Yar’adua camp spends N20 billion to scuttle his removal

Saharareporters has learned authoritatively that the closest associates of missing and sickly Nigerian ruler, Umaru Yar’adua, have gone on a bribing spree to scuttle moves to remove him from office. In the face of increasing local and international pressure on Yar’adua to handover power to his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, the ailing “president’s” kitchen cabinet has handed Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, the sum of N2 billion and another N4 billion to Senate President David Mark to stop any legislative or judicial initiative to either impeach Yar’adua or compel him to hand over power to Jonathan. Some of the top players in Yar’adua’s unofficial but powerful inner cabinet are his wife Turai, former Governor James Onanefe Ibori, special economic aide, Tanimu Yakubu, Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa, and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara. Former President Ibrahim Babangida maintains constant consultation with the group.

It is not known how the kitchen cabinet hopes to impose their agenda on restive Nigerians, but Tanimu Yakubu reportedly told Bankole and Mark yesterday that the Yar’adua group was prepared to spend three times what Obasanjo spent on his third term agenda to stop the popular movement for Yar’adua to resign and hand over power to Jonathan.

The group’s selling point against Jonathan is to tell legislators, judges and Nigerian opposition groups that Jonathan is too close to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and, as president, would be controlled by the hugely despised Obasanjo.

In interviews with several lawmakers as well as sources close to the Yar’adua camp, Saharareporters gathered that the huge pay offs to Bankole and Mark were part payment of a N20 billion campaign to stop the judiciary and the legislature from acting against Yar’adua as he struggles against a deteriorating health condition.

SERAP asks ICC Prosecutor to probe alleged crimes against humanity in Jos

A civil society group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned Luis Moreno Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, The Netherlands requesting him to use his position “to investigate allegations of unlawful killing of at least 326 people and perpetration of other crimes under international law during the violence this month in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria; and the reports that the military and police used excessive force against both Christians and Muslims in responding to the violence.” In a petition dated 29 January, 2010 and sent to Mr Ocampo by Solicitor to SERAP, Mr Femi Falana, the group said that “Nigeria is a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and deposited its instrument of ratification on 27 September 2001.” According to Falana, “the Plateau State Police Command said that at least 326 people were killed during the violence. Tens of thousands are displaced, and denied access to humanitarian assistance and basic necessities of life such as food and medical care. Many have not been assisted to return to their homes and land, or provided with alternative accommodation.”
“The latest violation of international law in Jos is coming just after the apparently unlawful killings of more than 700 people that followed the Boko Haram crisis last year. Inter-communal, political, and sectarian violence have claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people, including women and children, during the past 10 years,” the group added. The group also said that, “Those who are suspected to be responsible for the latest violence and previous outbreaks of deadly violence in Jos have not been arrested let alone brought to justice because the government has shown itself to be too weak to act, contrary to its international legal obligations, including under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The government usually response to outbreaks of violence in many parts of the country by setting up commissions of inquiry, but few of them have ever published their reports, and even when they have, their recommendations have rarely been acted upon or led to prosecutions.”

The Time to Act is Now-Ken Nnamani

Text of a Press Conference on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by Sen. Ken Nnamani GCON, Chairman, Steering Committee, Good Governance Group (3G): As the nation slouches towards avoidable constitutional and political crisis, the words of Dante Alighieri, the Italian poet that the hottest part of hell is reserved for whoever fails to act in a moment of moral crisis should sound clear in the ears of every Nigerian. Nigeria faces crisis of unimaginable proportion today on account of the ill-health of President Yaradua. It is a big shame that a country that pretends to aspire to become the 20th leading economy in the world by the turn of this decade cannot manage the transition of power in the wake of the hospitalization of the President. The Constitution has provided sufficient guidance on what should be done when unexpectedly an elected President can no longer continue to exercise executive power as President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That guidance is in Section 144 of the Constitution. It requires that the Federal Executive Council, the body with the greatest proximity to the President, should declare him incapable of exercising executive power so that he could be replaced by the Vice President.
The failure of the Executive Council of the Federation to initiate action based on the provisions of Section 144 of the Constitution is a failure of leadership. Chief Ojo Maduekwe, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared in an interview at the United Nations recently that he is a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not of President Yar'adua. This is right. The implication is that the primary responsibility of the Executive Council of the Federation is to promote the efficacy of the Federal Executive power. The Federal Executive is an institution not a person. To refuse to rise up to the patriotic duty of declaring the President incapable is a fundamental breach of the Constitution by members of the Executive Council of the Federation.

Your Lobbying on behalf of James Ibori: Potential Breaches of the Code of Conduct for the Bar and the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament

Dear Mr Baldry:
1. I refer to your letter to me dated 8 January 2010. In the letter, you admitted writing a letter to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Attorney-General, the Secretary of State for Justice, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and the UK High Commissioner to Nigeria on behalf of the serial convict Mr James Ibori.
2. In the letter you alleged that: “The letter I wrote concerning Nigeria was entirely in my capacity as a barrister, properly instructed and fully in accord with the Code of Conduct for the Bar.” 3. You will be aware that Part X of the Code Conduct for the Bar provides a comprehensive definition of legal services. It provides that: ‘"legal services" includes legal advice, representation and drafting or settling any statement of case witness statement affidavit or other legal document but does not include: (a) sitting as a judge or arbitrator or acting as a mediator; (b) lecturing in or teaching law or writing or editing law books articles or reports; (c) examining newspapers, periodicals, books, scripts and other publications for libel, breach of copyright, contempt of court and the like; (d) communicating to or in the press or other media; (e) exercising the powers of a commissioner for oaths; (f) giving advice on legal matters free to a friend or relative or acting as unpaid or honorary legal adviser to any charitable benevolent or philanthropic institution ...’

