2015 ELECTIONS ENDANGERED (2): INEC’s Permanent Voter’s Card Or Rigging Card?

Last week, Sunday Vanguard published documented evidence as obtained from Nigeria’s Election Management Body, EMB, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that Registration Area Officers, ROAs, would be expected to manually and comprehensively register voters from house to house. In this report, you will read details of the type of PERMANENT VOTER’S CARD that INEC has decided to use for the 2015 elections, a card that cannot satisfy the yearnings of Nigerians for a free and fair election. Yet, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, is going about his job with messianic alacrity which suggests an agenda that is at once unclear to other national electoral commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, as well as some very senior officials of the Commission. This report merely attempts to clear the fog of misinformation that a permanent voter’s card, especially the one INEC has awarded its contract, would solve Nigeria’s age-old problem of election rigging. The prognoses are very dangerous.
Like President Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist Muslim Brother, who has taken Egypt by storm, Professor Attahiru Jega, is also taking INEC by storm. This is by way of Morsi’s decree which vested him with immunity from judicial oversight and his ordering of the country’s assembly to draw up a constitution within a day, a work that would have taken all of 30 days, with a view to producing a draft ready for referendum. Mind you, Morsi has, in an attempt to court the military, has promised that the portfolio of defence ministry is its.
For Nigeria, the much vaunted permanent voter’s card that Jega’s INEC is proposing to use for the 2015 general elections may not put a stop to Nigeria’s romance with election rigging for two reasons. The first is the nature of the card itself. The second is the nature of the procurement.
THE IMPERMANENCE OF A PERMANENT VOTER’S CARD
INEC’s permanent voter’s card does not have the potentials to put a stop to Nigeria’s rigging problems because it is merely card-reader enabled.
Very senior sources at the Commission confided in Sunday Vanguard that a card-reader enabled voter’s card would not in any way do much to put a stop to the sophisticated rigging schemes of Nigerian politicians.
What the card would simply do, according to the sources, is that “on voting day, the card would make it easy for the official on election duty to identify the card holder as the owner of the voter’s card. When the prospective voter goes for accreditation on the day of election and presents the card, the card would be inserted into the machine and it would be certified as an authentic voter’s card bearing the name of the card holder”.
Except last minute modifications have been made to the earlier specification for the production of the voter’s card, Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand that the card would not have added feature of photograph identification.
“As has been proposed, the card reader would not display the photograph when the card is inserted; but this is just a minor flaw because the card identifies the holder as the owner of the card.
“Now, when the card is inserted into the PSO machine which would read it and register it as having been used for voting, it would not display the photograph as contained in the register. In Ghana, that was not the case. The card displayed the photograph and the card was polling unit specific.
“That brings us to the real flaw which is that the card holder can proceed from that point to another voting centre and re-use the card for the same election because the card is not polling unit specific – that is, a voter’s card that can only be used at one polling unit and one polling unit alone.
“What this means”, the very senior INEC source continued, “is that were the card polling unit specific, it would only have the capability to be used at only one of the 119, 973 polling units scattered across the country”.

