Priyanka Chopra: Make it happen!

New Delhi, May 14 -- We all have dreams. No matter who you are and where you have come from, you have a dream. It could be for your job, your life, marriage, home, car, etc. there is always something that we dream about. But what I find most amazing is what little effort we make to turn our dreams into reality. I have come to realise that it is human tendency to find 15 reasons why things can't work, rather than look at finding the one way to make it work.
Over the years, through various interactions I have had with people via one-to-one chats, emails and now via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the most common question that has been put to me has always been, "How did you do it and what do I do to make it happen for me?" Different people had different dreams and they were sitting there, waiting for that one big opportunity to come or that one person to appear to make those dreams come true. That, in my opinion, is where the problem lies. Speaking from my own experience, if I just sat by, waiting for things to unfold, I wouldn't have been where I am today. Yes, I did have some key opportunities that opened the doors for me, but if I just sat by, nothing would have happened. I am a firm believer that opportunity knocks on everyone's door.
It is important to recognise the knock, open the door, invite the opportunity in to your life but what is most critical is how you take it forward. First and foremost, you need to make the decision of what you want to do. Spend some time to research it and see if it's really something you want to do. Then start making plans on how you can achieve your dream. Remember, nothing comes easy. On the path to success, you WILL face failure and you have to be prepared for that so that you will have the courage to carry on regardless.
The most important factor in all of this, is hard work. There is no replacement for it and it always, always yields results. I can hear the thoughts running through your head right now... "what about luck? Some people are just so lucky!"
I do agree that some people are luckier than others, but it's never a driving factor. A key factor in making dreams come true is the human will. I have learnt that if you put your mind to something, there is nothing that can stop you. So my advice to you all you dreamers... stop thinking and dreaming... step out and fight to make it a reality... You will never regret it!

CBN limits borrowing by bank’s directors to 1%

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has limit the amount a director or a “significant shareholder” in a bank can borrow from the bank to 1 percent.

This was contained in the new guidelines titled “Prudential guidelines for deposit money banks in Nigeria” and posted in the website of CBN yesterday.

The affected directors or shareholders can only borrow more than the above amount with the prior approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The guideline defined a significant shareholding as a holding of at least 5 percent (individually or in aggregate) of bank’s equity.

It said that the maximum credit to all insiders should not exceed 10 percent of share capital. The share capital shall be made up of paid up share capital and share premium.

According to the guidelines, insiders include directors, significant shareholders and employees. The term “director” includes director’s wife, husband, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter and their spouses.

It said that the provisions of this section supersede the provisions of circular BSD/9/2004 on large exposure and connected lending.

The guidelines also said that insider-related credits include transactions involving shareholders, employees, directors and their related interests.

Banks are required to present their disclosure in the financial statements by disclosing the aggregate amount of insider-related loans.

It said that advances and leases outstanding as at the financial year end should be separately stated in a note to the accounts and the non-performing component further analyzed by security, maturity, performance, provision, interest-in suspense and name of borrowers.

There are other provisions in the new guidelines.

CBN Director of Banking Supervision Samuel Oni said: “These prudential guidelines should be regarded as minimum requirements and licensed banks are encouraged to implement more stringent policies and practices to enhance mitigation of risks.”

EFCC begins Ibori’s extradition

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mrs. Farida Waziri has dispatched a team to Dubai to start the process of extraditing former governor of Delta state James Ibori after he was arrested by the International Police (Interpol) on Wednesday.

Mrs. Waziri confirmed to journalists in Abuja that, “It has been confirmed that Ibori was arrested by the Interpol.”

She said the commission had been exchanging intelligence with Interpol and Metropolitan Police, UK, after Ibori was declared wanted in Nigeria and failed to submit himself for interrogation over an alleged N44billion scam.

The former governor was however granted bail by a Dubai court after he was arraigned yesterday, his media aide Tony Eluemunor said in a statement.

Ibori was arrested by Interpol via a warrant of arrest issued by United Kingdom authorities and would soon be extradited to face charges of money laundering against him before a London court.