4. Therefore not everything done by a barrister is done in his or her capacity as a barrister and thereby in accord with the Code of Conduct for the Bar. I suggest that lobbying fellow Members of Parliament in senior Cabinet positions to interfere politically with ongoing judicial and prosecutorial is not covered by the above definition of ‘legal services’ under the Code of Conduct for the Bar.

5. In a similar letter to SaharaReporters you referred to section 303(a) of the Code of Conduct for the Bar. You stated: “I would simply observe that the Code of Conduct for the Bar in the England states that ‘. . . a Barrister must promote and protect fearlessly and by all proper and lawful means the lay client’s best interests and do so without regard to his own interests or to any consequence to himself or any other person’.”

6. You appeared to have overlooked the fact that said section 303(a) of the Code of Conduct for the Bar is found under the part of the Code specifically listed as “applicable to practising barristers.” It does not cover political lobbying.

Her imperial majesty, Turai Yar'adua

For discerning persons who know how the Yar’Adua administration has worked since inception, the controversy that Vice President Goodluck Jonathan called Turai Yar’Adua, the first lady, to get directives on performing the duties of the president is really no news. With the structure at the seat of power in Abuja, it would not have been surprising to Aso Rock insiders that Jonathan called Turai to intimate her of political developments. A few weeks ago, the Federal High Court, Abuja ruled that the vice president could perform the duties of the president in the latter’s absence. Controversy broke out in the media when it was reported that rather than follow the ruling, the vice president was awaiting the reaction of President Umaru Yar’Adua or his wife. Specifically, Jonathan was said to have telephoned the first lady to intimate her of the ruling by Justice Dan Abutu and ask for directives on what to do. However, the vice president in a statement signed by Ima Niboro, special assistant on media, denied calling the first lady to take directives. Stating that Jonathan last spoke to Turai on January 5, after he had spoken to Yar’Adua, the statement declared that the vice president was not indecisive but was in charge and able to discharge the responsibilities of the office of president without seeking instructions from anyone. But Turai, in the power structure in the presidency has before now been one who has always called the shots. Her authority and hold on the levers of power have not even diminished by her absence due to her husband’s illness. Turai has always been the power behind Yar’Adua — in the home, when he was governor and now, that he is president. An incident of many years ago perhaps best dramatizes the power that Turai has always wielded in the president’s life and work. The words, words of wisdom as it turned out, were sown over two decades ago. But they have germinated in the pregnant belly of time and have finally been born in the political events that currently haunt Nigeria. In 1991, Umaru Yar’Adua, then somewhat a political neophyte, aspired to contest in the governorship race in Katsina State. Ordinarily, the election would have been a walk over. After all, his elder brother, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, a retired major general, was one of the most influential men in the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and the strongest political force in the state. But the older Yar’Adua would not support his brother. In fact, he was reported to have given tacit support to his brother’s opponent, Saidu Barda, candidate of the National Republican Convention, NRC. When SDP stalwarts went to the retired general to appeal to him to change his mind he reportedly asked them whom they wanted to put in Government House, Katsina; Umaru or Turai, his wife?

No payout for EU 'fraud' reporter

A European Union court has rejected a claim for damages from a journalist who says he has been persecuted by the EU anti-fraud office, Olaf.

Hans-Martin Tillack was arrested by Belgian police and his files were seized after he exposed wrongdoing at the EU statistics agency, Eurostat.

He claimed damages from the European Commission, arguing that Olaf had triggered the Belgian police action.

But the court said there was no "causal link" between Olaf and his arrest.

Bribery allegation

Mr Tillack wrote two articles for Stern magazine in 2002 on alleged fraud at Eurostat, where large amounts of money were siphoned off into secret bank accounts.

Olaf then publicly accused "a journalist" of bribing one of its officials to obtain an internal memo.

It passed information to the authorities in Belgium and Germany, which led to Mr Tillack's arrest.

However, the EU's Court of First Instance ruled there was "not a sufficiently direct causal link between the forwarding of the information by Olaf to the Belgian judicial authorities and the damage claimed".

Mr Tillack denied paying for the Olaf memo, and accused Olaf of making the bribery allegation on the basis of rumour.

He took the case to the European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, who agreed that Olaf had made the allegation without a factual basis, and said this constituted a case of maladministration.

Question: Who Is In Charge? Yar’Adua or Minister of Agriculture, Abba Ruma

FEC ruled Yar'Adua "capable of continuing his functions," says Aondoakaa

Almost a week after a Federal High Court judge directed Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council to give a concrete affirmation that Nigeria’s ailing leader, Umaru Yar’adua was capable of performing his functions as “President”, his Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa, this afternoon organized a bizarre and combative press briefing where he claimed that the cabinet has confirmed the bedridden Yar’Adua is in no way incapacitated, and is passed “fit” to continue as president. The AGF provided no evidence to the horde of journalists who asked him questions about how he and members of the FEC arrived at the decision. Mr. Aondoakaa merely stuck to the refrain that Yar’Adua was capable of performing his functions as president. Yar’Adua was hurriedly evacuated from Nigeria on November 23, 2009, after his health failed considerably. Since his departure, no one has seen him in person except, reportedly, his wife and two close aides. Before his departure, Yar’Adua characteristically did not hand over power to his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, as mandated by the constitution.

