How Civil Society helped block secret plot by Lagos Govt., World Bank to privatise water

The announcement sent a collective sigh of relief to the water corporation staff and civil society activists. After months of negotiation on how to privatize the water supply in Lagos, between the World Bank and the Lagos Water Corporation, the bank has called off the talks.

But before the bank’s decision, activists and civil servants had mounted pressure on the water company against such a move, which they said would raise the cost of having access to water beyond the reach of ordinary Lagosians.

The Corporation’s staff, who stood to lose their jobs, went a step further to threaten to do “everything to frustrate” the move.

Last month, the World Bank issued a statement announcing a breakdown in talks between its International Finance Corporation and the Lagos Water Corporation.

“Contrary to recent reports, IFC has not signed any agreement with the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC),” the bank said in the statement. “LWC expressed interest in working with IFC and we had a number of discussions on how we might be able to assist the company. In the end, IFC decided not to advise LWC. We continue to support the government and people of Nigeria in achieving their development goals.”

Shrouded in secrecy

The latest round of negotiations between the bank and the LWC to design a water privatization scheme in the state began 18 months ago.

With public outcry on the danger of such a move, the LWC maintained that it was not going into privatization, just discussions on how to optimize water supply to Lagosians.

But details of their negotiations were kept away from the public, including civil society groups who had pushed for information disclosure.

In October last year, a rights advocacy group, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said it made attempts to obtain information relating to the negotiation but continually met brick walls.

“Despite the World Bank’s 60-day disclosure policy, the Lagos contract had not been disclosed on the bank’s website and had been hidden from civil society,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Director of Corporate Accountability, ERA/FoEN.

With pressure from Nigerian groups, hundreds of other civil society bodies and activists across the United States began calling and sending out messages to the World Bank demanding full disclosure of the project.

“Our investigations indicate that the IFC is currently being paid by the Lagos government as an official advisor to develop a plan for the city’s water privatization,” Mr. Oluwafemi said.

“And this advisory contract is undisclosed by both the World Bank and the Lagos government, and both the privatization the IFC is designing and the advisory contract itself are being carried out in secrecy, without public participation and input from Lagosian stakeholders.

“This lack of transparency leaves residents with very little information about important developments that will affect them directly.

In December, our source’ Freedom of Information request for details of the negotiations with the World Bank also met a brick wall. An official at the LWC headquarters at Ijora declined to answer questions put to him and promised to e-mail answers or arrange an interview with the Group Managing Director, Shayo Holloway.

He did neither.

Lagos State has two major waterworks at Iju and Adiyan, providing a combined supply of 115 Million Gallons Per Day for the 20 million residents, according to information on LWC’s website.

Expansion of other waterworks – micro and mini waterworks – spread across the state has been ongoing for years, and provision of tap water is still limited to a fraction of the population.

The corporation says its current installed capacity is 210 million gallons per day, whereas the actual water demand in Lagos is 540 million gallons per day.

Most residents solve their water needs through self-help, patronizing water vendors, digging wells, or sinking boreholes in their homes.

No Privatization Plans

Before the World Bank announced its decision to shelve talks with Lagos State government, the LWC management had continued to insist that it had no plans to privatize the corporation.

Mr. Holloway said, in a statement December, that the Lagos State government was only trying to partner with the private sector “in a bid to increase water supply and alleviate poverty”.

“According to Engr. Holloway, PPP (Public Private Partnership) is not Privatization. Privatization involves the sale of government-owned asset to private investors, while PPP involves fresh injection of private capital into the efficient management of government-owned assets,” said the statement published on the corporation’s website.

“In order to meet the demand gap as well as the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015, LWC has developed a Lagos Water Supply Master Plan (2010 – 2020) which outlines the infrastructure development programmes into short, medium and long term phases.

“By year 2020, water demand is expected to be 733 million gallons per day, while the water production will be 745 million gallons per day, leaving us with the excess of 12 million gallons per day. The need to bridge the gap has necessitated the involvement of the private sector by way of injecting more capital to improve efficiency of existing state-owned assets.”

The LWC refused to make public the nature of its partnership with the “private sector.”

But according to information obtained by our source, the water corporation’s plans involved a concession of the state-owned major water works to private investors who would produce water and sell to the government. And the government would then sell to the final consumer.

Dissatisfied workers

On December 17, the corporation’s workers’ union, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, AUCPTRE, held a meeting with the management where they aired their disagreement with the planned “partnership”.

Tomiwa Odusanwo, the chairman, AUCPTRE branch of LWC, insisted that the management was planning to privatize the corporation.

“You cannot know my management beyond me,” Mr. Odusanwo told our source in an interview in January.

“We were not carried along. The funny thing is that we heard it over the news, read it in newspapers, and because we have seen how it was recorded in other African countries, even in western world.”

“The Iju and Adiyan water works are going to be in concession as well. There are some foreign investors now, in their master plan for 2010-2020, that those investors will use their money and construct mini water works.”

At a workers’ meeting at the LWC headquarters in Ijora, Mr. Odusanwo and his colleagues were unanimous that they won’t go the way of the staff of the recently privatized Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, who protested for months over the non-payment of their severance benefits.

“The management of Water Corporation, presently, are after capital projects. They are not after welfare of the staff or anything that will benefit the staff. That is why we are saying no to that privatization,” said Mr. Odusanwo.

“Because presently now the corporation is owing pension, gratuity, plus pension to PENCOM close to N1 billion. As I speak to you now our deducted pension was not remitted adequately to our PFA (Pension Fund Administrator).

“The corporation is indebted seriously. So with privatization, many of us will be laid off without going home with a penny and that will be so disastrous for us.”

The involvement of the World Bank and its investment arm – the IFC- in water schemes across the world has not exactly been a success story.

Recently, many cities that, in expectation of availability of affordable potable water, signed a two decade or longer water concessions with private investors, have terminated the contracts and returned their water systems to the state.

According to Transnational Institute, an organization that studies global needs, 180 communities and cities across the globe, from Accra to Kuala Lumpur, have returned water provision to public control in the past ten years.

In January, the IFC announced it had no ongoing water concession projects in Africa, after about 30 per cent of its water investment in Africa over the past two decades resulted into a failure.

“Like in Manila, in Ghana, World Bank corporate partners attempted to privatize and profit from water,” said Mr. Oluwafemi.

“Poor service, limited access and chronic quality problems forced the Ghanaian government not to renew a bank-backed contract for a private corporation to manage the country’s water.

“Around the world, the IFC advises governments, conducts corporate bidding processes, designs complex and lopsided water privatization contracts, dictates arbitration terms, and is part-owner of water corporations that win the contracts it designs and recommends, all the while aggressively marketing the model to be replicated around the world.

“Not only do these activities undermine democratic water governance, but they constitute an inherent conflict of interest within the IFC’s activities in the water sector, an alarming pattern seen from Eastern Europe to India to Southeast Asia.”

In Lagos, commercial sale of water by individuals is big business, with a 20-litre jerry can selling for N20 in most areas in the metropolis.

