Radio Biafra London Is Back!

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PRESS RELEASE

After two years of absence the legendary Radio Biafra London (RBL) is back on air and will resume on SATURDAY 21 APRIL 2012 at 8pm broadcasting twice a week on 11870 kHz frequency on the shortwave band from its London Studio to all African countries with concentrated footprint in Nigeria. Listeners in the Greater London area can tune into 94.3FM at the same time whilst those outside London and elsewhere in the world can follow the program online by visiting http://www.radiobiafralondon.com and clicking on the daily broadcast play button.
RBL is a public service broadcaster and will serve as the eyes, ears and voice for millions of dispossessed, disenfranchised, abandoned and oppressed people of various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. According to Nnamdi Kanu the Director of Radio Biafra London, the reason for the resuscitation of the popular radio station is to set a largely misinformed public free from the twin evil of tyrannical rule of a cabal of ill-educated and institutionally corrupt men and women and the sponsored sectarian killings directed against Christian Southerners living in Northern Nigeria by terrorists operating in the name of Islam. It will also serve to articulate a solution to the plight of impoverished and confused Igbo families abandoned by their leaders in Northern Nigeria to a fate worse than those endured by black slaves in plantations in the Americas.
Radio Biafra London will use and deploy every available resource to campaign for the rights of all oppressed indigenous peoples of Southern Nigeria to determine how they wish to structure their societies and live their lives. Radio Biafra London would broadcast debates on issues of national and international importance affecting the lives and rights of the indigenous peoples of Biafra and indeed indigenous people of all ethnic persuasions in Nigeria.
Radio Biafra London further wishes to give advance warning to all looters, embezzlers, kidnappers, sponsors of terrorism, child traffickers, corrupt judges, crooked university lecturers, murderous Nigerian security forces and all thieving individuals masquerading as public officials who steal public funds thereby preventing developmental projects from impacting positively on the lives of the ordinary people. These looters and workers of iniquity will be named and shamed. There will be no hiding place for common thieves who use the cover of high political offices to steal in the name of Nigerian politics. For Radio Biafra London, there will be nothing like no-go-areas in what can be reported, discussed and analysed. The governing principle of the Public-Right-To-Know of the issues affecting their lives will be rigorously upheld.

Signed
The Editorial Board of Radio Biafra London

 

 

Generator Fumes Kill 4

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From Chuks Collins, Awka

April 15, 2012

Four persons, including a ninety-five year old man and his three grand children in Akaeze village of Urum community in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State have died mysteriously in their sleep after allegedly inhaling fumes from an electric generating set.
According to witnesses, the septuagenarian, Chief Sopulu Nwankwo, and his grandsons, Dubem Nwajiobi,13 years old, Chigozie Nwajideobi and Favour Nwankwo, both of whom were 7 years old were discovered yesterday morning dead with foams in their mouth.
Villagers including old men and women, young girls and boys who quickly gathered at the family’s expansive compound shortly after the news broke to console and condole with family members of the victims variously described them as peaceful, cheerful and friendly.
Pa Sopulu Nwankwo’s son in-law, Mr. Charles Nwajideobi whose sons-Dubem and Chigozie were among the dead explained that the boys oftentimes slept in their grand father’s house to watch films and football matches.
He said he had come in the morning to take back his sons, as his house was close by, only to discover that the doors were still firmly locked and that nobody came out despite his desperate banging, loud calls and knocks on the gates.
He said it was when he used the inlaw’s spare key in his possession to open the door that he found the four corpses and his daughter, Ogochukwu Nwajideobi who was still alive but struggling to and gasping for breathe.
She was then rushed to a private hospital in Awka immediately for medical attention.
Though many attributed their death to smoke from the generating set, with which they watched films and slept the previous night, others, including Mr. Nwajideobi suspected they were poisoned, as there were whitish foams oozing from their mouths.
At the hospital where little Miss Ogochukwu Nwajideobi was placed on a life support machine, the physician incharge of her case, Dr. E.I Onwubuya said they were doing their best to resuscitate her. He however declined to comment on how critical the girl’s condition was as a result of inhalation of fumes.

