Why Ciroma, others didn’t canvass support for Buhari, Ribadu

Adamu Ciroma

Indications emerged that the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), headed by Malam Adamu Ciroma may not canvass support for any of the three northerners in the presidential race because the contestants didn’t bother to seek NPLF’s support. Sunday Trust gathered last night that the forum is still not satisfied with the level of commitment and capacity of the three presidential candidates as it declared in its communiqué last week. The candidates are the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC’s) Muhammadu Buhari; Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN’s) Nuhu Ribadu and All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP’s) Ibrahim Shekarau.

On whether the forum is contemplating CPC’s Buhari, the National Publicity Secretary of the CPC, Mr Rotimi Fasakin said that he was not aware of such moves by the Ciroma group.“We don’t know anything like that yet. There are no such moves as far as I know. We are not aware of such moves by the Ciroma group,” he said.

Several attempts by this reporter to speak to Ciroma or the forum’s Secretary, Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, were not fruitful. Ciroma told this reporter on telephone that he “can only talk to this reporter after Thursday.” It was learnt that the NPLF has been holding several meeting over the weekend. A major decision is likely to be taken during the group’s meeting scheduled for Thursday, an inside source said.

But the National Chairman of the Conference for Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa told Sunday Trust last night that the Ciroma group is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) affair, therefore it is understandable if it refused to canvass support for Buhari or any of the northern presidential candidate.

“Ciroma group is a collection of PDP leaders, not northern leaders. Their concern, therefore, is the PDP. Their consensus issue is restricted to the PDP and that was why they called only aspirants within the PDP. Their powers can only be exercised within the PDP,” said.

Also, Ciroma’s foot-dragging, the source said, may have something to do with the speculations going round that some of the presidential candidates are sponsored by the Presidency to serve as spoilers. Ribadu spokesperson, Malam Ibrahim Modibbo didn’t pick his calls when this reporter called him last night.

Plot to Rig April Polls Begins

- Secret Trade in  Voter Cards Spreads 
- KANO: We’re guilty of the offence, say politicians 
- KATSINA: Grains exchange for voter cards 
- ADAMAWA: Marwa, Nyako trade blames 
- RIVERS: Hausa youths take Ijaw names 
- INEC: We’re aware

If the provisions of the 2010 Electoral Act are to be implemented to the fullest, many politicians in Nigeria will be sent to jails for up to 12 months or be compelled to pay a fine of N1 million each for  illicit trade in voter cards.

Investigations by Sunday Trust correspondents in several states, including Kano, Adamawa, Katsina, Rivers and Bayelsa, revealed the secret trade in voter cards. Youths are being engaged in some states to scout for voter cards and deliver to politicians for a fee, while in some states, peasants, who are potential voters, are being enticed with weekly handout of grains.

In some other states, politicians have registered persons from other communities and even foreigners, in the hope that these ‘voters’ would cast their ballot papers in favour of their sponsors.

Section 120 subsection (1d) of the Electoral Act stipulates that any person who “buys, sells, procures or deals, in voter cards other than as  provided in this Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N1,000,000 or imprisonment for 12 months or both.

Subsection (1a, b & c) of the Act says that: any person who “being entitled to a voter’s card, gives it to some other person for use at an election other than an officer appointed and acting in the course of his duty under those Act... will be punished.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, told Sunday Trust that his organisation was aware of the illicit trade in voter cards.

Idowu explained that “it is an electoral malpractice.  It is an offence to buy or sell voter cards.” He warned also that “it is an exercise in futility. Voters will be accredited simultaneously all over the country. A single voter can’t be at two polling stations at the same time,” he said.

The INEC spokesperson said that those indulged in the crime are wasting their time “because it won’t be business as usual.” He said: “It is politicians in desperation. They still believed that it will be business as usual. But they will be proved wrong after the April polls,” Idowu said.

Secret voter cards trade spreads in Kano, Katsina, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Rivers States

NIGERIANS at a voters registration center

As the April 2011 polls draw near, politicians have already evolved strategies to win the polls at all cost by buying-up voter cards from registered voters. From Kano to Port Harcourt, and from Katsina to Yola, the illicit trade in voter cards is generating fortunes for some unemployed youths. As usual, politicians, who are enmeshed in the crime are busy trading blames across party lines. It is not clear whether this electoral fraud is indeed an exercise in futility as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) repeatedly said.

