2015: Atiku visit Edo, consults with APC stakeholder

Ahead the 2015 general election, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday consulted with leaders and stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo.
Atiku, who visited the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole in his office in Benin said he was in the state as part of his nationwide consultation with the leadership of the party.
He said that the tour was in fulfilment of his promise to consult with relevant stakeholders across the country on his political ambition.
He commended the state government on its infrastructure development under the present administration and urged the governor to do more.
Responding, Oshiomhole said that he was excited about the intention of the meeting and wished him well.
He urged him to ensure that his consultation would be to the benefit of the country and its citizens. (NAN)

Appeal to your defecting colleagues to return, Mu`azu tells PDP Govs

The Peoples Democratic Party,(PDP), National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu`azu, on Wednesday appealed to governors on the party’s platform to plead with their colleagues who defected to the opposition to return to its fold.
He made the appeal in Abuja, when Gov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom, led 13 PDP governors and two deputies on a congratulatory visit to the new chairman in his office.
“I want to passionately appeal to you not to relent in appealing to your colleagues that left the party, which is their home to an unknown destination, to please come back.
“The doors are still wide open and our house is big enough for all of them to come in.
“In a family like ours, there is bound to be conflict, but the ability to resolve it is what will stand us out.
“I therefore want to appeal to you, to please speak and appeal to them to come back and join hands with us to lift the party.
“As garrison commanders in your various states, appeal to our supporters and implore them to be patient with the party at this moment of its history.
“I have a very high hope and optimism that God will guide and see the party through this present challenges.
“Be patient at this moment of our history, you will see what you do not like and you will hear what you do not like.
“The rumour mongers around are working, but God will always guide us and surely shame our enemies,’’ the party chairman said.
Earlier, Gov. Akpabio, said that the governors were at the party headquarters to pledge their loyalty and commitment to the leadership of the party.
Akpabio, who is also the Chairman, PDP Governors Forum, expressed optimism that the new leadership under Mu`azu, would take the party to enviable height.
“We came here to congratulate you and the National Working Committee (NWC), we have seen that since you came on board, things have changed.
“Your emergence as national chairman is even welcomed by the opposition, because of your track records of performance as a former  governor of Bauchi state.
“As a major founder and stakeholder of the party, we are sure that under your able leadership, the party can only wax stronger,’’ Akpabio said.
He pledged the commitment and support of PDP governors to the Mu`azu-led NWC and President Goodluck Jonathan.
He assured that the party would emerge victorious in 2015 general elections.
“We reassure you that the states are safe and that PDP will win 2015 election in all ramifications.’’ Akpabio said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that governors of Delta, Akwa-Ibom, Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Cross River, Plateau, Kebbi, Bayelsa, Kogi, Abia and Gombe as well as the Acting Governor of Taraba were on the team that visited.
Jigawa governor Sule Lamido was, however, represented by his deputy.
NAN reports that five PDP governors had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the heat of the party`s crisis.
The former national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur resigned his position on Jan. 16, a situation that led to the emergence of Ma`azu as the new national chairman. (NAN)

Full list of PDP Senators that defected to APC

Vanguard Newspaper earlier reported that 11 PDP senators  have defected to APC.
The Senators that defected to the  All progressives Congress (APC) party in a letter sent to the Senate President are.
1. Senator Bukola Saraki-Kwara Central
2. Senator Umaru Dahiru-Sokoto South
3. Senator Magnus Ngei Abe -Rivers South-East
4. Senator Wilson Asinobi Ake-Rivers  West
5. Sen. Bindawa Muhammed Jibrilla-Adamawa North
6. Sen. Mohammed Danjuma Goje-Gombe central
7. Sen. Aisha Jummai Alhassan-Taraba North
8. Sen. Mohammed Ali Ndume-Borno South
9. Senator Mohammed Shaba Lafiaji-Kwara North
10. Sen. Abdulahi Adamu-Nasarawa West
11. Senator Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir-Sokoto East

Rivers:No one has accused Amaechi of not working,,, says Peterside

BY GBENGA OKE

L-R Chief Bisi Akande, Interim National chairman, APC; Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu former governor of Lagos State/APC Leader all acknowledging cheers from supporters Tuesday at the Rivers State Government house during a visit of the APC Leadership to Rivers State. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke

Hon. Dakuku Peterside (APC, Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro Federal Constituency, Rivers State) is Chairman House Committee on Petroleum, Downstream. In this interview with Vanguard, he spoke on the crisis rocking Rivers state, directive of APC leaders on government shutdown and the need for state police among others. Excerpts:
ON APC leaders’ directive to APC legislators to shut down government
The directive was given to stop the lawlessness in the country particularly in Rivers State. It is the right step in the right direction because this act of impunity must stop, it is not part of democratic culture. I fully support it and will join others to comply with the directive. The height of patriotism is to respect the law under which we are elected. If you don’t respect the law which is the foundation of a democratic society, then there is no basis for democracy itself. APC cannot appear to be helpless in the face of impunity.
On the crises ravaging Rivers State
The crises that have engulfed Rivers in recent times are condemnable and it should be condemned by all men of goodwill.
You need to understand the background to appreciate what the situation is. First, this Save Rivers Movement (SRM) is a non-governmental organisation.
Yes, police claimed they are sympathetic to APC, the group decided to convene a peaceful rally and notified the police seven days ahead but unfortunately on that day, police cordoned off the area when the people had gathered and started shooting tear gas at innocent and helpless citizens that are without arms.
At the end, Senator Magnus Abe was shot and several others were wounded. We must condemn that; the implication is that there is an affront on our constitutional drive, freedom of association, freedom of movement and freedom to carry out our legitimate political choices. This is an affront on those rights which are constitutionally guaranteed by the 1999 constitution, nothing in that constitution gave the police powers to deal with the public the way they so dealt with the group.
Nigerians must rise up to defend their rights, if they don’t, then these people will continue to trample on their rights especially the police. The police that are supposed to be the enforcer of our laws are now the principal law breaker, they are now the ones acting as if they are the laws to the land.
The second dimension  is the fact that this has shown that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is intolerant of the opposition or alternative choices.
That again must be condemned because democracy is about people having choices, democracy is about the views of the majority while the minority must be able to express themselves as well.
The PDP controls the police and they are extremely intolerant of the opposition.
Finally, it is obvious that Rivers State has become a test case of what will likely happen in the days ahead especially the 2015 elections. The government at the centre is becoming more repressive, they are showing that they don’t respect the rules of engagement and if Nigerians do not stand up to defend their rights, then their votes will not count in the 2015 elections.
It is clear that the PDP will use the police to suppress Nigerians but I know that Nigerians are irrepressible, nobody can rig elections.
There are divergent views as to whether Sen Magnus Abe was actually shot or not. What do you have to say to that?
I was not actually on ground in Rivers as at the time of this development but I contacted a lot of people present when the development happened and they confirmed to me that police shot tear gas and rubber bullets and Senator Abe was rushed to Krisany Medical hospital in Port-Harcourt where he got immediate medical attention and I am told the hospital authorities said he should be flown to London to get better medical attention and I can confirm he is in London at present.
Given the nature of the Rivers crisis, do you support calls for state police?
I have been an unrepentant supporter of state police and I have my reason for it. I have said it severally that Nigeria is the only place in the world where unitary police exists.That is unfortunate and that explains the inefficiency and ineffectiveness in our policing. We need to understand that policing is by intelligence. Nobody can ignore the fact that intelligence is key and you can’t gather more intelligence than those people who are in that area, they know the individuals and their characters, they will know them better.
The secondary thing is the argument that it is subject to abuse, that again for me does not add up. Are you saying the current police controlled by the Federal Government is not subject to abuse? Anything that is not regulated is subject to abuse and that is why our position all along has been to put in place a regulative framework to check the police and policing institutions.
On the clash on interest between old and new members in the APC
APC in Rivers state is one big family that accommodates members of defunct new PDP, defunct CPC, ACN, ANPP and several other parties who believe in the progressive ideology, that human nature needs to make progress and we can’t make progress if we rise on pre conceived notion, our ideas must be dynamic.
Views of the majority
We can’t make progress if we are not driven by the people, we can’t make progress where the interest of the few will reign over the interest of the majority. We cannot make progress unless the views of the majority is accommodated. What has happened in Rivers State is everybody has a sense of accommodation and so I don’t foresee any crisis in Rivers APC.
Why didn’t some commissioners, advisers and staunch supporters of Governor Amaechi defect with him to APC?
We have different interest and  motives for going into public service. Some are driven by sincere commitment to serve the people, others are driven by their personal interest. So all these factors determine the choices we make.  The resignation we have had in Rivers, you need to look at the individuals who resigned and the reasons for their resignation, some may be well intended and some may be because they lack the moral courage to defend the good of their people.
There are different reasons why we have this resignations but none has said the government of Governor Rotimi Amaechi has not performed or his government is not working for the interest of Rivers people.
Nobody has said that. Some have said for personal reasons while some said they are not comfortable with APC, they prefer to stay back in PDP.