The contract for the card has already been awarded.
The experience of Ghana and, lately, Kenya, where such cards were used is that in those two countries, the cards were polling unit specific – the cards were only enabled for use in only one polling unit in each of those countries.
Now, the only aspect where the card suggests a capability to ward off rigging is the requirement of a paper trail having been used. What this means is that there must be evidence that the voter’s card has gone through the card reader because of the need for serial registration to register the number of cards that have been able to pass through the machine.
As was earlier stated, it would not take divination to see through it that the “visit (to) voters and prospective voters in their homes” for the purpose of “MANUALLY REGISTERING THOSE WHO REACH THE AGE OF 18, SIX MONTH BEFORE ANY GENERAL ELECTION” as well as “TO COMPILE COMPREHENSIVE VOTERS LIST WITH A VIEW TO CAPTURE THEIR BIOMETRIC DATA AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME, AT LEAST TWICE A YEAR” constitute a recipe for electoral fraud. Just as the recruitment exercise that INEC is looking to see through, as well as the alleged skewed promotion exercise that has just been concluded, along with a voter’s card that is not polling unit specific, all suggest a pattern – intended or not.
WHY OPT FOR SUCH A CARD
Just as bad, Sunday Vanguard was informed, that an Information and Communications Technology, ICT, delegation was sent from INEC headquarters to China
Their mission was to go and learn about and prepare for the eventual use of the type of permanent voter’s card that the EMB has opted for.
Curiously, there was a disagreement among members of the delegation.
The source of the disagreement was and remained that this card reader type of permanent voter’s card is not the best for Nigeria within the context of the sophisticated rigging regime that politicians are wont to enthrone.
The questions to ask are:
Are the authorities aware that there was a disagreement even among members of the delegation sent to China from INEC?
If the authorities are aware of such a disagreement, have efforts been made to uncover the source of the disagreement?
If they are not aware of the second, have moves been made to find out?
The disagreement majorly hinged on the fact that “not being polling unit specific, the card would still be open to compromise”.
What some members of the delegation preferred was a card that would be customized in such a way that it can only be used for voting in only one of the 119, 973 polling units scattered across the country.
The practice in Nigeria is that when you register in a place, that is where you go and vote.
It was the self-same INEC that foisted this on Nigerians during the last exercise and it was with a view to eliminating rigging and mass migration preparatory to rigging.
Once a voter’s card is customized to a polling unit, it cannot be used elsewhere.
Now, the contract INEC has awarded, because of the plethora of the under-aged people in the voters’ register that are yet to be cleaned out, is like preparing more grounds for rigging.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
The nexus between the needless recruitment of staff by INEC, a recruitment which a consulting firm has pooh-poohed (INEC is in fact said to be perhaps the only EMB with the largest number of needless staff because of non-utilisation of capacity) on the one hand, the manual comprehensive compilation of voters register from house to house with a view to capturing biometrics later and the use of a voter card that is not polling unit specific.
It was Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, who said that on the day of election, the adhoc staff that are used at polling units are supplied by politicians and, therefore, eliminating rigging may not come easy. Sunday Vanguard gathered from sources within the Commission that the recruitment drive by INEC enjoyed the unpleasant benefit of politicians and National Assembly members nominating people into the exercise.
In fact, some national commissioners and RECs are calling for an outright cancellation of the recruitment exercise because they claimed it was “shoddily carried out”, alleging sectional favouritism.
What this would engender is a further bastardization of the voting process because if INEC is complaining about NYSC members who were used as ad-hoc staff and could not be 100% trusted, how can the Commission that has recruited nominees from politicians and politicians or ex-this and ex-that as and who would become permanent staff hope to trust politicians when entrusted with overseeing elections?
But some officials who appear to have the ears of Jega INEC said “there is already a budget for the recruitment of staff and, therefore, the hoopla about needless recruitment is misplaced”.
The use of a voter’s card that is not polling unit specific can be compromised by political parties with access to the card reader. All that a politician intent on rigging needs to do is to store up voter’s cards illegally – as can be made possible by the proposed manual comprehensive compilation being proposed by INEC – hijack and confiscate a voter’s register booklet and run as many cards as possible through the machine.
That way, with cards in hand and a register to boot, the paper trail needed would be generated, just as the cards can be used as many times as possible and votes counted and recorded for the party of choice.
If INEC is serious about safeguarding the 2015 general elections, the entire national commissioners must be seen to be equal and must operate on a collegiate basis – decisions must be collectively taken.
The use of committee to take very important decisions of the Commission to the exclusion of national commissioners would not help, just as the issues of determination of who goes for monitoring of elections, determination of the posting of RECs or who participates in elections – which are all concentrated and vested in the chairman today – should be jettisoned.
But how did INEC come to this?
JEGA’S QUEST FOR MORE POWERS
It all started when the Commission’s Chairman decided to launch a power-grabbing voyage. To get the legal backing for this acquisition of powers, Jega wote a letter, dated June 19, to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, asking for clarification on who should be the accounting officer of the EMB.
Jega noted: “Since our assumption of office as a new Commission in July 2010, having regard to the fact that neither the Constitution nor the Electoral Act defined the role of the Secretary to the Commission as the Accounting Officer, I have considered myself as such, relying upon provisions of the Procurement Act, particularly Sections 18, 19 and 20 of the Act and Regulations issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement to the effect that in an MDA/Corporate procuring entity, the Chief Executive is the Accounting Officer.
“I have also done this, given the weighty personal liability which the Procurement Act places on the shoulders of the Accounting Officer. The tradition in INEC had been that a Permanent Secretary was posted as the Secretary, until 2008, when INEC, having regard to the provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act appointed its Secretary. The functions/roles of the Secretary as specified did not say or imply that he is the Accounting Officer”.
The INEC boss told Adoke that the clarification was necessary in the light of the restructuring and reorganisation going on in the Commission as it prepares for what he described as “better, effective and efficient service delivery towards 2015 and beyond”.
He insisted that it was “pertinent to seek this clarification for the avoidance of doubt and in order to put lingering matters to rest.”
The “lingering matters” Jega spoke about, it was learnt, might not be unconnected with what a source described as the frosty relationship between the Chairman and other commissioners over the Chairman’s powers.
YOU CAN NOT RUN A ONE-MAN SHOW, ADOKE TELLS JEGA
In a July 26 reply to Jega’s reply, Adoke declared categorically that the Chairman is not the accounting officer of INEC.
Adoke said: “I have examined relevant provisions of the law particularly, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the Electoral Act, the Public Procurement Act and extant Financial Regulations in order to determine whether the law has expressly provided for the position of either the ‘Chief Executive Officer’ or ‘Accounting Officer’ of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Regrettably, it would appear that no such terminology was used in the statutes examined. Item 14(1)(a) of Part 1 to the Third Schedule of the Constitution only provides that the Chairman shall be the Chief Electoral Commissioner. The provision does not state that the ‘Chief Electoral Commissioner’ is the ‘Chief Executive Officer.
“I have similarly examined the functions and powers of the Commission as provided for in item 15 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution and sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Electoral Act and wish to observe that these are functions and powers that can only be exercised by the Commission and not by the Chairman or any individual Commissioner except as may be delegated by the Commission under Section 152 of the Electoral Act or item 15(h) of Part 1 to the Third Schedule to the Constitution. “Consequently, in the absence of any clear donation of the powers of a Chief Executive Officer or Accounting Officer by the relevant statutes, and in the absence of any evidence to indicate that these functions and powers of the Commission have been delegated to the Chairman, I am unable to come to the reasoned conclusion that the law contemplates that the Chairman of INEC shall be the Chief Executive Officer or Accounting Officer of the Commission.”
The Attorney General added that the Electoral Act confers on the Secretary enormous administrative powers akin to those of Directors-General, who are “statutorily the Accounting Officers and Chief Executive Officers of their various Commissions”.
He pointed out that this is what obtains in similar Commissions, such as Police Service Commission, National Population Commission and Federal Judicial Service Commission.
But the dissenting views in INEC are being waved off as mere rants. The electoral body, as presently operated under its incumbent Chairman, decisions are taken by him, in consultation with his Chief of Staff, one Dr. Dr. Mahmud Magaji (he’s alleged to have usurped the powers of some national commissioners).In an earlier conversation with Mr. Kayode Idowu, Press Secretary to Jega, he said “some of the things being published by some people in that regard are laughable because the decisions taken at the Commission reflect a collective, hinged on consensus”.

