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About 169 bags of
fertilizer earlier declared missing by the Edo State Ministry of
Agriculture and Natural Resources have been recovered. This was
revealed in the handover notes by the former Commissioner for
Agriculture, Tunde Lakoju, who quit the state’s cabinet last week.

The fertilizer,
which was sent from Abuja last year and stored in the ministry’s
warehouse, was designated for distribution to farmers to boost food
production in the state.

The fertilizer was
declared missing earlier in the month and according to Mr. Lakoju’s
letter, “competent sources said that the stolen fertilizer was
allegedly diverted by officials of the warehouse and taken to the open
market and sold at N602,350.00.”

The letter further
revealed that interrogation of the warehouse officials revealed that a
retired storekeeper simply identified as Mr. Usiomoifo was responsible
for the missing bags of fertilizer. Mr. Usiomoifo was said to have
denied any knowledge of the fertilizer which went missing while he was
on duty. The ministry then decided to deduct the financial worth of the
fertilizer from the gratuity due Mr. Usiomoifo. The letter did not
indicate whether the accused would be prosecuted.

Commenting on why
this revelation was just coming out, Peter Okhiria, the chief press
secretary to the state governor said: “The reason why the commissioner
left the information till he resigned from the government was best
known to him.”

Meanwhile, the Edo State government may only be able to pay for
about 8,000 metric tons or about 140 trucks of assorted fertilizer, out
of the 12,600 metric tons or 420 trucks allocated to it by the federal
government for the current farming season. Government sources confirmed
that the dwindling financial resources of the state might be
responsible for the shortfall. This, they alleged, has also affected
its capacity to access the N1billion agricultural loan which it
announced it was taking in 2010 to improve food production.

Bauchi State
Governor, Isa Yuguda, has sworn in Ibrahim Mohammed Zango as the new
chief judge of the Bauchi State High Court. Speaking at the ceremony
which took place at the Government House, Bauchi, the governor stated
that the constitutional role bestowed on the judiciary is to allow
peace, order, and harmony to reign supreme and form the foundation for
enduring democracy. He further said that it was for this reason that
the 1999 constitution not only made the judiciary its own guardian, but
also made it the arbiter of all disputes brought before it.

He observed that
for the nation’s nascent democracy to succeed there was a need for a
strong and independent judiciary, assuring listeners that his
government would continue to respect the rule of law and due process in
all its transactions.

Mr. Yuguda who
described as cordial and harmonious the relationship between the three
arms of government in the state, said everything possible was being
done to provide a conducive working environment for members of the
judiciary to discharge their constitutional duties in the
administration of justice.

He enjoined the new
chief judge to continue to build on the robust and dynamic foundation
which has been laid by his predecessors and make the court truly a
bastion of democracy in the country.

Earlier, in a
valedictory court session in honor of the retiring chief judge, Sabo
Suleiman Darazo, the State Commissioner for Justice, Al-Mustapha
Suleiman Hassan noted that Mr. Darazo had served the state very well
and to the best of his ability.

He explained that
the retiring chief judge had a reputation for resolutely insisting on
due process while displaying empathy and accommodation where it was
most needed as he also worked with other arms of government to
stabilize the young and nascent democracy without compromising the
independence of the judiciary.

Mr. Darazo who was retiring together with a judge of the Bauchi High
Court, Bala Umar, expressed his gratitude that they were leaving behind
a dedicated team under the leadership of the new chief judge. Mr.
Darazo retired after working for 65 years and serving at the high court
in the state for 20 years.

Bauchi State Deputy
Governor, Babayo Garba Gamawa has won the Bauchi North Senatorial
re-run primary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Mr Gamawa, who
won 1,407 out of a total of 1517 votes, defeated his only opponent,
Aminu Yapeco who got a total of 99 votes to become the party’s
senatorial candidate, while 11 of the votes were invalid.

