Lagos Airport Road Bad Because Of Politics - Fashola

The Lagos State Government, Friday, blamed the deplorable state of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road on politics.

The State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, stated this at an interactive session with media executives and editors late Friday, in Lagos.

The airport is the busiest in Nigeria accounting for more than half of her foreign flights. The road leading to it is, however, in a very bad state. Both the road and the airport belong to the Federal Government.

Mr. Fashola blamed the state government’s failure to either rehabilitate or reconstruct the road on politics. He noted that the issue had been politicised, adding that “all sorts of things are going on.”

The governor regretted his decision not to modernise the 4.2 km road when the idea first struck him, recalling that his plan was to expand the road, provide service lanes and introduce tolls for motorists who opted to use the fast lanes.

Lagos roads

Mr. Fashola said that his administration worked on more than 190 roads in the state in 2012, while another 100 roads would receive the desired attention this year.

According to him, Lagosians want him to concentrate more on developing the state’s roads to ease traffic flow.

He said that in all that his administration had done to rehabilitate and reconstruct roads in the state, including the expansion of the Lagos/Badagry Expressway, it had not confiscated any single approved building.

He challenged any landlord, who had lost his property to the state government as a result of the ongoing road construction, to come forward with the necessary evidence to back up such a claim, adding that rather, the state had paid compensation.

“Bring the proof that we unlawfully took your property,’’ Fashola said, stressing, however, that the owners of illegal buildings had no legal rights.

He recalled that in the Ejigbo axis, the government even constructed two bridges, instead of one, to avoid demolishing many buildings that were most probably illegal.

Tejuoso complaints baseless

On the newly rebuilt Tejuoso Market in Surulere, the governor dismissed complaints that the owners of the burnt stalls could not afford them under the new dispensation, noting that many of them had already done so.

He said that many of the traders had been able to pay for the stalls through installments, adding that the state government was even the one holding them back.

The governor urged the development of the mortgage system in the country, adding that there was the need for Nigerians to imbibe the habit of acquiring facilities, including housing, through payment in installments.

On the recurring complaints about the fate of Maroko residents, a slum settlement in Lagos that was sacked by the military administration of Raji Rasaki in July, 1990, Mr. Fashola said the story was “more fiction now than fact.”

Mr. Fashola, who recalled that his father was one of those affected, said that some of those affected had been resettled in Ikota area of Lagos, but added, nonetheless, that the issue of restitution and resettlement was debatable.

According to him, the saga of Maroko, which now hosts some modern facilities, should be considered

a “slum regeneration project’’.

Media exemption on okada

The governor also spoke on the possibility of waiving the restriction placed on motorcycles below 200 cc to facilitate the distribution of newspapers by media houses in the state.

Mr. Fashola said it was only the state legislature that had the power to do such a thing since it was responsible for the restriction on commercial motorcyclists from operating on certain roads in the metropolis, and the raise in the engine capacity.

However, he described the resort to the use of motorcycles for public transportation as the sign of a failed economy, adding that no serious economy considered riding a commercial motorcycle to earn a living a job.

The governor debunked rumours making the rounds that his wife was involved in the importation of the 200cc motorcycles.

He also spoke on the construction of a 27-km intra-city rail line from Okokomaiko to the Marina, saying it was possible for a train to run from Mile 2 to the National Theatre in the foreseeable future, with onward transportation by bus.

Mr. Fashola dismissed stories making the rounds that he had placed a gag on his commissioners not to speak to the press , saying that all the government did was to ensure that the State Ministry of Information was allowed to play its role as the government’s mouthpiece.

The governor added, however, that this did not deter the other ministries from briefing the press on their activities when it was time to do so.

He was assisted at the briefing by a number of commissioners, including the Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello; Commissioner for Works, Obafemi Hamzat; and the Commissioner for Information, Aderemi Ibirogba.

