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January 09, 2007
US launches air strike in Somalia
The US has carried out an air strike against Islamist fighters in a southern Somali village, which the US believes includes members of an al-Qaeda cell.
The targets were reported to have been tracked by aerial reconnaissance and then attacked by a US gunship launched from a US military base in Djibouti.
The US says Somali Islamists sheltered al-Qaeda operatives linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa.
The Somali transitional government says many people were killed in the raid.
The air strikes took place a few days after the Union of Islamic Courts, which had taken control of much of central and southern Somalia during the past six months, was routed by soldiers from Ethiopia and Somalia's transitional government.
The US accused the Islamists of having links to al-Qaeda - charges they denied.
Target
There has been no official confirmation from the Pentagon that the air strike took place, but correspondents say a statement is expected within hours.
Location of militias and US Navy patrols
"So many dead people were lying in the area. We do not know who is who, but the raid was a success," interim government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told AFP news agency.
"The target was a small village called Badel where the terrorists were hiding. And the gunship did hit on the exact target," he said, adding that Somali and Ethiopian troops were nearby.
The bombing is the first overt military action by the US in Somalia since the 1990s when 18 US troops were killed in Mogadishu.
'Opportunistic attempt'
The attack was carried out by an Air Force AC-130, a heavily-armed gunship that has highly effective detection equipment and can work under the cover of darkness.
Reports suggest the US attack took place on Monday afternoon in an area known as Ras Kamboni on the southern tip of the country close to Kenya's border.
After fierce fighting, Ethiopian and Somali forces said on Monday that they were on the verge of capturing the area, one of the Islamist's last strongholds, where many fighters were dug in.
Many other Islamist fighters are in hiding across the country.
Al-Qaeda
Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf backed the US action.
"The US has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania," he said in Mogadishu, a day after entering the city for the first time since the Islamists withdrew.
The BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi says the attack seemed to be an opportunistic attempt by the US to destroy an al-Qaeda cell that they had been tracking for some time.
The cell is believed to be behind the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and Dar Es Salaam, in Tanzania.
More than 250 people died in the two attacks.
The US also holds the same group responsible for attacks on an Israeli aircraft and Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002, in which 15 people died.
Meanwhile, the US military said on Tuesday it had sent an aircraft carrier to join three other US warships conducting anti-terror operations off the country's coast.
Posted by Publisher at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
INEC confirms sack of pro-Ladoja legislators
*Ladoja meets pro-Adedibu lawmakers
*Relocates Alao-Akala's office
*Embattled Speaker seeks Obasanjo's intervention
*AC directs candidates to shun INEC's verification
By Ola Ajayi & Emmanuel Aziken
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, January 09, 2007
IBADAN — THE 18 pro Adedibu legislators in the Oyo State House of Assembly, yesterday, issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the 13-pro-Ladoja assemblymen to return all official property in their possession.
Governor Rashidi Ladoja is scheduled to meet in Ibadan today with the pro-Adedibu legislators who last year impeached him. The impeachment was voided only last month by the Supreme Court.
Akala's office relocated
And last night, the office of Deputy Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, was reportedly relocated from the building he shared with Governor Ladoja to the Ministry of Environment at Government Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan. Sources said it was to prevent possible clash between supporters of the governor and those of the deputy governor.
The G-18 legislators said yesterday their ultimatum to the pro-Ladoja assemblymen was prompted by the declaration of their seats vacant by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A December 29, 2006 but unsigned statement by INEC said bye elections to fill the vacant 13 seats in Oyo and 20 others in Sokoto as well as one in Rivers and a Federal Constituency seat in Osun State would be held on Saturday, January 13, 2007.
INEC Commissioner in charge of political parties, Dr. Ishmael Igbani confirmed yesterday that the commission had indeed declared the seats vacant based on a letter from the Oyo State Assembly.
He told Vanguard that INEC had concluded arrangement to conduct bye elections to fill the vacant seats, although he explained that lack of funds might pose a problem having the bye-elections this weekend.
Leader of the pro-Ladoja assemblymen, Mr. Adeolu Adeleke has asked the INEC chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu to speak out on the issue.
Meanwhile, the opposition Action Congress (AC) has directed its candidates in this year’s elections to ignore the planned verification of candidates' ducuments by INEC, saying the commission lacks power to conduct such an exercise.
