AC in historic convention, vows real democracy

• Aspirants to wait for primaries
• Party changes name, logo
SWEEPING changes were on Monday effected by the opposition Action Congress (AC), top of which, was the adoption of Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) as its new name.
The party’s leaders, who gathered in Lagos at a well-attended national convention, also changed the party’s symbol, motto, slogan, disciplinary committee, and ward delegate representations.
ACN said the change, resulting from the amendment of Article 23 of the party’s constitution, was to accommodate emerging trends in the polity and re-position it for electoral challenges.
The motion for the change of the party’s name was moved by ACN’s National Secretary, Dr. Usman Bugaje while Prince Sunday Fagbemi (from Kwara State) seconded it. The motion for the change of the party’s motto was moved by Mr. Festus Effiong from Cross River State, and seconded by Hajia Ramotu Salleh (Sokoto State). Prince Olusegun Adesegun from Ogun State moved for the change of party’s slogan while Alhaji Abubakar Kari from Gombe State seconded.
The party’s officials must have underestimated the strength of its supporters and this became the first challenge it faced at the convention held at the Blue Roof Auditorium of the Lagos Television, Ikeja.
Crowds trying to gain entrance into the venue could not be held back by security agents, who eventually brought down one of the gates in their bid to gain entrance. In the ensuing melee, scores of people were trampled upon and later received treatment at the standby ambulances of the Lagos State government.
Chief Bisi Akande, the ACN national chairman, described the event “as a convention of stocktaking and a glorious one.”
The convention was not a sole ACN affair as leaders of other political parties were on ground to share the glorious moment with the party.
Among other parties’ sympathisers were the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in the Ogun State 2007 election, Senator Ibikunle Amosun as well as representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
There were also representatives of former Adamawa State governor, Boni Haruna; erstwhile Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe; Niger Delta Freedom Fighter, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and Dele Belgore. The trio are now card-carrying members of the ACN
Besides changing the party’s flag from the former green-white-black with a hand holding a broom to green-white-blue-black (with ACN superimposed on the black part), the ACN also changed its motto from “Justice, Peace and Progress” to “Justice, Peace and Prosperity” while the slogan was changed from “Democracy Forever” to “Democracy for Justice.”
Of the seven changes proposed at the convention, six were adopted without opposition while the proposal to change to ward delegate representation drew sharp disagreement from supporters. The intervention of former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chris Ngige and his Lagos State counterpart, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, calmed frayed nerves.
The party’s officials had proposed a change requiring two ward representatives to state congresses, of which one of the two must be a female. No sooner had the Director of Research and Strategy, Dr. Garba Abari (from Yobe State) introduced the proposal than a section of the crowd roared in opposition. Mr. Tunji Abayomi (from Ondo State) opposed the motion and sponsored a counter motion, requesting for  “either a female or a youth” as one of the two delegates.
Ngige thereafter moved that the party should adopt a three-delegate approach instead, with a youth and a female as representatives. Tinubu seconded the motion, which appeared to have ended the debate as the party accepted the change. He explained the decision away as part of an illustration of ACN’s internal democracy and belief in the principle of one-man one-vote.
To end the controversy over who qualifies as a youth, the convention adopted 35 years of age as maximum. This also drew protest from party members, who opted for 45 years.  
For several hours, the major entrance to the venue was blocked as nobody could go in. At about 12.30 p.m., security personnel went wild pushing some of the delegates and party supporters to create space for ACN officials to enter the venue. A middle-aged woman fell and slumped in the process. She was initially considered dead as many of the angry delegates wanted to take on the taskforce but for the timely intervention of other security agents and the party’s top shots, who came to pacify the angry delegates.
Akande later told the delegates that there was no casualty. “All those that sustained injuries in the process to enter the hall have been treated and none of them died,” he said.
There were however speculations that the young woman who was trampled upon later died in the hospital.
Several delegates who sustained injuries in the process complained that the venue was too small for the convention.
The entire Awolowo Road, Agidingbi, Kudirat Abiola Way and other access routes within Ikeja were blocked as vehicles that conveyed delegates to the venue struggled to park.
Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management (LASTMA), Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), and other security agencies of the state were drafted to control the traffic and ensure that hoodlums did not constitute security risk to the delegates. Several Black Maria were parked at strategic locations.
While the convention was going on, supporters of potential candidates danced and sang praises of their candidates. But the party leaders warned that nobody should parade themselves as candidates until the primaries were held.
Tinubu said: “Let me say it clearly that nobody has the right to parade himself or herself as candidate of the party now until the primaries.”
He seems to have carried the day as he received thunderous applause from the crowd as soon as his entrance was introduced.
Chairman of the Arewa Community in Lagos, Ahmed Kabiru Abdullahi, told The Guardian that the North was ready for ACN, claiming that the party had indeed won several votes in the past elections in the zones that made up the region. Abdullahi, who is also the chairman of the Lagos State Planning and Environmental Monitoring Agency (LASPEMA), said the PDP government had failed to render selfless service to the people. “Under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, we were told there was a seven-point agenda, of which we cannot point to the actualisation of any. The present Goodluck Jonathan’s administration does not even pretend to have any other agenda, outside the Jonathan 2011 agenda, which is more of a continuation of the Olusegun Obasanjo government.”
In his goodwill message, Ogbeh urged Nigerians to give ACN the support to wrestle power from the PDP and save the country from destruction.
He noted that the only force that can stop PDP from further ruining of the country was the merger of parties and urged the people to take the issue of the coming election very seriously.
Also, former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, charged Nigerians to be steadfast and be ready to challenge the PDP in the next election.
He cast a swipe at the PDP-dominated National Assembly, saying, “it is a thing to think over if the like of former President Olusegun Obasanjo should come out openly to say the National Assembly is corrupt.”
Present at the convention were former governors of Ogun and Oyo states, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Alhaji Lam Adesina, Osun State governorship candidate in the 2007 polls, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola and his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, among others. 

