NEWS
'''lg~ llan lrlbune 4 Tuesday, 23 October, 20 11
:B;~::,~"S'~ LG poll: Lagos boils as LASIEC declares ACN winners reguiarilit'Sthal marred last Sa turday's elET lions in Lagos State, <1CX'Using the slllie electoral body and the ACN of conspiracy. Th e pa rty. in a sla tcmen! issued by ils national publicity secret?ry. ProfesSOl Rufai Ahmed A1 kal ~ in Abu? OIl Monclay, So."1id it was profoundl y sad and d~ppoin~ with the CDIlduct ofthe election. Aa:ording to the PDP, " the massive rigging and manip ulation of figures, as well as Ule witJ-.holding of results 1:<)' the ACN controlled-LASIEC.,lI go to expose the hypocrisy o f the ACN .w hich is quick to shout loud mUlder whenever they lose e1"Xlions." It recaIIed thaI it had eMlier alerted the people of Lagos Stale to what it called the delibcr.Jte 1l"l'?iISI..lreS put in placc by tile ftCN 10 predetcrmil-e thedulromeoftl'll! e.'<CI'risc, adding that while it never doubted till! ACN's capacity for mischief. the rond uct of ACN as well asthe:tlffof l..ASI.ECin tllis election "beals our wid-
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est imaginatioo." The PDP commended i~rnndida tt!S and supporters fo r "braving a ll the odds and putting up a great showing. in spite Of the numerousobsti1Cles erected by the h}')XICl'itica1 ACN gov· cnunent in Lagos." It added that "in a free and fair contest. the PDP remains Ute party to beat in eadl and every state o[Nig~ ri a." w hile urging its members and supporters to remi1in calm and law abiding. as "we are prepared to usc every available legitimilte means 10 ensure that t1te will of the people is truly expressed." It called the law enforcement agencies to e nsure that those LASlEC ol6cials arrested for electoml fraud did not escape justice. tnanotherdevelopment. the sporadic shooting from hoodlums sent residents of Ikoyi inlo ronfusion.. as the developmen t forced motorisls to ab."lndon the area. A resident. who spoke w ith the Nigerian Tribwlf' on cunditiun of ano-
nym.ity. appealedtotheFederal Govemmenl lo intervene, Has the poliO! in lagos are partisan."
Shell wa.rns workers Followi ng the shootings. Ihe Shell Petrolcum Company sent short message servl~ (SMS) to its wo rkers to avoid the troubled spoL The text message read: ..Staff ilre advised to avoid Kingsway ro."1d bet:ause of sporadic shooting as a result ofpoliti c.a.lgaUteringby Golden Gilte Res taurant. opposite Eti Osa LCOA." However, the spokesman fo r the sta te police com mand. M r Sa muel Jinadu. confirmed the " mino r unrest a ro und Obalende and Ikoyi," bu t claimed th at anti- riot policemen had been drafted 10 tile area. Tension also enveloped Somolu Local Govemment Area . as ilng ry yo uths maintained thei r readiness around 4.00 p.m to protest tJ'II! alleged milnipuJation of the election in fa vou r of a
Det·enh·on: Baba Suwe challenges court order
Ake~m Na.Hu and Shol a A_dekoJa. Lapos
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CE comedian. Habatund e O m id in;!. a.k.a Baba S u ...-e. on Monday. asked a Federal High Court ill Lagos,. presidO'd over by Justice Qkoo,ukwu Okeke. to vacate i!.1l order he gave last Friday. whkh empowe red the Nati!'na l Drug Law EnforC'eU1ent Agency (NOLEA) to dchin him for add itional 15 days. The request fl)mled part o f a molion o n notice he brought, pursuant 100rder 26 Ru le 11 of the Federa l High Cou rt (C" ' i1 PrDO!durc) Rules. 2Q:19. The artiste, -.v-hile asking foran order" fthecourt discharging 01 vaca ting the order issued by Justice Okeke. argued t~at the application for thE- order obmined by the NDLEA was grossly irregular and ronstitu ted an abuS( of tlle p rocesses of the COl' rL In the mofic n riled by his counsel, Bamide le At u ru. lJaba. f:u we a lso argued that Ule application for the order ohtained by the respondenl was C(lntrary to public .JOlicy and constituted a wanlon violation o f his fundamental righls. The motion :5 expected to be hcard lom :muw. TIle N DLEA it will be recalled. had ill rested UIC comedian on C'ctober 12, wh ile trying to lnard an Air Fmnce plane to Paris, after th'! scan ning machine at Ihe Murlil ta Mllhilmmed International Airport had. a ll ~edly indiCilled Umt he had ingesled substances c us ~-.ecled to b.! lIard dl\lgs.
