Nigeria Content Online

The federal minister
of aviation, Fidelia Njeze, has expressed displeasure over the alarming
rate of the presence of disabled aircraft in airports across the
country. According to her, the trend, “is obviously assuming a worrisome
dimension” hence the need for proactive measures to stem the tide and
bring sanity to the airport operating environment.

The minister made
these remarks in Abuja yesterday, while inaugurating the ministerial
committee for the removal of displaced aircraft from airports in the
country.

“It is incumbent on
the ministry to exert every possible effort and provide an enabling
environment to safeguard the passengers, crew, ground personnel and the
general public against incidents and accidents,” she said.

She maintained that
the purpose of inviting participants was “to formally bring together
professionals and other stakeholders to outline the responsibilities to
manage the removal of disabled aircraft on, or adjacent to the movement
area of the airport immediately as it is consistent with safety and
security of airport operations.”

Mrs. Njeze said that
she was aware that “aircraft become immobilised on an airport for a
variety of reasons ranging from incidents such as [damaged] tyres, an
aircraft skidding off the runaway or taxiway to major accidents
involving partial or complete damage of the aircraft but a situation
where such aircraft is left unattended to for an unnecessary prolonged
period as witnessed in our airports is unacceptable and detrimental to
efficient and effective air transport operations.”

She also noted that
“the removal of the disabled aircraft is the responsibility of the
registered owner or operator; however, if this obligation is not carried
out, relevant establishments in coordination with the Civil Aviation
Authority and the investigation authority should act swiftly to remove
the aircraft and the cost [be] borne by the owner or operator.”

The committee, which
has six weeks to submit its report, has its members from Aviation and
its parastatals, Justice, Defence, National Security Adviser, Armed
Forces, and the Police.

The chairman of the committee, Mohammed Rumah, a captain who doubles
as the ministry director of safety and technical policy said Nigeria is a
member of the International Civil Aviation Authority and that they
“would not tolerate anything that flouted the law and expressed the hope
that with ICAO technical capacity, the disabled aircraft will be
removed.”

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Kwara State
government of compromising the ongoing voter registration exercise in the state
with the donation of almost N100 million at the unit rate of N50,000 to all the
1,872 polling centres in the state.

The party’s national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, in a
statement on Monday, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
to urgently “investigate the reason behind the donation,” which was allegedly
announced on the radio airwaves without stating the purpose of the donation.

ACN claimed that the need for the electoral body to “investigate
the inexplicable monetisation of the registration exercise in Kwara State
becomes even more imperative,” considering the commission’s warning against any
unsolicited financial assistance.

The party also demanded that INEC should probe its officials
across the country “in view of its implications.”

Raising more allegations, ACN expresses its concerns on what it
described as the “Greek Gift from the Kwara State government” against the
backdrop of reports that some DDC machines are being used to register voters in
certain unauthorised locations in the state”, adding that it has ascertained
that “Nigerians are resolved to fully participate in the voter registration
exercise without any financial inducement.”

Demanding an explanation to unravel the real motive of the state
government in what the party called “playing Santa Claus in January”, the party
questioned what the money was supposed to be used for, who the beneficiaries
are, why the state government would give away over 100 million naira for an
exercise that has been fully funded by the federal government through INEC, to
what extent the unsolicited cash donation has compromised the exercise, and if
there are other measures being taken by the state government to influence the
exercise in favour of the ruling party in the state.

Supporting INEC

Confirming the donation, the chief press secretary to the Kwara
State government, Mas’ud Adebimpe, told NEXT over a phone interview on Monday
that the state government made the donation to assist INEC tackle the myriad of
challenges that is plaguing the voter’s registration.

“In view of the situation INEC has found itself with the ongoing
voter’s registration, we (the Kwara State government) believe nothing is too
much in supporting the process so that our people, irrespective of political
affiliations, can register,” Mr. Adebimpe said.

The spokesperson noted some of the challenges to include
difficulties with charging the DDC machine’s power-pack, purchase of ink, and
laminating of the voters’ cards.