Govt to launch NIGCOMSAT next year

Stakeholders to boost economy via technology
EVOLVING strategies to boost industrialisation in Nigeria through science and technology formed the thrust of talks among stakeholders who met on Monday in Abuja amid the prospect of launching Nigeria’s Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) next year.
A top official of NIGCOMSAT Limited, Isah Abdulrahim Adajah, told reporters on Monday: “We have recorded several milestones such as the preliminary design review and the critical design review. The programme is at an advanced stage of assembly, integration and test. It is progressing on schedule and would be launched in November 2011.”
Stakeholders in the sector yesterday converged on Abuja to evolve a more realistic and affordable strategy for industrialisation of the country through science and technology.
In convening the special science and technology summit, stakeholders were in agreement that lessons from the experience of other countries in the West and Asia had strengthened the fact that science and technology is what provides the link that connects the various sectors of the economy.
Participants, drawn from research institutes, universities, government establishments and the private sector, lamented the critical challenges facing science, engineering, technology and innovation systems. They, therefore, called for a workable blueprint that would promote commercialisation of successful research results, and encourage demand-driven research and development activities.
After the summit, specific recommendations on how to develop the nation’s science and technology sector over the short, medium and long-term periods are expected to be reached.
Minister of Science and Technology, Prof Mohammed Ka’Oje Abubakar, who set the ball rolling at the summit, regretted that the critical linkage among science, technology and innovation and industries had not been realised.
“The knock-on effect of this is the reliance on foreign sources of even the most basic commodities and services with the industrial manufacturing sector contributing a mere three per cent to the GDP. This is sadly pitched against the background of very useful outcomes of scientific research and development, which if adequately harnessed will, in the least, make Nigeria self-reliant on basic commodities and essential services.
“It is in the supreme recognition of the aforementioned and the imperative of reversing this unwholesome trend that the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology in the discharge of its mandated decided to organise this science and technology summit.”
He said: “Indeed, for science and technology to play its role as a catalyst in the aspirations of the present administration to make Nigeria one of the leading top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020, there is a compelling need to ensure effective integration of science, technology and innovation into production of goods and services.”
Chairman, Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Sentaor Greg Ngaji, stressed that research and development products and services from Nigeria’s research institutes had been found to be of international standard using best practices.
He noted: “It is however pertinent to note that despite the numerous and laudable achievements in the area of science and technology in Nigeria, these achievements have not translated to the desired benefits for our teeming populace.
“I strongly believe that it is time to step up in the area of research and development from the laboratories as well as from pilot stages to full commercialisation so that Nigerians can begin to enjoy the results of our research and development in science and technology.”
He, however, urged the ministry to build the capacity of legislators to enable them better understand the issues in the sector.
His words: “The ministry could achieve this by organising regular workshops and interactive sessions with the legislators. This will also increase our exposure to global trends and ultimately enhance our interventions for the cause of science and technology.”