The Petition:To Collect 1 Million Signatures Barring All Past and Present Nigerian Public Office Holders from being granted medical visas.

Hand power to Vice-President, Senate tells Yar'Adua

The Senate today resolved, in a landmark move, that sickly Nigerian leader, Umary Yar’Adua, should hand over power to his deputy by transmitting a letter to the upper house without delay. The resolution was swiftly commended by the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), which commended the Senate for coming to patriotic and democratic judgment in the resolution of the unwarranted constitutional crisis imposed by President Umaru Musa Yaradua and his handlers. It further called on the House of Representatives to follow suit. The Senate, which is dominated by Yar'Adua's People's Democratic Party, had been meeting in last 48 hours in the effort to come to a resolution. The issue has generally generally polarized and paralyzed the upper chamber. The Conference said in a statement, signed by Osita Okechukwu, its National Publicity Secretary, "CNPP has maintained that it is incongruous, unpatriotic and undemocratic for President Yaradua and his handlers to subordinate constitutional order under personal survival, in other words the survival of our fledgling democracy under self glorification and self service." It commended the Senate for appreciating that the power vacuum created by the absence of the Commander-in-Chief has unleashed unintended consequencies on Nigerians, thence sliding our democracy to quasi-dictatorship, rubbishing our image abroad and hindering peace, order and good governace. "We had wondered on what is wrong for a president availing himself of section 145 of the constitution which in all intents and purposes is the safety-net and common ground in the midst - 143,144 and 146." It further asked "the handlers of Mr President and the pliable Federal Executive Council to place the interest of the corporative existence of Nigeria above petty and selfish concerns."

Madam secretary Hillary Clinton: please blacklist the following Nigerians

Dear Mrs. Clinton:
With all your years in politics, foreign affairs and the resources available to the United States government, I do not think there is anything about Nigeria that I need to tell you. You have read about it and you have been there to see for yourself. You know who the big players are in the country’s world of corruption and you know where they have stashed their stolen wealth. You have openly, and presumably diplomatically, condemned corruption in the country, During your August 2009 visit to Nigeria, you made overt references to the fact that Nigeria’s problems are rooted in its failure to deal with corruption. Just today, while addressing state department employees during a town hall meeting, you again seized the opportunity to tell the whole world about Nigeria’s failure to address the legitimate needs of its people and how such failure is gradually turning the country into a breeding ground for all sorts of undesirable elements. On behalf of millions of Nigerians, I thank you and the Obama administration profoundly for the above efforts. However, there is so much more to be done.

More than ever before, there is an urgent need to increase the pressure on Nigeria’s corrupt-beyond-redemption political class in order to prevent a total breakdown of law and order and possible civil war. If U.S. diplomatic history provides any clue with respect to conflict resolution, it is that a break down of law and order in Nigeria will force the US to make gargantuan human and material commitment to Nigeria and the Sub-region: a situation that is unnecessary in light of the options available, a situation that neither ordinary Nigerians nor the United States want; a situation that would create a refugee problem of a magnitude not seen in recent human history and be destabilizing to West African, European and North American countries.

In order to prevent Nigeria from descending into a civil war or several civil wars as is more likely to happen because of the country’s ethnic and tribal configuration, urgent steps must be taken to effect immediate and long term changes in the country. Nigeria is where it is today mainly because of the “elements” in charge of the country and their devious device which they have christened government. Permit me to suggest we are requesting the urgent assistance of the Obama administration in putting in place a no-visa list consisting of Nigeria’s leading government officials and their private sector collaborators. The no-visa list should at the very minimum contain the following:

• The country’s current leader (whoever that is) should be limited to the United Nations and Harlem the way Fidel Castro was during his 1960 visit;
• all past leaders and governors;
• all current state governors with the exception of one or two who are doing their jobs;
• all past and current federal ministers and state commissioners;
• all past and present lawmakers at the federal and state levels
• all past and current local government chairmen/chairlady and the elected councilors who assist them in looting their respective treasuries;
• past and present managers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and other leading government corporations;
• past and present MD/CEO’s of all banks in the country;
• all past and present ambassadors of the country for their roles as agents of an evil regime;
• all previous and present police and military officers beyond the rank of Major or its equivalent;
• all judges from the magistrate courts to the Supreme Court of Nigeria for their roles in accepting bribes and perverting the course of justice;
• the present chairperson of the EFCC for her role in legitimizing corruption;
• the children and wives of those on the no-visa list;
• all known enablers of corruption not caught by the above list.

A serious consideration of the above list will show that 99.99% of the individuals who have destroyed Nigeria and stolen the people’s commonwealth will be found on the list. Having them on the no-visa list hurts no one but the crooks themselves. I believe in the list and given the power to implement it, it is exactly what I will have in place. Realizing that I do not have the power to implement the list and given other considerations, the above list maybe unwieldy and may lose the desired effect. Consequently, I will suggest a more pragmatic list made up of the following:

