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Thursday, April 2, 2015
Nigerian to die in Indonesia for drug trafficking
Local media report on Thursday in Jakarta, said another Nigerian, Simon Ezeaputa, has been sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
It said the district court in Tangerang, near Jakarta, on Wednesday found Ezeaputa guilty of controlling a drug transaction from his prison cell, where he was serving a 20-year jail term for drug offences. The report said the transaction involved 350 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
With the latest development, more than 60 people are on death row in Indonesia for drug offences. The report said Indonesia executed six drug convicts in January and was preparing to put to death another 10 death-row inmates. It said these include two Australians who have been the subject of a diplomatic row between Jakarta and Canberra.
Meanwhile, the Amnesty International said in its annual report on the death penalty worldwide released on Wednesday that “Indonesia stood out for all the wrong reasons.”
Papang Hidayat, Head, Amnesty Researcher, Indonesia, said the death penalty was always a human rights violation. He said there were many issues in Indonesia, in particular fair trial concerns, that make death sentences more complicated. Hidayat said investigations by human rights groups have found that individuals sentenced to death have been tortured and forced to sign police investigation reports.
APC congratulates Buhari, commends President Jonathan, Nigerians
The All Progressives Congress has congratulated Gen. Muhammadu Buhari for his historic victory in Saturday’s Presidential election, while thanking Nigerians for voting massively for the party to bring in a new dawn after a long dark night.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Gen. Buhari’s victory will make Nigeria work again, rekindle hope and bring succour to the long suffering people of the country.
”Nigerians have used their votes to bring change. We hear their message loud and clear: They want a government that works, and will not hesitate to use the same votes to kick out any government that fails to deliver,” it said. APC also commended President Goodluck Jonathan for the rare sportsmanship he exhibited by conceding defeat and congratulating Gen. Buhari, even before INEC formally declared him as the winner. The party said by that singular act, which went a long way in dousing post-election tension, the President has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, written his name in gold in the annals of Nigeria’s history and catapulted himself to a statesman.
APC said it is time for all Nigerians, irrespective of their political leaning, to put the acrimonious electioneering campaign behind them and to forge a united front to tackle the enormous challenges facing the nation. ”The APC-led Federal Government will work for all Nigerians, whether or not they voted for us in the elections, or did not even vote at all,” the party assured. ”Our party will not discriminate against any Nigerian on the basis of religion, region, ethnicity or gender. We are all God’s own people.” APC said it will also appreciate a virile opposition, because it is indispensable in any democracy that is worthy of that nomenclature. ”
Having been in opposition ourselves, we know what it means to keep the government of the day on its toes with very robust and constructive criticism, and we expect no less from those who have swapped places with us,” the party said.
It commended the media for staying true to its constitutional watchdog role, saying without the support of this Fourth Estate of the Realm, Nigeria may neither have enjoyed democracy nor sustained it. APC thanked ECOWAS, the African Union, the EU, the UN and the entire international community for their support for the country’s democratisation process, describing as invaluable their role in the success of the ongoing political transition.
Ex- late Yar'Adua's spokesman berates OBJ, lauds President Jonathan for putting Nigeria 1st.
In his article titled ‘In Losing Power, Goodluck Jonathan Finally Finds Himself’, chairman of the publication board, Thisday Newspapers & previous Special Adviser on Communications to late President Yar’Adua, Segun Adeniyi subbed OBj and lauded Jonathan for putting Nigeria first.
He wrote;
“The fact most people ignore is that given the objection of his party to the use of the card reader, if the president had stormed out of the polling unit at Otuoke when three card readers failed him, that probably would have been the end of the election. And by now, Nigeria would be on the boil. Fortunately for all of us, Jonathan chose not to travel that familiar road often trudged by African leaders and history will forever be kind to him for it.” Read the full article after the cut…
Because those who survive on rent in our country are adept at marketing their greed, they always succeed in selling to whoever occupies the number one office in Nigeria at any period that he is not only above the law, he is so powerful that he can never be defeated in an election. But with the current defeat of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), it is now very clear that the president of Nigeria is human, afterall and he can be ousted by the same people whose votes put him in power. That message has been most eloquently passed and our country will never remain the same again. It is a new day!