EFCC declared Ibori wanted in April for failure to explain his involvement in the alleged sales of shares owned by Delta State government to obtain N44billion loan from Intercontinental bank for his company, Ascot Offshore Nigeria Limited.

The anti-graft agency also secured a court warrant for his arrest and equally put him on a watch list.

“My initial reaction when I heard of Ibori’s arrest was that of excitement, and surprise too. Surprise because somebody said he had gone to Ghana. Some people also said he is still somewhere in Delta, some say in his Village in Warri. My mind never went to Dubai. But the Met police have a relationship with Dubai police. They told me that if he is in Dubai they will get him that it will be easier to track him down .If he had gone to places like China or Japan, and then it would have been difficult. I was very excited.

“EFCC is prepared to prosecute him without leaving any loose end. Before, we declared him wanted, of course to arraign him. We have some charges and we have witnesses and we are prepared on our side.”

Ogbulafor may quit today

Embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Prince Vincent Ogbulafor is expected to quit his post anytime today following the withdrawal of support from the PDP governors who caved in to pressure from President Goodluck Jonathan and advised Ogbulafor to resign, Daily Trust learnt yesterday. Already, his aides had cleared the chairman’s personal effects from his office at the PDP’s Wadata Plaza national secretariat and Ogbulafor did not report for work yesterday.  

Efforts to reach Ogbulafor’s Assistant on Media and Public Relations Chijioke Adindu to confirm the authenticity of the reports proved abortive.   

The National Chairman was not at the secretariat up till 6:30 p.m when our reporter left the Wadata Plaza. However, PDP National Secretary Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje in an interview with reporters over the development could neither confirm nor deny the resignation reports.   

Baraje, who said he could only confirm whether the story was true or not after some hours, stated that Ogbulafor was still consulting other stakeholders from his zone as a result of the Southeast governors’ demand on  him that he should resign.   

He said the Southeast governors’ request was taken seriously because of the PDP tradition and unwritten law that governors are leaders of the party in the states.   

Baraje, who noted that Ogbulafor had not been convicted as a result of the ongoing corruption trial, also said the only snag was the request by his zone which he is representing that he should resign.   

Baraje said: “The national chairman of a party like PDP cannot resign without you hearing. I cannot confirm that to you now but maybe in the next few hours I will be able to confirm yes or no.”   

He added: “On a serious note, it is no longer news that three governors from the eastern states asked him to resign as a result of the case in court and you know the process of electing our chairman and various members of the executive party.   

“They come from the zone before; they are now elected through national convention. So he has to go on consultation with his zone and presently he is doing a lot of consultations around from his zone and the outcome of the consultation is what will tell us whether he is going to resign or not.   

“That is why I tell you that presently I cannot confirm and I know that before the end of the day, definitely you will know the outcome of his consultation, today (yesterday). Definitely you will know the outcome of the consultation.” Commenting on the reports that all the PDP governors had ordered Ogbulafor to resign, he replied: “that is not true and I won’t say more than that.”   

He dismissed the knowledge of the insinuation that President Goodluck Jonathan was behind the move to oust the party’s National Chairman.   

When asked to give the process involved in the resignation of the national chairman, the party scribe reacted: “the process is very clear in the Constitution.  If he resigns, then there is a vacancy and the constitution says that if there is a vacancy he hands over to the deputy national chairman pending the appointment of a new chairman from that same zone and the appointment will also have to be confirmed by the executive committee of the party.   

“The process is that he will resign, handover to the deputy and the deputy will hold forth and the letter will have to be presented to the deputy who will present it to the National Executive Committee (NEC) and at the same time approved.”   

In a separate interview, PDP National Legal Adviser Chief Olusola Oke said he was not aware if Ogbulafor had resigned or not but noted that an emergency meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) is likely to hold today if he tenders a resignation letter, to look at the letter in order to enable them accept or forward it to National Executive Committee (NEC).   

Oke, who explained that the issue of one month notice of resignation was not mandatory, stated that such issue required consultations with other party leaders apart from the NWC.   