Pope Francis marks first Easter Mass …reaches out to ‘Muslim brothers’

POPE Francis is expected to mark the first Easter Sunday mass of his papacy today few hours after he celebrated his maiden Easter vigil just as he prayed for peace in the Middle East and stronger Christian-Muslim dialogue at a torch-lit ceremony for Good Friday.
The newly-elected Argentine pope yesterday presided over a mass at St. Peter’s Basilica from 8.30 p.m. local time, baptising four adult converts—an Albanian, an Italian, a Russian and a US national.

Pope Francis (R) kissing the feet of a young offender after washing them during a mass at the church of the Casal del Marmo youth prison on the outskirts of Rome as part of Holy Thursday.AFP

The ceremony effectively wrapped up a series of intensive preparations leading up to Easter Sunday—the holiest day in the Christian calendar—by the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather today for the Easter Sunday mass when the Pope will issue a special blessing from the same balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, where he appeared on the night of his election.
Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of the Vatican’s official daily Osservatore Romano, said seeing the new Pope during Easter helped explain the timing of his predecessor Benedict XVI’s resignation.
Meanwhile the Argentine Pope reached out in friendship to “so many Muslim brothers and sisters” during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.
The pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the night-time Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.
With torches lighting the way, the faithful carried a cross to different stations,where meditations and prayers were read out recalling the final hours of Jesus’ life and his crucifixion.
This year, the prayers were composed by young Lebanese, and many recalled the plight of minority Christians in the region, where wars have forced thousands to flee their homelands. The meditations called for an end to “violent fundamentalism,” terrorism and the “wars and violence which in our days devastate various countries in the Middle East.”
Francis, who became pope just over two weeks ago, chose, however, to stress Christians’ positive relations with Muslims in the region in his brief comments at the end of the ceremony.
Standing on a platform overlooking the procession route, Francis recalled Benedict XVI’s 2012 visit to Lebanon when “we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others. That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world, a sign of hope,” he said.
Friday’s outreach followed Francis’ eyebrow-raising gesture a day earlier, when he washed and kissed the feet of two women, one a Muslim, in the Holy Thursday ritual that commemorates Jesus’ washing of his apostles’ feet during the Last Supper before his crucifixion.
Breaking with tradition, Francis performed the ritual on 12 inmates at a juvenile detention center, rather than in Rome’s grand St. John Lateran Basilica, where in the past, 12 priests have been chosen to represent Jesus’ disciples.

Gunmen kill policeman at daughters’ wedding

A policeman was killed by unknown gunmen at the wedding of his two daughters in Damboa town in Damboa local government area of Borno State, local sources said yesterday, saying the incident happened on Friday.
Residents told our correspondent that the deceased policeman was shot dead in front of his house while conducting the wedding Fatiha of his daughters shortly after the Friday congregation prayer(Jumat). It was gathered that the policeman ran from the town for months following death threat sent to him by unknown persons only to return to the town last week in order to marry out his daughters.
”He came back last week to marry out his two daughters but was shot dead on Friday after Jumat while the wedding was going on”, a resident who did not want to be named said.Our reporter learnt that the deceased officer was from Michika local government area of Adamawa State but resident in Damboa. In another development, a telecommunications network mast has been burnt down in Ajigin village, an outskirts of Damboa local government area.
Locals said that the Airtel’s mast, was just repaired Thursday,was burnt for the second time. No official statement on the two incidents and efforts to get the Borno police spokesman,DSP Gideon Jibrin, weres not successful as at the time of filing this report.

2015 PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST: Obasanjo intensifies plot against Jonathan

2015 PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST: Obasanjo intensifies plot against Jonathan
*Moves to pacify North, meets traditional rulers
*Aso Villa ‘hawks’ want his wings clipped
*President launches counter offensive, woos S/West elders
*Anenih on fence-mending with govs
By Jide Ajani
Fresh facts emerged, at the weekend, that former President Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo is intensifying his opposition to the 2015 re-election aspiration of incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan.
This is at a time when some hawks in the Presidency are pressing for decisiveness on the part of Mr. President, with a view to clipping Obasanjo’s wings.
The latest indication about the former President’s moves are what sources described as the “series of meetings and consultations between Obasanjo and traditional rulers in the North”.
A former state governor familiar with the surreptitious movements of Obasanjo in the last one month told Sunday Vanguard: “The former president has been moving round the North under the guise of being a special guest at functions; but the real reason for his visits to the North is the series of consultations he is holding with traditional rulers across the zones – save, of course, North East geo-political zone where the dreaded Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, holds sway”.
It was learnt that Obasanjo’s latest moves are “with a view to pacifying the North which heaps on his head all the blames for the loss of its hold on power as occasioned by the death of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a death which paved the way for the enthronement of Jonathan as president.
“What Obasanjo has come to realize is that even most of those he considers his traditional friends and confidants poke disdain at him for his role in the imposition of the late Yar’Adua and Jonathan as presidential candidate and running mate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2007, and he is very desperate to make it up to ‘his people’”.

When the going was good…President Goodluck Jonathan (right) and former President Olusegun Obasanjo

