Police Invade Uzere Community For Holding Delta State Deputy Governor And Entourage Hostage

Police in Oleh mobilizing to invade Uzere earlier today

By SaharaReporters, New York

The truckloads of the stern looking anti- riot mobile policemen have just arrived Uzere kingdom  arresting youths indiscriminately. Residents say that if care is not taken there could be a major break down of law and order in the area.
The arrests is related to yesterday's protest action against Delta state deputy governor, Professor Amos Utuama at Uzere kingdom.
Mr. Utuama was held hostage by youths in the area when he visited the area to assess areas submerged by flood water.
However, hs visit ignited a major row regarding the involvement of the Delta State government in the pending ten months old kingship crisis rocking Uzere kingdom in Isoko South local government area of Delta state.
Sources on the deputy Governor’s entourage told SaharaReporters that trouble started shortly Mr. Utuama    entered the town and drove straight to the palace of the deposed king to pay a courtesy call, an move that infuriated the indigenes who immediately mobilized and held him (Utuama) and his entourage hostage for over two hours.
It was learnt that youths loyal to the dethroned king, Isaac Udogri and the newly installed king, HRM Henry Ukenukpepia Etuwede 111 openly brandished dangerous weapons, those opposed to Utuama's visit began felling trees to barricade all entry and exit routes in the area.
A source told our reporter that it took the effort of the men of the Oleh police station as well as Nigerian mobile police unit in the area  to rescue the deputy governor and his entourage.
People in the community said the attack on Utuama was targetted  against the state Governor Emmanuel  Uduaghan  who is perceived as taking side with the dethroned king.

Strange object causes panic at US Consulate in Lagos

A suspicious object caused panic at the United States Consulate in Lagos Thursday forcing workers to disperse hurriedly just as the embassy promptly issued a fresh travel warning to its citizens on its website.
The consulate staff that normally closed duty by 4.pm had to leave the premises of the foreign mission as early as 2.pm leaving only few essential workers behind.
“A suspicious package was found at the US Consulate in Lagos. We are working with the Nigerian authorities and security agencies concerning the matter,” Mr. Omotunde Ajoke, an information specialist at the Public Affairs Section of the consulate told THISDAY.
According to her, the object was discovered around 2.pm and transferred to local security officials for investigation. A more detailed warning on the embassy’s website reminded Americans of the continued threat to terrorist attacks but failed to mention the suspicious object found at the consulate.
It mentioned the upcoming 52nd Independence anniversary and the recent anti-American demonstrations sparked by a US anti-Islam movie and warned the citizens to consider their personal security in the forefront of their planning.
The statement did not clearly state if the embassy anticipates a terror attack on the occasion of the celebration of Nigeria’s 52nd Independence anniversary.
  DailyPost

Diezani Alison-Madueke Maintained Rooms In Two New York Luxury Hotels During UN Assembly

Super minister: Diezani Allison-Maduekwe

By SaharaReporters, New York

Investigations by SaharaReporters revealed that Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, booked and paid for two rooms in two separate high-cost hotels during the four nights she spent in New York City during the just concluded United Nations General Assembly.
Impeccable sources within the Presidency and the delegation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) disclosed that the minister’s two rooms were booked under a pseudonym.
Saharareporters discovered that Joe Mordi, one of the minister’s closest aides who works at the NNPC office in London, booked her into a one-bedroom suite at Four Seasons Hotel located at 57 East 57th Street, New York.
When SaharaReporters inquired at the hotel, a staff said that the suite cost $5,000 per night. Ms. Alison-Madueke, who is known around Presidency circles as “Prime Minister,” was also booked into another room at the Pierre Hotel on 2 East 61st Street in New York where President Goodluck Jonathan lodged during his stay in New York. SaharaReporters found out that her room on the 28th floor of the Pierre Hotel cost Nigerian tax payers $3,000 per night. There were also additional charges in taxes and service fees.
Ms. Alison-Madueke arrived in New York in style on a private jet on Monday from London where she had made a brief stop to continue treatment for an undisclosed ailment. She is billed to return to London today. President Jonathan left New York last night around 6:00 p.m. and has arrived in Nigeria very early today.
SaharaReporters also learnt that, apart from the lavish double accommodation enjoyed by the Petroleum minister in two of New York City’s most expensive hotels, her delegation of seven NNPC officials also engaged in other acts of reckless spending. “The NNPC hired ten limousines to ferry its 7 officials, including the General Managing Director,” said our source. Five of the limousines, rented for $1,800 each per day, were stationed permanently in front of the Pierre Hotel while another five were put to the service of the NNPC officials at the Four Seasons.
The Nigerian delegation’s profligacy during the New York trip earned the attraction of America’s mainstream media. New York-based National Broadcasting Corporation ((NBC), one of the top three television networks in the US, yesterday reported that African delegates from the poorest countries stayed in some of the most expensive hotels and shopped in high-priced retail stores during the UN General Assembly. The network focused on delegates from such countries as Togo, Swaziland, and Nigeria. SaharaReporters had earlier reported that President Jonathan was quartered at the Pierre Hotel in a suite that cost $10,000 per night.
International measurements of social indices routinely rank Nigeria as one of the world’s least developed countries. Some 70% of Nigerians live on less than 2 dollars per day. “It is sad that the mindless waste of public resources in New York by President Jonathan and other Nigerian officials was happening at a time when two million Nigerians have been displaced from their homes by ravaging floods,” said an Abuja-based civil society activist.

