The Action Congress of Nigeria has passed a vote of confidence on its senate minority leader, Senator George Akume describing the phantom plot to replace him as the minority leader as the handwork of some reactionary and anti-democratic forces in the senate.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its national publicity secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed the party expressed satisfaction in the manner senator George Akume has so far, discharged his onerous responsibly as the senate minority leader and reminded all busy bodies that the choice of the minority senate leader is the sole and exclusive preserve of the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria and no amount of horse trading, intrigue or blackmail can change this.
The party absolves its member in the upper chamber of the national assembly from this phantom plot and puts the blame squarely on the doorstep of the leadership of the senate who would rather prefer a more pliable and easily compromis able minority leader to our principled and disciplined senator George Akume.
As the saying goes all politics is local and the plot to remove Senator George Akume according to the party can be located first and foremost in the battle for the soul of Benue state and even more importantly in the paralysis and fear that have gripped the People’s Democratic Party following the growing popularity and acceptance of the Action Congress of Nigeria all over the country.
The party recalled that only last week a thoroughly confused People’s Democratic Party described the Action Congress of Nigeria as a tribal party. Can a party with a governor from the South South geo-political zone, senators from Benue, Edo and Anambra States, House of Representative members from Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Adamawa, Benue, Kogi and Imo states among others be described by right thinking people as a tribal party?
Is the plot to remove Senator George Akume as the party’s senate minority leader not part of the desperate plot of the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s to give the impression to Nigerians that we are a tribal party, especially when we remove Senator George Akume and replace him with a senator from the South West, the party queried
What is your reaction to the myriad of crises in the country?
Let us come to the issue that is threatening the existence and survival of every one of us. Economically, Nigeria is at the lowest level of economic activities. Everything is comatose. Why? Because some people feel that by right, they have the power to rule over others. This is happening because when the British came, they introduced a divide-and-rule style of the government. Those who opposed and fought them for that were punished for fighting them.
When the entity called Nigeria came to be, the British did everything to support the north, and they did that very perfectly ana promoted them over and above others, including the kings of Kalahari who had had^ diplomatic relations with other nations of the world before the British came. The records are there for anybody that wishes to find out if what I am saying it the truth.
Independence was granted to Nigeria on the premise that the north was more populated than the south, which is strange because there is nowhere in the world where the dry Savannah is more in population than forest wet land. Nowhere! But in Nigeria, all these empirical and geographical laws were set aside and a bogus population figure was foisted on us.
What has been the relationship between the people of the Niger Delta and the north?
The Niger Delta people, especially the Ijaw, nad an alliance with the north against the Igbo, who they perceived as then- enemies. The Ijaw, the Efik and Itsekin were the leading slave traders; they were the people that controlled the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the bulk of the slaves came from the hinterland, the Igbo, the Ibibio and the Anang.
So, there was this kind of we-will-get-back-at-you. When the administrative capital of the British was moved from Calabar to Enugu, the Igbo got ascendancy over the Efik, the Ijaw and the Itsekiri. That was where the problem started. The Ijaw and the Efik because of their small population, started to align outside the former Eastern region. The Ijaw aligned with the north during NPC (Northern Peoples Congress) days. During election then, NPC won only one seat outside that north, and it was in the Ijaw hinterland. The Efik supported Awolowo’s Action Group in the west. When the civil war came, the Ijaw backed Gowon’s call for one Nigeria. My family supported oiafra. If the Ijaw had supported Biafra, we would not be in the condition that we are in today.
Coming to pressing issues now, I am a Muslim. September 17 this year, will make me 24 years as a Muslim, and I will stake my life for my Islam as an Ijaw man, and I have done that every time. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, an Ijaw man, by providence, by manipulation and by Olusegun Obasanjo, became vice President to a Fulani aristocrat, the late Musa Yar’Adua. We all are aware of the drama that took place; we saw it. They said the man was sick” others said he was not sick. They refused to hand over until Goodluck Jonathan became Acting President against the Constitution because there is no provision for Acting President. They came again and said doctrine of necessity. The law is supreme, and there is nothing like doctrine of necessity. What they called doctrine of necessity was a fraud. When something is fraudulent, it will continue to be fraudulent all the way. That is what Nigeria is, and that is what it will be.
What happened to the relationship they once had?
As a sitting president, every political party will make offer to you to either continue in office by contesting election, but in Nigeria, some people say they are larger-than-life and decided that Goodlcuk Jonathan cannot be president. To them, he is too small. And Isa Kaita clearly said that if Goodluck wins the PDP ticket by any means, even by default and goes on to win the presidential election, that they will make the country ungovernable for him. So Isa, speaking on behalf of the north, said they will make the country ungovernable for Jonathan. Nigeria has been having headache since then. Because they are the ones who will tell who will rule. During the national conference, Umaru Dikko said to our people, “Did your fathers not tell you the relationship between us”? So, I went to Chief Edwin Clark to ask him what sort of relationship we have with the north. Did you people sell us as slaves to them? Let us know so that we will confront you people before you die.