Naij

My removal didn’t come as a surprise – Sacked APGA National Chairman

By Emmanuel Uzodinma

Victor Umeh

Victor Umeh, who was removed Friday as the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has reacted to the judgement, saying he saw it coming.
Umeh was sacked alongside other members of the National Executive Council, NEC, of the party by an Enugu High Court presided over by Justice Innocent Umezulike, Chief Judge of Enugu State.
The court voided the congress which produced Umeh and other national officers of the party in 2011.
Reacting to the judgment, Umeh declared his intention to appeal the verdict, which he said did not come to him as a surprise.
“This conclusion he reached is one he actually reached before he commenced trial in this matter. Going by the orders he made it is very clear that he is confused in his judgment. He voided the convention of APGA that held on February 10, 2011 and sacked the entire executive elected with me because the election was declared a nullity.
“And he turned around to make an order that the NEC of APGA is bound to meet to elect national officers of the party; it shows that he did not read the constitution of APGA. First of all of you remove the entire NEC; he has practically left the party without any leadership; so who is going to convene the meeting that will elect officers of the party.
“There was a prayer in the originating summons which he avoided and went into rhetoric’s; the plaintiff asked for an order that congresses shall commence from the wards, local governments, state and to national convention to elect officers of the party; he did not make any pronouncements on that prayer knowing that there is no way he can validly make such order.
“Also, the national convention which he voided elected 29 national committee members of APGA; the plaintiff sued only me, who was elected national chairman; if he was challenging my election through that convention he was bound to join all those elected by the convention but he didn’t do so; that is why we have said that the suit before him was incompetent; necessary parties were not joined.
“So the orders he made cannot be sustained on appeal; it clearly shows that he is desperately on a manhunt for the national chairman of APGA without thinking of the damage his pronouncements against me will do to the party. We have no confidence in the judgment and we are not moved; we knew that was what he was going to say; in-fact for two weeks now, exactly all he read out were the orders the people at Government House Awka were telling people he was going to make”, he noted.
Continuing, Umeh who had on the course of this matter petitioned the National Judicial Commission, accusing the judge of bias said: “we are very happy to be out of his court; he has finished his business on this matter and the consolation is that there are two higher courts, the Appeal and the Supreme Court; until these courts adjudicate on this matter there is nobody who will step in as chairman of APGA. So nothing has been lost.
“At a point when he started mishandling this matter I petitioned to the National Judicial Council (NJC) who in turn queried him; he replied to the query on November 7, 2012; the CJN sent to me his reply and asked me to make further reaction; and I will tell you that we have comprehensively reviewed his reply; he completely evaded all the allegations against him.
“Remember that we even asked him to re-assign the case and also filed a motion for him to disqualify himself from the matter based on bias; he refused to say things about his actions in the judgment today; why he did not disqualify himself or re-assign the matter. So I don’t see how the matter has closed; the important thing to me is that we are out of Umezuluike’s court.
“So I will go on appeal; put a stay on the execution of this judgment until the court of appeal reviews it; I also have right of further appeal to the Supreme Court. So the sponsors of this have nothing to celebrate. I urge my members to remain calm.”
“By sacking the National Working Committee of APGA that was elected at the National Convention of 10th February 2011 which the court declared null and void, Justice Umezulike has completely decapitated APGA and left it without a leadership. This is like removing the head of a trailer and the body of the trailer can no longer move.
“By this his judgement, there is no organ of the party left to execute the orders he made, therefore the orders are in vain. Nobody including Governor Peter Obi, the sponsor of this suit can derive any benefit from the judgment until the matter is determined at the two levels of appeal available (Court of Appeal and Supreme Court).
“Umezulike’s mishandling of this case is still being handled by the National Judicial Council which forwarded to me Umezulike’s reply to my petition last month for my further reaction, which I submitted to the Chairman of NJC on February 5, 2011″.
DailyPost

Big boy! Tiger Woods sends private jet to Austria to pick rumoured girlfriend, and she’s a beauty (LOOK)

He may be a confirmed philanderer, but Tiger Woods still knows how to be a chivalrous at times… it seems.
The divorced golfer, 37, dispatched his private jet to an airport in Austria on Friday so Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn could fly home to the U.S. to undergo several necessary surgeries.
Vonn suffered two torn knee ligaments earlier this week after a ghastly fall doing the super-G during the Alpine Ski World Championships.

