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The former deputy
governor to Adebayo Alao-Akala during his 11-month stint as Oyo State
governor in 2006, Azeem Gbolarumi, has told his former boss to forget
about his ambitions to return to office in the next governorship
election.

Mr. Gbolarumi, who
described last week’s People’s Democratic Party primary where Mr.
Alao-Akala won the governorship ticket as illegal, expressed his
surprise that his name was not included in the ballot papers used at
the primary after he had been screened by a PDP committee in Abeokuta,
Ogun State.

Speaking with
journalists at his Bodija, Ibadan residence at the weekend, the former
aide to the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Lamidi Adedibu, said he
was not informed of his disqualification, declaring the process of the
governor’s emergence illegal, null and void and of no effect.

Messrs Gbolarumi
and Alao-Akala were former allies and close associates of the late
Adedibu, but since the demise of their political godfather, they have
split into different groups to further their political interests. Apart
from his former boss’ victory, Mr. Gbolarumi also challenged those of
other PDP candidates, who emerged through the party’s congresses
conducted last week, saying they fell short of provisions of law.

Threatening to
challenge the process in court and before the national body of the
party, he promised not to allow the governor get away with is victory
and promised to fight the battle to a logical conclusion.

Failed congress

The politician also
expressed his displeasure with the last congress of the party which was
ordered by the National Working Committee of the PDP. Alleging that
this was not conclusive, he said the Independent National Electoral
Commission officials and party members sent from Abuja to supervise the
election did not witness the process where state executive officers
were purportedly elected.

“With the outcome
of the said state congress, nothing has changed and it was natural that
the incumbent governor had, through that illegal process, secured an
undue advantage over other party contestants which he utilized at the
illegal primary.

“That is why we
will not fold our arms and allow somebody to foist himself on the rest
of us. No, it will not happen and we are going to fight it out,” he
said.

The INEC officials fled the state after the local government
congress held at Ona-Ara local government of the state turned bloody,
leading to the death of Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo), the state’s
factional leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers
(NURTW), and the subsequent arrest and incarceration of the senate
leader, Teslim Balogun.

The Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) has asked the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF)
and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to file criminal charges
against a senator, Iyiola Omisore, over his recent comments on the
president of the Court of Appeal and other members of the court.

The national
publicity secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed, said recent
advertisements paid for by Mr. Omisore and published in some national
dailies regarding a Court of Appeal’s ruling on the appeal for the 2007
gubernatorial election in Osun State that favoured the ACN candidate,
were contemptuous of the legal institution.

Mr. Adoke should
“stand up and protect the integrity of the nation’s judiciary by
immediately filing a criminal contempt charge against Iyiola Omisore
over his recent attacks against the president of the Court of Appeal
and other members of the court,” Mr. Mohammed said.

He also quoted some part of the advertorial which he said did not show sufficient respect for the judiciary.

“It is now
abundantly clear that Ayo Salami’s Court of Appeal has a special squad
that he deploys to prosecute Action Congress of Nigeria’s (read Bola
Ahmed Tinubu’s) agenda,” the advertorial said in part.

“While I pray that
God judges these knavish judges without mercy or compassion for
delivering a manifestly fraudulent judgement, let it be known that the
last has not been heard as far as the matter of the Osun Governorship
Appeal is concerned.”

Contempt of court

The ACN claimed
that Omisore’s “irresponsible frontal, crude, and unsubstantiated
attacks on the Court of Appeal and its members” constitutes contempt of
the court.

“If it (contempt of
court) had been committed in the course of the proceeding, it would
have amounted to contempt in the face of the court, in which case the
Judge would have put him in the dock immediately and summarily imposed
sanctions until he has purged himself of the contempt,” Mr. Mohammed
said.

It, however, noted
that “it is the duty of the AGF to file an action against Iyiola
Omisore because it is the constitutional duty of the AGF in such
situations to protect the integrity of the court and our judicial
system by filing an action which enables the court to exercise its
disciplinary jurisdiction.”