Chief Clark and the late Melford Okilo were the pro-northern politicians in ljaw land. So, if today the north is criticising Chief Clark, it makes people like us to dance because it has turned a full circle. We want Chief Clark and others to repent and beg our people, because they collaborated with our enemies to put us down. Goodluck has been there for two years, and every Kroblem since 1956 when Ng er i a got s e 1 f-government, 57 years today, for 55 years they have been ruling. But only two years, he is said to be clueless, he is dumb…so, if he is clueless, how much intelligence had Balewa, Gowon, Muritala Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Shagari, Bunari, Babangida. Abacha and Ernest Shonekan? Then Abudulsami Abubakar and Obasanjo again? We want to know. For 55 years, they destroyed everything. No road, no electricity, our education is the worst thing that anybody can do to us. What did they achieve?
Are you speaking for Jonathan?
I am not holding brief for Goodluck Jonathan but I want to lay a foundation and set the records straight. But I want to ask, what has Jonathan done that makes him the worst president of Nigeria? I am an ljaw man. The only attachment I have with Jonathan is that I am an ljaw man.
Why are you anti-north?
People say I am anti-north but 1 have a northern Fulani wife, from Yobe State, she has children for me. My lawyer, one of the closest Eersons to me, who does my usiness, is a northerner from Bida.
On the issue of security and Boko Haram, the north will lose. In this battle, the north will lose. And I feel pain because I am a Muslim, and I know that the North will suffer. The people should think. When I engage my northern friends, I always tell them, may be, you people are not seeing the hand writing on the wall. This war, as I am talking, is not a joke. I saw it coming and tne north will lose. There will be no national army to prosecute the Biafra type of civil war, because ljaw people in the army will leave; Igbo people in the army will leave. Everybody will form loyalty to his tribe. The Yoruba people that the north is relying on, you know their history. Ojukwu is dead. He would have told you about them. As they are pushing you (north), when the war starts, they will tell you to your tent oh Israel! It is better for us to trade the path of peace. We can live together and create a greater nation but there must be a dialogue. I was one of the first persons to say government should dialogue with Boko Haram. There should be dialogue. For over 40 years, the north ruled Nigeria but today, there is nothing to show for it in the north. The ordinary northern is poorer than any other person. But if Goodluck attempts that kind of thing in our people for eight years as president, and refuse to develop and attract investment in our area, we will show him. Iiust returned from northern Cyprus. One of the biggest farms in Cyprus belongs to an incumbent governor from the north. If mat governor builds that farm in the north, will it not help the zone? They keep taking their wealth outside their region. Who do they expect to come and develop their region for them?
What is your reaction to the call for Jonathan to become a Muslim of resign?
The arrogance of Shekau and his group is un-Islamic. Which Tresident, if not Goodluck, will accept somebody to tell him to become a Muslim or resign? What kind of insult? Is that what Prophet Mohammed did? Become a Muslim or this…? That is an insult. You don’t push somebody beyond the point he can go. The insult is too much. Did you do it to Abacha or IBB? They are not the only one that can kill. I don’t know why they will not listen. They are “behavinglike deaf, dumb and blind. Death and starvation is coming to their house, yet they are showing arrogance. Let nothing happen to Goodluck because if anything happens to him, the world will know.
Are you saying Jonathan has done very well?
We are not saying that Goodluck has tried; he has failed woefully. Goodlcuk is president and the East-West road is cut-off. What is Godsday Orubebe (Minster of Niger Delta) still doing as Minister? Nobody votea for Orubebe; we voted for Goodluck.
So, if Orubebe fails, Goodluck has failed because this is executive presidency and not parliamentary system of government. What is Goodluck doing when the coastal road has not been fixed? The time will come if Goodluck does not sit up, our people will tell him, you are on your own. Goodluck must correct the 55 years of injustice. He must be fair to all. Goodluck must convoke a Sovereign National Conference. Goodluck has every power, every moral responsibility to convene a national conference, where we will all sit down and talk. We can live together peacefully, but we must dialogue. Goodluck and those in his government should live by example. I don’t see any reason why Goodluck should be traveling up and down, instead of sitting down to do what he was elected to do. Somebody who is carrying an Elephant on his heaa cannot be looking for snail with his legs. We have endured with him for two years; we can endure more, not everybody will continue to endure.
We need to build our capacity. Goodluck should know this. For us as a people over dependence on government for everything will not help us. I know that government is the greatest distributor of wealth in Nigeria but I still believe that we depending on government for everything will not help us. That is why Goodluck must ensure that this government builds a capacity where the people will do something to create wealth without looking into the direction of the government. We ended the anti- subsidy protest in Lagos. Therefore, we will impress it on Goodluck to do what is right for the people. In Edo State, we saw good government that thinks of the people: we moved in and supported the Comrade Governor.