However, the cost of the water provided by the LWC comes at a cheaper rate, depending on the location.

In Dolphin Estate, Victoria Island, for instance, a flat pays a monthly rate of N800 for water while a duplex is billed N2, 400.

Water rates on the mainland costs even cheaper.

In Surulere for instance, a flat is charged N500, while a duplex is N800 monthly. At the Ojota axis, where there are a lot of single room apartments (popularly known as ‘Face-me-I-Face-You), a room is N100. A flat is N500, and a duplex N800.

According to civil society groups, water privatization negates the 2010 United Nations recognition of water as a fundamental human right.

“If the IFC was successful in securing a large-scale water PPP in Lagos, it would mirror that of the electricity sector privatization, which has imposed sky-rocketing electricity bills without delivering improved service,” Mr. Oluwafemi said.

“The IFC’s track record in the water sector is frightening: prices sky rocket, utility workers lose their jobs, water quality suffers, low-income communities have their water shut off, governments incur devastating debt, and public sovereignty is threatened by undemocratic arbitration.

“Privatization is not the solution for Lagos: it leads to corporate profits and has never provided universal access.
 

Additionally, if the IFC deal (had sailed) through, it would have opened the doors for several contracts for water corporations to take over the water system, and bidding by 2015.

Boko Haram releases new video, vows to disrupt polls

Militant Islamist sect, Boko Haram,   has vowed to disrupt the March 28 and April 11 elections.

“The elections will not be held even if we are dead. Even if we are not alive Allah will never allow you to do it,” the leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, said in a new video on Tuesday evening.

The video appeared to be the first message released by the group on Twitter, a sign of its changing media tactics after previous messages were distributed to journalists on DVD.

Shekau was shown in unusual clarity in front of a solid blue background, dressed in black and with an automatic weapon resting to his right.

Despite the threat, experts doubt that the Islamist rebels have the capacity to disrupt voting nationwide, although election officials   concede that voting may be difficult in parts of the North-East, especially on March 28 .

Meanwhile, the United States will help Cameroon’s army secure equipment to fight Boko Haram, its embassy in Cameroon said on Wednesday .

Boko Haram fighters have killed and kidnapped thousands in a six-year insurgency in Nigeria and are stepping up cross-border attacks on neighbouring countries despite a major regional offensive against them.

In the latest strike, Boko Haram fighters ambushed an army patrol near the town of Waza in Cameroon this week and an intense gun battle ensued, killing five soldiers.

“My government is working on a logistic pipeline of material that will enhance Cameroon’s ability to defend itself from Boko Haram,” US Ambassador to Cameroon, Michael Stephen Hoza, said in a notice published in a Cameroonian newspaper on Wednesday.

He did not elaborate on what would be provided, saying only that it would be “equipment necessary to defend the country.”

Earlier this week, the commander of the US Special Forces operations in Africa pledged to help African nations in the fight against the group.

Maj. Gen. James Linder of the US army said Washington would provide technology allowing African partners to communicate between cellphones, radios and computers.

We’ve recaptured 11 towns, killed 300 insurgents – DHQ

The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said that troops of the Nigerian Army and personnel of the Air Force have killed over 300 fighters of the Boko Haram sect.

Olukolade said in a statement on Wednesday that the insurgents were killed during a combined operation of the Air Force and ground forces put in place to liberate 11 communities captured by the Boko Haram sect.

According to him, the communities liberated by the troops are Monguno, Gabchari, Abba Jabari, Gajigana, Gajiram, Damakar, Kumaliwa, Bosso Wanti, Jeram and Kabrisungul.

He said that troops had commenced a cordon and search operation in the areas involved in the latest operation.

He stated further that some of the terrorists and their weapons were captured by the troops.

Olukolade also said that the military captured “five different types of armoured fighting vehicles, an anti-aircraft gun, about 50 cases of packed bombs and eight different types of machine guns, five rocket-propelled grenade, 49 boxes of various types and calibres of ammunition, as well as 300 motorcycles destroyed in the fighting.

He added that “a total of six Hilux vehicles including those mounted with anti-aircraft guns were also destroyed.’

The Defence spokesman said that two soldiers lost their lives while ten others were wounded in the encounter with the terrorists.

Olukolade said that various phases of highly coordinated combined operation involving the Air Force and ground forces were ongoing in the mission area within and outside the country.

Meanwhile, about 30 civilians were killed when an unidentified airplane dropped a bomb on a Nigerian border village, military sources based nearby in Niger said on Wednesday.

“We don’t know whose plane it was. We understand that the victims are residents who were gathered for a ceremony but who were mistaken for terrorists,” said a military source based in the town of Bosso in Niger.

He added, “Around 30 people perished.”

APC takes House of Reps’ majority as 6 PDP members opt out

Six Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday defected to other political parties.

The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, announced the defection of the members during the House’s plenary in Abuja.

The defected members were Tobias Okwuru and Peter Ali, both from Ebonyi, to Labour Party, and Chinenye Ike from Abia, to All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

Others are Micah Umoh and Robinson Uwak, both from Akwa Ibom, who defected to Accord Party to All Progressives Alliance (APC), respectively, and Ibrahim Garba from Jigawa, who defected to APC.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports with the latest defections, APC now has 181 members, the highest number of lawmakers in the House. It is followed by PDP with 156 members and other political parties, 23 members.

Membership spread of the House released on January 14 after the defection of 10 lawmakers to various political parties showed that APC had 179 members, PDP,162 while other parties had 19.

Based on this development, the Deputy Minority Leader, Abdulrahman Kawu (Kano), raised a point of order, saying that APC members should occupy the positions of House Leader and Deputy House Leader.

Mr. Kawu said the positions of the Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip should also be occupied by the APC in accordance with the rules of the House.

However, the Speaker, Mr. Tambuwal, ruled that the matter should not be discussed as it was before the court.

Apc - Sheriff behind violence during Buhari’s visit to Borno

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Borno State has alleged that the violence witnessed Monday when the presidential candidate of the party, Muhammadu Buhari, visited the state was instigated by ex-Governor Ali Sheriff to justify the cancellation of elections in the state.

Initial reports suggested that supporters of the APC had vandalized and torched several campaign offices and posters of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party​, PDP.

The reports also said while soldiers were battling to control the large crowd at the venue of the campaign rally, some irate youth were seen bringing down PDP billboards that were mounted close to the venue of the rally.

Hours later, thick smoke was seen some 500 meters way from the venue of the rally as the APC youth stormed a major campaign office of the PDP, popularly known as UTC.

Witnesses at the scene said hundreds of the APC supporters, chanting anti-PDP and anti-President Goodluck Jonathan slogans, stormed the PDP office armed with petrol jars, forced themselves into the premises and set the place ablaze.

The APC however, issued a statement Tuesday, distancing their members from the act.

The statement by Ali Dalori, the Borno State chairman of the APC said the party has conducted its own investigation into the attack and had found out that Mr. Sheriff held series of meetings with thugs loyal to him, days ahead of the APC rally.

The party said Mr. Sheriff also doled out huge sums of money to the thugs and asked them to disguise as APC supporters and attack his and his PDP’s properties.

