Emir of Kano has fully recovered –Dalhatu Tafida

by Ibrahim Chonoko, London

The Emir of Kano Alhaji Ado Bayero has now recovered fully from the trauma of the attack on his motorcade last month which left six people dead and several others, including his two sons, injured.

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kindom, Dr Dalhatu Tafida who stated this in a chat with Daily Trust in London said the Emir now moves about freely with no sign of any ailment on him.

“I can tell you authoritatively that the Emir has fully recovered,” he said, explaining that he was in constant contact with  the royal father and his children either by visiting or talking on phone.

The High Commissioner, who was visibly busy following the arrival of President Goodluck Jonathan in London on Wednesday, did not say the state of health of the Emir’s two sons.

The Emir and his two sons arrived UK on January 20 for medical attention following the attack in Kano a day earlier.

DailyTrust

Terrorism charge: Ndume asks court to stay proceeding

by Atika Balal

Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who is standing trial on terrorism-related charges before an Abuja Federal High Court, has asked the court to stay proceedings in the matter pending an appeal he filed challenging the decision of the court to admit in evidence certain documents tendered by prosecution at its last sitting.

Yesterday was slated for continuation of trial but Ndume’s counsel, A. O. Jolawo, informed the court that his client had filed an appeal against the court’s ruling of December 11 and 14 which admitted in evidence DVD’s containing call data records as well as findings of investigations carried out by a Special Investigation Panel of the State Security  Service.

Prosecuting counsel, Thompson Olatigbe, said though they had been served notice of appeal, the motion for stay was not ripe for hearing.

Adjourning the hearing to February 19, Justice Gabriel Kolawole said he was rather hesitant to insist that cross examination of the prosecution witness should continue.

DailyTrust

I was de facto vice president — El-Rufai

 by Andrew Agbese

From left: Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State; former FCT Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai; Deputy Governor of Rivers, Mr. Tele Ikuru; former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwais; and Gov. Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, at the launch of El-Rufai’s book, “The Accidental Public Servant”, in Abuja yesterday.

Former minister of the Federal Capital Territory Mallam Nasir El-Rufai said he took over virtually all the functions of a vice president when former president Olusegun Obasanjo fell out with then vice president Atiku Abubakar.

El-Rufai, in his book titled, “The Accidental Public Servant” which was presented to the public yesterday, said the fact that he was de facto vice president was known to many including his colleagues in the then federal executive council.

El-Rufai was member of Obasanjo’s cabinet from 2003 to 2007 after he had served as Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises in the president’s first term.

He said in page 366 of the book that he was the one handling almost all the activities which were supposed to be handled by the vice president as Obasanjo handed them over to him.

“Indeed in the final year of Obasanjo’s presidency, I was not just running the FCT but involved in an array of activities - I was required to handle the portfolios of the minister of commerce and industry (twice) minister of interior, chair of national or cabinet committees on electric power supply improvement, sale of federal government houses in Abuja, national ID card, development of a national mortgage system, public service reforms, review of salaries and emoluments in the public service,  (including the military and the police) destruction of contraband, and was at various times points the oversight and liaison with chairmen of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the National Population Commission.

 “In the eyes of many, including some of my cabinet colleagues, I had by default become a de facto vice president. The more I sorted out these issues, the more Obasanjo threw others at me, and it just became too much.

 “Being the final year of his presidency, people did not have to make too big of a leap to conclude that Obasanjo was preparing me for anointment to succeed him. Obasanjo even sent me to the Niger Delta to work with James Ibori to find a way to create jobs in Warri.

“He established a presidential commission on job creation in Warri and made me the chair of it,  so I ended up having to make three or four trips to Delta State just to meet with the state government and youth organizations to try replicating the job creation and entrepreneurship programmes we introduced in Abuja that spawned  many new small businesses and thousands of construction related jobs.

El-Rufai however said that while people thought Obasanjo was preparing him for something, the truth really was that no anointment was being contemplated.