“With all these problems in the final lap of the registration process,
a lot of our people are yet to be registered and Mr. Jega, who is in Abuja
cannot solve all the problems. So we believe these little challenges must be
addressed so that most of our people who are majorly in the rural areas will be
enabled rather than being disabled to exercise their civic duties due to this
challenges,” Mr. Adebimpe further said.

A call to the media assistant to the chairperson of the
electoral agency, Kayode Idowu, to know the stand of the agency on such
donations, was not successful as he refused to pick the calls.

After a vacation
that has defined their political future in varied ways, federal
lawmakers are resuming sitting today hoping to shelf discussions about
the sweeping primaries that denied more than half of the 469 members
party tickets.

With almost 60 of
the 109 senators and more than 200 of the 360 representatives almost
sure not to run in April, the outcome of the parties’ polls, many of
which are already contentious, is expected to inevitably feature as the
legislators resume session.

But Senators and
members of the House of Representatives will rather busy themselves with
pressing national issues, official position from both chambers say,
although they could be adjusted by urgent House rules.”Top on the agenda
of the senate business will be the 2011 appropriation bill which the
committees could not treat because of party primaries and other
political activities including the voters registration,” Chairman,
Senate Committee on Media, Ayogu Eze, told NEXT yesterday.

Mr Eze added that
the senate will also be dealing with the anti-terrorism bill which has
missed international set deadlines and two reminders from President
Goodluck Jonathan last year.Surprisingly, the age-long Freedom of
Information bill will be tabled during the week, he said, adding also
that the senate may likely inquire into the ongoing voter registration
exercise “to ascertain the progress of the exercise.”

At the House of
Representatives similarly, Ita Enang, the Chairman House Committee on
Business issued a notice paper that pointed at no politically-based
legislation or motion. The House is to consider bills on the
entitlements of certain judicial staffers,and a few public petitions
during the week.The House will also is considering pushing the FOI bill
together with the senate, and Mr Enang he was optimistic the chamber
will “do justice” to the legislation that has been rejected by the
lawmakers severally.

But inevitably, the
outcome of the primaries is expected to play a significant role in
directing the lawmakers’ deliberations after some of their most notable
members fell to the most sweeping party nomination since 1999.Amongst
such at the senate are Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, at the center of a
murder controversy, two-term members, Effiong Bob, Ewa Henshaw and at
the House, Patrick Obahiagbon.

The senate
spokesperson, Mr Eze, himself a victim of the just concluded primaries,
avoided other inquiries from NEXT on the projected political mood of the
senate as they resume and in particular, a question regarding a planned
move against the leadership over the outcome of the nominations.

Five days to the end of the voter registration, an Ibadan based
lawyer, Tade Ipadeola has filed a suit against the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) over its failure to deploy the registration
materials to his community, Akinmoorin town, in Oyo State.

The Motion Ex-parte (which is to be held quickly) is to compel
the electoral agency through a court order to deploy the registration materials
and its officials to the community forthwith. Mr Ipadeola also prayed the court
for an order to grant his community the exact amount of time given to all other
Nigerians for the exercise, hence two weeks which will run way beyond the
January 29th deadline.

Also joined in the suit filed at the Federal High Court in
Ibadan are INEC’s chairperson; Attahiru Jega and the resident electoral
commissioner in Oyo State.

Speaking to NEXT on Monday, the plaintiff stated that “since
the commencement of the voter registration exercise on the 15th of January
2011, the electoral commission has failed to deploy its officials and materials
to the town for the voters’ registration process.” He noted that “Akinmoorin is
a town of more than two thousand adults……with the nearest towns to
Akinmoorin being approximately nine kilometres away. Therefore, due to
restrictions on vehicular movement, it would be impractical to expect indigenes
of Akinmoorin to register and vote in those distant locations.”

The ongoing voter registration has been plagued with a lot of
challenges since it commenced over a week ago across the country and there have
been diverse calls for the process to be further extended. The President,
Goodluck Jonathan and the INEC boss both gave signals last week of the
possibility of such an extension if the need arises.

