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With barely six weeks to the general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is hampered by having to defend itself against over 150 court cases filed against it.

The commission’s chairman, Attahiru Jega, told journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja yesterday that the challenge of compiling the final list of party candidates is worsened by the huge pile of cases it is defending in various courts. Mr. Jega said several exparte orders have been served on the commission restraining it from accepting and recognising some candidates nominated by political parties.

Meeting challenges

Mr Jega said, “The greatest challenge on the nomination process is the alarming number of court orders. There are over 150 pre-election cases filed nationwide against the commission. This morning (Monday) alone, 10 new cases were served on the commission, with the likelihood of many more yet to be served.” When asked about the cost of the pending cases to the commission, the chairman said, “no kobo has been paid to any lawyer,” adding that the lawyers handling many of the cases are doing so out of patriotism. He said some of the cases were also being handled by in-house lawyers.

Submission deadline

The commission chairman also said that 54 out of the 63 registered political parties have submitted their list of candidates who will contest in the forthcoming elections.

Amongst those who have submitted the list of their candidates are the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria People’s party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). These parties, he said have candidates for all constituencies while other parties have candidates in varying numbers.

He also disclosed that a total of 20 Presidential candidates will contest the elections. The commission had earlier stipulated that the last day for the withdrawal of candidates for the election to the National Assembly was February 14, while the last day for the withdrawal of presidential and vice presidential candidates was yesterday. Candidates for governors and deputy governors and state houses of assembly have up to February 28 to withdraw their candidature or substitute names.

“The complete list of nominated candidates is expected to be published by the commission between March 2 and 16 in accordance with the time table and schedule of activities issued by the commission,” he said.

Preparations for elections

On the preparations so far made for the elections, the commission’s chairman told journalists that the electoral body has substantially deployed non-sensitive materials and consumables for the exercise.

He also said plans have been concluded for the recruitment and training of 360,000 ad hoc staff, which will include members of the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) and students from tertiary institutions. The process of accrediting observer groups and the media for the election is almost complete, he said.

Mr. Jega said the commission will spare no effort to deliver on its promise that the elections will be free, fair and credible.

The Plateau Police
Command and the Speacial Task Force (STF) deployed to secure the state
have threatened to clamp down on any group planning to carry out fresh
attacks in parts of Jos.

In separate
statements, the security agencies warned those planning to foment
trouble in the town to reconsider their actions in their own interest
or face the consequences.

“Those planning to
attack any part of Jos must desist from such thought or face the full
wrath of the law.” The Commissioner of Police, Abdulrahman Akano,
warned in a statement in Jos on Monday.

The News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) reports that there have been rumours of plans by some
groups to carry out attacks on some designated places in the town.

The command said in
a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Apev Jacob, that it
had uncovered plans by some miscreants to disrupt the peace in the
metropolis.

It said there were
alleged plans by groups bent on carrying out reprisal attacks following
the skirmishes that occurred on February 15 in which Isuwa John, a
corporal, of the Anti-Bomb Squad was killed.

The statement
warned all groups in the state “not to personalise the incident which
is a big loss to the police,” describing those who murdered the
corporal as “criminals” who will be made to face the wrath of the law.

It urged the public
not to panic over the threat of “imminent attacks,” but go about their
normal businesses, promising that enough security personnel are on
ground to forestall any uprising.

The command said
the five persons arrested in connection with the incident were still in
its custody and helping the police in their investigation.

The STF Spokesman,
Charles Ekeocha, told NAN that the force had kept its personnel on
alert to contain any outbreak of violence in the metropolis or any part
of the state.

“For the avoidance
of doubt, you can see our men everywhere in the town to warn anyone
planning to foment trouble or attack innocent citizens not to try it.
“We are aware of the rumours of planned attacks and ready to deal with
any insurgence. The miscreants are warned to steer clear of any such
action,” he warned.