Speaking to
Journalists shortly after being declared winner of the PDP re-run
primary election which took place over the weekend in Azare, Mr Gamawa
said he was happy and grateful to the delegates for finding him worthy
to represent them and the entire senatorial zone.

He called on his
opponent and all the people of the zone to be united and work
harmoniously in achieving the vision of the party and that of the
region pointing out that “it is only when there is unity and
cooperation in the region that there can be development.”

He also appealed to
the people to help in making the 2011 general elections a success by
ensuring that they register during the on-going voter registration
exercise.

The former Speaker
of the State House of Assembly and presently deputy governor of the
state, said that one of his major priorities if elected as senator will
be to “make a good representation by ensuring that the people enjoy the
dividends of democracy to the electorate while in the senate. I will
make laws that will make Nigerians live in peace and have love for one
another.”

In the earlier primary election of the party before the call for a
re-run in some states, Mr Gamawa won with a total of 2,632 votes ahead
of Mr Yapeco who got only 37, but was cancelled due to petitions sent
by the latter’s camp alleging several irregularities.

The Conference of
Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has asked the leadership of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)
to come to an agreement in their ongoing alliance talks to present a
common presidential candidate for the April 9 elections. As the
deadline for political parties to submit their candidates to the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) expires today, the
group said it is making the call because the alliance is the surest way
to vote out the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from power.

Both parties have,
in the past months, been discussing the possibility of presenting a
common presidential candidate for the elections. However, the
discussions are yet to come to fruition following an alleged insistence
by ACN chieftain and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, to be
running mate to Muhammadu Buhari of the CPC, rumoured to be the
favourite joint presidential candidate of the alliance.

Another problem confronting the parties is: which platform will the candidates use for the presidential contest?

“We challenge Major
General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other
leadership of the various progressive political parties to close ranks
and present Nigerians with an alternative common presidential candidate
platform on or before the close of substitutions of candidates in
February 2011,” the CNPP said in a statement signed by its
spokesperson, Osita Okechukwu, in Abuja.

Distinct position

The CNPP said that
it is of the view that Nigerians are fed up with the failure of PDP to
provide electricity, to fix roads and to provide employment in the past
decade, adding that the people are not ready to reward the ruling party
for poor leadership, failed promises and pervasive corruption.

The national consensus, according to the CNPP, is that it will be a
gratuitous insult to allow PDP to actualize its “dream of ruling
Nigeria for 60 years in the midst of glaring failure of leadership,
squandermania, food-is-ready economic policy and gross incapacity to
provide security in the land”.

Two weeks after he
lost his bid to contest the presidency on the platform of the
opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), billionaire businessman,
Harry Akande, resigned from the party in a letter dated January 28,
2011 to the ANPP national chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu.

The letter reads:
“This is to officially notify you of my resignation as a member of All
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with effect from Friday, January 28, 2011.
This decision was borne out of my desire to advance my commitment and
resolution of making Nigeria a better country for the common man.
Therefore, accept my exit from the party in high esteem while wishing
ANPP the best of luck in its future political ambitions in our dear
country.

“Once again, extend
my sincere appreciation to all members for their cooperation for the 12
years of being a loyal member, as well as serving as the pioneer
chairman of the board of trustees of the party.”

Copies of the
letter were sent to the national secretary of the party, the deputy
chairmen in the south and north as well as the board of trustees
chairman.

Next move

Although Mr. Akande
did not state which party he was moving to, our investigations revealed
that he might be on his way to the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC). He allegedly held discussions with the presidential candidate of
the CPC, Muhammadu Buhari, sometime last year on his (Akande) political
future. Mr. Akande, an indigene of Ibadan in Oyo State, was a
foundation member of the ANPP. However, his plans to contest the
presidency under the banner of the party did not materialize on two
occasions. On January 16, he lost the party’s presidential primary
election to the Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau. Mr. Akande
secured 708 out of the 5,315 votes cast during the party’s national
convention. Last September, Mr. Akande’s ambition to become the
national chairman of the ANPP also crashed at the party’s national
convention in Abuja. He lost to Mr. Onu by 1,479 votes to 3,945.

