WASHINGTON—President Benigno Aquino arrived here on Wednesday night (Thursday morning in Manila) for a visit that will highlight the Philippines’ growing importance in American strategic thinking as the United States “pivots” to Asia and both countries worry about China’s intentions.

US President Barack Obama will receive Mr. Aquino at the Oval Office on Friday afternoon (Saturday morning in Manila)  for discussions expected to center on China’s increasing aggressiveness in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

A day before Mr. Aquino’s arrival in the US capital, the US Senate passed a resolution calling for increased American defense and security cooperation with the Philippines, including support for the modernization of the Philippine military.

A US official said Washington saw Mr. Aquino as a leader who was “trying to do the right thing” to tackle the corruption, cronyism and red tape that have held back the economy of his nation of 93 million people.

Mr. Aquino’s plane—a chartered Philippine Airlines Airbus A340—landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland at 8:19 p.m. Eastern time (8:19 a.m. Thursday in Manila) from London’s Heathrow Airport.

Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr., embassy staff members and a throng of well-wishers from the Filipino-American community in Washington welcomed Mr. Aquino.

Instead of boarding the presidential limousine after the reception of the honor guard, Mr. Aquino walked straight to meet his supporters at the edge of the tarmac, sending US Secret Service agents and official vehicles scrambling after him.

US Air Force personnel said it was “uncommon” for heads of state to approach well-wishers, with most boarding their vehicles at the foot of the ramp.

Mr. Aquino’s gesture sent his welcomers cheering. “We love you, P-Noy,” some shouted. “Mabuhay si P-Noy,” others cheered. (P-Noy is the president’s moniker.)

First White House meet

The President and Obama have met four times over the last two years, but never in the White House. This is the first time that the US leader is officially playing host to Mr. Aquino.

The meeting at the Oval Office will lay the groundwork for the future of the strategic partnership between the Philippines and the United States, Ambassador Cuisia said.

He said the two leaders would discuss global, regional and domestic issues, including those affecting bilateral relations.

“They will also be covering more specifically military and security cooperation, economic cooperation, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, people-to-people exchanges or people-to-people ties,” Cuisia said in an interview.

“But they will also, I’m sure, be talking about the West Philippine Sea as part of the maritime security discussions,” he said.

Mr. Aquino will also meet senior US lawmakers for “discussions on our bilateral economic and defense cooperation, the shift in the focus of the United States toward the Asia-Pacific and ways to revitalize our alliance,” Cuisia said in a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila.

Senate resolution

On Tuesday, the US Senate passed Resolution No. 481 calling for increased defense and security cooperation with the Philippines. The measure was sponsored by Senator Richard Lugar in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States.

Senators John Kerry, James Inhofe, Jim Webb, Kelly Ayotte, Tad Cochran and Daniel Inouye  also sponsored the resolution. They called on Manila and Washington to continue high-level consultations.

The DFA statement quoted Cuisia as saying that the Senate resolution “calls for increased cooperation and enhanced bilateral security ties between the two countries, including support for Philippine defense modernization, the rotational presence of US forces and increased humanitarian and disaster relief preparedness.”

“It also urged Washington to continue its efforts to assist Manila in the areas of maritime security, maritime domain awareness, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and related communications infrastructure to enable enhanced information sharing and overall military professionalism,” Cuisia said.

Importance of alliance

“This is a very positive development that further underscores the importance the United States places on its alliance with the Philippines,” he said. “The Filipino people greatly appreciate this gesture by our friends in the United States.”

Washington’s “rebalancing” of forces to the Asia-Pacific region, a post-Cold War strategy two decades in the making, has accelerated under the Obama administration in response to China’s rapid military modernization and growing assertiveness in the region.

60% of naval fleet

The Obama policy has focused on Southeast Asia and crafting flexible arrangements with other allies in Asia, Australia and the Philippines, and ship visits to Singapore and Vietnam.

No new US bases are envisioned, although 2,500 US troops will rotate through and train in Darwin, Australia. Any new arrangements with the Philippines would be smaller than the Australian program, US officials said.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at a security forum in Singapore last weekend that the United States would reposition its naval fleet so 60 percent of its battleships would be in the Asia-Pacific by the end of the decade, up from about 50 percent now.

The plan drew a pledge from China’s People’s Liberation Army to increase its vigilance.

In upgrading its military capability to protect its interest in disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea, Manila has been looking to Washington for ships, aircraft and surveillance equipment to build a credible defense posture.

New urgency

After high-level bilateral security and diplomatic talks in late April, the Obama administration pledged to increase its annual foreign military sales to the Philippines to $30 million, about three times the level of the 2011 program.