• Umaru Yar Adua and Goodluck Jonathan;
• all the current governors
• immediate past president and governors, especially those indicted or convicted for corruption (i.e. Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Lucky Igbinedion, Orji Kalu, Peter Odili, and James Ibori – ignore the Kangaroo court discharge);
• all current federal ministers and state commissioners, particularly, Michael Aondoakaa, Dora Akunyili, Ojo Madueke and Rilwani Lukeman;
• all current senior officers of the police and armed forces
• all current managers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria and other leading government corporations;
• Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Dahiru Mangal and all Nigerian billionaires because there is no legitimate Nigerian billionaire (those who want to argue their cases should be asked to submit their income tax returns for examination);
• The judges and justices of the Federal, Appeal and Supreme Courts for their roles in accepting bribes and perverting the course of justice;
• The current chairperson of the EFCC, Farida Waziri;
• The current officers of the National Assembly, including the David Mark, Dimeji Bankole and Jubril Aminu who has been indicted in the Siemens bribery scandal but is still angling to become the vice president in the event Goodluck Jonathan becomes the president of the country;
• The chairpersons of all the banks indicted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, including Cecilia Ibru and the coward called Erasmus Akingbola who claims to have accumulated assets of over $2 billion (N322 billion) dollars with a monthly salary of $10,000 (N1.5 million). An eye should also be kept on below-rader crooks like Chukwuma Saludo – former Central Bank governor, Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank and Tony Elumelu of Uba who are just as corrupt as the indicted ones;
• Some traditional rulers and pastors for their roles in providing recognition to corrupt politicians in exchange for part of the looted funds;
• Including Journalists who have sold their souls in exchange for Abuja land and other pecuniary benefits will force them to return to their basic responsibility of holding government accountable to the people;
• The children and wives of all those on the list because they school and live in the west with monies looted from the ordinary people of Nigeria;

Is Corruption A Crime Against Humanity....? If so it amounts to Terrorism

Who Killed These Men and Women?

In Nigeria, more so in the last thirty years, killing has become a way of life. Depending on the regime in power, killings can either be a past time or a trade. The government and or some elements within the Nigerian State, has been killing those they hate, envy or are tired of. For instance, when the Nigerian government didn’t know what to do with Dele Giwa they blew him up. When they didn’t know what to with Ken Saro-Wiwa, they cooked up phony charges and then hanged him. When Alfred Rewane was becoming a thorn on their flesh, they silenced him. Along with these eminent citizens are dozens of unsung Nigerians who were also murdered by the state or by individuals within the state. Nigeria is probably the only country in Sub-Sahara Africa were human life means nothing; it is perhaps the only country were humans are slaughtered the way chickens are slaughtered. Humans are swatted the way one would a housefly. Killing is done without feelings, without regards and without remorse. For a buck -- for a lousy buck -- you could lose your life. You may lose your life if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time. Instead of legal actions in the court of law, people resort to extralegal actions. Instead of justice, there is jungle-justice. The level of intolerance is such that unknowingly stepping on toes could cost one his or her life. Living is so expensive; life has become cheap.

Three years after Jerry Agbeyegbe was killed, the police have yet to successfully resolve his murder. In their murky attempt to resolve his murder, they almost soiled his reputation. Today the case remains an unresolved homicide. Who killed Sunday Ugwu, Momoh Lawal, Odunayo Olagbaju and Janet Oladapo? Who killed them? Who killed Ahmed Pategi and his police orderly? And who killed Victor Nwankwo, the younger brother of Arthur Nwankwo? I wonder if any murder case has ever been conclusively and satisfactorily resolved in Nigeria.

I have wondered in the past: how many Nigerians have to lose their lives before this government comes to the realization that something is terribly wrong with our security and legal system? Why do we have a government -- when government can not assure us of our safety? Beyond the obvious, this is a sad commentary on us as a nation because, even in peace time, Nigeria is like a country in perpetual war mode. Only in times of war do people lose their lives. Only in times of war, do parents bury their children. Only in times of war does the populace live in unending fear. Only in times of war and political instability does anarchy rein supreme. But not so in Nigeria.

There are several ways to be killed in Nigeria including but not limited to firing squad, parcel-bombing, hanging, tea or food poisoning, armed-robbery style killing, staged vehicular accidents, and deliberate road-side shooting. Sadly, this is the situation in today’s Nigeria. It is one thing to be known as a nation of the parasitically corrupt; but quite another to be known as a nation of callous and cold-blooded murderers.
Harry Marshall’s death is still unresolved even though the evidence seems to points to the River State government house. Who killed Kudirat Abiola, John Nunu, Funsho Williams, Chimere Ikoku, Ayodeji Daramola, Dele Arojo and Isyaku Muhammad? With the passing of each month the list grows longer and longer and longer. Who killed Udo Marcus Akpan, Ogbonnaya Uche, Theodore Agwatu, and Emily Omope? And who can forget the killing of Abigail and Barnabas Igwe -- the husband and wife team who devoted their lives to the betterment of humanity. And does anyone know who killed Bala Mohammed? In a very positive manner Bala was amongst the very first who caught my young and impressionable political mind.

How to Start a Revolution

The roving demonstration by Nigerians around the world is a good thing. It is proof that there is still a juncture where Nigerians will rise up to reject abysmal failure, absurd whims and voracious greed. While we celebrate this return to activism, after years of complicit acquiescence, we must not confuse it for what it is not. Soon after the Abuja demonstration, some Nigerians declared that the revolution had begun. Others claimed that in our own eyes, the New Nigeria had been born. The reaction of most Nigerians falls in line with that affliction that has been killing us all – low expectations.

It is low expectations that make us clap for a governor who pays workers’ salaries on time. It is low expectations that make us name a governor who repaired roads as the governor of the year. It is low expectations that make us include the Nigerian factor whenever we make plans, programs and projections. Low expectations make us celebrate mediocrity.

Nigerians are interesting people. We get excited very easily. We get tickled by trifles. We get bemused by buffoons. We get pillaged by priests. We are tormented by the thugs in our midst.

A demonstration does not make a revolution. While it may lead to one, it does not on its own make a revolution.