Sympathizers at the hospital who spoke to journalists were praying for miss Ogochukwu’s recovery so she can tell what really happened.

The doctor however said that inhalation of carbon monoxide especially large quantity from a generating set could lead to death and make one foam from the mouth, if there was convulsion in the process.
The Police Public Relations Officer for Anambra State Command, Mr. Emeka Chukwuemeka could not be reached to confirm the incident. But people are praying for miss Ogochukwu Nwajideobi’s revival so she can tell what really happened.

Breaking News: Bomb Explosion Rocks Kano

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Information coming into 247ureports.com indicates that a bomb explosion has rocked Kano State.

The bomb explosion occurred in Sabon Gari – an Igbo dominated area of Kano State. The bomb explosion happened at 7:30pm at a popular bar/drink outdoors joint -at 38 New Road opposite St Stephen’s Anglican Church.

The explosion was said to have injured three persons and six vehicles. The details are still unfolding. The police and the joint task force have arrived on the scene -and has taken control of the crime scene.

Eyewitness reports indicate that the bomb was planted inside a sport utility vehicle parked near the bar.

 

LGA PDP congress: Delta Federal Lawmaker, Ossai on the run over alleged kidnapping

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Hon. Ossai N. Ossai

 

By: Our Reporter, Delta state

 

The member representing Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal constituency of Delta state in the  Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai is said to  be currently on the run over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping  of one Barrister Greg Ikoko.

 

According to State Security Service (SSS) impeccable  sources who confided in this reporter, the lawmaker had on Saturday,  March, 3, 2012, conspired with some of his thugs namely, Frank Omosor,  Israel Ezegbor, Chuks Okosa and Frank Okwudili to kidnap the said  Barrister Greg Ikoko who was the returning officer of the congress in  the council.

 

Investigations revealed that shortly after the news filtered into the ears of Hon.  Ossai.N.Ossai that he was been searched for by the SSS in the state, he  immediately disposed off his MTN line which he was known with for the  past ten years. It was also observed that for fear of any possible  arrest, the lawmaker shunned the recent Delta state PDP congress held in Asaba.

 

It would be recalled that men of the Nigerian Army, 3rd battalion Effurun, Delta state had arrested the four alleged kidnappers at Asaba  and were paraded at the three battalion Headquarters, Effurun, Uvwie  local government area of the state .Speaker to newsmen, the victim,  Barrister  Greg Ikoko disclosed that, as the returning officer for Ukwuani local  government area for the PDP congress, he went to Grand Hotel in Asaba to meet with the party officials who came from Abuja to preside over the  congress, noting that, as he walked into the Hotel, a man came to him to confirm his identity after  which he brought out a gun and asked him to move into a waiting car.

 

He said he resisted and four other men joined the gunman to force him into the waiting car adding that due to his resistance the alleged  kidnappers started beating him and attempted to force him into a Camry  car when men of the three battalion intervened.

 

In an interview, the driver of the Camry car who gave his name as Frank  Okwudili denied knowing the other three alleged kidnappers but disclosed that he was directed to carry the victim in his car.

 

The other suspects denied their involvement in kidnapping the victim but  could not explain their presence or mission at the Hotel. For his part,  Major Hassan Buker explained that the suspected kidnappers were arrested by his men on patrol.

At the State Security Service command shortly after the parade of the  arrested kidnapping suspects, in press statement signed by the Mrs.  Florence Ikanone, mni, State Director of Security, Delta state command  gave the names of the suspects as “Frank Omosor, Israel Ezegbor, Chuks  Okosa and Frank Okwudili who were arrested by the Army on 3rd March, 2012 at Grand Hotel, Asaba and handed over to the Service for further investigation and prosecution on 6th March, 2012 for attempt to kidnap one Greg Ikoko. Three (3) of the four (4)  suspects are hereby presented for this briefing, while Israel Ezegbor is unavoidably absent because of serious injuries he sustained during a  motor accident at Abavo on 6th March, 2012 while being conveyed to Asaba from Warri.”