For sure, the president of Nigeria has enormous financial resources he can mobilise at any given time while the security agencies and critical institutions of state work at his pleasure regardless of what is written in the Constitution. And he is forever surrounded by clowns and jobbers of all sorts—I was privileged to have seen many of them at work in the Villa—who sing the mantra that, as “President and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”—a title that is so needlessly repeated for his pleasure almost as if it is a line in the national anthem—he has such unlimited power that he can even turn a man into a woman. Now we know better.
I wrote that three months ago and I have been proved to be correct. However, despite the bitterness that characterised the 2015 presidential election campaigns, President Jonathan redeemed himself when it mattered most not only by the way he gracefully accepted defeat and congratulated Buhari even before the collation of results was concluded on Tuesday but also by the manner in which he rose to the occasion last Saturday.
How and why Jonathan lost will be a subject of interrogation in my coming book but it is a pity that his handlers paid scant attention to my warning of 19 January 2012, in a piece titled “Their Son, Our President”, which rankled Aso Rock and for which someone procured the services of hacks to attack me. I hope that Jonathan’s people will go back to read (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/their-son-our-president/107435/) and reflect on what might have been had they taken counsel in the Yoruba adage that when your tuber of yam is growing too big, you use your hand to cover it.
I will be a bloody hypocrite to say that I was praying for Jonathan to win the presidential election. To be honest, I felt the country could do with some Change (even if I still don’t know its content) because of the way Jonathan mismanaged a couple of serious national issues, especially the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east. There was also this academic interest about whether the proposition in my May 2011 research paper ‘Divided Opposition as Boon to African Incumbents’ on factors shaping incumbent elections in Africa with special focus on Nigeria, would prove to be correct. Now that my thesis has been validated, I enjoy no real satisfaction that Jonathan is leaving office this way because, despite my misgivings about some of the people around him or his mixed stewardship, I still have a strong affection for the president who I consider a very good man.
Buhari vows to eradicate Boko Haram when he gets into office
In a meeting with foreign news media CNN yesterday night, Nigeria’s leader elect Gen. Buhari guaranteed to “plug” corruption and pulverize Boko Haram in 2 months.
He told CNN’s Amanpour from Abuja the previous evening
“We know how they started and where they are now and we will rapidly give attention to security in the country. And I believe we will effectively deal with them in two months when we get into office. We will be needing the cooperation of neighbouring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger. There were efforts made by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, but it was not good enough and it came rather late”
“We expected the Federal Government four years ago to sit down with these countries andmake sure they do not allow the terrorists free movement across borders, training facilities and movement of weapons. These were only done a few months ago and we have seen how Cameroon, Chad and Niger are fighting Boko Haram more than Nigeria is doing until recently. Really we have seen enough and we have enough law enforcement to face Boko Haram squarely.”
Buhari said the military didn’t perform as well as they should have because of corruption in the system
“They will…if you recall, the Nigerian soldiers out of all ethical expectations were granting interviews to foreign journalists, saying they were being sent to fight terrorists without proper weapons. And then the National Assembly attempted to conduct a hearing to find out how much money was approved for training and weapon in the last three years but that hearing was scuttled by the administration.”
Aluta Continua..!! Seun Kuti thanks APC leader, The Jagaban for bringing change to Nigeria
GMB may have imprisoned his dad yet Seun Kuti appears to have proceeded onward from it.
He took to twitter to express gratitude toward Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for conveying change to Nigeria…
Photos: Atiku Abubakar meets Buhari in Abuja to congratulate him
The previous VP met with the president-choose yesterday in Abuja to praise him on winning the presidential race.
He imparted the photographs on his Facebook page. Another pic when you proceed.
Abia PDP accuses INEC of double standard !
The Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has commended President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat at last Saturday’s presidential poll.
The Chairman of PDP in the state, Senator Emma Nwaka, who addressed journalists on Wednesday in Umuahia on the outcome of the elections, said Jonathan had by conceding defeat distinguished himself as “an icon of peace.”