Survivor describes Nazi camp at Demjanjuk trial

Jewish prisoners had to unload decomposed corpses at the Nazi death camp at Sobibor and were forbidden to warn new prisoners that they would be gassed within the hour, a survivor testified Thursday at the trial of John Demjanjuk.

The Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk, an 89-year-old retired Ohio autoworker, is accused of serving as a low-level guard at the Nazi camp in occupied Poland and is charged with accessory to murder in 27,900 deaths. Demjanjuk rejects the charges, saying he never served in Sobibor or any other Nazi camp.

Sobibor survivor Philip Bialowitz told the Munich state court that Jews being brought from western Europe largely believed the Nazi ruse that they were being resettled and arrived at the camp relieved that their long journey was over.

The 84-year-old testified that he and other Jewish prisoners helped unload the trains, under the watch of German SS and Ukrainian guards. Music was played over loudspeakers to keep the atmosphere calm.

"When I helped the Jewish passengers with their bags, some of them offered me a tip," said Bialowitz, who was born in Poland and now lives in New York. "My heart was bleeding because I knew that they would be dead in less than an hour and I couldn't warn them."

China teen seen as hero for killing local official

When Li Shiming was stabbed through the heart by a hired assassin, few of his fellow villagers mourned the local Communist Party official many say made their lives hell by seizing land, extorting money and bullying people for years.

Instead, villagers in the northern town of Xiashuixi have made Li's teenage killer something of a local hero. More than 20,000 people from the coal-mining area petitioned a court for a lenient sentence.

"I didn't feel surprised at all when I heard Li Shiming was killed, because people wanted to kill him a long time ago," said villager Xin Xiaomei, who says her husband was harassed for years by Li after the two men had a personal dispute. "I wanted to kill Li myself, but I was too weak."

The murder trial has again cast a harsh light on abuses of power by communist cadres and the frustration many ordinary Chinese feel with a one-party system that sometimes allows officials to run their districts like personal fiefdoms.

China's leaders have identified corruption as a threat to the country's progress, but an opaque political system dominated by the ruling Communist Party — which brooks no dissent — and the lack of an independent judiciary contribute to the problem.

Nigeria may collapse if... NDIG

Being a Communiqué’ Issued At The End Of An Emergency Meeting Held In Ugheli, Delta State On The 20th Day Of January 2010 @ 12:30 P.M. Nigerian Time.
The NIGER DELTA INTEGRITY GROUP (NDIG) held an emergency meeting at Ugheli, in Delta State on the 20th of January 2010 concerning matters of urgent importance in the Niger Delta Region. At the end of the meeting, the NDIG resolved as follows: 1. That Nigeria stands the risk of a constitutional crisis owing to the prolonged absence of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. To prevent this impending crisis, the Group lends it voice to those calling for the immediate swearing-in of the Vice President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan (GCON) as acting President. In our view, the lacuna created by the absence of President Yar’Adua will escalate tension, mistrust and unnecessary power tussle, which are inimical to good governance and the rule of law. The Group affirms the corporate existence of Nigeria as an indivisible entity, and holds the view that the stability of Nigeria transcends ethnic, religious and party barriers.

2. That the Federal Government should implement the Post-Amnesty programme in a sustainable and holistic manner without any further delay. The Group strongly believes that the relative peace the Niger Delta People savour now may soon be truncated by the non-implementation of the programme. There are already palpable fears that militancy is likely to rear its ugly head if the tempo of peace is not sustained. The implementation of the Post-Amnesty programme should go simultaneously with the implementation of the 25% derivation funds in our collective push towards an equitable fiscal federalism. The Post-Amnesty Programme should not be politicized.

3. The NDIG calls on the Federal Government to revive all the moribund industries in the Niger Delta Region and Support the establishment of new ones to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths in the Region. With specific reference to Bayelsa State, the Federal Government needs to embark on physical infrastructural projects such as roads because of the huge capital outlay involved coupled with the difficult terrain. The NDIG believes that the slow pace of development in most States of the Niger Delta Region is as a result of lack of Federal presence in terms of industries and infrastructure that can attract foreign investments. In addition, special financial grants be given to Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom States for the huge sums of money spent in the prevention of militant activities from snowballing into full-scale war. The monies spent in paying militants, the Joint Military Task Force and other matters pertaining to conflict resolution could have been committed to development projects.

Ibori moves to strike out London case

As was widely expected, lawyers to James Ibori and his associates in the UK have now moved to strike out the money-laundering charges against associates of the former Delta State governor at the Southwark Crown Court in London. At the first mention today, the judge handling the case gave directives for a full hearing scheduled for Monday and Tuesday next week, the 25th and 26th of January 2010. Ibori is asking the judge to quash the charges against his associates and wife because the case against him at the Federal High Court in Asaba has collapsed, and the case in London should follow suit as a consequence. In detailed reports, Saharareporters had revealed how the former Chief Judge of Nigeria, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha, the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Michael Aondokaa as well as a judge of the federal court of appeal, Justice Amina Adamu Augie colluded with Ibori to set up a high court in Asaba paid for by the Delta State government and staffed by Ibori. The judge in the case Justice Mercel Awokulehin was paid $5 million to quash the case. The course of the new motion tallies with the plan of Nigeria’s Attorney General, Aondoakaa and James Ibori, to frustrate all manners of criminal charges brought against Ibori in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In recent months, Ibori had also hired a British Member of Parliament, Tony Baldry, a lawyer by profession but a politician and businessman with extensive business interests in Africa, to interfere in the case within the British judicial system. In September 2009, Mr. Baldry wrote scathing letters to the office of the Attorney General in the UK excoriating the office for engaging in the trail of Ibori and his associates in London, conveying the impression Ibori is being persecuted, not prosecuted.