Come fly with me: Injured Lindsey Vonn is seen boarding a private jet which belongs to Tiger Woods

Vonn, 28, and Woods were linked after being spotted in Antigua in January and on the slopes in Austria last November.
The blonde athlete — who divorced fellow skier Thomas Vonn last month after 11 years together — ‘will not participate in any speculation surrounding her personal life at this time,’ she said in a statement last month.
But a source told Us Weekly: ‘They’ve been seeing each other for the past 9 months or so regularly.’

Heating up: Disgraced golfer Tiger Woods, 38, sent his private jet to collect Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, 28, from Austria.  The pair are pictured separately at a Tiger Woods Foundation charity event in Las Vegas

Boarding: Lindsey could be seen getting out of a people carrier surrounded by helpers before she board the jet

Crutches: The sportswoman was seen using a blue pair of crutches as she made her way up the steps

Tiger has been a free man since 2010 when he was divorced by wife Elin Nordegren after she discovered he’d cheated on her with a string of women.
The 33-year-old lives in North Palm Beach, Florida funded by her reported $100 million settlement with the golfer, with whom she shares kids Sam, 5, and Charlie, 3.
Shockwaves were sent through the sporting world in December 2009 when it was revealed that Tiger had cheated so many times.

Helper: A woman was seen in a red coat getting bags out of the cars and loading them on to the private plane

Keeping warm: Clearly feeling the chill in Austria, where there was snow on the ground, Lindsey wore a fur-trimmed coat

Pick up: It is unclear whether Tiger will be waiting on the other side to pick up his rumoured girlfriend

Swedish supermodel Elin and Tiger were married for five years, and they have two young children, Samantha, five, and Charlie, three. Once golf’s greatest superstar, Tiger’s career and marriage fell apart after he was revealed as a serial cheater.
Since their divorce, Elin has dated several men, including wealthy financier Jamie Dingman and professional hockey player Douglas Murray, to whom she was first romantically linked in July 2012.
Tiger, 38, appears to have learnt from his mistakes and is making every effort to go the distance with his new love: ‘He wants to marry again and thinks Lindsey could be the woman,’ a source close to the golfer revealed to Star magazine.

Big enough: Despite the fact it was just Lindsey traveling, there was certainly plenty of room for her on the large plane

Serial cheater: Shockwaves were sent through the sporting world in December 2009 when it was revealed that Tiger had cheated on his wife Elin Nordegren with a string of women

The blonde beauty was reportedly wary of getting involved with the golfing star because of his past, but it appears that Tiger has pulled out all the stops to prove he has learnt from his mistakes.
After the golfing star whisked Lindsey away to Antigua for a romantic break, and earlier this month he stopped off on his way to The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship to visit her in Austria, where she was competing in a World Cup Ski event.
Tiger’s form has improved since he has been seeing the champion skier: after dropping out of the top 50 in 2011, his ranking is now back up to No. 2.
Lindsey was married to fellow 2002 Olympian and former US Ski Team athlete Thomas Vonn in 2007, at the Silver Lake Lodge in Deer Valley, Utah.  The couple were married for four years, but began divorce proceedings in November 2011.  Their divorce was finalised in January 2013.

Back on top: Tiger’s form has improved since he has been seeing the champion skier – after dropping out of the top 50 in 2011, his ranking is now back up to No. 2

Lindsey is an accomplished sportswoman, she is one of only six women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing and has won 58 World Cup races in her career, and has won four overall World Cup championships – one of only two female skiers to do so.
The skiing superstar is also renowned for her beauty, appearing in Sports Illustrated’s Olympic Swimsuit Edition in 2010, and making No. 59 on Maxim’s Hot 100 list of the same year.
Lindsey’s friends are concerned that the golfer will go back to his old womanising ways, but for now it seems that this Tiger has been tamed.
Back on the slopes: Ms Vonn recently left the circuit for nearly a month to recover from an intestinal illness
YNaija.com