Murder Of Newlywed: “Ugo’s friend has serious questions to answer” – Police

The late Ugo on his wedding day

As the murder of newly-wed, Ugochukwu Ozuah remains a mystery, the police in Lagos yesterday declared that Mr. Irikefe Omene, the friend who the deceased was seeing-off when he was fatally shot has questions to answer.
The Ozuah family had accused policemen of being responsible for the killing, but the police had dismissed the allegation as flawed, absolving their men of complicity.
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ngozi Braide told Daily Sun that Omene traveled out of the country only 48 hours after the incident, adding that he was needed to answer questions as the sole witness to Ugochukwu’s killing. Braide said the police commiserated with the family of the deceased but wanted them to assist by giving information on the whereabouts of the eyewitness who was with the deceased when he was shot.
The police spokesperson argued that Omene flew down to Nigeria for the deceased’s wedding and should not have been in a hurry to fly back after his friend was killed. “He was the sole eyewitness and we understand that he fled the country 48 hours after the man was shot dead. We need him to assist us in our investigation. He came down from abroad for the man’s wedding and should not have been in a hurry to flee the country when the police needed him most. He is the sole eyewitness that will be able to state categorically what actually transpired.” Continuing, she said it would not be proper to conclude that the man was shot dead by the police.
“We need to talk to his runaway friend. He has some questions to answer. We need his address. We are presently waiting for him to return home to assist the force in its investigation but if he fails to come home, we have the means to bring him back.” She maintained that, “the sole witness did not make any statement at the police station. He also left his friend in the pool of his own blood and ran to the deceased’s family instead of rushing him to the hospital. His action is questionable. He has serious questions to answer.” “Nigerians will be shocked after the investigation is concluded. We are still investigating, we will still brief Nigerians when we conclude our investigation.”
She further said that it was very strange for the empty shell of the bullet used in killing the man to have disappeared because “we would have taken it to the ballistic section for analysis but all the same, the autopsy result will unravel many things because the man was shot at very close range.”
Ozuah was shot dead at the UPS Junction in Gbagada, at about 10.00p.m last Thursday while seeing off his friend who had visited him at home. He was murdered five days after he got married to his wife, Joan at The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM).
 DailyPost