ECOWAS, UEMOA adopt common external tariff

• CBN, regional body to provide N457b for farmers
EXPERTS of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) have adopted a Common External Tariff (CET).
The CET is seen as a critical step on the path of establishing a free trade regime in the sub-region.
The adoption, according to the ECOWAS commission yesterday, was sealed after a joint meeting of the ECOWAS-UEMOA Committee for the Management of the CET in Lome, Togo. It also spells out a common “nomenclature” for West Africa, based on the 2007 version of the Harmonized System Nomenclature.
Also yesterday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) under a scheme called Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), signed an agreement to set up a special financing mechanism that would help farmers.
The nomenclature, it was explained on Monday, is “an orderly system of description and coding of goods” to be used in international trade by member states. Its coming on board takes into account certain agreed principles for the economic and industrial development of the region.
Over the years, the CET was eagerly awaited in the sub-region because it is to lay the foundation for a regional customs union, which implementation will accelerate economic and industrial growth in West Africa.
The commission further disclosed yesterday that being critical to the establishment of a free trade area in the region, the ECOWAS CET is based on UEMOA (the eight-member Francophone sub-regional organisation) as a four-band tariff of zero per cent, five per cent, 10 percent and 20 per cent before the addition of a fifth band of 35 per cent recently.
Under the CET, categorization of products is done as follows: Zero percent for essential social commodities, raw materials and capital goods; 10 percent (intermediate products), 20 percent (consumer goods) and 35 percent for specific goods for economic development in the fifth band.
The addition of a fifth tariff band to the structure of the CET in 2008 led to a review of the product re-categorization methodology to enable member states submit to the ECOWAS Commission, their lists of products deemed “specific goods for economic development”, classifiable under the fifth band.
Addressing participants at the close of the meeting, the ECOWAS Commission quoted its Commissioner for Trade, Customs, Industry and Mines, Free Movement of Persons and Tourism, Alhaji Mohammed Daramy as saying that the experts had  elaborated on the criteria for the selection of products into the fifth tariff band.
He drew the Committee’s attention to West Africa’s trade interests, which he said are mainly focused on the promotion of exports and economic diversification as well as enhancement of domestic supply capacity.
Daramy further stressed the need for good trade governance, if trade must be integrated into the principles of sustainable development. In this regard, he identified certain principles necessary for good governance.
They include ensuring transparency through providing stakeholders with access to relevant and accurate information, ensuring accountability for decisions and actions which are based on comprehensive and reliable analysis; encouraging cooperation in order to build trust and shared goals and values as well as ensuring that decisions are made at the appropriate level.
The commissioner decried current national approaches to trade reforms, which he stated, were insufficient “when examined from the point of view of unhealthy competition between member states, maintenance of multiple regulatory and administrative bottlenecks”.
He warned: “I must reiterate that the economic and trade integration of West Africa cannot occur by chance and neither will beneficial and sustainable development of trade in West Africa be accomplished by chance.”
He assured participants that the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions were determined to forge partnership with member states and other stakeholders to initiate programmes for a sustained and integrated action in order to develop and regulate trade in West Africa.
“Our mission is to accelerate the integration of West Africa’s trade policies and regulations and to be able to attract the trade sector investment needed to create wealth for the citizens, while protecting and enhancing the social life and the environment of the local trading communities,” he added.
Meanwhile, at the signing of NIRSAL agreement with AGRA, CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was optimistic that it would focus on the needs of farmers, especially small-holder farmers, agro-processors, agribusinesses and input suppliers in the agricultural value chain.
“The CBN has embarked on major reforms of the banking sector to bring it in line with our priorities for sustainable economic growth. Agriculture is one of the key sectors. Financing agriculture is central to Nigeria’s economic future.
“We know that farmers and agribusinesses need access to credit, coupled with proper financial literacy, market access, and insurance. They need the total package. We will design it rigorously and make it work to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty,” he said.
When the scheme comes on full stream, it would deploy $500 million to access about $3 billion from banks in the country to jumpstart the agriculture industry.
AGRA was founded in 2006 through a partnership between The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation.
It is a dynamic, African-led partnership working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.
Sanusi described the NIRSAL as the apex bank’s home-grown instrument for achieving the transformation of the sector, “because we believe that a productive an efficient agricultural sector is the foundation for the food and economic security of our nation.”
He added: “Unlocking access to bank financing for agriculture and developing risk-sharing approaches is critical for stimulating innovations in agricultural lending and increasing food production.”
In his presentation, the President of AGRA, Dr. Namanga Ngongi, stressed that AGRA’s integrated programmes in seeds, soils, market access, policy, partnerships and innovative finance work to trigger comprehensive changes across the agricultural system.
“Agriculture is a business not a way of life. The key to success is to provide farmers with access to improved farming technologies with financial resources and market linkages. They also need financial literacy to help them use financing better. Innovations are making a difference, and farmers are using credit to invest in their production. As a result, they are making more money; they are buying more and better seeds, fertilizers, cows and other inputs, ” Ngongi said.
On the partnership with CBN, he said: “The CBN is clearly showing that it can spur new opportunities in agriculture through leveraging financing for agricultural value chains from commercial banks. This is the kind of example that, if successful, can set the tone for the rest of Africa.
“Nigeria has the potential to be a major player in global food and agriculture markets, but you cannot eat potential. The key to turning this potential into wealth is putting policies in place that support smallholder farmers.”

