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The emergence of the former chairman of the
Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, and
Mohammed Buhari as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) and Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) respectively do
not pose any threat to the presidential ambition of the incumbent
Goodluck Jonathan, the Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory,
Caleb Olubolade, has said.

Mr. Olubolade, who spoke with journalists in
Ado-Ekiti at the weekend, described the candidacy of Messrs Ribadu and
Buhari as good omen for the development of the nation’s democracy. He
noted that the beauty of democracy is multiple choices, adding that
although anybody could come up from any party, when they get to the
field, the end will jusitify the means.

He ascribed the emergence of Mr. Jonathan as the
presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to divine
intervention.

“The victory of Jonathan as the presidential flag
bearer of the PDP will enable him to carry out the transformation
agenda that he has in mind. All Nigerians need to do now is to come out
and give massive support to the president,” he said.

Nation for all

Mr. Olubolade also said the president’s victory is
a wake up call to all Nigerians, irrespective of their talent, to
contribute their quota to the building of a nation that can hold its
head among its peers in the world.

The minister, who commended the Convention
Committee headed by Tunde Adeniran for excellent performance, said the
massive security put in place by the committee to forestall untoward
occurrence was as a result of the lesson learnt in recent past where
there were incidences of bomb blast.

Mr. Olubolade described the convention as transparent, saying anything short of it would have engendered tension and crisis.

He urged the president’s opponents in the primaries to see the
victory of Mr. Jonathan as divine intervention, which should not debar
them from making their contribution toward building a greater Nigeria.

The Senate has debunked media reports
that some senators that lost their parties’ ticket to return to the
National Assembly are planning to impeach the senate leadership.There
are reports that some senators, apparently unhappy with the rate at
which they lost their party primaries, are planning to clog the
leadership of the senate who ironically had a high rate of success in
the primary elections.

The senators, who cut across both the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
are allegedly unhappy that unlike the executive, the senate leadership
did not aid their re-election.“It is not the duty of principal officers
to fix primaries for senators in an era where we are talking of one man
one vote,” Ayogu Eze, the senate spokesman said in a reactionary press
release.

Mr Eze added that since the processes
of nomination of candidates in the parties are still ongoing, till
January 31,2011, “It is therefore preposterous at this point to
conclude that any candidate has won or lost. Besides, loss of primary
election in one party does not mean that the candidate is not returning
to the senate as the reports suggest, as there are other platforms and
vehicles through which those short-changed in their parties but who
feel they are liked by their people can return to the senate.”

More than 50 senators recently lost
their bids to reclaim their party’s ticket to rerun for the senatorial
election in the forthcoming general election causing a massive
defection of the lawmakers to opposition parties where they may be able
to clinch a ticket to run for the elections.

“I’m aware that many senators have left
the parties through which they came to the Senate and have adopted
other political platforms to pursue their ambitions to return to the
Senate in April 2011,” the senate spokesman confirmed.

He also argued that not all senators
who are thought to have lost the primaries actually did.“For instance
even after I won the seat in my district by polling 1,620 votes out of
a total of 2,110 votes in my district,reports have continued to suggest
that I did not make the primaries.“In my own case, the primaries were
not conducted till January 15, 2011 because of the crisis instigated in
the state chapter of our party by the national leadership of the party.
I imagine that this scenario can be extrapolated to the cases of other
senators,” he added.

However, the senate which was scheduled to resume after three weeks
vacation postponed their resumption date by one week fuelling
speculations that there is a counter plot to disperse the lawmakers and
cool their tempers before they congregate.

Civil society
groups have called on former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to emulate
other People’s Democratic Party’s presidential aspirants by accepting
the verdict of the party’s national convention, held in Abuja.

Making the call
through a statement signed by its national publicity secreatry, Afam
Iheanacho, the Movement for Democratic Sustainability (MDS), a civil
society group, said the former vice president is sending a bad signal
of his desperation and bad sportsmanship in his remarks after the
primaries.

It said that even
as Mr. Abubakar has commended the PDP presidential panel for organising
a free, fair, and credible election, which he said, “indicates that the
wind of positive change is now blowing in that party,” he should also
see it as the best thing to do “to concede victory, congratulate Mr.
President, and join hands with others to unite the PDP.”

