The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fear

  • Council poll: Defection fear grips Delta PDP

    Council poll: Defection fear grips Delta PDP

    Fear of mass exodus of members has gripped the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, ahead of the local government elections.

    Our reporter learnt that it heightened yesterday after Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan met the aspirants and leaders from the eight Urhobo local governments in the Delta Central.

    No fewer than 100 aspirants are jostling for the party’s tickets in 25 local governments.

    The party leaders are worried that the plethora of aspirants may spell doom for the PDP after the primaries slated for Saturday.

    A leading member of the party said: “Some politicians become disgruntled when they fail to clinch the party’s ticket. We anticipate that this may lead to carpet-crossing.

    “We are aware that some of the aspirants have started hobnobbing with the opposition parties so that they can pick their tickets and run against the PDP.

    “While we are not bothered about this because we are sure of victory, these people usually turn to opposition or become enemies within. That is the concern. We don’t want our people to fight us.”  Governor Uduaghan appealed to the PDP aspirants to abide by the party’s decision.

    He urged all aspirants to remain in the party.

    Uduaghan said their interests would be best served in the PDP, adding that the party was set to win the elections.

    One of the dissatisfied aspirants told our reporter on condition of anonymity that he was considering other options.

    The Nation’s investigation showed that despite the governor’s optimism, there are concerns that Saturday’s primary election may unravel the prevailing crisis in the party.

    Already, there have been divisions between core PDP members and notable defectors from opposition parties, particularly the Democratic People’s Party (DPP).

    In Udu Local Government, it was gathered that the growing influence of the House of Representatives member, Mr. Austin Ogbabourhun, who defected from the DPP on the eve of the senatorial election last October, is a cause of concern for other members.

  • ‘To stop Ebola, we must end the virus called fear’

    ‘To stop Ebola, we must end the virus called fear’

    Dr. Marc Siegel, a practising internist, joined FOX News Channel (FNC) as a contributor in 2008. In this piece on the international news medium’s website, Siegel says the fear of Ebola is a bigger problem, which should be given more attention if the disease is to be stopped

    The  Ebola virus has been infecting and killing people in Central Africa since at least 1976, and the current “worst Ebola epidemic in history” has been going on in West Africa since March.  But it is only in the past few weeks that a second deadly “virus” has emerged, as the news media has caught on to this story and has broadcast it around the world, infecting everyone with another contagious virus: fear.

    Don’t get me wrong; Ebola is a bad bug, and well worth being concerned about. This particular Zaire strain kills up to 90 percent of its human victims. It often fools the immune system of a host into not recognizing it, and many victims end up in kidney and liver failure without even a fight. On top of this, Ebola is difficult to recognize, appearing first like any other flu with fatigue, fever, headache, muscle aches. Then you can start to have vomiting and diarrhea, and caretakers and close contacts of afflicted patients can catch Ebola even as they try to help contain it.

    But fear and ignorance are spreading in West Africa along with Ebola, as natives mistrust the very humanitarian aid that is being brought in to help them. Physicians in the Ebola trenches are heroes, not sources of contagion, but not everyone sees them that way. Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, whose work in Sierra Leone against several viruses — including Ebola — is legendary, died this week of the dreaded virus. His work should be celebrated.

    But with this Ebola outbreak already killing close to 700 in West Africa, the best way to combat it is with solid science, and the biggest threat to this proven strategy is fear. Ebola isn’t spread by coughing and sneezing. Isolating sick patients and their contacts has worked in stopping previous Ebola outbreaks. The same kind of infection-control precautions are used that have also worked successfully with HIV/AIDS (gloves, gowns, masks).

    Unfortunately, when people are afraid, they take fewer infectious precautions, and spread more virus. This is why regional quarantines haven’t always worked historically.  It is probably prudent for Liberia to close most of its borders and to have Ebola testing centers at the ones that remain open, as long as this doesn’t spread panic. While it is also reasonable to issue travel advisories and screen patients for viral symptoms coming in and out of West Africa, and the CDC is wise to issue Level 2 travel precautions (avoid direct contact with Ebola patients), anything beyond this at this point would be counterproductive.

    It is very unlikely that someone will contract Ebola from casual contact on a plane. It is even more unlikely that if Ebola does appear in the U.S., that it will lead to a sustained outbreak here, because of our public health system. The challenge to provide supportive care while properly isolating patients is much greater in Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Guinea than it would be here.