While dismissing the insinuation that any eventual resignation of Ogbulafor would affect the party’s zoning formula, the National Legal Adviser said any replacement would come from the Southeast geo-political zone in line with the PDP Constitution.   

He said the NEC would meet to ratify anybody chosen to replace Ogbulafor should he decide to resign.   

“At the moment as far as we are concerned until 2011 when a call to any revisit of the zoning will arise. The chairmanship, if Ogbulafor resigns, will still have to come from the southeast,” he said.

Daily Trust could not reach PDP’s spokesman Professor Rufai Alkali for comments. However, another source said the NWC members met with Ogbulafor on Wednesday but the meeting ended inconclusively because “the other executives could not tell him what to do in the light of the governors’ demand. He has to go and make his own consultations.” The source confirmed that the latest trouble for the chairman began on Tuesday when President Goodluck Jonathan told the South Eastern PDP governors that he could not work with Ogbulafor on moral grounds because he is standing trial in court over alleged fraud.

The source however said, “That was the reason the President gave, but it was not true. It was not his real reason. This alleged offence was committed more than 10 years ago, and no one thought it fit to prosecute him until now. The President’s real reason is 2011, period. He wants to remove the chairman so that he can grab control of the party, change the power rotation formula and rig his way to the nomination. That’s all.”

Why Sambo’s nomination is delayed

Kaduna State Governor Mohamed Namadi Sambo’s nomination as Vice President of the Federal Republic was not sent to the Senate by President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday because the National Governors’ Forum requested for time to lobby members of the National Assembly and ensure a hitch-free confirmation process, Daily Trust learnt in Abuja last night.

Late in the afternoon and well into the night yesterday, Governor Namadi Sambo and several of his colleagues were seen paying visits to the houses of Senate President David Mark, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, House Speaker Oladimeji Bankole as well as House Deputy Speaker Usman Bayero Nafada.  Among governors sighted in the entourage were Dr. Bukola Saraki, governor of Kwara State and chairman of the National Governors’ Forum; Governors Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto and Gabriel Suswam of Benue.

The bone of contention, Daily Trust learnt, was the insistence by National Assembly members that a legislator, as opposed to a state governor, should be selected as the new vice president. Earlier in the week, both the Senate and House Northern Caucuses endorsed former Kaduna State governor Senator Ahmed Mohamed Makarfi for the job. Governor Sambo’s subsequent nomination by Jonathan infuriated some legislators because of his ongoing political conflict in Kaduna State with Makarfi, the man who anointed him as governor in 2007.

Sambo’s name was supposed to be sent to both houses of the national Assembly yesterday, but up until they rose from their sittings, no letter from the President was read on the floor. This set many tongues wagging as to whether Jonathan may have had a change of mind. However, Daily Trust learnt that during Jonathan’s late night meeting with the governors on Wednesday, the issue of possible complications in the confirmation process came up. While all the governors were confident that Sambo will be confirmed given his humble disposition good track record in office and non-controversial nature, it was also agreed that there was the need to pacify the legislators before his name was forwarded to them.

Yet another source told Daily Trust that after visiting the Assembly leaders, all the governors will use this weekend to work on MPs from their states in order to smoothen Sambo’s path to easy confirmation when his name is forwarded to the National Assembly on Monday next week.

Meanwhile, there was jubilation at the Kaduna Government House yesterday as hundreds of politicians and women from across the state’s 23 local government areas converged there to rejoice with the wife of the governor, Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo, over the reported nomination of her husband as the vice president.

They danced and chanted; “Allah Ya bamu,” meaning, “God has given us” in Hausa. The men also shouted Governor Sambo’s political war cry, “Daram, Dam, sai Abuja!”

Members of the state executive council were also sighted at a parlour where Hajiya Amina Sambo was receiving the well-wishers. She was seen beaming with smiles and greeting the visitors. Wife of the Kaduna State Deputy Governor Mrs. Amina Patrick Yakowa, who is billed to succeed her as state First Lady, assisted Sambo’s wife to receive visitors.

A well-wisher, Mrs Karimat Isang, said the elevation was worth celebrating as it was a surprise to the people of the state. She commended President Goodluck Jonathan for picking Governor Namadi Sambo, saying he would never regret his choice.