“The meetings are centred on how best the North can present a united front against the aspiration of Jonathan. And because of his vast network of friends across the country, Obasanjo is cashing all his cheques because of this project”.
Sunday Vanguard can also report that the off-and-on relationship between Obasanjo and former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has again engaged the ‘ON’ mode.
“When you see Obasanjo and Babangida coming together again with their interests coalescing, then you know something is in the air”, our source said.
Another source – a former presidential aide – that is very familiar with the scheme, said, “It is not so much of what Obasanjo wants from the northern traditional rulers but what the rulers want from him. Yes, I can confirm to you that he has been all over the place and he has been holding series of consultations. The agenda is to work against the 2015 aspiration of President Jonathan”.
Asked about the rumoured rapprochement between Obasanjo and his ex-deputy, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the source was emphatic in saying that “the two have not sat down to meet one on one but there are behind the scene consultations with a view to ensuring that happens”.
In addition, Obasanjo is also said to be in consultation with a few PDP state governors who are very loyal to him, specifically Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State.
Indeed, sensing this emerging threat, PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, launched a counter offensive.
Already, the BoT Chairman has held talks with Lamido, Kwankwaso, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, and Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State, among others.
His rescue mission is to “ensure that a proper reconciliation is engendered between the President and the state governors”, a very dependable source told Sunday Vanguard.
The talks, which are continuing, are said to be “yielding very positive results”.
On his part, Jonathan himself held talks with a section of Yoruba leaders three weeks ago in Lagos.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that the meeting, which had some elders in the land as well as a very strategic traditional ruler in attendance, explored ways of pacifying the S/West geo-political zone which is increasingly becoming vociferous about its claims of marginalization under the Jonathan administration.
The Yoruba leaders, who do not appear to be on the same page with the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, or its intended successor party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, are to hold another round of talks with the President at a later date.
Interestingly, even as the President patience is being taxed by Obasanjo’s scheme, some hawks in Aso Rock Presidential Villa are of the view that the former President’s wings should be clipped.
A Presidency source told Sunday Vanguard:”It is because President Jonathan is mild-mannered; if not, are we not living witnesses to how the former President deployed state power to haunt those he perceived as capable of stopping him from achieving his failed Third Term agenda?
“That he is walking the streets of Nigeria free does not mean he is a saint, especially the way he’s been carrying on. Is it not the mess that he created after eight years in office that this administration is still battling to clear”?, the Presidency source quipped.

"Achebe: Exit of a literary giant"

In this short conversation, Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Martin Adaji takes a look at the dramatic and theatrical potentials of Achebe’s works and concludes that the master story teller’s deft and creative use of language accounts for the successful adaptations of his two of seminal works: Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. He spoke to McPhilips Nwachukwu.
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Ode to the Bard

On March 31, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, Outside looking in

12:08 am

Chinua Achebe, the internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident who gave literary birth to modern Africa with Things Fall Apart, has died. He was 82. I was in my office when I heard of the passing of our elder, Chinua Achebe. The news shook me to the core, then I scrambled to the nearest computer pot. I was stunned there was no mistake, it was true that Chinua Achebe was no more.

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Chinua Achebe: From Story to Set

On March 30, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, The Arts

7:52 pm

When the Babanginda administration appointed Dr Walter Ofonagoro the Director General of Nigerian Television Authourity NTA, little was it known that, that simple policy decision by the new helmsman was going to inaugurate a revolutionary trend both on stage, movie and in the entire literary appreciation of one the greatest prose narratives of the last century, Things Fall Apart.

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Achebe’s passing: Beginning of the end of an epoch in Africa writing

On March 30, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

12:10 am

I first met Chinua Achebe in 1961 at Makerere, Kampala. His novel, Things Fall Apart, had come out two years before. I was then a second year student, the author of just one story, Mugumo, published in Penpoint, the literary magazine of the English Department. At my request, he looked at the story and made some encouraging remarks.

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South Africa, BBC, Ngugi wa Thiong’o honour Achebe

On March 28, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

9:11 pm

THE death of Africa’s foremost novelist, Prof. Chinua Achebe, continues to resonate around the world. As Vanguard, yesterday, received a tribute from one of Africa’s versatile writers, Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a message from the BBC and a newsletter that South Africa remembers Chinua Achebe.

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Chinua Achebe: A Non-Romantic View, By Ibrahim Bello-Kano

On March 28, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

8:58 pm

There is no doubt that Chinua Achebe, who died last week in the United States after a long residence there probably because it was better for him to live there than in Nigeria, was, by many accounts, an outstanding writer. His first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), received wide critical acclaim soon after its publication, which came in the wake of the great wave of decolonization. A year before the publication of the novel, Ghana became the first independent African country, in 1957. Things Fall Apart was published at a time when non-Western but Western educated intellectuals and cultural nationalists were looking around for indigenous cultural documents that could vindicate pre-colonial African cultures, in what the British-Indian writer, Salman Rushdie once called, in memorable phrase, “writing back to the Centre” (the West).

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Achebe’s death is a big blow to African writers – Ayakoroma

On March 28, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

7:08 pm

THE Executive Secretary of National Institute of Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, has described the death of Nigeria’s literary icon and author of many novels, Prof. Chinua Achebe, as a tragedy to Nigeria and a big loss to the writers’ community African and, indeed, all over the world.

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Ogbuefi Achebe’s songs to immortality

On March 27, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, The Arts

9:00 pm

IT is said that “if you don’t want to be forgotten as soon as you die, you either write something worth reading or do something worth writhing about.” That is the number one law of immortality.

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Achebe: There was a software icon

On March 27, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, Technology

12:11 am

The human brain is a computer, and software is a knowledge logic system. The Nigerian knowledge profession and industry is grossly underestimated — due to technophobia mindset — generated by external influences! Indeed, it is the factory and wealth ecosystem in our heads. The Nigeria knowledge industry is worth perhaps ten times (1000%) more than the oil and gas sector. All these can be classified as “Knowledge Software.”

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Achebe projected African image to the world – Obasanjo

On March 26, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, News

6:56 pm

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has described the late literary Icon,Prof. Chinua Achebe as a Nigerian that used his literary prowess to project the image of African continent to the world.

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Achebe’s last Keynote Address

On March 26, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

1:03 am

ETHNICITY is a somewhat problematic word. The great American anthropologist and poet, Stanley Diamond, used such words as ethnic with complete and disarming respect, unlike most of us.

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Achebe: Azikiwe’s widow, govs, senators, monarchs, others pay tributes

On March 26, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

12:17 am

Nigerians have continued to pour encomiums on the late literary giant, Professor Chinue Achebe, who died in Boston, United States of America, USA, last Thursday.