    Living close together, being unaware of how viruses spread, and even burial rituals have helped to spread Ebola in West Africa. This epidemic will still likely be contained and not spread to other countries. If it does spread, it will likely not be sustained, in part because Ebola is so deadly it usually kills the host before he/she has a chance to spread it.

    Several vaccines and anti-viral drugs have showed promising results in animals, and human testing is under way, though no treatment or vaccine will be ready for market soon. In the meantime, the best treatment for both Ebola and the spreading fear of Ebola is to offer the world information and perspective, and for those afflicted in Africa — careful isolation.

    When it comes to a health scare, the news media has never been great at providing this kind of calm, rational perspective. The time to start is now.

  • Life Nuggets- FEAR

    FEAR is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear is nothing more than anticipated pain. In other words, fear is a self-imposed imagination of pain you believe you will experience. Fear can be real or imaginary, and you experience it because of your misperception or misjudgments of a situation. When you lose a parent or fail a promotion exam, your entire world seems to collapse and it is normal for you to entertain fear because you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and you cannot control upcoming events. Next week, you’ll find out why you should stop entertaining it.

  • For PDP, fear of APC is beginning of wisdom

    For PDP, fear of APC is beginning of wisdom

    It started with a bang. In no time, its threat to the ruling party became glaring when five governors and 37 members of the House of Representatives joined its rank. Though they have not officially defected, 17 senators are also on their way to the All Progressives Congress (APC). This will make the party have 50 senators as against the Peoples Democratic Party’s 57. The heat is on the PDP, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    In Saturday, the Save Rivers Movement (SRM) held a rally in Bori, the headquatres of Ogoniland, Rivers State. It all went well. No bullet was fired; no bomb was thrown; no thug vandalised vehicles. Policemen were around to provide security. Six days earlier, the group had planned a similar rally. Chairs were arranged; canopies set up; Channels Television set up its Outside Broadcasting Van (OBV) to broadcast the event live to its audience. Then the devil came down in form of political thugs. They were armed with guns and machetes. They shot at anything in sight. They destroyed vehicles, including the OBV. Many were injured.

    At a previous rally by the group, Senator Magnus Abe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), was allegedly shot with a rubber bullet while trying to ask policemen not to disrupt the rally. He is still recuperating in London. Rallies by the Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI), an offshoot of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are never disrupted. The patron of the group and Supervising Minister for Education, Nyesom Wike, was quoted as saying no policeman would stop its rallies. Yet, SRM’s rallies were regularly stopped on the excuse that the group did not obtain police permit, which Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana described as alien to the constitution.

    In the six days between the Bori rallies, a lot had happened. The All Progressives Congress (APC), of which the SRM is an offshoot, was saddened by the turn of events in Rivers State. After its interim National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja four days after the disrupted Bori rally, it expressed displeasure over the incident and some others. It thus instructed all its members in the National Assembly to block all executive bills, including the 2014 Appropriation Bill.

    Addressing a news conference after the meeting, which lasted seven hours, the Interim Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, explained that the decision was because of acts of impunity by the Federal Government in Rivers State.

    Mohammed said: “Any cursory observer of events in Rivers State since February 2013 would be left in no doubt as to the culture of lawlessness and impunity being promoted and supported by the Presidency and executed by the State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, who has become the de-facto military governor of Rivers State and the sole administrator of PDP in that state.

    “In view of the joint resolutions of the National Assembly on Rivers State, and other constitutional breaches by the Presidency, the APC hereby directs its members in the National Assembly to block all legislative proposals, including the 2014 budget and confirmation of all nominees to military and civilian positions to public office, until the rule of law and constitutionalism is restored in Rivers State in particular, and Nigeria in general.”

    The decision jolted the PDP. Its reaction was to tag the APC anti-people. The chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Dan Nwanyanwu, also toed the PDP line, accusing the leading opposition party of wanting to foist hardship on the people, a charge the APC denied, saying it was only out to ensure impunity is not stamped on the polity.