Hungry Players Behind Keshi’s Success –Taribo

Former Inter Milan defence ace Taribo West has attributed the main reason for the Super Eagles’ qualification for the final of the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations to coach Stephen Keshi’s decision to arrive at the venue with players hungry for success.
Nigeria on Wednesday beat Mali 4-1 to set up Sunday’s cup final against Burkina Faso, who dumped out favourites Ghana from the tournament, after a penalty shootout in the second semifinal of the day.
Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday, Taribo, who confessed that he did not give the Eagles a chance of reaching the stage, said Keshi had been rewarded for keeping faith with young players such as Sunday Mba, Godfrey Oboabona, Kenneth Omeruo, Victor Moses, Ogenyi Onazi, Elderson Echiejile and Brown Ideye at the expense of the likes of Taye Taiwo, Obinna Nsofor and Osaze Odemwingie.
“They are hungry for success, and they learn fast,” the Atlanta ’96 gold medallist said.
“They keep improving with each game at competition because they want to make names for themselves.
“I believe Nigeria will win the trophy because we deserve it.
“Having beaten Ivory Coast, I was sure we would beat Mali.

“The Ivorians have a strong side and you don’t play against the likes of (Didier) Drogba and Yaya Toure and expect to win.
“Our team sprang an upset and they deserve commendation for their efforts.”
The ex-AC Milan star,who represented Nigeria in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, paid tribute to Keshi for building a team “working to be a Dream Team that will do Africa proud in the future.”
Taribo said, “Keshi has built an umbrella of love over the team. You can see that right from the bench everybody is happy. Success comes when there is love.
“I think Keshi has done well in this area.
“Again, he has injected his winning philosophy into the team, and the players have imbibed it.”
InformationNigeria

Gimbiya Street – Dead end or path to a better future?

 by Florian Haenes

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Gimbiya Street in Abuja is well known for the prostitutes who hustle there every night. Weekly Trust explores the scene through the eyes of one of the girls.