He said the President had by his peaceful disposition demonstrated that he valued Nigeria’s peace and unity more than his personal interest. Nwaka called on the nation’s leaders to emulate him. Nwaka, however, blamed Jonathan’s electoral misfortunes on the Independent National Electoral Commission, which he accused of introducing two different rules for the polls.
He argued that whereas voters in the South, a region considered Jonathan’s stronghold were strictly adhering to the use of card readers for accreditation, manual accreditation was allowed for voters in the North. This, he said, accounted for the low number of accredited voters recorded in the South during the polls, a situation he said gave Buhari an edge over Jonathan.
He argued that if the massive number of voters who trooped out in the South to vote but could not be accredited following the failure of card readers were allowed to vote, Jonathan would have won. Nwaka described the card reader as a huge disaster but urged the PDP faithful to remain calm and steadfast in their support for the party.
On the continued delay in announcing the result of the Abia North senatorial election , Nwaka called on INEC to declare the winner of the contest without any further delay so as not to undermine the integrity of the exercise. He claimed that the PDP candidate had been declared winner in four out of the five councils in the zone by the collation officers, and urged INEC to declare him winner.
Nwaka said it was unacceptable for INEC to fail to declare the winner of the contest four days after the poll.
Jega for Nobel award !
Now that the change in the political leadership we desire in Nigeria has become a reality, what is our immediate need? Stable, relatively cheap electricity is our major need.
The multiplier effect of uninterrupted electricity cannot be over-emphasised. Our moribund refineries must work again. I salute Prof. Attahiru Jega’s uncommon determination for success. l recommend Jega for a Nobel Peace award. Except God, no one could have restrained Jega from losing his head when Godsday Orubebe acted the fool in the full glare of cameras.
Pastor Taiwo Ekun-ode,
SangOta, Ogun State,
+2348059052
Pay dying Imo contractors
It is no longer news that an Army of Imo State contractors under the aegis of unpaid Imo contractors are being owed over N180bn since 2011.
The contracts range from road construction, buildings, supply and other civil engineering works. Unfortunately, the association has suffered untold hardship in accessing their pay before the administration (which keeps on making failed promises) inspite of the harassment meted out to its members by banks over loans.
Worst still, 19 of their members have reportedly died of heart attack,while government is insisting it is owing none. This serves as a distress call to the state governor, Rochas Okorocha,who claims to be running a rescue mission.
ONYEYIRI Chidi,
Owerri, Imo State,
+2348035428
We may return to the Creeks, says Asari-Dokubo
A former Niger-Delta militant, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, says with the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan, he and other militants may be forced to return to the creeks.
Asari-Dokubo, who hails from the same state as Jonathan, said the voting pattern showed that the South-West and the North ganged up against the South-South and South-East geo-political zones.
The ex-militant said in a statement by his spokesperson, Rex Anighoro, that it was unfair that the minorities were being emasculated by the majority ethnic groups. He said he feared that the government of the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, would be vicious.
Asari-Dokubo said,
“The conditions that advanced the need to embrace the creeks have been sadly re-energised. It is clear that a vicious government who may maim and murder the voice of the so-called minorities may have just been birthed. “Indeed integration is non-existent as regional gang-ups and supremacy is symbolic with this victory.”
The ex-militant, who had in January said he and his colleagues would wreak havoc if Jonathan lost the election, praised the President for being a true statesman. He said it was the struggle of the militants that led to the Jonathan presidency. Asari-Dokubo said since the South-South had lost the presidency, ex-militants would meet to decide the next line of action.
He said,
“While President Jonathan enjoys his moments and basks in the euphoria of a new world-renowned statesman having congratulated Muhammadu Buhari, we must quickly be reminded that our struggle was never about Jonathan or about the presidency. “President Jonathan is an establishment beneficiary of our struggle, our sweat and blood that many bled and died for. He was never in the struggle and he can never wish away our collective march for statesmanship.“Yes indeed, to an extent, he was a mitigating factor in self-determination pursuit as we went on sabbatical. This mitigation he seems to have willingly repudiated. The days coming will be critical. We shall study all the conditions and consult widely before determining the way forward for our collective existence and survival as a people. The days coming shall either drive the quest of integration or further separate us.”