No room for evil to breathe in 2010

What a year this is! In fact the exigencies of 2009 never gave Nigerians the time to shut down on the old year and prepare for the new one. From the punch of the economic crunch to the breakdown in service delivery, no fuel, no light, no food and then the dirt being kicked into our eyes by those brewing one controversy after another in a bid to profit from the circumstances created by the health status of our ailing president there was no room for a breather! Don’t even think about enjoying the little time tucked into the Christmas and the New Year holidays. Too much for a people to grapple with; too much for no good course. What impunity on the part of those who dare to visit such torture on our psyche. What cruelty on from those we gave the opportunity to serve us in very high places. Never mind the fact that most of these people were either rigged into such opportunities or were appointed by those who rigged their way to power, we gave them the opportunity because we failed to resist them when they began their evil manifestations from the word go.

Today Nigerians at home and abroad are trooping out to protest the political impasse created by the sick president, I wish we could turn back the hands of the clock to 1993 when the fairest elections we ever had were annulled. Of course there were protests that yielded some great results but how I wish we had the show of agree and solidarity from the larger public that we have today! I also wish I could turn back the hands of the clock to 2006/2007 when Gen Olusegun Obasanjo started scripting this Yar’adua drama that we all have become willy-nilly actors; actors in a tragedy that’s set in our own lives! How in the world has this come to be?

Drama everywhere! Innocent people on a Christmas day flight have a technical fault to thank for the air they still breathe. I’m trying not to get personal on that issue because at that point I begin to wonder who should take the blame for the making of a stray terrorist! I’ll allow discipline schedule that for another day. I will also try not to join deal with the controversial claims to the presence of terrorists in our country. Semantics and sentiments complicate issues and slur judgments.

Nigeria: Use Restraint in Curbing Jos Violence-Investigate Killings and End Discriminatory Policies-HRW

Nigeria should ensure that its security forces use restraint and comply with international standards on the use of force in responding to the latest deadly outbreak of inter-communal violence in the city of Jos, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also investigate and prosecute those responsible for the killing of at least 200 people during the violence, the latest of several deadly outbreaks in Nigeria, and address the underlying causes. This latest violence comes just over a year after Christian and Muslim clashes and the excessive use of force by the security forces responding to the conflict left more than 700 dead in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in central Nigeria.

“This is not the first outbreak of deadly violence in Jos, but the government has shockingly failed to hold anyone accountable,” said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Enough is enough. Nigeria’s leaders need to tackle the vicious cycle of violence bred by this impunity.”

Clashes between Christian and Muslim mobs reignited in Jos on Sunday morning, January 17, 2010. There are conflicting reports of what triggered the violence. Civil society leaders report that it began with an argument over the rebuilding of a Muslim home destroyed in the November 2008 violence in a predominately Christian neighborhood. The Plateau State police commissioner, Greg Anyating, said the trigger was an attack by Muslim youth on Christian worshippers in the Nassarawa Gwom district of Jos, an allegation that Muslim leaders deny.

According to credible reports from civil society leaders, and national and international media, the violence was carried out by sectarian mobs armed with guns, bows and arrows, and machetes. Roving gangs are reported to have burned and looted houses, cars, and shops, as well as several churches and mosques. There are also several credible reports that the military and police used excessive force in responding to the violence.

Jos crisis escalates "beyond official control"

Amidst conflicting reports on who or what actually started the latest round of bloodletting in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria, Saharareporters has learnt that the crisis has escalated beyond control and is fast spreading to other areas of the state. An eyewitness report told Saharareporters by e-mail today that the crisis reignited when one Mallam Kabiru Muhammad, whose house was burnt at the beginning of the latest fighting but also destroyed during last year's crisis of November 28 and 29th 2009, went with some bricklayers to rebuild his house. The Christians in the area allegedly stopped him from realizing his plans, telling him no non-indigene would be lowed to renovate his house in the area anymore. Although there no confirmation about exactly who started the physical attacks, our source claims the Christians were responsible, leading the Muslims, who had stockpiled weapons to begin a reprisal attack.

Somali pirate clashes over ransom kill at least six

Intense fighting between Somali pirate gangs over a record ransom amount paid for the release of a Greek oil supertanker has killed at least six people, elders and pirates said.

Three pirates and a civilian were killed in the latest bout of fighting that erupted in the town of Harardhere late Monday, elders and pirates told AFP by phone.

Tension has been high in the central Somali pirate lair since an estimated seven million dollars were dropped by a small plane on Sunday for the release of the VLCC Maran Centaurus.

The Greek-flagged supertanker is a third of a kilometre (300 yards) long and carrying two million barrels of crude oil.

"The situation is calm this morning but there is still tension between the pirates. Three of them, including a senior pirate leader, were killed so far and three others were injured," local elder Moalim Abdalla Hasan told AFP.

"We are trying to mediate between them because they are disturbing our peace. A civilian was killed in the crossfire and the residents are very concerned about this feud," he added.

Hasan Nile, a local grocer who could not open his shop on Tuesday because of the security situation in Harardhere, said the pirate vendetta involved heavy weapons.