“I knew that I was simply an overworked machine and nothing more because I know my boss very well,” he stated.

 He said assignments given to him pitched him against then vice president Atiku Abubakar and some of his colleagues in the federal cabinet.

“The record of extra ministerial assignments listed above and the history of my apparent closeness to the president neither endeared me to Atiku Abubakar, who was estranged from Obasanjo at the time, nor some of my ambitious cabinet colleagues,” he said, adding that the late president Umaru Yar’adua also did not like him for the same reason.

“In the future, the same reasons made it more difficult for an insecure Umaru Yar’adua as president to feel comfortable with me visibly walking around in Abuja, hence the need to cut me to size,” he said.

Sanusi disagrees with El-Rufai on Yar’adua

But governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, disagreed with El-Rufai on Yar’adua saying he owed it as a duty to defend the late president since he was no longer alive to defend himself.

He said at the book launch that whatever impression El-Rufai may have about Yar’adua, it is clear that in Yar’adua, Nigeria had a leader who was willing to take a risk for the development of the country.

  Sanusi said he never met Yar’adua until February 2009 when he was invited to meet with him and the late president asked him questions on issues concerning the economy and they chatted for about 10 to 15 minutes.

 He said to his surprise, few months after that, Yar’adua called him and said he was giving him the job of the CBN Governor.

Sanusi said for the late president to have chosen to give him the job over and above those he knew, shows he was willing to allow merit guide his decision in appointments.

The CBN governor said other people who are alive can defend themselves but that having worked closely with the late Yar’adua he felt he should set the records straight if given the opportunity to talk.

I’m ready to be president - Gov Aliyu

Governor of Niger State Mu’azu yesterday said he is ready to be Nigeria’s president in 2015 even though he is not ready to talk much on the issue.

“When people ask me if I want to be president, I say I am prepared but I am not saying anything now,” he said this while speaking at El-Rufai’s book launch yesterday.

For some time now, there have been speculations that Governor Aliyu and some northern governors serving their second term in office have an eye on the presidency, but this is the first time he would make a categorical statement regarding his ambition.

...Why we ejected Sambo

Governor Aliyu also explained the circumstances that led to the evacuation order on former president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Bashir Sambo, to vacate his residence.

 Justice Sambo was asked to quit the residence during the administration of Nasir El-Rufai as FCT minister, which compelled the then retired judge to place his personal belongings outside in protest and attracted public sympathy.

Governor Aliyu who was then a permanent secretary in the ministry said the FCT had allocated some plots to the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) for development as schools and worship centres but that the ministry later discovered that the plots were given out for purposes other than the ones they were allocated.

He said on investigation, it was discovered that some of the plots had been sold to individuals. He said when they inquired from some of the people involved, they were told that “na where man dey work man go chop” suggesting that the land which accommodated Sambo’s house was sitting on one of such plots. This, he said, led to the ejection order on the late justice. The governor said he had to explain the circumstances because the issue was one of the matters raised in El-Rufai’s book.

DailyTrust

Last Name Drama: Kanye Sad Over Kim K's Refusal To Change Her Last Name.

If there's one thing that Kanye West should have known before buying an $11 million mansion with Kim K, is that Kim is never letting go of her world-famous last name.

The marriage-tradition-observing Kanye seems to be very upset with his heartthrob Kim not wanting to change her last name for him. A source told Star Magazine:

"Kanye is very disappointed and upset about the whole thing but Kim refuses to budge."

Didn't Kanye know that Kim is a really adamant person, she always gets what she wants? Just like how she went on to marry Kriss against the opinion of her family.

Apart from that, it is also being said that she thinks their soon-to-be-born baby should bear her last name since it's become so famous on its own. As much as Kanye might let Kim stay a Kardashian, we don't think he'll allow that for his baby- that's like robbing him off his fatherly pride.