Solution to crises

Shedrack Best,
Special Adviser to the Plateau State governor on Peace-Building and
Conflict Management, said the solution to the crises in Jos rests with
the people of the state.

Speaking to
journalists on Monday in Jos, Mr Best said: “We all need to play our
respective parts for Jos to move from a city where security is managed
to one where peace is made and built. The mere presence of security
operatives in the state cannot bring peace. Whatever fire power they
may possess, nothing can be achieved without the cooperation of the
people.” He said.

Mr Best, a
professor of peace and conflict management, said that his office is
interested in using “dialogue and sustained communication” to achieve
lasting peace in the state.

“Peace making is
enemies talking to enemies. Over time, they will be able to understand
each other’s feelings, and reach a meeting point of compromise. Our
people must talk to one another,” he added. NAN

The House of Representatives will pass the long-awaited Freedom of Information Bill before the end of the week, Henry Dickson (PDP/Bayelsa), the co-chairman of a new joint committee on the bill has said. Mr. Dickson, on Monday, spoke at a session with civil society organisations including the Media Rights Coalition, Good Society and Justice Coalition and ActionAid. The lead chairman of the joint committee, Ahmed Aliyu Wadada (PDP/Nassarawa), stated that the lawmakers did not oppose the enactment of the bill and would work to ensure it was passed in the House on “Tuesday or Wednesday.”

“For us as politicians, it will do us good if the bill is passed, because there is a lot of misinformation given to the public out there that is not true, because there is a lack of openness on the part of government,” Mr. Wadada said.

“The bill has suffered quite some delay and caused some anxiety and…there were issues about the content of the bill,” said Mr. Dickson.

Sekonte Davies (PDP/Rivers), another member of the committee, blamed the delay in the reenactment of the bill to the fact that “majority of the members have not read it”.

The FOI bill was introduced in the National Assembly in 1999 and was passed in 2007, but former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not sign it into law, forcing the reintroduction of the bill in 2007, shortly after the current session of the national assembly was instituted.

While examining the details of the 34-clause draft bill, the civil society groups suggested that the bill be titled: “An Access to Public Information Bill” or “Access to Information Bill”. The groups also suggested that the bill be amended to include clauses that would allow access to information on Nigeria for not only citizens but non-citizens who may want to do business with Nigeria. The speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, had last week in a plenary session, directed committees on information and justice to hold a public hearing on the bill, in order to issue a report for passage this week.

President Goodluck Jonathan has said he is not vying for the office of president to make money, but to entrench unity and pursue economic transformation of the country with the help of his running mate, vice president Namadi Sambo, and other key stakeholders nationwide.

He stated this yesterday during a courtesy call on the Kogi State traditional rulers council led by its vice chairman, Ado Ibrahim, the paramount ruler of Ebiraland, in Lokoja.

“Myself and vice president Sambo mean well for Nigeria. We are not into politics to make money. We stand for the unity of this country. We have no enemies to fight. We will not discriminate against anybody of any tongue, tribe, or religion,” he said.

Mr. Jonathan noted that himself and Mr. Sambo are united for the cause of national transformation because the issues begging to be resolved in the country defy all known sentiments.

He particularly urged other communities around the areas where the proposed nine new federal universities are to be cited not to be disenchanted, noting that “we are not citing the universities to create problems, but to bring development to those areas.”

“We do not want the good intentions of government to bring problems for people,” the president said.

He further described Kogi State as a unique state historically, serving as a link between the north and south of the country both through land and water, and pledged that government would resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Company, and also establish other mining plants and green refineries towards a technological and industrial revolution in the country.

“For our Vision 20-2020 to be realised, we must develop our oil and steel potentials, and Kogi State is key in this regard given its rich mineral deposits,” Mr. Jonathan said.

Earlier, Ado Ibrahim commended President Jonathan for his respect for the traditional institution in the country, noting that his humility and performance in governance so far has endeared him to the Nigerian masses.

Also speaking, Kogi governor, Ibrahim Idris, said the people of Kogi are determined to cast their votes en masse for President Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo.