Governor Ladoja’s planned meeting, today, with the pro-Adedibu lawmakers who initiated his removal early last year is part of the effort to resolve the political impasse in the state. But the lawmakers said that they would only meet the governor without the other 13 legislators in attendance, because, according to them, the G-13 seats have been declared vacant.
The G-18 lawmakers at their sitting yesterday said consequent upon the reports that the seats of the 13 lawmakers had been declared vacant by INEC, the pro-Ladoja lawmakers should return all the property in their possession within 24 hours.
The motion which was moved by Mr Babatunde Eesuola and seconded by Mr. Wale Atilola described the attitude of the embattled legislators as criminal. It said it was unconstitutional of them to have abandoned their duty posts to serve an individual. They said they were prepared to welcome a new crop of legislators on Monday to replace the lawmakers who have left their posts for about a year now.
They also ordered the administrative staff of the 13 legislators to resume tomorrow, adding that failure to do so might attract serious punishment.
The pro-Ladoja’s lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant are: Adeolu Adeleke (Speaker) representing Afijio Constituency, Dauda Atilola representing Oyo East and West, Oyeleke S.A. representing Ogo Oluwa & Surulere, Adegbenjo I..T representing Ibarapa Central& North, Olaniyan D. representing Ibadan North 1, Ojekunle J.O representing Irepo & Olorunsogo, Ogundoke D.H representing Iseyin & Itesiwaju, Josiah O.I representing Ibadan North West, Amoo B.A. representing Saki East & Atisbo, Adedokun M. O. representing Ibadan North II, Busari S.O. representing Egbeda, Alarape Azeez Mukaila representing Saki West, and Egunjobi S.M representing Iwajowa.
Embattled Speaker seeks Obasanjo's intervention
Meanwhile, leader of the pro-Ladoja legislators, Mr Adeolu Adeleke, has called on the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, to make a categorical statement on the issue to ease tension in the state. Speaking with reporters, Mr Adeleke also appealed to President Olusegun Obasanjo to urgently look into the crisis to prevent unnecessary anarchy which is looming in the state. He said the president should treat Oyo State as an integral part of the country and should not fold his arms while the state is boiling.
According to him, the National Chairman of INEC should make a categorical statement on the issue in line with the constitution and the rule of law, as according to him, this would reduce the political tension in the state and in the country as a whole.
He argued that INEC did not have any constitutional backing to take such steps when he and his colleagues had several times notified the Police of how the G-18 lawmakers “have been trailing us trying to kill us.”
He said: “To the best of our knowledge, the National Chairman of INEC knows full well that there is insecurity in the state legislative arm. When two of our colleagues were stabbed on the floor of the House, the case was reported to the Police but nothing came out of it. Also, the invasion of the House by hoodlums with the connivance of the police has become a daily affair with a view to harming us. In view of this, we strongly appeal to the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, to follow the path of honour by obeying the court order and not to be used to desecrate and bastardise the Nigerian constitution.
“There are two ways why INEC can conduct by-elections in our respective constituencies. If peradventure we did not meet the statutory requirement of the number of days we are supposed to be in the House. But, If there is a genuine cause for us to be absent, then INEC cannot go ahead and declare our seats vacant. The G-18 lawmakers have been chasing us about attempting to kill us, nobody in the highest authority has said anything about it up till today. So when there is insecurity, we did not deem it safe to sit in the House. As I am talking to you now, there are thousands of thugs in the state Assembly. How can you sit in that situation with no protection from the police?
“Apart from the subsisting order by a Federal Court in Ibadan , we also have the Supreme Court judgement which affirmed our membership in the House and we are expecting another court judgement today in respect of the position of the speaker of the House. Are they trying to pre-empt the judgement of the court? Just three months to the elections, nobody could have envisaged that INEC could do something like this.
“Before the reinstatement of the governor on December 9, 2006, there was an attempt by the lawmakers who carried out the unlawful removal of the governor to declare our seats vacant in the House. A resolution was passed to that effect, but the INEC did promise not to conduct any by-election in view of the fact that the issue was still in court and the case is till pending up till now.