She said, “Good things happen to people who have good intentions, even when they don’t struggle for it. God chose Namadi because he has a good heart for Kaduna State and Nigeria in general. He is very proactive when he wants to do things.’’

Mrs Florence Aya, a former member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, said Governor Sambo’s elevation was purely the work of God. “He is a man who has capabilities, who has the interest of the masses at heart. God will use him to transform this country for the benefit of the masses. I wish him and the president well as they pilot the affairs of our country,’’ she said.

Kaduna state’s Commissioner for Information Mr Sa’idu Adamu also told NAN in Kaduna yesterday that Sambo’s nomination was the outcome of the president’s meeting with state governors in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said Governor Sambo returned to Kaduna early yesterday after attending the meeting to receive the president who was on a one-day visit to Kaduna to mark the Nigeria Airforce Day.

Born on Aug. 2, 1954, in Zaria, Kaduna State, Sambo started his education in 1959 in Kaduna before proceeding to ABU, Zaria in 1972 where he qualified as an architect in 1976.

He was elected governor on the platform of the PDP in 2007.

The president is dead

President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s long battle with chronic kidney and heart disease ended last night when he died inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja. He will be buried at his family home in Katsina at 1 o’clock this afternoon. Very few details were available last night, but Daily Trust learnt that Yar’adua’s health began to deteriorate yesterday, and some staff members said his condition was “going up and down” throughout yesterday. Only a few family members and the late president’s closest aides were at hand as his personal physician and Saudi Arabian doctors battled to save Yar’adua’s life. He died around 9pm.

Late last night, the Federal Government confirmed in a statement that Yar’adua had died. The statement by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman Ima Niboro announced that the burial will take place at Katsina at 2 o’clock this afternoon. The government declared today a public holiday in honour of the departed president and also declared 7 days of national mourning.

Since his controversial secret return to the country last February, the late president had been kept away from public view inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Although his family members and close aides generally said his health was improving since he returned to the country, he occasionally suffered a relapse. Two weeks ago, his wife Hajia Turai told friends who visited her that she was “full of worry” for her husband’s health. She said the biggest problem was his inability to speak, due to a device inserted into his throat by the Saudi Arabian doctors during his 93-day hospitalisation in Jeddah.

According to the now widowed First Lady, the main reason why the family held Yar’adua out of public view was because his doctors dictated for him a very light dress so that he would receive maximum ventilation. She reportedly said it was not possible for him to appear in public in that very light dress.

The president’s tragic passing and a tenure dogged by illness will be formally closed this afternoon when he is buried in Katsina. Yar’adua was the Mutawallen Katsina and was for 8 years the governor of Katsina State. It will be completed with the formal swearing-in of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who will make the transition from Acting President to substantive President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Buhari opts out of Mega Party • As AC, DPP agree to merge

General Muhammadu Buhari
General Muhammadu Buhari has opted out of the plan by opposition political parties to form a coalition to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the auspices of the National Democratic Movement (NDM).

The decision not to join the Mega Party by the former All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) presidential candidate in 2003 and 2007 was made known at the end of the 4th plenary meeting of the NDM in Abuja.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting yesterday, Buhari’s associate and former member of the House of Representative Faruk Adamu Aliyu who represented him and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) said, “Today our merger has come to an end.”

Aliyu maintained that while the CPC will not join the Mega Party, it will still be part of the NDM saying, “We in the NDM agreed to have an electoral alliance during elections or if at any point time they need us. But our decision not to join merger is because we are not desperate to win elections or by all means; what we want is that even after our death God will reward us for laying the foundation for a broad base and true idealistic platform where justice prevails with free and fair elections and whoever wins is declared winner. We are afraid of what happened in the past.”

He said people have seen what Atiku Abubakar, who was part of the merger talks at the initial point, did, “So if we don’t learn lessons what kind of people are we? That is why we are opting out.”