The Independent
National Electoral commission has spent about N34.4 billion on
importation of 132,000 units of data capturing machine for the 2011
voter registration exercise but Mohammed Abubakar, Minister of Science
and Technology said Nigeria may not have to spend that much again on
elections as local technologies for the same purpose are now available.

Mr Abubakar said
that “the electronic voting machine developed by the Nigeria
Communication Satellite Limited, NIGCOMSAT, can assist the nation in
biometric registration for election” and that by 2015 it will be ready
for use at the election.

The minister told
journalists in Abuja that the technology would have been used for 2011
voter registration exercise but for some logistics that are not in
place.“We have developed that capacity (production of electronic voting
machine),” he said. “There was no time for experiment and we did want
to take chances with this present voter registration, that is why we
are postponing the use of these indigenous voting machines till 2015.
Nigerian scientists and engineers have really done well with this new
feat.”

He equally stated
that there is need for the private sector to partner with the research
institutes of the ministry to commercialise their research outputs
since their mandate as a ministry ends in production of prototypes.
“Private sector has to come in. They prefer to import. We need
entrepreneurs to support us with funds so that we can meet
international standards. Nigerian scientists are coming up with
interesting research and development results,” he said.

Attahiru Jega,
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission had earlier
paid a visit to the NIGCOMSAT office where he inspected the products
and pledged his commission’s collaboration with the company.According
to Mr Jega, “INEC will partner with all stakeholders including
NIGCOMSAT to enable the nation have a credible election in 2011. I am
very pleased and I want to assure you that in whatever way we can work
together, in the interest of this country, we will be willing to do
so.”

Timasaniyi Ahmed-Rufai, Managing Director of NIGCOMSAT said that
apart from the electronic voting machine, the company has network
supporting video and voice polling that will help INEC to monitor the
election both from states, councils and INEC Headquarters.“While the
local government elections could be monitored in the state headquarters
through cameras strategically planted at the polling units, INEC
Headquarters will also be able to monitor through satellite device that
will help beam the activities of the states and local councils to the
headquarters directly.“NIGCOMSAT will be able to assist the commission
on the e-register process if given the mandate to do so,” he said.

U.S. President
Barack Obama urged Americans to “win the future” this week, while
moving ahead in the effort to do that himself as well.

Obama delivered the
State of the Union address, an annual constitutional obligation which
has become an opportunity for the White House to praise its
accomplishments and sketch-out its plans.

In that ritual
speech to lawmakers, judges,ambassadors and guests, Obama advanced a
range of initiatives but passed-over one crucial item on his personal
agenda: beginning his campaign for re-election.

Americans voted
just a few months ago in Congressional elections that punished Obama’s
Democratic Party. His own job will be on the line the next time they go
to the polls, in November of 2012.

Despite the severe ‘shellacking’ that even he concedes he suffered in the November, his prospects are now looking up.

With the American
economy continuing to recover from recession and unemployment slowly
reducing, Obama is rising in public opinion polls. In some respects,
he’s doing better than even some of his supporters’ say they’d
expect.“Right now, you have the president with 55 percent job approval
at nine percent unemployment, which is quite frankly fairly
remarkable,” said Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher. “The policies
are working and I think the Americans are feeling it.” Obama has
started staffing his re-election headquarters in his hometown, Chicago,
and has shuffled his White House staff as well.

His potential
Republican opponents aren’t moving quite as fast. Former
vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin continues to be the most
prominent potential figure in the race, but she hasn’t said publicly
whether she’ll run.Recent public opinion polls put Obama ahead of her
and every other potential candidate the Republicans are likely to put
forward.

But the race hasn’t
really begun and it promises to challenge the president. Republicans
now control the House of Representatives and are planning a series of
confrontations over the Obama administration’s policies and
practices.Unemployment is still high and government spending is still
setting records. Both are serious problems for Obama’s prospects.