The lawyer claimed that all eligible adults irrespective of political
affiliation in his community will be ‘effectively disenfranchised’ if the voter
registration exercise is not effected in the town, adding that over 700
communities in the country are currently devoid of the machines and the
electoral officials. INEC is expected to face more of such legal actions he
added as the voter registration exercise is scheduled to be concluded on the
29th of January.

The Kano State governor’s wife has urged Nigerian women to participate fully in the ongoing voter registration exercise. Sayyada Halima Ibrahim Shekarau, who holds the traditional title of Garkuwar Nakassasu (defender of the disabled) also called on physically challenged individuals to equally fulfill this civic responsibility which, she said, is mandatory for all eligible citizens.
Mrs. Shekarau spoke shortly after she registered at the Government House polling unit, Kano.
“When the health system is not working, it is women that suffer the more for it. When children stay at home because they could not go to school, the repercussion is mostly felt by their mothers,” she said.
She equally admonished the physically challenged members of the society not to let their disabilities hinder them from participating in the registration exercise. She then called on all Nigerians to make good use of their voter’s card by electing credible leaders who can better the lot of the common person, soliciting support of Nigerians to vote for her husband, Ibrahim Shekarau as the next president of the county.
“From what I know of Shekarau and from what he has done in Kano state over the last eight years, I believe he has the will and capacity to turn around Nigeria for the better. I believe he is the right person to get the votes of Nigerians,” she concluded.

A 23-man team from
the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State, has
commenced a one-week study tour of environmental challenges in Anambra
State, Jacob Adeyemi, the leader of the team, a brigadier general, has
said.

Mr. Adeyemi said
this yesterday in Awka, the state capital, when the group paid a
courtesy call on Governor Peter Obi at the Government House. He said
the tour would take them to some disaster areas in the state including
some gully erosion sites, in line with their study.

He stated that the
study report will be presented to the Federal Government on February 21
as a policy paper in assisting the government to take decisions on
ecological problems in the country.

The team leader
thanked Mr. Obi for his support to the military command in the state and
his efforts that helped in completing the Onitsha military barracks
fence.

“From my close
interaction with Governor Obi, I have no doubt about his passion for
the well being of the state,” Mr. Adeyemi said.

Governor Obi
solicited support for the state government’s efforts to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of time with contribution of
ideas.

He said the state
had emerged from its difficult past stronger and more purposeful and was
now carefully executing multi-sectoral development strategy to turn the
state around, in line with the Millennium Development Goals which the
state adopted as its vision.

A Federal
High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, referred the suit instituted by
Mohammed Fawehinmi, eldest son of the late human rights activist, Gani
Fawehinmi, against First Trustees Nigeria Limited to an Arbitration Panel for
resolution.

The junior Fawehinmi had instituted
the suit against First Trustees, which is a subsidiary of First Bank, over the
alleged failure of the firm to recognise him as the executive chairman of one
of the deceased’s companies, the Nigerian Law Publications Limited. First
Trustees was appointed by the deceased as the executor and trustee over his
estate during his life time.

Mr Fawehinmi also challenged the
defendants’ decision to freeze accounts belonging to three of his late father’s
companies without appropriate notification. The companies are the Nigerian Law
Publications Limited, Book Industries Nigeria Limited, and the Gani Fawehinmi
Chambers.

But First Trustees had through its
lawyer, Adebowale Kamoru, urged the court to stay further proceedings in the
matter because Mohammed’s major grouse had been adequately taken care of by the
will left by the deceased. Mr Kamoru had cited Clause 44 (a) (b) and (c) of the
will to buttress his point, stressing that the deceased made provision for
arbitration as regards any dispute arising from the implementation and
interpretation of the will.

In his ruling on Monday, the
presiding judge, J. T Tsoho, upheld the defendant’s contention and ruled that
the matter should be referred to an Arbitration Panel for resolution. The
judge, who cited Clause 44 (d) of the will in his ruling, noted that the
provision of the clause was key to the resolution of the dispute. The clause
states: “I plead with all my children and wives not to resort to litigation in
the interpretation and Implementation of this Will. They should resolve
amicably all dispute that may arise thereof.”

