Nigeria Content Online

The re-run adhoc
delegates elections ordered to be held by the national headquarters of
the PDP, after the cancellation of the December 28 ward congresses, has
ended in more controversy.

Some of the
governorship aspirants, Ardo Umar Kojolli, Joel Madaki, and Senator
Jubril Aminu expressed dissatisfaction with the re-run ward congress,
stating that there was nowhere in the state where ward elections took
place. The politicians described the re-run congresses as “worst than
the first.”

The aspirants
complained that most of the returning officers sent out by the
government were advisers and commissioners of the state governor,
Murtala Nyako’s administration.

“Unfortunately,
from the reports coming throughout the local government areas, no such
elections were held in virtually everywhere. We have several INEC
electoral officers in the various local governments that corroborated
our position,” Mr. Ardo said on behalf of the aggrieved aspirants.

They said since the
indirect option have failed, they want the national headquarters of the
party to order the use of the direct option, popularly known as option
A4, as a way out of the ward congress imbroglio.

According to Messrs
Ardo and Madaki, the re-peat congresse was the worst election ever
conducted in the state, and urged the party headquarters to disqualify
Mr. Nyako, whom they said had “become too partisan himself as a
candidate to allow any credible elections to be held in the state.”

Mr. Aminu, the
senator representing Adamawa central senatorial district and chairman
of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, also joined the call for
Mr. Nyako to be disqualified.

“Mr. Nyako, as the
leader of the party, should be held to account for this kind of thing.
If what we saw last week can be described as absurd, then this is an
outrage. At least the Adamawa people should be treated with some
respect. The officials responsible for these kind of things should be
disqualified,” Mr. Aminu said.

Faulting the ‘charade’

Mr. Aminu said if
the national headquarters of the party wanted to give Mr. Nyako the
ticket, they should go ahead rather than organise this “charade.”

“This is a slap on the face. If you are going to organise a re-run election, then you have got to organise it better,” he said.

He, therefore,
called on the leadership of the party to conduct a repeat congress,
saying if this is impossible, the party should consider upholding the
December 28th ward delegates elections which he described as “nearest
to a true reflection of a congress.”

However, Mai Adamu
Mustapha, leader of the election monitoring panel to Adamawa State,
said the re-run ward congress was conducted peacefully and devoid of
any hostilities. Mr. Mustapha said his panel was satisfied with the
congress which, he noted, was “credible, free and fair.”

He said anybody with complaints over the conduct of the re-run exercise “only wants to be mischievous.”

Both Buba Marwa and
Mr. Nyako each have different results sheets of the last congress,
which they want the national headquarters to authenticate.

NEXT gathered that the suspension of the Adamawa ward congress was
in part due to the confusion between which of the two result sheets it
had to authenticate. Both Nyako and Marwa expressed satisfaction with
the congress.

A governorship
aspirant of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano, Mohammed Adamu
Bello, has said that despite recent defections of some PDP members out
of the party, it would still sweep the polls in the state come April
2011.

Mr Bello, who is a
serving senator, declared his ambition to govern the state yesterday at
the NUJ secretariat, saying the development would instead erase the
impression that the country is gradually drifting towards a one-party
state.

“You see, in the
first place, I don’t really agree that there is a mass defection from
our great party, the PDP. Even if it is happening in some states of the
country, it is good for our democracy; at least people would not say
Nigeria is moving towards a one-party state again. It is even funny
that people are now saying the PDP is losing power, they used to say we
were heading to a one-party state,” he said.

“But we have to
open the democratic space for people to participate, which is the
beauty of democracy. You can see what is happening in Kwara state where
father and son have disagreed over who should be the governor of the
state. But let me remind you that as people are defecting from our
party, several others are pitching tent with us and that is why the PDP
is a great party.”

Party to beat

Mr Bello, who
himself defected from the opposition All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP)
said it would take a miracle for any of the opposition parties to dent
the domination of the PDP in the country.

He said he believed
that the people of Kano, who are yearning for development, would have
their interests better served with a governor that belongs to the
mainstream party. He expressed optimism that he would triumph over
other leading governorship aspirants of the party, including Rabiu Musa
Kwankwaso and former military governor of Plateau State, Habibu Shuaibu
in the party’s governorship primaries scheduled to hold at the weekend.

Mr Bello promised
to offer selfless leadership if voted to power and enjoined party
delegates to eschew bitterness and work harmoniously to elect a
candidate that is capable of putting an end to the setbacks recorded by
the party since 2003.

“For me, this contest is not a do or die affair, as I believe that
power comes from Allah Who gives it to whomever he wishes. I am
strongly convinced that I am the candidate that can deliver the desired
result. As I look forward to emerging winner at the primaries, let me
intimate the good people of Kano that my administration would be
result-oriented. We shall build on the good legacies left behind by
Kano’s founding fathers,” he said.

