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A presidential
aspirant, of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Nuhu Ribadu, has described
as shameful the level of the nation’s advancement a decade after the
restoration of democracy and expressed urgency for its recovery.

Mr Ribadu, who made
this statement in Abuja while receiving delegates from Team Ribadu
China who paid him a solidarity visit at his office, urged the citizens
to use the opportunity of the coming elections to vote for candidates
that exude competence, integrity, and the vision of a greater Nigeria.

He also lamented
the decades of lost opportunities that have dragged the nation back
from growth and development; saying if given the mandate to run the
state of the nation’s affair, he will work with Nigerians to build a
society of opportunity that Nigerians will be proud to call their true
homeland.

“It is simply
inexcusable, it is squarely a matter of wasted opportunities, we must
stop the bleeding, we need to move ahead, the world is not waiting for
us, we have to be on a turbo-charge,” Ribadu said, blaming the problem
on poor leadership, limited vision and mediocrity in many aspects of
our nation’s life.

He also expressed
his opinion that the Nigerian youth will be at the head of. The leader
of the Team Ribadu China, Charles Ezugha disclosed that each member of
the team in China have taken a responsibility to convince 100 friends
and families in Nigeria to register and vote for Nuhu Ribadu in the
forth-coming elections. He also promised to provide a truck for Team
Ribadu Lagos to use for the campaign from his Lagos warehouse

“We look forward to contributing more to support the Team Ribadu Nigeria,” he said.

FCT minister, Bala
Abdulkadir Mohammed who did the rounds along with other senior
officials of the administration to witness and assess the People’s
Democratic Party primaries on Thursday in Abuja, expressed his
satisfaction with what he described as a transparent conduct of the
voting process.

Mr Mohammed
therefore called on other political parties to emulate the conduct of
the primaries in the FCT, stating that justice and equity was the only
process that will culminate in the emergence of the desired leaders in
the country.

“I am happy that
the security men are having a hitch-free exercise, they are not
overstretched because of the transparency. This will facilitate the
development of veritable institutional framework for our democracy to
grow and develop,” he said.

He disclosed that
the peaceful atmosphere during the exercise was an indication that
Nigerians were ready to play politics without bitterness and create a
level playing field that would entrench fairness and justice in the
country’s polity.

Tight security
prevailed at Area 10, as well as the Kwali Area Council Hall, venues
where the primaries for the election of flag bearers of the PDP ticket
for the Federal House of Representatives took place in Abuja yesterday.

Fielding questions
from reporters in Kwali, the aspirants, including the incumbent seeking
re-election into the House of Representatives, Isa Dobi, as well as
former chairman of Abaji Area Council, Hassan Usman Sokodabo, expressed
their readiness to accept the outcome of the results at the end of the
primaries “in good faith.”

For the AMAC/Bwari
federal constituency, former chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council,
Zephaniah Jisalo won with 135 votes. He was closely followed by Yahaya
Alhassan Gwagwa with 127 votes and former chairman of Bwari Area
Council, Isah Dara, who got 96 votes.

In Abaji/ Kuje/ Gwagwalada/Kwali federal constituency, Mr Dobi defeated Mr Sokodabo to emerge the PDP candidate.

The national
leadership of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) yesterday demanded a
full scale investigation into the alleged donation of N3 billion to the
campaign organization of President Goodluck Jonathan by governors of
six states. The ANPP national chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu, said at a press
conference in Abuja that the report of the donation by the governors of
Ebonyi, Cross River, Benue, Katsina, Bauchi and Ogun State of N500
million each is not only worrisome but a disturbing development. The
presidency on Wednesday denied the report, saying the letter, allegedly
written by a presidential aide, was forged.

“We are worried by
a recent news report credited to the BBC that six state governors
elected on the platform of one of the political parties contributed the
sum of N500 million each to the re-election campaign of the President,”
Mr Onu said.

“This is a disturbing development which we find objectionable, if it is true.