The statement also said Mr. Sheriff’s spokesperson, Inuwa Bwala, swiftly rushed to the media accusing Governor Shettima of being behind the attacks, while it was being carried out.

“The manner in which Bwala rushed to press has further confirmed the findings of our investigations that the whole thing was orchestrated by the PDP affiliated to former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff with the sole intent of causing political violence in so as to create basis for elections not to be conducted in Borno State by March 28 and April 11, 2015,” APC said.

The party also said Mr. Sheriff was determined to cause violence and stop election in Borno so as to pave the way for him to regain the Senatorial candidature he lost earlier.

The party also recalled that on the eve of President Goodluck Jonathan’s trip to Borno for his campaign rally on January 24, Governor Shettima issued a statement appealing to citizens of the state to respect the president and not to do anything that would undermine his campaign rally.

It also said the governor held series of meetings with select youth groups and APC youth leaders in all the wards in Maiduguri, the state capital calling on the party’s supporters not to breach the peace.

“Indeed, Governor Shettima’s efforts paid off as the PDP held an entirely peaceful rally on January 24, 2015,” it said.

It added that Mr. Shettima could therefore not organize violence while his own party was holding its rally.

Sheriff is responsible

The APC said ex-Governor Sheriff arrived Maiduguri last Friday at about 7p.m. while the APC was making preparations to receive Mr. Buhari.

“For nearly three days, Sheriff kept on holding meetings with different youth supporters of the PDP who brandished all manner of weapons every day they were his guests.

“Sheriff kept on sharing money to these thugs before he left the State on Sunday, February 15, 2015 at about 4:10pm.

“Immediately Sheriff left Maiduguri, we suspected he was up to some mischief and from our investigations, his discussion with most of his political thugs was for them to disguise as supporters of APC and seriously disrupt Buhari’s rally to the extent that confusion would spring up such that Buhari would be forced not to appear at the rally,” the party said.

The party also added that beyond the task given to them to disrupt APC’s rally, some of the thugs were equally angered by the inability of their leaders to pay them in full.

“As things turned out, Sheriff’s aggrieved thugs went out of control and descended on the PDP campaign office soon after they started fighting themselves,” it said.

APC said it stands to lose if there is political crisis in Borno that threatens the forthcoming elections considering the unfortunate security challenges being faced.

“As things stand in Borno today, the APC is the number one beneficiary of the current political climate and wouldn’t want any breach of the peace, how much more inciting it. Sheriff on the other hand has been doing everything to cause confusion,” it said.

The party maintained that Mr. Sheriff is very desperate, and doesn’t want elections to hold because he is not a Senatorial candidate, the major reason it said, he moved to the PDP.

It said he nurses the ambition of emerging as Senate majority leader after 2015 if he can’t be the Senate President.

Mr. Sheriff could not be reached for comments Wednesday.

Not Fewer Than 36 dead as explosions rock Biu again

There was multiple bomb explosions in Biu, the biggest town in south of the troubled Borno State on Tuesday, a resident of the town, Ibrahim Isah, said on the telephone.

Though details of the explosions remain sketchy as the extent of damages and number of casualty could not be ascertained on Tuesday afternoon, Isah said the incident occurred at about noon.

He insisted that it was massive and might have led to huge loss of lives.

A member of youth vigilante, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on the telephone to our correspondent, said the incident happened at a neighbourhood known as Yamarkumi along Maiduguri Road.

“There were three explosions in Yamarkumi here in Biu town. Many people have been affected; the casualty figure from what we are seeing now have surpassed that of the market suicide bombing that occurred on Thursday. Ambulances are rushing in and out for now. We will give you details later, “another health worker told our correspondent.

However, one medical source at the General Hospital, Biu told AFP that 36 people were killed while 20 were injured in the blast.

Effort to get a confirmation of the incident from the Police and military authorities failed. But a security source at the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, an Army captain, whose name could not be published as he was not authorised to speak to the press, said the matter had been reported and the military operatives were already embarking on a full scale action in the area.

Meanwhile, the Boko Haram insurgents have burnt down the palace of the Emir of Askira in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, the spokesman for the youth vigilante group, Jubrin Gunda, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone from Maiduguri, the state capital, Gunda said the palace was attacked by the insurgents on Sunday night.

He said during the Sunday’s attack the palace was razed by the sect’s fighters.

He lamented that after beating a retreat on Sunday, the insurgents came back to Askira on Monday morning to continue their reign of terror as they burnt down some other houses and killed many residents of the town.

He said, “As of now, I cannot tell you the number of people killed but all I can say is that the palace of the emir was razed on Sunday by the insurgents at night, they equally returned to burn more houses in the town on Monday morning.”

“At the moment, they are not in the town as they have fled back into the bushes and as such you cannot say the town was captured.

Breaking News: Lagos launches 100 air-conditioned Internet-enabled buses

In pursuit of its resolve to ease travel within the metropolis, the Lagos State government in conjunction with LAGBUS Asset Management Limited, one of the operators of the Bus Rapid Transport, on Tuesday launched 100 air-conditioned, WIFI Internet-enabled buses.

The new buses, which are called Metro Bus, and are expected to ply the Sango-Oshodi, Obalende- Ikorodu, and Island –Epe routes, will hit the road soon.

The buses are expected to be increased to 1800 servicing 47 routes within the metropolis and are aimed to provide comfort and safety as well as reduce time spent commuting.

LAGBUS has also introduced innovations such as the ability of commuters to check the arrival time of the bus by sending sms to a specialised number.

“There would be security camera on board to ensure safety of passengers. The live feeds from the cameras will be made available to security agencies to be able to track any mishap. Customers can also use WIFI on the buses as well as enjoy videos and music on the go”, said Niyi Oguntoyinbo, the managing Director of Metro Bus.

The buses are expected to provide 1,500 direct jobs and 5,000 other jobs for agents selling the preloaded cards.

Speaking at the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority Yard, Oshodi, the state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, said the provision of the buses is in line with the multimodal transport system, which include road rail and water, driven by the private sector.

“Government did not own the BRT buses; it was private sector that owned them. Our job was to build the roads, the bus shelters to maintain and manage them while they ran their buses but that environment at the time they were borrowing money at One Dollar at 118 Naira and interest rate at 10 per cent has changed completely,” he said.

“They agreed and bought the first set of buses. They took loans, paid off the loans, recapitalized but again the environment in which they invested then has changed substantially.”

The buses are a welcome development as it would help ease pressure on the overused and mostly rickety BRT buses.

Egypt urges UN, Lift embargo to arm Libya forces.