Don’t ask me questions on Dele Giwa, June 12 election, says IBB

HE has survived the murky waters of Nigeria’s power game, including bloody military coups and counter-putsches since the 1970s.
And as the waters get murkier towards the 2011 presidential polls in which he plans to participate, he may have unwittingly let us in on his staying power in mines field of Nigerian power play. The African steeped in the wise sayings of his or her forebears would readily recall one in this instance, to wit: “The yam mould of yesteryears scalds still the dipper’s hands”
And so 24 years after the gruesome murder of Editor-in-Chief, Newswatch Magazine, Mr. Dele Giwa, when he led a military junta and 17 years after he annulled the widely acclaimed June 12 1993 Presidential Election, former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, yesterday announced that he would no longer take questions on these two epochal events that have continued to dog his renewed bid for the Presidency in the 2011 polls.
Consequently, Babangida has banned Nigeria and foreign journalists from asking him any questions relating to the June12, 1993, presidential election as well as Giwa’s murder, among others.
Also, Babangida has said that the continued detention of former Chief Security Aide of Late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha; major Hamza Al-Mustapha was unfair and he should be released forthwith.
Speaking with reporters yesterday in Gusau, Zamfara State, shortly after paying a condolence visits to the state Deputy Governor,  Muktar Ahmad Anka, over the death of his wife, late Hajiya Aisha Muktar Anka, the former military president told reporters that no question should be posed  to him in five areas.
Although, Babangida did not mention all the five no-go areas, he stated that he would not respond to any question asked on June 12, the Dele Giwa issue and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoning controversy.
His words: “Before you start asking me question, I want to tell you my rules. I have five no-questions-areas, so, don’t ask me anything related to such areas: one, the issue of June 12 election; another is anything about Dele Giwa, zoning and so on.”
But when  the reporters insisted on asking him about the zoning, Babangida said Nigerian democracy cannot continue without respecting the regional system of the country, stressing that the country had over 250 different ethnic groups across, and that as such zoning was imperative for peace and harmony to continue among these ethnic units.
He added: “Zoning has been in existence since the Second R epublic. Shagari was nominated as president from the northern region while Alex Ekwueme was elected to be the vice president from the eastern region of the country.
“The intention then was immediately Shagari concluded his tenure Alex could have been the next president of the country. So it is not a new thing to maintain the zoning formula.”
Babangida, who spoke yesterday on Voice of Ameriaca (VOA) Hausa service, monitored in Kaduna, lamented on Al-Mustapha's detention ordeal saying,  "It happened after I left office, but I know him, I have worked with him and I believe and I have said, they have not been fair to him.”
He added: “To leave him in detention for the past 12 years is unfair. I am among those calling on the government to release him. This is because what crime he might have committed has not been revealed for the past 12 years. Then there is no justice if he is not released. I am among those pleading and I hope he will be released. I am begging this government to release him.”