Popular comedian,
Francis Agoda (I go dye) has the intervention of veteran comedian, Ali
Baba to thank for saving his life on Tuesday as military men on guard
at the Warri township stadium venue of Uduaghan re-run campaign almost
beat life out of him and his compatriot, Ogus Baba. According to an
eyewitness, the incident occurred when the two comedians allegedly
attempted to force their way past the stern-looking soldiers into the
stadium. The source added that the security men, who did not care about
their identity, ordered them to retreat or be dealt with.

Before the two
entertainers could make up their minds to withdraw from the gate, the
soldiers descended on them. It took the timely intervention of Ali
Baba, (who threatened to stop the show) for ‘I go dye’ to be released
by his tormentors. By then, he was already reeling in agony, with blood
all over him from the slashes of the horsewhips. The other comedian,
Ogus Baba, who showed some bravery by attempting to save his fellow
comedian from the horsewhips of the angry soldiers, was not spared
either as he also got his share of the flogging. He was said to have
been so badly battered that he had to be rushed to an undisclosed
clinic for treatment.

Also touched by the
brutality of the soldiers was a personal aide of ‘I go dye’ whose name
could not be identified, and another popular comedian, ‘I Go Save’, who
got some bruises on his arms and legs.

Paid to perform

In a telephone
conversation, the Warri-born comedian, Mr Agoda said he came to the
stadium with his entourage with the intention of performing on the
stage as he had been paid by the organisers of the event.

“On getting into
the stadium, I was accosted by one of the soldiers and in an attempt to
answer him, the other soldier unexpectedly slapped me from behind. The
most annoying thing about the whole incident was that when I tried to
explain to their superior officer, a colonel, the former soldier shoved
me aside and immediately, other soldiers descended on me, beating the
living daylight out of me,” Mr Agoda said.

He was later
treated by the medical team at the stadium after being rescued from the
soldiers by Ali Baba, who condemned the act of the uniformed men.

Mr Agoda has demanded for a public apology from the military for
violating his “fundamental human right.” “This must be published in
national newspapers,” he said.

The federal
government yesterday took on former vice president and presidential
aspirant of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, over a letter he allegedly wrote
to President Goodluck Jonathan over the country’s economy, stating that
the letter was a desperate attempt to mislead the electorate.

The minister of
finance, Olusegun Aganga, who spoke on the issue, said Mr Atiku had
chosen to deliberately manipulate and misinterpret the economic growth
figures that are provided by the National Bureau of Statistics.

This, he said,
betrayed either a lack of understanding of the data or ignorance of the
economic context in which these various growth statistics were achieved.

“In any case, the
letter fails to point towards the real messages in the NBS data and
again is riddled with inaccuracies,” Mr Aganga said.

The former vice
president had, on January 2, written to Mr Jonathan warning him that
the proposal in the budget could worsen the state of the nation’s
economy. A statement by his campaign outfit, Atiku Abubakar Campaign
Organisation (ACO) in Abuja, also said the president was too ashamed to
personally defend the budget, insisting that the budget of a nation is
too serious a matter to defend through anonymous persons. But Mr Aganga
said he could not believe that such a letter could come from an
individual with aspirations to govern the country.

“Resorting to
outright lies and misrepresentation to seek cheap political points is
regrettable,” Mr Aganga said, adding that the letter may have been
written without Mr Abubakar’s knowledge.

Contrary to claims
by the former vice president that the economy is underperforming, the
minister said not even the global economic crisis was able to stop the
growth of the local economy, as the country had out-performed many
global economies. He said that the reports of the agencies Mr. Abubakar
quoted actually rated the country high, adding that he doubted if Mr
Abubakar actually read the report of the rating agencies he relied upon
to attack the president and government.

Speaking to
journalists at the State House in Abuja, yesterday, Mr Aganga said such
outbursts by the former vice president did not usually translate into a
credible alternative for the future of the economy.

“Nigerians deserve better and would see through the uninformed attack that is guided as a patriotic statement,” he said.

Vote of confidence

Regarding the planned $500million Eurobond, the minister said it had been expected that the issue would be oversubscribed.

“The advice we
received from international investors is that the debut Nigerian
offering is very eagerly anticipated and demand will be strong,” he
said. “Fits of laughter aside, we would advise the author of the letter
that the transaction will be closed only on the most attractive
commercial terms for Nigeria with investors being encouraged by our
strong external and fiscal balance sheet and not by high returns as
claimed in the letter.”

He said that apart
from published research backing investment in Nigeria by leading
investment banks, a leading financial institution, Goldman Sachs also
warned global economic players of the risk of not investing in Nigeria.

“These statements
directly contradict the ‘vote of no confidence’ that the author of the
letter and his advisers would like Nigerians to falsely believe,” he
said.