    Analysts believe that the fruit of APC’s threat is already being felt. They say if not for the decision of the party, the Bori rally would have been disrupted by either the police or political thugs, with the police looking the other way. They faulted the anti-people label being hanged on the party by the PDP and the LP, citing instances where the Republicans in the U.S. blocked some moves of President Barack Obama. A ready example, they said, is the Obamacare, which the Republicans went to great extent to stop, arguing that it is all part of democracy.

    The Republicans saw in Obama’s Affordable Care Act the single most unifying issue. Rank-and-file Republicans, especially those who are aligned with the Tea Party movement, despised the new health-care law. They devised strategies to delay, defund or in some other way disrupt the imminent implementation of the legislation.

    Mohammed, in a statement yesterday, said the party was only asking that peace should be allowed in Rivers State, adding that critics are only ignorant of the workings of democracy.

    He said: “These critics have rushed to judgement without even taking time to study the directive, without understanding that governance is about people, and without caring about the principles of fairness, justice and equity, and they should cover their faces in shame.

    ‘’We hereby reiterate the directive, which is a product of deep thinking and robust debate within our party’s NEC to save our democracy, and we commend our members in the National Assembly for their unequivocal support for our stand, and for understanding that filibustering or legislative non-cooperation are veritable tools of democracy.”

    He said Nigerians, irrespective of their party leaning, who wish to stage a peaceful protest must be able to do so without the police looking away while hired thugs wreak havoc.

    The impunity in Rivers made the Senate last Wednesday invite the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, to appear before it to give a situation report. Both arms of the National Assembly have condemned the recurring crisis in the state.

    APC…The new power house

    Really, the APC is redefining the polity. When it first emerged that key figures in the opposition parties were talking about the possibility of a merger ahead of the 2015 elections, not many gave them a chance. Past efforts had yielded no result. So, little chance was given to the talks. But when it looked like it was becoming real, spanner was thrown in the works, with at least two other organisations claiming the APC acronyms. Eventually, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) settled it and the APC, championed by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, became a reality.

    The PDP described it as no threat. Its then chairman, Bamanga Tukur, said the party was still in charge. But its internal crises were snowballing. Seven of its governors were against the way Tukur was running the party. It became glaring when they walked out of a special National Convention and announced a splinter PDP, which became known as the New PDP. It did not take long before the New PDP decided to go with the APC. Of course, some members of the new PDP chose to stay back. Governors Babangida Aliyu and Sule Lamido chose to stay back. But Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and four others defected to the APC, making the number of states in the party’s grip to be 16. PDP has 18.

    The defection of the governors also meant their loyalists in the National Assembly would follow suit. The House of Representatives members led the way, with 37 of them leaving in one day, making the APC the majority. Even with the APC losing three members, Aboho Benjamin (Benue) , Abiodun Akinlade (Ogun)and Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti), its majority is still assured. To many, Femi Gbajabiamila, Minority Leader in the House, is the defacto Majority Leader. A court order has stalled moves to take over control of the House.

    The senators are expected to take the same step this week. 52 senators, spread across PDP and APC, last week wrote Senate President David Mark, advising him to either leave the constituents of the defecting senators to exercise the right of recall or allow the court to determine their fate. The Nation learnt that some senators will defect this week to bring APC’s membership to 50. PDP has 57. In the five-page letter, dated January 20, the senators also reminded Mark that since there is a case on defection in court, it will be prejudicial for the Senate President to declare the seats of any senator vacant. The letter followed alleged pressure on Mark to declare vacant the seats of some PDP senators, who switched camp to the APC. With 52 of 109 senators writing Mark, the power equation in the Senate has become delicate. The 52 senators urged Mark not to succumb to intimidation, which can jeopardise the country’s unity. They warned Mark against circumventing precedence in the Senate on similar matters.

    Tough challenges ahead

    Indications that this was going to be a tough year for the PDP emerged when last year did not end on a good note. Things may be worse this year if the opposition continues to grow at the pace it did in 2013. Some of the senators expected to join APC are Abe, Senator Bukola Saraki, who announced his membership of the APC through his New Year message, Senator Wilson Ake (Rivers West), Senator Shaba Lafiagi (Kwara North), Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) , Senator Aisha Alhassan (Taraba North), Ali Ndume (Borno South), Ahmed Zannah (Borno Central) and Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto South). Others are Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto East), Garba Mohammed (Kano Central), Isa Galaudu (Kebbi North) , Ahmed Alkali (Gombe North) and Hassan Barata (Adamawa South).