She had to go far away from home to do what she is doing. Nobody in her hometown in the southwest of Nigeria is supposed to know what she does, but her extended stays in Abuja, and the Rose flower tattooed on her left arm speak a rather unambiguous language. Since the end of last year she hustles at Gimbiya Street, a well known, illegal street-workers patch in Abuja. In the capital, hundred of kilometers far from home, no friend or member of the family observes her, or even worse, appears as a potential customer.
Tonight she is wearing a red gown, unlike most of the other girls, long trousers that hide her dainty body. She hardly looks like a prostitute, rather like a student on her way to class. As she stands beside the street hundreds of cars pass in walking speed over night. One crazy man has equipped his car with chains of light. It looks like a spaceship and catches the attention of all the girls. The men search for the girl that fits best to their taste. She whistles to attract their attention and bends down trying to look into their eyes. Men stop their cars, lower the window and scrutinize a hand full of girls that are gathering to compete for the customer. But she also has a glance at her potential customer. She doesn’t like old, fat or smelling men. If they are too disgusting, she refuses to go with them. If she decides to offer a sexual service to him, she will enter his car to head toward his house or a hotel. Afterwards the man will sometimes want her to remain beside him while he falls asleep. Under the veil of darkness she will leave him early in the morning. It will be as though she has never been there.
He hangs around at Gimbiya Street every night. Four years ago the thin man in his thirties has arrived in Abuja in the darkness of the eve of 26th of May 2008. He will never in his life forget this date. He leans at a fence beside the entrance of the Grand Mirage Hotel. A band inside the hotel plays Bob Marley. He, the chain-smoker, is their brother. If his sisters are in trouble, harassed by drunken customers he always comes to their aid. That is his lifestyle. Doing the right thing, no matter what it costs. He doesn’t know the girl’s names. It doesn’t matter to him, because they usually protect themselves with fake names. He considers them as very fine girls, many of them educated and gifted with skills that should allow them a bright future under normal circumstances. Frequently the girls come over to have a brief chat with him. Sometimes they make jokes, but most of the time they just sit side by side and observe the hustle and bustle of Gimbiya Street.
A glance at the girls reveals that some of them lack the straightforward gaze, the calm and well thought moves and the upright posture full of dignity of the dainty girl in the red gown. Have these girls passed a point of no turning back? Trapped in the dead end of Gimbiya Street? The job appears seductive. They may do it for fun, for easy money, expensive clothes and a car. Some girls have lost themselves in the nights at the street-workers patch. There is no yesterday and no tomorrow; only her, the customer, the sex and the money.
The seductive character of the job is not the only challenge. The girl in the red gown blames the working conditions at Nigeria’s street-worker’s patches to render the job unbearable. Girls at Nigerian street-worker’s patches are frequently abducted by ritualists who may cut off their head or private parts to use it as charms. One night ritualists have caught her. Surprisingly they seemed to be unsure how to use her. Then they tortured her and dumped her in the bush in an unknown place. “It was only God that saved my life in this night.”
Since prostitution was banned by law, the police, the environmental task force and soldiers arrest girls hustling at Abuja’s street-worker’s patches several times a week. An initiative by the senate’s deputy president to legalize prostitution in 2011 couldn’t gain popular support. Tonight the police arrive at 11pm in a private car. The policemen with bullet proof vests and AK-47s squeeze five crying girls at the backseat and drive off. She was unlucky and is among the arrested girls. At the reception of the police-station nine intimidated girls are gathered. With a parental attitude the policemen- and women complain that these girls wouldn’t stop to make trouble. The girl’s shoes are huddled together and all other belongings put in a plastic bag. After their names are recorded the girls are locked in one of the notorious Nigerian police cells. A dark room, smelling of urine, shit on the ground. After hours a friend brings the money that will finally bail her and two of her friends out. Tonight the girls have lost N10.000. It was hard earned money. A signboard inside the police station’s reception claims “The police is your friend and bail is always free”.
The three girls are walking out of the police station heading towards home. It was her first time in police custody. “That is how we catch fun!” For a short time they look like children full of adrenaline after playing a prank to someone. After seconds the grotesque euphoria disappears. Her head is aching. Exposed to the risks of being trapped in the car of a stranger with unknown intentions, harassed by Abuja’s security agencies the working conditions are troubling her mind. She would rather like to work in a clean and safe hotel abroad. A friend of her just returned from Dubai. Nowadays it is one of the major destinations of Nigerian sex-workers. Though it is a country where prostitution is strictly forbidden, the working conditions are apparently better and the payment is higher.
She is still a student in a Polytechnic in her hometown. Soon she will return to write exams. She will have to learn well to compensate all the lecturers for the lectures she has missed. On a daily basis she has witnessed how ambitious plans for the future are shattered due to a lack of money. Her mother has died when she was thirteen years old. Her father struggles to sustain the living for her stepsiblings. Last year she has made up her mind to hustle and called her friends who were already working at Gimbiya Street. Once she has saved a certain amount of money she wants to open a shop in her hometown. She already has a clear picture of the financial plan and how it would look like. With her forefinger she points at where the wine, the cosmetics, the food and the cash desk would be. She hustles in the night but she has never called herself a prostitute. What she does is not who she is. She considers herself on the path to a better future. Tomorrow has not yet disappeared in the dead end of Gimbiya Street.