Mr Aganga also
debunked the claim that the president accumulated the highest level of
debt increase by any president in any given year, adding that this
depicted the failure of the writer to understand the global economic
and financial dynamics of the period 2008-2010, a period he described
as extraordinary for all economies both developed and developing.

“It is regrettable that a letter purported to have been written by a
former vice president should contain such misrepresentations and we can
only assume that he was ill-advised or it was sent without his
knowledge,” Mr Aganga said. “If this is indeed the case, it is clear
that this letter is a desperate attempt by the author to mislead the
electorate and the Nigerian public through the misrepresentation of the
facts and inclusion of inaccuracies with a view to making political
gain ahead of the elections.”

The letter sent by
former vice president and the People’s Democratic Party presidential
aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, to President Goodluck Jonathan at the weekend
was “arrogantly insensitive to the mood of the nation and an attempt to
divert media attention from the Abuja bomb blasts which is a major
national tragedy,” a group, the National Forum for Democracy and
Economic Sustainability Initiative (NESI), has said.

In the letter, Mr
Abubakar warns that the recently unveiled budget 2011 could only worsen
the state of the nation’s economy and is predicated on consumption
without corresponding investments in critical infrastructure. The
budget, Mr Abubakar said, is “a recipe for economic disaster.”

However, in a
statement issued in Lagos yesterday, the NESI convener, Mabel Asuquo,
said though it is the right of every Nigerian to make informed inputs
on how the country is run, “the timing of that letter, and the marathon
follow-up media statement from the Atiku camp has reduced whatever the
intent of that letter was to a mere media spin.”

“It is apparent
that Mr Atiku’s campaign was not comfortable with the public outrage
that greeted the former vice president’s disappointing statement on the
Abuja bomb. His media handlers knew they needed a desperate spin and
that possibly informed the release of the so-called letter on the
budget to the media on Sunday night when the whole of the nation was
mourning the souls of the victims of the bomb blast,” Ms Asuquo said.

She said though
this is a campaign period when every politician is jostling for
attention, “it is immoral and politically reckless for an aspiring
leader to dance on the graves of innocent Nigerians cut down by
senseless criminals.”

The group however advised that the government should respond to the allegations raised by the former vice president.

The Chief of Army
Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, on Tuesday in Abuja said the Mogadishu Mammy
Market is to be re-opened soon for business.

An explosion rocked the market located at the Mogadishu Cantonment in Abuja on Dec. 31, 2010.

Speaking to
journalists in Abuja yesterday, Mr Ihejirika said the market would be
opened once the place was cleaned up and data needed for the
investigation compiled and that “the closing time has been nine o clock
and this will be maintained but security will be beefed up.

“Life will continue but security will be beefed up that is all,” he said.

The Army Chief said
the army was prepared to tackle any security challenge, adding that
training was also on-going as there was no amount of preparation that
was enough.

Mr Ihejirika explained that training directives have been issued for the 2011 training programme.

“It also embodies the forecast of events for the year and is a
detailed programme giving directives to commanders in the field on
where to focus their training,” he stated.

Nigeria has become the 53rd country to sign the UN agreement on the International Anti-Corruption Academy.

IACA is an
UN-related body set up as the focal point for international
co-operation and co-ordination in the fight against corruption.

The Europe
correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Attorney
General and the Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, signed the
agreement on behalf of the Federal Government in Vienna.

A statement from
the Nigeria’s permanent mission in Vienna and made available to NAN in
London, quoted Mr. Adoke as saying that the agreement was an evidence
of Nigeria’s commitment to the attainment of zero tolerance for
corruption.

“Although Nigeria
had established an effective institution such as the EFCC in the fight
against corruption, Nigeria will take advantage of the opportunities
presented by the Academy as a centre of training and academic
research,” the minister said.

Also, the chairman
of IACA International Steering Committee, Martin Kreutner, who signed
on behalf of the Academy, said he was delighted with Nigeria’s
membership. He said the Academy would support Nigeria in its fight
against corruption.

NAN reports that
the mandate of IACA includes anti-corruption research, education and
training, and provision of relevant technical assistance in the fight
against corruption.

The IACA has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

The signing is
coming few days after the country witnessed series of bomb blasts in
both Jos and Abuja, its Federal Capital Territory.

On Christmas eve,
December 24, 2010 in Jos, the Plateau State capital, about seven bombs
exploded and killed over 80 people and injured about 150.

On New Year eve, a
bomb exploded in an army barracks in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city,
killing and injuring many, including women and children. The bomb is
reported to have gone off at around 7.00pm in the area of the barracks
locally known as mammy market.

NAN

The first fire outbreak in 2011 in Bayelsa State on Monday night claimed two minors, aged between two and seven years.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that the fire, which started at about 8.30 p.m., also destroyed
property worth millions of naira in Amarata, a suburb of Yenagoa.