What is your reaction to the accusation and counter-accusation of IBB and Edwin Clark over Boko Haram?
I want to be fair to Buhari and IBB. I want to say that there is nothing they can really do about what is happening in the North. There is nothing. I want also say that Chief Clark is right in saying that the North, especially the political elite in the North which includes Gen. Babangida and Buhari have not done enough in condemning and isolating Boko Haram. Let me remind them that Boko Haram is destroying the North. Boko Haram is not destroying us. Even if they kill Goodluck, they cannot destroy us. We know how terror groups operate. After sometimes, they splinter. They continue to splinter because there will be disagreement on the modus-operandi of the group, and other people will start to leave…some people within the group will accuse even the founders of being responsible for the sufferings of the people they are fighting for. So, I don t think that IBB and Buhari can do anything.
They can only talk and put their lives at risks. Nobody wants to commit suicide. But if IBB said he is ready to wear his Khaki to keep Nigeria together, he should also be ready to sacrifice his life by telling Boko Haram to stop. These are the issues that we have to look at. What is the way out? The easiest way to solve the problem is for convoke a national dialogue where we will all sit down and talk. But if we continue to postpone it, we are only postponing the doomsday because as the attacks continue in North, and they continue to kill the Igbo, one day, one mad Igbo man will get up and say enough is enough, and he will go to Ama Hausa (Hausa Community) in Enugu, Owerri, Aba and in all the Igbo land and attack and kill innocent northerners. Then, there will be reprisal this way and that way. Then, Goodluck will not be able to hold anybody again.
If they see any ljaw man to kill in the North, maybe, a Police Officer, Immigration or Customs or Managerial staff in NNPC in the North, but if ljaw people decide to kill Northerners, every major household in the North will cry because in Bonny Island alone, all the prominent Northern families are there in LNG and in other oil companies there. I can go home today and ask them to close up Bonny Island and the place will be closed. There will be no way for anybody to escape and they will all be killed. If that happens, the cream of majority of North in the oil and gas business will be affected. So what we are saying is that it is the north that needs peace more than us. We have the resources in our hand, even the presidency is in our hands now. So. they are the ones that need peace. And everybody must impress it on them that they need peace. This road they are foing will not help them. hey say he who the gods want to destroy, they first make him deaf. So, the north must understand they need peace more than any other Eerson. We can live together ut we need to sit down and dialogue.
This arrogance will not help them. They see the truth and refuse to say it. The north should ask their leaders: the IBBs, Buharis, Abdusalamis and all of them, what did they do at the period they were ruling? Why did they fail to develop the North? So, what I am trying to say is that Goodiuck must convoke a national conference whether he likes it or not. This is the truth that they have not learnt. People will pay VAT in Lagos, and you will share the VAT from Lagos in Yobe. Then, somebody says he does not drink alcohol. It is Haram to drink alcohol, to buy alcohol, to receive proceed from alcohol? So, everybody in the north has been eating Haram. VAT from alconol is being distributed. Why? Is that justice?
“So, please, let us sit down and talk. There is need for national discourse. It is only by sitting down and dialoguing that we can find solution to our problem. In the North, they should set up Neighborhood Vigilante and make sure that this Vigilante protects the people: the Church, the Mosques and palaces of the traditional rulers. Because, the people throwing bombs are human beings like them.
–
Culled from Nigerian Compass Newspaper, Sunday 11, 2012
Iran Launches Diplomatic Initiative Aimed At Preventing The Fall Of Assad’s Regime, Collapse Of Entire Resistance Axis, And Regional War
In light of the escalation of the crisis in Syria, on August 9, 2012, Iran held an international conference aimed at preventing the fall of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the collapse of the entire resistance axis that would inevitably follow. In Iran’s eyes, the Syrian regime is the bulwark against a Sunni-Shi’ite war in the Middle East encompassing Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and others, which would have far-reaching ramifications for the survival of the Islamic regime in Iran itself.
Ramin Mehmanparast, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, underlined this during his recent visit to China, when he said: “The West still striving to provoke the Iranian nation in order [to drag it into] the conflict that they anticipate among the countries of the region… It is not that we cannot respond to them in the same measure, but we know that such moves will lead to great fitna [i.e. civil war in the Middle East] and that by provoking the [Iranian] people, they want to bring Iran into conflict with the [Sunni Arab] countries of the region. The basis of Iranian foreign policy, according to Supreme Leader Khamenei focuses on directing the events in the region, so that this great fitna that the West wants to ignite will not take place. They aspire to bring about a situation in which under these sensitive conditions, we will throw caution to the winds, and respond as they want us to.” [1]
Along with this initiative, Tehran is also working energetically vis-à-vis Turkey in order to ensure that it will not attack Syria from its shared border.To this end, Iran is apparently trying to consolidate a Kurdish front that will defend the Syrian border from any Turkish attack.
