TI-lEGUARDIAN,Thesday IUne 14,201I
81 NEWS
Dropped CPC 'candidates' seek refund of nomination fees From fzlIoct. ttmh. Abuj.a
UBSTITUTED -candid'Hes· of Congres!Ii for Progressive Cha nge (ePC) who Ion In the party's pri· maries have askrod the
S
National
Executive
Comnl lttee ( NEC) to rerum!
the money they paid for the expressIOn or Interest and nomination fonns for the "pol20n genera l elections. In a leiter dat ed May JI .
2011, il nd signed by one "Ihajj Lawan Danwawu as
chairman
and
Shehu
Us man Umaru. srcret ary and copied to the party's
president ial chairman, Trustees,
candida te. Board of Gen.
Muhammadu Buharl ; ere National Chairman, Prince Tony Mamoll and the Nallonal Secretary, Bubol
GaJadlma, which was also m ade ava ilabl e to The
The decision to seek this refund is based on the happenings at the just-concluded primaries in Kana State, where the party single-handedly substituted our names against the wishes of the teeming supporters of the party, who voted for us at the primaries GuardJ.m in Ab uj a. the can· did ates sa id they wt re d emand ing for the refund because o f their belief th at th e party d id not allow them to run In the primar. les as they were all subst ltuu,d with o th e r candl· da tes a fter th ei r victory a t the primaries. Th e "ca ndidates· nOled thaI the party's NEC failed to react t o their earlier let· t er on th e same Issue, which they su b mi tted on May 16, 2011 a nd, therdore, threa umed to drag the par·
Iy to co urt sho uld It fall 10 refund the money. The pet iti oners claimed that at the 2011 general elec· tlons, candidate who won the primaries we re s ubstl· tuted w ith persons, who In some cases d id no t particl· pate In th e p rimaries: h en ce th t)' regarded the m· selw-s as no t wanted In the party. "We are once more writing to remind the NEC of the CPC of our resolw- to seek fo r the refu nd o f our e-xpression o f Intt'rest a nd
NASRDA to launch two satellites June end
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71-I E National Space 1. Re.seouch and Development Agency (NAS· RDA) plans to launch two more satellites into the orbit by the end of June. The. satelilte-s - NigeriaSa r·2 and Nige.riaSar·x- wU! com· plement NlgerlaSar·" Africa's nrst geosyn chronous commUnications satellite, which was launched In 200] but failed In orbit after running out of power due to an ano m · aly In Its sola r array. Aa:o rdlng to NASRDA, the n ew high·resolutlon satel· lites are d eslgnro for seven
years and can produce Imagery locally and Inter· nationally. At a press con ference~ NASRDA s Head 01 Corporate Affairs, Felix Ale, said the satellites' mission Is to provide a high-resolution map of Nigeria once every four months. "llie satellites would sup:port the National Geos patlal Data InfraStructure (NGDI) programme of the Fede.ral Government by providing high qua lity data and enbanclOg human re.sources In the USe of satellite data~, Me s.tld. But sources said the new
satellites are aerial monl· taring sateJlitp.s, which would assist the country to tackle security challenges such as pipeline va n dalbm and armeil robbery In the country. Agency reporu claimed Dlrector.ceneral, Dr. Mohammed Seidu. had said thai the a~ency would n eed 545 mUlton to build satellites In the countT)'o Seldu alleged ly said the money was needed to com· plete the esta blishment or the Satel lite Asse mbly, Integra tion and Testing Centre in Abuja, which h ad been abandoned for lack of fu nds.
nomination ronns' fees we were made to P"lY by the party executives. The deci· s ion to seek this Te-fund Is based on the happenings at t he just<oncluded primaries In Kano State, wnere the party slngle·handedly substituted our na mes against the wishe.s of the teeming su pporters o r th t party, who vOled for us at t h e prJ·
maries. Mplease be Informed that a revlous letter on this subect matte r has earlier been orWiuded to the NECwith· ou t any reactio n so far a nd we urge th e party to treat this reminde r with dis· patch as the team will not hes itate to seek redre:ss at the la w coun , If Ihe CPC NEC falls 10 attend to ou r request".