Mr. Iheanacho cited
instances of how Ibrahim Babangida, the former head of state, and Aliyu
Gusau, former national security adviser, who were both allies to Mr.
Abubakar, had both congratulated Mr. Jonathan and wished him success in
the race.

Emeka Obinagwu,
national publicity secretary of the National Vanguard for Democracy and
Development (NVDD), another civil society group, asked Mr. Abubakar to
stop further acts and statements that could heat up the polity.

Mr. Obinagwu, who
criticised the Atiku Campaign Organisation for its reluctance to accept
the resounding victory of Mr. Jonathan at the just concluded PDP
presidential primaries, said that “the PDP presidential primaries of
January 13, 2011 has been adjudged by both local and international
observers, the diplomatic community, local and international media as
free, fair and transparent, hence the strange silence of the Atiku
group is a big embarrassment to all lovers of democracy.

“We are shocked
that six days after the primaries the Atiku campaign group is still
searching for a clear statement to respond to the resounding victory of
Mr. Jonathan. What is coming from Atiku campaign is indicative of a
possible challenge of an affirmative, popular choice. It is sad. It is
unfortunate,” he said.

According to the
group, there was palpable tension in the country days to the primaries
and Nigerians in their millions heaved a huge sigh of relief when the
primary was concluded.

“Instead of another round of rancour and divisive statement, we
plead that the former vice president, for the sake of our nation,
allows peace to reign. He should avoid this indelible image of
desperation that is now hanging around him. Doing otherwise will be a
stigma that will stick with his name forever,” he added.

The governors of
the 36 states of the federation have congratulated President Goodluck
Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo over the outcome of last
Thursday’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) national convention,
advocating the implementation of what they said is consolidation,
appeasement and reconciliation process.

The Governor of
Niger State, Babangida Aliyu gave this position while speaking on
behalf of his colleagues at the Presidential Summit on Water which took
place in the banquet hall of State House in Abuja yesterday.

According to the
‘Chief Servant, of Niger State,’ Nigerians have stated asking questions
on what comes after the president’s victory at the primaries. He
remarked that they were interested in a process of consolidation,
appeasement and reconciliation in order to fend off any attempt by the
opposition to seize power from the PDP in the general election.

Mr Babangida who
wondered why he was chosen to speak for the governors even when Peter
Obi, the Deputy Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) was
also present at the occasion, however warned against handing power to
new comers as this may amount to starting all over again.

The Niger State
governor whose state was one of the five that voted against the
Jonathan/Sambo ticket, said “People are asking me about CAR and the
opposition’s attempt to unseat the largest party in Africa but to bring
anybody new is to start all over again.” He however added that the
governors were willing to support the federal government to achieve its
goal of providing portable water for all as well as becoming one of the
most developed countries by the year 2020 adding that with the
combination of technology and political will to implement programmes,
the goals were achievable.

“We need portable water. We have to give this administration the
chance to do more. We can’t give a neophyte because we have gone too
far,” he declared.

There are indications the National Executive
Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party will hold an emergency
meeting today to discuss the status of the national chairman of the
party, Okwesilieze Nwodo.

The NEC will also review the just-concluded party primaries, which were trailed by complaints and defection by members.

The meeting is coming three days after the South East
zonal caucus of the ruling party passed a vote of no confidence on Mr.
Nwodo. Besides, it is being convened a few days after the January 12
ruling of an Enugu High Court restraining him from parading himself as
the party’s national chairman.

Sources at the PDP headquarters in Abuja said that
the meeting will discuss the rift between Mr. Nwodo and the governor of
Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, which has defied solution. It was gathered
that the parley may consider asking the embattled national chairman to
step aside as a way of forestalling further embarrassment of the party.

Jonathan’s support

It was further learnt that President Goodluck
Jonathan is favourable disposed to asking Mr. Nwodo, who emerged
national chairman last June, to give way, especially in the light of
the move to pacify some eminent party chieftains, particularly from the
north, who are opposed to his presidential ambition.