Egypt called Wednesday on the United Nations to lift an arms embargo on Libya as Cairo pushes for greater international efforts to combat jihadists in its war-torn neighbour.
In talks in New York ahead of a UN Security Council meeting, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told fellow diplomats that Libya’s internationally recognised government needed to be better armed to take on Islamist militias who have seized large parts of the country.
Sameh is calling on the Security Council to “assume its responsibilities in regards to the deteriorating situation in Libya” and to “reconsider the restrictions imposed on the Libyan government on arms deliveries,” the ministry said in a statement.
He also “underlined the need to allow countries in the region… to support the Libyan government’s efforts to impose its authority and restore stability”.
Egypt is seeking UN backing for concerted international action after it launched air strikes on Islamic State group targets in Libya in response the jihadists beheading a group of Egyptian Christians.
Libya’s internationally recognised government claims its efforts to control the country have been hobbled by a UN arms embargo imposed at the start of the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Libya has since descended into chaos, with the government forced to flee to the country’s east and Islamist-linked militias in control of Tripoli and other main cities.
Shoukry, who the ministry said had met with the UN envoys of the five permanent members of the Security Council, also called for steps to be taken “to prevent armed and terrorist groups from obtaining weapons illegally.

Chinese Government gives 17 buses to Ghana

The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Sun Baohong on Tuesday presented 17 ZhongTong buses to the Ministry of Transport for onward distribution to state institutions which need them

The presentation of the 35-seater buses, which cost 10 million Chinese Yuan, was in partial fulfillment of the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement signed between the Governments of Ghana and China in 2009 and September 2010.

Receiving the buses, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, Minister of Transport, expressed her appreciation to the Chinese Government for its assistance to the economic development of Ghana over the years.

‘Despite the long distance, cultural and socio-economic differences, cooperation in various fields have deepened, enhanced the existing cordial relations to the mutual benefits of both countries’, she said.

She noted that since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two Governments had been helping each other in the fields of economic development, trade, educational and cultural exchanges.

She said the buses had been made to suit specifications in Ghana and our road, adding that, Zhong Tong Bus Holdings Company, which was the manufacturer of the buses would provide theoretical and practical training to drivers and mechanics of the institutions which would benefit.

She intimated that the Ministry of Transport after careful deliberations would give the buses out to state institutions which might be in need of them.

She added that the Ministry was also in the process of taking delivery of 116 Huanghai buses from China for the metro Mass Transit.

Ms Sun Baohong extolled the trade relations which had existed between Ghana and China over the years and expressed the readiness of the Chinese Government to support the Ghanaian Government agencies.

Credit: GNA

We Just Got The 2015 Budget Proposal, Jonathan Govt Does Not Want Nigerians To See: #YouHaveTheRightToSee

Since submitting the 2015 Budget to the National Assembly in November last year, Nigeria’s Budget office, although required by law to publish the budget details have failed to do so, preferring to keep it secret.

GOSSIPERS MAGAZINE, courtesy PREMIUM TIMES, has obtained authentic copies of the proposal handed to federal lawmakers for vetting and approval.

We have finished making them available in downloadable formats below in public interest.

Eaglets battle Guinea for World Cup ticket

The Golden Eaglets will engage Guinea in a tough Group A encounter at the 11th African Junior Championship holding in Niger as both teams seek to secure a World Cup berth.

Both teams won their respective first games and a victory today at the 30,000 capacity Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) will mean a semi-final berth and a ticket to the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile.

The Guineans will seek to avenge their twin loss to their Nigerian counterparts on the road to the last championship in Morocco following a 3-0 and 4-0 win in Calabar and Conakry respectively.

“I don’t want you to have the erroneous belief that we are the world champions as most commentators always say,” Coach Emmanuel Amuneke said as he warned his wards against complacence ahead of the crucial encounter.

“Nigeria are the world champions at this level but we have to create our own history by winning something; the past is gone.” Amuneke said.

The former international was an assistant coach the last time in Morocco, has every reason to be wary after the Golden Eaglets stumbled and lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in their second game despite a 6-1 massacre of Ghana earlier.

“We are not getting carried away after the victory against Niger because we know Guinea can be tricky after watching them against Zambia,” Amuneke said.

“We came here with one objective: to qualify for the World Cup in Chile and after that we can begin to talk about other things. You can see that if you allow them, they can play but if you follow our instructions, we will all have reason to celebrate after the game.”

Meanwhile, Samuel Chukwueze is hoping to be among the goals for Nigeria in their game against Guinea.

Chukwueze, who has scored a cumulative 13 goals in 37 matches, including a beauty in the 4-0 win over Congo Democratic Republic in the qualifiers, missed out on the first game against Niger on Sunday after a freak injury but has since returned to full fitness.

“It was hard to sit on the bench watching others play against Niger on Sunday because I wanted to showcase what I have but what was most important was the victory,” said Chukwueze who adores Dutch star, Arjen Robben.

“I’m very fine and ready to go,” said the self-assured lad. “I’m ready to mark and push the attack more if I’m fielded and by the grace of God, we shall win the match against Guinea on Wednesday.

PDP plots fresh poll shift, APC senators

Members of the opposition All Progressives Congress in the Senate, on Tuesday, raised alarm of a fresh plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to postpone the forthcoming general elections slated for March 28 and April 11.

The senators, who walked out of the plenary to address the National Assembly correspondents in the Senate, alleged that the Presidency in collaboration with the ruling PDP were planning to arm-twist the electoral umpire in the country to canvass fresh postponement using the card reader as an excuse.

Their reaction followed the submission of the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, while moving a motion for the summoning of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the planned use of the card reader for the election.

Ndoma-Egba had argued that the use of card readers would contravene Section 52 of the Electoral Act which prohibits the use of electronic device during election.

But the senators, led by their leader, Senator George Akume, insisted at the news conference that anything short of conducting the elections as scheduled, and using the card reader to avoid rigging, might lead to a civil war.

They argued that since the card reader was just meant for the accreditation of the voters, its usage would not constitute a breach of the electoral act as postulated by the senate leader.

The opposition senators alleged that the PDP leadership having failed to use the security challenges and poor collection of Permanent Voter Cards as excuses to postpone the polls again, had started a fresh plot by hiding under the card reader usage.

Akume said, “Elections must be held as rescheduled, it is important that the Independent National Electoral Commission must do this in order to avoid unpleasant consequences.

“Nigeria is a huge and complex society, culturally, structurally, and all hands must be on the deck to avoid the Somalia experience. There would be too many warlords in this country should we fail to do what is right.

“Nigerians deserve the best. Card readers will add value to the conduct of the elections; we are talking about free and fair elections. Time has passed when people carry ballot boxes and papers to their respective rooms, thumb-print and bring them for counting the following day.

“The whole world is watching this country. We have become a laughing stock, we are becoming a banana republic.

“We are even more patriotic than those who are in government. We want elections and card readers must be applied, they must be used, otherwise, the elections can never be free and fair.

“If a country like Ghana can get it right, using the card reader, why can’t the giant of Africa do it? If Sierra Leone can do it, even Liberia, why can’t Nigeria do it? We are waiting for INEC to do it, INEC must use it.

“Card readers are a must to ensure free, credible and acceptable elections. To do otherwise, won’t be acceptable.”

The opposition senators further alleged that the APC representatives, former Heads of State and the former Chief Justices who attended the National Council of State meeting where the issue of election postponement was discussed, strongly opposed the idea.