The Minister of
Justice was reminded that failure to act in defence of the integrity of
the judiciary would mean that he has failed in his primary
responsibility to the nation’s system of justice.

After an
assassination attempt against a Washington lawmaker that took the lives
of six other people, many Americans debated this week whether their
politics, culture and country have grown too violent.

“The anger, hatred,
bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous,” said
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who is investigating the crime.

The U.S. guarantees
the right to own a gun in its constitution and millions of its citizens
are proud of it. But no prominent political figure is as fond of gun
talk as Sarah Palin. The Republican activist has urged her followers,
“Don’t retreat, reload!” Before last November’s Congressional
elections, she also posted a map of the U.S. online, highlighting her
opponents’ home districts with gun-sight cross-hairs, as if taking aim.

One of the
districts she targeted belongs to Gabrielle Giffords, the Democratic
Congresswoman who is now recovering from a bullet wound to the head
suffered in last week’s rampage.

Giffords objected
to Palin’s map at the time. “When people do that,” she said, “they’ve
got to realize that there are consequences.” The truth is that
journalists and media personalities, politicians and protestors of both
the right and left tend to favor violent metaphors. Palin is hardly
alone.

There is also no
indication that the 22-year-old suspect who was charged with carrying
out the rampage ever saw her map or drew his inspiration from any one
source in particular.

“Acts of monstrous
criminality stand on their own.” Palin said. “They begin and end with
the criminals who commit them.” Is she right? Is it simplistic and
inappropriate to blame the crimes of a single deranged gunman on the
attitudes of an entire country that is law-abiding and peaceful for the
most part? Or are America’s angry politics and plentiful guns a
combination that was bound to turn deadly?

President Barack Obama cautioned against any quick conclusion but suggested Americans do have to be more civil.

“We can be better,”
he said. “We may not be able to stop all evil in the world but I know
that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.” Many American
politicians have tried to keep politics out of the collective grief and
mourning that have followed the attack, but they haven’t quite
succeeded.

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).

He was supposed to
return from exile to pick a job as a senior aide of President Goodluck
Jonathan, but the decision of Nuhu Ribadu to seek the top job moves
closer to actuality when he emerged consensus presidential candidate of
the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at the aprty’s national convention
held in Lagos on Friday.

Prior to the
convention, rumour was rife on the possible withdrawal of the other two
contestants vying for the party’s nomination, but this became real
during the programme as the duo of Attahiru Bafarawa and Saidu Malami
announced their withdrawal from the race.

Mr. Malami, whose
posters along with those of Mr. Ribadu were the only ones visible
outside the convention ground. But none of the teeming delegates within
the convention ground nor party supporters carried neither his nor
Bafawara’s posters and this had tongues waxing.

But all fears were
laid down as the three aspirants were called up to address the crowd
ahead of the election, with the former governor of Sokoto State the
first to announce his intention to withdraw.

Mr. Bafarawa, whose
party, the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), was one of the parties who
merged with ACN, said he never joined with intention of becoming the
president but to “build a strong party”. He said he wanted to be part
of the group that will capture power in April 2011, hence his
withdrawal. Mr. Malami followed in a similar manner.

He declared his
wholesome support for the man the party has chosen and withdrew his
candidature, saying he has been “assured that the dream will not be
changed.” He thanked the leadership of the ACN for giving him the
honour to campaign for the presidency.

As demanded by the
2010 Electoral Act, the party leadership then moved a motion to use a
voice vote from the delegates to affirm the party’s presidential
candidate. This motion was seconded by Muiz Banire, the legal attorney
to the ACN and a resounding YES! enveloped the Onikan Stadium, venue of
the convention.

Mr. Ribadu, using
his campaign motto “a new Nigeria is possible”, called Nigerians to
recall that “in the cold moments of our national discord, during the
civil war, we came together to forge a new beginning; the same spirit
was evident when we mustered the will and sacrifice to defeat military
dictatorship and restore democracy. Anytime we come together, no force
negative and retrogressive as they come can defeat Nigeria. We can do
it again,” he said, urging for a vote to get the ruling party out of
power.