THE LINGERING FUEL CRISIS

NIGERIA is back in the throes of fuel crisis which, for decades, has been a periodic and poignant evidence of a nation in distress. The impression initially given to the Nigerian public was that the oil workers’ strike was the cause of the problem when fuel shortage started in Abuja. The end of the strike did not, however, bring a lasting respite to residents of the capital city. The problem has since spread to other parts of the country and valuable man hours are being lost on fuel queues which have become a common feature at filling stations in different parts of the federation. Different reasons are being adduced for the persistence of the scarcity which, as usual, has been having a harmful effect on the social and economic life of the people. A spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has attributed the problem to the closure of a vandalised pipeline at Arepo in Ogun State. There have also been altercations between the government and fuel importers on the usually contentious issue of subsidy payment.
AS experience has shown, the slightest interruption of fuel supply creates a disproportionate disruption in the various facets of economic activities. Profiteering has become the order of the day as petrol is no longer being sold at the approved pump price of N97 per litre at the distribution outlets. Repair work on the vandalised pipeline was reported to have been stopped when three NNPC engineers were killed by suspected vandals on the site. The usually lethargic response of the government to issues that are critical to the interest of the public has, no doubt, contributed to the prolongation of the fuel crisis.
IT is not a pleasant surprise that the payment of subsidy still remains problematic between fuel importers and the relevant agencies of government. The subsidy probe carried out by an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives uncovered various avenues being exploited to defraud the government in the process of fuel importation.
THE committee exposed the gulf between the quantity of fuel being imported and the quantity on which subsidy was being claimed and paid. The general expectation is that the revelations made by the ad hoc committee and the lessons therefrom will be utilised to draw up fool-proof guidelines which will check fraudulent tendencies on the part of importers by relevant agencies of government. The marketers are reported to be asking for N200 billion which they claimed to have spent to subsidise imported fuel. They have threatened to stop bringing fuel into the country if the refund was not made. The government, on its part, has been contesting their claim. This is a controversy that should not have arisen if the agencies of government entrusted with the authorisation and verification of fuel importation have been discharging their duties thoroughly and conscientiously.
WE do not expect the people in authority, for whom everything is free, to feel at ease seeing the people they promised to serve going through agonising experiences at filling stations where they are being exploited by both the dealers and their attendants. Based on previous experiences, it is being conjectured, that the lingering fuel crisis is being used by the government to gauge the likely response of the public in case of another hike in fuel price. The seeming helplessness of the government lends credence to such a conjecture. The resilience and docility of the people should not be misconstrued as acceptance of avoidable hardship and endless suffering.
IT is common knowledge that Nigeria remains a country where virtually nothing works because successive governments have failed to manage the lifeblood of its economy — oil — responsibly. President Goodluck Jonathan does not need to be told that the realisation of his transformation agenda depends largely, if not solely, on a turnaround in the management of the single product on which the economy of the country depends. It is unfortunate that Nigeria has continued to maintain the dubious distinction of being the only major oil oil-producing country that lacks the refining capacity to meet its domestic requirements of finished products.
IT beats the imagination that the management of importation of refined petroleum products has remained an intractable problem and it is unjust that the ordinary people are being made to bear the brunt of the ineptitude in high places. It should be obvious to the government that the longer the fuel crisis lasts, the more will be the dislocation of the social and economic life of a substantial percentage of the country's population. In a country in which electricity supply is most unreliable, the government should see it as a bounden duty to ensure availability of fuel on daily basis and at affordable price. It should be obvious to the government that fuel shortage — any time it happens — puts a question mark on its competence because it is a problem that Nigeria should not have.
THE failure of the government to put an immediate end to the needless fuel crisis will further diminish its credibility in the eyes of right thinking members of the society. The government should wake up to its responsibility by taking all necessary steps that will ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel without further delay.

Nigerian Tribune Editorial

Why Nigerian leaders refuse to leave office -Jonathan •As Blair, Rice counsel him

 by Leon Usigbe
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday, advanced the reason many Nigerian political leaders fight to sit tight in office, saying that it was because of their fear of the unknown.
He, however, said the electoral reforms embar-ked upon by his admini-stration would continue to ensure that the choice of the people emerged at elections.
President Jonathan disclosed this at a breakfast meeting on the Nigerian economy, organi-sed by the African Business Roundtable in New York, United States.
Addressing the audience, which had former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair; former United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice; inter-national investors and captains of industry from Nigeria, President Jona-than said Nigeria had numerous problems, add-ing that his government had decided to prioritise its options, in order to deal with the challenges systematically.
“We are totally committed in solving our problems. We started with the electoral process and we have demonstrated our commitment in sanitising that system, because when the people put you there, you will be committed to serving them
“I was ready to lose the election if Nigerians did not want me. If I was ready to be disgraced out of office to sanitise the system, that is to tell you I am ready to sanitise the system to bring about investments in our country,” he said.
He assured the investors that he would ensure the investment environment was sanitised to attract investors and create jobs for the teeming youth in the country.
President Jonathan promised to carry the Nigerian people along in the governance process, though he conceded that it was not possible to involve all in the administration of the country at the same time.
Blair, speaking on the occasion, urged Nigerians not to always accept the stance of the opposition on issues, as they were not speaking for the majority of the citizens but a few vested interests.
While urging for support for President Jonathan, the former British leader lauded his effort to reform the political and economic sectors of the country, which, he observed, was a difficult but necessary thing to do.
Citing the case of the deregulation of the down-stream sector of the petroleum industry and other critical areas, he told the president that this was a moment of opportunity and, therefore, he must have the courage to proceed with the planned economic reforms.
Blair said with what was going on in Nigeria, the country was on its way up, noting that once Nigeria was on its way up, it meant Africa was on its way up.
In her contribution, Ms Rice observed that for the first time, news emanating from Africa had turned from the negative issues such as AIDS, famine and wars to positive news about opportunities existing in the continent.
She congratulated Jonathan for his efforts at repositioning the country and advised on critical areas of responsibility which must be fulfilled in order to realise the potentials of the country.
Nigerian Tribune

