat picked at patchy grass outside.

Gadhafi is famous
for his odd behaviour, female bodyguards and bizarre ideas such as his
plan to abolish Switzerland. We only saw very conventional male
bodyguards. But even with their protection, Gadhafi’s manner made it
hard to understand how he managed to stay in power for more than four
decades.

He didn’t seem up to it.

He appeared
lethargic and his eyes, even behind sunglasses, seemed unfocused. He
used an elaborate fly whisk to wave away insects that weren’t actually
there. His answers, through a translator, seemed rambling.

Author Kenneth
Timmerman, who has also met him, says Gadhafi has kept power through
cunning. “He’s a very very skilled player,” Timmerman said.

“He divides the
country. He conquers the small groups. He’s kept the tribes squabbling
amongst themselves and up until relatively recently he has distributed
some of the oil wealth to the people.”

Human rights groups
also say that Gadhafi’s regime has killed, jailed and tortured its
opponents. Libya today is in turmoil. Back then, it was in transition,
a rogue state trying to redeem itself.

Pressed by
international sanctions, it had abandoned support for terrorist
organisations, surrendered its weapons of mass destruction to the West
and was trying to open-up its economy.

Gadhafi told me he was angry that Libya never got the pay-off it expected: American esteem and investment.

In part, it was because Washington’s attention had turned to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it was also, no
doubt, because no American president or politician would be eager to
embrace the man Ronald Reagan once called a “mad dog.”

In any country or company’s plans for Libya, Moammar Gadhafi was the wildcard, the unpredictable element. He still is.

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

A few lawyers have frowned at the Abuja High Court ruling
extending the tenure of the governors of Adamawa, Bayelsa, Cross River, Sokoto
and Kogi states based on the fact that they swore new oaths after rerun
elections were conducted in their states.

Presiding judge, Adamu Bello, said any elections in Kogi,
Sokoto, Adamawa, Cross River and Bayelsa states would have to wait until next
year. The ruling also set new dates for the termination of the governors’
tenures. Ibrahim Idris, Kogi will stay on till April 5, 2012; Aliyu Wammakko,
Sokoto remains till May 28, 2012; Timipre Sylva, Bayelsa leaves on May 29,
2012; Liyel Imoke’s tenure in Cross River terminates on August 28, 2012; and
Murtala Nyako, Adamawa got his tenure elongated till April 30, 2012.

According to Ubani Monday, a lawyer: “We have to have this
matter resolved at the appellate court, but in my own opinion, that judgement
is legally right but morally wrong. Because allowing a situation where someone
who has been in power without the people’s mandate to spend three and a half
years and you now send him for a rerun election and the system is manipulated
in his favour and now give him extra four years.

“Then all those years that he spent without the people’s
mandate, what has happened to it? They didn’t punish him, they did not bring
him to any justice, they did not in any way query him and they now feel very
emboldened to add to his years, and morally, it is wrong to give such people
this traditional tenure elongation.”

Malachy Ugwummadu, also a lawyer, told NEXT at the High Court
premises, Ikeja that only the Appeal Court could resolve this, as the electoral
commission had two controversial rulings to deal with. However, the Independent
National Electoral Commission says it is still studying the case to be sure
weather election will take place in the states.

Baffling judgement

According to Aghanya Dennis, former CPC national publicity
secretary, “the matter should be appealed by INEC and the Supreme Court should
give it accelerated hearing. Maybe the judgment may be upturned at that level.”

According to him, “the danger in the judgment is that electoral
crime is encouraged rather than discouraged. For somebody who was confirmed to
have enjoyed a stolen mandate in the first place and his victory was upturned
by a court of law to be given this reprieve by the same court of justice is a
contradiction to the same justice the court is expected to give. A thief is a
thief however you look at it. But whom do you blame, the judge who abided by
the constitution or the beneficiaries of the judgment who are exercising their
constitutional right?”

Basssey Ewa-Henshaw, a senator representing PDP, Cross River
said that he was baffled by the judgment.

“If I remember correctly, the Supreme Court had already taken a decision on
the matter that if you were the incumbent and you had to go for a rerun and you
won, your tenure continued from where it stopped. This judgment is a bit
baffling to me and I need to be able to look at the two judgments to know what
the judges used as a foundation to arrive at their decisions.”