Akume said, “From the records, we know that all the former Heads of State supported the holding of the election as scheduled. Former Chief Justices, those who know the law also supported the holding of the elections.

“But INEC later said the elections could not hold on the flimsy grounds that the service chiefs said they could not provide security. Security for what?

“We have over 774 local government areas in this country and serious security breaches in the North-East are registered in only 14 local governments and therefore, there was no reasonable grounds to shift the elections.

“We recall that in 1999, there was no election in Bayelsa during the first round of voting, elections were later held.

“Under normal circumstances, we believe the situation is also normal now, these affected areas should have been isolated for the purpose of holding elections at a later date but this was not to be.

“We are all learned people, educated people to know that elections have been held in Columbia, which is perpetually at war with itself, elections have been held in Egypt, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Syria, in Pakistan, in Mali, Tunisia and other countries.

“Nigeria cannot be an exception. The reason was lack of adequate distribution of PVCs, later, it turned to be inability to provide security cover and we wonder that the multi-national force that has been assembled to fight Boko Haram is just 7,000, including the Nigerian troops and we have a troop level of over 100,000 in this country.

“Why is it not possible to hold elections with adequate security cover for those who are supposed to do their jobs constitutionally? We believe that there is serious manipulation and a deliberate attempt to undermine and to manipulate the democratic institutions and structures.

DHQ attacks on Obasanjo, rude –Ex-generals

Some retired senior military officers have lashed out at the Defence Headquarters for describing former President Olusegun Obasanjo as an embarrassment to the military institution.

The Defence Headquarters in a remark on its Facebook page on Monday had accused the former President of politicising serious national security and military issues.

The military authorities were reacting   to a statement credited to the former President that the general elections were postponed to enable President Goodluck Jonathan to use the Service Chiefs for tenure extension in an electronic mail on Monday.

But a former Chief of Army Staff , Gen. Alani Akinrinade (retd.),in a telephone interview with our correspondent, condemned the military authorities over the comments.

Akinrinade said Obasanjo was exercising his political rights, adding that it was absurd for a junior officer to say anything against his superiors.

The ex-general said, “Obasanjo has exercised his political rights. I think his joining politics is what is causing this nonsense. What is the business of the Defence Headquarters in politics anyway? How did they get to the point where they are reading political statement by politicians. They are now reacting to it. Obasanjo didn’t abuse the armed forces. He must have his reasons for what he said. It is a very bad idea for a junior officer to come out in the public and chastise an ex-commander-in-chief.”

Also, a former Director of Army Legal Services, Col. Akin Kejawa (retd.), described the comments against Obasanjo as being the product of “the indiscipline that the military has degenerated into.”

Kejawa, cautioned the military authorities, saying the reaction betrayed the tenets of respect and discipline that the army was noted for.

According to him, the comments made mockery of the army.

He said, “It is unethical. They should know how to respect elders. I have read the report this morning and don’t think that is good. It is very disrespectful. He was a former head of state and he should be accorded due respect, no matter what he has said.

“This is what we are calling indiscipline in the military. A commander is doing something; you cannot come out and start condemning him. In the military, we don’t do things like that. That is my own personal view and as a lawyer with experience in military law, that is not proper. Can somebody call his father a stupid person? No matter what mistake he has made, you can’t dishonour him.”

When contacted, the first Military Administrator of Osun State, Maj. Gen. Leo Ajiborisa (retd.), declined to comment on the matter because it was against military etiquette to speak about his superiors.

He said, “I don’t discuss political issue. It is insubordination for anybody to write about his senior. Military etiquette does not teach us that way, so I am not interested in pronouncing anything. I am not a politician; they can go and sort their matter.”

When contacted for his comment, retired Maj. Gen. Zamani Lekwot, said he should be given time to mourn his younger brother’s wife, who he said, just died on Tuesday morning.

We’ll beg Obasanjo, says Lamido

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State on Tuesday emerged from a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, giving an indication that the Peoples Democratic Party stakeholders would beg former President Olusegun Obasanjo who dumped the party on Monday.

Lamido, who is the North-West Coordinator of Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign, told State House correspondents that Obasanjo remained the father of all.

He said Jonathan and all the state governors were creations of the former President.

He explained that it was only appropriate that “when a father is angry with his children, the children should beg him.”

Lamido said, “Baba (Obasanjo) is more than a party man. He is an icon, a national symbol and a leader and an inventor, a creator of all the institutions today in Nigeria from the President to the governors who are his own sons, are all his creations.

“And so, when a father is angry with his own children, we will only say we are sorry to him. But then, we cannot be renounced for whatever it is.

“If you do any political DNA of our blood, you will find his (Obasanjo’s) blood in us. No matter what we are, we may not be able to live up to his expectations.

“We might have made some mistakes, but abandoning us is not the solution because the country is first before anything else. So, he is our Baba even up to the President.

“Baba is our baba no matter what. He is angry with us, but then, what do we do? He gave us the life at a time when Nigerians were fighting us, he stood for us. Since 2011, in 2007, he stood firm for us.

“He is our father. And so, if we made some mistakes, we are only human because we are heading human institutions. And I think by the time he reflects, how could he abandon his own children like that. Wherever we are, we are right in his heart. He feels for us, he cares for us.”

When asked to be specific on whether they would go and beg Obasanjo to return to the party, Lamido said such issue was not the kind he would announce publicly.

“When there is some kind of misunderstanding between a father and a child, you don’t go to NTA or any other media to say you are going to do this.

“I mean the bond between us is so strong. I know he is equally pained. I know what he is going through because he is our father, but I will not tell you the strategy because when he was producing us, you were not there, when he was making us, were you there?,” the governor said.

When told that some party chiefs had already said they would not miss the former President, the governor said Jonathan who he described as Obasanjo’s first child had not said so.

“But then, the first child is the President, did he say so?,” he asked.

When asked again if Obasanjo’s constant criticisms of the President did not worry him, Lamido said “when parents get old, they tend to manifest signs of old age.”

He added, “What I am saying is that all of us have parents. When we were born, they pepped us, gave us their love, gave us everything. By the time they get old, naturally, there is what they call role reversal. We became the parents and they became the children. So, what is wrong if our parents begin to manifest those signs of old age?”

Lamido insisted that despite all the perceived setbacks, the PDP would still win the forthcoming elections.

He said, “What is this opposition in Nigeria? You must know Nigerian history. Nigeria cannot be governed by an aggregate of pain, anger and frustration.

Boko Haram vows to disrupt polls

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau vowed to disrupt Nigeria’s upcoming general elections in a new video released Tuesday, after two suicide attacks in the northeast blamed on the Islamists killed 38 people.

“This election will not be held even if we are dead. Even if we are not alive Allah will never allow you to do it,” Shekau said in the Hausa language, presumably referring to the polls scheduled for March 28.

The video appeared to be the first message released by the group on Twitter, a sign of its changing media tactics after previous messages were distributed to journalists on DVD.

Shekau was shown in unusual clarity in front of a solid blue background, dressed in black and with an automatic weapon resting to his right.