    Saraki’s message announcing his APC membership reads : “Today, the consequences of the retrogressive and repressive policies of this PDP government by commission or omission has, inadvertently, created a broader space for the emergence of an effective opposition – a key ingredient of a vibrant democracy. A pointer to this is the conditions that have led to the near tsunami-like exodus from PDP to APC.

    “I have always believed that our democracy must be built on a party politics of inclusiveness, politics that is embraced by all Nigerians – not some Nigerians. For some of us, it is non-negotiable that our politics must be one based on the rule of law, morality, the principles of public trust and fairness, and most importantly delivering policies that transform the lives of the people we serve.”

    He said it was no longer viable to expect the barest minimum of fairness under the PDP. It became inexplicable, he said, to promote democracy within a party where principles must be entrenched.

    “This is the premise on which some of us in 2013 left PDP and have since joined APC. This decision though hard was made inevitable by what we saw as the irreconcilable division in the PDP – a party that lacked any semblance of internal democracy; a party that acted with impunity; a party that did not deliver for the people and the country; and a party that threatened to return our country to authoritarianism. Our decision to leave was one borne out of the desire to say no to military democracy and say yes to representative democracy,” he said.

    The senator added that with him and other concerned Nigerians defecting to APC, the dream of an effective opposition has been born in the country, heralding the hope of a new dawn on the Nigeria political terrain.

    “As a result I believe the dream of an effective opposition has now been born and the hope of a new dawn of a better, fairer, and more prosperous Nigeria where the wealth of our nation is shared equitably with and for all now has the potential to become a reality.

    “My hope is that we will have a vibrant opposition party capable of keeping the party in government accountable on behalf of the people of Nigeria. This I believe is the yearning of every well-meaning Nigerian; and I join them in the belief that Nigeria will be better in 2014 and beyond.

    “However, I am also convinced that change will only happen if we collectively say no to leadership by selection, leadership by ethnic divide, authority by clannish identity and religious divide. This is what we must stand for. This must be the foundation on which a strong vibrant and fair democratic Nigeria can be realised.”

    When the PDP crisis broke out, 26 senators backed the Kawu Baraje faction, which has now become part of the APC.

    In a statement, they said: “By this decision that no doubt provides a soothing balm that will calm nerves in the party, you have written your names in gold and will be remembered in our political history as men that stood to save the party and Nigeria’s democracy.

    “We heartily rejoice with our patriots and eminent Nigerians led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar GCON, and the Governors of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, Aliyu Wammako, (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Muazu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Abdul Fattah Ahmed (Kwara), and Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), for the bold, swift and courageous step to reposition the People’s Democratic Party under a new leadership.”

     Heavy voters’ states

    Many of the states now in control of the APC, such as Lagos, Kano and Rivers, are voter-heavy states. Analysts see serious challenges ahead for President Goodluck Jonathan and his party. A member of the APC in Kaduna State, Hajiya Hafsat Mohammed Baba, told the Voice of America (VOA) that the people wanted change. “And that change, the way we see it, is inevitable. It is coming and it will come very soon…. Politics is a game of numbers and we are increasing by the day,” she said.

    A political commentator, Abubakar Sufiyan Osa Idu Al Siddiq, also told the VOA: “Definitely, Peoples Democratic Party has never had it so bad because to be elected president of this country even if you have the majority of the votes, the law says that you must have 24 states out of 36, two-thirds of them.”

    First time in the cold

    Since the country’s voyage into the democratic terrain in 1999, the ruling party has always been in charge of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Even in the first and second Republics, the opposition never had control of any arm of the National Assembly. Now the tide is changing, to the benefit of the APC, which was formed last February following the merger of four opposition parties to challenge the PDP in the 2015 election. The next few months will sure be interesting, starting with the planned take-over of the leadership of the House by the APC, the defection of senators to the APC and other intrigues. And the man in the eye of the storm will be Jonathan, who moved from being vice-president to being the president in 2010 after his predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua, died in office. He won the presidential election the following year. His road to a second term will surely be rough and tough. No wonder, the fear of APC has become the beginning of wisdom for the PDP.