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Kaduna Poly teachers demand white paper on crisis From Sun AHlIn. KJdI.na
A HEAD of the planned .l'l.reopenlng of Kaduna Polylechnic (KADPOLY) by the governing cou ncil, the Institution's branch of the Academic St.1lrr Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) has vowed not to return to d ass· t:S until the Federal Gove rnment's white paper on the Invntlgatlon of .1IlIeged large-scal e canup-tlo n against the council IS re leastd. • Last Friday, studenu of the sch ool protested against Ihe s lx·month-<lld strike at the polytechnic ca mpuses in kaduna metropolis. The branch Chairman o f ASUP, Ma ll.1lm Mustapha Bida, sa id the union d id not n nd the studenu au[ of the school and , therefore, had n othing against the man· agement reopening it. Blda sa id: "ASUP has n o power whauoever to close down Kaduna Polytec hnic, not to talk of re-ope nlng h, a nd I want 10 tell you categorically that we arl!' still on strike. If the manage m e nt likes. it can rl!'open the sch ool a nd call back t he stu· dents but we are still on strike and we have the pow· er to go on strike as a union". He stated that the un ion had made its point clear
that as soon .1IS tile gOVl!'rn· m e nt releases the white pa perof the visitation panel It set up to Investigate lhe illlIegatlons of corru p t ion iIIgainst the management o f die polytechnic and Implemellt It, th t union \vould call off the strike wi thin 24 hours. Wilen contacted on the union's position, iII n omclal o f the Public Arrairs Depamnent o f t ht polytech· nlc. Hala ll u Usman, saId Ihe manage ment wou ld meet a nd decide on the next line of action soon. A top official of th e Institu· tlon told Tile Guardian tha t "th e fear of some sen ior management personnel is that IT the wh ite paper Is released, many of them will have questio ns to answer considering tite hig h Ie-vel ot corruption. "Man y peo ple a re allr-gedly involved even up to the highest level of t he aut hority Tn the country, such that If the white p~per Is rl!' l easetl~ it will consume everyone 0 1 thosl!' invo lved . To that elttl!' nt, th e- Economic and Fi nan cial Cri m u Commission (EKC) ~nd the Independ ent Corrupt PractiCI!'S and other rl' lated oUences Commlsslon (ICPC) wl1l have no o ption b ut to prosecute those Involved".
NEMA holds workshop on climate change A RfGIONAL workshop on dl£bale cha nge .1Ind disaster nsk maflilgt'mento~nlsed by the N~tlonal Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) opens in SokatO today. Dam managers and other stakeholders would be exposed to stTolt~ gi~ against the rl'peal of massive de:structlons due 10 flood· ing in the Nonh·\'/est zone Lm )'I!'ar.
NEMA's Dlrector.(;eneral, A1haji M uh~mmad Soln! Sidl, said lhe gfO\.... ng thre~t I'rom dlmale-related disasters must either be prevented or mitigat· ed. He- rrgfl'tted that In 2010 alone, n states of the federa- . lion I\'I!'Jl' affected by devastat· Ing nood \.... th serious conse-quences on the socJo.eoconomlc wellbeing of the affl!'Cled communities. Sidi, in a staleml!'nt signed by NEMA Head of I'tIblic Relations, 'l'ushau Shuaib. added thaI in order to Prevl!'lll the recu rrellCt' of the massi\~ climate fl'lated disasters, NEM.\ Is bringing together stakt'holders in disastl!'rmanilgement from thecom· munities, local. su re ~nd Federal Govemmml. the aGtde-m1a and development partners it the workshop which wiU, among others. develop iICtIon plans Tor combating the hu ·
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Navy marks Hyd~hy OayJune21
By""""""
l\.JlGERlAN NavywillonJune-
1 'hi, 2011, join melr counter· to mark the Worl1.1 H)-drographyDa)t A statement ~Igned by the HydrogTi1pher of the 'Navy and thl!' President of Nigerian Hydrographic Society, Com. Abdu llahl Inusa, said theC'>'tnt wou ld hold at RodMew HOII'I in Apapil, Llgos. "Thl!' Nigenan Navy, In pan· nership wi th rcle\'ilnl mar· ltime agencies. will loin other membe r·nation!> o f the International HydrographiC Organisation to celeb... te ulb rear's Wo rld Hydrographic D.1yon June 21, 2011".
p.1rts
South-South forum seeks lagos aMention
By .......
A GROUP, the South·South I1P<o~le- United Forum SS1'IJF inl..1gosStatehasasked or po itical appolmments in Ihe administration of Governor Bilbanmde ltall Fashoia. A press conferencl!' titled: "South·South pcoplf: dema nd for a.blnet slots and appoint· menu in L1gos Stale govern· ment", chainnan of the group, Charles Ogodo, said they deserved the positions of commissioner, special assis tan ts and boon:! members In lAgos. "Uke other ethnic groups In our pany, the ActIon Congress of Nige ria (ACN ), we want South-South PI!'ople to be given political appointments and ~resenta uon in the SGltegoyernment as commissioners, special asslstanu a nd board appoinonents as promised during our last visit 10 the goyemorand his predecl!'SSO r, Bola AhmedTlnubu The SSPUf, which pr.il.lsed the leadership of the pan): how('\" tr, said the dividend of democ· racy hom the stale go to the wrong people. TIle forum alleged Ulatadm in· Istrativel): its network Is in all the 20 local councils of the
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Th' ..... rNffirrned their loyclity an continuous su~ po" lOr their leader, mentor of ACN and the st.1te gOlo't:mment