“We are going to deliver hundred per cent for President Jonathan” Mr. Idris said.

Edo State spends at least N2. 3 billion every month
on workers salaries and over head cost. This was revealed in Benin City
in a valedictory press briefing yesterday by the out going Head of
Service of the state, Simon Imuokheme. While defending the state
government’s aggressive pursuit of its Internally Generated Revenue
(IGR), Mr Imuokheme said the policy has helped the state government to
meet up its basic responsibilities to the people of the state. “Right
now, we are spending about N2.3 billion generally for both salaries,
pensions, pay gratuities and specific overheads of various ministries.

That is why we are saying that the only way the state can survive is to
focus on Internal revenue because in some months. The federal
allocation is not even up to that N2.3 billion and that means that we
have to even use what we generate internally to meet our recurrent
expenditure.” He confessed. Mr Imuokheme said going by his long years
of experience in the system, there was need for political leaders to
push the tax laws of the country. “The challenges has to do with the
political will to enforce tax collection.

On the issue of internal
revenue, this government takes it as a matter of priority. It is the
first issue in every exco meeting on Wednesdays, the first topic is IGR
and there is a task force in the state in charge of revenue.” He said
the civil service in the state has been positioned to meet with current
challenges in the system

The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday told a Federal High
Court sitting in Abuja that Mohammed Abacha, the son of late former
military Head of State, Sani Abacha, is the governorship candidate of
the Congress for Progress Change (CPC) for Kano State.

Mr Abacha, through
his lawyer, Abdullahi Haruna, had filed a case demanding that INEC
should not recognise any other candidate for the said election other
than him.

Specifically, INEC
through its counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo in its counter affidavit said
that in compliance with the Electoral Act, the CPC invited INEC to
supervise and monitor its primary election into various offices in
preparation for the forth coming general election in April, 2011. Mr
Awomolo said INEC responded to the request by sending its personnel to
supervise the exercise in Kano State. He said from the results compiled
at the end of the exercise, Lawal Ja’afar Isah scored 78,671 votes;
Rufai Sani Hanga got 45,618 votes; Awalu Anwar scored 30,410; Magaji
Abdullahi scored 5,795 and Mr Abacha scored 144,066. He added that none
of the candidates at the primaries has instituted any suit to challenge
the result of the primaries, neither did they serve any process
challenging the qualification of Mr Abacha.

In the suit filed by Mr Abacha’s, the CPC is 1st defendant, INEC
2nd defendant, and Lawal Ja’afar Isah 3rd defendant. The matter which
is before Gabriel Kolawole, the presiding Judge adjourned to Thursday
24, for adoption of written addresses.

The Minister of the
Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, has donated relief materials
worth millions of naira to victims of the recent civil disturbances in
Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi State.

The relief items donated include: 1000 bags each of rice and millet, jerry cans of palm oil, wrappers

as well as bundles of mats.

Over 40 people,
including women and children lost their lives in the disturbances which
broke out on January 24 in Tafawa Balewa. Many shops and residential
houses were also destroyed.

The Police Public
Relations Officer of the Bauchi State Police command, Mohammed Barau
said the problem started at a snooker joint,

The relief
materials were conveyed to the victims on behalf of Mr Mohammed by the
Bauchi State chairman of the Distribution of relief materials, Kaulaha
Aliyu, who urged the beneficiaries to use the items wisely.

The Minister urged
the victims to take their plight as an act of God and manage the little
assistance he rendered to them to alleviate their sufferings.

Meanwhile, the
Congress for Progressive Change candidate for Tafawa Balewa, Dass and
Bogoro Federal Constituency, Umar Jibo, has also donated bags of rice,
maize, mats and wrappers with a pledge to mobilise and bring more
assistance to the victims.

The Deputy
Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Tafawa Balewa, Daniel
Sharmi and Ward Head of Bununu, Salisu Mohammed, who received the items
on behalf of the victims, thanked the donors and pledged to make
judicious use of the materials.