The plan for the general elections
suffered a setback last week when a federal high court sitting in Abuja
ruled that there should be no governorship elections in five states in
April because the governors started their terms after they won rerun
elections in their states. The governors of the five states: Ibrahim
Idris of Kogi, Aliyu Wamako of Sokoto, Timiprieye Sylva of Bayelsa,
Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Liyel Imoke of Cross-River had, last
September, challenged the decision of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct governorship polls in their
states this year while, according to them, their tenure was still
running. They also asked the court to stop their party, the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP), from conducting any primaries for the
governorship elections in their states.

The presiding judge, Adamu Bello,
in his judgment, held that since the 2007 elections which initially
brought the governors to power was nullified and set aside by courts of
competent jurisdiction, the oath of office and allegiance subscribed to
by the five governors had been nullified and set aside along with the
elections.

“The tenure of governors starts counting from the day they took their oath of office and oath of allegiance,” the judge said.

The ruling also set new dates for
the termination of the tenures of the governors. Ibrahim Idris, Kogi,
will stay on till April 5, 2012; Aliyu Wammakko, Sokoto, remains till
May 28, 2012; Timipre Sylva, Bayelsa, leaves the next day on May 29,
2012; Liyel Imoke’s tenure in Cross River terminates on August 28,
2012; and Murtala Nyako, Adamawa, gets his tenure extended till April
30, 2012. INEC had last August announced that the tenures of governors
who were re-elected after their 2007 elections were cut short by
tribunals would end on May 29, 2011. The position of the electoral
commission was bolstered by an amendment to the electoral act. Section
135 of the principal act, which deals with governors’ tenure, was
amended in subsection (2) by insertion of a new paragraph, c. It states
that: “In the determination of the four-year term, where a rerun
election has taken place and the person earlier sworn in wins the rerun
election, the time spent in the office before the date the election was
annulled, shall be taken into account.” INEC also advised political
parties to organise primaries in the states, which the affected
governors also participated in, although their lawsuit challenging the
primaries was still in court. As it happened, all the governors won the
party primaries and have already started their campaign for the April
election.

Appeal the judgement

INEC said at the weekend that it
was still studying the judgement and will not announce its next move
until its lawyers have provided legal advice. But one of the counsel to
the commission said at the weekend that the electoral body might appeal
the judgement.

“Our teams of legal experts are
still studying the judgment and may likely appeal against it and
election will hold in those states, as we will apply for an order of
stay of judgment pending the determination of the matter,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some of the candidates of other
parties have also threatened to challenge the court ruling regardless
of the decision of INEC on the matter. The governorship candidate of
the Congress of Progressive Change in Adamwa State, Buba Marwa, who
expressed disagreement with the court ruling on the extension in which
the tenure of the state governor, Mr. Nyako of Adamawa state will
subsist until 2012, said the ruling makes rigging of elections
attractive to the political class.

“The deeper meaning is that it is
an incentive to rig. We are not in agreement and that is why we are
appealing it for the elections to hold this year,” he said.

“This is in fact without prejudice
to what INEC will do because originally the governors took INEC to
court. But as an interested party we are appealing the case and I have
reached out to all our teeming supporters and members of our great
party, the CPC to remain calm and continue with our programmes. Because
our programmes continue and we are expecting to flag of in a couple of
days.”

In his explanation of the
rationale for his planned court action, Mr. Marwa said a postponement
of governorship elections in the five states will only serve to confer
“additional bonus” to the benefitting governors.

He said the issue to be considered
was whether the original framers of the constitution intended for the
occupants to serve four years as governor or they can continue to take
advantage of judicial electoral victories to serve “extended tenure of
office”.

“Because if I know this will
happen, then I will rig the elections blatantly and in a manifest
manner so that the other side will take me to the tribunal,” Mr. Marwa
said. “This type of thing is something that we should address.” Mr.
Marwa’s stand is at variance with that of other opposition political
parties in the state, who are rather appealing to INEC and the federal
government to appeal the judgement in order to have it set it aside.

Aghanya Dennis, the former
national publicity secretary for the CPC called for an appeal by INEC,
adding that the judgement can only be resolved by the Supreme Court.

“The matter should be appealed by
INEC and the Supreme Court should give it accelerated hearing. Maybe
the judgment may be upturned at that level,” he said. “The danger in
the judgment is that electoral crime is encouraged rather than
discouraged. For somebody who was confirmed to have enjoyed a stolen
mandate in the first place and his victory was upturned by a court of
law to be given this reprieve by the same court of justice is a
contradiction to the same justice the court is expected to give. A
thief is a thief, however, you look at it. But whom do you blame, the
judge who abided by the constitution or the beneficiaries of the
judgment who are exercising their constitutional right?” Basssey
Ewa-Henshaw, a senator, (PDP, Cross River) said he was baffled by the
judgment, especially as it ran counter to an earlier ruling by the
Supreme court.