 

Meanwhile the kidnap victim, Barrister Greg Ikoko has petitioned the federal lawmaker to the

National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan. In its petition  entitled “Petition Against Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai, Mr. Henry Olokor, Mr.  Theophilous Opia and others for Attempt Kidnap, Robbery, Assault and  Battery.” signed by Barrister Greg Ikoko, and made available to this  reporter in Asaba explained that “On the 3rd day of March, 2012 at 17.00hrs or thereabout, Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai  masterminded a kidnap, robbery, assault and battery against me. About  15minutes to the time of the attack, Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai had confronted  me within the premises of Grand Hotel Asaba to demand for the congress  materials for Ndokwa West local government area of Delta state since according to him, my name was announced as the returning officer for Ndokwa West LGA for the PDP ward congress slated for the 3rd of March, 2012 across the entire country. I told him that I did not know  anything about the congress since I was away to my village.”

 

Continuing, Barrister Ikoko alleged that “He threatened that if I or any other  person removes any congress material from the Hotel that he would deal  with the person in a most ruthless manner. He went further to say that  as the House of Representative member representing Ndokwa/Ukwuani  Federal constituency that his lists of ward executives for the three  local government area of Ndokwa nation, especially, Ndokwa West, must be the list to be returned. After his threats, he made some phone calls  and about 20 minutes later, his “dare devil squad” otherwise known as ‘APA Boys” arrived in one L.300 bus and two Toyota Saloon car. For your  information sir, the APA BOYS of Kwale in Ndokwa West local government  area of Delta state is a terrorist group founded by Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai  in his days as a member of the Delta state House of Assembly.”

 

According to the victim “The pre-occupation of this group is to terrorize,  intimidate, witch hunt and oppress political opponents of Hon.  Ossai.N.Ossai. The APA BOYS that came in the three vehicles were  numbering over 40 young men. They met me at the entrance of Grand Hotel  Asaba. They were all staring at me menacingly as they were talking and  pointing at me. So I beat a quick retreat into the Hotel. As I was walking back into the Hotel premises, the  leader of the gang, one Mr. Theophilous Opia, a former councilor in Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai’s ward, rushed up to me and pulled a double barrel short  gun (Cut to size) at me. He ordered me into a waiting vehicle. I  resisted him and enquired what my offence was and where he was taking me to. In response, he said that Mr. Henry Olokor, the Personal Assistant  to Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai ordered them to kidnap me and bring me dead or  alive to him for accepting to be a returning officer without clearance  from Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai. He also said that I was planning to work  against Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai in the congress of that day. I promptly told  him that I did not have any congress material and that I have not met  the PDP Officials from Abuja. Before I knew what was happening, the gang leader beckoned on the over 40 young men that were with him and they  swooped on me.

 

“They started beating and dragging me into the boot of a waiting car. But I  was able to resist them with the help of some police men on duty and  other security staff of the Hotel. Due to their numerical strength, they overpowered the police men and other security guards at the Hotel. It  was at this junction that the CSO of the Hotel made a distress call to  the Army Special Squad in Asaba, who came to my rescue. But before their arrival, the hoodlums  had removed my wrist watch, necklace, two GSM phones and my car key.  While some were beating me and pushing me into the get-away car, others  were busy ransacking my car in pretence of looking for congress  materials. At the end of the end, they made away with my two laptops, a  briefcase containing clothes, a galaxy tab and other personal effects.  It was the arrival of the Military men that foiled the kidnap.”

 

Barrister Ikoko further disclosed that only  four of the suspects were apprehended by the military personnel while  others escaped stressing that those arrested are currently undergoing  some interrogations in the hands of some security personnel in the state and urge the NSA to use his good office to ensure that the matter is  thoroughly investigated and the culprits brought to book, as nobody, no  matter how highly placed is above the law. He stated.