Nigeria’s general election had been scheduled for February 14 but was postponed by six weeks, with the security services saying they needed more time to contain the violence in the northeast, Boko Haram’s stronghold.

Despite Shekau’s threat, experts doubt that the Islamist rebels have the capacity to disrupt voting nationwide, although election officials have conceded that voting could prove impossible in parts of the northeast, especially by March 28, the new election day.

But the latest wave of attacks blamed on the rebels underscored the challenge facing Nigeria and its neighbours — Cameroon, Chad and Niger — despite claims of successes in the joint operation launched this month.

Niger police arrest 160 suspected Boko Haram militants

Authorities in the landlocked African nation of Niger have arrested 160 suspected Boko Haram militants allegedly involved in deadly attacks near that country’s border with Nigeria, a national police spokesman said Tuesday.

The arrests happened over the last two days in Niger’s Diffa region, which borders Nigeria. Those taken into custody include Kaka Bunu, who police spokesman Adil Doro said was “involved in the recruitment of (Boko Haram) members

I’ll flee Nigeria if APC wins —Bode George

In this interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, a national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode George, speaks on the recent comments of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other national issues

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says President Goodluck Jonathan plans to perpetuate himself in government like the former President of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo. What do you think of this comment?

He (Obasanjo) says he is a Christian and as a Christian, it is emphasised in the New Testament of the Bible where Christ said judge not so that you will not be judged. But his judgment is no longer about the policies of Jonathan. He has gone down to the extent of saying Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) will jail you (Jonathan), that is why you are afraid. I am holding my breath because in an African setting, you talk to elders with respect and that is why I am trying to get the right words to describe my feelings. Baba (Obasanjo) is not a young man. He was Head of State at 39. So averagely, he should be about 84 or 85 and I am requesting that he should graciously fade away into the midnight. In the Bible, Romans chapter 13 states clearly that we should pray for those in authority. It says pray for your leaders so that they don’t run aground. So, to me that is my own interpretation. If baba (Obasanjo) had attended the Council of State meeting in Abuja, where they were very well briefed, and that it was decided that only the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that could pronounce a postponement and that he should go and come up with a decision and Jega addressed a press conference. Now to start comparing our President with Gbagbo in Cote d’Ivoire is unjust, unsavoury and unfair because what is the population of Ivory Coast? What are the tribal sentiments of Ivory Coast? Are they the same here? I want to plead with Baba. God has been kind to him and he has served his own time. I don’t want to conclude that his life will be like King Saul in the Bible. I pray it will not be so. Baba has played his role. No generation can finish any job. Nation building is a continuous exercise. You come, do your own and go back into history.

Apart from the issue of insecurity which Jega gave as the reason for the postponement of the elections, do you think INEC was ready to conduct the elections on February 14 and 28?

I granted an interview recently and there were two posers that I gave to Jega. Thank God Jega is a professor. He told us that there was an 88 per cent collection rate in Borno State where there is massive insurgency as well as in Yobe and Adamawa states. Here, where there is calmness and civility, only 30 something per cent of the populace had collected PVCs. It is just improving. I think as of last Friday over three million had collected as against 5.6 million. And he is saying we are ready. Without the Permanent Voter Cards, you are immediately disenfranchised. Ask Jega that as a professor, will it be fair to conduct an examination whereby you have (students who have) covered 80 per cent syllabus and another class where you have (students who have) covered only 30 per cent syllabus. Is it fair?

The other question is this issue of card readers. Have they been tested? I am talking as an electronic engineer of 48 years in practice. You just bought equipment from China and the last time it was tested was in China. Our own environment is not the same. Look at the vagaries of the temperature here from the swampy areas of the South and the savannah in the North. Who has tested the equipment? Now, I am not saying they will not all work but if there are almost 9,000 polling units in Lagos, is he saying all the 9,000 card readers will be functional? If the card readers fail to work in some polling units, what shall we do?

Why did the military surround former Governor Bola Tinubu’s house?

If Bola Tinubu finds his way into national government, I will go on exile. He hasn’t the temerity and the calmness of mind. They don’t even know what to do in power. Because the vice-president is his boy, he will just order that Bode George should be picked up. He said soldiers came to him but he must have been dreaming. When he said soldiers had surrounded his house, I drove down there because my house is not too far from there. I know the hierarchy of the military and its behaviour. That they surrounded his house is lie number one because on either side of his house are two buildings. There is also one at the back. So, I wondered where the soldiers were hiding. Why would you lie for public consumption? So when I got down there, I knew that his spin doctors were working. These days people go on the social media and the story went viral. Why would he (President Godluck Jonathan) from Abuja, be running after Bola? Let them be very careful about the statements they are making. More so, if Obasanjo is now linking Jonathan with what happened in Cote d’Ivoire and coup; not in this 21st Century. That is past and gone forever. No nation goes through this kind of tribulation twice and survive. We have had our own experience of Civil War and I pray that God does not direct our minds in that direction and our people have to watch their mouths.

The general perception in Lagos is that the governorship race is between yourself and Tinubu.

Absolutely not! In the PDP, no individual owns the party. I happen to have been the first national vice chairman, South-West PDP, and then became deputy national chairman South and then deputy national chairman for the whole country and having done that, they have honoured me that as long as I remain in the party, I remain a member of the Board of Trustees and I am the only one representing the South-West in the national caucus forever. That is a great honour in our party but I don’t decide who becomes a candidate. Primaries were conducted and in this particular case, the voice of the people became louder than anybody’s. I am not like Bola Tinubu, I don’t have the papers of the party in my pocket. I don’t even have a veto power. But the other side doesn’t practice democracy. We have friends that are members there. Jimi Agbaje has no godfather but will not behave like an authoritarian governor.

But Senator Musiliu Obanikoro said you were the one that imposed Agbaje.

That is absolute garbage, he knew he was lying. You know he came from their party and that is why he was saying it was me. He has now retracted the statement. We are now one indivisible party and we are ready for election. All the vagaries and all that happened during the primary was a test of the ability and the strength of our party and we listened to the voice of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God.

Jonathan’s perception in the South-West is not as favourable as it was in 2011. There has been blame on you and other PDP Yoruba leaders for allowing Buhari to increase in popularity in the South-West.

If you had said this about two or three weeks ago, I would have agreed. I got these feelers straight to my face. People came to me and said they would vote for Agbaje but they will not vote for Jonathan because he had done nothing for us here. And I explained that there is a general misunderstanding of the concept of operation in this country. The long periods of military rule presupposed that the Head of State was responsible for everything and it is that same thinking that is responsible for this situation. We are all hands on deck explaining the differences between military governance and democratic governance.

Highly educated people, my age groups, were asking me this question but I explained to them that 60 per cent of the impact the President will have on you is through the federal allocation to your state. Does he give every state and every local government allocation? Yes. They collect it religiously every 30 days. In the area of security, he guarantees it. It is only three states in the North-East battling insecurity. There is peace and he guarantees that. What of infrastructure? All federal roads in Lagos from Alfred Rewane in Ikoyi all the way to Third Mainland Bridge and Ebute Meta are federal roads. Are they like the roads in Somolu and Akowonjo?