“If I remember correctly, the Supreme Court had already taken a
decision on the matter, that if you were the incumbent and you had to
go for a re-run and you won, your tenure continued from where it
stopped. This judgment is a bit baffling to me and I need to be able to
look at the two judgments to know what the judges used as a foundation
to arrive at their decisions. The Supreme Court is the apex court and
it is superior to the Court of Appeal,” he said.

When Fola Adeola was belatedly
announced this week as the ACN running mate to presidential candidate
Nuhu Ribadu, it completed the campaign roster of the four main
candidates vying for president. Almost as important as the presidential
candidate, the role of a running mate cannot be underestimated. As the
country’s number two citizen, the deputy’s credentials must therefore
be just as strong as the presidential candidates themselves.

The architect and the academic

The debate had raged, ever since
one-time university lecturer Goodluck Jonathan was named acting
president, over whether he would appoint a number two. That discussion
became moot when he was eventually named as substantive president. His
decision to pick Namadi Sambo can be described as a surprise at the
time. Apart from the fact that there were more prominent contenders,
Mr. Sambo’s three-year tenure as governor of Kaduna had not seen any
great distinction. Expectations were high in 2007 when he was elected
into his first major political role. He trumpeted an 11-point agenda
which he promised would reposition Kaduna as a national force. Promises
were made to revive the state’s health and educational sectors as well
as improve water supply, infrastructure and roads. As of May 15, 2010,
when his name was submitted to the National Assembly, no significant
inroads had been made in any of these areas. Mr. Sambo did record
significant success in cleaning up Kaduna’s image as a hotbed of ethnic
clashes. He is widely credited as the brain behind Operation Yaki, an
innovative task force which combined the strengths of local vigilante
groups, the police and even the armed forces. The security force has
been responsible for reducing crime in the state and preventing the
spillover of clashes that have occurred in Plateau and Bauchi. Prior to
his life in the public sector, Mr. Sambo was a businessman of some
renown. He still owns three companies and developed a reputation as a
very prominent architect in the 1980s. A quiet, unassuming character,
he is not the most inspirational of speakers and will probably connect
only with his constituents.

The banker and the policeman

The Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) were the last major party to name a presidential running mate.
The delay bordered on the absurd after at least three names were on the
verge of being announced before being pulled at the last minute. It was
hardly heartening to supporters of the party that Sunny Ugochukwu,
Ngozi Okonji-Iweala and Chris Ngige were all considered before former
banker Fola Adeola was eventually named this week. The delay also
exposed the underlying rift that lay between Nuhu Ribadu and Bola
Tinubu. The setbacks notwithstanding, Fola Adeola will join the
campaign trail from Monday and appears a popular choice amongst party
support. With Nuhu Ribadu at the helm, the ACN are using the
‘progressive’ tag as a mantra and, on paper, Mr. Adeola certainly fits
the bill. The chartered accountant was the founder and managing
director of Guaranty Trust Bank until he retired in 2002. His
professional life has been largely without scandal and GTB was one of
the banks that avoided the banking crisis of 2009.

In spite of his impressive CV, Mr.
Adeola comes with no real political experience. This is not for a lack
of trying. As a PDP candidate, he contested in the 2007 elections for
the Ogun Central Senatorial district but eventually lost out to Iyabo
Obasanjo-Bello. In 2003, he was reportedly offered the position of
finance minister in President Obasanjo’s regime. He refused for reasons
that remained undisclosed. He has played a prominent role in the
National Pensions Commission but has never been involved in frontline
politics. What he may lack in political sense, he makes up for in
strong rhetoric. Where Mr. Ribadu is more reticent, his running mate is
a trained motivational speaker. His speeches, however, are usually
aimed at high-level professionals and executives. It will be
interesting to see if he can adapt his style when addressing grassroot
voters. As a Muslim, he and Ribadu echo the Abiola/Kingibe ticket in
1992’s annulled elections. Supporters point to the overwhelming
popularity of that particular duo. Critics, on the other hand, suggest
that ethnic and religious tensions have heightened somewhat since then.