Our great party is
desirous of getting to the root of this matter. We are inclined to do
so because the very foundation of our democracy is in danger. We will
like to know whether such huge sums of money were appropriated in the
budget estimates of the affected states. The ANPP will want Nigerians
to demand to be told the whole truth about this latest attempt to erode
the democratic process. This will serve as a deterrent to ensure that
this will never happen again.”

Probe the allegation

The ANPP boss asked
the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice,
Mohammed Adoke, to urgently constitute an independent investigation
committee “to unravel the truth about this national embarrassment.”

He said it was
important that the attorney general realize that his loyalty was to the
country and not the government in power and therefore should rise to
the patriotic challenges of the moment and seek for people of honour
and integrity who would tell the nation the whole truth about the
matter.

Mr Onu also called
on the National Assembly to take serious interest in the matter, noting
that “as custodians of the democratic conscience of the Nigerian
people, they have a responsibility to ensure that our laws are obeyed
by all.”

“We demand to know the truth for the sake of our democracy, for the
sake of equity and for the sake of due respect for the laws of our dear
country,” he said.

Citizens of Lere
Local Government of Kaduna State have called on the state chapter of
the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to discourage the present chairman
of the council, Ibrahim Nuhu Kayarda, from his ambition of contesting
the House of Representatives seat in the constituency. The chairman of
the citizens council for the area, Isa Adamu Lere, said people such as
Mr Kayarda who have been tainted by corruption allegations should not
represent their people at any other level.

“It is important to
bear in mind the determination of all and sundry to rid this great
country of corruption,” said Mr Lere. “The government, politicians and
the civil society groups have all agreed that corruption, as a
cancerous virus, is not only pandemic but endemic in our political
continuum and therefore, the desire to bring politicians vying for the
2011 elective positions on a clean slate. It is on this premise that
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) vowed not to allow
corrupt politicians to contest any elective post in the forthcoming
2011 general elections and that is why politicians such as Nuhu Ibrahim
Kayarda will not be allowed to contest election in this country.”

Once bitten…

The group traced
its opposition to Mr Kayarda to an event in 2005, when the state
government directed council chairmen to buy official cars. They alleged
that the Lere council chairman, instead of purchasing a new motor
vehicle, deceitfully refurbished his personal car, a Peugeot 406 car
which he purchased and had been using since 2003, at the cost of
N3million.

“This association
forwarded a petition to the state House of Assembly, which mandated its
Public and Anti-corruption Committee to investigate the allegation of
impropriety against the executive chairman — wherein the said Committee
confirmed to be true the allegations of the petitioners,” according to
Mr Lere. “In compliance with the above House Resolution No.23, on the
10th day of October, 2005, the Ministry for Local Government, Kaduna
State suspended him for six (6) months with effect from 20th September
2005. He also refunded the embezzled money to the treasury of the Lere
Local Government Council. Why again will this man be allowed to
represent [the] common man in his constituency?”

Efforts to speak with Mr Kayarda did not succeed as the former
council chairman did not answer his phone or respond to a text message
sent to him.

The Delta State re-run gubernatorial
election ordered by the Court of Appeal in Benin was yesterday held
cross the state amid tight security and pockets of violence.

Attahiru Jega, chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who went round some
of the polling stations, threatened to cancel results of local
government areas where incidents of violence and ballot snatching were
reported and confirmed.

Mr. Jega, who monitored elections in
some polling centres in Warri and Ughelli axis during the election, did
not hide his displeasure with the violence and electoral malpractices.
During a visit to Ughelli North local government where the INEC
secretariat was torched on Tuesday, he expressed regrets over the
manner the election was being conducted.

Although not officially confirmed, there are strong indications that the result of the election in the area may be cancelled.

Early lead

Fourteen parties
are fielding candidates in the election. These are Emmanuel Uduaghan of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose election as governor was
quashed by a Court of Appeal; Ovie Omo-Agege of the Republican Party of
Nigeria (RPN); Great Ogboru, Democratic Peoples Party DPP); Peter
Oghenevwogaga, Accord Party; Ngozi Agbogbo, African Democratic Congress
; Veronica Musu, All Nigeria Peoples Party; Chief Onokpite, Citizens
Popular Party; and Emmanuel Mafiana, Democratic Peoples Alliance.