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Meanwhile. . the N DLEA. on Monday, denied the rumour that Baba Suwe excreted w raps of cocaine or any oUler hard drugs. Its spokesman, MitcheU Ofoyeju. in a telephone interview with tile Ni . •00000an Tribune. d~cribed ~;~_
thl' acto r had started excreting drugs. The rumour that Baba Sun-1! had eXCl1!ted 16 pellets of cocaine led the Nigerian Tribune to call the NDLEA officials for confirmation.. wh.idl they denied. Acrording to O foy',' u, "the storv is un tru" there
the
is noth.ing new. he is still under observation....
lTuc, the rumourdoing
round s on Monday that
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partirular candidate. A resident, O latund e Vinrenl, w hile speaking with the Niserian Trl~ sa id the electoral of· 6daLs were reluctant to an· f1OUI'"Irethewinneroflhee\ection. ~beCil U se their favoured candidate lost.. Nigerian Ambassador to Gh"na and chieftain of the POP in Lagos, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro. described the results anno unced by LASIEC as " another annu lment by Solil Ahmed TInubu." Accordi ng to him, Hwe h.we the results £rom aU the Wlits in this local govemment area (Ikoyi /Obalende). PDP won in every ward in this council and yet LASIEC has a n nounced a different result entirely. "nle resu lts from the uni ts are here. There was no rollation by LASIEC. so where d id Uley get the resuit they an no un~d 1 We view the w hole thing as another annulment by Bola Ahmed Tinubu and it will not stand . ~ He alleged that people h. d",d b.d" "hoodlums fund ed b}' Tinubu" sholathimandothl'rPDP members at lkoyi I Oba le nde area while anou ncing Ule resu lt bf the election.
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f'E CenlTal Bank o f Nigeria (cnN) governor, MalJilm Lamido Sanus i. on M.onday. sa id the subsidy on ferti lisers to N igerian farmers by the Federal Government is a fraud, say ing th at onl y about 11 per cen t of thc subsidised fertilisers get to the farmers. The CDN boss. who made this known during an intemctive session with the House Committee on Agriculture, said most bags of fertilisers getting to Ule fa.ITfl('CS Hare half sand and h"lf fertilisers.... . He equa lly lame nted that "the nation's agrirultural sector is undcrperfonning and under-funded," adding that. "the fertilisers supplied to farlllers do not actua ll y weigh up to 5Okg." Part of the problems racing the agri rultu re sector. according 10 rum, was that the M tion's banking sedor fOlUld it difficult to invest in it, beCause values of rommodities 1V('Ct' yet tobe fL'Ced
in the rountry. " It is diUicuit to rlX tile financial value chain un til the nation can rlX the rommodity value chain .... he said, adding that the CON ,vol..lid rUld a way to unlock _. l ru nd s fo r ·mv"",men .. d·IIlg to h I' Ill, "ccor "N'Igena . ,s agnc . ul lure sector has enonnous potential wit h an opportuni ly to grow output by l60per ren t (rom N I4.85 trillion today to NJ8.4 trillion by 2030." M,1I.m Sa".,; also 1,-
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exports of key oops likecocoa, groundnuts. groulldJlut oil and p.1lm oil since 1960. saying thai " in the 19t50s. Nigeria had over 60 per cent of global palm oil exports. 30 per cent of globa l groundn ut exports, 20 10 30 pe r cent of g loba l ground nut oil exports and IS per cent of global CQCO."1 exports.... He said by 2000, Nigeria global share of eXports of eadl {If these crops was five per renl or less. Sallusi mentioned iIisufriden t insu rance as factor milililtingag."1insl tllCgruwth
"",;';oo~;n!lad'g'l'."'OY;-
handled the local go\'emmen! elections. "We want to slatc lhilt the prOC(!ss hils not 1recn sa ti s fa ctory. iI developmcnt whidl portends dangerforourdemOCTilC}'," the s tate ment read . The council So"1id it noliced hiccups in the p rocess which had . in effect. delayed the anno uncement of the results since Saturday. According to the elder5' cou lld i. Lagosians d eserved their victory and LASlEC had manipulated it. Also, the South-West chapte r of the PDP. in a statement issued by its natio na I \' ice cha irm an. Alha;i Ta;udecn O lildipo, has urged Nigerians to note of "the unm vclling of the fake d emocrats in Ihf ACN."who he accused 0 l1lilnipulaling the results r the election. He accused the ACI and LASIEC of t;unpering with the mandates "freely given" to candidates of tile PDr in the variOus coundis and \powed that the PDP wo u ld pu,,", 'h, matter to a 10giCilI condusion.