“He’s not a new
president anymore,” said former Republican White House aide Ari
Fleischer. “It’s time to judge him on results.” Americans seem to be
doing that and increasingly, they are once again rallying behind Barack
Obama.

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).

As the government’s
directive that schools remain closed during the registration of voters
became public mid January, Zaria Academy, an elite college in Kaduna
State, summoned its teaching and non-teaching staff to make a point:
there is no break here.

For the two weeks
the exercise lasted in the first instance, the academy like a few
others across the country, held classes, offering parents – many
already keen at returning the kids to school- a sure sale that such
prolonged stay at home would only distort the students’ learning.

But according to
long-term staff there and others elsewhere, experts on private schools’
programmes and administration, such counter order, rather than aimed at
protecting the students’ interest, stands in many cases to serve a
vital live-wire for educational organisations whose economic wellbeing
tie squarely to turnovers derived solely from students’ pay.

“This is a private
business and even if they have money elsewhere which many times they
do, the owners will always prefer spending as they come,” said Joseph
Niaje, who has spent 22 years as a teacher in many schools, and now
runs Destiny Crèche, a day care centre for children in Kubwa, Abuja.

Even for relatively
bigger schools, many teachers say, salaries and benefits of staff are
spread through the year interspersed by new term resumptions, when
fresh fees are expected to help clear personnel and overhead spending.

However, that
balance will be altered by occasional interruptions to the calendars
annually, as with the two-week closure of schools ordered by the
federal government during the ongoing voters registration that would
now get another extension.

In the end, the
staff would assert that employees of privately-owned institutions where
monthly remunerations, and other running cost are chiefly fed by
quarterly student charges, would appear to lead a group hit by a
federal policy that has no direct bearing on their profession.

“Somehow we seem to be the last point,” says a middle-aged teacher who gave his name only as Simeon.

“They may not
accept it, but what makes the difference every new term is the fees and
now our January money cannot come and if they extend the registration
again, only God knows how long we will suffer.” For the two weeks of
the break leading to January ending, many of the teachers interviewed
and whose schools were closed said they had already missed the usual
dates when they get their monthly pay.

In many of the
schools, the pay had failed to come although the staff had been ordered
back to work by the authorities preparatory for the eventual resumption
of the students.

In a few schools
like the Zaria Academy where classes had resumed for some of the
students during the period, staff say they received their pay and that
funds were the major reason why students were recalled.

That position,
however, has been severely denied by management staff of some of the
schools who point out that the consideration of finance plays no role
and that their motive in defying the closure of the schools was purely
in the interest of the students.

“It is not about
finance, it is about the curriculum,” said Adebisi Adeniyi, Vice
Chairman of the Association for Formidable Education in Nigeria, a
group that says it seeks financial intervention for small and medium
schools that may face financial challenges.

Mr. Adeniyi said
although the schools are run as business with eyes on profit, concern
for the excellence of the students override immediate gains. “Even if
the schools were to open normally, the students will not return fully
until February and now that they are to open in February, they will
resume fully in March. Any time they come, the money will come.”

At the Zaria Academy where some students took classes throughout the
exercise, the principal, Gideon Wuyako, refused to answer questions
about the motive behind the school’s reopening.

Islamists, leftists and trade unionists gathered in central
Amman Friday for the latest protest to demand political change and wider
freedoms. A crowd of at least 3,000 chanted: “We want change.” Banners and
chants showed a wider range of grievances than the high food prices that
fuelled earlier protests, and included demands for free elections, the
dismissal of Prime Minister Samir Rifai’s government and a representative
parliament. The protest after Friday prayers was organised by the Islamic
Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood which is the only
effective opposition and biggest party, but included members of leftist parties
and trade unions.

Jordan’s protests, as in several Arab countries, have been
inspired by the uprising that overthrew the Tunisian president. “After Tunisia,
Arab nations have found their way towards the path of political freedom and
dignity,” said Zaki Bani Rusheid, a leading Islamist politician.