Jonathan registers online as PDP member

THE online membership registration exercise of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) took off formally with the registration of President Goodluck Jonathan at his residence at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Shortly after performing the online registration exercise as part of the ongoing PDP membership enrolment scheme, President Jonathan hailed the exercise as “a good innovation that will produce an authentic membership database for the party” upon completion.
  Earlier at the weekend, irritated by the perceived over-domineering attitude of male members of the PDP, female members protested to the leadership of the party in Abuja, asking it to evolve policies that would give them a sense of belonging.
  The registration exercise was witnessed by the Senate President, Senator David Mark, PDP National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, the party’s National Organising Secretary, Prince Uche Secondus, and presidential aides.
President Jonathan stated that the online membership scheme is aimed at harmonizing the membership database of the party at all levels and would also eliminate controversies that could sometimes trail membership status within the party.
  He commended the PDP leadership for the initiative, which he described as “the best thing to have happened to party membership registration in Nigeria, in the 21st Century,” while emphasizing its accessibility and relevance to existing and prospective party members, even in the Diaspora.
He urged party officials and banks that would facilitate the registration exercise to ensure that they penetrate the rural areas where he said the PDP has most of its members, so that all party members in all nooks and crannies of the country will be duly registered.
He also urged party members at all levels to take advantage of the online registration to properly document their membership of the party.
Earlier, Nwodo, said the PDP online membership registration drive would give the party an electronic database of its members which can be accessed on the party’s website. He said the exercise will also generate funds to run the affairs of the party.
Meanwhile at the weekend, female members of the party under the auspices of Forum of Founding Mothers of the PDP led by two former ministers, Bekky Igwe (Women’s Affairs) and Catherine Acholonu (Culture) noted that since the party came to power in 1999, female members have been marginalized.
“The greatest casualties of the new PDP have remained the womenfolk. PDP since the past eight years or more has been operating all over the nation without regard to the welfare and progress of the womenfolk and has actually totally eclipsed its founding mothers many of whom have been driven out of the party or from its mainstream.
“Our women all over the nation are in agony. Most of our members have been impoverished and pauperised by those who have been steering the ship of the party at the national, state and local government levels.
“Party positions and political appointments due to our members by right, by achievement, by merit and by dint of hard work, have been denied us and have been given to women sometimes less qualified than us, picked from outside the rank of those women who birthed this party right from inception and are responsible for its much celebrated growth and success. Thus the culture of mediocrity is being institutionalised in our midst,” they lamented.
Other members of the  delegation which delivered the letter to the national secretariat included  Hajia Yelwa Sani-Mohammed, Chief (Mrs.) Uju Ozoka, Hon. Habiba Lamido, Hajia Hasana Tarauni, Hajia Amina Abdulamid, Chief (Mrs.) Chika Ibeneme and Barrister (Mrs.) Adedayo Adegboye.