The court added that the deceased
had given all his shares in the Nigerian Law Publications Limited to First
Trustees in paragraph 21 (E) of the clause.

Addressing the issue

Mr Fawehinmi has vowed to institute
an appeal against the ruling. Speaking with journalists, he noted that he was
not satisfied with the ruling because his suit was not a challenge to his late
father’s will; but against the decision of First Trustees not to recognise him
as the chairman of the company and the freezing of the accounts without
appropriate notification.

He had averred in a supporting
affidavit to his originating summons that his father stepped down for him as
the chairman of the company at a board meeting of the company held on August
25, 2009.

He further averred that although
the company’s Managing Director, Mojeed Ajao, witnessed the event, having been
party to the meeting; his father also informed one of his sisters, Rabiat,
about the development.

The plaintiff accused the managing
director of frustrating the finalisation of his appointment by denying his late
father the opportunity of signing the necessary documents. He, therefore,
prayed the court to among others, make an order of perpetual injunction,
restraining the defendant or its agents from overriding the decision and
resolution of the company’s board held on August 25, 2009 where he was
appointed the chairman.

The plaintiff also sought an order
compelling the defendant to recognise him in that capacity as the company’s
chairman in view of duties he had performed since the demise of his father and
upon the advice given the defendant on how the deceased wanted his legacy
preserved. He had further prayed the court to declare that since he was duly appointed
to chair the company’s board, there is no longer a vacancy which the defendant
purportedly seeks to fill.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has demanded that the voter
registration exercise be extended by 10 days or as allowed by the amended
Electoral Act 2010, to enable the registration of all willing and eligible
voters.

While commending Attahiru Jega, INEC’s chairman, “for being
forthright by immediately coming out to acknowledge that the electoral body is
facing serious logistic and technical challenges that have led to a very slow
pace of registration in spite of reported huge turnouts by eligible Nigerians,”
it, however, asked for the distribution of outstanding DDC machines to more
centres and the deployment of technical personnel across the country to make
the process faster.

Illegal extension

However, according to Festus Okoye, the national coordinator of
the Independent Election Monitoring Group, the extension of the time for the
voter registration would violate section 9, sub section 5 and section 20 of the
Electoral Act.

He explained that the sections provided that voter updates
should stop 60 days (previoulsy, it was 120 days) before an election, while the
voter’s register should be published 30 days before elections.

“The question is: is it possible to extend the registration date
without an amendment of the law? I will advise that INEC calls for extension of
the registration hours to enable it register all eligible voters within the
fixed date,” he said.

Mr. Okoye said the best option in the circumstance is for the
Independent National Electoral Commission to adjust the periods for the holding
of all categories of elections under the Act by 7 days. He said the one week
gap between the end of the voter’s registration and the display of the register
is essential for the tidying up of the register.

According to the group, in its analysis, the time table that was
largely drawn from the Electoral Act, 2010, the registration of voters will
commence on January 15, 2011 and end on the January 29, 2011. This is pursuant
to the provisions of section 9(5) of the Electoral Act, 2010. While it will
display the register of voters between February 3, 2011 and February 8, 2011
pursuant to section 19(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010.

The commission will, thereafter, integrate the voter’s register
with the supplementary list and publish on or before the March 2, 2011,
pursuant to section 20 of the Electoral Act, 2010.

However, the group said that “any attempt to breach the
provisions and intendment of section 9(5) of the Act may throw the entire
electoral process out of gear and create a constitutional logjam that may be
too costly for the Nigerian people to bear.”

In its advice to the commission, “rather than hold the National
Assembly elections on the 2nd day of April, 2011, it will be held on the 9th
day of April, 2011. The Presidential Election will then be held on the 16th day
of April 2011, rather than on the 9th day of April 2011; and the Governorship
and State Assembly Elections on the 23rd day of April 2011, rather than on the
16th day of April 2011.”