It should be noted that along with activity in the regional arena, Tehran is further entrenching the status of its regime at home. The sanctions imposed by the West, which are increasingly and severely impacting the lives of Iran’s citizens and endangering the regime, have led the latter to take two main steps:
Attempting to prepare the public to weather the storm: While Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials make frequent mention of the need for the people to stand fast,[2] the government is stockpiling essential commodities.[3]
Deploying paramilitary Basij units, comprising tens of thousands of activists who have undergone operational training, to prevent any domestic uprising.[4]
The International Conference In Tehran To Save The Syrian Regime
On August 9, 2012, Iran held an international conference aimed at stopping the collapse of Assad’s regime in Syria. The compromise that Iran is proposing to the international community is a “democratic solution,” according to the “will of the people,” by means of “holding general elections” and “a national dialogue.” It should be noted that in an August 8, 2012 op-edin The Washington Post, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi stated that Iran would be willing to accept elections under “international supervision” in Syria; however, there was no mention of this willingness in the Iranian media.
In this context, Khamenei’s associate Saeed Jalili, who is also Iran’s nuclear chief and secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was dispatched on August 7 to meet with Assad. The Iranian news agency Al-Alam reported that Assad said at the meeting that his government was determined to comply with the demands of the people in a democratic manner.[5]
Jalili also went to Lebanon and Iraq; in Lebanon, he warned President Michel Sleiman that the conflict in Syria must not boil over into Lebanon and spark civil war – meaning actions by other religious groups in Lebanon against the Shi’ite Hizbullah – in the event that the Syrian regime collapses.[6] In Iraq, he warned Parliamentary Speaker OsamaAl–Nujaifi, “The tribal and religious conflicts in Iraq are part of the enemy’s plots aimed at undermining security [in the country] and preventing stability in the region. We must not be drawn into such conflicts, so as not to fall into the enemy’s trap.”[7]
Efforts To Consolidate An Iranian-Kurdish-Iraqi Front Against A Turkish Military Operation In Syria
According to the Lebanese dailyAl-Akhbar, Jalili told Assad that as far as Iran was concerned, the crisis in Syria is a matter of Iranian national security, and when Assad said that he can deal with the attack on him within Syria, Jalili told him that Iran intends to prevent any Turkish military intervention in Syria.[8]The paper added that Jalili has gotten the Kurdish PKK groups to agree to restrict their activity to defending Syria’s northern border from any attack by Turkey.
According to Iranian sources, the paper said, Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi, who was in Turkey when Jalili was visiting Lebanon and Syria, had warned the Turks against undertaking any operation that would threaten Syria or the Syrian regime. He even hinted, said the paper, that members of the Turkish battalion in UNIFIL in Lebanon could be kidnapped, just as Lebanese citizens have been kidnapped by the Free Syrian Army.[9]
This followed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks on Turkey’s AVT TV that the Turkish military is acting against the PKK, which he said wasattempting to infiltrate into Turkey from Syria, with Assad’s support, and to operate there. He clarified that three Turkish military units were conducting maneuvers on the Turkey-Syria border, and that they might launch a military operation in Syrian territory in order to fight the PKK. He added that the Turkish military would continue its military operation in northern Iraq against the PKK until the latter stopped operating there.[10]
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who also met with the Iranian emissary, said following the meeting that the PKK and the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party were oppressing the Syrian people together with the Syrianregime, and attempting to benefit from the current anarchy in the country. He added that they would try to do so whether the Syrian regime fell or remained in place, but wouldnot succeed. He also said that the PKK that had moved to northern Syria and been armed by Assad constituted a threat to Turkey, and that Turkey would act as it saw fit in this matter.[11]
Iranian Efforts To Open Channels Of Communication With The West
Along with diplomatic efforts to prevent the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Iran is also attempting to warm up its tense relations with the West, by opening the severed channels of communication.
In an attempt to reconcile with the U.K. and the E.U. following their harsh sanctions on Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described the November 2011 attempt to take over the British Embassy in Tehran – an incident which led to the hardening of the European stance against Iran – as a “mistake.” Khamenei made the remarks at an August 6 meeting with students, and tempered them by adding that it was however possible to understand the feelings of the protestors who attacked the embassy.[12]
Iran is also trying to bring the U.S. into the matter of the 48 Iranians who were kidnapped August 4 in Damascus; it is asking for U.S. as well as Turkish and Qatari intervention to obtain their release, while at the same time threatening to harm U.S. interests because, it says, the U.S. is responsible for their safety due to its collaboration with the Syrian opposition.[13]
Assessment
This Iranian initiative does not propose any real solution for either the Syrian opposition or the West; for this reason, it will go nowhere.