While the Niger Delta politicians engage Hausa youths in the region by giving them Ijaw names to perpetrate the crime, their counterparts in the North use grains, among other consumables, as an exchange for the cards. It is clear that politicians don’t want to take chances as the elections draw closer.

Youths make fortunes out of voter cards in Kano

In Kano, for instance, politicians are now said to be giving money to their foot soldiers to buy and hoard voter cards.

The cards, it was gathered, are hoarded until the election day when they would be distributed with some incentives to “mobilize” the youths to vote for a particular party.

Findings show that the vote racketeers concentrate mainly in areas where there is high concentration of voters. Although the sale also takes place in rural Kano, the deal takes place within Kano metropolis.

Our reporter learnt that all the major political parties in Kano are not spared in the deal. Although no leading figure could be fingered in the deal, their associates are said to be the ones who buy the cards.

Areas of Kano metropolis where the deal is going on include; Kaura Goje, Rimin Kebe, Darma, Agadasawa, Jakara, Gabari, Dukawa, Gwammaja, Malafa, Kwanar Dala, Fagge, Kurna-Rijiyar Lemo, among others.

Investigation shows that politicians ask the youth to obtain as many as possible and assured them that they would be bought later after the conclusion of the exercise. Now that the deal has begun, each card is bought at the cost of N100 to N200.

A youth voter cards, who simply identified himself as Habu Rogo said he was in possession of about a dozen cards which he obtained at different polling units of Nassarawa Local Government.

According to him, an associate of a notable politician in the state (name withheld); directed him and other youngmen to register for as many times as possible. “As soon as the registration began, they asked us to register a lot, promising that we would be paid for each card,” he said.

But another youth in Sharada area of the metropolis said he was paid N200 for each card he presented  to politicians.

An Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate for Wudil/Garko Federal Constituency, Ismail Dahiru Muhammad, said although he was aware of the deal going on in his constituency, he would rather lose his seat than engage in buying the voter cards.

Congress for Progressive Change (CPC’s) Shuaibu Fagge, who is the party’s candidate for Fagge Federal Constituency in Kano, said he cautioned his campaign coordinators against engaging in the deal, which, he said, was against the ideals of his party.

Another politician who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said when the cards are bought they are hoarded because the prices will be highly inflated on the eve of the election. “We can’t fold our arms to see others buying. So we have to buy the cards and keep them for election day. That is just the trend in Nigeria,” he said.

According to him, all the parties in the state are not spared from the deal. “We are all guilty of this crime. But to say the fact, in Nigerian politics, there is no crime to buy the cards because if you refuse bying, your opponents will buy the votes and defeat you,” he said.

Desperate politicians exchange grains for voter cards in Katsina

In Katsina State, an investigation conducted by Sunday Trust revealed that the buying and selling of the voter cards became rampant midway into the registration exercise in all parts of the state. As a result, there were multiple registrations in an attempt by many youths to make more money.

Though politicians of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were the most culpable, there were indications that opposition parties like the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are also perpetrating the act.

In Governor Ibrahim Shema’s own Dutsimma Local Government Area, a group named “Naka Sai Naka” engaged in weekly distribution grains to mostly women who showed their voter cards and indication of a commitment to vote for the party in the 2011 elections.

When our correspondent visited the town, women were seen queuing at selected polling centers at Dutsimma, collecting two measures of maize and N100.00. Among the areas the exercise were carried out include Hayin Gada, Tafkin Alkali, Yandaka Primary School and other possible polling centers across the area.

Checks revealed that the group founded by one Umaru Abdullahi alias “Tata” and a strong ally of Governor Shema, first started with the collection of voter cards before giving the peasants the handouts. However, they were forced to shelve the idea of retrieving the cards because it attracted criticisms from the opposition.

Sunday Trust investigations in Katsina showed that some politicians sponsored foreigners as well as people from other communities to register and later bought the cards from them with an understanding that they will return to vote in favour of the parties that hired them for the exercise during the general elections.

Our correspondent gathered that a serving state legislator from a local government very close to Katsina, arranged for a vehicle to convey pupils from various Islamic schools at Kofar Marusa area of the metropolis to go and register in his ward. Thereafter, he bought the cards from the school lads at N200 each, with a promise to meet again in April.