Jega & his colleague profs
Watching how the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, was relating with his colleagues, all professors and heads of universities in the country, at the presidential election collation centre, is a lesson in civility for us all to imbibe.
You could see the show of respect from these distinguished academia to their colleague, Prof. Jega in their presentation of the collated presidential election results, notwithstanding that they are equal in the academics.
This culture of respect exhibited by these professors is a challenge to our youths to emulate. Respect your elders and those in authority with civility. But the challenge to the system now is that; how will a successor in office to Jega, who is not an academia draw from this poll of academia? This is a food for thought.
Prof. Jega, well done for this initiative in election process management.
Gabriel Ipheghe,
206 Road, FESTAC Town,
Lagos State,
+2348022920
Palestine Officially joins ICC
Palestine has formally attained membership of the International Criminal Court, a move that could open the door to possible war crime indictments against Israeli officials despite uncertainty over its wider ramifications.
The accession on Wednesday is another landmark in the Palestinian diplomatic and legal international campaign, which gained steam in 2014.
The Palestinians moved to join The Hague-based court on January 2, in a process that was finalised on Wednesday, setting the scene for potential legal action.
“Palestine has and will continue to use all legitimate tools within its means in order to defend itself against Israeli colonisation and other violations of international law,” said senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat.
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from The Hague, said despite their membership, the Palestinians may still have to wait for the ICC to begin investigating Israelis accused of war crimes.
“This is such a heavily politicised case, that the court will have to think hard before taking action against the Israelis. It may be years before we something.”
Diana Chehade, a former ICC official, told Al Jazeera, preliminary examinations could be completed by the end of this year, but the court would not investigate cases already being looked in to by other judicial institutions.
“Based on the principle of complimentarity, the ICC would not investigate if an Israeli judicial institution is investigating a war crime to ICC standards,” Chehade said.
Students held hostage in Kenya university attack
Masked gunmen have attacked a university in the town of Garissa in northeast Kenya, police said, as ongoing gunfire could be heard from the university premises.
Witnesses said explosion and heavy gunfire rocked Garissa University College early on Thursday as the gunmen stormed the complex. Ambulances were seen driving injured students to local hospitals.
The gunmen were holding an “unknown number of student hostages,” the Kenya Red Cross said in a statement. Some “50 students have been safely freed”, the organisation said.
Police spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki told Al Jazeera that the situation is ongoing and that the gunmen were holed up inside the university complex.
“The attackers shot the guards at the entrance of the university. Police officers responded but the attackers managed to get into the [university] hostel,” she said.
“We can confirm that two watchmen were killed; we cannot confirm student casualties,” Mboroki added.
Local journalists, however, reported that at least 10 bodies were brought to a hospital in Garissa.
“The Kenyan Defence Force and all security agencies within Garissa have been deployed to the scene,” Mboroki said.
The attack on the university facility began at dawn, Alinoor Moulid, a freelance journalist based in Garissa, told Al Jazeera.
“According to some of the students who escaped, there are around five gunmen and they entered the university dormitory while students were sleeping,” Moulid said.
“It is hard to tell [about casualties] because the area is now cordoned off, and it is heavily guarded,” he added.
Letter To Mr President
I have watched in the past years up till this moment how things have unfolded since you came into power as The President Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria and I will commend your efforts so far amidst criticisms this letter might bring up from anyone.
Sir, you are the only president I know that has ruled with so much pain, pressure, abuses, attacks, hate and still, in one way or the other made meaningful progress in this nation whether haters accept it or not. Sometimes I wonder if you eat well, sleep well or even have a personal time with yourself, your wife and your family.
Sir, you developed other parts of this country so well, still they couldn’t stand for you when you needed them, and the South that was yet to enjoy you as their son still stood by you and gave you their votes. This just goes to show that blood indeed is thicker than water. You are our own and we will never reject or abandon you.
As you have accepted our new President Elect General Muhammadu Buhari so have we, and as we love you, so do we equally have a deep regard for him.