It should be noted that the international conference was not attended by prominent representatives from the UN, Western countries, or the Syrian opposition; it was also boycotted by Sunni Arab countries.[14]
In our assessment, this initiative is a reflection of the difficulties faced by the Iranian regime at this time, as a result of the recent deterioration in the situation of its ally, the Syrian regime, following the August 6 defection of Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab, the kidnapping of the 48 Iranians (who are presumably members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC[15]) in Damascus, and the resistance of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo.
The initiative is also aimed at stopping the anticipated anti-Iran sentiment that is expected to emerge at the Organization of the Islamic Conference gathering in Saudi Arabia on August 14-15. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is invited to the meeting and has announced plans to attend.
Additionally, the Turkey-Iran tension in Syria could be a flashpoint for real conflict between Iran and Turkey; if that happens, the situation in the region could deteriorate into a general conflagration.
*A. Savyon is Director of the Iranian Media Project at MEMRI.
[2] For instance, Khamenei said at the August 6 meeting with students that the aim of the sanctions is to topple the Iranian regime from within, and that this must be fought. Leader.ir, August 6, 2012. On July 25, 2012, Khamenei told senior regime officials that they would continue in their path “with greater determination” despite the sanctions; Mehr, Iran, July 25, 2012. On July 11, 2012, at a conference in Tehran, Khamenei said that the sanctions would not stand in Tehran’s way. Asr-e Iran, Iran, July 11, 2012. Tehran Friday preacher Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said that the regime led by Khamenei would not abandon the public, and was working determinedly to solve the economic crisis. He also explained that the highcost of living was part of God’s will and that the public must be frugal in light of the economic crisis, which he said was fundamentally an American plot to take over Iran. Fars, Iran, August 3, 2012. On July 23, 2012, the prosecutor-general of the city of Nishapour said about the protests over the high cost of poultry that the organizers had been identified by the regime, that patience was vital, and that the people had not launched the Islamic Revolution over trivial matters like bread and water. He warned against turning demonstrations into a campaign against the regime. Digarban.com, July 23, 2012. In response to public complaints about the high cost of meat, due to the sanctions during Ramadan, Senior Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi said that eating large quantities of meat was not healthy anyway. ISNA, Iran, July 21, 2012.
[3] The deputy minister of industry said that on orders from President Ahmadinejad, the ministry had begun stockpiling basic commodities including wheat, rice, raw sugar, oil, and poultry, in quantities sufficient for at least the next three months for the entire country. At the same time, basic food commodities manufacturers were instructed to produce sufficient inventory for the needs of the market, importing products if necessary. Mehr, Iran, July 27, 2012.
[4] Deputy IRGC commander Hossein Salami said that the regime had set up Basij squads to defend “moral values,” i.e. the regime, and that they would be activated when necessary. The IRGC forces commander for Tehran district, Mohsen Kazimini, said that in Tehran some 16,000 squads were operating, and that by next March this number would be increased to 21,000. Fars, Iran, August 3, 2012. IRGC commander Jafari said that the concrete threat today was internal, and the squads are ready to operate in the framework of a war against the regime, which requires forces that are loyal, revolutionary, and have high political awareness. Fars, Iran, August 3, 2012. Basij commander Jafari said that the real threat today was domestic, and that the squads are ready to act in response to the “war against the regime.” Fars, Iran, August 2, 2012. Basij commander Naqdi said that the squads are currently about four million strong and meet on a weekly basis. Snn.ir, August 5, 2012.
[5] Alalam.ir/news (Iran), August 7, 2012.
[6] Fars (Iran), August 6, 2012. See for example statements by Majlis National Security Committee member Awaz Heidarpour, who protested against the July 29, 2012 beating of Shi’ites and Alawites in Lebanon by Salafi groups. Icana.ir., July 30, 2012.
[7] Mehr (Iran), August 8, 2012.
[8] An article in the Iranian daily Resalat warned Turkey, a NATO member, against carrying out any military operation in Syria, whether by entering its airspace or any other means, and stressed that the reaction to such an operation would be a missile attack by Syria in Israel’s strategic depth – that is, Tel Aviv. At the same time, hinting at a possible Hizbullah reaction against Israel, the article noted that Syrian, Lebanese, and Hamas territory were not Libya. Resalat, Iran, August 9, 2012.
[9] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), August 9, 2012.
[10] Cited by ISNA (Iran), August 7, 2012.
[11] Syria-news.com, August 9, 2012; Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, August 10, 2012.
[12] Baztab.net, August 6, 2012. It will be recalled that in recent weeks, criticism has been heard in Iran of the government’s intention to reopen the British Embassy in Tehran, which was closed following the November attack.
[14] ISNA (Iran), August 8, 2012. Along with Kuwait, Lebanon also clarified that it would not be sending a representative to the conference. Al-Safir, Lebanon, August 7, 2012.