  • Fear of the sovereign

    The word sovereign or sovereignty has become the fulcrum of debate on the desirability or otherwise of the envisaged conference of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities. Most of the agitators for the conference have canvassed the convocation of its sovereign variant even as sceptics centre their reservations largely on this nomenclature. President Jonathan reacted to this dissonance when in his independence speech he referred to it as national conference/ dialogue. He further gave teeth to this seeming conceptual ambivalence when he inaugurated the committee and charged it to come out with the most appropriate name for this “national conversation”.

    Before then and since after, issues have also been raised on the propriety of a sovereign national conference with all democratic institutions in place. It has been variously canvassed that it is anomalous to talk of sovereign national conference when that sovereign power has been vested in elected structures at all levels of government especially the National Assembly.

    The thesis of this argument is that with the National Assembly in place, you cannot have two sovereigns at the same time. Once you constitute such a conference, you have inadvertently thrown to question the authority conferred on these institutions via democratic elections, it is further argued.

    Those who drive this school seem to be drawing strength from the postulations of social contract philosophers such as John Locke, Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes on the origin of modern states.

    These philosophers had characterized life in the state of nature as nasty, short and brutish. Due to the atavism of the state of nature, medieval man had to enter into a contract with a sovereign to whom he surrendered some of his powers and was in return, guaranteed protection. The abstraction recognizes two things at the same time: power belongs to the people; those who exercise power do it on their behalf. This is the philosophical root of the concept- sovereignty. It is an analytic construct to account for the residue of political power in modern governments. Its purpose is to domesticate the locus of political power.

    The idea has found further expression in modern governments through representative democracy. Because modern states can no longer permit of direct democracy as was practiced in ancient Greek City States, the people now exercise this sovereign power through elected representatives. Having elected their representatives, they confer sovereign powers on them to make laws for the good of them all.

    Conceived this way, it is presumed that those elected have now been armed to reflect the wishes and aspirations of their constituents. That is the point antagonists of sovereign national conference seem to be making. And there is some sense in it. But that is not all.

    There are also conditions under which the concept is supposed to operate in its pure form. For this symbiotic relationship to function optimally, these conditions have to be strictly observed and followed.

    The first is that the structures that throw up candidates for elective offices must be democratic enough to truly reflect the will of the people. Here, internal democracy within the political parties comes to mind. The other, closely related to the first is the issue of free and fair elections. Both form the necessary and sufficient conditions for the sovereignty of the people to have full expression. To what extent do those who purport to represent their people satisfy these basic conditions? And if they do not, how much of credibility do we ascribe to the sovereign powers they now purport to exercise on behalf of us all? These are the issues to ponder in the debate over where sovereign power really resides in our peculiar circumstance.

    It would appear that those who fault the convocation of a sovereign national conference on the ground that there is already sovereign power in the national assembly are not saying it all. They seem to have completely lost sight of the fact that what we have here is representative democracy in its most aberrant form. Not only is internal democracy observed in the breach, elections are yet to reflect the will of the people as amply expressed at the ballot box. When we canvass sovereign powers which elected structures or persons purport to possess, we should also call to mind the limitations in stretching this argument too far.

    Besides, it is also possible for those elected to supplant the wishes of their constituents with their personal goals. When we have a situation of goal displacement, our laws provide remedies for the people. That is why we have provisions for the recall process and impeachment. The same elite now parroting the sanctity of sovereign powers conferred on them through elections, are quick to erect obstacle against being impeached or recalled when they have fallen out of favour with their people. Thus, this new found love for the observance of extant regulations cannot stem from altruistic considerations. There must be more to it than the way it has been presented.

    Even then, it is clear that Nigerians desire to engage themselves on issues concerning their common destiny. Signals that things are going awry are very palpable throughout the length and breadth of this country. There are genuine fears that if urgent steps are not taken to stem this tide, the ensuing systemic stress may lead us to more disastrous consequences. Yet, some people are holding on to the issue of sovereignty as if it is an end unto itself rather that a means to an end-public good.

    It may be a mark of the failure of the sovereign powers of elected structures and persons that the country has drifted to the edge even after the various nationalities have co-habited for nearly 100 years. If a marriage can no longer hold after 100, is it not suggestive we have danger in our hands? If bending some of the rules can take us out of the impending doom, does it make any sense to be enslaved to stereotypes that portend dire consequences?