Others are Donald
Chukwuemaka, Justice Party; Abel Edijala, Labour Party; Johnson Boghudu
of the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy; Patrick
Okenwagho, National Majority Democratic Party; Erobuke Alordiah,
Progressive Peoples Alliance and Igbini Emmanuel, Peoples Republican
Party.

Reports from some
collating centres late last night put Mr. Ogboru in early lead, but
results from the riverside communities were yet to be known as at the
time of filing this report.

In all, the turnout
of voters was impressive at the various polls visited. Also observed
was the peaceful manner in which the electorate conducted themselves in
some of the polling centres visited. This does not, however, rule out
reports of minor skirmishes in some polling units where there was
attempt to snatch ballot boxes.

Quite a number of
registered voters who came out in their large numbers to exercise their
civic duty were stranded in some of the polling units as their names
did not appear on the records of the INEC officials assigned to the
polling unit where they had earlier registered.

George Timinimi, a
former commissioner of water resources expressed fear over the flaws
recorded in the voter registration, noting that with the lapses
inherent in the register, there’s no likelihood of a credible election.

The former
commissioner, whose name was in the register but his picture and age
were that of a 23 year-old student, called on INEC to provide a
credible voter register especially in the Ijaw area of the state.

Besides this, there
were also reports of violence recorded in some places as youth loyal to
the PDP and DPP clashed over electoral issues.

Not enough security

Although some
voters complain of inadequate security in some of the remote
communities, security was tight in some of the towns identified to be
volatile as armoured personnel carriers were deployed on the streets to
checkmate any breakdown of law and order even as security agents
conducted themselves with decorum.

Commanding Officer,
Nigeria Naval Ship (NNS), Henry Babalola, a Commodore, said the Navy
deployed MI 109 to lift materials and personnel to the riverside
communities, particularly Burutu , Ode-Itsekiri, and Bennet Island,
adding that manta and jetty boats were used to escort the materials to
the areas.

He denied
allegations that Naval officials stopped agents of the opposition
parties from going to the communities to exercise their voting rights.
According to Mr. Babalola, voters who could identify themselves and
workers of organisations were allowed a safe passage on the waterways
while those who could not identify themselves were turned back.

“There was no
incident of security breach. Security was beefed up so that we could
achieve a peaceful election as you know this is a test run for the
April general election,” he said.

A leader of RPN in
Warri South, Yemi Omawumi, lamented the hijack of materials by thugs
allegedly working for PDP, saying that they will send a protest letter
to INEC, calling for the cancellation of the results.

“Jega is not a
magician to know what is happening. Rather than taking one step
forward, we are taking many steps backward,” he lamented.

The PDP running
mate in the re-run election, Amos Utuama, has lauded the peaceful
conduct of the polls. The former deputy governor who cast his vote at
12.53 pm at Unit 4 of Jeremi Ward in Ughelli South local government
area made the remark while fielding questions from reporters.

He lauded INEC and the various security agencies for the orderly manner voting was conducted.

“INEC has done very
well in their mobilization since yesterday. The materials arrived quite
early and information reaching me is that all parts of the local
government (Ughelli South) have been covered,” he said.

Mr. Utuama also
commended the voters for conducting themselves orderly and also for
their diligence in keeping their voters register since 2007 when the
last voter registration exercise was held.

The Court of Appeal
sitting in Benin had on November 9, nullified the election of Mr.
Uduaghan and ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections in the state
within 90 days.

The nullification
was the result of the appeal brought by Mr. Ogboru against the election
of Mr. Uduaghan, who has governed the state since 2007.

The five-man
Election Tribunal sitting in Asaba had dismissed the petition filed by
Mr. Ogboru challenging the election, in an unanimous decision. The
tribunal held that the petitioner failed to prove that there was no
election in most of the voting centres, as alleged in his petition, and
that he also failed to prove a case of gross rigging. But the Appeal
Court heeded his prayer and nullified Mr. Uduaghan’s election.

