Close-up pic of stab wound sustained by Channels TV reporter

Here is a close-up of the wound sustained by Channels TV reporter Charles Eruka, who was stabbed by hoodlums at the APC rally in Okrika, Rivers state on Tuesday February 17th.

Jega: I can’t guarantee polls’ll hold on March 28

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday, reiterated his preparedness to conduct the   general elections as scheduled but maintained that only the military could guarantee the sanctity of the March 28 and April 11 dates.                      Jega, who appeared before the Senate to explain the level of INEC’s preparedness for the elections, however, stunned many of the lawmakers when he revealed that one million Permanent Voter Cards had yet to be received by the commission from the manufacturers.

The Senators had thoroughly grilled him after he made about three-hour presentation and demonstrated how the card readers work.

Responding to a question by the Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, to give a clear assurance on the dates, Jega replied, “I think it is a very difficult question to answer.

“I have said consistently that there are things under the control of electoral commission and there are things that are not under the control of electoral commission. For things that are under our control, I can give definite and categorical assurances.

“On what is not under our control, it is futile, it is fruitless and useless to give a definite guarantee on them. I think that question should be directed appropriately. The questions of security, I will leave it, I don’t think I am competent to answer it sufficiently.”

Asked how he would respond if the security agencies requested a further delay, Jega said doing so would be illegal.

He then made reference to a constitutional provision that requires elections to be concluded at least 30 days before May 29, when a new government must be sworn in.

“Every Nigerian knows we want elections to hold… within a constitutional time frame.   The security agencies are (made up of) patriotic Nigerians. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt,” he told the senators.

He added, “We should be fair also to the military. Soldiers are also patriotic Nigerians.   I don’t see how anybody will contemplate any extension beyond these six weeks.

“There is no constitutional grounds upon which you can do that. For us, we work by the constitution, by the law . That is what is guiding us and we should all put the interest of the nation at heart.

“The human factor is always significant, it is always important but we believe that working together with security and other stakeholders, we should be able to prevent negative human intervention that can create problems.

“I kept saying consistently that INEC is not a security organisation. We are an election management body; so we rely a lot on security to be able to ensure that things are done well and that there is no disruption of the electoral process.

“We have been working very closely with the inter agencies consultative committee on election security and that is why for us, if the service chiefs say that we can’t guarantee security, give us more time, what is the alternative security arrangements ?

“If we consulted with the stakeholders and we cannot find an answer, what happens? We are going to use close to 700, 000 ad hoc staff. We can’t send people to the field in that kind of a situation.

“Our prayer is that in the next six weeks, there will be significant improvement in the security situation for us to hold the   elections all over this country in a very secure environment.

“There are certain questions that we are not really competent to answer. Certain questions should be directed to the military; they can answer them better.”

The INEC boss expressed confidence in the effectiveness of the card readers, stressing that their use for accreditation during the elections would not contravene any provision either in the electoral act or in the constitution.

He also said that   anyone who clones and tries to prevent the use of the card readers would be treated as a criminal.

Jega said, “We have done the functionality and durability tests on the card readers with a local partner, with their technical partner in Texas in the United States. There were 13 specific tests that were done about their functionality, durability and versatility. The card readers   passed all the tests.

“We have done some few tests and the result we have is about 90 per cent successful. We feel comfortable that the card readers can be used. They will add value to the electoral process.

“It cannot be 100 per cent perfect. It may not be able to read every finger and that is why we agree with political parties. We bought 182, 000 card readers. Some of them did not work.

“Of the total number of card readers that we ordered and configured, only 503 had failed to work. That is 0.03 per cent of the total. The agreement is that if a card reader fails during accreditation, then, we will try and repair it within the time of accreditation which is between 8am and 1pm.

“If a card reader fails around 10am , before 1pm, we will do everything possible to replace it but if we are unable to do so, the time lost will be added to the accreditation period and extended.”

On   the high rate of PVC collection in three states under emergency rule in the North-East, Jega wondered why Nigerians were heaping the blame on INEC.

He said, “Why should anyone blame INEC for that? There is a need for us to have clarity on this matter. In Yobe State, only two local government areas are under emergency rule and the state is among the second phase in the distribution of the PVCs.