Electoral Reforms (2) To be or Not to be?

Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai

Our first instalment on electoral reforms ran through the history of elections in Nigeria, the definition of free and fair elections and the inherent flaws in the process. It was in the light of these flaws that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua initiated the reform of the electoral system with the inauguration of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee in August 2007. In spite of the committee's thoughtful and far-reaching recommendations, only few have been implemented. Little wonder then that as at 2011, the Nigerian ‘democracy’ was rated as authoritarian by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index.

This worrisome situation needs to be addressed immediately if we are to preserve our nascent democracy.
The innumerable benefits of electoral reforms and a sustained democracy cannot be overemphasised. Having the right structures in place would strengthen the rule of law, provide a platform for credible and deserving candidates to be elected, create peace and stability in the polity and ensure that government is accountable to its citizens. With the current situation in the country, a major benefit of having credible elections would be the opportunity to break the stranglehold of PDP on the country since the return to civilian governance in 1999; given the party has grown more and more venal since 2007!
The elections conducted in 2011 were one of the most fraudulent and resulted in widespread violence, loss of lives and mayhem across the country.

The electoral malpractices were so flagrant to the extent that in the South-east and South-south zones, observers were chased away and 'election results' reflected almost twice the average number of voters’ turnout in the rest of the country. Worse still, the ruling party's candidate in the presidential elections was credited with over 90 per cent of the total votes in several of those states. INEC also experienced major logistical challenges due to the tight timelines of the 2011 elections. For instance, in many places, voting did not start at allotted times due to late delivery of election materials. So many such logistic and technical issues were witnessed around the country.


The electoral fraud that took place in 2011 was mostly achieved by altering the polling unit results when they got to collation centres and then thumb-printing 'spare' ballots made available to the favoured party - to justify the alterations in preparation for the election tribunal. Massive amounts of money were then deployed on INEC officials, lawyers and judges to apply technicalities and mind-games to uphold the electoral fraud at the tribunal and appellate courts.
This democratic experiment is being pushed into a cul-de-sac that may lead to its premature demise as a result of the uncaring attitude of INEC, the corruption of the security agencies and the impunity of the ruling party.

The critical nexus that is often overlooked by the electoral fraudsters is that without public office holders being legitimately elected by the people and therefore genuinely accountable to them, our potentials and hope for a country where things function minimally will never materialise for even those in power. What can we do to stem these? The answers are largely in implementing the Uwais Committee report.
The first step would be to build truly democratic institutions. It is essential for the various arms of government to judiciously carry out their respective functions and serve as checks and balances on one another.

The judiciary in particular needs to be truly unbiased in the performance of its duties. If it is, election petition tribunals will not drag beyond 180 days after elections. Given the foregoing, elections to the position of governors and president should be conducted at least six months before the expiration of their tenures and petitions concluded with the rightful candidate been sworn in at the right time as Uwais recommended.