Barely a week to
the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the
Atiku Abubakar campaign organisation has alleged a plot to shut him out
of the exercise.

Mr. Abubakar, a
former vice president, who spoke through the director general of the
Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation (ACO), Ben Obi, in Abuja
yesterday, warned that preparations for conducting the party’s
primaries, scheduled for January 13, have been shrouded in secrecy,
leaving room for suspicion.

Mr. Obi had raised
a similar alarm on December 22 last year when he wrote the national
chairman of the PDP, Okwesilieze Nwodo, requesting the leadership of
the party to forward to his group the comprehensive guidelines for the
conduct of the presidential primary election. He also demanded for a
meeting between the leadership of the party and the organisation, so
that it could be better informed about the plan towards the conduct of
the primary election.

He said the
National Working Committee (NWC) of the party subsequently invited the
organisation to a meeting on December 28, during which it was agreed
that the meeting should be shifted to January 3.

“January 3 has come and gone without the meeting taking place,” Mr. Obi said.

“Since then, I
have placed several calls to the national chairman of the party and
sent several SMS messages. The national chairman kept telling me that
he is still consulting and revert to me on the proposed meeting,” he
added.

More worrying signs

The campaign
director also alerted that there are a number of troubling signals
surrounding the conduct of the presidential primaries. According to
him, precisely one week to the primaries, the party has not composed
the National Convention Committee, which he said has the overall
mandate of planning and executing the exercise.

He also said that
less than five days to the screening of the presidential aspirants,
slated for 11 January, 2011, the presidential screening panel is yet to
be constituted.

“In spite of our
unrelenting efforts and considerable pressure on the party leadership
to convene a meeting between it and all the presidential campaign
organisations, no date, to the best of our knowledge, has been chosen
for this dialogue to take place,” Mr. Obi said.

He said that the
organisation is yet to receive any official communication from the PDP
“on the guidelines and ground rules that will govern the conduct of the
primary election; about the time, location and method of screening
delegates; the issuance of passes to accredited officials; the security
arrangements for such a major political undertaking; a published list
of all delegates who will participate in the voting exercise; voting
method and procedures; counting and announcement of results; and a
thousand and one other details that must be clearly set out weeks
before the conduct of the election.”

The campaign group
further complained about the conduct of the primary election held so
far in some states, saying it is extremely troubling. He said his
organisation has information that in Plateau, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Benue,
Ogun, and Yobe States, a significant membership of the party are either
pulling out of its fold or threatening to do so.

Mr. Obi said after
an exhaustive examination of the situation, the organisation is
demanding that a meeting between the leadership of the party and the
various campaign organisations should be convened as expeditiously as
possible, so that all matters relating to the conduct of the primary
election are thrashed out and agreed upon as a binding arrangement
between all the parties concerned. He explained that the proposed
meeting is a necessary condition towards the conduct of a free, fair,
credible, transparent and acceptable primary election.

He also said the list of delegates who will vote at the primaries should be published and widely advertised in the print media.

“This list is as
crucial to the successful conduct of the primary election as the list
of Nigerian voters which the INEC must publish before the conduct of
the general election,” he said.

Teslim Folarin,
Senate majority leader, and three other suspects remanded in prison
over the alleged killing of Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo), factional
leader of the National Union of Road Transport Worker (NURTW), applied
for bail at an Oyo state High Court on Thursday.

An Oyo state chief
magistrate, Shakirat Badrudeen, ordered the four men to be remanded in
prison custody until January 14 when their case would be reopened for
mention.

They were arraigned
on Tuesday on a two-count charge of felony (conspiracy to murder) and
murder of Mr Salako who was gruesomely killed after the local
government congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Ona Ara,
Oyo state, last Thursday.