“In the   state and about 11 others, we distributed cards as far back as July 2014. So if the rate of collection is very high, I don’t see why that should be seen as a problem. In Adamawa State, only four LGAs are inaccessible and we deviced   a system where PVCs were distributed to Internally Displaced Persons.

“So, as many as had been displaced but who had registered have been able to collect their cards. But when you look at the way newspapers do their analysis, they tend to project it as if there is regional slant in the distribution of the cards.

“When we designed the distribution of cards, we did it in such a manner that we took two states each from each geo – political zone to make a phase and we did it in three phases just to avoid being accused of having regional slant in the distribution of the PVCs.

“It will be wrong to assume that Yobe State or any other state has higher rate of collection. If people come out to collect and others   did not , why should INEC be blamed for that.

Jega, who said there was no case in court   that was capable of preventing INEC from holding the elections as scheduled, added, ‘‘As I speak to you, 800,000 to one million cards are yet to be produced.’’

He however gave assurance that the PVCs would be produced and delivered to their owners before the days of the elections.

The INEC boss described the purchase of PVCs by some people, especially politicians,   as a criminal offence .

He said, “If we have information on criminal purchase or cloning of the cards, we will invite the security to investigate. People can clone our cards but if they are not issued by INEC, then they would not be read by our own card readers.

“The PVC carries the information of the voter which is in our database. We refrain from using the card readers for voting because the constitution is against it. We have cases where corps members were forced to alter accreditation figure but now if the number of the votes cast is different from the number accredited, the entire result of the polling units will be cancelled.

Jega said that if security would be guaranteed in IDPs’ camps, INEC could make arrangements to take care of them.

He said, “There is an online system where people can find out details of their registration. Ghana used card readers and it was relatively successful. Likelihood of card reader’s failure is very remote.

“Its usage will not violate either the electoral act or the constitution. There is difference between voting and voting process. We are well advised we are on solid legal standing on the issue.”

He added that INEC did not ask for card reader usage in the Electoral Act because it was not necessary since the existing law guarantees the arrangement.

He said the PVCs would be permanent because it could last for 10 years, adding that “by 2019 we hope that the National Identity Card project would have materialised so that INEC could draw out the data of people of voter age from the NIMC database.”

Jega added,   “Whereas section 52 of the Electoral Act   prohibits the use of electronic voting, the card reader is not a voting machine and it is not used for voting, it is merely an electronic device introduced to improve the integrity of the voting; process.

“It should be remembered that sections 78 and 118 of the 1999 constitution grant INEC powers to register voters and to conduct elections in Nigeria. Using the card reader has enormous advantages; first, once it is configured, it can only read PVC   issued by INEC at the polling unit that it has been configured. Second, it reads the embedded chip card not the back code.

“Third it enables authentication of the identity of the voter by matching his or her fingerprint with the code on the chip of the card. Four, it keeps a tally of all cards read and all cards verified or authenticated with all their details, including the time when this was done.”

The demonstration of the card readers on the floor of the Senate was commended by Senators Bukola Saraki and Ita Enang, who said the development had shown that INEC was fully prepared for the polls.

Senate President, David Mark, in his closing remarks said the Senate had confidence in the ability of the electoral umpire to conduct free, fair and credible elections.

He, however, urged the management of the commission to feel free to contact the leadership of the National Assembly for any assistance that would make the elections a huge success.

Actress Mercy Aigbe-Gentry and hubby loved up in new photo

The actress shared the photo on instagram of herself and husband Lanre Gentry and wrote "The love of my life.....".

See the Boko Haram armoured tank captured by Nigeria troops in Michika

This tank was captured from Boko Haram militants by Nigerian troops in Michika, Adamawa state after a tactical operation recently.

Obama’s order to stop deportations blocked by judge

A United States federal judge has temporarily blocked President Barack Obama’s executive action to spare a range of undocumented immigrants from being deported.

US District Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision on Monday gave a coalition of 26 states time to pursue a lawsuit that aims to permanently stop orders allowing as many as five million immigrants to stay in the US.

The federal government is expected to appeal the ruling to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, but the Justice Department had no immediate comment late on Monday night.

Hanen’s decision will not have any immediate effect because the first of Obama’s orders – to expand a programme that protects young immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the US illegally as children – is not set to start taking effect until February 18.

The other major part of Obama’s order, which extends deportation protections to parents of US citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for some years, is not expected to begin until May 19.