The situation was prevalent at Bayan Filin Polo, Kofar Marusa, Dutsin Safe and Cikin Birnin areas where, according to Abdulkadir Isa, who told our correspondent that he registered three times, each of the cards was sold at the rate of N500 to the desperate politicians.

At Bayan Filin Polo, it was ascertained that an unpopular politician engaged in the buy off exercise and allegedly destroyed the cards in order to reduce the number of protest votes against his political party.

Ibrahim Salisu Tsagem who confirmed the development in their area, said most of the politicians engaged in the unscrupulous act were uneducated politicians who still believed they can somehow manipulate the process despite INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega’s, assurance that there wouldn’t be rigging in this year’s polls.

Tsagem revealed that his village politicians asked youths to be ready to return and vote for their parties during the April polls.

While the state comptroller of the immigration service in Katsina, Mr Umar Bulama, paraded some foreigners nabbed registering at Funtua, Malumfashi, Daura and Batsari local governments during the exercise,  a renowned clergyman and chairman of the state Jama’atul Izalatul Bid’ah Waiqamatul Sunnah (JIBWIS), Sheikh Yakubu Musa Hassan, urged security agencies to investigate the alleged sale of voter cards.

Katsina State chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Dr Yusha’u Armaya’u, raised the alarm to newsmen recently, blaming PDP for an attempt to manipulate the voters registration exercise.

The allegation was dismissed by the state’s chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Rabiu Gambo Bakori, who blamed the opposition for trying to raise a false alarm in order to attract undue favour and sympathy for themselves when it was clear that the PDP will win in April.

Nyako locks horns with Marwa over voter’s cards sale

In Adamawa State, Governor Murtala Nyako and the CPC governorship candidate Brigadier General Buba Marwa (rtd) have since locked horns with over alleged purchase of voter cards.

The salvo was first fired by Marwa when he accused the Adamawa State Government of buying voter cards from residents for N200 each with a view to destroye them. Marwa made the allegation in an interview with journalists in Yola.

He alleged that “the plan to buy and destroy the cards is to rig the forthcoming elections in the state. Information available to us revealed that government officials had been criss-crossing the nooks and crannies of the state on a mission to destroy the voter cards. This is because it is apparent that the incumbent governor would never be returned by the Adamawa electorate.”

Marwa alleged that his campaign organization discovered the-illegal act shortly after the just-concluded voters registration exercise. The CPC candidate added: “I do know that a special unit has been set up by the government to find out how the INEC machines and systems can be manipulated as it has been done in the past, but the good thing under Professor Attahiru Jega is that the machines cannot be compromised.”

While calling on the electorate not to sell their voter cards, but use them as a weapon to remove “unpopular governments” and elect the leaders of their choice, Marwa threatened that his party will not be rigged out by anybody, as “we will die there with those people who are rigging.”

He added that the decision was not “aimed at causing violence or inflicting harm on anybody.” He insisted that anybody making attempts to rig elections in Adamawa would be resisted. He said the matter has been reported to the relevant authorities.

“This is an open secret now. They are doing it. But at our own level, we are giving information and facts that we have to the appropriate agencies so that they would know how to respond to it,” he noted. He however declined to comment on the “evidence.”

But in a swift reaction, Nyako, refuted the claims and described Marwa as a desperate politician who is ready to pull the roof down in his bid to get the governor’s seat. He spoke through his Special Adviser on Election Matters, Alhaji Usman Ibrahim. He denied the allegations, saying that being a bad loser; Marwa is already seeking sympathy in a virgin land.

The governor’s aide explained Nyako could not use government officials to buy voters cards for the sake of destroying them, saying that the people of the state want him to govern them, so he is not desperate.

He said that, “though we don’t want to join issues with him, but there is clear indication that Marwa is too desperate to become the governor of Adamawa State. And that that was why the former military ruler and ambassador decamped from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and

joined the CPC in a hurried manner.”

“You see, these are some of the cover-up by some people who are naturally fraudulent; who normally accuse others before they are being accused. Some three weeks ago, we had featured on ATV television programme where one of the CPC key aspirants participated. I threw out the allegation that some prominent politicians in this state have started the buying up voters’ cards from prospective voters just to disenfranchise them,” he said.

The Nyako’s aide said that they have jointly issued statements with INEC condemning the buying-up of voter’s cards with the pretext that they will be given back their cards on the day of election.