Kim obviously doesn't want her show to be 'Keeping Up With The Wests.' Hehe.
 TalkOfNaija

Women In Combat Favored By Most Voters: Poll

The Huffington Post  |  By Ariel Edwards-Levy  

A broad majority of voters favor allowing women to serve in combat, according to a poll released Thursday by Quinnipiac University.

The poll found that 75 percent of voters say military women who want to serve in ground units engaging in close combat should be allowed to do so. There was little gender disparity in the response, although women were 4 points more likely than men to support the change. An even wider majority of voters under 30 -- 85 percent -- were in favor of allowing women into combat.
There was less agreement on whether women should be included if the military draft were to be reinstated -- just over half favored the idea, while 42 percent opposed it. Men favored the proposal, 59 to 36 percent, while women were roughly split, 45 percent to 48 percent.
Quinnipiac also found that 41 percent thought women's presence in combat enhances military effectiveness, while a third said women would compromise that effectiveness. Another quarter were undecided or said it would have neither effective.
The poll's results on women in combat are in line with a January Gallup poll that found 74 percent of adults would vote to let women serve in combat.
A Washington Post/Pew survey found that two-thirds of adults supported women serving in ground units that engage in close combat. An online HuffPost/YouGov poll, which differed from the others by providing a neutral option, found that 45 percent favored allowing women to serve in combat units, and another 21 percent neither favored nor opposed it.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced in January that the Pentagon was lifting its ban on women in combat.
The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,772 registered voters by phone between Jan. 30 and Feb. 4.

PDP challenges new opposition party, APC, to debate on economy, others

Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has congratulated four opposition parties for successfully merging into a new party, All Progressive Congress, APC.

Four existing parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), merged on Wednesday to form the All Progressive Congress.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, on Thursday, the ruling party said as the biggest party in West Africa, it welcomes the development as an indication that the nation’s democracy has come of age and is deepening.

The party said with the formation of the APC, it and indeed all Nigerians expect to see robust debates on the economy and other issues of governance in the general interest of the country.

“We congratulate the opposition for their successful merger and the formation of the All Progressive Congress. This is yet another victory to our democracy. It shows that our democracy has come of age. We hope that from now we will see robust debates on the economy and other issues of governance,” the PDP said.
The party charged the opposition to use the vehicle of their new party to challenge PDP elected and appointed officers to debates on government projects and achievements so that at the end of the day, Nigerians will be the utmost beneficiaries of the nation’s political developments.
It said it is ready and willing at anytime to debate on any issue pertaining to the economy or any other issue that will bring out positive suggestions to move the nation forward.
“We charge the opposition to use the new party to challenge our elected and appointed officers on debates on issues of governance.  We are ready, willing and able at any time to debate on any issue pertaining to the economy and any other issue of governance. We want useful and constructive debates so that at the end of the day, Nigerians will be the utmost beneficiaries”, the party said.
The party kept mum on the debate challenge thrown by a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, at the presidency, which was promptly rejected.
The PDP said as a ruling party that is committed to the stability and development of the country, it will not dwell on the shortcomings of the merger arrangement but will continue to focus on the welfare of the people.

It said it continues to be the truly democratic party and the party to beat in elections.

PremiumTimes

Authentic aristocrat: Hakeem Belo-Osagie covers Forbes Africa (LOOK)

inShare

by Rachel Ogbu

Hakeem Belo-Osagie covers the February edition of Forbes Africa looking as dandy as ever in a dark grey suit.
The Harvard-trained petroleum economist who is reportedly worth $400 million as of November 2012 speaks in the magazine about the road to success.
Although his rating dropped from earning $450 in 2011, Belo-Osagie still ranks among the top 40 richest Africans earing $400 as at November 2012.
The 58-year old self-made millionaire chairs the Nigerian arm of UAE telecom provider Etisalat. Through his holding company, Premium Telecommunications Holdings, and controls a 12% stake in Etisalat Nigeria.
YNaija.com