In a 2013 ruling in a separate case, Hanen suggested the Homeland Security Department should be arresting parents living in the US illegally who induce their children to cross the border illegally.

Cameroon army kills 86 Boko Haram militants

Cameroon’s army says it has killed 86 Boko Haram militants and detained 1,000 people suspected of links to the Islamist group, as central African leaders held talks on how to combat its bloody insurgency.
Five Cameroonian soldiers were also killed during the clashes in the Waza region near the border with Nigeria, defence ministry spokesman Didier Badjeck said Monday.
Nigeria-based Boko Haram has widened its attacks into neighbouring nations, notably Cameroon and Chad, in a conflict estimated to have claimed a total 13,000 lives since 2009.
Representatives of 10 nations, meeting in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde on Monday under the aegis of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), urged the international community to provide more support in the fightback against the Islamists.
“We have to eradicate Boko Haram,” said Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, as attendees pledged to create a 76-million-euro ($86-million) fund to fight the group.
Biya declared that Boko Haram’s utter disregard for human dignity meant “a total impossibility of compromise”, but added that the fight against terrorism was not a “crusade against Islam”.
Nigeria, where elections have been postponed by six weeks until late March because of Boko Haram activity in swathes of the northeast, was absent from the talks as it is not an ECCAS member.
The aim of Monday’s discussion was to come up with “an agreed solution” on the fight against the extremists, a source close to the Cameroonian government told AFP.
Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria have formed a military alliance to combat the notoriously brutal militants, who are fighting to create a hardline Islamic state.
A Cameroonian army official announced that more than 1,000 people suspected of being affiliated with Boko Haram were being held in the town of Maroua, in the country’s Far North region, where more than 2,000 Cameroonian soldiers have been deployed since August last year.
“At the moment, the prison of Maroua is holding more than 1,000 Boko Haram (suspects),” said Colonel Joseph Nouma, commander of a local operation to combat the Islamist militants.
The detentions came as police in Niger said they had arrested more than 160 people suspected of having links to Boko Haram in the country’s Diffa region, a border area with Nigeria which was attacked by the Islamist group this month.

I’ll flee Nigeria if APC wins —Bode George

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says President Goodluck Jonathan plans to perpetuate himself in government like the former President of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo. What do you think of this comment?

He (Obasanjo) says he is a Christian and as a Christian, it is emphasised in the New Testament of the Bible where Christ said judge not so that you will not be judged. But his judgment is no longer about the policies of Jonathan. He has gone down to the extent of saying Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) will jail you (Jonathan), that is why you are afraid. I am holding my breath because in an African setting, you talk to elders with respect and that is why I am trying to get the right words to describe my feelings. Baba (Obasanjo) is not a young man. He was Head of State at 39. So averagely, he should be about 84 or 85 and I am requesting that he should graciously fade away into the midnight. In the Bible, Romans chapter 13 states clearly that we should pray for those in authority. It says pray for your leaders so that they don’t run aground. So, to me that is my own interpretation. If baba (Obasanjo) had attended the Council of State meeting in Abuja, where they were very well briefed, and that it was decided that only the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that could pronounce a postponement and that he should go and come up with a decision and Jega addressed a press conference. Now to start comparing our President with Gbagbo in Cote d’Ivoire is unjust, unsavoury and unfair because what is the population of Ivory Coast? What are the tribal sentiments of Ivory Coast? Are they the same here? I want to plead with Baba. God has been kind to him and he has served his own time. I don’t want to conclude that his life will be like King Saul in the Bible. I pray it will not be so. Baba has played his role. No generation can finish any job. Nation building is a continuous exercise. You come, do your own and go back into history.

Apart from the issue of insecurity which Jega gave as the reason for the postponement of the elections, do you think INEC was ready to conduct the elections on February 14 and 28?

I granted an interview recently and there were two posers that I gave to Jega. Thank God Jega is a professor. He told us that there was an 88 per cent collection rate in Borno State where there is massive insurgency as well as in Yobe and Adamawa states. Here, where there is calmness and civility, only 30 something per cent of the populace had collected PVCs. It is just improving. I think as of last Friday over three million had collected as against 5.6 million. And he is saying we are ready. Without the Permanent Voter Cards, you are immediately disenfranchised. Ask Jega that as a professor, will it be fair to conduct an examination whereby you have (students who have) covered 80 per cent syllabus and another class where you have (students who have) covered only 30 per cent syllabus. Is it fair?