    In effect, the argument that we cannot have a sovereign national conference is neither here nor there. There is nothing so sacrosanct about the elections that produced these structures that they should pose an impediment to genuine efforts to get the architecture of this unity in diversity right. For, the same people vested with inalienable rights to confer sovereign powers on elected representatives can call such powers back when their representatives have become a liability.

    Just recently, something of that nature happened in Egypt when the same people who overwhelmingly voted in Morsi got utterly disenchanted with him after about a year in office. The revolution that saw him out without waiting for his tenure to expire is a classic demonstration of the sovereign will power of the people. This dialectics must not be ignored by those opposing a sovereign national conference.

    The authority of government is created and sustained by the consent of the people who remain the source of all political power. Benjamin Franklin summed up this when he wrote “In all free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns”. If a sovereign national conference is all that is required to pull back the country from the brink, those who oppose it do not believe in the continued existence of the country.

  • Split: Fear grips S/south PDP leaders

    Split: Fear grips S/south PDP leaders

    •Amaechi supporters to reactivate parallel exco in Rivers

    Panic gripped leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-South yesterday following the latest twist to the crisis rocking the party, which saw the emergence of a parallel leadership of the party.

    Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President and eight governors on the platform of the party, yesterday, walked out of the party’s convention and immediately convened a mini convention which culminated in the return of Abubakar Baraje as the new chairman of the splinter PDP.

    Although President Goodluck Jonathan, whose perceived second term bid is one of the factors in the current crisis, told delegates at the conference that PDP will “become stronger”, our investigation revealed that leaders of the party from his zone were shaken by the development.

    A very top member and a national officer of the party told our reporter, “We are greatly concerned in spite of the bold faces we are putting up in public. PDP has had crises in the past and we have come out one way or the other. This is different because it is the first time we would have a parallel leadership of the party.

    “That a former Vice President has pulled out with seven or eight governors is a cause for concern no matter what anybody says,” added our source, who asked not to be named in this report.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Another source, who is member of the Felix Obuah-led PDP in Rivers State, expressed concern that Saturday’s development may pave the way for defection by elected officials of the party.

    “The law allows an elected party official to cross carpet (sic) if there is a crisis in his party. But there was ambiguity in what crisis in the party really means – is it crisis at the national or ward level? And other such questions.

    “When with the crisis at the national level – we definitely have a crisis when you have eight of our governors forming a parallel leadership, led by no other person than a former chairman and you have the former National Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola as regaining the position he held! This is definitely a crisis and I disagree with those saying no cause for alarm,” our source stated.

    A number of the party’s leader across the six states of the South-South who spoke with our reporter expressed the same concern.

    “Nobody wants to go out and say this on national television or news paper, but we are now vulnerable because dissatisfied governors like (Chibuike) Amaechi of Rivers State and others can now openly defect to other parties because there is indeed crisis in PDP.”

    Already, it was gathered that members of the party loyal to Amaechi in the state were getting ready to resuscitate the party’s structure and run it side by side the Obuah faction.

     

  • You must fear no foe, Maigari tells Eagles

    You must fear no foe, Maigari tells Eagles

    President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Aminu Maigari has told players of the Super Eagles Team B to fear no foe and believe in themselves as they confront their Ivorian counterparts in Abidjan on Saturday afternoon.

    The Eagles landed in Abidjan on Thursday morning, with a handy 4-1 lead from the first leg, and Maigari immediately charged the boys to go and conquer, and forget whatever antics the Ivorians have up their sleeves.

    “You should be pre-occupied with your own strategies and tactics to conquer, and not bother your heads about what pranks the opponents would play. It is also important to approach the match as if you have no advantage from the first leg here in Nigeria. If you start thinking that you have a handsome credit, that would be a poor approach and the

    Ivorians will gain strength from that.

    “The NFF believes in you and this is why we have given Coach Stephen Keshi all the support in his rebuilding plan, which has involved giving the home boys equal opportunities in the main team, alongside the overseas-based professionals.”

    Maigari insisted that a professional approach to the game would be key to delivering the ticket that would see Nigeria playing in the African Nations Championship for the first time.

    “Go in there with the mentality of a winning team and you would get the ticket. Nigerians are looking forward to your coming back with the ticket that will set the tone for another triumph for our country in South Africa early next year,” said the NFF President.

