African leaders happy over Jonathan’s defeat –Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said African leaders were happy over the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.

He told an audience at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington DC that his checks in a number of African countries suggested they were happy over the result of the election.

He said some Nigerians described President Jonathan as a moving train who was stopped from collapsing Nigeria.

The former President, who led the African Union Observation Mission to the April 2015 General Election in Sudan to the event, said, “I have visited six countries since the election, they are as happy about the results. It is good not only for Nigeria, it is good for Africa and I believe it is good for the world.”

He also advised African leaders to shift from the mentality of clinching to power by all means, urging them to demonstrate statesmanship for the survival of the African continent.

Obasanjo also said that the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) , “has moved Nigeria one very important step up in our democracy.”

He also advised African leaders to have consultations with elders in order to promote public accountability and pave way for leaders who were fearful of giving up power to step down in favour of a future of statesmanship.

The former President said, “Governance reform and capacity-building programmes, for example, are apt to look everywhere but within. For a change, let us move away from the melancholic issue of what is wrong with Africa.

“If we are truly committed to invigorating conversations about an Africa-focused, Africa-led and Africa-driven framework for substantive self-determination and sustainable development, it is important to rethink and reframe how we situate Africa at the centre of inquiry.”

Obasanjo said countries like Togo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon were among countries with leaders reluctant to give up power for fear they might “land in prison or in the grave.”

“What if African statespersons made a coordinated effort, measured against concrete benchmarks, to strategically learn from their own scorecards to help implement home-grown solutions for leadership, governance and succession in government, business and civil society sectors?” he asked.

Meanwhile, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, Princeton Lyman, described the former President as one of the world’s leading statesmen, adding that he set an example for governance.

He said the last general elections couldn’t have been successful without the input of the former President.

I won’t die because Jonathan lost election –Clark

A former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has said it is wrong for anyone to think that he would die because President Goodluck Jonathan lost the March 28 presidential election.

Clark, who was one of the supporters of the President, spoke with journalists on Friday in Abuja.

He said some people had been going round with rumours that he collapsed when he heard about the outcome of the presidential election.

It will be recalled that the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), defeated Jonathan, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the election.

Speaker/Senate President: PDP plots to take control of N’Assembly

There are indications that the Peoples Democratic Party is scheming to assume control of the National Assembly following the failure of the All Progressives Congress leaders to agree on zoning of offices.

we gathered on Friday that the PDP caucuses in the two chambers of the National Assembly were plotting to benefit from the squabbles in the APC by teaming up with aggrieved elements in the latter.

The aim of such an alliance, investigations showed, would be the emergence of a speaker and a senate president different from candidates approved by the APC.

It was learnt that the PDP hoped that by ensuring its choices emerged as the speaker and the senate president, it would “snatch” the control of the eighth National Assembly from the APC.

A member of the PDP caucus in the House, who pleaded anonymity, said, “Although we are not disputing the fact that the APC should produce leaders of the National Assembly, we will ensure that those who will emerge are people we prefer, not the choices of the APC leaders.

“By doing that, we will snatch the control of the National Assembly from them, just as the APC controlled the House through Aminu Tambuwal.”

The APC leaders had on Thursday failed to reach a decision on zoning of political offices at their meeting in Abuja.

There were reports that the APC’s National Working Committee had recommended some zoning arrangements to its National Executive Committee.

According to the reports, the position of the senate president seat was zoned to the North-Central and the Deputy Senate President to the North-East.

There were two accounts on the zoning of speakership. While one stated that the post of speakership was zoned to the South-West, the other indicated that it was meant for the North-East.

The deputy speakership was said to have been zoned to the South-South

But the APC, in a statement early in the week, denied the reports. Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, urged Nigerians to disregard the reports and described them as products of hyperactive rumour mills.

In spite of the APC’s statement, it was gathered that zoning topped the agenda of the APC leaders’ meeting on Thursday.

They had reported that no decision was reached at the meeting because the leaders felt that more consultations were needed on the issue.

It was learnt that some of the PDP members in the incoming eighth Senate, who would occupy 48 of the 109 seats, had already begun talks with their APC counterparts from the North-East.

The talks, it was gathered, followed the failure of the APC leaders to take a decision on zoning.

The APC senators that have been mentioned as having interest in the senate presidency include Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central); George Akume (Benue North) and Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North).

Based on the recent general elections, the APC will have 60 members in the eighth Senate while the PDP will have 48. Election into the Delta Central Senatorial District is still outstanding.

Senate presidency candidates reach out to senators-elect

Investigations revealed that the camps of Saraki, Akume and Lawan had commenced aggressive lobbying and strategic calculations to outsmart one another in order to occupy the seat.