The
police have deployed 700 officers ahead of President Goodluck
Jonathan’s visit to Bida in Niger. Mr. Jonathan is expected to pay a
courtesy visit to traditional ruler, the Etsu Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar, on
Tuesday before flagging off his campaign in Minna. The police area
commander in Bida, Ayo Olatunji, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
on Monday that police officers had been deployed to strategic locations
to ensure an orderly visit. Mr. Abubakar also appealed to youth in the
area to be calm and not to do anything that would cause any hitches,
stressing that the police would deal with anyone seeking to cause a
breach of the peace.

Meanwhile, a former
minister of information, Jerry Gana, has appealed to Nupe people all
over the country to come home to welcome the president.

“We must all come out to give Mr. President a befitting welcome and convince him to support our demand for Edu State,” he said.

Earlier yesterday,
the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) says it was finalising arrangements
for President Goodluck Jonathan’s successful campaign across the seven
states in the North-West Zone. Baba Lawal-Aliyu, the North West Zonal
Secretary of the party, made this known in Kaduna on Monday in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that the presidential campaign train would visit all the states in the zone to canvass for support from the electorate.

“You see, this is a
critical zone to the party because we produced the vice-president and a
host of ministers, ambassadors and other political appointees. Our zone
is also the most populated region in the country with the highest
number of votes.

“That is why the PDP machinery at all levels would not want to take chances or squander opportunities,” Mr. Lawal-Aliyu said.

According to him, the zonal executive committee and zonal working
committee will consider the composition of campaign committees and
itinerary as well as other sundry issues that will make the programme a
success. He urged party members and supporters to remain steadfast,
loyal and law abiding. The zone comprises Kaduna, Kano, Katsina,
Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa and Zamfara States. Meanwhile, the PDP has
inaugurated an eight-member reconciliation committee for the zone with
a Veteran Journalist, Abba Dabo, as Chairman. Mr. Lawal-Aliyu said that
an educationist, Suleiman Kauru, would serve as the committee’s
secretary. He said Ladan Shuni, Babajo Funtua, Sule Buba, Samaila
Dankasa, Isa Bahutu and Mohammed Bawa would serve as members. In a
related development, Ibrahim Kazaure, has since assumed duties as the
new zonal chairman of the party with a pledge to refocus and improve
PDP’s fortunes in the North-West zone.

A
NEXT investigation has shown that the media assistant to President
Goodluck Jonathan, Ima Niboro, lied when he tried to contest this
newspaper’s exclusive story that President Jonathan hired 133 advisers
and assistants whose wages cost the nation about N780million per annum.
Mr. Niboro claimed in his telephone rejoinder that Mr. Jonathan only
appointed a few aides upon assuming office and that the “majority of
all the names on the list are old names; most of them have been there
since Obasanjo’s time.”

A review of the dates of appointment of
the aides, however, shows that none of the 133 presidential aides, in
the official list as published by NEXT, was appointed during the tenure
of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr. Jonathan appointed 57 of the
aides upon becoming president while the remaining 76 were appointed
while he was the vice president.

Our findings show that Mr. Jonathan,
who assumed office on May 6, 2010, appointed the first set of eight
presidential aides on May 24, 2010. Two weeks later, four aides were
appointed on June 9, 2010. A month later, the first lady got 11
presidential aides, including one of her ladies-in waiting, Justin
Adaba.

Mr. Niboro was also wrong when he said
that he “ignored those enquiries because they did not come through the
state house correspondent.”

The lead reporter of the original
story, Elor Nkereuwem, sent her questions to Mr. Niboro through text
messages when he did not answer his phone. The state house
correspondent for NEXT, Elizabeth Archibong, also sent Mr. Niboro a
reminder. Several attempts were also made by other reporters and
editors to seek Mr. Niboro’s clarification. The presidential spokesman
still did not respond.