[15] Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi said that some of the Iranians kidnapped in Syria were retired IRGC and military personnel. ISNA, Iran, August 8, 2012
An Iranian medic attends to an injured woman as people gather outside a hospital in the town of Ahar
Around 180 people have been killed following two earthquakes in northwest Iran.
The two strong quakes struck towns and villages in northwest Iran in quick succession on Saturday, killing at least 180 people and injuring more than 1,000, according to a preliminary toll by officials.
Khalil Sa’ie, a provincial official, said 180 people had been killed and some 1,300 injured.
Gholamreza Masoumi, the head of Iran’s emergency services, said those hurt were being taken to hospitals in Tabriz and Ardebil, the two biggest nearby major cities, both of which escaped relatively unscathed by the quakes.
The quakes measured 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale, according to Tehran University’s Seismological Centre, but the US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.
“Sixty villages… have been heavily damaged and are in need of help,” said Abbas Fallah, an MP in the hard-hit town of Ahar.
The coroner for Ahar, Mohammad Zargari, told the Fars news agency that in that area “so far 20 people have lost their lives… (but) it is estimated the number will reach 40.”
The provincial chief coroner, Bahram Samadi-Rad, said another 30 dead were counted in Varazqan, another town that was badly shaken.
“So far 30 corpses from the quake-hit town of Varazqan have been given to the coroner’s office,” he said.
Allahverdi Dehqani, a politician in Varazqan, confirmed that “most of the villages around Varazqan have been damaged.”
Residents in the region panicked as their homes shook around them when the quakes hit, sending them fleeing into the streets for safety, according to reports.
Telephone communications were cut for hours, forcing rescue personnel to use radios and to send helicopters to some of the villages to assess the extent of the disaster.
Rescue operations were continuing into the night.
Tehran University’s Seismological Centre said the first earthquake hit at 4:53 pm (1223 GMT) with an epicentre just 40 miles from Tabriz, close to the town of Ahar, and a depth of six miles.
The second – a big aftershock – rumbled through just 11 minutes later from nearly the same spot. A series of 17 smaller aftershocks rating 4.7 or below rapidly followed.
Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.
The deadliest was a 6.6-magnitude quake which struck the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people – about a quarter of the population – and destroying the city’s ancient mud-built citadel.
Loads of critics will arise after reading this essay. Many African feminist critics could come for my jugular. I hope though that they will appraise the issue objectively and address it effectively. On my part,I will try as much as I can to be very objective and underline my points with verifiable facts, and keep it short. Very short. After all, this is only just a road map.
One of the most salient points of this year’s Big Brother Africa is the relationship issue in the house. Of course there are two most significant ones: Goldie and Prezzo; Talia versus Keagan/Seydou. This essay is not all about the details of these two relationships. It is about how these relationships clearly underscore the issue of supposed female subsumation in Africa. Supposed, because whenever female subsumation is discussed, it is in reference to the man subsuming the woman. Nobody ever mentions the woman’s/women’s part.
First, Goldie and Prezzo. Obviously, as a Nigerian, Goldie did have a whole lot of chances of making it to at least the last five/six. Big Brother Africa’s history testifies to this. But, was she able to do that? Clearly, she could not. It was not because Africans would not have kept her in the house if she did try to be entertaining a bit. The major reason was because she lost sight of why she was in the house and made her new focus Prezzo. And true to type, the self styled President utilized the opportunity presented to him by the unfocused and unassertive Goldie.
Upon meeting Prezzo, Goldie lost focus and made him her primary focus of entertainment. She washed, cooked, tended to and loved him wholeheartedly. In doing this, she maligned herself from her housemates and also failed to provide the necessary entertainment to Africa. Consequently, she became the most hated housemate to have ever come out of Nigeria since the inception of the Big Brother Africa show. Throughout the entire history of the Big Brother Africa, I do not think that Nigerians have hated any Nigerian housemate more than they hated Goldie during her time there. I know that some people will point to the fact that Nigerians still voted for her during her stay in the house, but then, sheer patriotism made that happen. No Nigerian made any extra effort to keep her in the house, and when she was evicted, everybody heaved a sigh of relief.
The question now is, was Goldie not completely African womanish in her actions in the Big Brother Africa house? A traditional African would say she was. The nouveau African lady will hesitate and show her “ambivalence”. Exactly how they(the women) subsume themselves and give men all the powers.
My assertion here is that Goldie’s obsession with Prezzo led to her “early” eviction. As pointed out above, loads of people all over African could not feel her “entertaining” personality hence she never at any point was Africa’s beloved. Yet Prezzo stayed on to be the first runner-up. As you would see later on, African women decide who is entertaining.