For instance, while the Saraki camp is currently seeking the support of the new PDP, which he led alongside Governor Rotimi Amaechi and others, to defect to the APC, Akume is relying on the goodwill he is enjoying from the leadership of the APC, particularly, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The Lawan camp, on the other hand, believed that the North-East had been short-changed in the political office sharing since 1999.

The camp has the backing of the APC senate caucus in the zone.

It was learnt that the North-East sees the current development as an opportunity to demand for its own share of political offices.

North-East APC Senate caucus may form alliance with PDP senators

Sources said Lawan’s group had already reached out to the PDP caucus in the senate comprising the incumbent Senate President, David Mark, and 47 other members, with a view to forming a formidable alliance that would make their dream become a reality.

Senators from the North-East were said to have promised the PDP caucus that they would work towards the emergence of one of them as the deputy Senate President if their dream of producing the Senate President materialised.

Attempts to speak with Senator Ahmad Lawan and the APC North-East Senate Caucus on the alleged discussion with the PDP caucus in the senate over his ambition were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.

But reacting to the development, a member of the APC North-East Caucus, Ali Ndume ( Borno South ), acknowledged that his zone deserved its fair share of the leadership positions in both chambers of the National Assembly, but stressed that it would also seek the APC senators’ support.

“The leadership of the party is doing everything possible to ensure that the zoning is done in such a way that it will be acceptable to all concerned,” he said.

However, a senator from the North-East, who did not want his name mentioned, told one of our correspondents that his people might seek support outside the party, if the leadership of the APC failed to zone either the speaker of the House of Representatives or the Senate President to their area.

He said, “We have 18 senators from the North-East, if we get the support of 48 PDP senators, we will get more than simple majority of 51 votes to produce the senate president. Already, there are 48 senators in the PDP camp. One is outstanding in Delta State.

“We are having at least 66 votes if we perfect our alliance with the PDP.”

When contacted, Senator Ayogu Eze, (PDP, Enugu North) said the PDP caucus in the senate would allow the APC senators to carry out their affairs without any form of interference from the minority party. He said, “I am in the PDP. I think it is the responsibility of the new majority party to determine how they will share their offices in the National Assembly.

“I don’t want to get involved in their affairs because they were not involved when we were in the majority. We will allow them to do their show.

“I am not sure that the South-East will lose out completely in the power sharing at the eighth National Assembly because the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had denied the rumour of zoning. He said all we are hearing about zoning are rumours”

In the House of Representatives, the PDP caucus is also poised to play a major role in the emergence of the speaker investigations have revealed.

It was gathered that the caucus was closely monitoring meetings of the APC leaders with the aim of working against their choice as speaker.

A member of the caucus, who confided said, “If the APC decides to impose a speaker on the House, which is what is likely to happen, it will naturally work with aggrieved elements.”

The North-East, South-West, South-South and North-West are all eying the speakership.

But we gathered that views expressed by party decision makers at a meeting of the National Working Committee of the APC a week earlier, narrowed the search to the North-East and South-West.

However, two APC towering political figures, one from the North and the other from the South-West, are said to have consistently disagreed in the course of negotiations, as each of them insists that the seat must go to his zone.

“What is going on now is a battle between the North and the South-West; each wants to be in full control of the next government.

“The North already has the President and they are likely to have the Senate President. The position of the South-West is that, if you add speaker to what they (North) have, it is too much power going to one part of the country.

“That is why the South-West is insisting on having the speaker in addition to the office of Vice-President; indeed, a key APC financier has nominated a particular candidate for the job and has advised all other spirants from the zone to drop their ambition for the candidate,” a senior party official confided.

It was learnt that the PDP plotted to cue into the “burble that will burst” in the event of the losing zone becoming aggrieved, to “file behind a neutral candidate that is competent and experienced” as the speaker.

The PDP has about 140 lawmakers in the incoming House, as against the APC’s 200 lawmakers.

“If the disagreement in the APC continues unresolved, there won’t be a guarantee that they will give block vote to the candidate of the party. They will be divided.

“It will be easy for the PDP to woo the losing group for a team work to clinch the speakership, even if the candidate has to be an APC member,” one source knowledgeable in the calculations of the PDP.

We are watching wrangling in APC –PDP caucus

Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, confirmed to Saturday PUNCH that his caucus was watching the wrangling in the APC with interest.

He said it had been the tradition of the House to allow lawmakers pick a speaker of their choice, as the choices of political parties usually backfire or end up in crisis.

Ogor said, “We are not going to be idle in the PDP by just sitting and watching. No, we will play a major role in how the speaker will emerge.