Kayode Fayemi, the
Ekiti State governor who was also the chairman of the screening
committee, stated that “we (the ACN) were lucky to have three eminent
Nigerians who presented to us in clarity the possibility of a new
Nigeria. The two aspirants that stood down demonstrated why our party’s
policy in holding elective office is not that of do or die. They
demonstrated that there are several ways in which we can all serve our
nation. ACN will from Monday start campaigning for the agenda of
renewal, due process, and transformation.

ACN’s government at
federal level will ensure that Nigeria becomes a country that refuses
to be a bunch of joke in the comity of nations.”

With the song
‘Stand up for the champion’ by Right Said Fred playing loudly, all the
contestants and governors of the ACN joined Mr. Ribadu on the stage.
Adams Oshiomole, the governor of Edo State, warned Nigerians on the
essence of voting in the coming polls saying that “this time, its
either we make it now, or we will never make it again.”

The Lagos State
governor, Raji Fashola, decided to take a jibe at the ruling party,
which he described as the Poverty Development Party.

“Governors in
Lagos, Edo and Ekiti have shown that great leaders can affect the lives
of their people in less than four years,” he said and called on people
to register and vote immensely to get the PDP out of power.

“Their 12 years of being the largest party in Africa has brought
larger darkness, hopelessness and poverty to Nigeria than ever seen in
the nation’s half a century history. The battle to remove the Poverty
Development Party starts today,” he said.

The swearing-in of
Emmanuel Uduaghan as the governor-elect in the January 6 re-run
election by the newly-appointed Delta State Chief Judge, Abiodun Smith
on Monday, January 10, at the cenotaph in Asaba, was a landmark event
for two reasons: one, it was the very first time in the history of the
state for a sitting governor to be sworn in twice within a four-year
tenure and secondly, it opens avenues to more maneuvering and scheming
by the gladiators who are desperate to wrestle power from the
incumbent.

One thing that stood out in the political development of
Delta State in the last three years was electorate consciousness. This
much was demonstrated in the January 6 rerun when they came out in
large numbers to exercise voting rights devoid of sentiments and ethnic
bias. This was done to the extent of undermining cases of intimidation
and harassment by some political thugs who were reported to be on the
rampage in some polling centres while the election was going on across
the state. Despite well-advertised ethnic jingoism by some leaders with
outsized ideas of their own importance, the electorate showed a great
sense of maturity and civilized conduct which proved quite a number of
those who had anticipated violence, either during or after the
election, wrong. Of course, there is also a realization that the
electoral process is capable of effecting needed changes. This is more
crucial as the candidates gather their strength for another contest in
the general elections coming up in April.

The April polls

Some opposition
politicians, especially members of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP)
that came second in the re-run election, have expressed doubts on the
ability of INEC to conduct a fairer election in April. But there is a
conviction that the April election would guarantee another chance for
them to further express their aspirations on who will lead them in the
next four years. In other words, besides the free and fair prospect it
holds, many see the “One Man, One Vote” slogan and promises of a
credible process by President Goodluck Jonathan as sincere enough.

One positive expectation for the April election is the expected level playground it will create for contenders in the race.

“Since the new
voters registration being compiled by INEC is capable of taking care of
issues that borders on multiple registration and falsification of
figures in the number of people in a particular community, then there
is the likelihood that the result of the April polls would represent
the yearnings of the electorates,” an official of the DPA said.

Again, the issue of
creating awareness on the present political process through the various
enlightenment campaigns, especially in the media, has contributed
immensely to re-awakening political consciousness in the electorate and
this was clearly demonstrated in the massive turnout of people for the
election even with the protest over non-revalidation of the voters’
register by the opposition group.