The president is reported to be considering the
implication of going into the presidential contest with a chairman from
the southern part as himself.

Mr. Jonathan is also believed to be disturbed by the
incident at last Thursday’s national convention where the national
chairman addressed the event in controversial circumstances before a
motion was moved by the party’s national legal adviser, Olusola Oke,
and seconded by House of Representative deputy speaker, Usman Nafada,
for Mr. Nwodo’s deputy, Bello Mohammed, to take over the presiding of
the event.

Mr. Nwodo, a former civilian governor of Enugu State,
has been engaged in a supremacy battle with Mr. Chime over the status
of the executive committee of the party in the state. The national
chairman, cashing in on the request by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) for a fresh congress in the state, had
ordered the dissolution of the executive committee led by Vitalis Abba.

However, the governor kicked against the dissolution
just as Mr. Abba and members of his team headed for court asking it to
overturn it, as according to them, Mr. Nwodo acted unilaterally.

More crisis fore Nwodo

Mr. Nwodo further sunk into crisis when a day to the
national convention to pick the presidential candidate of the PDP, a
court in Enugu, presided over by Justice R.N. Onuorah, granted an
interim order restraining him from parading himself as an officer of
the party, pending the determination of the suit, which queried his
eligibility to hold party position.

It was, however, reported that the order had been
evacuated by another High Court in Anambra State sitting in Ekwulobia,
presided over by Justice B.A. Nwankwo, last Thursday, granting an order
restraining the PDP from sending its list of candidates for the April
general elections, except the one signed by Mr. Nwodo.

The court also ordered that Mr. Nwodo remain the
national chairman of the party until the motion on notice before it was
determined. The suit was filed by Annie Okonkwo, a senator, and one
Chike Anyanwu, in which the PDP and the party’s deputy national
chairman, Haliru Bello, were defendants.

Sources say that the confusion created by the court
rulings as well as Mr. Nwodo’s alleged embarrassing outing at the
convention, informed the emergency meeting of the NEC.

The meeting is expected to discuss the implication of
keeping Mr. Nwodo as the national chairman following the court rulings
and the need to pacify some northern members of the party.

A source at PDP has revealed that Josephine Anenih,
women affairs minister, and Pius Anyim, the former Senate president,
are likely replacements for Mr. Nwodo’s position.

The leadership of the South East geo-political
chapter of the PDP met on Sunday during which it passed a vote of no
confidence on the national chairman and asked him to resign. The
meeting was presided by the national vice chairman of the zone, Olisa
Metuh.

“We hereby pass a vote of no confidence on Dr. Nwodo
and ask him to resign his chairmanship of the party, and that if he
fails, the National Executive Committee of our party should expel him
from the party,” the communiqué issued after the meeting said.

“We condemn without reservation the ignoble conduct
of the suspended national chairman of our party, Dr. Nwodo, who
flagrantly disregarding the party’s constitution,

disobeying a valid court order by showing up at the
special convention and lying to the convention that the order had been
vacated, brought shame and embarrassment to the party and therefore us,
his kinsmen and women,” it further said.

The zone also apologised to the country for what it
called calamitous behaviour of the national chairman for not only
showing up but forcibly taking over the officiating at the convention
before he was overpowered and subdued.

It also appealed to PDP members in “the country who
have deserted the party stalwarts in Oyo, Osun, Plateau, Anambra,
Adamawa and other states, since Dr. Nwodo unleashed his high-handedness
on nearly every state chapter of the party, seeking to handpick
candidates without going through the process of primaries to return to
the party.”

But Mr. Nwodo, who reacted through his media aide,
Ike Abonyi, dismissed the decision of the zonal chapter, saying that
the meeting was not properly constituted.

“They didn’t call the meeting properly. How many
governors were there? How many senators and House of Representatives
members were there? It was not attended by any governor except Sullivan
Chime.

“Their meeting is political. It has no legal implications and they
don’t have the powers to remove the national chairman,” Mr. Abonyi said.