“We’ve been working with the Philippines on military modernization for 12 or 13 years, very intensively,” said Walter Lohman, a Southeast Asia expert at Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.

“The only thing that has changed is the urgency of this and the seriousness the Philippines has shown under the Aquino administration,” he said.

Manila’s new urgency stems from a standoff with China at the Scarborough Shoal, a horseshoe-shaped reef near the Philippines in waters both countries claim. Since April 8, two Philippine civilian vessels have been facing off with nearly 100 Chinese vessels at the shoal.

Discussions between Mr. Aquino and Obama are expected to touch on the standoff.

US investors

On Thursday morning (Friday night in Manila), Mr. Aquino will meet US businessmen and prospective investors at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Among those who will be present are top officials of power firm Sithe Global, which operates two 300-megawatt coal-fired power plants in Mariveles, Bataan; Denham Capital, a private equity firm specializing in energy and commodity investments; and electricity generation firm GN Power.

Mr. Aquino will also meet with officials of Underwriters Laboratories, the company that uses the “UL” trademark, specializing in the testing of electronic products, in the hope of enticing them to set up operations in the Philippines.

At 11 a.m., he will be interviewed by senior editors of Washington Post, after which he will proceed to the Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia, which also houses the training facilities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Cuisia said at least one Philippine law enforcer was currently undergoing training at the FBI Academy, and that Mr. Aquino hoped to convince the US government to increase the number of slots allotted to Filipino police trainees.

US lawmakers

Mr. Aquino will meet US senators led by Inouye, the deputy Senate president and chair of the powerful appropriations committee.

“These senators are, of course, interested in the broad relationship between the Philippines and the United States,” Cuisia said.

“But more specifically, they also have expressed interest in what’s going on in the West Philippine Sea. They would like to listen to our President and find out what are the current developments in the West Philippine Sea.”

On Thursday night, Mr. Aquino will grace the dinner launch of the new lobby group US-Philippines Society.

Robert Mugabe‘s motorcade has run over and killed a homeless man, but officials denied press reports that the accident victim was ignored and left to die on the road.

The Zimbabwean president, 88, was travelling to a funeral in his home district, Zvimba, on Wednesday when one of his outriders knocked the man down on a motorway.

Zimbabwe‘s Daily News reported that the president, riding in a $1m Mercedes Benz limousine, “zoomed past the accident scene moments later, probably unaware of the serious crash.

“Eyewitnesses said the vagrant, who frequents the busy highway, was run over by the motorcade’s first outrider that clears the way for Mugabe.”

The Daily News also quoted an eyewitness as saying: “If that guy is still alive, it is a miracle. The bike ripped through the man’s legs while the bike rider was thrown off. The scene was so ghastly and bloody that one would not take a second glance.”

On Friday George Charamba, the president’s spokesperson, confirmed that a homeless man had been killed in an accident involving Mugabe’s outriders.

But asked why the motorcade – said to be one of the longest in Africa – failed to stop for the injured man, Charamba replied: “That’s not correct. The man died on the spot. He was ripped apart in an instant. He did not breathe a moment longer.”

He added: “Because he’s homeless, he will now probably have a pauper’s burial. I know he’s been taken to a mortuary.”

The Daily News said that when its reporter arrived at the scene of the accident, which was guarded by police officers, the damaged motorbike was being loaded into an unidentified truck. “An eyewitness said the bike was speeding and ran into the vagabond, who was in the middle of the road,” the paper continued.

“The motorcade sped past the accident scene in usual fashion and did not stop to assist the injured. The vagrant and rider were taken to hospital by ambulances that arrived at the scene later.”

Zimbabwe police declined to comment, directing calls to the president’s office.

Later on Wednesday, Mugabe’s motorcade was involved in another accident 60 miles (100km) west of Harare which left two troopers dead and two injured. The cause was said to be a Land Cruiser suffering a burst tyre.

Mugabe’s motorcade usually comprises police escort bikes, state security vehicles, police vehicles, his Zim 1 limousine and Land Cruiser trucks full of heavily armed soldiers, according to the Daily News. “He also travels with an ambulance among other vehicles. His motorcade is regarded as one of Africa’s longest.”

SW Radio Africa, an independent Zimbabwean radio station, said the motorcade had been involved in several accidents before, and in 2005 ran over another homeless man who died on the spot.

Zimbabwean road traffic regulations state that when a presidential motorcade is approaching “the driver of every vehicle on the road on which a state motorcade is travelling … shall halt his vehicle.”

The regulations also make it an offence to “make any gesture or statement within the view or hearing of the state motorcade with the intention of insulting any person travelling with an escort or any member of the escort.”