Yar’adua’s nephew makes list

President Umaru Yar’adua’s nephew Alhaji Murtala Yar’adua ended up yesterday in the list of 25 ministerial nominees sent to the Senate by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan for screening and possible confirmation. Alhaji Murtala is the Tafidan Katsina and eldest son of the president’s late senior brother, Major General Shehu Yar’adua.

Daily Trust gathered that 7 of the ministers in the recently dissolved cabinet made it back while 18 others were either fresh faces in the cabinet or were former ministers in Yar’adua’s first cabinet, which was reconstituted in 2008.

Ministers in the recently dissolved cabinet who bounced back yesterday include former Minister of Mines and Steel Development Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke (Bayelsa), former Minister of State for Power Arc. Nuhu Somo Wya (Kaduna), former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Odein Ajumogobia (Rivers) and former Minister of State for Agriculture, Mrs. Fidelia Akubata Njeze (Enugu).

Also bouncing back were former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Adetokunbo Kayode (Ondo), former Minister of Youth Development Chief Akinlabi Olasunkanmi (Osun) and the former Minister of State for Niger Delta Godsday Orubebe (Delta).

Apart from Murtala Yar’adua, the new ministerial nominees include Mrs. Josephine Anenih [Anambra], wife of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Chief Tony Anenih, and former deputy governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Labaran Maku.

Others on the list are the Vice Chancellor of Kebbi State University, Prof. M. K. Abubakar; former Managing Director of New Nigerian Newspapers Mr. Ndanusa Alao (Kogi) and Senator Bala Mohammed Duguri (Bauchi).

Also on the list are Mrs. Josephine Tapgun (Plateau), wife of Third Republic governor and former federal minister Chief Fidelis Tapgun; former Bayelsa State Military Administrator, Navy Capt. N. S. Olubolade (Ondo), Chris Ogiewonyi (Edo), Managing Director of Goldman Sachs London Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga (Lagos), Mr. Nduese Essien (Akwa Ibom), Alhaji Umaru Aliyu (Taraba); Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed (Gombe), who is the Chief of Staff to Deputy house of Representatives Speaker Usman Bayero Nafada; Suleiman Bello, Chukwuemeka Nwogu (Abia), Bello Adoke (SAN) and Capt. Ernest Odebola. Also on the list is former Minister of National Planning Senator Mohammed Sanusi Daggash, who was removed by President Yar’adua in the first cabinet reshuffle in 2008.

It was learnt yesterday night that political consultations were still on as to the nominations of former House of Representatives Chief Whip Abubakar Bawa Bwari (Niger), former Minister of State for Agriculture Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri (Yobe) and Rep Terngu Tsegba (Benue) to join the ministerial list.

Senate has decided to postpone its recess by one week to screen and consider the ministerial nominees.

Briefing newsmen shortly after yesterday’s plenary session in anticipation of the ministerial list, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media Senator Ayogu Eze (PDP, Enugu North) said, “We are hoping of getting the list this week, hopefully tomorrow or the day after and then we will take it up next week.

“In anticipation of that and in fulfilment of our obligation and commitment to the people of Nigeria we cut our holiday short by one week, so instead of starting on the 26th our holiday will now start by on the 2nd of April, so we have sacrifice one week to wait for the list and make sure we screen them as soon as they come and make sure that the Acting President has the number ministers and the assistance that he needs to deliver on the work at hand.

“We are staying back specifically to finish the work of this Constitution and then finish the issue of ministerial nominee and we are expecting that will come shortly, tomorrow or after tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, state governors continued to troop into the State House yesterday as part of last minute bids to protect the names of their loyalists. About eight governors thronged to the State House in the early hours of yesterday and waited for Jonathan, who came to the office in the afternoon.

A source who confided in our correspondent said, “There presence here is not unconnected to the main issue in town, that is the matter of the new ministers whose names are being submitted to the Senate. Of course, no one takes anything for granted and for fear that anything may happen, the governors had to come and ensure the names they submitted are intact.”

According to the source, the acting leader may surprise many of the governors by dropping their choices for his preferred candidates.