Uduaghan’s hurdles

One major challenge
Mr Uduaghan had to contend with before the April polls was factional
crisis within his party. The trouble dates back to the 2007 party
primaries at Ogwashi-Uku in Aniocha South LGA as a result of the
supremacy tussle between two opposing power blocs in the state. A
former federal commissioner of information, Edwin Clark, led a faction
of the party against the incumbent governor, Uduaghan who leads the
other group. This lingering crisis, which has defied all reconciliation
efforts aimed at the reconciliation of factional groups, came to a head
during the party primaries held on Tuesday, January 11 — barely a day
after Mr Uduaghan’s inauguration. It was an event that further exposed
the disenchantment among party members in the state as it witnessed the
emergence of two governorship candidates of the ruling party.

While the Peter
Nwaoboshi-led state executive converged at the Cenotaph in Asaba to
pick the party’s flagbearer in the April election, the other faction
led by Godwin Ebomah found a home at Mid-West Inn, Enerhen, near Warri
to conduct its own parallel primaries. The result was that while the
Nwaoboshi camp returned Mr Uduaghan for the second tenure, Mr Ebomah’s
parallel body settled on Saliba Mukoro as its governorship candidate,
alongside other aspirants who emerged to contest the various elective
positions under the party platform.

Obviously
determined not to take chances with the opportunity avail him, Mr
Mukoro, who was coming into party politics for the first time, after
having served in the Nigerian Army for 16 years where he rose to the
rank of Major before the Gideon Orkah coup which he participated in
truncated his career, reassured his supporters of his commitment to
ensuring that the mandate giving to him as the party flag bearer was
secured till the end. He also promised to make a pronouncement on his
choice of a running mate as soon as the party’s national headquarters
in Abuja on his candidacy.

One of the critics
of Mr Uduaghan within the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the intra-party challenge might well be the most dangerous
obstacle to the governor’s second term bid.

“If truly President
Goodluck Jonathan is the political godson of E.K. Clark, a man seen as
the arrow-head of the parallel group in the state, then, there may
likely be a last minute U-turn in certain party decisions by the
national headquarters, especially now that the president had secured
the party ticket to contest the April general elections and no longer
needs to lobby or do the bidding of any governor to secure delegate
votes,” he said.

One of the high
points of the rerun election was the near upset by the candidate of the
Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Great Ogboru and that raises fears as
to what would be the faith of the Uduaghan led PDP in the April polls.
This is more so as some notable members of the PDP are defecting to the
DPP to protest their failure at the last party primaries.

Lawrence Akpeti, a
DPP leader said that members of the party are going to reclaim what he
described as stolen mandate of the people by the PDP in the re-run
election.

“The governor
should know that he never won the election and his stay in Government
House, Asaba is going to be for a short time because DPP will kick him
out through the court,” he said. “The recent re-run election brought a
healthy competition between the political parties like the DPP that
came to compete with the PDP. It has brought awareness to politicians
and people in Delta State; for them to know that one party cannot
benefit alone. The votes that DPP had came from Deltans who believe in
justice.”

With barely three
months to April’s polls, Mr Uduaghan will need to work extra hard to
change reformulate the policies of his party and his government.

“He must do this by giving all the ethnic groups the right sense of
belonging in terms of developmental projects and empowerment schemes,”
the PDP leader said. “Perhaps this could help in building the needed
confidence and trust that could guarantee a landslide victory for him
in the general election.”

The Kwara State governorship candidate of the Allied Congress
Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Gbemi Rukayat Saraki, on Thursday, urged all indigenes
of the state to come out and participate in the voter registration exercise,
which kicks off tomorrow nationwide.

Ms. Saraki, a senator, advised the electorate to exercise their
fundamental right, saying the right to vote is sacred and sacrosanct.

“The survival of democracy and indeed our nation’s growth will
depend on each individual being able to express his/her voting rights without
intimidation or disenfranchisement,” she said, even as she told Kwara State
indigenes that the ACPN is the true symbol of peace, people and democracy.

Ms. Saraki, in a statement she issued in Ilorin, said the only
way the people of the state can receive the kind of development they have been
yearning for is to be proactive in the electoral process.