You are the only selfless Nigerian President who had no problem giving up his dreams, aspirations and ambition for the safety of his people. For this sir, we owe you a debt of eternal gratitude, for you have given us a new story for our children, a new song in our mouth. You actually achieved your transformation agenda by transforming Nigerian politics, the People’s Democratic Party, Nigerian History and so many other sectors.
A president that was highly and widely scorned is now a president that is highly and widely celebrated, one to reckon with.
Take a bow Mr. President, for you have rewritten our political history.
You are a legend and my hero sir, THANK YOU.
Signed
A Nigerian citizen with the love of country at heart!
Abang Dove is a writer, a poet, an entrepreneur and an activist, she blogs HERE tweets @abangdove and you can also reach her HERE
PDP congratulates Buhari, alleges irregularities
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has congratulated Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) for winning the March 28 Presidential Election.
It said if the outcome of the election, which its candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, lost, was the wishes of the people, it would respect it.
The party’s position was contained in a statement by its National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, in Abuja on Thursday.
His position appears to be at variance with the views expressed by agents of the party during the collation of the votes in Abuja early this week.
One of the party’s agents, Col. Bello Fadile(retd.), had said the party would challenge the outcome of the election at the election petitions tribunal.
Mua’zu, in his statement, also said the party noticed some irregularities in the conduct of the election.
The party’s complaints on such irregularities, he said, would be channelled through the appropriate quarters.
The former governor of Bauchi State nevertheless went ahead to congratulate Buhari for winning the election.
He said, “We also congratulate the APC flag bearer, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, for his resilience and victory in this election while wishing him success in the onerous task of leading our nation once again.”
Details later…
Photos: PDP Governors pay solidarity visit to President Jonathan.
PDP Governors led by the Chairman of the PDP governors forum, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state, paid a solidarity visit to President Jonathan at the Presidential villa yesterday April 1st.
The governors inattendance were Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta); Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe); Ramalan Yero (Kaduna); Lyel Imoke (Cross River); Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Sullivan Chime (Enugu); Jonah Jang (Plateau); Martin Elechi (Eboyi); and Idris Wada (Kogi).
Speaking with newsmen.
Mama Peace calls on Nigerian women to support Mrs Buhari
1st Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has approached all Nigerian ladies to show backing to the approaching first woman, Mrs Aisha Buhari.
In a celebratory message signed by her media assistant, Ayo Adewuyi, Mrs Jonathan wished Mrs Buhari well in her new errand as First Lady of Nigeria.
“The First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan (Mama Peace) has congratulated the wife of the President elect, Hajia Aisha Buhari on the election of her husband, Gen Muhammadu Buhari. The First Lady appeals to the Nigerian women to work with Hajia Aisha Buhari and give her the maximun support to make her succeed in her new assignment. The First Lady (Mama Peace) wishes her well in her new task.” the message read in part
OBJ writes GMB a letter
The full text of the letter below…
I hasten to congratulate you on your success and victory in the Presidential Elections of March 28, 2015. Your success and victory after three previous unsuccessful attempts must be great object lessons for you and for all politicians, particularly in Nigeria. For me, the totality of 2015 elections hold many lessons for our democracy and democratisation process, which are both maturing. On this occasion, the system has been unnecessarily overheated before and particularly during the campaigns when emphasis was more on trivialities and hate, divisive, undignifying and disrespectful statements and comments rather than on pressing issues requiring attention.
I know that in victory, you will be magnanimous to start binding the wounds and bitterness occasioned by the campaign and the evil disciples.
With so much harm already done to many national institutions including the military, which proudly nurtured you and me, you will have a lot to do on institution reform, education, healthcare, economy, security, infrastructure, power, youth employment, agribusiness, oil and gas, external affairs, cohesiveness of our nation and ridding our land of corruption.
Your varied and wide experience will undoubtedly stand you in good stead. I am also sure that there are men and women of goodwill, character and virtue across the board that you can mobilise to join hands with you in the reform, repairs and redirection that will be imperative to put Nigeria back on the fast lane of good governance, unity, cohesiveness, development and progress.
Once again, I felicitate with you and wish you well.