Reacting to the development, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Barrister Kassim Gaidam, confirmed that there was such insinuations by some politicians. He however said that the matter was not officially communicated to his office.”  He warned that the electoral body will not take it kindly with any deviant’ politician found wanting.

Similarly, the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Elhira Altine Daniel, told Sunday Trust on telephone that they are not receiving any complaints in that regards. “We are yet to officially receive the complaints of politicians buying-up voters’ cards from prospective voters. And as soon as we get it, I will furnish you,” the PPRO said.

Politicians engage Hausa youths to get voter cards in Niger Delta

Investigations by Sunday Trust showed that in Rivers State voter cards were being traded right from the period of voters’ registration. Some political actors from Rivers and Bayelsa states had used agents to mobilize hundreds of Hausa youths (involved in petty trading).

The youth it was gathered, were paid various sums of money after which they were conveyed to obtain voter cards in Ogu town in Ogubolo Local Government in Rivers and Nembe in Bayelsa states. The youths were registered with Ijaw names, as required by agents, who immediately retrieved the cards from them for onward delivery to desperate politicians.

It was also learnt that most of the youths were paid between N1,500 to N2,000. Some 300 youths, who were conveyed to Nembe and Brass Local Government Areas in Bayelsa were said to have been given N10,000 for the same purpose.

Sunday Trust correspondent observed that there was large turn-out ofHausa youths during the registration exercise to obtain voter’s cards in Port Harcourt.

Alhaji Musa Sa’idu, Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for South -South and South East, who is also leader of the northern community in Rivers State, confirmed this to Sunday Trust. He said that he personally witnessed a situation where dozens of Hausa youths sat inside a bus at the trailer park in Onne, Port Harcourt, who were about to be conveyed to Ogu town, headquarters of Ogu/Bolo local government area of Rivers at the instance of a top politician in the area. He said he also came across a woman who came to Port Harcourt with buses to pick Hausa youths for purchase of voter cards.

“I was at Notore, former NAFCON, in Onne here in Port Harcourt when I saw our youths in their dozens inside some buses. I started going towards them and when they sighted me, they all ran out of the buses because they knew the ACF had taken up the matter with the police. I later discovered that they were being taken to Ogu town. So, I reported the issue to the DPO there and the agents were arrested, but they were released later. When I made enquiries from the DPO, he told me that the Chairman of Eleme local government area (a PDP man) pleaded that the people should be released,” Sa’idu said.

The ACF chieftain also alleged that the ACF later learnt that a politician was in Hausa line in Port Harcourt to mobilize and convey dozens of youths to his native town, Buguma in Rivers State for the same purpose. He further alleged that the ACF equally learnt some agents had also mobilized some voter cards selling Hausa youths for a governorship candidate he didn’t want to name.

“I learnt that the same person was in Hausa line to move our boys to Buguma, his native town in Asari Toru Local Government of Rivers State. He was helping someone close to him, who is also a governorship candidate in one political party. So, I reported to the state director of SSS and I have been told that the two politicians were called to write undertakings,” he said.

“But, it saddens my heart so much that only our people descended to that level of being moved and given different names to obtain and sell voter cards. No Igbo or Yoruba man and indeed the Ijaw could have done that. I have been educating my people to let them know whoever they want they should vote for during the elections. But they should not release their voter cards. I feel so bad,” the ACF chairman noted.

He said that a boat conveying some Hausa youths to Brass capsized and they narrowly escaped. Sunday Trust gathered from many sources that the accident, indeed, occurred but none of the youthS could be identified for interview.

Information has been going round that candidates were buying voter cards for N10,000 with supporters of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of the PDP and Dr Abiye Sekibo of the ACN trading accusations. In Bayelsa, similar accusation is being traded between supporters of Governor Timipre Sylva (PDP) and Mr. Timi Alaibe’s Labour Party ahead of the governorship elections.

Sunday Trust gathered that in some cases, the voter cards were being retrieved from supporters in areas where a candidate is seen to be popular for the purpose of “keeping and safeguarding the cards.”

In Akwa Ibom state, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Maria Owi has complained a new trend where voter cards are allegedly being purchased from eligible voters by aides of the Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio.

Mrs Owi, said that she had received several reports from some residents of the state who have called her severally to protest against the purchase of voters’ cards from many ignorant voters.