“The coming elections can only be successful if people
participate actively in it,” she said.

She warned that failure to register during the registration
exercise means that the people would have disenfranchised themselves and would
not be in a position to vote in credible people to drive the state’s
development.

Sensitisation drive

Ms. Saraki said her party, the ACPN, has started a mobilisation
drive to sensitise people on the need to participate in the exercise.

She noted that ACPN will take over the state in May, adding that
the party is ready to ensure that developmental projects are spread across the
state.

Promising that gender-based issues will equally be addressed
with vigour, Ms. Saraki said “women will not be relegated in the scheme of
things.”

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has called on officers
and men of the nation’s armed forces to take sides with democracy, saying their
support should be for the people and not the ruling class or a political party.

Mr Oshiomhole made the appeal yesterday at the launch of the
2011 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Emblem Appeal Fund in Benin City.

According to him, “the commitment of the Nigerian Armed Forces
must be to the Nigerian nation. And it is important as we are approaching the
next general elections that the Nigeria Armed Forces must stand on the side of
democracy.They must remind themselves that they are for the country and not for
the ruling party. If there is a conflict between the interest of the ruling
party and the interest of the Nigerian nation, the interest of the nation is
superior to that of any political party.

“When we stand by the people and defend the democracy, not
individuals,then the campaign of One man, one Vote will be thororughly carried
out even to into the military barracks.”

Divisive politicians

He berated the political class for its divisive tendencies which
tend to weaken the foundation of the nation, saying “whereas Nigerian Armed
Forces have continued to struggle to keep the country together, the evidence is
everywhere that the political class or a good section of the political class
often behave in a manner to weaken our national unity.” Mr Oshiomhole also
admonished Nigerians to ensure that their actions do not threaten the unity of
the country, adding that “Nigeria will never know peace for as long as there is
no justice.”

Earlier,the Edo State Chairman of the Nigerian Legion, Johnbull
Awanbor a retired colonel, commended the governor for the developmental strides
in the State. He appealed to the state head to consider members of the legion
for opportunities to serve the state.

The emblem launch was attended by the Commander of the 4
Brigade,

Benin City, Abel Umahi; Commandant, 81 Air Maritime Group, Air Commander J.
Atiku; representative of the Police Commissioner, top government functionaries,
among others.

The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
in Ogun State, Gboyega Isiaka yesterday said his group’s main objective is to
focus on winning at the general elections scheduled for April, 2011 rather than
spend time on the factional rivalry in the party.

Mr Isiaka was elected by a faction of the party loyal to the
state Governor, Gbenga Daniel while the second faction, backed by former
President Olusegun Obasanjo picked Olatunji Olurin as its candidate.

But Mr Isiaka said his nomination was a challenge for him to lead
the party to victory at the general election, just as he extends his
appreciation to God and party leaders who gave him their support to emerge as
the flagbearer of the party in the general elections.

“I am extremely honoured to have been nominated as the gubernatorial
candidate of our great party, the PDP and would like to express my deepest
respect for party leaders and other aspirants that keenly contested the
elections with me,’ Mr Isiaka said.

Brought together

He said he will ensure that all aggrieved groups within the party
are brought together, just as he emphasised that he will need the cooperation
of all to take the party to greater height.

“You all have my admiration and I also seek your advice and
immense support in the task of moving Ogun State forward,” he said.

Mr Isiaka said “the current administration has made giant strides
and, in consolidating such achievements, we will work harder, be more
innovative and confront the challenges that face us by quickly facilitating the
four pillars of greatness which is our programme for the socio-economic and
human development of Ogun State.

“In leading Ogun State to greatness, our business in office will
be predicated on these four pillars which are the rapid growth our economy
through building an entrepreneurial state, provision of quality social
services, strengthening people and the society and energizing our government
and polity,” he said.

A civil society group, the Socio-Economic Rights and
Accountability Project (SERAP), has petitioned the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to facilitate the holding of a special session of
the UN Human Rights Council to address the deteriorating human rights situation
in Jos, Plateau State.