The spokesperson for the INEC boss, Kayode Idowu, said on Sunday
that the review was still in progress and that an outcome was expected by
Monday. According to him, an extension of the registration, likely by a week,
would force a new date for the display of the new voter’s register currently
scheduled for February 3 to February 8, 2011.

The first election date, which is that of the National Assembly,
is scheduled to hold on April 8, while a 60-day limit demanded by the Electoral
Act for the voter’s registration can still allow for its extension to go by a
week.

Almost all the political parties through their spokespersons or
special releases have also called and supported the voter registration
extension.

The United Nations
Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay has asked for justice for victims of
relentless massacre and killings in Plateau State in recent years.

The UN official was
responding to a petition from a civil society organisation, the
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) which urged
that those responsible for the persistent violence in Jos, and the
associated human rights violations be brought to book.

The group had
petitioned the global body over the negligence of the Nigerian
government in checking the unrelenting killings that has greeted the
state in the last two years.

According to Ms
Pillay, “the High Commissioner has written to the Nigerian authorities
urging them to make every effort to achieve security with full
adherence to legality and respect for human rights.” She stressed that
“it is important that every effort should be made to avoid excessive
use of force, arbitrary arrest and detention and that the authorities
should fully investigate all incidents of human rights violations and
hold those responsible to account.”

The UN official
also urged the Nigerian government to look beyond the use of military
tactics in addressing the issue but rather, focus on the primary issues
such as poverty and discrimination. She has suggested that the way
forward and the best proactive protection is to “address the root
causes of these recurrent inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts
between various communities.” On the call for a special session of the
Human Rights Council on Jos, Ms Pillay said that, “such a discussion is
the prerogative of the member states of the Human Rights Council. But
we in the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will
continue to engage with the authorities on the issues raised in your
letter.” SERAP had claimed that the failure of the Nigerian government
to exercise due diligence has resulted in the violations of human
rights of citizens in Jos.

Ms Pillay expressed concerns about reports of religious violence in
Jos, which has caused death, injury and displacement and she extended
her sympathy to the families of the victims and wounded.

The Action Congress of Nigeria presidential flagbearer,Nuhu Ribadu has at the weekend obtained his voters registration card.

Mr Ribadu, who
blamed the People’s Democratic Party for the difficulty being
encountered by the citizenry, said his party will demystify the power
of incumbency. He said the PDP will lose in Nigeria, as is the trend
all over Africa “We are going to stop corruption in this country,” Mr
Ribadu said this before party supporters.

He sighted examples
of countries where incumbents have failed to return to power ,
countries like , Cote d voire, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana.The
presidential candidate assured people of the failure of the
imcumbent,‘‘They are going to lose in Nigeria. The difficulty that our
people are made to live with and the havoc that the PDP has caused is
going to be a thing of the past.” The ACN presidential aspirant, who
coincidentally obtained his voters’ registration card at the Aliyu
Musdafa primary school centre, the same place he had his early primary
education, commended the ongoing voter registration exercise.

Happy with registration

He said the
exercise showed the country is beginning to tread on the “right path”.
According to him, it signifies the conduct of a free and fair polls is
possible if everyone work towards it.

“I’m so happy, I
have just been registered by a member of the National Youth Service
Corps. It was done very fast and efficiently,” Mr Ribadu said,
expressing satisfaction with the registration. Following his
registration , he again promised the citizens of his willingness to
bring changes which include adequate and stable electricity supply,
qualitative education and qualitative medical health service delivery
which the PDP government had failed to deliver in its long years of
rule.

He was accompanied
by the ACN gubernatorial flagbearer of Adamawa State, Markus Natina
Gundiri; the state party chairman, Mohammed Abdullahi and other top
party stalwarts including a former acting governor of the state, Pithon
P. Power who is also the party flagbearer for Demsa, Numan and Lamurde
constituency for the Federal House of Representatives.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Kassim Gaidam
said the efficiency of the voter registration which Mr Ribadu has
confirmed himself in the state is the outcome of the “demonstrable will
by the electoral body not to disappoint Nigerians”.