Though the
magistrate agreed with the argument of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, former
president of the Nigerian Bar Association who led the team of lawyers
defending Mr Folarin and others, that the court lacks the jurisdiction
to hear criminal matters, Ms Badrudeen, still adjourned the case till
January 14, for mention.

The other accused persons are Ramoni Jayeola Bankole, Olaide Raji and Raimi Ismaila.

Filing the bail
application on Thursday, Mr Akeredolu, supported the documents with a
44-page affidavit. In the application tagged M/8/2011, the applicants
joined the state attorney general and the state commissioner of police.

For the whole of
Wednesday, Mr Akeredolu and his team had brain-stormed on the
modalities to hasten the bail of the senate leader, who had been in
custody since Monday when he honoured the police invitation to come and
write his statement on the death of Mr Salako.

The Agodi prison,
where the accused were detained, was still bustling yesterday with Mr
Folarin’s sympathizers. It appeared as though the senate leader had the
support of prominent Ibadan political and business leaders. Prisons
officials faced a heavy volume of visitors calling at the prison
throughout the day to see the politician.

Baba Adisa Bolanta,
Oyo State commissioner of police, has, however hinted that more people
will be declared wanted by the police today (Friday) over Mr Salako’s
death.

Mr Bolanta, who
disclosed this to journalists in Ibadan on Thursday, said the police
are yet to close the case on the murder as many other suspects are yet
to be apprehended. He opined that the command should be commended for
its efforts in unraveling the mystery behind the killing of the
unionist in the past week

Police deny bias charges

In another
development, Lekan Balogun, leader of the opposition against the state
governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, announced that he planned to hold a rally
on January 15 to push for the deployment of the commissioner of the
police from Oyo State. Mr Balogun accused Mr Bolanta of corruption and
bias in the murder case of Mr Salako. He said he would ensure that the
police commissioner was transferred from the state to allow for peace.
Denying the allegation of bias against Mr Folarin, the police boss said
the force established a case against him before arraigning him and
three others last Tuesday.

Saying he had given
the Ibadan high chief respect as a senior citizen and a former
lawmaker, he said, “We will not delay in dealing with him [Mr Balogun]
according to the law if he tries to incite the public against the
police.”

Mr Bolanta said
that none of the cases of crime reported since he took over his post in
Ibadan had gone uninvestigated, and that everything he did as police
chief was done with the consciousness that he would give account one
day “where the whole SANs in the world would not be able to defend me.”

He said
investigations conducted so far have shown that the Senate leader and
other accused persons were present at the scene of the incident. He
said the four police officers attached to the senate leader who were
also arrested and detained shortly after the killing of Mr Salako, are
assisting the police in their investigation of the matter.

He also said that Mukaila Lamidi (aka Auxiliary), Mr Salako’s
deputy, was interrogated at the Iyaganku Police station yesterday over
his alleged involvement in the vandalism of a filling station belonging
to Lateef Akinsola Oloruntoki (aka Tokyo), the state chairman of the
NURTW.

The national
chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Okwesilieze
Nwodo, has declared that the party and its government are determined
and committed to ensuring that the will of Nigerians prevail in the
choice of their leaders during the forthcoming general elections in
April.

Mr Nwodo spoke
while receiving the South African minister of international relations
and cooperation, Maite Nkoanie Mashabane, who paid him a courtesy call
at his private residence in Abuja.

He said that the
on-going electoral process within the ruling PDP is a test for the
party and the country in the democratic journey, adding that the
country’s commitment to democracy is sacrosanct notwithstanding the
teething problems.

Mr Nwodo noted that Nigeria and South Africa have a lot in common as Africa’s leading nations and regional powers.

Earlier, Ms
Mashabanie told Mr Nwodo that she came to deliver a message from South
Africa’s President Jacob Zuma to President Goodluck Jonathan and was
directed to see the national chairman of the ruling party. She invited
Mr Nwodo to the African National Congress (ANC) centenary celebration
in January next year.

Ms Mashabanie also stated that South Africa is disposed to solving
Cote d’Ivoire’s political logjam using ECOWAS rather than the use of
force.