Secondly, the APC refused to participate in the National Conference. Since he (Buhari) has refused to debate, what will he do about the resolution unanimously reached by the National Conference? What will happen to the report? The decisions of the National Conference are so germane to the future of this country. The more reasons why the man who conceptualised it should be allowed to implement his decisions.

Amber Rose Woes! Wiz Khalifa Wants Full Costody Of Son From Ex-Wife

More woes are in the offing for Amber Rose few hours after her viral twitter rage with Kloe Kardashion

Her ex-hubby, Cameron Jibril Thomaz otherwise known as Wiz Khalifa wants full custody of his two-year-old son christened Sebastian.

According to reports, the rapper has made allegations that his estranged wife fails to care for their son properly.

TMZ said that Wiz has compiled dozens of complaints against Amber stating that she is often out all night, leaving Sebastian in the care of relatives and staff.

Amber was several miles away from in Lagos some weeks ago for D’Banj @ 10 Concert.

Wiz recently referred to his estranged wife as a ‘foul creature’ after she filed for divorce last September amid claims he had cheated.

He also claimed Amber had done something to the son to hurt him. He wrote on Twitter: “A woman who would do something to a kid to spite that kids father is a foul creature. Seen my boy. All is well.”
However in a recent interview with Power 105 FM’s ‘The Breakfast Club’, the model claimed it was all because she shaved her son’s hair despite Wiz not approving of it, “It had nothing to with me cheating.

Police begin 24-hour protection of schools in Sokoto

The Sokoto State Police Command said it had commenced a 24-hour patrol of all schools across the state to protect lives and property.

The Spokesman of the command, Mr Al-Mustapha Sani, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Sokoto.

“This is part of the sustainable and proactive measures by the command to ensure that all schools across the state are more secure.

“It is also to provide a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning in the schools,” Sani said.

He said the command had recently organised a seminar for school principals, headmasters and proprietors of private schools on the need for them to be security-conscious.

He said the seminar was also to sensitise them on the need to complement the efforts of the security agencies on how to ensure the security of members of their schools’ communities.

“They can also go a step further by engaging the personnel of reputable private security guards in this direction,” the police spokesman said.

He urged management of the schools to promptly report movement of any suspicious persons or groups in and out of their schools premises to the security agencies for immediate action.

Man Ejaculates On Woman While Masturbating During A Festival (PHOTOS)

 A disgusted woman has filed a report to the police about a man who ejaculated on her while he masturbated at a festival and subsequently got lost in the surging crowd.

The 20-year-old victim said she stood near the main stage watching a a hip hop group presentation at the St Kilda Festival in Australia on Sunday, February 8, 2015 when the incident happened.

She said, “Everybody was touching each other but I noticed this guy was a bit too close to me and I tried to manoeuvre away.

“It made me feel uncomfortable, I’m pretty angry towards men. I feel violated but I’m lucky it wasn’t worse.’

Detectives from Victoria Police are now investigating the incident and on the trail to track down the pervert, according to NT News.

Senior Detective, Carin Wood said, “She was watching the band and felt a warm sensation on her back and turned around to see him doing up his fly.

“There were thousands of people around. It’s obviously concerning behaviour for the police. Surely someone has seen something or know who this person is.

“To have the courage to do that and to want to do that is obviously disturbing.’

He is described as being Indian in appearance and aged between 18-30, with a dark brown complexion, average build, short black hair and brown eyes with acne scars on his cheeks.

Detectives also wish to speak to a woman who held the victim’s wallet for her while she changed her clothes.

Customs, Immigration deny closure of borders

The Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Services have denied that the Federal Government did not close the border posts in Sokoto and Kebbi states.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the officers in charge of Customs and Immigration at the Illela border post in Sokoto State made this known when they spoke with newsmen in Illela on Tuesday.

NAN reports that the denial followed speculation that the Federal Government had ordered the closure of the borders in the two states for some undisclosed reasons.

“The border post had not been closed and no such directive was given by the Federal Government.

“Our officers and men are on duty diligently for 24 hours, non-stop,” Mr Agbetuye Peter, the officer in charge of Customs office at the post, said.

Peter promised to continue to work round the clock to secure the nation’s border with the neghbouring Niger Republic.

Also, Mr Toyin Saka of the Immigration Service corroborated Peter’s views, saying that the speculations were baseless and unfounded.

“As you can see, our officers and men are on duty for 24-hours and we are running three shifts to effectively secure Nigeria’s borders,” Saka said.

NAN observed that officials of Department of State Services, NAFDAC, NDLEA, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Police, among others, were seen securing the borders.

Synagogue: Court awards N25, 000 against T.B. Joshua

A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has awarded a N25, 000 fine against the Founder, Synagogue Church Of All Nations, Prophet T.B. Joshua, for “deliberately stalling hearing” in a suit he filed against a Lagos coroner, Magistrate O.A. Komolafe.

Justice Lateefa Okunnu, while awarding the cost on Tuesday, berated the prophet for “wasting the time of the court and tax payers’ money.”

She expressed displeasure that the matter, which was filed in December last year, had been bogged down with several adjournments at the instance of Joshua.

Okunnu’s order followed the announcement by Joshua’s lawyer, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), that his client had filed two fresh applications before the court in relation to the case.

“We filed two processes yesterday. One is a motion and the other one is the applicant’s consolidated reply on points of law,” Fagbemi said.

Responding, however, counsel for the Lagos State Government, Mr. Karmardeen Bakare, said he had only just been served with the said processes in court on Tuesday morning.

The state counsel said it would be impossible for him to go on with the case in the circumstance as he needed time to look at the fresh applications and reply appropriately.

He therefore urged the court for an adjournment.

But Okunnu frowned on the development, as she said it was clear that the day’s proceeding had been hampered by Joshua’s fresh applications.

While reluctantly conceding to the prayer for an adjournment till February 20, Okunnu, however, awarded a N25,000 cost against Joshua.

The judge said the order must be complied with before the next adjourned date, while Joshua was to file an affidavit of compliance as evidence.

The prophet had approached Okunnu asking for a judicial review of the coroner’s inquest into the death of about 116 persons in the SCOAN’s September 12, 2014 building collapse.

The coroner’s inquest, which commenced on October 13, last year had the mandate to determine the cause of death of the victims, most of who were South African nationals.

But Joshua, in his application before Okunnu, asked the judge to determine whether the witness summons served on him to appear personally before the coroner was not a breach of his right to fair hearing.

He had also argued, through his lawyer, Fagbemi, that the coroner had been extending the inquest into areas outside his jurisdiction.

According to Fagbemi, the duty of the coroner was limited to determining the cause of death of the victims. Fagbemi said the coroner had no legal backing to look into the possible factors responsible for the collapse of the six-storey guest house wherein the victims lost their lives.

He therefore asked the court to declare as null and void such portion of the coroner’s inquest conducted in excess of jurisdiction, in addition to an order restraining the coroner from further acting in excess of his power.