CIb."1lende. Eredo, Somolu, Agb."1do--OkeOdo.Ojoand also ilion many rouncillorTake your case to ship p:!Sitions in all the arcourt, LASIEC tells cas of tllC state. aggrieved politicians "Werondemn these unLagos PDP, elders democrntic lendenties as it The chainniln.. LASIEC. I d· tl .gh f Justire Adeyinka, on Monreject resu ts : ;1 s agaUlSt n ts 0 day, told members of the TIle L.lgOS State chap- ' ~~tornte," Lac said. . agg rieved political parties terof the fOP has rejected d il Illg .on s:os r~l- 10 lake lheir C3S('S to tile 10.c_ ~ 'I '_ of "_ local gov ents to n se against t ie ,,' go".,nm'n ' . 1" "·0" U"" .....,. . '" u"" - . . . "b LASI EC emment elections released " injustice y • petition tribunal. as he anb LASIEC 11 • Ih t Kos ho-edo said , " this i!! nounced tha t the ACN y .• a egmg a the time to stand flJr our "0" ~.'· m"--'u·p _,,_ ,.n tlleY were manipulated. I d U1 n!>I .,.... "" democratic rig 1110 loose 20 local govemrnent areas r'D" T our representatives our- and 37 load cou ncil de\'d~1 'W selves." opment area!". of the sector. sayi ng that Also. Lagos PDP elders nle PDP won 18 rowl"only 500.000 of Nigeria's cO!Jnci l has eX P its cillorship seats; Congress ilgrirultural produrers have dis pleasure wit t 1e re- for P rogressive Cha nge access to if\5l.1fil.nce.... s uits announced by (CPC) won two councillorSpeaking earlier. d1air- LAS~lf' tay ing ~hat it shi p seats,. while the elecman of the committee, was 0 manip ations. tion in Ward H, Mushin, Honourable Mohammed In a statement signed by was said to be incondusive. M oguna, h-.....~ SiU·d ., luyom Finnih on ........... ,"'. u .... ......... _ 'I ~ ~ ...., o. Ulf'rea- Chief bel Ir Of,c _i ·1 I.A.'U _ ·".f--~"ctof"son .,ulCY invited u'" Minisf la h 0cl utt:counod .acoPI' c'''''' ''''' ......... u ... f 0 w I I was ma e avai "I~on. ",. '"<IEC , 1 ,.;,tryo Agricultureandagenbl h N '-~"'" Trl .. ,:~u U .. l.t-.:1 ... cies under it was to cross a e to t e atI man sai d the announcefertilise ideas on Ull' chal- b~ the elders Silid it was men! of the reBult was delenges facing th e sector. reg re tt able that LASIEC . layed in order for tile romwith a view to finding last- was not . transpa re l~t mission to get the iKCUrnte enough With the IVay II "gu_ ing solutions to them. ]I .......
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' , subm'.dy, a fraud Fertiliser Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Danie l, A buJ a
TItestate chi1innanofthe p.'lrty, MrSetonji Koshoedo. e)(p~ed his d ispleasure at the lASlECs annowlCt!'ment on Monday evcning. slating thai the results announced were differen t (rom what was collated at the various polling booths and collation centres.. While announcing the results,. LASlEC chairman. Justice Abdulfatai Adeyinka,. had said the ACN won all Ihe chairmanship seats in the 20 local government and 36 local council development ilreas of Ule st.lte. while PDP only won 18 out of the 365 councillorsh ip position. In a swift reaction. KosIlOedo rejectOO the resul~aliegingtl~"1tit l~'dbeenforged by lASIEClosuitilspaymastcr". He said tile party would dlnllenge the "injustiC'e" at the tribunal. adding that PDP had won cha innanship in some local go\'emment Meas. con trary to what LASIEC aJUlOlmced. According to hi m, resuits rollaled by PDP party agents s howed that the party won cha irmanship
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: ovs d rag FG to Supreme Court
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11'11! goVCM"lors had to court to. among ot lers. seek for an order compelling thc Fl'de ral Governmen t to pay into the redemtion Accounltl-.e sum of N551 trillion, being thebalanee of the sum which accrued to the govern ment from the proceeds of cm de oil Solles, petroleum profits ta x and oil ro),alties between 2004 and. 2007. They a lso as ked the court 10 o rder the Federal Govemlllcni to transfer inlo the Fedcrn tion Acrowlt. all sums standing to the credit.
nil' parties in the suit then exploited avenues of out of rou rt settlement for over one year and, indeed, agreed on a settlement. but Ule settlement so reached could not be inlplemented and. IVas also not entered as Ule judgmenl of the court. Consequently. the Cil5C was set down (or trial and p-1rties were directed to exchange briefs. It will be rec."llJed that tllCgOvelllors went to court to dmllenge the action, conduct tlnd activities of the redernl Government, with rcspect to the milnagemcnt and 0 ration of the Fed-
era tion Account. Howe,·er. the court did not sit on the dilYS sdleduled and the CilSC had re.: mained unscheduled. Whileurginglherourt to gmnt their appliCiltiCiIl. Ule governors Mid the}' had satis fi ed a ll Ihe rl'quiremcnts of law to entitle them 10 the injunctive rt'liefbeing sought. According to Ihem, there was a substantial issue of law bordering on the constitutionalily of the Fed('ml Government 's power to create separale account. as ;!gainst-the spirit ;mel. Ictter of the ronstitution. _ _