“The much I can say is that nobody or party can impose a speaker on us. We agree that the party with the majority is the APC, but members will have to elect their speaker.”

Asked whether this major role could also mean the possibility of a PDP member vying for the seat, Ogor said he would withhold his comments on the question.

“I won’t comment on that question; but I will tell you that we in PDP will not be idle on this matter,” he added.

South-South intensifies campaign for speakership

Also, the South-South intensified its campaign for the speakership position to be zoned to the region on Friday.

The South-South has two ranking APC lawmakers in the House going to the eighth Assembly, namely Mr. Pally Iriase, and Mr. Peter Akpatason.

A group, the Coalition for Justice and Fairness, made a case for the South-South. It expressed surprise that nobody was mentioning the zone in the sharing of political offices in the incoming government.

Coordinator of the group, Mr. Muraina Ahmed, said excluding any zone of the country from the power equation was a breach of Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution, which provided for the federal character principle.

Ahmed said, “For the records, the APC, as the majority party, has the conventional privilege to zone the offices of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“The nutty issue that will test APC’s abhorrence of impunity, which was one of the major reasons Nigerians voted for the party, is the zoning of the listed leadership offices in the National Assembly.

“To be fair, there are extenuating circumstances that may hamper the even spread of legislative offices enumerated above to all the six zones in Nigeria.

“For instance, the South-East has no APC senator at all and has not produced any ranking APC member of the House of Representatives.

“The South-South has one senator who is a fresher and does not meet the ranking criterion. But the South-South has four members – elect for the House of Representatives, two of whom are ranking, with one of them, Pally Iriase, parading impeccable credentials and legislative leadership experience.

“This is a golden opportunity that the APC must not miss. In the spirit of fairness and adherence of federal character, the position of Speaker, House of Representatives should be zoned to the South-South geo-political zone.”

We will take position on Senate President, Speaker’s positions soon – PDP

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party is to meet with newly elected senators and members of the House of Representatives soon.

The meeting will determine who among the numerous candidates to support among those aiming at becoming President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, disclosed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Friday.

Metuh said until the meeting is held, the party could not say which candidate it would support or not.

But he said that the party would support its members in the National Assembly to be active and also support the cause of the party.

He said, “Well, we have met with them on the need to support the national leadership of the party as we plan to reposition the party. They have agreed to work with us on this matter.

Attempts to get a reaction from the APC were futile.

Several calls to the mobile telephone number of the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, were neither picked nor returned.

Jonathan, Buhari meet again, to tour Aso Rock soon

President Goodluck Jonathan and the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Friday met behind closed-door at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting, which lasted about 30minutes, started at about 3.00pm with the arrival of the President-elect and members of his entourage.

A few minutes before his arrival, Jonathan trekked the about 100metres distance from his office to the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa where the meeting was held.

He was accompanied by his Principal Secretary, Ambassador Hassan Tukur, and a few security aides.

Buhari, decked in a white agbada, was accompanied by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; another chieftain of the party, Abdulrahman Dambazau, and a couple of aides.

He was driven to the front of the venue in a black Toyota Land cruiser marked Abuja ABC 329 KJ.

He was received by Tukur who ushered him into one of the small halls inside the building where Jonathan was already waiting.

About 30minutes later, they emerged from the meeting, holding hands and beaming with smiles.

They waited for a few minutes in front of the national flag placed in the centre of the building’s lobby to allow photo journalists take shots.

As they made their way out of the venue, Jonathan told State House correspondents that the meeting was in continuation of the conversation that the two of them had been engaging in.

When probed further, the President said although he would not disclose the details of the meeting, the parley was in the interest of the country.

He said a date would be chosen when the President-elect would come and he (Jonathan) would show him round the Presidential Villa.

The President’s encounter with journalists was characterised by intermittent loud laughter by Buhari and members of his delegation as well as the journalists.

The following conversation ensued:

President: Thank you gentlemen. We have nothing to tell you today, formally we will take a date when the President-elect will come and I will show him round the State House.

But today is not for that. Today, we are continuing with our conversation, so we don’t need to worry the President-elect; you don’t need to also worry the President (referring to himself).

Journalists: How did the conversation go?

President: But you see that we are smiling.

Journalists: So, the meeting was a fruitful one?

President: Yes.

Journalists: What did you discuss?

President: I will not tell you, but (the meeting was) in the interest of the country.

When State House correspondents turned to Buhari for his comment, he simply said, “The President (Jonathan) has said it all.”

His response also elicited another round of laughter from those present.