Why U.S. excluded African leaders from talks, by Sanders

IN their countries, most young Africans are considered as endangered species but in the White House, the pendulum is swinging in their favour.
American President Barack Obama, who is encouraging them into leadership roles, has come under fierce criticisms from some influential U.S. media outfits.
Against this backdrop, some American officials at the weekend rose in defence of Obama’s recent romance with these young Africans. They said it was designed to raise a new generation of leaders for the continent because the future rests on their shoulders.
Obama had been criticised for excluding all current African leaders from his town hall meeting under the aegis of U.S. Presidential Forum with Young Africans.
American Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Renee Robin Sanders, who responded to the criticisms in a statement at the weekend, said the three young Nigerians who participated in the Obama forum would discuss their views about the talks in a roundtable in Abuja on Thursday.
Also, American Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Judith A. McHale, said after the August 3 to August 5 presidential forum, the U.S. Department of State would carry out follow-on activities "to continue the partnership and momentum that came out of the forum."
Among others, the New York Times had last Wednesday faulted the exclusion of African leaders from the talks.
The paper, however, noted that "many of Africa’s leaders have spent part of their summer shuttling between capitals, congratulating one another on 50 years of independence. One capital they will not be visiting together is Washington."
It added that although Obama convened the forum to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of 17 African nations, " he did not invite a single African leader to help him do so.”
Sanders said Obama had been carrying along African leaders, noting that "recently, the U.S. has been engaged in Africa in an unprecedented manner with signature initiatives, with the President working with African leaders to help move their nations forward."
On why Obama discussed Africa's future with young leaders, Sanders said it was "because more than half the continent is home to people under the age of 25 right now; because the future for change rests with them, and, because Africa's future strength can make America stronger as we forge partnerships and strategic relationships on global issues from development, human rights, and nuclear co-operation."
She said at this time when 17 African nations will celebrate 50 years of independence and take stock of what the next 50 years will look like, "who is better to have that discussion with than the next generation of leaders?” she asked.
"This is what the Obama administration was bold enough and wise enough to do. So, to those who saw the forum differently – missed the point! Yes there is a need to put down markers with current leaders not doing right by their people, but the larger point is to build bridges with Africa's next generation."   Declaring that democratic change in Africa is important to the Obama administration, Sanders said: "We cannot afford not to engage, and certainly we cannot ignore the generation in Africa that will be America's partners in the future."
She noted that for Nigeria's future, the U.S. had established a Bi-National Commission (BNC) focused on Food Security, Education, the Environment, Economics, Democracy and Self-help (FEEEDS) issues addressed at the Obama Africa Forum."
The envoy said America is focusing on Nigeria's democracy and providing technical support for their “must-do right” critical elections in 2011. The BNC has met twice, with the next session on Nigeria’s elections slated for August 24-25, 2010 in Abuja.The U.S. is following up the forum with outreach and technology.
According to McHale, who outlined the next activities of the forum, U.S. embassies and consulates in Africa would partner with delegates to the President’s Forum with young African leaders to organise follow-on events in the continent while the Department of State will support use of social media by the delegates to continue their conversation and co-operation.
“The Department of State will work with young African leaders to organise a follow-on forum in the first quarter of 2011. The forum will take place on a single day, in multiple regional locations across Africa. American representatives will be invited to travel to Africa to participate, and technology will be utilised to further expand participation and impact both in Africa and in the United States.
“All over Africa, the Department of State will sponsor opportunities for technical innovators and programme developers to come together with civil society leaders to develop technical responses to social challenges. The goal is to convene technologists/developers to explore the potentials for collaboration in addressing some of Africa's challenges and creating new opportunities for development and growth. The approach will vary from country to country, and the Department of State will look to African partners for input and to help pursue the way ahead.
She said the State Department will launch a programme of small-scale grants to support future-oriented and creative proposals in Africa that focus on the themes of the conference, including youth empowerment, governance, and economic opportunity.
The Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), she added, will organise Africa Alumni Enrichment workshops in several locations in the continent, involving African alumni of American government exchange programmes, to continue and expand the dialogue with a greater cross section of African youth.

We are preparing for the worst — Jega

The  N74 billion requested by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  to register voters ahead of the 2011 general elections will tackle the worst scenario that may arise in procuring 120,000 units of  the Direct Data Capture Machines at $2000 per unit, the commission’s chairman Professor Attahiru Jega has said. Defending the budget at a sitting of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters at the National Assembly yesterday, Jega said the 30 per cent profit margin which increased the money by N13 billion is part of plans by the commission to avoid any disappointment in the process.