    Saturday’s clash at the fabled Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in the heart of Cote d’Ivoire’s commercial and economic capital will start at 3.30pm Ivorian team (4.30pm Nigeria time).

  • Fear in Presidency as Boko Haram rejects amnesty

    Fear in Presidency as Boko Haram rejects amnesty

    The Presidency has launched a desperate mission to salvage its shattered amnesty-for-Boko Haram programme.

    The fundamentalist sect rejected yesterday the planned clemency for its members, saying it should be the one to pardon the government.

    Some prominent Northern elders believed to be close to Boko Haram have been enlisted to prevail on the sect to embrace peace.

    But a rights activist, Comrade Shehu Sani, who once facilitated talks with Boko Haram, said the rejection of amnesty by the sect should be expected because the Federal Government failed to do its homework well.

    Also, a former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, said dialogue with the sect ought to come first before amnesty.

    To him, the rejection is not surprising.

    After a parley with all service chiefs last week, President Goodluck Jonathan raised a committee to harness the various requests for amnesty for the sect.

    The committee was given two weeks to come up with recommendations on the possibility of granting the militants pardon.

    But Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said the group has not committed any crime to deserve clemency.

    In an audio statement, Shekau said his group had “not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty”.

    “Surprisingly, the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon,” Shekau was quoted as saying by AFP.

    The rejection was made in an audio recording in Hausa language, which was distributed by email in a manner consistent with the previous messages released by Boko Haram.

    The voice was said to be similar to that of previous Shekau statements.

    The group says its members are fighting to create an Islamic state in the North where churches and many public places have been bombed. More than 1000 people have been killed.

    According to the statement, Shekau said it was the government that was committing atrocities against muslims.

    At the forefront of the clamour for pardon for the sect are the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, the Alhaji Maitama Sule-led Northern Elders’s Forum (NEF) and eminent Nigerians.

    They include Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Learder Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who backed the idea with a condition that those with blood on their hands should face justice and the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 presidential election, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

    Gen. Buhari urged Nigerians to support amnesty if it will bring peace.

    The violence continued yesterday; with unknown gunmen killing four policemen in Babangida, headquarters of Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State.

    The killings, which took place near the slain officers’ station, was confirmed by the State Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufai.

    He said the gang also lost five of their members in the gun duel that ensued.

    Rufai told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the policemen were attacked as they took guard behind the sand-bags which provided barriers at the entrance of the station.

    The gunmen, who failed in their plan to raze the station, carted away some rifles, Rufai said.

    He said: “The gunmen came around midnight, trying to enter the police station with intent to burn it down, but were resisted by the police.

    “We lost four policemen and their rifles were carted away but the station was protected,” Rufai said.

    According to sources, there has been anxiety in the Presidency and security circles since the position of the sect was made known.

    It was gathered that the government got to know of Boko Haram stand on Wednesday night.

    A source said: “No one is happy in the Presidency and in the security agencies because the decision of Boko Haram leaders is a setback.

    “That is why everyone is wearing somber look because President Goodluck Jonathan and his security chiefs have been working round the clock to make the amnesty work.

    “The government is already exploring options to salvage the situation, including liaison with Northern elders who could help persuade Boko Haram leaders to open up talks with the government.”

    Asked why the Boko Haram leaders rejected amnesty, the source added: “I think they have reservations about the process. There was a lot of celebration in the media before the thing took off.”

    In Sani’s view, the rejection should have been expected because the Federal Government failed to do its homework well.

    He also accused the government of focusing on a monetised amnesty instead of a genuine type.

    Sani said: “Well, I am not surprised. In fact, it should be expected that they (Boko Haram leaders) should reject it because the government has put the horse before the cart.

    “First and foremost, the whole idea of amnesty is a charade. The concept brought by Northern elders is an amnesty modelled along the line of Niger Delta and it is attached to financial commitment from the side of the state. They wanted to buy peace at a heavy amount of money just the way it is being brought about in the Niger Delta

    “The committee being set up by the government would naturally be rejected by Boko Haram because it was not constituted after a consultation with the leaders of the sect.

    “The whole idea is about extracting billions of naira to be shared to insurgents and also giving out contracts, using the names of Boko Haram leaders.