Fresh Crisis Spreads In Jos

Despite the calmness, initially experienced yesterday in jos, renewed hostilities occurred at Rikkos, Bauchi ring-road, Ali Kazaurf, Congo Russia and Katako area of Jos this morning. According to our correspondent, with the resumption of hostilities in Jos this morning, Plateau State government in consultation with the state security council, reviewing prevailing situation in Jos metropolis has directed the immediate imposition of a twenty-four hour curfew in Jos and Bukuru. According to a police official, who declined to be identified, said as many as 60 people may have been killed since Sunday when clashes started Police initially imposed a nighttime curfew on Jos on Sunday to ease tensions and prevent a repeat of the November 2008 clashes that killed hundreds of residents. But violence flared up again on Tuesday, forcing the police to extend its curfew. In a statement by commissioner for information and communication, Gregory Yenlong, residents are advised to adhere strictly to the directive. "In view of this situation in town, I hereby declare a 24-hour curfew starting from now," said Gregory Anyating, the state's police commissioner.

As Jos boils: who is the commander-in-chief?

The sheer irresponsibility of a tiny power cabal keeping the country headless for selfish desires has again come to the fore with the bloodletting going on in Jos, Plateau State, without a Commander-In-Chief to take charge and deal with the situation. Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) notes with sadness that a little over a year after the last Jos crisis, another one has taken place, costing destruction of lives and property. It is more worrisome that the government has yet to take any concrete step on the previous crises in the city before the latest one broke.

What is more disturbing is that there is no Commander-In-chief who can even handle the situation effectively as President Umar Yar’adua has been away for 57 days now without handing over the reins of authority to his deputy.

It was the same situation when Farouk Mutallab saga happened and there was no president in Nigeria to talk to the American president.

24 hours after granting favourable ruling, Chief Judge Dan Abutu adjourns cases unfavourable to Yar'Adua

One after the other, the serious legal challenges to the continuation as President of ailing Nigerian leader, Umaru Yar’Adua, were this morning at the Federal High Court in Abuja adjourned by the Chief Judge, Dan Abutu. It all happened one day after the same judge heard a bogus case that was hurriedly filed last week, and determined that the Vice-President does not need a formal transfer of power to "act" as President with Yar'Adua incapacitated.

First to be adjourned today was the case filed by the Nigerian Bar Association. It was followed by the case filed by civil rights attorney Bamidele Aturu on behalf of Honourable Farouk. They were both adjourned by one week, until January 22, for judgment.The third case, filed by West Africa Bar Association president, Mr. Femi Falana, was more eventful, as Mr. Abutu found himself booted by the law to the sidelines.

The case was transferred to another judge as the plaintiffs asked the Chief Judge to recuse himself to avoid likely bias in the handling of the case since he has already given a suspicious judgment yesterday in a similar case before him.In his judgment in that matter, which was filed by hitherto unknown litigants only six days earlier on January 7, courtesy of Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, the Chief Judge declared that there is no vacancy in the presidency and as such Goodluck Jonathan can only act in those areas where Yar’Adua has delegated authority to him.

Nigeria House: New York City to sue Nigeria over unpaid real estate taxes

The city has filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan against the Nigerian government, claiming that the African nation failed to pay real estate taxes, officials announced today. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, claims that the Nigerian government failed to pay taxes for commercial offices and other non-tax exempt spaces in the 22-story building it owns at 828 Second Avenue in Manhattan.
The exact amount is not known because of the refusal of the Nigerian government to supply the city with documentation.As a result, the city is seeking between $4.1 million and upward of $16 million in unpaid taxes, other charges and interest from Nigeria, city officials said.The city provides a tax exemption to all foreign governments for their United Nations Mission and their consulates, officials said.The building -- known as “Nigeria House” -- is used partially for tax-exempt purposes, including as offices for the Nigerian Consulate and the Nigerian Mission to the UN.

Yar’ardua and The BBC hoax

The BBC said President Yar'adua spoke with them via a telephone. Under normal circumstances one would have expected more quality control from the BBC, but no, they chose to place themselves in the middle of a raging civil issue in Nigeria. They forgot that when a bystander pulls a gun in a fight, he is no longer a bystander. He has become an active combatant. I wonder if they wanted us to accept the hoax they perpetrated.

Of course, it is well known that was another hoax by the Yar'adua handlers to hood wink the country into believing that he is recuperating well. Is it not just coincidental that it was on the eve of the civil rights march to the National Assembly? Of course we had been warned 24 hours to the time that they had something for Nigerians and the telephone hoax was it! The question now becomes why did the BBC not insist as a sign of professional etiquette to have a face-to-face interview with the man.

Their inability to secure a sit down interview with the man is a sign that all is not well with Mr. President. Someone tried to pull off an elaborate hoax by pretending to be Mallam Yar'adua. That was not he and this will be the second scam in a month from the PDP. First it was the Oluwole budget and now this. I hope they know they will account for their misdeeds some day soon. As if that was not bad enough, the supposed Mr. President chose to talk to only Northern Nigeria. He supposedly granted an interview to BBC Hausa service alone. In other words, the rest of the country that I want to safely assume supposedly voted for him could go to hell. That means the rest of us who do not understand the Hausa language do not count. That means he is the President of Northern Nigeria and the rest of us are just convenient appendages, yet he will not let go of us to find our own.

Judicial Perfidy: Chief Judge Dan Abutu's "arranged" judgement-Hard Copy attached

Nigeria’s most bizarre judicial charade of the season, Federal High court in Abuja presided over by Chief Judge Dan Abutu endorsed the current vacuum created in the country by the continued absence of 'President' Umaru Musa Yar’Adua from his post. The suit filed late last week (January 7 2010) by Mr. Amobi Nzelu, an Abuja based lawyer acting in conjunction with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mike Aondoakaa, who was personally present in the court, declared that there is no vacuum whatsoever in the discharge of the functions of the President’s office.