 

When contacted Hon. Ossai.N.Ossai swiftly debunked his alleged involvement  in the kidnap saga stressing that “I am not aware of any security agents or even the SSS in search of me for whatever reasons. Of cause if they  are looking for me they know how best to go about and as I talk to you  now no security agents have called me to say they are looking for me in  connection to a kidnapping matter. I did not send anybody to kidnap  anybody. As a pastor and a federal lawmaker I couldn’t have condescend  so low to mastermind any kidnapping. I think someone is trying to  blackmail and tarnish my good name that I have built for a decade and it will not work.”

 

When asked while he was not present at the recent state PDP congress and  while the sudden change of mobile line, he replied “I was sick and  hospitalized in Abuja and I also took permission from my state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan why I will not make it to the congress following  the illness. For my mobile line, the line is bad and I decided to buy  another one pending when the faulty one will be ratified.”

 

Boko Haram Welcome Niger Delta Militants’ Warnings

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Murdered in Jos

The recent uproar over the threat to the administration of the President of the federal republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan by the Islamic terrorist group, the boko haram, which resulted to counter threats / warnings from former Niger Delta militants challenging the Islamic group to consider a threat to the President of Nigeria a call to arms against the Islamic group  – has turned a new face.

Information available to 247ureports.com through sources within the ranks of the Islamic group indicates that the leadership of the group are welcoming of the reactions by the militants of the Niger Delta. According to the source who spoke on the telephone to our correspondent, the response by the militants of the creeks plays into the plans of the Islamic group who intends to bring about unrest in the major sensitive regions of the country. In particular, the Islamic group points to the OPC of the south west and the militants of the south south geo-political regions as integral parts of the Islamic groups broad agenda to destabilize the Jonathan administration and by extension the country.

Agitations from the sensitive parts of the nation is anticipated by the group. They aim to induce aggravating conditions to precipitate retaliatory actions on the part of the many militant groups scattered across the nation. Specifically, the source reveals that the group is expecting that the likes of Asari Dokubo [whom they claim to know very well] to rise to action with arms. The group also pointed to Captain Mark Anthony of the Niger Delta Liberation Force [NDLF] as another expected ignition point.

Meanwhile, the Islamic terrorist group is reportedly engaged in massive movement of weapons and equipment of destruction in preparation for a heightened impact and frequency of attacks. This is according to a usually credible source. The source explained that the Islamic group is determined to show the international community its capability and access to sensitive targets in Nigeria.

General Election Off to a Bumpy Start for Obama

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It won’t always be like this for Mitt Romney, but the presumptive Republican  presidential nominee could hardly be happier about the way in which the general  election season has begun.

For three consecutive weeks, President Obama’s re-election campaign has been  blown off its talking points by unnecessary blunders. First it was the hot  microphone bungle with Dmitry Medvedev and Obama’s post-election “flexibility” on U.S. missile defense, then it was warning the Supreme Court not to take the “extraordinary” step of overturning Obama’s health law and now it’s the  president having to personally denounce the blunder of a B-list Democratic  strategist who attacked Romney’s wife, Ann.

The idea was that Obama would open the full-fledged general election with a  series of fusillades against Romney for his support of the House Republican  budget overhaul plan, for what Vice President Joe Biden calls “the war on women” over sexual and economic issues and culminating in a week of attacks on Romney’s  massive personal wealth and tax rates.

It has been an article of faith on both the right and left since 2008 that  Obama is an extraordinarily gifted politician and that his campaign organization  is full of wizards of messaging and organization.

Even as Dana Milbank, a left-leaning columnist for the Washington Post, was  panning Obama for the “gimmickry” of his melodramatic attack on Romney for using  the capital gains rate to pay a tax rate of less than 15 percent, Milbank  lamented the waste of Obama’s “unrivaled political skill.”

This is part of a set of beliefs that was encapsulated in the best-selling  book by political journalists from New York magazine and MSNBC, “Game Change.” The HBO movie about the book was mostly about 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee  Sarah Palin, but the book is more of a paean to Obama’s political skills and the  effectiveness of his campaign organization. The title seems to refer mostly to  Obama as the game-changing candidate in the arc of American political life.

