The Nation Newspaper

Tag: alarm

  • NFF election: Aspirants raise the alarm

    NFF election: Aspirants raise the alarm

    The Nigeria Football Federation Electoral Committee chairman, Amoni Bambo, has been accused of being biased and acting the script of certain people.

    Some aspirants who have been denied rights to obtain nomination forms to participate in the upcoming elections into the Executive Committee of the NFF pointed the accusing fingers at the Electoral Body Chairman, Bambo.

    They have therefore threatened a showdown should they be excluded from participating in the elections slated for Tuesday, 26th August, 2014.

    If the release of guidelines for elections by the NFF spokesperson, Ademola Olajire, on Thursday, is anything to go by, the sale of nomination forms has been technically closed and many aspirants now stand denied rights to contest.

    Those who have indicated interest in contesting the elections but may have been denied buying forms are Abba Yola , Ganiyu Majekodunmi , Ishola Busari, Domnic Iorfa, Joe Anene, Lucky Gospel-Ewa, Ebel Ehige amongst many others.

    Bambo is said to be using an official of the NFF to technically exclude some aspirants from participating in the elections by either not allowing them to pick nomination form or using other means that could knock them out from the race.

    It was gathered that while many could not get the nomination form, the same form that is being hidden was sold to the Chairman of Kogi FA, Adams Yahaya on Thursday but without receipt.

    Another aspirant who pleaded anonymity, said he has also picked the nomination form but without receipt, wondering: “Is this not a technical way of pushing me out of the race?

    “I am asking because the receipt is the only proof that I have the genuine form because I am aware there are some fake nomination forms out there.

    “But when I asked for receipt, the officer that sold it, Banabas Joro, said it would be sorted out later.

    “I think the Electoral Committee as it is presently constituted is biased and something must be done urgently.”

    The aggrieved aspirants are alleging that the NFF General Secretary, Musa Amadu, Electoral Committee Chairman, Bambo, may be acting the script of Chris Giwa, owner of Giwa FC who is said to be eyeing the NFF Presidency and dropping the Minister of Sports’ name to manipulate the Electoral body.

    “The NFF Executive Committee must act urgently otherwise the crisis that will follow the elections will be unimaginable for our football because some of us will head to court and damn the consequence,” an aggrieved aspirant said on Friday.

  • Apc raises alarm over PDP’s alleged plan to assassinate Adeleke, three others

    Apc raises alarm over PDP’s alleged plan to assassinate Adeleke, three others

    All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted security apparatus in Osun State  that Omisore and the PDP have contracted the assassination of four top APC leaders to hired killers from the Niger Delta for immediate execution.

    The leaders involved are Alhaji Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke (the first civilian governor of the state), Elder Peter Babalola (aka Peter Action), Chief Olu Abiola and Alhaji Fatai Oyedele.

    The hired killers, APC reliably gathered, have already commenced surveillance on the four leaders.

    Very credible  sources from the PDP alerted the APC that  top PDP officials took this decision at a meeting in Lagos yesterday.

    “We are, therefore, alerting Nigerians of the horrible dimension to which the PDP’s desperation for power has taken.

    “The PDP in Osun State has gone berserk and its members’ diabolical lust for power has become so murderous that they seem to care less about innocent lives.

    “We are reliably informed that the reason the PDP has suddenly become this desperate is that in spite of everything the party has done, the majority of the people of Osun and their leaders remain resolutely committed to the APC and totally opposed to PDP ideas.

    “We, therefore, alert Nigerians and all those who care about life and democracy that they should hold the PDP responsible for any harm that may come to these APC leaders, or any chieftain and members of our party.

    “Nigerians should also hold the party responsible for whatever abduction or physical assault that may result in the death of anybody in  Osun State in the circumstances of the senseless violence  the PDP has introduced to the electoral process and activities leading to the August 9 election and thereafter,” the APC said.