“It is highly saddening to now hear from INEC that our seats have been declared vacant after the reinstatement of the governor. Can we say that INEC did not expect the governor to be back in office? Or did they not expect him to get fair judgement? Every right thinking Nigerian knows that there is insecurity in the Oyo State House of Assembly and our colleagues who carried out the illegal impeachment have been coming to the House with hoodlums and we have reported this to the police several times.”
At 12:30 pm yesterday, the state Public Relations Officer of INEC, Mr. Ayodele Folami said the commission was yet to receive any notice from the head office in Abuja .“We have not received any notice from our head office declaring any seat vacant let alone conducting by-elections,” he said.
All the party leaders who should be notified if there is going to be any by-election also denied receiving any document to that effect.
AC directs candidates to shun INEC verification Committees
And yesterday, the Action Congress (AC) directed its candidates for all elective positions to ignore the verification committees constituted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) just as it claimed the whole exercise was a witch-hunt against its presidential candidate, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
In a statement, AC said the determination of the electoral regulatory body to take upon itself the power to verify the credentials of the delegates despite the unconstitutionality of its moves indicated a premeditated agenda.
The statement issued by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the AC national publicity secretary was in response to the INEC rebuttal of criticisms against its efforts at verification.
“The Action Congress will not be a party to any unconstitutional or illegal act. It has directed all its nominated candidates to ignore the so-called verification exercise and has at the same time gone to challenge this unconstitutional and illegal act of INEC in court,” the party said.
Alleging that the verification was a witch-hunt against the AC presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku, the party said “the electoral body was only targeting Vice President Atiku Abubakar, in line with its masters’ pathological fear of the VP’s candidature.”
The AC statement followed claims by INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Legal Matters, Alhaji M.A. Abubakar, that the commission was guided by Sections 65, 66, 106, 131, 177, 107, 137, and 182 of the Constitution in carrying out the verification exercise.
In a point-by-point rebuttal of the claims, the AC said: “For the avoidance of doubt, Section 65 of the 1999 Constitution deals only with the qualification for membership of the National Assembly, while Section 66 deals with grounds on which a person may be ineligible for membership of the National Assembly.
“Section 106 deals with the qualification for membership of the House of Assembly while Section 107 deals with grounds for disqualification for the same house. Section 131 deals with qualification for election as the President while Section 137 focuses only on grounds for disqualification for the same office. Section 182 only deals with grounds of disqualification for the office of the governor.
“If anyone is in further doubt that INEC has no power to conduct verification of candidates claims, Section 15 of the 3rd Schedule to the 1999 Constitution puts the matter beyond doubt,” the party said.
The AC said under the Electoral Act 2006, only the political parties could screen candidates and were liable to pay penalties for presenting unqualified candidates. The statement further said the courts were the only authority with the power to disqualify candidates based on petitions arising from members of the public.
Posted by Publisher at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)
Oil workers threaten to go on strike
Oil workers have resolved to continue their suspended strike should government fail to urgently convene a stakeholders’ summit to address security issues in the Niger Delta.
SOPURUCHI ONWUKA
President of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Peter Akpatason told Daily Champion weekend that the strike would have started in the New Year but for the acute scarcity of petroleum products in the market.
He said NUPENG and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) had put off the strike in sensitivity to the impact on the Nigerian masses whose interest, he pointed out, the unions fight to protect.
According to him, the oil workers did not want to share in the blame of the fuel scarcity in the yuletide when Nigerians deserved the best fuel supply services.
He, however, said that trouble is not over until a comprehensive resolution is fully implemented to permanently address the security issues that have led to killings and taking oil workers to hostage.
He failed to disclose when the unions plan to resume the suspended strike.
Strike by the unions will not only affect output of crude oil into the export market and the income to the federation account, it will also cripple distribution of petroleum products in the domestic market and lead to acute fuel scarcity.
He accused government of publicizing the Niger Delta question while paying lip service to recommendations from well meaning stakeholders to resolve the impasse.
According to Comrade Akpatason who is working to succeed Mr Adams Oshiomhole as the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), it is the oil workers who get hurt and also feel the pulse of the host communities that attack the industry.
He said that there might be no peace in the Niger Delta until all issues of development of the region are resolved in a comprehensive stakeholders’ committee.
Recommendations of such a committee, he added, must be immediately put to work before peace could return to the area.