Conservatives and liberals alike hew to this narrative. Even those who  denounce the president’s policies in the strongest terms often marvel at his  political skills and the nimbleness and efficacy of his never-ending  campaign.

No doubt, Obama is more politically skilled than most Democrats on the  national level since Bill Clinton and his campaign has been innovative and  audacious. But after watching the blunders of the last three weeks, the  narrative of Obama-the-invincible looks pretty much shot.

Obama, with months to prepare and tens of millions of dollars in the bank,  badly muffed the opening round of the 2012 general election campaign.

In the 29 weeks to come, Mitt Romney will probably experience more days like  the one Obama experienced yesterday as he and his campaign scuttled away from  the comments made by erstwhile adviser Hilary Rosen on the Cable News Network.  But on Thursday, it was Obama’s turn in the dunking booth.

Rosen declared that Ann Romney had “never worked a day in her life.” A big  no-no about a candidate’s spouse, particularly when that spouse has been a  stay-at-home mother of five who survived breast cancer, suffers from multiple  sclerosis and, most dangerously, is a very effective campaigner.

Rosen was trying to reinforce the same narrative that Obama and Biden have  been hammering away at this week: the Romney family is too rich and too callous  to the concerns of ordinary Americans for Mr. Romney to deserve the presidency.  Rosen was trying to reinforce the message Obama made the week before that  staying at home is a “luxury” reserved for the wealthy. She blew it, and then  twice compounded her error by trying to defend her stance. What is the point of  a paid political operative who will not follow a politically expedient  course?

Rosen eventually saw (or was made to see) the folly of her path and abjectly  apologized, but in the course of her ego trip managed to thoroughly ruin what  was supposed to be the rising crescendo of Team Obama’s attack on Romney’s  wealth.

The plan was targeted to Tax Day and stirring resentments against Romney’s  capital gains rate on his huge investment income and refusal, so far, to release  the more than two decades of tax returns demanded by the Obama campaign. As  Obama and Biden released their 2011 tax returns today, the goal was to have the  Cable News Network and other establishment press outlets hounding Romney for the  release of his 1040s dating back to the 1980s and to have Rosen and her fellow  pundits blasting the former Massachusetts governor for not paying more in the  years from which we have already seen Romney’s tax bill.

Rosen, as she fully demonstrated, is no big-time Democratic strategist. She  is on the periphery of Team Obama. Her dozens of visits to the White House and  multiple meetings with the president (though, as Press Secretary Jay Carney  observed, there are multiple people in America named Hilary Rosen) were no doubt  not to shape strategy, but to receive it.

Even so, the president ended up wasting what were supposed to be a series of  interviews with swing-state local television reporters by explaining that he  respected stay-at-home moms and that Ann Romney seemed like an admirable person.  Obama wanted to be pumping up the pressure on Mitt Romney, not lauding his wife.  It’s not Obama’s fault that Rosen was bad at her job, but his team seemed unable  to deal with what should have been a small matter.

How is it possible that a woman who makes her living from the largesse of the  Democratic Party needed nearly a full day to be convinced that defending a  position she took in a television debate with another Democratic strategist and  a Republican blogger was less important than the president’s re-election bid?  One suspects that the campaigns of Bill Clinton in 1996 or George W. Bush in  2004 would not have needed so much time to make that case to foot soldier.

That Rosen made her stumble in service of a gambit that the president himself  was caused to say was “a gimmick” makes the matter even more embarrassing.

But the previous two big blunders — being incautious with a whispered  message for Vladimir Putin and inveighing against the Roberts Supreme Court — were not those of a peripheral strategist or his campaign team. They were his  and his alone.

Romney is plenty gaffe-prone himself and his organization knows well the pain  of days wasted on unforced errors. Any enjoyment Team Romney takes at watching  the president endure the Rosen affair is surely tempered by the knowledge that  the next seven months would bring plenty of similar days for the Republican  nominee. The phrase “Gov. Romney will you denounce…” will not suffer from  under-use this election cycle.