Though the electoral commissioner did not name those involved, some pressure groups in the state a few weeks ago had warned that agents of the Akpabio administration were offering as much as N10,000 per card.

“Yes I have received a lot of calls that persons suspected to be agents of the state government are going about buying voters’ cards from some members of the public. I have not been able to arrest any suspect, the last time they called me I arrived late so I couldn’t get them but we are still at alert,” the INEC boss said.

Some of the areas in the state where crime is perpetrated according to her include; Uruan, Urunuko, and Itu amongst other local government areas.

We are aware of the illicit trade – INEC

The Chief Press Secretary to the chairman of INEC, Mr Kayode Idowu told Sunday Trust yesterday that the electoral body was aware of the voter cards trade. But he said that it is an exercise in futility. “It is an electoral malpractice.  It is an offence to buy or sell voter cards,” he said.

Idowu explained that whoever indulges in the act is wasting his time. “It is an exercise in futility. Voters will be accredited simultaneously all over the country. A single voter can’t be at two polling stations at the same time,” he said.

The INEC spokesperson described the act as “politicians’ desperation. They still think that it will be business as usual. But they will be proved wrong after the April polls,” Idowu said.

Thugs chase, kill INEC staffer in Jos

Gov. Jonah Jang

A group of hoodlums yesterday chased and killed an ad hoc staffer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) while two soldiers who were trying to save him were badly injured at the Tina Junction in Jos North local government area of Plateau state. Our correspondent reports that the victim, Murtala Ibrahim, a law graduate, was attacked and killed when six INEC ad hoc staffers went to the area to collect registration materials for their ward in preparation for the voter registration exercise.

According to an eyewitness, Umar M. Adam, who was among those who escaped the mob attack, they went to the area early in the morning to collect the materials when they were surrounded by a group of youths who attacked them.

Adam said the initial place where they used to collect the materials during every election or voter registration exercise was at Baptist School, but during this exercise the venue was shifted to St. Philip Academy. He said, “At first, we were reluctant to go there considering the nature of what is happening in Jos, but we were assured by the Electoral Officer (E.O) that nothing will happen to us.”

He said despite the fact that they were accompanied by some soldiers, they were still attacked, and that the two soldiers that were accompanying them sustained injuries on the leg and head respectively, after rescuing them.

According to Adam, four of them, including Murtala Muhammed, Salisu Husaini and Abdul Salam Yusuf were hidden in a classroom by one police woman, while Jamilu and the deceased (Murtala Ibrahim) hid inside one of the soldiers’ outposts in the area. He said, “Jamilu narrowly escaped, while Murtala (the deceased) and the two soldiers who were trying to control the youths were overpowered and in the end Murtala was killed and the two soldiers were injured”.

Adam added that it took the intervention of two armoured tankers and two Hilux vehicles filled with soldiers before they were rescued, adding that one of the vehicles belonging to the soldiers was badly damaged by the rampaging youths.

The Special Task Force (STF) spokesperson Captain Charles Ekoacha confirmed the incident to newsmen. Although this aspect was not confirmed by the STF, Daily Trust learnt that two of the hoodlums were killed while some of them were injured in the struggle to rescue the INEC ad hoc staff.

Meanwhile, the Special Military Task Force on the Jos crisis [STF] yesterday received orders to fire at any person or group of persons attempting to kill or to burn a public building in the state.

STF spokesman Capt. Charles Ekeocha said the order was received yesterday in reaction to the unrest at Tina Junction where an INEC staff who took cover in the tent of the soldiers while a mob was pursuing him was killed and his body was set ablaze while the soldiers watched helplessly. Ekeocha said the order took effect from yesterday. He said any act of violence from any individual or group henceforth would be met by force.

“We have been ordered to shoot and kill anybody trying to kill another or anybody trying to burn down a church or a mosque,” he said. The STF spokesman cautioned elders and parents in the community to talk to their wards not to take the laws into their hands, saying the kind of scenario that played out on Monday where an official on duty was killed right under their nose would not be allowed to happen again.

Govt may withdraw privileges over voters’ card – INEC

Prof. Attahiru Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has hinted that government may deny eligible Nigerians certain benefits if they failed to register and obtain voters card. The INEC Resident Commissioner in Lagos Adetokumbo Ladipo dropped the hint at a voter’s registration sensitization seminar/workshop for traders in Lagos.