  • Alert Vs alarm

    Alert Vs alarm

    NIGERIA’s plummeting export of crude to the United States is bitter food for thought. According to newspaper reports, crude export to America nosedived from 810, 000 barrels a day in July 2011 to 361, 000 barrels as at July 2012 – a whopping 449, 000 barrels plummet! Even then, the 2011 figures were a decline from more than one million barrels a day in 2010.

    That should alert our economic managers to think of further diversifying the crude export market, aside from moving away from decades of near mono export driven by crude oil – hardly a novel call, for that has been the campaign for decades now.

    But not even that dying market should be turned into a potent scarecrow, in the executive-legislative war over the appropriate budget benchmark for receipts from exported crude. The executive has suggested US $75. While the Senate prefers US $78, the House of Representatives is insisting on US $80, as basis for computing the likely revenue inflow, on which Budget 2013 would be hinged.

    Not unexpectedly, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy and chief strategic mind behind the executive budget estimates, has climbed on the moral high horse, playing the role of a hurt visionary, on why the benchmark must stay at US $75.

    “These are some of the reasons we went for a sensible US $75 benchmark price,” she told The Guardian, “in view of the changing nature of oil supplies in the world’s principal markets, and the possible impact on demand.”

    As a general principle, the minister may well be earnest. If the market is shrinking, it logically follows supply might just outstrip demand, leading to a glut. If that happens, price will come tumbling. That would mean that the lower the benchmark, the more secure the integrity of the budget, since it is based on expected, and not ready cash.

    Still, the minister’s attempt at stacking cards is apparent. Though crude export to the United States may have dropped and (no thanks to new technology which could turn the heaviest of crude into high-end refined fuel) Nigeria’s sweet Brent is progressively threatened globally, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) sources maintain the drop in the American market has been taken up by other buyers, thus further diversifying the market; and making more improbable the event of a market crash.

    If that is indeed so, then there is little basis for the minister’s subtle attempt to turn a just alert into a shrill alarm, just to push the executive’s case for US $75. For the 2013 budget to be well implemented, the unit of expected cash – the benchmark – must be right. But that would not be attained by each side getting fixated over its own proposals. They should rather dialogue for a reasoned middle path.

    Both sides are hobbled, though. The executive is fairly and legitimately charged with fixing arbitrary benchmarks to create artificial budget deficits, which actual export receipts could fund. But instead of presenting supplementary budgets for fresh appropriations, it resorts to borrowing, for which the public is punished with avoidable interests.

    Besides, the presidency is rather too cozy with the idea of free funds it can play around. This vexed issue has turned the states hopping mad at the Federal Government playing god over money that belongs to all. The legislature, on the other hand, is no less legitimately charged with being irredeemable spendthrift, particularly when the issue is securing own pork.

    Both sides should turn the patriotic leaf to lay a strong foundation for Budget 2013. But much more, the authorities should do more in the diversification of the economy beyond crude oil by taking special advantage of agriculture.

  • ACN raises alarm over LP’s plot to kill chieftains

    group on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),the Independent Campaign Network (ICN), yesterday raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Labour Party (LP) government to kill some chieftains of the ACN in Owo Local Government.

    The group also alleged that some of the governor’s aides, who hail from the community, had imported arms for the attack.

    A statement signed by ICN’s Director, Communication and Strategy Bureau, Mr. Bosun Oladimeji, said some of the weapons imported included 36 AK 47 rifles, six pistols and motorcycles.

    He alleged that the arms would be distributed to the party’s thugs who are to attack at night.

    Oladimeji said: “Information reaching us has proved that the arms and ammunition were imported into the community by Governor Mimiko’s aides last night (Wednesday night) and kept in the campaign office of a commissioner in Mimiko’s exco, who is from the town.

    “We warn members of the Amalgamated Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) not to allow some desperate politicians to tarnish the image of the association.

    “We urge security agencies to investigate this matter, because our party leaders are not animals. Is it a crime for someone to be a member of the ACN in Ondo State? It is now clear to the world that Mimiko is jittery over the rising profile of the ACN.

    “It is unfortunate that the security operatives have failed to guarantee the safety of members of the opposition parties. But no amount of intimidation or harassment will stop the electorate from voting out the LP government.”