That was the second time that Jonathan and Buhari would be meeting publicly since the March 28 presidential election which the incumbent lost to the APC candidate.

Ramos starts in midfield for Real Madrid

Sergio Ramos will line up in midfield for Real Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final second leg with Atletico.

With Luka Modrid ruled out after picking up a knee injury in Saturday's win over Malaga, Carlo Ancelotti has been short of midfield options.

However, the Italian made the unexpected decision to use the defender in the centre of the field, alongside Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez for the crunch clash as the two sides battle it out for a place in the final four.

Madrid have fallen victim to an injury crisis heading into Wednesday's meeting with Atletico, with Modrid, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale all missing due to injury, while Marcelo is absent due to suspension.

The absences have forced Ancelotti to do some swapping around and use Ramos in midfield, with Javier Hernandez starting alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco in attack.

12-year-old girl wins Lagos spelling bee competition

Twelve-year-old Boluwatife Tijani of Araromi Primary School, Agege, on Wednesday emerged the winner in the 2015 Spelling Bee competition in Lagos State.

Tijani, a Primary Six pupil, competed with 56 other contestants, representing the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas in the state in the competition held in Ikeja.

Ten-year-old Iretiola Ifaniyi, a Primary Five pupil of Methodist Primary School, Ibese, came second while 10-year-old Jonathan Arowodu of Akesan Primary School came third.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the winners received N150, 000, N100, 000 and N75, 000 respectively from the state government.

Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs Ronke Soyombo, said the competition was aimed at developing the innate skills of pupils and students.

Soyombo said the competition had been able to fulfill the ultimate goal of creating healthy rivalry among students as well as drawing out their intellectual capabilities.

She said the agency had already set in motion machinery aimed at improving the quality of education in Lagos.

The Director-General said the competition was the brainchild of Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the founder of New Era Foundation.

“The idea of spelling competition, conceived in 2006 to encourage academic excellence, was adopted by the Lagos State Ministry of Education.

“The competition has helped students/pupils improve on their spelling skills, increase vocabulary and develop correct English usage,’’ she said.

UNILAG students, Enugu youths protest

NIGERIANS, especially the youths, have continued to protest xenophobic attacks on foreigners, especially Nigerians, in South Africa.

The latest protesters included the students of the University of Lagos and members of the Youth Action for Success.

The UNILAG students on Monday staged a protest at the South Africa’s High Commission, Lagos, while the YAS members took to the streets of Enugu on Tuesday.

The UNILAG students delivered a protest letter to the South African High Commissioner, Amb. Lulu Mguni, giving the South African authorities a 24-hour ultimatum to either stop the attacks or face a boycott of businesses and products from the country.

The students came in three buses, one of which had ‘Aluta missile’ on the number plate.

One of the students that participated in the protest told our correspondent that the demonstration had been planned to move on to major South African companies on the Lagos Island but that the police stopped the protesters.

He said, “We issued a 24-hour ultimatum for the appropriate authorities of South Africa to stop the attacks or they risk a boycott of their businesses and products in the country. We will be the ones to champion the boycott.

“We were to go to a major South African company on Tiamiyu Savage Street but armed policemen resisted us and we cancelled our trip.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the protest.

He said, “The students, under police protection, demonstrated at the South African High Commission. They made attempts to go to the DSTV and MTN offices but were appropriately advised in the interest of security.

“They peacefully departed after a hitch-free protest.”

In Enugu, the youths, who protested on the streets of the coal city, demanded an end to the attacks within 48 hours, failing which South African investments in Enugu State and other parts of Nigeria would be destroyed.

The youths, under the aegis of YAS, carried placards with various inscriptions. Some of the placards read, “No to mindless killing of Nigerians”, “Stop this xenophobia now” and “Don’t tempt our patience”, among others.

Speaking to journalists during the rally, the leader of the group, Jesechai Okezie, said the South Africans had not been grateful for the hospitality of other Africans.

He said, “We are not happy that Nigerians are being brutalised and killed in South Africa.

“We allowed South Africans to come here and operate; they have Shoprite, Multichoice, MTN and a host of other investments here.

“So why are they killing us? Why are they brutalising us? Why are they denying us of our economic rights?

“We love other nationals here in Nigeria, we treat them with the highest level of hospitality, but this is what we have got in return.”

Demanding an immediate end to the attacks, Okeke said, “These killings must stop forthwith.

“We are giving the South African government 48 hours to ensure that these killings and looting come to an end.

“The President of South Africa must assure the world that the lives and properties of Nigerians are safe; if they don’t do that, we are going to react and our reaction will be disastrous.

“We are asking Nigerian youths to remain calm.”