The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu, and former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, will be the pair to slug it out for the presidential ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria, barring any delayed maneuverings.

While Mr. Ribadu will today pick up his nomination form at the party secretariat in Wuse Zone 6, Abuja, Mr. Bafarawa picked up his form yesterday. The party’s deadline for the purchase of the presidential nomination form is Sunday, April 9. The form is sold by the party for N5 million.

NEXT has learnt that the certainty of Messrs Bafarawa and Ribadu being the final contestants to vie for the ticket is due to the withdrawal of the former national secretary of the party, Usman Bugaje, and Saidu Malami from the presidential race.

“Dr Bugaje has pulled out from the race. He has written us (ACN secretariat) that he is no longer interested in contesting the presidential election,” an official of the party told NEXT.

When contacted, Mr Bugaje declined giving any information about his purported letter. “I will let you know what my decision is at the party primary,” Mr Bugaje told NEXT.

Mr Malami is also said to have withdrawn from the race after several meetings between himself and Mr Ribadu. Both men attended the interactive session organized by the Abuja chapter of the CAN. Both Mr. Malami and Mr. Bugaje are said to have decided to support Mr Ribadu. The party’s presidential primary has been fixed for January 14 in Abuja.

Chairman’s warning

Ahead of the primaries, ACN’s national chairman, Bisi Akande, has urged all members to ensure the best conduct and maintain the highest standards all through the primaries.

Mr Akande in a statement issued on Thursday, charged the party executives, party officials and aspirants to keep to the high standards and behaviour of the party.”

“Our party is a disciplined party and a party that is determined to install democracy and good governance,” he said. ” It will, therefore, not tolerate any corrupt practices or any behaviour that will undermine the integrity of our party and process.”

Mr Akande further warned that a monitoring system is in place to catch any illegal exchange of funds stating that “for the avoidance of doubt, a surveillance system has been put in place to monitor and detect any demands or exchange of funds other than that published in the guidelines. We are determined to ensure democracy and build a strong foundation for good governance,” he stated.

In one of the most keenly watched elections during the PDP primaries in Ogun State, the state deputy governor, Salimot Badru, yesterday defeated her main challenger to emerge candidate and flagbearer of the PDP for the House of Representatives election. Mrs Badru defeated Emmanuel Hosu, a former chairman of Ipokia Local Government at the congress which attracted delegates from Ipokia and Yewa local government areas which took place at the Gateway International Stadium, Ilaro.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, emerged untouched following the disqualification of his opponents by the PDP verification team for the Abeokuta district.

In the Ilaro election, Mrs Badru polled 262 out of 840 votes, while Mr Hosu scored 212. Six of the total votes cast were foiled. The congress was conducted under the watchful eyes of security operatives, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission {INEC}, journalists and party officials.

The policemen, who mounted security round the premises, kept suspected hoodlums at bay.

The two contestants watched the exercise from a distance, as delegates filed out one by one to determine their fates through voting which lasted for about three hours. The results were announced publicly after.

The victory of Mrs Badru was followed by a wild celebration by her supporters. The deputy governor, who defeated her opponent with 50 votes, said her victory was for all members of the party.

Arrested armed suspects

Meanwhile, a son of a former local government chairman identified as Akinloye Bankole, was yesterday arrested by police over his alleged attempt to smuggle arms into the venue of the congress. The suspect was apprehended along with a few of his colleagues during a police check on the Mazda he was driving towards the Gateway International Stadium, Ilaro venue of the congress.

The police, suspecting foul play, insisted on searching the car and discovered guns and ammunition which the suspect could not successfully explain. He was subsequently taken to the police station for further interrogation, along with with the car and its contents. As news of his arrest filtered into the premises of the congress, his father, said to be a delegate, reportedly became crestfallen. He refused to speak about the incident. Police sources said the suspect will be transferred to the police headquarters at Eleweran, Abeokuta.

A number of locally-made amulets and other charms were also seized from some delegates at the congress by security operatives.