Civil society condemns large number of aides

The Human and Environmental Development
Agenda has condemned the high number of presidential aides. Olanrewaju
Suraj, the chairman of the group, stated this in a telephone interview.
Mr. Suraj condemned the position of the secretary to the government of
the federation whose spokesperson stated that “the president has all
the right to choose his assistants and advisers and there is no
constitutional limit to the number he decides upon.”

“If the constitution does not limit the
presidential aides, is that now enough reason to waste taxpayers’ money
for such high number of aides who are largely irrelevant to the growth
of the nation?” Mr. Suraj asked.

We approve presidential aides

But the chairman of the House of
Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Eseme Eyiboh,
yesterday defended the president’s large number of aides.

“I do know that the president usually sends that request (the number of aides required) to the National Assembly,” he said.

Section 151(2) of the 1999 constitution empowers the National
Assembly to limit the number of presidential aides. “The number of such
advisers and their remuneration and allowances shall be as prescribed
by law or by resolution of the National Assembly,” the law states.

Justice Jonathan
Shakarho of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, on Monday, adjourned
indefinitely the hearing of a contempt suit brought against the Oyo
State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala. The judge said that he was making
the decision on moral grounds, having been accused of receiving N50
million from Mr. Alao-Akala to rule in his favour last week. The case
was brought before the court by Wole Oyelese, Yekini Adeojo, Lekan
Balogun, Azeem Gbolarumi and 33 other members of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state to challenge the emergence of the
governor and other nominees as the party’s candidates for the April
polls. The group asked the court to declare that Mr. Akala and the
other candidates’ nominations were products of ‘illegal party
primaries’.

Although the court was to reconvene on Monday to begin the hearing on the contempt suit and substantive matter, Mr.

Shakarho said he would have to wait for a directive from the office of the chief justice of Nigeria, Alloysius Kastina-Alu.

“We can’t go on
with the case by the undoing of some of the plaintiffs,” Mr. Shakarho
said. “I am leaving the case as it is. When there is a directive from
my chief judge, we will go on”.

Yekini Atoyebi, one
of the plaintiffs, had in a petition asked the chief justice to
investigate an alleged induced reversal of an interlocutory injunction
earlier given by Mr. Shakarho. Mr. Atoyebi, in his petition, alleged
that the judge’s body language when he reversed his initial order
restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from
recognizing the governor and others as PDP contestants suggested that
he had made up his mind to tilt the ruling in their favour.

‘What is my business?’

Speaking on the
petition and the implication on his continued sitting over the suits,
Mr. Shakarho said: “Once one person writes against me, we cannot go on.
He (Mr. Atoyebi) said in his last paragraph that, in his view, it was
clear they cannot obtain justice before me. I want another judge to
hear the matter. Can I, in the face of this, go further in this matter?
This case is adjourned sine die. ‘Case yi, o ti ba je’ (This case has
gone bad). They shot themselves on the leg. It is their own case, if
they want to put block on it, ‘ki lo kan mi ni be? (what is my
business?)”, he asked in Yoruba.

Efforts by Sanyaolu Akinyele, one of the counsel to the plaintiffs, to get the court to strike out the name of Mr.

Atoyebi and
continue the case proved abortive. The judge insisted that he would
wait until the chief justice directed him to proceed.

Reaction

Dotun Oyelade,
special adviser to Mr. Alao-Akala on public communications, reacted to
the adjournment, describing it as a sad day for the relationship
between politicians and the judiciary.

“What manner of
politicians are these who will turn the innocent into villains within
the twinkle of an eye because a case did not go their way? Resorting to
cheap blackmail to pervert the course of justice does not augur well
for democracy. We strongly suggest that the National Judicial Council
should investigate this and bring the culprits to book,” he said in a
release to journalists on Monday.

Lateef Fagbemi and Richard Akinjide, counsel to the defendants,
agreed with the court on the indefinite adjournment. An appeal filed by
the plaintiffs against the controversial vacation order has been slated
for Monday, February 28 at the Ibadan division of the Court of Appeal.