The other question is this issue of card readers. Have they been tested? I am talking as an electronic engineer of 48 years in practice. You just bought equipment from China and the last time it was tested was in China. Our own environment is not the same. Look at the vagaries of the temperature here from the swampy areas of the South and the savannah in the North. Who has tested the equipment? Now, I am not saying they will not all work but if there are almost 9,000 polling units in Lagos, is he saying all the 9,000 card readers will be functional? If the card readers fail to work in some polling units, what shall we do?

Why did the military surround former Governor Bola Tinubu’s house?

If Bola Tinubu finds his way into national government, I will go on exile. He hasn’t the temerity and the calmness of mind. They don’t even know what to do in power. Because the vice-president is his boy, he will just order that Bode George should be picked up. He said soldiers came to him but he must have been dreaming. When he said soldiers had surrounded his house, I drove down there because my house is not too far from there. I know the hierarchy of the military and its behaviour. That they surrounded his house is lie number one because on either side of his house are two buildings. There is also one at the back. So, I wondered where the soldiers were hiding. Why would you lie for public consumption? So when I got down there, I knew that his spin doctors were working. These days people go on the social media and the story went viral. Why would he (President Godluck Jonathan) from Abuja, be running after Bola? Let them be very careful about the statements they are making. More so, if Obasanjo is now linking Jonathan with what happened in Cote d’Ivoire and coup; not in this 21st Century. That is past and gone forever. No nation goes through this kind of tribulation twice and survive. We have had our own experience of Civil War and I pray that God does not direct our minds in that direction and our people have to watch their mouths.

The general perception in Lagos is that the governorship race is between yourself and Tinubu.

Absolutely not! In the PDP, no individual owns the party. I happen to have been the first national vice chairman, South-West PDP, and then became deputy national chairman South and then deputy national chairman for the whole country and having done that, they have honoured me that as long as I remain in the party, I remain a member of the Board of Trustees and I am the only one representing the South-West in the national caucus forever. That is a great honour in our party but I don’t decide who becomes a candidate. Primaries were conducted and in this particular case, the voice of the people became louder than anybody’s. I am not like Bola Tinubu, I don’t have the papers of the party in my pocket. I don’t even have a veto power. But the other side doesn’t practice democracy. We have friends that are members there. Jimi Agbaje has no godfather but will not behave like an authoritarian governor.

But Senator Musiliu Obanikoro said you were the one that imposed Agbaje.

That is absolute garbage, he knew he was lying. You know he came from their party and that is why he was saying it was me. He has now retracted the statement. We are now one indivisible party and we are ready for election. All the vagaries and all that happened during the primary was a test of the ability and the strength of our party and we listened to the voice of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God.

Jonathan’s perception in the South-West is not as favourable as it was in 2011. There has been blame on you and other PDP Yoruba leaders for allowing Buhari to increase in popularity in the South-West.

If you had said this about two or three weeks ago, I would have agreed. I got these feelers straight to my face. People came to me and said they would vote for Agbaje but they will not vote for Jonathan because he had done nothing for us here. And I explained that there is a general misunderstanding of the concept of operation in this country. The long periods of military rule presupposed that the Head of State was responsible for everything and it is that same thinking that is responsible for this situation. We are all hands on deck explaining the differences between military governance and democratic governance.

Highly educated people, my age groups, were asking me this question but I explained to them that 60 per cent of the impact the President will have on you is through the federal allocation to your state. Does he give every state and every local government allocation? Yes. They collect it religiously every 30 days. In the area of security, he guarantees it. It is only three states in the North-East battling insecurity. There is peace and he guarantees that. What of infrastructure? All federal roads in Lagos from Alfred Rewane in Ikoyi all the way to Third Mainland Bridge and Ebute Meta are federal roads. Are they like the roads in Somolu and Akowonjo?

Secondly, the APC refused to participate in the National Conference. Since he (Buhari) has refused to debate, what will he do about the resolution unanimously reached by the National Conference? What will happen to the report? The decisions of the National Conference are so germane to the future of this country. The more reasons why the man who conceptualised it should be allowed to implement his decisions