In the petition, dated 13 January 2011 and signed by counsel to
SERAP, Femi Falana, the group executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, said that,
“the holding of a special session on Jos would contribute to a speedy end to
the human rights crisis and violence, and to peace and greater respect for
human rights of the citizens in the area.”

Furthermore, it said the Council cannot be silent when innocent
civilians are caught up in violence, such as the one going on in Jos.

“The holding of a special session on Jos will be consistent with
the practice of the Human Rights Council regarding its previous special
sessions on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon; Darfur; Myanmar; the
Democratic Republic of the Congo; the Global Food Crisis and the Global
Economic and Financial Crises,” the group said.

“Nigeria is a member of the Human Rights Council, and has
ratified several UN human rights treaties, including the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights; and the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights.”

Failure of due diligence

The group also said that it believes that it is the failure of
the Nigerian government to exercise due diligence that have resulted in the
violations of human rights of citizens in Jos.

“Due diligence obligation requires the Nigerian government to
undertake measures to prevent abuses by state and non-state actors where
possible, investigate violations that occur, prosecute the perpetrators as
appropriate, and provide redress for victims,” it said.

“The government of Nigeria has international legal obligations
to respect the right to life; the right to security of the person; the right to
freedom of residence; including not to be forcibly displaced; the right to
property; the right to adequate housing; the right to adequate food and the
right to water; and freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment. All of these
internationally recognised human rights have been repeatedly violated in Jos on
a widespread scale,” the group added.

The SERAP said the government has promised to bring perpetrators
to justice but, like similar promises made in the past, these promises will
count for nothing.

“Successive governments have failed to implement the country’s
international legal obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the human
rights of the people of Jos by persistently failing to deter and prevent
recurring outbreaks of violence, and by failing to effectively investigate and
prosecute suspected perpetrators,” the group said.

The group also asked the Nigerian government to ensure a more
secure environment for Nigerians, including those in Jos.

“Ask the Nigerian government to provide restitution,
compensation or both, as warranted, for damages resulting from the serious
violations of the human rights highlighted above,” SERAP said in the letter.

Some national delegates to the PDP presidential primary have

applauded the level of arrangement and orderliness witnessed at the Eagle

Square venue of the event.

The delegates are Senate president, David Mark; Dimeji Bankole,

Speaker, House of Representatives; Ike Ekweremadu, deputy Senate President; and

the duo of Atiku Abubakar and Sarah Jibril, both PDP presidential aspirants.

In an interview, Mr. Mark said the national primary was very

colourful and orderly, saying it was an opportunity to showcase to the world

the biggest party in Africa.

The Senate president said at the end of the primary, only one

winner would emerge from the three presidential aspirants, urging the losers to

join forces and ensure victory for the party at the April general elections.

Mr. Mark said it was important for the losers to accept defeat

in good faith and minimise going to court that might slow down the process of

consolidating the democratic principles in the country.

Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Bankole said he was deeply

impressed by the improvement recorded in the conduct and arrangement of the

2011 presidential primary.

The Speaker, who wished the aspirants well, advised the

delegates to ensure that the voting process went on smoothly without any form

of rancour.

Job well done

The deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, eulogised the

organising committee for a job well done, especially in the orderly nature of

the convention and the security arrangement.

Mr. Abubakar said in an interview that the orderly manner of

the delegates was impressive and encouraging, and urged them to keep it up. He

said his experience, capacity and vision would see him through the election

process.

While commending the organisers for a job well done, Mrs.

Jibril, the only female PDP presidential aspirant, called on all women to

repeat the gesture in Liberia, where the women ensured the victory of Mrs.

Ellen Sirleaf, as the first African female president.

“We women have paid our dues; we should help one another as

wives, mothers and sisters. We should allow our conscience and fear of God to

guide our actions,” she added.

More than 5,000 delegates graced the 2011 PDP national special convention.