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Chinua Achebe: Death, Where Are Thy Claws? By Niyi Osundare

On March 25, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

7:26 pm

Chinua Achebe is one of those epically unique individuals whose lives have been so full, so purposive and so impactful that we begin to pray that they will never die. But who doesn’t know that that is mere wishful thinking? To be sure, the Eagle on Iroko didn’t die young, but he left when we still need him urgently and acutely. He has gone, but he left so much of, by, himself behind…

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Chinua Achebe: There was a country, by Prof G. Darah

On March 25, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

4:26 pm

The passing away of Chinua Achebe at 82 years on Friday March 22 reminds us of the African saying that it is advanced age we all pray to attain; no one can escape the final submission to the authority of death. Achebe burst into literary fame with the publication of his first novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958. The title became an undying image and symbol of confrontation with and resistance against European nations that invaded the African continent to colonise and exploit.

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Chinua Achebe, a global icon of all time – ACN

On March 25, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

8:15 am

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Sunday paid tribute to Prof. Chinua Achebe, describing him as a global icon of all time.

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Achebe: We’ve not been informed – Kinsmen

On March 25, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, News

12:19 am

…Dickson, Okorocha, Akunyili, Senators, ACN, NLC, others pay tributes
OGIDI, the headquarters of Idemili North local government area of Anambra State and home town of deceased literary giant, Professor Chinua Achebe, was quiet, Sunday, even as members of his kindred said they would convene a meeting this week to formally announce his death to the people.

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Nigerians in Cote d’Ivoire say Achebe’s death a loss to Africa

On March 24, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, News

8:54 pm

Nigerian youths in Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday in Abidjan described the death of Nigeria’s literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe, as` `a loss to Africa’’.

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Achebe was my hero – Akunyili

On March 24, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

5:12 pm

A former Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili on Sunday in Abuja joined other prominent Nigerians to pay tribute to Prof. Chinua Achebe.

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As the world mourns Chinua Achebe, by Dele Momodu

On March 24, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

12:59 pm

Fellow Nigerians, let me join you and countless others across the universe in celebrating the life of one of our few global Ambassadors, Professor Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, who took a final bow two days ago as the curtain was closed on his spectacular performance on the world stage. It was a total blackout as the [...]

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Declare public holiday for Achebe, Ken Nnamani Centre urges FG

On March 24, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

9:02 am

A call has been made to the Federal Government to declare public holiday over the death of world acclaimed novelist, Chinua Achebe. This call was made Saturday by the Ken Nnamani Centre for Leadership and Development.

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What Achebe should tell Zik, Awo, Ojukwu, Balewa, others, by Emeka Ibe

On March 24, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

3:34 am

“The guru is gone. Papa Achebe is gone. Sir, safe journey. Have you seen Ojukwu? Please tell him that his brothers and sisters are experiencing another pogrom in Kano State. What of Awo? If you have come across him, tell him that Nigeria is preparing for another war.
What of the great ZIK of Africa? Please let him know that those things that made him to cross the Atlantic Ocean 50 times seeking for peace is looming again.

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Agadama extols Achebe’s virtues

On March 24, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant

2:14 am

…Says he sharpened the pen of many writers …
London-based Nigerian poet and playwright, Efemena Agadama has described the demise of world literary icon, Prof Chinua Achebe as a great loss not only to Africa but to the entire world.

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Chinua Achebe: We lost a national treasure – Tinubu

On March 24, 2013 · In Achebe: Exit of a literary giant, News

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Tributes continued to pour in for Professor Chinua Achebe yesterday.
Former governor of Lagos State, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, said the deceased was a national treasure. Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and former governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, described him as a literary giant.

Conclave selects New Pope

VATICAN CITY – White smoke billowed from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to show that a new pope to succeed the retired Benedict XVI had been elected.

The smoke came at 1808 GMT after 115 cardinals held five rounds of voting over two days, and the great bells of St Peter’s basilica began ringing soon after. (AFP)

White smoke billowing from the chimney

Tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter’s Square cheered and the bells of St Peter’s Basilica rang out after the 115 cardinals meeting in a Vatican conclave signalled their momentous decision.
The 266th pope in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history — his identity is still a secret — was due to emerge from the balcony of the basilica.
The crowd chanted “Habemus Papam!” (“We Have a Pope!”) as they waited, waving flags from around the world.
Cardinals have been locked up behind the Vatican walls and cut off from the outside world since Tuesday, meeting in a sublime Renaissance chapel swept for recording devices and installed with scramblers to prevent any communication.
The smoke from the chimney was produced by burning the ballots and setting off smoke flares in two stoves specially installed in a corner of the chapel.
The decision came after five votes — longer than for Benedict’s succession to late pope John Paul II in 2005 which was decided in just four votes.
The historic election after Benedict’s abrupt resignation last month was being followed around the world on live television as as well as through social media and smartphone apps — this is the first ever tweeted conclave.
The Vatican has said the cardinal nominated to be the next pope will retire to a “Room of Tears” next to the Sistine Chapel to don his papal vestments and then pray in the Pauline Chapel before speaking on St Peter’s Square.
Brazil’s Odilo Scherer, Canada’s Marc Ouellet and Italy’s Angelo Scola — all conservatives similar to Benedict in outlook but different in style — were the three favourites but papal elections are notoriously difficult to predict.
Other possible candidates include Peter Turkson from Ghana, Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines and Timothy Dolan from the United States.
The odds have been stacked against cardinals from Africa and Asia — two-thirds of the voter cardinals were from North America and Europe.
All the “Princes of the Church” were appointed by Benedict or his predecessor and ideological soulmate John Paul II.
But the names of cardinals from Latin America, where the largest number of the world’s Catholics actually live, have also been in the rumour mill.
US President Barack Obama also chimed in on Wednesday, saying an American pope could be just as effective as any other, before quipping: “But the (US) conference of Catholic bishops… don’t seem to be taking orders from me.”
Benedict’s eight-year papacy was riven by scandals and the new pope will face immediate challenges — stamp his authority on the Vatican machinery and try to bring back a Catholic flock that is deserting churches across the West.
Benedict’s style was often seen as too academic and he was never as popular as his predecessor. Many of the cardinals have called for a new pope who will be a good communicator, able to reach out particularly to young people.
Conclaves are usually only held after a pope dies and are sometimes decades apart — the last one was in 2005, the one before that 1978. A popular Italian expression for things that happen very rarely is “at every death of a pope”.
The 85-year-old Benedict broke with tradition, becoming the first pontiff to resign since the Middle Ages. He has said he will retire to a former nunnery inside the Vatican — an unprecedented and delicate situation for the Church.
In one of his last acts as pope, he issued a decree allowing cardinals to bring forward the date of a conclave in cases of papal resignation — a move seen by many as potentially setting a precedent for future ageing pontiffs.
The scandal of hushed-up sexual abuses of children by paedophile priests going back decades has also cast its shadow over the conclave.
The US group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) called for over a dozen cardinals to be excluded from the conclave either for covering up abuses or making tactless remarks about the scandals.
The Vatican on Wednesday defended the cardinals and accused SNAP and other activists of showing “negative prejudices”.
“None of us are surprised that they have tried to take advantage of these days to repeat their accusations and give them greater resonance,” Lombardi said.
“These cardinals should be respected and have every right to be in the conclave,” he said.