Mr. Ladipo who recalled that such punitive action against citizens who failed to do their civic duties had been done in the past said it could still be meted out by government if it so desires.  He also announced that anybody caught to have registered twice will face the law and risks one year jail term or fine or both.

He encouraged the traders and indeed Nigerians to come out and register and vote for their preferred candidate assuring that their vote will count.   The one-day seminar put together by Traders Right Protection Initiative in conjunction with Traders Voice Newspaper and INEC was to encourage traders to be fully involved in the elections activities.

PDP Convention - More protests in Kaduna, Bauchi

protesters burning umbrellas and PDP flag

Protests began by youths in some Northern cities to protest the outcome of the Peoples Democratic Party’s [PDP] presidential primaries of last week spread yesterday to Kaduna and Bauchi states, with protesters burning the party flag and causing commotion in the streets. Vice President Mohamed Namadi Sambo also had to cancel his planned visit to Kaduna yesterday to participate in the voter registration exercise.

Pandemonium had broken out along the busy Muhammadu Buhari/ Waff Road in Kaduna metropolis yesterday when youths numbering about a hundred set ablaze the flag of the ruling PDP. They said they were protesting the outcome of the party’s presidential primaries held in Abuja last Thursday.

The youths, who barricaded the road for some time, created tension in the area as passersby scampered away for safety.  The youths who came on motorcycles were chanting “Ba muson PDP,” meaning they don’t want PDP.

They destroyed several umbrellas [the PDP symbol] as well as the party’s flags and banners. They also attempted to enter the Kaduna secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) but the chairman of the state council, Alhaji Yusuf Idris quickly ordered for the closure of the secretariat.

Speaking to our correspondent, one of the protesting youths, Adamu Mohammed, said they decided to denounce the PDP following the way that last Thursday’s primaries was conducted.

He said, “We are doing this to show our displeasure in the sham primaries they conducted. There is no internal democracy in the party at all. For them to dump zoning, we are also dumping the party and we are going to work against them.’’

Chairman of the Kaduna council of NUJ Alhaji Yusuf Idris said they decided to lock the secretariat because the press centre was not meant for protest. He also said the protesters did not tell the NUJ leaders that they were coming.

Meanwhile, Daily Trust gathered that Vice President Sambo decided to postpone his voters’ registration in Kaduna because of “unfavourable security reports.” The Vice President had been expected to perform the civic responsibility at a special polling unit at Shooting Range, near the Almanar Juma’at Mosque Close, a stone’s throw from his Kaduna residence.

Dozens of security men were drafted to the area. All roads leading to the shooting range polling unit were fortified by security men. The VP’s advanced team had arrived the Shooting Range polling unit around 2.pm.

Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media, Alhaji Sani Umar had told our correspondent that the VP would be coming to the state for the voter registration. Newsmen from both electronic and print media houses waited for hours at the Shooting Range. The news of the cancellation of the VP’s trip was broken to the newsmen at 4.10 pm.

Meanwhile, in Bauchi state, the police had to disperse a group of youths who were protesting over the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2011 presidential election.

Our correspondent who monitored the protest reported that the youths took over Nasarawa and Ran roads chanting bamuso, Bamuyin Jonathan, meaning “we don’t want”, “we are not doing [i.e. supporting] Jonathan.” They burnt several PDP flags and an umbrella. Men of the Special Anti robbery Squad as well as soldiers in an Army Hilux truck followed the protesting youths along the streets and dispersed them before they could hold a rally.

Leader of the protesters, Comrade Aliyu Ladan, said they were disappointed with the northern governors who they said compelled their delegates to vote for Jonathan. Ladan threatened that they will decamp from PDP and would do everything to frustrate Jonathan’s election in the North.

He said the PDP national leadership did not follow the zoning formula of allowing the north to produce the party’s next presidential candidate. He said, “They should have allowed the northern part of the country to complete its four years before going for any negations. Already, the south have finished their tenure through Obasanjo, so therefore it is now is the turn of north to rule for eight years. All our elders, women, and youth in the state are going out of the party (PDP), because the youth are the majority of Nigerian voters.”

Bauchi State Publicity Secretary of PDP Sani Al’amin Mohammed however said PDP youths don’t take laws in their hands and advised the protesting youth, “if they are genuine PDP members,” to come forward and express their grievances peacefully.