An eye witness said the fire started when a boy threw fireworks near a kerosene tank in a make-shift building.

The parents of the children who are
indigenes of Delta State, were said to have wept uncontrollably as they
watched their children burnt to death.

The eye witness said extensive damage had already been done before the arrival of men of the state fire service.

It was however noticed that the lack of access roads which usually
prevent fire fighting trucks from getting to the scene of fire
outbreaks is a major challenge to efficient serve delivery by fire
fighters in the state.

A faction of the
ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, under the
leadership of Dayo Soremi, yesterday kicked against the re-scheduled
congress of the State Assembly as ordered by visiting panel from Abuja
led by Obinwa Nnaji.

Mr Soremi, whose
faction is loyal to the Minister for Commerce, Jubril Martins-Kuye,
said Mr Nnaji’s panel does not have the power to cancel the congress.

“The attention of
our party has been drawn to reports in few newspapers to the effect
that the House of Assembly primaries we peacefully conducted in Ogun
State yesterday has been purportedly cancelled on the orders of Obinwa
Nnaji who led the visiting panel from Abuja,” Mr Soremi said.

“For records
purpose and in order to clarify issues to our teeming members, we wish
to state clearly that the said Mr Nnaji cannot give what he does not
have.

“The powers to fix
dates of primaries of our party has been exercised by the National
Working Committee (NWC) and confirmed by the National Executive Council
(NEC) of our great party. No individual, or group, panel or panelists
can excercise such authority, except as a day-dream exercise in
futility.”

He said the House
of Assembly primaries in the state, which was conducted on January 3,
2011, was very peaceful as could be attested to by members of the
press, State Security Services, Police and INEC.

“We wonder why
anybody could then be induced to create chaos, which is the predictable
outcome of a so-called new primaries,” he said.

Hand of Esau

He said it was
clear that the faction loyal to the state governor, Gbenga Daniel lost
out woefully in the primaries, “as the authentic members of the party
whose names are in Abuja voted overwhelmingly for our aspirants who
have now emerged as our party’s candidates.”

“We are aware that OGD has been boasting that he will warehouse any
panel sent to Ogun State as he has the party national chairman in his
pocket with the backing of the Presidency,” he said. “Though we tend
not to believe this, however, if it appears to be real, then, this will
signal a continuous suport for illegality from the highest level and it
would certainly not augur well for our party in Ogun State. We
therefore categorically reject another OGD- induced House of Assembly
primaries in Ogun State. It is illegal, fraudulent, against the PDP
costitution and an invitation to chaos.”

Days to the ruling
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primaries for the Senate and House of
Representatives in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the FCT
Minister, Bala Mohammed, has appealed to contestants to shun violence
and activities that may undermine the city’s security. Addressing the
contestants in a meeting on Tuesday, the minister said that the FCT
administration is committed to the free and credible election of
representatives of the party, adding that he has not anointed any
candidate as has been rumoured.

“We are trying to
bring a new face of leadership in Nigeria,” he said. Mr Mohammed noted
that “in the local government election we had, we provided a level
playing field” and he continued, stating that “we are not going to
anoint any candidate because I believe all contestants represent the
party and we are trying to implement that policy of fairness, justice
and equity so that emerging leadership will be leadership that is
guided as a process where the common people have a pinch of leadership
where they participate in determining who emerges as a leader.” Mr
Mohammed also noted that there is need for maximum security because the
country is overheated.

“We want you to
continue to conduct yourself with this posture of accommodation,
politics without bitterness so that our party will remain together,” he
told the contestants.

Calling the
contenders to collectively support the eventual winner, the minister
said that “we will try as much as possible to provide a level playing
field so that nobody will be excluded or persecuted. Collapse your
interest and support the winners. Live and let live, no acrimony, no
mistrust. Not for opportunism or personal interest. I will supervise.
Let the chairman make everything very transparent.”

A number of contestants

On the large number
of contestants for the three positions available in FCT, the minister
said it is a reflection of democracy in Nigeria.

“This is what we
call representative democracy. Abuja is the centre of the nation; a
pivotal role. Abuja has always been peaceful,” he said, adding that the
primaries will be an eye opener.

The minister of state for the FCT, Caleb Olubolade, also urged the politicians to minimize violence.

“You cannot afford to take a position after taking lives,” he said. “Do not portray Nigeria in a bad light.”

There are over 30 contestants for the two Houses of Representatives
and one senatorial seat in the Federal Capital Territory while 1,400
delegates will participate at the primary election holding on tomorrow
at the Old Parade Ground, Abuja. Also present at the meeting was the
FCT’s police commissioner, John Haruna, and the PDP chairperson in FCT,
Haji Gwagwa.