But having seen Team Obama and the president stumble through their spring  offensive, the Romneyites can at least be happy to know that the political gifts  of the president and his team are far less than advertised.

Jonathan Considers 2015

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The musical chairs for the 2015 presidential elections may have begun within the political inner cirlces of the Jonathan presidency. Information available to 247ureports.com through sources within the presidential villa reveals that the President and the President’s close political aides remain unsettled over the decisions to be made concerning the upcoming presidential contest of 2015.

Available information indicates that the activities at the office of the President has collapsed onto the single issue of 2015 presidential elections. According to a source who spoke to our correspondent off the record, the President’s men are principally focused on the mechanization of 2015 presidential elections – and the possibilities of mounting a bid for a second tenure by President Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan. In particular, the source mentioned the many meetings convened by the various south-south organizations [with the blessings of the President’s men] over the issue of President Jonathan joining the contest in 2015 against his earlier promise – not to run. The source fingered the National Security Adviser [NSA] as heavily involved in the lobby to assemble the necessary pressure from the Niger Delta to urge the President into joining the presidential contest.

It is gathered however that President Jonathan is not particular about contesting for the seat in 2015 – having served the remainder of the late President Yar’Adua’s term. But a credible source notes that the President’s wife does not share the same reasoning as the President. 247ureports.com gathered through firsthand sources that the 1st Lady has assured her political associates that Mr. President will contest in the next Presidential election of 2015 – “come rain or shine” . The source pointed to her recent activities as indicative of her resolution to remain the 1st Lady till 2019.

The recently signed 2012 Budget is said to contain the monies to be used to finance the necessary mechanization for the eventual emergence of President Jonathan as the Peoples Democratic Party’s [PDP] presidential candidate in 2015.

Introducing its unwanted dimension is the recent announcement by the presidential flag bearer of the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC], General Buhari indicating his interesting in joining the presidential race in 2015. The lobbyist for Jonathan/Sambo 2015 presidential ticket are reportedly uneasy with the announcement. And they have begun convening veiled meetings with political stakeholders within the party and in the North to checkmate the possible domino-effect that might follow the announcement by General Buhari. Available but unverified information points to a sinister move by the President’s men to sabotage the candidacy of the former dictator. Our source indicates that the President’s men have approached some stakeholders of the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] with the aim of talking the party men into fostering the idea of a joint presidential ticket with the CPC. By so doing, General Buhari’s candidacy might be tossed or jeopardized. 247ureports.com is uncertain the outcome of the said attempts by the President’s men.

It was gathered that the recent resignation of former President, General Olusegun Obasanjo of the position of Board of Trustees Chairman may have been connected with the new direction being sought by the President [Jonathan]. One of the operators in the PDP indicated that Obasanjo prepared his resignation a while ago before the Christmas of 2011 – but shelved the official announcement for an appropriate moment for the President – away from the instability of the fuel subsidy protests and boko haram related upheaval. A source close to General Ibrahim B. Babangida confirms that “we have been expecting the resignation since December 2011“. The source indicates that the former president may have “washed his hands” of the activities of the PDP with regards to the direction President Jonathan is taking the party and the country. In particular, Obasanjo is said to be unhappy with the emergence of Bamanga Tukur as the new PDP National Chairman.

From a blind side is the uncertainty of President Jonathan’s vice in the person of Architect Namadi Sambo who has briefed close associates in Kaduna of his intentions to join the presidential contest in 2015 under the PDP banner. President Jonathan, according to available information, is aware of the presidential aspirations of his vice president, along with the preparations on ground to kick-start the grassroots campaign. The vice president, on his part, is said to also be aware of President Jonathan unsettled intention to join the race.  The two men have since developed cold shoulders towards each other – to the extent that close associates of the President have suggested a presidential ticket without the present vice president. The former federal capital territory [FCT] minister from Kebbi State, Senator Aliero has been suggested as a possible replacement for Namadi Sambo.