We knew Eagles lack penalty scoring skil... says Ghanian coach

Bloemfontein (South Africa) –  ”We purposely stretched the match into penalty shootout because we knew that Nigeria did not know how to play penalty,” says Ghanian Coach, Maxwell Konadu.

Konadu made the statement at a post match interview on Wednesday after Black Stars defeated Super Eagles 4-1 on penalty to qualify for the final of the third African Nations Championships (CHAN) in South Africa.

Ghana will on Saturday at the final meet Libya which earlier defeated Zimbabwe 5-4 also on penalty shootout.

The full and extra times had ended goalless.

The two semi final matches were played on Wednesday at Free Town Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Konadu said that although the Eagles were better tactically, the team lacked penalty shootout scoring skill.

According to him, the Eagles would have scored within the 90 minutes time of the match but his boys matched them one on one to stretch the match to the penalty shootout.

The forcefully contested match was marred with several yellow cards and one red card against the Stars with many players on each side seriously injured.

The Eagles, however, failed to utilise the 11 players against 10 for about 70 minutes to score during the match.

Coach Stephen Keshi said that he was looking forward for the third place match on Saturday against Zimbabwe.

The third and the final matches will be played at Cape Township Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday. (NAN)

Algeria won the 2014 men’s handball CAN !

Algeria’s national men’s handball team won the 21st edition of the African Nations Championship after defeating title holders Tunisia 25-21 (first half: 12-11) at a final game played Saturday evening in Algiers.
Both teams have qualified for the World Championship 2015 in Qatar alongside Egypt who finished third.
It is Algeria’s seventh handball CAN title after those of 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1996.The Algerian team has taken over from Tunisia, the former African champion, which has won a total of nine titles.
Egypt ranked third after it defeated Angola (31-24).The Africa Cup of Nations 2016 will take place in Egypt.

2015: North’s opposition to Jonathan’s 2nd term unfair

ABUJA—A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Professor Jerry Gana, yesterday, described as unfair the mounting opposition from the north against President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid in 2015. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/2015-norths-opposition-jonathans-2nd-term-unfair-jerry-gana/#sthash.FT23ty1a.dpuf

ABUJA—A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Professor Jerry Gana, yesterday, described as unfair the mounting opposition from the north against President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid in 2015. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/2015-norths-opposition-jonathans-2nd-term-unfair-jerry-gana/#sthash.FT23ty1a.dpuf

Youths on rampage over killing of hunter’s dog in Ilorin

Policeman injured, over 50 motorcycles burnt
BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI
ILORIN — The killing of a dog belonging to a hunter has caused a violent clash between two communities in Ilorin, the Kwara Stae capital,  yesterday.
The development which prompted police’s intervention also led to a gun attack on a policeman who is receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.
Over 50 motorcycles were destroyed in the fracas.
Vanguard reliably gathered that disagreement ensued between some residents of Abayawo area and hunters from Dada community in Ilorin West Local Government Area of the state over a dog owned by a member of Dada community. The dog was reportedly killed by a car.
The said car is owned by a member of Abayawo, the rival community.
Residents of the area accused the police of burning over 50 motorcycles, raiding their houses, collected mobile phones and ate their soup.
Alhaji Baba Asileke, who spoke on behalf of Abayawo residents, accused the police of attacking residents who were not involved in the fracas. He urged the government to come to their aid.
“Our motorcycles were burnt and we don’t know why they resorted to attacking us when we were not the ones fighting. They entered our houses, collected phones belonging to our wives and even beat them up,” he said.
The ever-busy Abayawo-Okelele road was deserted when Vanguard visited the area. Scores of policemen were seen while no vehicular movement was allowed.
Pupils also rushed home while residents remained indoors.
Contacted, the state police spokesman, ASP Ajayi Okasanmi confirmed the development, saying some arrests have been made.