Family releases Esiri’s burial arrangements

FAMILY of late Nollywood actor, Chief Justus Esiri, yesterday, released details of burial arrangement for the Village Headmaster.
According to the spokesman of the Esiri family and ace photojournalist, Mr. George Esiri, the late actor will be buried in his hometown of Abraka in Delta State on Friday, April 12.
There will be service of songs for the late Esiri on April 9, followed by a commendation mass at St. Jude Catholic Church, Mafoluku, Lagos, on April 10.
Immediately after the service the body is expected to be flown to Warri in Delta State for the second and final phase of the burial arrangements.
According to the spokesman, the body will then proceed to Abraka where there will be another commendation mass/lying-in-state at the Polo Turf in Abraka on April 12.

*Late Esiri

The body will, thereafter, be moved to his residence in Abraka for interment and entertainment of guests.
Chief Esiri popularly known as the Village Headmaster, died on February 19 this year following a complication from diabetes.
Born in 1942, Esiri had his primary and secondary school education in Abraka and Warri, respectively, before proceeding to the Maximillan University and Weners Institute of Engineering in Germany, between 1964 and 1968.
Having worked for some time as a newscaster with the Voice of Nigeria, German Service, he veered into movie, had a stint with the Schiller Theatre in Berlin before returning to Nigeria in 1976.
The late actor played a key role in the production of Dr. Ola Balogun’s movie, Dinner with the Devil, as well as during the Second World Black and African Festival of Art and Culture in Lagos in 1977.
He is survived by Mrs Omiete Esiri, widow; children, Mrs Ophlia Edewor, Mrs Ejiro Efijemueh, Mr. Justus Esiri Jnr, Dr. Sidney Esiri (Dr Sid), Mr. Andrew Esiri, Miss Tobor Esiri and grandchildren.

Gunmen kill 4 in Kano

KANO — Unknown gunmen on tricycle, Sunday, shot dead four persons in three separate incidents in Kano.
Security sources confided in news men that the first incident was recorded at Dakata, where a middle-aged man was shot at close range.
Minutes later, another person was shot opposite Custom barracks, located along Hadejia road all in Nassarawa Local Government Area of the state capital.
The source further explained that two other persons were shot dead at Hotoro Primary School, in the same local government.
Kano State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura, however, said three persons were killed. A statement by the Police boss said: “The attack was carried out by unknown gunmen on tricycle around 1.30pm.
“Five fleeing suspects were arrested along Gezawa road shortly after the attack.”
The killings coincided with the one-day visit of Vice President Namadi Sambo to the state.

Video claims to show bodies of foreign hostages

LAGOS (AFP) – A video posted online claims to show the bodies of at least some of the seven foreign hostages believed killed by Islamist extremist group Ansaru following their abduction in Nigeria.
The grainy and silent video posted on YouTube, and seen by AFP on Monday, appears to show at least four victims. The images match screenshots released at the weekend along with the claim that the hostages had been executed after their abduction last month.
The 91-second video is titled in Arabic “the death of the seven Christian hostages in Nigeria,” while an English statement announcing the executions is copied in below.
It first shows what appears to be four bodies on the ground next to a man standing with a rifle. There are then a series of close-up shots of three bodies.
Britain, Italy and Greece on Sunday said that the claim by Ansaru that it had killed the seven foreign hostages appeared to be true, however there has been no confirmation from Nigerian authorities.
“The claim is unconfirmed, and as long as it remains unconfirmed we will do all that is possible to free them and ensure the safety of their lives,” Nigerian Interior Minister Abba Moro told the BBC’s Hausa-language service Monday.
“I want us to also think that belief is quite different from confirmation. And maybe the affected countries believe that was what happened, but on its part, the country where it is said to have happened, based on what it sees, is doing the best it can in ensuring the men are freed, who it hopes are alive.”
The foreigners were abducted from a construction site of Lebanese-owned company Setraco on February 16 in Bauchi state in Nigeria’s north.
Nigerian police last month said the hostages were four Lebanese, one Briton, a Greek citizen and an Italian. A company official later said the Middle Eastern hostages included two Lebanese and two Syrians.
Restive northern Nigeria has seen scores of people killed in Islamist-linked violence, but the hostage executions marked the deadliest kidnapping targeting foreigners in the region in recent memory.
Ansaru, considered a splinter faction of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, said in its statement announcing the deaths on Saturday that it had carried out the executions in part because of local media reports that said British planes had arrived in Nigeria in recent weeks to attempt a rescue.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence in London denied Britain had been involved in a hostage rescue mission.
She pointed to Britain’s role in assisting the French and the Nigerians in the operation against Islamists in Mali and said it would “not be too far-fetched” to see planes in the area transporting troops and equipment.
In an email statement sent to journalists announcing the kidnapping two days after the abduction, Ansaru said the motives were “the transgressions and atrocities done to the religion of Allah… by the European countries in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali”.
However, some analysts caution that such statements are not to be taken at face value and may hide other motives, with a lucrative market for hostages having taken root in the region.
Ansaru has been linked to several kidnappings, including the May 2011 abductions of a Briton and an Italian working for a construction firm in Kebbi state, near the border with Niger.
The victims were killed in March 2012 in neighbouring Sokoto state during a botched rescue operation.
It also claimed the December kidnapping of a French engineer in Katsina state, bordering Niger. The victim’s whereabouts remain unknown.
Seven members of a French family, including four children, were abducted last month in Cameroon, and Cameroon authorities said they were then taken over the border into northeastern Nigeria. Their whereabouts also remain unknown.
Ansaru has appeared to focus specifically on kidnapping foreigners, though it has not been known to have claimed the abduction of the French family. France has blamed Boko Haram for the abduction.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