The pastor and the general

Many of Muhammed Buhari’s critics
have expressed concerns about his inflexible style, expressing concern
that this may extend to his religious views. The former general has
been at great pains to deny suggestions that he has an underlying
radical Islamist agenda. It is believed that this counted against him
in the 2003 and 2007 elections. It was always likely, therefore, that
he would pick a Christian southerner as a running mate, but he went a
step further by naming a bonafide pastor in Tunde Bakare. It remains to
be seen if the move is a masterstroke for the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC) but Mr. Bakare is an immensely popular personality.
Although not a politician, the head of the Latter Rain Assembly, has
never been shy about criticising the government. So vehement was his
criticism that he was detained and questioned by state security
officials in 2002 for speaking out against President Obasanjo’s
administration. He famously called the former president ‘a false
messiah.’ A fiery character, the Pentecostal pastor has achieved great
success through his brand of ‘televangelism’ both domestically and
internationally. He also started an advocacy group, Save Nigeria Group,
which played a pivotal role in organizing protest rallies during the
late President Yar’Adua’s protracted absence. The pastor created a stir
last year after his group visited President Jonathan last year and
reportedly declined a $50,000 gift. His lack of political clout is an
obvious disadvantage but, like Mr. Adeola, he can speak directly to a
crowd, thanks to his background as a lawyer and pastor. Mr. Buhari is
occasionally labeled as being aloof but his running mate talks in a
language that people can identify with.

Although an intriguing choice as
running mate, he is similar in many ways to Mr. Buhari. The two men can
be described as radicals who often hold extremist views. Neither has
yet displayed a capacity to show great flexibility in their approach.
As a firebrand character, Mr. Bakare’s presence in the campaign team
will not counterbalance the public’s view of Mr. Buhari.

The governor and the governor

At 71, John Odigie Oyegun is the
oldest of the men seeking to be vice-president. As the All Nigeria
People’s party (ANPP) presidential candidate Ibrahim Shekarau’s running
mate, Mr. Oyegun does however possess some political pedigree. In 1992,
he was elected as the first civilian governor of the newly-formed Edo
state but was removed when Sani Abacha seized power. A development
planner by training, Mr. Oyegun had previously been in the employ of
the federal civil service and had served as a permanent secretary
across several ministries. ANPP’s strategy is clear. The plan is to use
Mr. Oyegun to capture votes in the South-South where the party has no
foothold. Although Mr. Oyegun is remembered favourably from his
20-month stint, he has little clout in the region. He is the party’s
deputy chairman in the south but his appointment may lend little value
to the chances of the ANPP. Mr. Oyegun is a highly knowledgeable and
eloquent individual but his age might be a disadvantage. With the
rigours of a political campaign to consider, this could prove a crucial
factor for a party still struggling with its identity.

Fans of ‘The
Project’, a politics-centred interview programme on Television
Continental (TVC) in Lagos, will have to look for another programme
because there are claims that the programme has been dropped from the
station based on the directive of Bola Tinubu. Mr Adekeye said the
decision to discontinue the programme was communicated to him on phone
by the management of the station on Tuesday, 48 hours after he had a
meeting with the management where they informed him of Mr Tinubu’s
displeasure with an article he had written earlier in the month.

On 4 February, Mr
Adekeye wrote an article he titled “Dynasty Toples Democracy” that was
published in NEXT’s opinion page. In the article, he expressed his
dissatisfaction with the manner Mr Tinubu, leader of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN), was personalising the party. He also
criticised Mr Tinubu’s romance with the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) in search of a vice president position at the detriment of his
party’s presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu.

Eleven days later,
Kehinde Bamigbetan, Chairman of Ejigbo local council in Lagos and
former spokesman for Mr Tinubu wrote a rejoinder he titled “Tinubu Does
Not Deserve Ribadu’s Scorn” that was also published in NEXT.

“Let the real
Muyiwa Adekeye, political consultant and protégé of Nuhu Ribadu, the
presidential candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria, shake off the
paraphernalia of his pretence and stand where he truly belongs,” Mr
Bamigbetan wrote in his opening paragraph for his rejoinder.

He criticised
Mr.Adekeye’s opinion and choice of language in the article. “Adekeye’s
reference to our leaders as potentates indicates the little regard he
has for experience and expertise on the field,” he added.

After the programme was routinely aired that week, Mr Adekeye was invited for a meeting with the management of TVC.