    “They simply rejected being used by some persons who want to profit from the amnesty deal.

    “The way forward is for the government to go back to Dr. Ahmed Datti Ahmed peace talk which was facilitated by a journalist, Ahmad Salkida of which the group acknowledged and endorsed at that very time.

    “The outcome of that talk should then be preceded by a committee, which will have the input of the sect and also be recognised by the government.

    “The next stage will then be a six to eight or nine-month ceasefire, which will ensure justice for all the victims of Boko Haram.

    “So, any thought of using tax payers’ money to back up a fraudulent amnesty is an exercise in futility.”

    Col. Umar said dialogue ought to have come first before the Federal Government rushed into the amnesty offer.

    He said through dialogue, the  government ought to have allowed the people to identify themselves, present their demands, consider the demands and  open talks with the victims of Boko Haram insurgency whether they are ready to forgive or not.

    Col. Umar said: “Well, I have all been skeptical about this amnesty issue. I align myself with the fact that there should be dialogue between the government and Boko Haram so that we will know what the insurgents want before we jump into amnesty.

    “Without dialogue, we will not know whether they are ready for ceasefire or not. So, we need to create room for them to identify themselves, what their demands are and discuss with the Federal Government whether the government can meet these demands or not.

    “Also, in considering amnesty, the Federal Government must take into account that there are victims that have been killed, maimed and those that lost their property. We need to know whether the families of those killed and other victims are ready to forgive or not. President Goodluck Jonathan does not have the power to forgive, which is the whole essence of amnesty. There are victims who must be ready to forgive before we can talk of amnesty.

    “To be honest, I am not surprised that they (Boko Haram leaders) have come out to reject amnesty. This is the first time the nation must come together or be united to address this insurgency.”

  • No Victor Moses fear — Kenyan midfielder

    No Victor Moses fear — Kenyan midfielder

    Kenya will play against African Champions Nigeria in a 2014 World Cup qualifier on Saturday, and the team has declared that the new African kings do not pose any threat to them.

    Harambee Stars midfielder Francis Kahata insisted the Chelsea pair of John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses, who both shone like a million stars at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, are no problem to their defence.

    At AFCON 2013, Mikel was a midfield marshal, while Moses posed the most dangerous threat to defenders, scoring two goals against Ethiopia.

    “We know the ability of Moses, and how dangerous he is. No one is posing a threat to Kenya. We too have big names,” Kahata told futaa.com.

    The 21-year-old already knows it’s not going to be easy, but insisted Kenya is not in Nigeria to lose.

    “We are fully prepared. It’s not going to be easy, but we are expecting victory or a draw. We are not here to lose.”

    Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama is one of the big names available to coach Adel Amrouche for selection on Saturday.

  • Leaders urged to fear God

    Leaders urged to fear God

    Nigerian leaders have been advised to get closer to God in order to move the country forward.

    The Senior Pastor of The Elect Gospel Assembly (Inc) Eagles Arena, Prophet Collins Obi Favour, gave the advice when preaching during a three-day programme tagged: Altar versus Altar at the church’s auditorium at Orilowo Ejigbo Lagos State.

    The cleric said: “The ugly experiences the country is going through could be corrected if the leaders and the led should put God first in all they do. They should fear and worship God in truth and in spirit. We should engage God in all we do. Every one, no matter your position must acknowledge God. When we do this, He will even make our enemies to be at peace with us. Nigerians should correct the faulty foundation by doing what is right before God. If the righteous is on the throne, the people will rejoice.”

    He stated that many people are undergoing great suffering because there are evil forces that try to silence people’s destiny.

    “Since there is an Altar greater than other altars, we are calling upon Him to rise up and rescue His people. The Altar of God is coming against the altar of darkness.

    “Christians should come out en masse and stand firmly on the Altar of God to counter the altar of darkness that is out to overshadow this country. I know Nigeria will rise and shine again. Soon, the Altar of God will exterminate the altar of darkness in this country.

    “A faulty foundation has no respect for righteousness. The foundation must be right. Any city or country that is laid on a faulty foundation will suffer it in time to come.

    “Children of God should endeavour to have a strong Altar with God so that the princes of this world would not get at us unprepared. If God is in a man, he will understand that nothing is done without God’s will. His will is uppermost in the heart of man.