Next up is Talia. Sweet and beautiful Talia. Africa’s beautiful queen. Loved by both male and female. Beloved of Angola and Seydou. Talia had it all working for her when she was Seydou’s loving and faithful girlfriend. In staying true to Seydou, she became the epitome of African beauty mixed with African virtue. Africa loved her; Seydou campaigned for her; and she had a very high chance of dragging the number one spot with Keagan. Then like Eve(not Big Brother Africa’s Eve), she fell. Keagan, dangling the serpent.
Talia, who had continuously professed her love for Seydou and stayed strong. Liked by all the housemates, she was never nominated for eviction. The only time she came up for eviction was when “Biggie’s machine” chose her country. When that happened, African showed her love. Sey showed her love by campaigning for her too. But during the last week, Keagan moved in with one thing in mind: seduce her. He succeeded as she fell for that with just a week to go. It seemed that Keagan’s motive was “exterminate the dual opposition of Talia and Seydou”. That done, she lost Seydou’s support. Now, most importantly, she lost the support of African women. I will explain.
It is quite obvious that majority of the voters/fans of Big Brother Africa, or indeed any reality show are women. They decide who wins and who does not. While most of them come out in public and try to support Talia, behind, they criticized her actions and withdrew their votes. To them, she had betrayed “African womanhood”. Meanwhile, Goldie, who stayed faithful and was lauded as the epitome of African womanhood by most of the African women(after her eviction of course) was also evicted for being “too in-love”!
My summation: African women are too patriarchal to define what they are agitating for. Their thought processes are so male-defined that they willingly hand over themselves and their sisters to male domination. If the man says, “she is too lovey-dovey”, the African woman accepts and searches for the guillotine. If he says she is a tramp, the African woman asks for public execution!
My purpose in this essay is not to answer questions. What I merely wanted to do is to point out two things; firstly, African women are the architects of their own downfall. Secondly, lack of principle and discipline make African women submit themselves to male domination. Live television has proven this and live television(especially reality shows) reflect reality.
I have provided guiding points! Let the debate begin!
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has condemned the gruesome murder of Mrs. Erasmus Effanga and Mr. Basil Effanga, the mother and brother respectively of its Akwa Ibom State spokesman, Francis Effanga. Their lifeless and decomposing bodies were found in a room in their residence in Mbinkpa Atan village in the State on Sunday, August 5, the party said today in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.It warned that the gruesome murder of the two Effangas was further proof of the culture of violence and the systemic decimation of its members in Akwa Ibom State, and called on the Presidency to rise above partisan politics and direct the relevant security agencies to apprehend the killers.
‘It will be recalled that in the run-up to the 2011 general elections Akwa Ibom held unenviable record of being the goriest killing field in the entire country, and the ACN’s spokesman in the state Mr. Francis Effanga was a thorn in the flesh of the PDP rampaging machinery of oppression and destruction of lives and properties, a role which earned him unjustified persecution, arrest and detention,” the statement said.
It added that the gruesome murder of Mrs. Erasmus Effanga and Mr. Basil Effanga confirms that the reign of politics of intolerance, assassinations and kidnappings of the PDP in Akwa Ibom State is far from over, noting that it has so far claimed over 100 lives.The ACN called on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately direct the relevant security agencies to investigate and fish out the culprits.
“Strong determination in the fight against impunities is absolutely crucial to deter further crimes, uphold the rule of law and protect public trust in the justice system,” the party said.
Had President Goodluck Jonathan run a security check on his newly appointed senior special assistant on public affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, he would probably not have offered him a position in his government. Why? iReports-ng.com has just gathered that Okupe who has now been labelled as an attack dog in the public sphere is enmeshed in a multi-million naira contract fraud over which he has been under investigation by Nigeria’s anti-graft police, the EFCC.
Investigations by iReports-ng.com have so far revealed that Okupe has since his recent appointment been moving round and deploying presidential influence to stop the EFCC from going ahead with the case or pressing criminal charges against him. What is the crime Okupe has been so desperate to cover up in the last three weeks? A competent source in EFCC told iReports-ng.com that the presidential aide had peddled his influence during the administration of his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo to obtain a contract of about N300 million in Benue state during the regime of Senator George Akume, collected a mobilisation sum of about N200 million and abandoned the project since then.
It was further learnt that on the basis of this, the current governor of Benue state, Gabriel Suswam petitioned the EFCC last year. “After our initial diligent findings on the allegations contained in the petition, we were able to confirm that the man (Okupe ) actually collected the money and disappeared obviously as we were told to go and contest election in Ogun state. We eventually invited him for interrogation and his statements were obtained in our Lagos office last year after which he was granted administrative bail. So, he was still enjoying the bail with his case file already referred to our legal department for legal advice and possible charges when he was appointed an aide to the president”, a top EFCC official told iReports-ng.com in Abuja today.