At the meeting,
“they left me with no doubt that the owner of TVC (Mr Tinubu) was not
happy with my articles,” Mr Adekeye said. “I was told that Mr Tinubu
was unhappy with some of the things I said in the article… and I made
it clear that I wasn’t going to surrender my right to express myself
freely as a Nigerian.” The following day, Mr Adekeye wrote a reply to
Mr Bamigbetan’s rejoinder, but published it in another national daily.
The article gave his programme a red card. According to Mr Adekeye, the
morning after his second article was published, the station manager,
Gbolahan Olalemi, informed him that the “directors have decided to rest
the programme.” Mr Olalemi in an interview with NEXT, however, denied
the allegation that the programme was dropped based on the orders of Mr
Tinubu. He said that the claim came as a surpprise to him. “The man
(Mr. Tinubu) doesn’t even know there is a programme called The Project.
How could he have said it should be dropped?” The Project was first
aired on 8 January and since has hosted high profile guests like Nuhu
Ribadu, ACN’s presidential candidate, Tunde Bakare, CPC’s vice
presidential candidate,

Adamu Ciroma, chairman Northern Elders Forum, and Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti State.

The station
manager, however, said the programme did not meet up with the station’s
quality standards and needed to be improved and that was the reason it
was dropped.

“I called him and
said he should improve the quality of The Project.” The station manager
said. He added that he had at some point offered to produce the
programme himself to ensure it got the needed standard.

Mr Adekeye, however, disagreed with the station manager.

“There is a Yoruba
saying that: if a witch cries at night and a child dies the following
morning, everyone knows the cause of the child’s death,” said Mr
Adekeye, tracing the fate of his programme to his articles.

Mr Bamigbetan who still speaks for Mr Tinubu told NEXT he was not
aware of Mr Adekeye’s difficultuties with the station. “This is news to
me. I will dig into it and get back to you,” he said.

Lack of
coordination between security agencies and the fact that there is no
clear rule about which agency is in charge of crowd control are the
main causes of stampedes, security experts have said.

Last week,
President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the office of the National Security
Adviser (NSA) to ensure special training on crowd control for security
officers, to prevent future tragedies like the stampede in
Port-Harcourt.

But there is also an intense inter-agency rivalry that needs to be addressed as well.

The Nigerian
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Nigerian Police both
claim that they are responsible for crowd control.

The corps’ spokesperson, Emmanuel Okeh, said crowd control is one of the core functions of the agency.

Olusola Amore,
Police Public Relations Officer, however said that the police is
usually in charge of crowd control, but in the case of Port-Harcourt, a
collaboration of security agencies were involved.

Both agencies also
claim that their officers receive crowd control training. Mr. Amore
said that, “Police training is all embracing, including training for
crowd control and riot,” and officers are taught to appreciate the
situation and respond with the appropriate measure of force.

“It would be wrong
to confront market women who are throwing potatoes and tomatoes at you,
with firearms,” he said. However, if officers are in genuine fear for
their lives, then firearms would be necessary. The defence corps
however de-emphasized the use of fire-arms. “Crowd control does not
involve the use of arms. It does not involve things that are
injurious,” said Mr. Okeh. Rather, he said, the agency uses trained
dogs while their staff study human psychology and how to handle
difficult people.

Neither police nor defence corps

A security expert,
Harrison Jatau, however said that crowd control should be left to the
experts in private security firms instead of national security agencies.

Mr Jatau, who is the regional manager of Halogen Security in Abuja and a retired naval officer,

said that people in
industrial security are better trained in crowd control than their
counterparts in security agencies. “What gives a security man, like an
army man, confidence is his gun. Take the gun from the army man and he
might not be able to function effectively in crowd control,” he said.

Mr. Jatau, who
worked with security officers at the Star Mega Jam in Abuja, said there
was chaos among the rank and file of the security agencies at the
popular R. Kelly concert in December, last year. The Military, Mobile
Police, the Nigerian Police, Bomb Squad, SSS, and Civil Defence were
all present and they were receiving overriding orders from their
different leaders, he said.

“The event managers must ensure that each security agency is well
represented and meetings are held,” he said, “so that at the end of the
day, we will have a clear idea of the command of control, who is
actually in charge.” Mr. Okeh also acknowledged that if the agencies
worked together, their duties would be performed better. However, Mr.
Jatau, who retired from the Navy in 2005, said that there is often
discrimination between the agencies and one force usually thinks that
it is superior to the other. “The Military tends to look down on the
Police, and the Police looks down on Civil Defence,” said Mr. Jatau who
added that this mentality needs to end if the agencies are to perform
their duties well.