In the determination of election petitions, the constitution needs to be amended to shift the burden of proof in electoral disputes from the petitioners to INEC. It would be recalled that in the last presidential elections, the burden of proof on the appellant gave room for the PDP and INEC to manoeuvre their way out of the CPC appeal in the Presidential Election Tribunal. All efforts to gain access to electoral materials and the database as required by Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2010 were thwarted by INEC thereby violating the law. While the CPC worked tirelessly to acquire proof of rigging and fraud from the INEC database, the NJC-PDP-INEC cabal connived to unconstitutionally remove the President of the Court of Appeal– Justice Ayo Salami. Even after getting away with the electoral heist, Salami remains on unlawful suspension.
The executive arm must be separated completely from INEC in order to guarantee the latter’s autonomy.

Most importantly, the president should not have powers to single-handedly appoint or remove the INEC Chairman. The process recommended by Uwais for appointment of INEC Chairman starts with the National Judicial Council (NJC) advertising to the public and spelling out the required qualifications. After receiving the applications, three persons are short-listed and the nominations sent to the Council of State to select one person to be forwarded to the Senate for confirmation. Removal of the chairman or commissioners of INEC should be on the recommendation of the NJC and approval by two-thirds of the Senate which shall include at least 10 members of minority parties.


The legislature, on its part must ensure that it works diligently and speedily to amend the Electoral Act and the constitution as early as possible in 2013 to ensure free and fair 2015 elections. The National Assembly should endeavour to pass an Uwais Electoral Reform Bill that would restructure the electoral process for the benefit of our people.
An effort at electoral reforms would be futile if the electorate is not genuinely independent. How can this independence be achieved? By empowering the people with education, sources of livelihood and basic necessities so they can exercise their free will which cannot be easily thwarted by greedy politicians.

Once people are empowered, they will vote based on informed assessment of candidates' capability and experience as opposed to religious or ethnic sentiments. They will realise that true brotherhood does not lie in sharing the same state of origin but in people who will work to secure their lives and those of their children.
The logistical problems within INEC need to be solved and there is no better time than now to begin planning. Issues like election materials arriving late from Japan as was the case in the last elections are unacceptable. Attempting to register the expected 80 million-plus voters in three weeks will not happen. Using open source software and untested AFIS engines for "biometric" data capture won't cut it. 

Open voting booths to enable voters show ballots for payment before voting is unlawful. Virtual polling units to facilitate rigging must be abolished. All preparations need to be made and materials must be delivered to all polling units without delay. The restriction of movement of citizens a day before elections which has enabled security agencies and the ruling party to move freely and plan the rigging is not only unlawful and unconstitutional but also unjust.

In summary, the game should be up for those who plan to rig, or facilitate rigging.
Some schools of thought believe that electronic voting may be the solution to problems such as ballot box snatching and massive thumb printing by individuals to justify false vote records. In fact, the Uwais Report recommended that the Electoral Act be amended to lift prohibition on the use of electoral machines. As much as this seems like an implausible idea, a voting machine costing about $30 each has worked in India so similar rudimentary electronic systems could be employed to supplant the paper ballot system.

At the very least, technologies exist to encrypt results from each polling unit and send them to an electronic collation platform via the 3G networks all over the country. This would eliminate paper-based collation centres and their susceptibility to manipulation. 
The key pointers for electoral reforms are clear and visible. What is less visible is the fact that government has no interest and certainly no intention to reform the chaotic and unregulated bazaars we call elections. In the mad course of ‘elections’, party internal democracy is ignored, hundreds of billions of naira of public funds are used as slush funds, 'fuel subsidy' licences and import duty waivers granted to ruling party apparatchiks, some domestic observers are compromised while foreign observers are hoodwinked.

INEC is being told that its so-called autonomy is a joke, as the police and security agencies become ruling party's agents and not surprisingly, the elections are rigged in favour of the highest bidders. Even the so-called state "independent" electoral commissions are beyond redemption and should be abolished. Their functions can be handled by a reformed INEC.
The end result - violent visits to the homes and businesses of the suspected riggers, arson, destruction and deaths that have happened in 1965, 1983, 1993 and 2011 - and these must stop. 
If we are unhappy with the state of Nigeria today, if we desire to solve our security, unemployment and infrastructural challenges and put an end to the massive graft and ineptitude we see in our nation; if we want to build a country we can be proud of, the process must begin with genuine reforms of our electoral processes.

What is at stake is too important to be left to the whims of a do-little government where even the most basic decision leads to Hamlet’s debacle: To be, or not to be?

This Day