Railway: Passengers lament undue delays, technical hitches

Passengers of the Lagos-Kano intercity train service have lamented the constant delays and stoppages encountered during the course of journey, arising from technical hitches and faulty systems in the refurbished trains being used by Nigeria railways. This is contrary to claims by authorities of the NRC that it is undertaking a transformation of the nation’s rail line system.
The Lagos to Kano trip which is supposed to take thirty hours, culminated at thirty-nine hours as a result as the rail engine constantly broking down on the way and passengers have had to remain on board while it is changed. Passengers who have traveled on the rail recently decried the persistent technical challenges and said the hiccups have become a regular occurrence.
“This is what we have been seeing in train journeys. Last two weeks, a train derailed at Mokwa causing us to sleep at Jebba because we couldn’t pass while the derailed train was blocking the tracks.” Kolawale, a manufacturer who was traveling to Niger state, lamented when the train broke down at Agege, barely an hour after it departed Lagos.
Some first-time passengers also expressed disappointment with the situation and blamed the railway authority for poor maintenance. “This is my first and I blame myself for entering. Look at this railway people, they load people in thirteen coaches and then do not care about whether they are capable of getting them safely to their destinations. They didn’t conduct any checks on their engines, no checks at all and here we are.” Yau who was headed to Kano to visit his brother regretted.
The engine broke down at Agege, Ibadan, Offa and Kaduna and in each of these places; more than two hours were spent to fix the problem.
Tijani, a student at Federal University of Technology at Minna blamed the hitches on lack of maintenance and technical know-how on the part of the train’s technical crew.
“There is high level of lack of maintenance. If they can maintain this thing very well, it would solve a huge transportation problem for us but I think the problem is from the management and lack of technically qualified personnel. This one is not the Federal Government’s fault. All the delays and challenges we encountered are simply as a result of lack of technical know-how. They have no adequate knowledge about how this works. They need to upgrade their knowledge about it. How can a train leave Lagos by 12:00 pm yesterday and after twenty six hours, it is just getting to Minna.” He said.
Tijani who maintained that he was having his last experience on the train suggested that the only solution is for NRC to retrain their technical staff.
“This is my first time and I cannot come back again. I am highly disappointed. The best thing is for NRC to organize a seminar to upgrade the technical know-how of the technical crew, anything apart from that I don’t know how this thing will be sustained. This one is not the problem of federal government.” He added.
However, one of the members of the technical crew who preferred anonymity said the locomotive engines have become old and they expect to do better when new engines arrive. “These engines have tried. We are expecting new engines and when we get them, we shall have a better service.” He said.
The Nigeria Railway Corporation on the 21st of December, last year resumed intercity train service following government’s effort to rehabilitate the railway and reduce mass transportation difficulties but poor service delivery coupled with inadequate rolling stocks have been a huge challenge to this effort.

Confusion as CJN, Judges locked out of office by striking workers

ABUJA- Judiciary workers across the federation, Monday, locked both the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar and other Justices of the Supreme Court out of office, even as they paralyzed legal activities in all the federal government owned courts in Abuja in protest of what they termed “inhuman work conditions.”
The workers who stormed Abuja in their numbers under the aegis of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JASUN, brandishing several placards, equally blocked the entrance gates to both the Appeal and Federal High Courts where they sang and danced till the close of work.
I n a bid to forestall the possible hijack of the protest by hoodlums, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, promptly positioned armed military men at the entrance to the Aso Rock Villa where the Supreme Court is situated, just as anti-riot police squads manned sentry within the various courts that were besieged by the protesters.
Meantime, efforts to pacify the aggrieved workers to allow the judges to access their offices proved abortive, a situation that culminated to the CJN directing the Chief Registrar of the apex court to quickly conduct a holistic investigation into the root cause of the crisis.

The striking workers

Speaking to reporters, the National Chairman of JASUN, Comrade Marwan Mustapha Adamu said the association’s action was sequel to federal government’s failure to issue a circular for the implementation of Consolidated Judicial Salary Structure, CONJUSS, that was approved for judiciary workers since 2009.
He noted that a 21-day ultimatum issued by the union had since elapsed without any feedback from the government despite several correspondences between the two sides.
Meanwhile, the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Sunday Olorundahunsi, has appealed to the striking workers to go back to work.
A statement issued by office of the Chief Registrar, a copy of which was made available to reporters by the media aide to the CJN, Mr Ahuraka Isah, read: “Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr Sunday Olorundahunsi has appealed to members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN to return to work on the grounds that their grievances are being addressed at the highest levels of authorities concerned alongside with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.”