The governors who were at the villa yesterday include Mohamed Namadi Sambo of Kaduna, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi, Ibrahim Shema of Katsina, Sullivan Chime of Enugu, Theodore Orji of Abia, Peter Obi of Anambra, Gbenga Daniel of Ogun, Martin Elechi of Ebonyi and Ikedi Ohakim of Imo. While the South East governors met Jonathan as a group, their colleagues from Bauchi, Katsina and Ogun met him separately.

Daily Trust also gathered yesterday from good authority in the presidency that former Speaker of the House of Representative Aminu Bello Masari, former Bauchi State Deputy Governor Mahmud Abdulmalik and Elder Godsday Orubebe have been nominated by Jonathan as zonal representatives of North-West, North-East and South-South respectively.

In the case of Bauchi, it was gathered that Yuguda was not comfortable with Senator Bala Mohammed Duguri as a nominee from the state.

Duguri, an ANPP senator from Bauchi, was an ally of Yuguda until last year when they parted ways following Yuguda’s decamping to the PDP. Reports say Duguri is being paid with a ministerial appointment for his key role in the elevation of Jonathan to Acting President by the National Assembly.

However, Daily Trust learnt that Shema was also at the Villa to push for one out of the three nominees he submitted. Reports said Shema had nominated his close confidants, the Commissioner for Works Architect Musa Sada, Ali Hussaini Dutsinma, former Group Managing Director of the NNPC Abubakar Lawal Yar’adua and Kabir Saidu Daura. Daura is said to be a close ally of the National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau.

Briefing State House correspondents on behalf of the South East governors, Obi said they were in the Villa to register their concern over lack of Federal Government projects and the rising insecurity in the region.

“The reason why we are here is to discuss about some of the issues bothering the South-East region. You can see that they are peculiar to the South East. One of them is the issue of erosion. And as you know last year, the Federal Government declared the entire South East a disaster area and promised to intervene which actually formed a committee led by the acting president. That was one of the reasons why we are here. The other issue is that of the second Niger Bridge. The second Niger Bridge, as you know built several years ago is collapsing. The ministry of works, the Senate and House committees on works and the contractors handling the projects have said that the bridge is not safe and there is an urgent need to start the construction of the second Niger bridge. And again the issue of security. As you know most of the governors in the south east are spending fortunes to keep the police and other security agencies but we found out that the hoodlums’ firepower is more than that of the police.”

Buhari-Atiku alliance stalls

The political alliance of top opposition politicians made up of General Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Sokoto State governor Attahiru Bafarawa and former Lagos State governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu may be heading for the rocks as a fresh dispute has emerged over the proposed new platform.

The alliance had proposed to adopt as its collective platform a modified Action Congress (AC) which was expected retain only its logo, the broom and lose other identities like the name, the headquarters building, the elected officials from the ward to the national levels and to have a new membership register.

However, a source said the last National Executive Committee meeting of the AC in Benin, Edo State, took an extreme position that will make it difficult for any member of the group, Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Bafarawa’s Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) to agree to the merger.

A source at the meeting said AC pointedly said it will not subject itself to the changes being proposed. The proposal to adopt a ‘modified AC’ was said to have been reached after the party argued that it has two governors, several members of the National Assembly as well as dozens of state legislators who would be subjected to litigation should they move to another party.

The idea of registering a new party was jettisoned because the alliance said it did not want to be rubbished by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It cited as example of the length of time and the rigours that Buhari’s allies took to get the CPC registered.

Only last week, General Muhammadu Buhari announced that he had formally joined the CPC and would accept to run for the presidency on its platform if the party gives him the chance. He also said on a BBC Hausa programme at the weekend that no politician who has a case to answer in court would be given the chance to contest in the party.

Further indications that the alliance is shaky came up yesterday when the trio of Buhari, Tinubu and Bafarawa were absent at a one day conference on Electoral Reform organised by the National Democratic Movement (NDM) in collaboration with the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER) and other civil society organisations at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja.

Atiku Abubakar, who was expected to chair the event, arrived at the venue at 10 am prompt only to see that there were very few participants present and who did not include his co principals in the movement. He left shortly after he arrived at the venue.