The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned an Abuja-based legal
practitioner, Amobi Nzelu, over a three count-charge bordering on
impersonation and criminal misappropriation of the sum of N6. 8 million
before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Mr. Nzelu, who was
docked on Monday, January 17, will be returning to the court on January
26, 2011, for the determination of his bail application. This
adjournment of the suit followed Mr. Nzelu’s plea of not guilty to the
three count charge necessitating his counsel, E. Ona, to pray the court
to grant his client bail on liberal terms owing to the fact that the
accused person has 31 years’ post call to bar experience.

According to the
commission’s lawyer, Wahab Shittu, who filed a 19-paragraph counter
affidavit opposing the bail application, the availability of the
accused person presenting himself to stand trial is in doubt.

“The state has
deposed to the fact that the suspect, given the amount of money he has
admitted collecting as shown in the proof of evidence and the length of
the punishment for the offence, if convicted and the seriousness of
such offence for which the accused is standing trial, he is prone to
jump bail, if granted,” he said.

Mr. Shittu also
moved against the accused bail application on the ground of ill-health,
saying that “the applicant must show that his state of health needs
special medical attention.”

He, therefore, urged the court to discountenance the application for bail of the accused.

The presiding
judge, Justice Kolawole, however, adjourned the case till January 26,
2011 to determine the issue of bail as canvassed by both counsel.

The dirty deals

The suit filed
against Mr. Nzelu’s arose from a two-page petition dated June 14, 2010,
and sent to the commission’s chairman by the managing director of Range
Multi Universal Limited, Omulu Charles Chimweuba.

The petition
entitled: ‘Petition against Barrister Amobi Nzelu for Impersonation and
fraudulently obtaining the sum of N6. 850 million by false pretences in
the name of the Nigerian Customs Service’, alleged that sometimes in
February 2010, he was introduced to the accused who claimed to be an
agent of the Nigerian Customs, with the understanding that he was in a
position to assist in their business relationship with the Nigeria
Customs Service.

“Thereafter, we
intimated the suspect of our intention to buy/acquire some containers
of goods which he convinced us that he was in a position to help us.
Our negotiations progressed smoothly and he eventually demanded that we
should give him the sum of N6.850 million, being the cost of 2 times 40
ft containers”, Mr. Chimweuba alleged.

According to the
petition, “So far, we have parted with the above sum of money to Amobi
Nzelu but the suspect has not been able to deliver his promise to us
and has refused to return our money. He has continued to sweet tongue
us [sic] with different unbelievable stories.

“He eventually came up with the story that the supposed containers
were no more available for sale, that we should go for and indicate
interest in another item. We then informed him of our interest in
acquiring trucks which he promised at the same cost of N6.850,” he said.

The national Chairman of the All
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Ogbonnaya Onu has asked youth in the
country to participate actively in the ongoing electoral process and
ensure that credible leaders and not violent ones are elected in April.

According to Mr Onu who spoke when he
received a delegation of the Confederation of Igbo Students (CIS), in
Abuja yesterday, said there is no reason for politicians who want to
serve the people to resort to violence.

He also warned that their participation
should be devoid of violence. The group conferred on him its highest
award and certificate of honour.

Mr Onu said it was time for Nigeria to
do what other civilised nations are doing in order to enjoy the
dividends of democracy, stressing that the ongoing voter registration
exercise is another opportunity for Nigerian students to make their
contribution to national development by voting the right candidates.

“The ANPP is committed to the unity,
peace and prosperity of our great nation. We cannot tolerate violence
in the party and you can all bear witness that wherever there is
violence the ANPP and the then APP were never involved,” he said.

Ogbonna Ogachukwu, President of the CIS
explained that the honour was conferred on Mr Onu because of his
achievements in the party since he took over in September 2010.

According to him, one of the
achievements was the emergence of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano
State as the party’s flag bearer.

Also speaking, the national publicity secretary of the association, Humphrey Onyia, commended Mr Onu for the success of the
convention and his laudable contribution to democracy in the country.
The ex-Officio 1 of CIS and country director of the West African
Student Union Parliament,

Victor Udoh, said that the chairman’s commitment to the principle of
internal democracy is responsible for the success he recorded.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church has
appealed to the federal government to change the days of conducting the
forthcoming general elections from Saturdays to enable its members
participate, or else it will go to court.