How Uduaghan’s Delta functions

OFFICIALS of the Delta State Government and opposition figures are sharply divided over the performance of the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan-led administration in the last six years. While government officials said the governor has performed, the opposition indicated otherwise, claiming projects on ground are not in tandem with the funds spent.
Remarkably, key areas like health, education, shelter, food and social infrastructure, road construction and electricity, have continued to receive government’s due attention.
For instance, as a way of ensuring food sustenance, the state government, in 2008, launched the Accelerated Food Programme via the Youth Empowerment through Agriculture (YEP) programme.
But a leading rights activist and lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo argued that the the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led government had performed below expectation.
Said Keyamo, who is coordinating the Delta Forces United, “I think that the State, under the leadership of the PDP, has performed far below what is expected of it. This might be as a result of misplaced priorities, mismanagement of resources or outright stealing.”
Mismanagement of resources
Also not satisfied with the level of progress made by the state government, the Delta State Chairman of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Mr. Chukwugozie Ezeagwu said the Uduaghan-led administration is weak and fearful, adding that it lacks initiative for development.
Justifying the performance of the governor, his aides said since he assumed the leadership of Delta State six years ago, he has initiated and executed a number of projects targeted at developing Delta, saying from inception, the state government set out to transform Delta through its three-point agenda of Peace and Security, human and infrastructure development.
Through the YEP initiative, awareness and a culture shift in food production that primarily targets youths as future farmers, was brought about. This strategy was derived from the Delta Roadmap on Agriculture and about 900 young people got training in Agriculture Business Management and Computer Appreciation at Songhai Delta, Amukpe.

Ogboru and Uduaghan

Young farmers under this programme, were given state sponsored financial starter packs to establish their own farms, cultivate crops and earn income.
Uduaghan at the state agric summit admitted that it was a mixed blessing demanding that a review of the programme be carried out.
Another programme through which the administration sought to alleviate the plight of Deltans, was the creation and launching of Delta Micro Credit Programme (DMCP), in 2007.
With the introduction of the Urban Mass Transit Scheme launched in 2008, 168 brand new Toyota Corolla vehicles which were given out to interested drivers and the state owned Delta Line Transport Company for commercial transportation purpose.
With this, government reduced transportation problems within and outside the state.
In its renewed commitment to ensure good governance, the state government procured additional 505 numbers, Hiace buses, accompanied with 60 Marcopolo buses, 16 Tata Buses and 130 boats for the riverine transport.
Still not satisfied, the administration added a new dimension to the transport sector with the introduction of commercial tricycle as a replacement for commercial motorcycle, called Okada in Asaba and Warri areas.
Though critics lampooned the state government over its decision to ban commercial motorcycles, the state government noted that the ban has led to less accidents and kidnapping which were associated with Okada operators.
To ensure good road network, the administration said it has paid attention to the rehabilitation, reconstruction and construction of roads across the three senatorial districts of the state.
Perhaps, this has engendered accelerated socio-economic activities, increased easy movements of agro-allied products, back-up incentives for potential investors and facilitation of harmonious inter and intra-ethnic relationships.
Being a medical doctor, Dr Uduaghan has shown very uncanny zeal and passion in his execution of his health policy in the state. He is no doubt, driven by the maxim: ‘Health is Wealth’; and this has given unfettered attention to primary and secondary healthcare, particularly for children between 0-5 years, in the areas of laboratory test, antenatal care and delivery (including caesarean sections).
Also, wife of the governor, Mrs. Roli Uduaghan has been very supportive of the governor’s effort, through her, “Master Care Programme” – a body that has helped in no small measure to conduct enlightenment campaigns across the 25 local government areas of the state.
In the area of Health Infrastructure, the Uduaghan administration has taken over the reconstruction and complete rehabilitation of Eku Baptist Specialist Hospital, Eku, construction of staff quarters in state hospitals, installation and commissioning of modern medical equipments in all the government in the state.
Not unmindful that stable power supply is the soul of any economy, the Uduaghan administration, has improved on power infrastructure, one of which is the construction of an Independent Power Plant (IPP), at Oghara. This, many opine, will enable Deltans avail themselves of the stable power supply to establish their various enterprises.
Besides, it has the capacity of employing the teeming unemployed Deltans.
In its pursuit of the human capital development, a policy thrust built around education, the state government has made in-road into the improvement of basic and secondary education to complement the achievement of his predecessors.
The state’s primary and secondary schools are still undergoing renovation works d across the 25 local government areas. He has also embarked on building new ones with state of the art facilities at all levels of educational development.
This has led to increased enrollment in primary and secondary schools. Children now attend schools without being hindered by finance.
Premium has also been placed on the training and retraining of teachers, instructors and other ancillary staff in the education sector to improve standards and enhance service delivery.
As a way of ensuring peace and security, the governor adopted a number of measures to maintain relative peace and security within the state.
Some of the measures include: Provision of logistics such as vehicles, Armoured Personnel Carriers, APC, and communications gadgets to the state Police Command and other security agencies.
The government also set up the waterways security committee, made up of community leaders and youths, who are familiar with the riverine terrain to help arrest the then prevailing insecurity in the state’s waterways, especially in Warri and environs.
But faulting the claim made by the opposition, a Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Communications, Mr. Paul Odili said, ‘’today, we can proudly say that Delta State has found peace, hence the plethora of massive construction from road to housing and educational development and safe for investors.”
It was further argued that the administration has within the limit of available resources, “judiciously sited projects and delivered the basic necessities of decent human existence in the areas of food security, potable water, basic education, security, primary healthcare and infrastructural development.”