stay tuned

S. Sudan says Sudan tried to build “illegal” oil pipeline

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south sudan president kiirmayar

South Sudan accused Sudan of trying to build an “illegal” 25-km o il pipeline crossing the border towards the South’s oil fields, a day after talks to resolve a damaging oil dispute between the two sides were postponed. A Sudanese government spokesman was not immediately available to comment.
The two former civil war foes have been locked in a bitter dispute over oil payments and other issues, and clashes in the ill-defined border region last week gave rise to concern they might blow up into a new war, Reuters reports.
Landlocked South Sudan – which seceded from Sudan in July – shut down its entire 350,000 barrel per day oil production in January as part of the dispute, although crude oil brings in 98 percent of its state revenues.
South Sudan’s army “discovered an illegal pipeline that was being built by Sudan … This is oil piracy,” military spokesman Philip Aguer said by phone on Thursday, a day after South Sudan said it had shot down a Sudanese MiG-29 aircraft over South Sudan’s oil-producing Unity state.
It is not clear when the pipeline was built but Aguer said the army captured two earth excavators that were being used by a “foreign company” to help extend the pipeline towards Unity state.
Alleged photographs of the pipeline seen by Reuters showed a pipe of around 10-inch diameter lying on the black earth next to a shallow trench.
South Sudan broke away from Sudan after a referendum last year in which the South voted overwhelmingly for partition after almost 50 years of unbroken rebellion against Khartoum.
The division gave South Sudan about three quarters of the country’s oil production, but it must still use pipelines and other facilities running through Sudan to export it, and the two have failed to agree how much it should pay to do this.
South Sudan’s army briefly occupied an undefined portion of Heglig town last week before pulling out. Heglig oil field lies in a contested border region currently controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces and accounts for roughly half of Sudan’s 115,000 barrel per day oil output.
South Sudan previously accused Sudan of building another tie-in pipeline to Khartoum’s refineries with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day.
Sudan and South Sudan routinely trade accusations of supporting insurgencies in each other’s territory.

Ekiti PDP crisis deepens, factional chairman, 12 others suspended

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Crisis rocking the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) deepened yesterday as the party’s factional Chairman, Mr
Makanjuola Ogundipe and twelve others were suspended indefinitely.

Other members suspended include Hon Femi Bamisile, Tope Aluko, Adeolu
Aluko, Kola Adefemi, Afolayan Akutupu, Agbaje Lateef, Taye Olatunji,
Senator Clement Awoyelu, Hon Duro Faseyi and Cyril Fasuyi.

A statement issued by the Akin Omole-led faction of the party and
signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jackson Adebayo read;
“following the allegation of gross misconduct and total violation of
the PDP constitution, the Ekiti State chapter of the PDP has suspended
Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe and twelve others indefinitely.

“The suspended members have constituted themselves into political
nuisance by their conduct in parading themselves as the party
executive in Ekiti State after being disqualified from contesting the
State Congress of the party for violation of Section 8:9, 17:g, 16.iv
and v of the party’s constitution and zoning arrangement.”

The party equally reinstated its earlier position that the impeached
former Governor of the State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, Pastor Kola
Oluwawole, Sunday Olowoyo and Busola Ogunbiyi were not yet member of
the PDP “because they have not fufil the provisions of the party’s
constitution that can guarantee them the membership.”

The party further maintained that “anybody that deals with the
suspended members on matters relating to PDP in Ekiti State does so in
error,” adding that; “if any member of the party pay obidience to them
such member would be regarded as disident.

”It has come to our notice that these set of people have been going
round the Local Government chapters of our party, performing
inauguration of the LGA Executives.

“We want to say that inauguration or swearing in of elected members of
PDP Excos at whatever level is alien  to the party constitution.

“For instance, where and when did the National Executive Committee of
the party inaugurated or sworn in members of the purported State Exco
led by the now suspended Ogundipe?”