On whether the anti-graft agency would still go ahead to press charges against Okupe, the source said, “I am not in a position to determine that, only the chairman can give the final directive on that.” It was also learnt that Governor Suswam who has been putting pressure on the EFCC to recover his state funds from Okupe and prosecute him for criminal diversion of state funds has since Okupe’s appointment gone soft on his push.
Efforts to get Okupe react to the scandal however proved abortive as he failed to pick calls made to his mobile telephone number on Saturday morning. It is yet to be seen whether the EFCC will also go silent on the case. Okupe has of late picked on critics of President Jonathan especially Nasir El-Rufai, former minister of the FCT and Pastor Tunde Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos.
Anambra State University Teaching Hospital - The Out-Patient Consultation Room
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Located in the heart of the State capital of Anambra State, Awka is the new pride of Anambra State – a teaching hospital complex under final construction touches. The hospital center known formerly as the Amaku General Hospital during the previous administration has undergone impressive upgrades and re-baptized the Anambra State University Teaching Hospital.
The Upgrade of the medical center to a full blown medical center capable to play host to the Anambra State University Medical program required comprehensive and cash intensive expansion of the medical center land area along with addition medical facilities – including Accident and Emergency Center, Intensive Care Center, Pathology Center and other like-program.
Presently, the Teaching Hospital is receiving and treating patients. The Teaching Hospital has opened its doors to the public.
The sucessful implementation of the conceived idea to upgrade the Amaku medical center to a standard University Teaching is a true revolution in the Anambra health sector – particulary to the residents of the State and to the medical students.
Accident and Emergency Center - facing the Expressway at Aroma Junction
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A side view of one of the new buildings at the University Teaching Hospital
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Frontal side view
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View of new structures-pathology center
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A closer view of the center
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Ongoung road construction - landscaping inside the hospital grounds.
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More of the road construction - landscaping inside the hospital to allow to effective transportation from one part of the hospital to the other part. The hospital covers a large mass of land area.
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Inside the hospital - outpatients room. Large and spacious with modern seats
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Another view: Outpatients being attended - quite and orderly
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New Structure to add to the Pathology Center - under construction. It is expected to aide the medical students
…want enhanced remuneration, incentives for teachers
Parents and other stakeholders in the education sector in Anambra state yesterday reacted sharply to the poor showing of pupils in the 2012 West African Examinations Councils (WAEC) school certificate results recently released by the body.
The result released by WAEC showed that nearly 60% of those that sat for the exam during the last May/June failed the English and Mathematics.
The Anambra state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Ifeanyi Ofodile blamed three basic issues for the ugly trend. These include poor infrastructure, inability to pay the necessary fees and some administrative challenges.
On way out , Ofodile, noting that the sector was not insulated from planlessness, lack of commitment and the general malaise that has become the lot of contemporary government/officials/offices at whatever levels in the country, said adequate replacement arrangement for retired, dead or teachers who now leave in droves may have contributed to the existing gap. He said that teachers were usually employed in batches hence retire in batches too.
The existing poor teaching and learning environment, teachers’ welfare and the failure to pay the necessary fees should be adequately tackled. The filling of the basic data which could lead to absence of result should be very well tackled. As a professional teacher, he noted that those who operate the Miracle Centres were not teachers but business men and quacks whose main interest was financial. Teaching job, he said should be left soley for professionals.
Mrs Chinyere Okonkwo, a university staff and housewife want the permanent closure of all existing Miracle Centres all over the nation, while the remuneration of teachers and their welfare should be enhanced. This, according to her would discourage the teaching staff from indulging in private business ventures when they should be in the classrooms teaching.
She noted that Miracle centres encourage use of mercenaries and hired hands to write exams whereas when properly screened they fail woefully. Intensive supervision of teachers should be embraced on.
The national Coordiantor of the Progress Forum for Anambra People, Hon Kanayo Igwenagu blamed the society for what he saw as very low standard of education in the country today. He said the sector has witnessed calamitous drop in the standard due to poor funding by the governments at all levels, lack of interest in the improvement of infrastructures and commitment of the operators including the teachers.
He therefore called for the return to the basics, intensified inspection, nipping of the proliferation of private schools that often were more interested in monetary returns instead of quality or standards.
Speaking as a parent, Igwenagu said that the return of schools to to original owners or even religious organizations without overhauling the sector would end up a mere lip service.
Ekene Anezeofor, an Awka-based civil servant insisted that all the so-called Miracle Centres must be closed down. The urgly trend he noted was the handiwork of the rich and affluent who arrange all manner of things for their wards so as to remain on top always. He also urged for the improvement of teachers’ salary.
Ikechukwu Ugwu, an engineer, said that more welfare packages and incentives should be explored for teachers. He suggested that all children of registered teachers should be given tuition free access to education from primary to university levels. He want teachers’ rewards to be here on earth instead of heaven as the usual saying goes.
He condemned a situation where those who laid the foundation for everyone’s progress from the cradle end up as the underdogs and dregs of the society.