 WeeklyTrust

2015: Presidency Moves To Break APC’s Ranks

Less than 82 hours after the historic merger by the opposition political parties in Nigeria came to reality on Wednesday, there are strong indications that the Presidency must have concluded plans to disorganize plans by the newly announced mega party, All Progressive Congress (APC), in order to consolidate on PDP’s strength in 2015.
Also, PDP must have resolved to do replace the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, to pave way for the ruling party to rig the 2015 general election, as the last option in the face stiff opposition.
A reliable source close to the Presidency disclosed to SATURDAY INDEPENDENT that the seat of power “laughed the merger party to scorn” because effort has been geared up to ensure that “such political conspiracy does not work in this country, at least not now”.
He said that PDP has planted some “valuable” fifth columnists in APC and that they will be reporting event of utmost importance to the PDP caucus for “strategic decisions that will counter their plans”.
“Some of those who rush to the mega party have presidential interest and when they are not allowed to pick up the ticket, they will become veritable tools for the PDP”.
PDP believes that the big opposition party will not carry the “enormous” differences existing among the various interest groups and individuals that formed the mega party, stating that while Mohammedu Buhari would want the interest of the northern region to be implemented on the platform of the party, other tribes will oppose to it.
“They will definitely not agree on the same issue. Self-centeredness will be their greatest undoing because all the tribes that played parts in the formation of APC will naturally want to take something home and that will not be possible”.
The source further hinted that the mere fact that the Peoples’ Democratic Movement, PDM, which has former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as the leader, is not part of the mega party, makes it more “vulnerable” to the PDP threat.
Atiku was said to have given his nod to the mega party so long as it would be strong and “principled” enough to give the PDP a run for its money.
But the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)  said the move by the presidency would soon hit the rock. Speaking during an exclusive interview, the National Publicity Secretary of CPC, Ritimi Fashakin said “they are idle people of no concrete idea about how to move Nigeria forward. We are aware of their antics. We learnt that they went into a marathon meeting during the week brainstorming how to stop our merger plan. We are taking one step at a time.”
Adding his voice to the issue, the former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa said “the merger is one of the best things to happen to Nigeria polity. Definitely, it is the end of the road for PDP. The PDP people should not be allowed to consummate further their failed policies.”
“Nigerians should encourage the merging parties and ensure that it works at the end of the day so that the potentials of the country can come. This is what we have been advocating for. The media should also refrain from throwing up negative issues that would distract or collapse the merger plan,” Balarabe said..
According to the source, if the opposition against the PDP especially Jonathan’s candidacy for 2015 is more than expected, then the fall back action would be to “remove the INEC Chairman, Jega.”
He explained that government has sworn that no amount of opposition will cow Jonathan from seeking a re-election. “We are waiting for him {Jonathan} to just pick up a ticket and indicate his interest to run, then we will know where to head from there”.
Justifying why Jega may likely be “replaced”, the source said that the only way for the President to win the next election giving the avalanche of opposition against him is for “PDP to rig the elections”.
Apart from the fact that Jega would want to maintain his integrity by conducting a free and transparent poll, the ruling party may opt for something unusual.
More so, being from the north central where the President has the worst opposition, Jega may be under severe pressure from his northern people to do everything within his ability to conduct a free and fair  election “because they believe that under an atmosphere of free poll Jonathan will not win.
-247Reports

President Jonathan In London Clinic Over Intestinal Problems; Babangida’s Leg Disease Worsens

President Goodluck Jonathan and first lady, Patience Jonathan in London

By SaharaReporters, New York

An intestinal problem has forced President Jonathan to cancel a planned surprise visit to the Super Eagles in South Africa, medical sources in London said today.
The Nigeria president, who is on a whirlwind three-nation trip to Egypt, the United Kingdom and France, had planned to surprise the Super Eagles in South Africa following their qualification for the final of the African Cup of Nations last Wednesday.
However, in London Mr. Jonathan came down with an intestinal disorder referred to as Amoebic Colitis and he underwent testing at the London Clinic on Harley Street.  The clinic is highly favoured by Nigeria’s rich and powerful.
A medical source told Saharareporters that Mr. Jonathan's situation is not worrisome but that the persistent nature of the condition meant the president had to undergo some screenings.  It was not clear why he did not undertake the screenings in Abuja, where State House has an excellent clinic manned by a largely idle staff.
Meanwhile, former Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida was also sighted at the InterContinental Hotel in London limping on one leg. Mr. Babangida was helped into a vehicle by two aides on his way to a hospital in the city.
It was not clear if President Jonathan previously knew of Babangida's stay at the same hotel but the two met briefly as Babangida struggled to get to his car.
Mr. Jonathan is expected to arrive in France on Monday, according to his itinerary, but it is unclear if his health issue will force a change.  Mr. Jonathan’s wife, Patience, last month returned to hospital in Germany following new health concerns.
The president has detailed the Senate President, David Mark, to cheer on the Super Eagles to victory in their final match against Burkina Faso tomorrow.
A presidency source said the President plans a massive reception for the Super Eagles in Abuja on Tuesday night.
Following decades of irresponsible management of the Nigerian economy, including failure to develop the health sector, Nigeria’s leaders and their families routinely hurry off to the developed world to squander valuable foreign exchange even on minor health procedures.
Two years ago, Babangida’s wife died in a hospital in California.  Prior to that, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s wife died in a hospital in Spain.