Zimbabwe’s roads are notoriously hazardous. The prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, was injured and his wife Susan killed in a car crash in 2009. The finance minister, Tendai Biti, is among numerous politicians to have had narrow escapes.

By Clem Aguiyi

Electoral fraud , corruption and criminal forgery  has become a recurrent  phenomenon among rogue politicians seeking public office in Nigeria since the advent of this nascent democracy and very often the culprits go largely unpunished to the general discomfort of law abiding citizens .

Irked by the impudence of politicians who give bad name to politics, former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a recent outburst attacked the National Assembly as being populated by armed robbers who perhaps forge their way through to the top. Politicians aside from lying effortlessly  under oath and committing criminal perjury, has also perfected the act of forgery and fabrication of anything forgeable such as birth certificates which alter their age to suit their fancy, academic qualifications  , election result sheets and documents kept under lawful custody.

Unnerving is the now random forgery of court documents.

Most of these dirty  and indecent acts are perpetuated under the guide of lawyers who were supposed to be servants in the temple of justice. These lawyers want to win at all cost either by crook or by hook. Need we remind ourselves that we are a nation governed by law and that  incurable falsification , fabrications , forgery of official documents and lying under oath undermines the very foundation of our justice system and that taking judicial notice to curb the impunity of crooks in high places is an essential  step to be taken if we must safeguard our liberty and democracy.

Rather than attack former President Obasanjo for characterizing some legislators robbers , the question is how do we purge our politics with dubious politicians? What manner of service will a rogue politician provide to hapless citizens other than serve his and her own selfish interest?

The latest entrant in this infamous saga of forgery and falsification is Lady Margery Okadigbo , a claimant to the Anambra North Senatorial Seat. The Anambra North Senatorial seat has been in contention since after the  April 2011 general election living that senatorial district  as the only zone without a Senator and representation in the 7th Senate, a painful anomaly which has taken a toll on the socio-economic fortunes of the people of the zone.

The judiciary has not helped matters in the Anambra North debacle as different courts has churned out different orders and often contradictory judgments that threw up winner at a different winner at every turn of the twist. The court of Appeal towards the end of December 2011 in a judgment that was wrapped in controversy ordered the leadership of the Senate and the Senate President to swear in Lady Margery Okadigbo as winner of the Senatorial Zone. The jaundiced judgment did not only throw politicians in the zone into confusion , it also proved political pundits wrong. Everyone had expected that either of Senator Alphonsus Igbeke , the immediate past Senator of the Zone who had a High Court judgment in his favor as the PDP candidate or Prince John Okechukwu Emeka whom the Election Petition Tribunal affirmed as Winner will emerge winner and representative of the zone. Before the surprise ruling of the Appeal Court Lady Okadigbo was never a contender nor a serious part of the equation. The question on the lips of observers was, what formed the basis of the Appeal Court judgment, was the Appeal court jazzed , compromised or merely hood winked?. How did an interloper become the victor?

Emerging and disturbing facts are that Lady Margery Okadigbo had approached the Appeal Court with a 183 page bundle of cooked documents containing ‘Affidavits of Facts’ purported to have been sworn to at the Registry of the Otuocha Judicial Division of the Anambra State High Court by the respective 183 persons whose names appeared on each page of said document. Lady Okadigbo it is now alleged, proceeded to convince the judges of the Appeal Court that the fictitious names on the cooked documents are delegates to an ‘imaginary’ primary in which she was purported to have won. The Court of Appeal made no attempt to verify the authenticity of her claims and genuineness of the documents placed before it but went straight in  awarding the now controversial judgment that declared Lady Okadigbo as winner thereby further compounding the Anambra North Senatorial crisis and deepening the credibility and integrity crisis bedeviling the judiciary. Majority of the citizens of the zone who had spoken on the issue believed judgment was doled out to the highest bidder.

Mrs. EN Ezeanyika , the Assistant Registrar of the High Court Registry, Otuocha , Anambra Judicial Division the supposed originator of the toxic documents has since distanced the Registry from it because according to her, the documents bear no receipt numbers that will enable one trace the authenticity. To quote her own words in a letter published by the media ‘ there is no receipt number on any page of the attached bundle of documents (each titled ‘Affidavit of Facts’) each showing that they were paid for, or where they were paid for . To qualify as affidavits duly sworn to by such individuals , they ought to be paid for and the receipt  number written on them , but there is no indication on the face of the documents showing that this was done. Accordingly there is nothing on the face of the document to enable me confirm them as affidavits of facts sworn to at the Registry of the Otuocha Judicial Division of the Anambra State High Court.