Jonathan says Nigeria doomed without unity

President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that without unity Nigeria’s development as a country will be doomed.

He decried the incessant crises in the country which led to the death of personnel of the armed forces and other security agencies thereby bringing untold hardship to their families. President Jonathan spoke at the 2011 Armed Forces Remembrance Day held at the National Christian Centre amidst tight security yesterday.

He called on the congregation and Nigerians to pray for the country’s armed forces and other security agencies as their work has continued to keep the nation together.

He said the nation’s diversity should not be seen as a hindrance but resources that can be exploited for the development of the country.

President Jonathan, who noted that Nigerians sometimes seem to dwell more on the excesses of some personnel thereby not giving them kudos for efforts made to sustain our democracy and security, called on Nigerians to remember them in prayers as they are people who have sworn to die for us to live.

“Today we remember those who have passed on and call on all Nigerians to pray for them, their widows, children and dependants that God will provide a window for them to cushion the suffering of those whose husbands paid the supreme sacrifice for this nation,” he said.

In his sermon titled “Leadership that stands out”, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, using Prophet Nehemiah as an example, said “a leader that does not fear God would make himself god. A leader that does not fear god becomes a master instead of a servant”.

Oritsejafor also said Nehemiah identified with the people, adding “a good leader would sit where the people sit, feel what the people feel so that he would know what the people need and therefore be able to do what is right.”

Others who attended the service were the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, the President’s mother, representative of the Senate President, the ministers, the Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs, and heads of other security agencies and the  representative of the Inspector General of Police.

Northern consensus group meets without Saraki, transforms to G3

General Ibrahim Babangida

The northern consensus group (G4) consisting General Ibrahim Babangida, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, General Aliyu Gusau and Governor Bukola Saraki met yesterday in Abuja without the Kwara State governor to discuss the outcome of last Thursday’s presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Details of the meeting could not be obtained at press time but a source told Daily Trust that the “G4” might have transformed to “G3” “with Governor Bukola having moved over to Jonathan, leaving General Babangida, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and General Aliyu Gusau.”

However, when asked why he did not attend yesterday’s meeting, Saraki who spoke through the spokesman of his campaign organisation, Garbdeen Mohammed, said the Kwara State governor did not deliberately boycott the meeting.

He said the meeting was earlier slated for today (Monday) but later shifted forward to yesterday, pointing out that Saraki received the notice at a very short notice when he had already given a commitment to other state matters. Garbadeen said being a state governor, Saraki was also overwhelmed by the ongoing registration exercise the start of which was greeted by some hiccups.

Members of the G4, all PDP presidential aspirants had submitted themselves to a consensus arrangement worked out by nine ‘wise men’ headed by elder statesman Malam Adamu Ciroma in which Atiku emerged as the consensus.

However, only Governor Saraki could not deliver his state to Atiku in last Thursday’s primaries, something which appears to have raised some level of suspicion since both Babangida and Gusau delivered their respective states of Niger and Zamafara in accordance with their pledge to support Atiku after the result of consensus.

The former VP’s camp also said it was unaware of the reconciliation moves widely reported to have been initiated by President Jonathan.

The president’s spokesman Ima Niboro was quoted on Saturday as saying that Jonathan is meeting with Atiku, IBB and Adamu Ciroma in his effort to mend fences with the trio and their supporters because of the wounds inflicted in the build up to the presidential primaries.

When contacted, Atiku’s media aide Garba Shehu said: “We too read about it in the press.”

Shekarau wins ANPP ticket

Governor Ibrahim Shekarau

Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State recorded a landslide win early Sunday morning to emerge as the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Shekarau polled 4,178 of the total 5,315 votes cast to defeat the three other aspirants. Chairman of the ANPP National Election Committee and the party’s Returning Officer, Senator Maina Ma’aji Lawan, who announced the results and declared Shekarau winner, also declared that the former Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman and three times presidential aspirant of the party, Chief Harry Ayoade Akande, came a distant second with 708 votes. Former Education Minister Alhaji Dauda Birmah scored 148 votes while Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa garnered 139 votes. 142 votes were invalidated.

In his acceptance speech, Malam Shekarau said he was gratified to witness a free, fair and transparent primaries that led to his emergence and he promised to tackle corruption if elected president. He said, “Election symbolised the answer to the dreams and aspirations of fellow Nigerians to work out actual ways of national development and bring Nigeria among the top 20 economies of the world.”