US states consider old-fashioned executions

St Louis - With lethal-injection drugs in short supply and new questions looming about their effectiveness, lawmakers in some death penalty states are considering bringing back relics of a more gruesome past: firing squads, electrocutions and gas chambers.
Most states abandoned those execution methods more than a generation ago in a bid to make capital punishment more palatable to the public and to a judicial system worried about inflicting cruel and unusual punishments that violate the Constitution.
But to some elected officials, the drug shortages and recent legal challenges are beginning to make lethal injection seem too vulnerable to complications.
"This isn't an attempt to time-warp back into the 1850s or the wild, wild West or anything like that," said Missouri state Representative Rick Brattin, who this month proposed making firing squads an option for executions.
"It's just that I foresee a problem, and I'm trying to come up with a solution that will be the most humane yet most economical for our state."
Brattin, a Republican, said questions about the injection drugs are sure to end up in court, delaying executions and forcing states to examine alternatives.
It's not fair, he said, for relatives of murder victims to wait years, even decades, to see justice served while lawmakers and judges debate execution methods.
Like Brattin, a Wyoming lawmaker this month offered a bill allowing the firing squad. Missouri's attorney general and a state lawmaker have raised the notion of rebuilding the state's gas chamber. And a Virginia lawmaker wants to make electrocution an option if lethal-injection drugs aren't available.
If adopted, those measures could return states to the more harrowing imagery of previous decades, when inmates were hanged, electrocuted or shot to death by marksmen.
States began moving to lethal injection in the 1980s in the belief that powerful sedatives and heart-stopping drugs would replace the violent spectacles with a more clinical affair while limiting, if not eliminating, an inmate's pain.
The total number of US executions has declined in recent years - from a peak of 98 in 1999 to 39 last year. Some states have turned away from the death penalty entirely.
Many have cases tied up in court. And those that carry on with executions find them increasingly difficult to conduct because of the scarcity of drugs and doubts about how well they work.
In recent years, European drug makers have stopped selling the lethal chemicals to prisons because they do not want their products used to kill.

- AP

Senators accuse Okonjo-Iweala of imposing W’Bank/IMF policies

The debate on the 2014 Appropriation bill entered the  second day in the Senate on Wednesday with some Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress senators describing the document as anti-people.

 They chided the  Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the way the bill was packaged and therefore called for its review.

But others  like Senators Odion Ugbesia and Ayogu Eze argued  that  the bill  was  merely only a working document, which could be subjected to alterations in the interest of the masses.

 Among the  senators  that picked holes in  the Appropriation bill were Smart  Adeyemi, Abdul Ningi, Olusola Adeyeye,  Ganiyu Solomon, Kabiru Gaya and  Gbenga Ashafa.

Adeyemi and Ningi,who lamented the high recurrent expenditure as contained in the budget   and the continued depletion of the foreign reserves,    accused Okonjo-Iweala of imposing economic policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Nigeria.

Adeyemi said, “Okonjo-Iweala should be told in clear terms that the economic policies of the IMF and the World Bank  cannot work in Nigeria.

“The policy must be reviewed. The IMF and World Bank policies cannot work 100 per cent in Nigeria. We don’t need IMF recommendations.

“What we need is what will impact on the lives of Nigerians. We need to work on budget management  and  concentrate on key areas such as power and other sectors of the economy.”

 When he took the floor, Ningi also  cautioned against Nigeria depending on the policies of the IMF, the World Bank and other advanced economies of the world.

He  suggested that Nigeria should evolve  an  indigenous economic policy  that would impact positively on the economy and the citizenry.

The senator said there was the need for the nation’s economic manager to note that while western economies were collapsing,   the ‘homegrown economies of India and China were  waxing stronger.

In his contribution,   Adeyeye accused the Finance minister of confusing Nigerians with ‘foreign economic jargon’, which he called ‘Okonjonomics’.

He said   that ‘Okonjonomics’ had no positive impact on “our domestic economy and lives of Nigerians.”

Solomon also advised the Executive arm of government to change any of its policies  that had not been yielding results.

He said, “We should increase the ratio of capital expenditure to recurrent”.

Gaya and Ashafa lamented that the 76 per cent recurrent expenditure and 24 per cent capital components of the budget were  lopsided, and therefore far from meeting the needs and aspirations of the people.