However, the meeting was finally held with representatives of the leaders such as Alhaji Sule Yahaya Hamma, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora and Dr. Usman Bugaje in attendance. They respectively represented Buhari, Bafarawa, Tinubu and Atiku.

When contacted, a source in the alliance who preferred not to be named dismissed suggestions that the NDM alliance was collapsing. He said the new mega party will emerge at the end of this month after the next meeting of the group at the Sheraton Hotel on March 30.

When asked why the top leaders boycotted yesterday’s event, the source said General Buhari had sought special permission to be absent because he is billed to give out his niece’s hand in marriage at his home town of Daura in Katsina State this Saturday.

On Bafarawa’s absence, he said the former governor was in Kano on Sunday to commiserate with the victims of the fire that gutted the Kantin Kwari market. He said even though Bafarawa was billed to return to Abuja on Sunday in order to attend the NDM meeting on Monday morning, he was held up in Kano by his hosts and a Freedom Radio programme that he participated in.

"When he saw that it was late and considering the circumstances surrounding him, he decided to postpone the journey for reasons of his personal security," the soured said, adding however that the former governor had called to express his apology.

How Jonathan’s new cabinet will deepen PDP split

The list of ministers who will launch the Goodluck Jonathan’s phase of this government is being prepared amidst lobbying, realignments and jostling by several interest groups. Already, the political terrain is abuzz with names of ministers that will likely return to the new cabinet. Those suggested include former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ojo Madueke, former Minister of Information Dora Akunyili, former Minister of Justice Adetokunbo Kayode and former Minister of State for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia, among others.

Apart from those being touted as likely returnees to the cabinet, the Acting President is reported to have asked some state governors to submit nominations for consideration, in line with the usual practice since the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

But the nomination exercise said to have roused sleeping dogs within the PDP. Some state governors are already said to be angry over the dissolution, something many of them believe was at the prompting of intense pressure that was brought to bear on Jonathan by the new set of people around him. Majority of the ministers were nominees of the state governors. Though some governors were said to have been told to submit nominations, a source close to the presidency told our correspondent that not all the nominations from the state governors will sail through to the new cabinet.

In states like Katsina, Bauchi, Zamafara, Imo and even the Acting President’s state of Bayelsa, the PDP has been a battlefield for powerful factions of the party who are working to outdo one another in 2011. At the heat of the power play at the presidency, some of the factions were known to have aligned with either the ‘pro Jonathan’ or the ‘pro Yar’adua group, which is why observers believe that the same game will certainly reflect in the decision concerning whose nominee makes it to the new FEC.

The dissolution of the cabinet has been widely interpreted as a signpost of Jonathan’s desire to consolidate his hold on power. Though Chairman of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had publicly asked Jonathan to forget the presidency in 2011, many analysts have expressed doubt that the Acting President will let go the contest for PDP’s ticket in view of the advantages bestowed on him by the party’s constitution to have his way.

In the time of former President Olusegiun Obasanjo, Jonathn’s benefactor in the present arrangement, no National Working Committee of the PDP had completed its term. And by the time he completed his two terms of eight years, he had worked with four national chairmen – Chief Solomon Lar, Chief Barnabas Gemade, Chief Audu Ogbe and Ahmadu Ali.

Political pundits have also suggested that the Acting President may soon descend on the party’s leadership, which is believed to have been on the side of Yar’adua, or better put, had won cold shoulders towards Jonathan’s assumption of power. But the question is whether the atmosphere and the time which Jonathan has to do all these before elections are right and will produce the result intended by his counsellors.

In the following states, among others, nominations for the new cabinet will almost certainly deepen the cracks within the PDP:

Zamfara

Here, the nomination process for a new minister will certainly deepen existing cracks among two or three factions. Presently, the state governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi and the National Security Adviser General Aliyu Gusau are rightly positioned to exercise a balance of terror in PDP’s political space in the state. PDP faithful loyal to the two men have been in contention over the leadership of the party in the state.

Governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi had only defected to the PDP a year ago but has succeeded in throwing out the executive committee of the PDP he met on ground and who that lured him into the party. The former executive led by Alhaji Namadi Ango was believed to have been installed by General Gusau before Governor Mamuda’s entry into the PDP. Some supporters of the former executive have since gone to court to challenge what they call ‘illegal dissolution’ of the state exco, which they claimed had been elected to serve a constitutional term of four years.

Now, many observers believe that the ministerial nomination will set the two camps on a bitter path. The two men will certainly compete in the game to field the next minister. Apart from being the NSA, Gusau is said to enjoy tremendous respect of the Acting President and those who form the kitchen cabinet of Jonathan. It is therefore doubtful if the NSA will take lightly the opportunity to produce a minister from his camp to balance the political influence at home.

But nothing will hurt the governor more than a failure to have an upper hand in nominating the next minister from Zamfara State. When he was in the ANPP, he lost to his predecessor and estranged mentor, Ahmed Sani Yarima, the prerogative of deciding who represents the state in President Yar’adua’s Government of National Unity (GNU), and that partly kick-started the crisis that made him to quit the party.

Bauchi

The political space in Bauchi State is not too different from the one in Zamfara where two contending forces that will move to exert their influence in selecting the next minister exist. On one side is Governor Isa Yuguda, son-in-law to President Umaru Yar’adua, who is believed to have been one of those who fought covertly or overtly, or both, to keep Yar’adua’s presidency alive. On the other side is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mahmoud Yayale Ahmed, who was lately seen to have identified with the so called ‘pro Jonathan’ group in the fight for the control of the presidency.

Back in Bauchi State, the PDP has been divided along some lines, pitching Governor Yuguda and the SFG in opposing camps. When Yuguda started his move to return to the PDP, not many politicians he left in the PDP in the run up to the 2007 elections were agitated by the fear of losing some relevance in the scheme of things. Under Yar’adua’s presidency, Yuguda moved with a combined advantage of state power and matrimonial affiliation that put no question mark to his upper hand in political decisions concerning the state. But with the roles played by the two men concerning Jonathan’s presidency, many are eager to see who will get the upper hand in deciding the nomination from the state.

Another politician factored into the Bauchi political equation is the former Deputy Governor in the regime of Ahmed Mua’azu, Alhaji Abdulaziz Mahmood. He is known to be opposed to Governor Yuguda and has a close relationship with the Acting President, which was said to have developed when the duo were deputy governors.

Katsina

The home state of President Umaru Yar’adua, Katsina, has been a battleground for some PDP big shots that appear to be positioning themselves for 2011. At one end is the governor and his allies while on the other are top members of the dissolved cabinet such as former Agric Minister Abbah Ruma and former Economic Adviser to the president, Tanimu Yakubu. Those at the political front in Katsina call them ‘Abuja politicians’, but in wider circles, the men were known as members of Yar’adu’s inner cabinet, or what Professor Dora Akunyili, former Information Minister, would prefer to refer to as ‘the cabal’ around Yar’adua when the going got tough in search for a Jonathan’s presidency.

Ruma has been dropped and it is not likely that he makes it to the new cabinet, in which case a new minister will have to be appointed from Katsina. If that becomes the case then a new vista of politicking concerning his replacement will definitely open between the state governor and the elements who claim to be close to President Yar’adua. Already, some elements of the PDP in Katsina such as former Speaker of the House of Representatives Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari who are known to be at daggers-drawn with President Yar’adua are being courted by the new administration.

Bayelsa

The division that characterises the PDP in many states is also rooted in Bayelsa, the home state of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan. The PDP followership is divided into loyalists of the Acting President and those of the governor, Timipre Silva. But the case of Governor Silva can as well be considered as closed since the man to hire the ministers is his political foe, the Acting President himself. Knowing his problem with the Acting President that is certain to take a toll on him in the primaries of the PDP, Silva is said to have expressed a soft spot for ailing President Yar’adua.

Many other states like Imo and Kaduna will not be left behind in the raging political storm stirred by the decision of the Acting President to appoint a new cabinet even as it is becoming more uncertain who will weather the tempest.