Demonstrations have taken place across Jordan calling for
reversal of free-market reforms which many blame for a widening gap between
rich and poor. Jordan is struggling with its worst economic downturn in
decades. The government has announced measures to reduce the prices of
essentials create jobs and raise salaries of civil servants. Protesters say the
moves do not go far enough.

King calls for openness

King Abdullah told lawmakers Thursday the government must do
more to ease the plight of Jordanians and urged a faster tempo of political
reforms. “Openness, frankness and discourse over all issues is the way to
strengthen trust between people and government entities,” the monarch was
quoted as saying in a palace statement.

“Everything should be put in front of people. There is nothing
to be afraid of,” said the 49-year-old monarch, who has faced stiff resistance
from a conservative establishment to reforms they fear will empower the
Islamists. He urged the 120-member assembly to amend an electoral law
criticised as designed to under-represent cities in favour of
sparsely-populated tribal areas to ensure a pliant assembly. Under the
constitution, most powers rest with the king, who appoints the government,
approves legislation and can dissolve parliament.

Islamists march in Tunis

Also, Islamists marched through central Tunis on Friday,
demanding religious freedom, while police fired teargas at anti-government
protesters who have camped out around the prime minister’s office.

The march by about 200 people was the first significant Islamist protest
since the fall of president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who ran a strictly secular
state in which Islamists were often jailed or forced into exile. Some carried
placards reading: “We want freedom for the hijab, the niqab and the beard.”
Under Ben Ali’s rule, women who covered their hair by wearing the hijab, in the
Muslim tradition, were denied jobs or education. Men with long beards were
stopped by police. “We demand the revision of the terrorism law … and say no
to the war on the niqab,” one woman told Reuters TV, her face entirely covered
by a black veil, or niqab. Islamists played no visible part in the “Jasmine Revolution”
that toppled Ben Ali, but when the Ennahda, the country’s largest Islamist
movement, was allowed to contest elections in 1989, it came second to the
ruling party. Since Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia on January14 in
the face of violent unrest over poverty and political repression, protesters
have been gathering in Tunis to demand that the new interim government be
purged of Ben Ali loyalists. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said 12
ministers would be replaced, purging members of the former ruling party
including the interior, defence and foreign ministers.

The Special Court
for Sierra Leone trying former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war
crimes on Friday dismissed a challenge to its impartiality that was
based on U.S. embassy cables published by WikiLeaks.

Mr Taylor, who
denies all charges of instigating murder, rape, mutilation, sexual
slavery and conscription of child soldiers in wars in Liberia and Sierra
Leone in which more than 250,000 were killed, had been allowed to use
the cables as evidence in court.

But on Friday the
court rejected a motion by Taylor’s lawyers seeking disclosure and an
investigation into the identity of sources that the U.S. government has
within the court’s trial chamber, prosecution and the registry. In its
filing, Mr Taylor’s defence said the cables “raise grave doubts about
the independence and impartiality of the Special Court’s prosecution of
Charles Taylor.” One of the diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks last
month contained comments made by a U.S. ambassador that if Mr Taylor was
acquitted or given a light sentence, his return to Liberia could “tip
the balance in a fragile peace.” Another cable stated that U.S. contacts
in The Hague-based court’s prosecution and registry said one of the
judges may be trying to time proceedings so as to be in charge when the
judgement was handed down.

The judge named in
the cable, Julia Sebutinde, rejected the allegation and excluded herself
from the ruling on the cables to ensure objectivity. In its ruling, the
court said the cables did not demonstrate that such contacts may have a
relationship with the U.S. government capable of interfering with its
independence or impartiality.

Officials from the
court’s registry and prosecution interact on a regular basis with
governments from a number of countries as part of their official
functions, it added. Both the prosecution and defence have already
finished presenting their evidence, but the court ruled in favour of a
defence motion seeking to re-open its case for the “limited purpose” of
admitting into evidence two U.S. cables.