The order of the court merely rubber-stamped the status quo ante-the stubborn refusal by ailing Yar'adua to hand over to his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan reportedly fell for the scam this time around!

Corruption up among China government officials

China's anti-corruption watchdog has said that 106,000 officials were found guilty of corruption in 2009, an increase of 2.5% on the year before.

The number of government officials caught embezzling more than one million yuan ($146,000; £91,000) jumped by 19% over the year.

The government says the increase is due to better supervision of the problem.

But corruption is consistently rated the number one concern by Chinese, ahead of pirated goods and pollution.

There is widespread anger at the ostentatious lifestyle enjoyed by some Communist Party officials, police chiefs and bosses of state-owned companies, says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Beijing.

With no independent oversight of the ruling communists, corruption has bloomed.

Yar’adua’s health status: The lies, cover up and manipulation continue

Rumors that Umaru Yar’adua, Nigeria’s sickly “president", had died swept through Nigeria and among Nigerians abroad after a hitherto little known website, “American Chronicles,” claimed in a report that the Nigerian “leader” had passed on December 10 2009 at the King Faisal Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The report, which turned to be false, quickly spread amongst Nigerians through the Internet and phone calls. Saharareporters received numerous telephone and email inquiries as to whether we could confirm the report.

The speculation about Yar’adua’s demise came on the heels of another news report carried by Lagos-based newspaper, Next, reports from sources that told the publication that Yar’adua was “brain-dead”.

A source in government in Abuja told Saharareporters that members of Yar’adua’s cabinet could not scramble to come up with a response to the Next story yesterday because Yar’adua’s absence had paralyzed governmental operations, and many ministers had skipped out of town, some of them abroad.

Segun Adeniyi, Yar’adua’s spokesperson, had traveled to watch the African Cup of Nations in Luanda while Information Minister, Dora Akunyili, had gone to Germany “to meet with her doctors and beauticians,” according to a presidency source. Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe was away in Ghana.

Last week, Ahmed Yayale, Secretary to the Federal Government, made what a source described as a “futile trip to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to assess Yar’adua’s condition.” This source said Yayale spent five days in Jeddah, but was not allowed to see Yar’adua. Our source said that, on his return three nights ago, Yayale voiced private fears to a few confidants that he feared Yar’adua was comatose.

Yayale’s failure to see Yar’adua also further exposed the lies orchestrated by Yar’adua’s handlers that the bed-bound “president” made phone calls to numerous officials, including VP Goodluck Jonathan, House Speaker Dimeji Bankole, and Senate President David Mark. Accounts of the alleged calls were leaked to the Nigerian press by Yar’adua’s Chief Economic adviser, Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi. The hoax was part of Mr. Kurfi’s effort to convince Nigerians that “Yar’adua was now recuperating well and well on his way to work and.”

Mexico opens 2010 with one of its deadliest days

Mexico opened the new year with what could be its most dubious distinction yet in the 3-year-old battle against drug trafficking — 69 murders in one day.

The country resembled a grim, statistical dart board Saturday as law enforcement and media reported the deaths from various regions, including 26 in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, 13 in and aroundMexico City and 10 in the northern city of Chihuahua.

More than 6,500 drug-related killings made 2009 the bloodiest year since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels in late 2006 and deployed 45,000 soldiers to fight organized crime, according to death tallies by San Diego's Trans-Border Institute.

Two weeks into 2010, gang bloodshed is becoming more grotesque as drug lords ramp up their attempts at intimidation. Last week a victim's face was peeled from his skull and sewn onto a soccer ball. On Monday, prosecutors in Culiacan identified the remains of 41-year-old former police officer divided into two separate ice chests.

"You wonder how this will end, and it seems impossible," said Daniel Vega, an architect in the northern city of Monterrey. "I doubt Mexico can override drug use, especially since demand for the drugs, as well as all the money and weapons, come from the United States."

Is president Yar’adua dead?

The Nigerian President Umar Yar’Adua has been away from duty since November 2009. The rumor about his health is as strong as that about his death. In the news, one could see statements such as “The president is sound and fit”; “President Yar’Adua spoke with the Vice-President, Senate President, and Speaker of the House of Representatives.” It is curious that President Yar’Adua could “speak” with those three Nigerian officials and not care to put through a call and speak with President Obama of USA about the recent terrorism event involving a Nigerian, which has made Nigeria to be included in the list of countries of interest to the USA with regard to terrorism.

Will it not be correct to claim that President Yar’Adua, who reportedly “spoke” with the three Nigerians mentioned above, did not know of the efforts by the Nigerian to bomb an airline, and the fallout of the action? Even if he did not know about it, which would be strange for someone who is “alive and well” and able to engage in three phone conversations with three different people on the same day, didn’t any of those three Nigerians raise the issue with him, especially considering the “ultimatum” issued to the American government by the Nigerian legislature? If President Yar’Adua knew about the bomb affair and the resultant inclusion of Nigeria in the ignoble list that has generated a lot of anger among some Nigerians, and yet did not deem it necessary to call up President Obama could this not be interpreted as one more piece of evidence that President Yar’Adua is selfish and only cares about himself, his position, and power? Assuming President Yar’Adua was able to engage in the phone conversations that he reportedly did, and he did not send a single message to Nigerians, especially those who have been “praying” for him (none of the three officials conveyed to Nigerians any goodwill messages from Yar’Adua for the new year) would it not be appalling and buttress the perception that this president has no regard for Nigerians and their feelings?