Also in a separate letter denouncing the 183 documents which Lady Okadigbo presented to the Appeal Court as falsified,  Mr Obadiegwu whose name and signature  had appeared on the falsified documents as the Commissioner for Oath vehemently denied the documents in strong terms and words, ‘the signature and stamp that appear on the 183 page bundle of document are not mine and are therefore forged. The dates appearing on the said documents tend to suggest they were sworn to in January 11th 2011 at which time I held office as the Assistant Chief Registrar and Commissioner for Oaths in the Otuocha Judicial Division  of the Anambra State High Court. I have gone through my records in that Registry and could not find any document of that nature as emanating from the Registry’.

Mr Obadiegwu went ahead to back his position with a sworn affidavit deposed to on the 11th of May 2012 , including volunteering statement to the police under caution.

But for the allure of power , what will make a mother and widow of a revered statesman to engage in the indecent act of forgery , perjury and lying under oath . If this is not robbery as Obasanjo had suggested in his public statements , what then is robbery? Is forgery no longer a crime punishable by imprisonment under the law of this country? Are we operating two separate set of laws in Nigeria- one for the poor  and another for the high and mighty? Why will the Police and also the Attorney General charge Senator Igbeke for the forgery of PDP state election primary results , believed in some quarters to be an illegal primary  and then look the other way in the case of Lady Margery Okadigbo who obviously forged court documents, falsified signatures of judicial officers  and including illegal fabrication of court stamp and seal?

Ironic is even the fact that Lady Okadigbo was among the most vociferous  that urged the Federal Government to harass and prosecute Igbeke for alleged forgery only to turn around to now perfect one of the most grievous of fraud- forgery of court documents

Me thinks , the right place for Lady Okadigbo at this time ought to be in the dock and behind bars and not jostling between the Supreme Court to assist her gain a dubious entry into the red hallowed chamber of the Nigerian Senate.

As the people wait breathlessly for the final judgment of the Supreme Court which will finally decide between Senator Alphonsus Igbeke, Prince John Emeka and Lady Okadigbo who represents the zone  at the 7th Assembly of the Nigerian Senate, one wont but say that the outcome of the drama will go a long way to reinforce, stabilize or truncate and destabilize the people’s trust in the credibility of our politics and justice system . Needless to say that the credibility of the present government has greatly been dented and hampered by the spate of criminal fraud , forgery  and corruption in high public places , thus bringing to the fore the issue of selective justice which seems to be the mode of dispensing justice between the affluent, influential and well connected  and the common people. The high and mighty who claim affinity to the presidency and corridors of power always go free despite the gravity of their offences while the commoners bear the brunt of judicial vehemence.

However on this matter, the Police and the Office of the Attorney General has task in its hand to wade into this scandalous allegation , conduct its findings  and  to take appropriate actions regarding any crime that may have been committed against the state.

At this point in time in the nation’s history , crime fighting agencies are what Nigerians  look up to , to live up to their statutory billings and save the nation the continued embarrassment that aiding and abetting crime and corruption has foisted on her.

TEHRAN – President Vladimir Putin calls Iran a close friend of Russia and says Iran has “absolute right” to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

There are indications that fresh trouble is brewing  at the House of Representatives over allegations that Chairman of the House’s Adhoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy Hon. Farouk Lawan was involved in a bribery scandal worth $600,000 last month.

Already there are speculations that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may have invited Hon Lawan over the bribery allegation which sources say have already resulted in the Speaker of the House Hon. Aminu Tambuwal disowning the legislator over the messy incident.

It was gathered that Tambuwal had confronted Lawan over the issue in a meeting of Principal Officers of the House where the Chairman of the Adhoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy was summoned to defend himself over the allegation.

Sources said  that Hon. Lawan had initially denied the allegation when it was put to him by the Speaker but froze in shock when he was confronted with details of what transpired at the  address where officials of an unnamed oil company had  given him the huge amount of foreign currency which had been marked.

It was further gathered that unknown to Hon Lawan, the entire incident was recorded by video after which copies were sent to a former Head of State who handed it over to Tambuwal.

It would be recalled  that in the wake of the controversy that was generated over the Federal Government’s planned total withdrawal of subsidy from  petroleum products last January,  the House of Representatives set up  the Adhoc Committee to probe how the subsidy fund that was appropriated by the National Assembly in the past had been disbursed.

Among the findings of the House was that despite the fact that only N400 billion was appropriated for payment of oil subsidy in 2011, over one trillion naira was spent.  It was also alleged that a lot of the payments were made to phoney companies.

Source (Vanguard)