Gaya noted that the distribution of the allocations in the budget was worrisome and unacceptable.

He said, “The Federal Government budget is the reverse of the Rivers State budget. I wish the budget will be 74 per cent capital and 26 per cent recurrent.”

Ashafa pointed out that capital expenditure in the last three years had witnessed downward swing.

While presenting a statistical analysis of capital votes in the last three years, Ashafa said, “the capital allocation for 2012 was 31per cent; in 2013, it came down to 23.7 per cent while in 2014, it is 23.4 per cent.”

He observed that the 2014 budget estimates negated the requirements of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

The lawmaker  described the document as an illegality  and called for its return to the Executive.

Section 18(2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, he argued, stipulated that sectoral distribution of the budget should be attached to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework document.

He  accused Okonjo – Iweala of deliberately making it so.

The senator further argued that  since there was not enough money for   capital projects , it was impossible for the economy to witness  the kind of  growth that would engender employment creation.

Senator Bukola Saraki, while expressing his views on the budget, lamented that the 2013 Appropriation Act was abysmally implemented.

He insisted that the Executive should be made to account for last year’s budget before the Senate could go into the 2014 estimates.

 But in his contribution,   Ugbesia  said, “This  budget proposal may not be the best and cannot satisfy everybody but it can be seen as a  working paper that will guide towards a budget that will satisfy everybody.

“It could be used to find some solutions to our problems. My worry is the concept of envelope that comes with it annually. To me, it is an impediment.

“We should use the opportunity of this budget process to redefine the role of Executive and Legislature as it relates to designs and implementation of budgets.”

Eze also  did not see anything wrong with the document. Noting  that the budget was well   designed to generate employment, he pointed  out that the problem with  budget in Nigeria was never its  content but its  implementation.

But Senator Ita Enang   shifted the blame for  budget failures   from the Executive to the National Assembly.

Before the  commencement of the debate, the President of the Senate, David Mark,  appealed to his colleagues to make their contributions from a nationalistic standpoint, and not from party leanings.

“Let us look at this budget from a national perspective, rather than a political party perspective,” he said.

 Meanwhile, the  caucus of the APC  in  the House of Representatives  has   restated its readiness to comply with the  party’s directive   to its members to  block the passage of the 2014 budget.

 It said that it would not support a budget of N4.6tn that would merely promote the “corruption” in governance encouraged by the ruling PDP.

 The caucus, which addressed newsmen at the National Assembly in Abuja on Wednesday, explained that it would achieve its plan by working with “the progressive” members of the PDP.

 The Minority Leader of the House,  Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, who spoke for the caucus, added that there was no point passing a budget that would not improve the welfare of Nigerians.

 He dismissed the speculation that the APC could fail because its numerical strength (172) was not enough to defeat the current working alliance between the PDP, Labour Party, Acord Party  and the All Progressives Grand Alliance members in the House.

 Gbajabiamila recalled that before now, many Exedutive bills presented to the House by the Majority Leader, Mrs. Mulikat Adeola-Akande, had not succeeded because the APC and progressive PDP members opposed them.

 He said, “The kick against such bills  came from mostly APC members and progressive members within the rank and file of the PDP.

 “So, the directive (of the APC leadership) was really nothing new. What it did was to put a government determined to bring our democracy down on notice that it was no longer going to be business as usual.”

 On the budget specifically, he said, “We will not support a budget that does nothing for the people we represent; we will not rubber-stamp a budget that seeks to borrow more money at ridiculous rates and further impoverish the country and its people.”

 However, to address the fears of Nigerians that salaries of workers are tied to the budget, Gbajabiamila said the caucus was considering the possibility of discussing with progressive   PDP lawmakers  to isolate the recurrent component of the budget  and pass it.

 “We will hope that our progressive colleagues will agree to an ingenious and creative idea like we did through the doctrine of necessity to isolate the recurrent expenditure and perhaps for the first time pass a recurrent budget only”, he added.

 The APC caucus described as “bemusing”, the alliance between PDP, APGA, AP and LP, calling on them to merge with the PDP.

He said doing so would enable  Nigerians  to  choose between two political parties during the 2015 polls.

 However, APGA reacted to the APC’s stance on Wednesday, saying that it would not oppose the passage of the budget.

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