The presidency in 2015

By Anthony Akinola*

One concept I tried to clarify in the run-up to the presidential election of 2011 was that of “re-election”.  I argued then that President Goodluck Jonathan could not have been seeking re-election because he was only a vice-presidential candidate to the one elected president in 2007.  One can only be deemed to be seeking re-election to a position one had been elected to in the first place.  The clarification I was attempting to make may have become clearer now that the political future of President Jonathan has been enjoying some debate in academic and political circles (see, for instance, Chidi Amuta, “Jonathan and 2015”, This Day, 3rd April 2012).

Dr Amuta, in the useful article referred to above, opined that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as the cause of democracy would be strengthened if Goodluck Jonathan were not denied the constitutional right to seek re-election in 2015.  He was not saying that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must present Jonathan as its flag bearer, even if his lacklustre performance had continued into the future.  What Chidi Amuta seems to be anticipating, just like the rest of us, is the controversy the PDP “zoning” policy of alternating the presidency between the North and the South could engender in the very near future.  There would be those reminding Goodluck Jonathan that his tenure had expired, not least because the argument once conjured in favour of his candidacy was that he was continuing with the mandate he jointly held with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.  His supporters said the mandate was inseparable but would their argument still hold in 2015?

Of course, President Goodluck Jonathan can seek re-election in 2015 – if dictates of selfish interest prevail.  The fact that he had been sworn into office twice would not have meant he had served a second term in office.  One recalls the case of Lyndon B Johnson whose ascension to the American presidency compares with Jonathan’s route to office.  Johnson had succeeded the assassinated John F Kennedy in 1963, won an election of his own in 1964 and would have sought re-election in 1968 but for the fact that he had become very unpopular because of the negative outcome of America’s conflict in Vietnam.  Not constitutionally barred, he took the decent route of withdrawing from seeking his party’s nomination.

Goodluck Jonathan is not unaware of the possible crisis his wanting to continue in office beyond 2015 could generate.  His declaration of an intention not to seek re-election in 2015 may not be unconnected with this.  However, a promise made out of desperation or expediency may not always hold, not least because what we are talking about here is power and its alluring influences.  The President had warned his ministers and assistants against unguarded statements about 2015; however, he could be the very one encouraging them to sing his praises and sound public opinion in the not too distant future.  The PDP is in for a major crisis but can the so-called opposition parties benefit from this?  Chidi Amuta explored this question in his excellent article.

The opinion here is that the very reasons the PDP may run into crisis in 2015 also explains why the opposition parties might not be able to take advantage of their situation.  The so-called “progressives” have a disappointing history as they have been unable to progress beyond the confines of ethnic boundaries.  Regional sentiments have been the dominating influence in all of this.  There are all sorts of progressives in the various regions.  The regional element in our democracy must be addressed in an improved constitution if we were to have a national progressive party. Being myopically pre-occupied with a political arrangement that has worked elsewhere may not have helped the cause of our democracy. I say it is futile to be preoccupied with political arrangements that have worked elsewhere because what we have not been able to photocopy are the cultural elements that sustain them in the host nations. In Britain, for instance, the institution of the Monarchy has provided stability to the parliamentary system of government which originated from that great nation. What we celebrate in Nigeria is exactly what truly – republican America rejects – privileges arising from the circumstances of birth. It is clearly stated in their constitution that “no American citizen shall bear a title of nobility”. Here in Nigeria, politicians envy traditional rulers for the unsolicited respect they command, while the latter also envy the former for the monies they are able to steal!

I should be suggesting to those with the powers to review or amend the national constitution that rotational presidency is most appropriate for Nigeria. Zoning the presidency could be the most assured way of inducing competitive political parties and ideologies to traverse the various divides.  In a society that is as divided as ours, it could also be the most assured way objectively, of fishing out our political leaders, based on merit rather than primordial affiliations.  Zoning could be our own contribution to the principle of federalism which, more than anything else, emphasises equality and fairness in the relationship of participating units.  Democracy itself should be about peace and stability in one’s own nation.

*Akinola is a political writer based in Oxford, UK