Jonathan sends ministerial-nominees list to Senate

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday sent eight ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and approval.

The names, contained in a letter signed by Jonathan and read by Senate President David Mark, include senator Musiliu Obanikoro from Lagos state.

Others are, Mrs.Patricia Akwashiki (Nasarawa); Mrs. Hauwa’u Lawan (Jigawa); Prof nicholas Akise Ada (Benue); Col. Augustine Akobundu retd. (Abia); Mr. Fidelis Nwankwo (Ebonyi); Mr. Kenneth Kobani (Rivers) and Senator Joel Ikenya (Taraba).

The Senate has not fixed a date for the screening.

Details later. . .

PDP loses six Reps to APC, LP

Another set of six Peoples Democratic Party members of the House of Representatives announced their defection to other political ‎parties on Tuesday.

The move came just as lawmakers reconvened from recess in Abuja.

Three of the defectors joined the All Progressives Congress, two joined the Labour Party, while one switched camp to Accord party.

Details later…

Keep winning, Kanu tells Eaglets

Former Nigeria international Nwankwo Kanu has congratulated the Golden Eaglets for winning their opening match at the Africa Under-17 Championship against hosts Niger, urging them to put in their best in order to win the tournament.

Goals scored by Victor Osimhen in the 19th minute and Kelechi Nwakali in the 33th minute gave the Eaglets a 2-0 victory over the Niger Under-17 team 2-0 at the General Seyni Kountche Stadium in Niamey on Sunday.

Kanu, who was prominent in the Nigerian team that won the Japan 1993 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, also congratulated the team’s coach, Emmanuel Amuneke.

“Congratulations our Golden Eaglets. Congrats Amuneke and your crew. Congrats boys, keep it going and make sure you keep winning,” the two-time African Footballer of the Year, tweeted on Sunday.

Coach Amuneke said they would not take anything for granted despite their victory over the hosts on Sunday as the team resumed intensive training on Monday in preparation for their next match against Guinea on Wednesday.

The Eaglets, who were drawn in Group A, will also face Zambia on Sunday.

Jonathan postponed elections to frustrate Buhari – NY Times

The United States-based New York Times says the postponement of the elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission was orchestrated by President Goodluck Jonathan to frustrate Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of the All Progressives Congress.

The newspaper, which has won 114 Pulitzer Prizes, further stated that Jonathan appeared to be afraid of the increasing popularity of Buhari, who most Nigerians would likely vote for.

It said this in the editorial of its Monday edition titled, “Nigeria’s Miserable Choices”.

The publication said, “Any argument to delay the vote might be more credible if President Goodluck Jonathan’s government had not spent much of the past year playing down the threat posed by the militants and if there were a reasonable expectation that the country’s weak military has the ability to improve security in a matter of weeks.

“It appears more likely that Mr. Jonathan grew alarmed by the surging appeal of Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who has vowed to crack down on Boko Haram. By dragging out the race, Jonathan stands to deplete his rival’s campaign coffers while he continues to use state funds and institutions to bankroll his own.”

It said INEC’s excuse that elections were postponed because security forces wanted to fight insecurity would have been taken in good faith if Jonathan had been tackling insecurity effectively since he took office.

The 164-year-old newspaper said that Jonathan had become so unpopular that Nigerians were not afraid of the idea of a former military dictator returning as President.

It however said that Jonathan had become worried about the rising insecurity and was willing to accept help from western powers.

The newspaper warned that election postponement might increase the level of insecurity rather than reduce it and that Nigeria’s democracy would not survive an electoral crisis.

It said, “Beyond security matters, entrenched corruption and the government’s inability to diversify its economy as the price of oil, the country’s financial bedrock, has fallen and has also caused Nigerians to look for new leadership.

“Nigeria, the most populous African nation, and a relatively young democracy, cannot afford an electoral crisis. That would only set back the faltering efforts to reassert government control in districts where Boko Haram is sowing terror.

“The security forces may not be able to safeguard many districts on Election Day. But postponement is very likely to make the security threat worse.”

Jonathan, Buhari are ‘problematic’ candidates, says Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has criticised the two frontline candidates in the March 28 presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party and Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of the All Progressives Congress.

Soyinka, in an interview with the BBC on Monday, insisted that the political parties should have come up with far better options than the two leading candidates.

He described President Jonathan, who is running for a second term and the opposition leader, Buhari, as “problematic candidates.”

“There is a huge albatross hanging [around] the necks of the two main candidates. I can understand the dilemma which many voters have,” Soyinka said.

He added that “one contender is troubled by the present, the other by the past.”

Soyinka also decried the lack of fair play in the election, saying the spirit of “let’s have a fair war” was not yet deep enough.

He faulted Jonathan for the failure to rescue the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from Chibok in April 2014.

“What happened was a clear failure of leadership – a slow reaction, an inadequate reaction and response,” Soyinka told the BBC. He stressed that while responsibility for the Boko Haram crisis rested with President Jonathan, the government could not be held solely responsible for the entire jihadist problem as it began under previous governments.

“Buhari and his partner, the late Gen. Tunde Idiagbon, after (former military head of state) Sani Abacha, I think they represented the most brutal face of military dictatorship. There is no question about that,” Soyinka said.

“But the environment changes, circumstances change and… I look at the possibility of a genuine internal transformation in some individuals. I’ve been disappointed before and we must always be ready to be disappointed again,” he added.

Soyinka, however, said Nigerians should be ready to “go back to the trenches stand up against misrule from whoever wins the election.

“Nigerians should be prepared to deal with any new betrayal by any ruler with the same passion and commitment…. as they did with the late Sani Abacha because we cannot continue this cycle of repetitious evil and irresponsibility.”

On what to do to counter the Boko Haram sect, whose activities was cited for the postponement of the election, Soyinka called for “an aerial bombardment with weapons of the mind” in addition to the military offensive.

“All kinds of propaganda leaflets should have been raining in those areas because not all members of Boko Haram are convinced. They need to know there is an exit and the state will take care of them. Then the waverers’ minds have to be reinforced on the positive side – on the side of humanity.

“The kind of propaganda being used now between the political parties, just a fraction of that should have gone into attacking Boko Haram,” he added.

Asked whether he believed the nation could be dismembered in the next 10 years, he said, “I doubt it very much. The threats of dismemberment have been going on so long that one of these days there is going to be a wish fulfilled.

“The idea of either dismembering at the cost of human lives, as the Boko Haram people are trying to do with their caliphate delusions or to force people to stay together as happened in the case of the [1967-1970] Biafra war, doesn’t make sense, it’s an abuse of intelligence.

“Arrangements can be made in which people stick together under protocols of association which allow some kind of autonomy for certain issues and other cases centralised policies,” he said.

Soyinka also noted that the huge amount being expended on campaigns would inevitably lead to broken electoral promises.

“What does this make of the incoming government? This money came in from somewhere. It means such candidates are going to owe, they are obliged to interests which are not necessarily in the best interests of the nation.

“So, a lot of the electorate will be disappointed at the failure – the reneging on electoral promises – because there may not be funds for the fulfilment of those promises,