According to him, reminders sent to government on the agreed summit have so far failed to attract its attention, leaving the oil workers with no other choice than to put arrangements in plan to resume the suspended strike.
He explained that the strike was not to protect the interest of the oil workers alone but to salvage the industry and millions of dollar investments staked by stakeholders.
Daily Champion reports that NUPENG and PENGASSAN had suspended their strike on the second day in deference to appeals by stakeholders.
The botched strike was to protest government’s reluctance to restore peace in the Niger Delta where hundreds of oil workers have been held hostage by local militants pressing for greater share of oil revenue and speedy development of the impoverished region.
Some four workers of Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) are currently being held hostage by the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) in exchange for prominent Ijaw leaders held by the federal authorities for various offences.
TMEND has ruled out release of the hostages for ransom as in the past, threatening to kill all of them should federal troops attempt to rescue them by force.
When contacted on the issue, the Director of Media Relations in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Dr Peter Ogbonnaya, explained that the Niger Delta question was being addressed at government level given its seriousness.
He could not confirm definite actions government was taking, saying the ministry has not received any formal demand by the oil workers’ unions.
Dr Ogbonnaya expressed the desire of the ministry to collaborate with other stakeholders in resolving Niger Delta impasse.
Posted by Publisher at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)
FG withdraws suit against Atiku
ABUJA — THE Federal Government, yesterday, withdrew a suit it filed last month at the Court of Appeal, Abuja seeking to declare the office of Vice President Atiku Abubakar vacant.
By Ise-Oluwa Ige
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, January 09, 2007
The suit withdrawal coincided with the filing of a fresh suit by Vice President Atiku himself seeking an order to restrain the National Assembly from considering any nominee from President Olusegun Obasanjo as VP or and giving effect to his (Obasanjo’s) letter informing it (National Assembly) of the declaration of his office as Vice President vacant.
Vice President Atiku first filed a suit before the same Court of Appeal last month, praying for an order to stop the Federal Government from declaring his seat vacant following his defection from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition Action Congress (AC). The suit was still pending alongside the separate one filed by the Federal Government when Atiku filed his new suit.
The suit filed by Atiku last December to stop the Federal Government from declaring his office vacant by President Obasanjo was also withdrawn yesterday.
But the Federal Government said it would not file any fresh suit as done by Atiku. According to an impeccable source close to the Federal Government’s lawyers, a counter-affidavit would only be filed to Atiku’s fresh suit. The source also said the Federal Government would make a counter-claim in its response to Atiku’s suit. The counter-claim is expected to adopt all the reliefs earlier sought by the Federal Government in the suit withdrawn by it yesterday.
Asked why the Federal Government decided not to file a fresh suit as Atiku did, the source said: “It is to avoid multiplicity of suits. After all, all we requested in our old suit will be adopted in our counter-claim.”
The legal team of Vice President Atiku has, however, served the Chambers of Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), representing the Federal Government, necessary court processes in the fresh case.
The Federal Government, according to Vanguard’s source, would react formally to Atiku’s suit today by a way of counter-affidavit. The source also said the December 10 hearing date earlier issued still stands.
In the fresh suit filed by Atiku before the Court of Appeal, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Inspector-General of Police, the National Assembly and three others were named as respondents.
The three are the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and INEC.
Specifically, Atiku formulated three fundamental cum constitutional questions for the court to determine.
He also asked for three declaratory and five injunctive reliefs to be issued in his favour if the questions were resolved in his favour.