Bassey Udoh, the president, Seventh-Day
Adventist Church, Eastern Nigerian Union, made the appeal in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday, claiming the
change will enable his members to vote and be voted for. According to
Mr. Udoh, “Saturday is the day of our worship and more than five
million members of the church will worship in 3,500 branches.”

He said that if the appeal is not
considered, members of the church will again be disenfranchised, just
like in the past. He said that the church had made presentations at the
last National Assembly Committee on Constitution Amendment on the
issue. According to him, the church is already considering the option
of going to court if members are eventually disenfranchised this time
around.

“We want to go to court to defend our
rights. We have been suppressed, marginalised and disenfranchised for
so many years and we are saying, ‘for how long?’ We are citizens of
this country and we should not be disenfranchised. We have not asked
our members not to vote, that will be wrong, but by implication if
election is put on Saturday, it means you have disenfranchised us” Mr.
Udoh said.

The church members worship on Saturdays, which according to Mr. Udoh
is “not for personal reasons but Biblical, which are founded in the
scriptures and dates back to creation. We believe that Sabbath is a
Holy Day and should not be used for any personal, civil or public
business. And that is why we are badly disturbed that the federal
government that is preaching one man, one vote, wants to conduct
elections on Saturdays,” the cleric said.

Non-implementation of the approved
tariff for imported items recently removed from the banned list is due
to ongoing negotiations among stakeholders.

The Comptroller-General of Customs,
Abdullahi Dikko, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria on
Monday, stating that the negotiation was between domestic manufacturers
and the federal government. Textile fabrics, furniture, certain
categories of vehicles, tooth picks and cassava were among items
removed from the list of items banned from being imported into the
country.

Mr. Dikko said that the delay in the
implementation of approved tariff was caused by the negotiation on
incentives between domestic manufacturers and the government.

“The matter is currently undergoing
some discussions among stakeholders. The manufacturers are saying that
if the bans are implemented, its effect on domestic manufacturers’
products will be devastating. They are, therefore, asking that there is
the need for some backings from the government,” he said.

He also noted that the Customs as a
body has, however, seen the need for such incentives and government has
agreed to it. He said that government is negotiating on the type of
incentives that will be adopted before rolling out the structure of
duties.

“I believe no government will implement a policy that will affect the wellbeing of its citizens negatively.

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties in
Ekiti State at the weekend took a swipe at the former governor of the
state, Ayodele Fayose over his recent comment about the increasing rate
of insecurity in the state.

Mr Fayose recently raised an alarm over the
reported violence in the state during party primaries held last week,
saying politicians must learn to conduct campaigns and elections with
civility.

But the CNPP, through its chairman, Tunji
Ogunlola, said Mr Fayose lacked a moral justification to comment on the
violence allegedly unleashed by some contestants and their supporters
during the primaries and accused the former governor of trying to use
incidents of violence in party primaries to feather his own political
nest.

“Ekiti has been peaceful from time immemorial until Fayose’s entry into the politics of the state,

when violence, brigandage and mayhem became the order of the day,” the CNPP said.

Take the boys out

The group recalled the attack on Alliance for
Democracy leaders in Mugbagba, Ado-Ekiti in on May 28 which it said Mr
Fayose allegedly supervised, during which several vehicles were
destroyed and the violence that marred a councillorship by-election
same day in Ifaki-Ekiti, leading to the killing of Tunde Omojola.

“While our group is making efforts to ensure the
peaceful resolution of crisis arising from primaries conducted by the
various political parties, we are using this medium to appeal to Ekiti
people to discountenance Fayose’s statement on violence at the
primaries,” the CNPP said. “Fayose is a past leader in the state and it
is regretful that some of the boys he used then have now become
problems for the state and we thank the state government for making
efforts to provide employment and loans for those boys to discourage
them from being used as thugs.

“We frown on somebody trying to paint the image of the state black
because of his personal ambition. The CNPP wishes to advise Fayose to
concentrate on his senatorial ambition and let the electorate know what
he intends to do to take those boys away from the streets in the fields
of education and gainful employment, rather than whipping up
sentiments”.