“Our own preference is to buy the machines directly from the manufacturers, which is cheaper and more economical and we are talking with them and many international organizations have also offered to help us. But we also planned for the worst, which is that if there is disappointment from any of the manufacturers, since there is no single manufacturer that produces the machine, then we should be able to engage the vendors because we are also in talk with them.

“We have to prepare for the worst. If you approve the money for us to buy directly from the manufacturers and there is disappointment from them, then, after two weeks I come back to you with another request that I need another increment to enable us engage the vendors you will take me for a fool. We assure you that we are going to be very transparent and I will not sign anything that I am not sure of or I cannot defend,” he said.

Jega also said the commission would, by the GPS tracking devices, monitor the whereabouts of the machines at any point in time.

He said INEC was hoping to register 70 million voters at the end of the exercise and said Nigerians would have a temporary voters card instantly as soon as they register which can be used to vote in January after which there would be continuous voter registration.

The meeting between Jega and the lawmakers would continue this afternoon by 12 noon and the House of Representatives would reconvene tomorrow to consider the report of the committee.

PDP’s online register closes next month

PDP members have until mid-September to revalidate their membership via online registration otherwise they would not be able to participate in the party’s primaries for next year’s elections, national chairman Okwesilieze Nwodo hinted in Abuja yesterday.

 Speaking when he visited the Head Office of Media Trust, publishers of Daily Trust newspaper, Nwodo said the online registration was aimed at freeing the party from the stranglehold of “godfathers” who he did not name.

 He said the People’s Democratic Party’s constitution provides that the registration of members should close at least a month to the primaries, and by implication the online registration, which started yesterday with the registration of President Goodluck Jonathan, would have to stop by the middle of next month. He, however, said the registration process would continue after the elections.

Nwodo said previously, membership registers were seized by godfathers who allow only their loyalists to register, but that the new system would create unimpeded access to membership of the party such that the individual would register on the party’s website after buying a scratch card for N1,200.

The registration is valid for four years, after which a member would have to renew it, he added.

“One of the critical innovations we also bring about is online registration of our members. Hitherto, because of the factions that existed in the party, if one faction collected the membership cards and registers, they only register their faction and they will deny other people registration. And this caused a lot of disharmony within the party. So we want to remove that obstacle.

“We hope this [registration] will go on until about the middle of September when we will start to organise our primaries. We have to stop when the constitution says we should stop. But it is ongoing, once you are 18 years you can register even after the election.

“People can now just walk into any of the five banks that we are using to register our members. When they pay their registration and annual due, they are given a pin number. With this pin number, they enter our website and they download our forms; they fill it and get registered. That way there is no intermediary other than you having the money, go to the bank, pay and then download the forms to fill,” he said.

The party will formally sign the contract for the sale of the scratch cards with the five banks at its headquarters in Abuja today, the chairman said.

Nwodo said the online registration would also boost internal democracy in a “healing process from the haemorrhage of deregistration of members, imposition of candidates and so on.”

He said the exercise is expected to generate funds to help in running the party, stressing that such payment will also make members more committed because they will feel they are stakeholders.

“It also gives us the data base with which we can run our party. Because once we have data base, we know the number of people we have in each ward. We will know the number of Nigerians who are in PDP. We will also know how much comes into our coffers and with this we can plan better,” he added.

Also speaking of the controversial zoning formula of the party, Nwodo regretted that certain statements he made in the past were misconstrued to mean he was not in support of power rotation. The chairman said zoning has been part and parcel of the PDP constitution and he was not happy that some states have not been zoning the position of governor.

“I never said and I will never say that there is no zoning. If I say so, it means that the constitution of the PDP, which I swore to uphold, that I have no interest in upholding that oath. Our constitution clearly says that in the interest of fairness, justice and equity, we should zone and rotate offices,” Nwodo said.

“If you say there will be no zoning, what are you going to do in the states? In fact we are not happy with some states that have not been zoning their governor; where the major tribes have been governor. In the interest of our constitution, it should be going round the senatorial zones.