The questions formulated for determination include:
•Whether having regard to the combined provisions of Sections 135 and 142 (2) of the 1999 constitution, the plaintiff’s term of office as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which commenced on May 29, 2003 still subsists;
•Whether having regard to the provision of Sections 142, 143, 144 and 146 of the 1999 constitution or any other provisions of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or any law, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can declare vacant the office of the plaintiff as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Should the questions be determined in his favour, Atiku wants the Court of Appeal to issue in his favour the following reliefs including:
•A declaration that the term of office of the plaintiff (Atiku) as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which commenced from May 29, 2003 still subsists and does not terminate until May 29, 2007;
•A declaration that the president has no power under the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or any other law to declare the office or seat of Atiku as Vice President of Nigeria vacant;
•A declaration that the purported declaration by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of the office of Atiku as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria vacant is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever;
•An order setting aside the withdrawal of all the rights, privileges, entitlements inclusive all security details of Atiku as directed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
•An order restoring all the rights, privileges, entitlements and or benefit howsoever of Atiku as the Vice President of Nigeria;
•An order of perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government whether by themselves, agents, privies, servants or otherwise howsoever from impugning or violating the constitutional immunity conferred on Atiku as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
•An order of perpetual injunction restraining the National Assembly, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and INEC whether by themselves, their agents, privies, servants or otherwise howsoever from considering any nominee from the President to the office of the Vice President; and
•An order of perpetual injunction restraining INEC whether by itself, its agents, privies, servants or otherwise howsoever from considering and or giving effect to the President’s letter informing them of the declaration of the seat and or his office as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The originating summons was accompanied by a 22-paragraph affidavit which detailed how the Presidency has been threatening to declare his seat vacant, arrest him immediately he steps on the shores of Nigeria from the US where he is on vacation and how his privileges of office have been whittled down.
Posted by Publisher at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)
I can’t vouch for govs, says Obasanjo; Nnamani, Masari, govs absent at PDP retreat
Most of the governors in the 36 states of the federation have failed to perform after eight years of democracy, President Olusegun Obasanjo has said.
By Abdul-Rahman Abubakar
Speaking yesterday at the policy retreat organized by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party for candidates flying its flag in the next general elections, Obasanjo said: “I cannot vouch for up to 15 governors in the country irrespective of party affiliation who have performed.”
The president expressed hope that the next crop of state executives will reverse the trend. He said if the country can have at least 24 governors and federal government performing in the next dispensation then the nation will achieve the desired rapid development.
The Senate President Chief Ken Nnamani and Speaker of the House of Reps, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari as well as several PDP governors were absent on the first day of the retreat.
Obasanjo said his govern-ment would ensure the conti-nuity of the present reform programs by establishing National Council for Reforms and Transformation.
He said: “Any living and dynamic human organization must constantly reform and transform if it is not to remain stagnant.”
Obasano added that the reforms are yet to be completed and has not reached the stage of irreversibility. He said: “we need to build a critical mass of believers in the reform process, believers in democracy and good governance, believers in the fight against corruption and in transparency, due process and accountability.”
The former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr. P. J. Patterson who delivered a paper on the world’s expectations from Nigeria said the international community expects the next general elections in the country to be free and fair.
He said: “Nigeria is also expected to harness its abundant human and natural resources towards development in the areas of housing, water, roads and environment.”
Mr. Patterson said democracy remains the best form of government despite all its imperfection, he therefore called for increased freedom of information and popular participation as part of an effort to encourage civil rule in Africa.
In his welcome address, the national chairman of the party, Senator Ahmadu Ali said the PDP would help all its candidates in the next elections to victory.
He said: “we want to assist you to prepare and enhance your capacity for the arduous campaigns ahead of all of us.”
Ali said that the forum is aimed at sensitizing the PDP flag bearers in the presidential, governorship, national and state assemblies’ polls on the new party manifesto.
“Our goal is to make PDP one of the most modern democratic parties in the world, which is reform minded, rule driven, result oriented and agenda setting organization,” he said.
Speaking on the internal problems that greeted the conduct of the party primaries and convention, Ali sais: “A party as large as the PDP can not function without some rancor.”
He however said, “as members of the same family, we must be guided by our common goals by channeling all our energies towards achieving total victory for the party.”
Present at the opening ceremony of the three day retreat were; President Obasanjo, Senator Idris Mantu, Governors Yar’adua, Akuma, Oyinlola, Mu’azu, Goodluck, Botmang.
Among founding members of the party present were; former vice President Alex Ekwueme, Adamu Ciroma, Bernabas Gemade and Babagana Kingibe.
The retreat is an effort of the PDP to acquaint candidates with the minimum qualities and expectations on every elected political office holder on the platform of the PDP.
PDP hopes to realize its vision 20, 20, 20 which targets at placing Nigeria among the twenty most developed nations in the world by the year 2020.
Among those that presented papers on the first day of the retreat were; Professor Akin Mabogunje, Pofessor Fidelis Oditah, Malam Nasir el-Rufai and Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
The retreat enters its second day today, with papers to be delivered by former Secretary General of Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and General Aliyu Gusau (rtd).
Posted by Publisher at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)