The four aspirants had earlier undergone thorough screening and were cleared by the Senator Ahmed Sani-led screening panel to contest.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had fixed January 15 as the deadline for the conclusion of primaries and submission of candidates for the April polls, but it extended the deadline for the ANPP following the party’s inability to hold its special 2011 presidential convention at the Eagles Square, Abuja on Saturday due to the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration that was held there.

Chairman of the convention committee and former Edo State governor Chief John Odigie Oyegun, who told newsmen of the deadline extension by INEC said, “We wrote to the electoral body on the challenges we were facing concerning the venue of the convention. They reasoned with us because we have published the date of our convention in the media but we could not hold it that night because of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day. We have respect for our military, our country and our president that is why we have to conduct the primaries today (yesterday) using the same venue. We have that agreement in writing that even if there is a slippage into January 16, INEC will accommodate us because what happened was totally outside our control.”

He said the military, police, State Security Services (SSS), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) sent 500 men each to the convention, in addition to 200 federal highway patrol men.

ANPP’s National Chairman Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, while declaring open the convention, said the party has been in opposition for too long and that it will take over power from the PDP. “We therefore advise the ruling party to start preparing to play the role of the leading opposition political party in Nigeria,” Onu said.

Each of the four aspirants was given five minutes to address the delegates before the voting commenced. Shekarau, in his speech, said the occasion was a day of great of history, a great moment of change for ANPP and for the country as a whole and that the expected change in Nigeria would come with the election of a credible and experienced leader to lead the way.

While decrying the slow pace of development in the power, education, energy and agricultural sectors, he promised an accelerated change in the country. He said, “The change I am talking about is the restoration of trust and confidence in the running of government in Nigeria. This is the foundation of good governance in Nigeria.”

Chief Akande, on his part, expressed regret on the dwindling fortunes of ANPP from nine governors in 1999 to three today, saying the party needs a rebirth and that he was presenting himself as the pivot of that rebirth.

Alhaji Bashir Tofa advised the delegates to see the convention as the last chance for ANPP to progress and give Nigerians the best, saying “Nigeria yesterday was always better than today’’, hence the need for change. “Nigerians and Nigeria just need to change or be short-changed,” he said.

Alhaji Dauda Birmah lamented the backwardness of the country due to bad leadership and promised to give good leadership to redress the injustice of the past. He also promised to bring about positive change in education, agriculture and power sectors, among others, while recalling that he stepped down eight years ago for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. He who fights and runs, lives to fight another day, he said.

N600m water plant collapses at test run

The overhead tank of a N539 million water treatment plant in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, collapsed yesterday during a test-run by the contractor. Water had been pumped into the tank for the first time when it keeled over and fell.

Ibrum Integrated Services Limited, which has N1.6 billion water project contracts in the state, was given six months from May, 2008 to complete the Lafia project with specifications to refurbish the old water works, provide two additional overhead tanks at the plants’ booster station along Shendam Road and NTA area, and to provide underground pipes through the metropolis to channel water to the various sections of Lafia.

But the project suffered serious hitches, with the completion period dragging on till yesterday, when the company’s engineers invited government officials to witness the test run at the booster station along Shendam Road.

The main tank, whose capacity was put at 3 million gallons, was filled to the brim in the test run, but its stands then began to wobble, made a screeching noise before pumping water to the various channels. Engineers and government supervisors who stood at the foot of the main tank had a premonition of impending disaster coming and they took to their heels, leaving behind some construction vehicles behind.

The stands then collapsed and the overhead tank came crashed down, ramming into construction equipment and sending water surging water into adjoining offices and all the way down the Shendam Road. Even though the booster station’s premises was hard hit, no one was hurt as the engineers and government officials had all scampered away. Nasarawa State Commissioner for Water Resources James Agule Kasse spoke to newsmen shortly after he led the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Timothy Anjide for an on-the-spot visit to the collapsed structure, thanking God that no lives were lost.

Kasse blamed “technical problems” for the tank’s collapse but told newsmen the management of the contractors was yet to report to Lafia to give reasons. He said, “The contractor is not around. We want to meet with the contractor first because the project is still under him, and is only being test run.”

The project was expected to be presented for commissioning soon.