“In the local government, the chairmanship moves from one political constituency to the other. At the ward level all over Nigeria, everybody knows which family in the ward is going to produce the next councillor. Now at the national level, when we produce a President from the South, we must produce a Vice President from the North. The chairman will have to come from the opposite side, okay? Then we zone the Senate President, the Speaker, Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker to make sure that six geo-political zones are covered. So I must have been mad, out of my mind to say there is no zoning,” Nwodo said

I was not assassinated- Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday denied rumoured assassination, linking it to ulterior motives of his detractors. He declared that it was the handiwork of wicked and mischievous people.

 The rumour of Obasanjo’s death filtered into Abeokuta, Ogun State with a circulated Short Message Service (SMS) which the former president also confirmed receiving.

 Our correspondent in Abeokuta called an aide of the former president who invited the correspondent to have a chat with Obasanjo.

At his Agbeloba Farm House, headquarters of Obasanjo Farms Limited, Quarry Road, Abeokuta, Obasanjo said he was surprised to have received the text message earlier in the day from an unknown source announcing his death to him.

“I received a message this morning and I will read it to you. Breaking News: former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has been assassinated in his home town, Ogun State, by unknown gunmen. He was confirmed dead at the General Hospital, Ota, Ogun State, few hours after his convoy was ambushed,” Obasanjo stated. He explained that by the news “It would appear that I was dead but by you talking to me now in flesh and blood, it will appear that I dey kampe,’’ adding that shortly after  reading the message, he burst into laughter.

But Obasanjo remarked, “But, that is a very bad joke. I don’t know why people did this, they must have an ulterior motive and you know this type of wicked rumour, they (the masterminds) just want to have a joke but it was a very bad joke’.

He added that shortly after receiving the message, it occurred to him that it was a very unique opportunity for him to announce his own death as such he decided to send it to some of his friends.

“I said to myself that I have a unique opportunity of announcing my own death and I sent the message to a number of friends. I believe some of them must have received it. Not everybody has the opportunity of announcing his death. So it’s something unique’’, he said. Obasanjo noted that his death was in the hands of God, praying that it would come after he might have fulfilled his destiny in life.

“In any case, anybody’s death is in the hands of God. My prayer is that when the time comes, God should do it after He must have made sure that the purpose and plan for my life have been achieved. It (rumoured death) may be from friends with bad headache; that is their own cup of tea,” he added.

Rep wants police probed over Bauchi killing

Rep Yakubu Dogara (PDP, Bauchi) has called for investigation into the circumstances that led to the killing of one person and injuring four others by the police in Tafawa-Balewa town in Bauchi state.
A fresh violence reportedly broke out in the early hours of Friday morning when some youths in the town protested the installation of devices by a contractor engaged by the Tafawa Balewa LG and the state government to boost the signal of the state radio fm station in the area.

 Dogara, representing Bogor/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal Constituency, described the killing as “barbaric, inhuman and uncivilized”

In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, the lawmaker advised the police against using of force on armless civilians.

He called on the Inspector General of Police Ogbonna Onovo and the Bauchi state government to institute a probe into what he called “mad event” and ensure that the police men responsible for the shooting and the eventual death of the victim are made to face the full wrath of the law.

Presidential primaries at state level not new, says IBB

Former President General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has said that the proposed arrangement to conduct presidential primaries in each state of the federation is not a political innovation.
Babangida who made the statement in Gusau shortly after paying condolence visit on the death of the wife of the deputy governor, Hajiya Aisha Mukhtar Anka, said the idea started in 1992 when each state had its flag bearer.  The former president who is aspiring for the presidency in 2011 said he sees nothing wrong with the arrangement, stressing that it even makes the process easier.



Speaking on zoning, General Babangida said it was adopted by the PDP to win confidence of the people and popularize the party, pointing out that every political party has a way of strengthening its base by appealing to the needs of people at a particular moment.

He said zoning was adopted owing to agitations by some sections of the country over political domination for a long time. He said PDP saw the need to adopt zoning in order to give fair chance and opportunity to every section to have a taste of the country`s leadership.

Commenting on rumours that former President Obasanjo is putting pressure on him to step aside for President Goodluck Jonathan, Babangida explained that “whenever we meet we only discuss matters of national interest because we laid our lives for the survival of this country”.