Written by Tinuola Ayanniyi Monday, 16 August 2010
FORMER President Ibrahim Babangida, on Saturday, stated that the position of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on zoning was ambiguous and had not cleared anything.
Babangida, speaking with journalists in Abuja, said the party's decision giving President Goodluck Jonathan the go ahead to contest the presidency and at the same time maintaining the zoning arrangement was ambiguous.
“Nigerians have commonsense; they know what to do at the appropriate time about the issue,” the former president stated.
Speaking on the nomination of candidates within the PDP, Babangida noted that politics was about choice and expressed a strong belief that final decision lay with the people. “I don’t believe in selection. PDP should let members pick their desired standard-bearer,” he stated.
On the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, Babangida reiterated that the annulment was a collective decision, adding that Nigerians should not forget that the late Chief MKO Abiola was his intimate friend and he would not do anything to hurt a friend.
He noted that the South-West, where the late Chief Abiola came from had many sophisticated politicians, who he believed had forgiven him after apologising on the issue.
Explaining why he wants to run for president, Babangida stated that 17 years after he left government, most of the good things and policies he left had been reversed and he believed, he was needed to put the country back to the path of greatness.
He said that over the last 17 years he had gained more experience and that this would enable him to govern the nation better than he did before.
Tactically indicting the past administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Babangida revealed that what the government earned in eight years was more than what past administrations earned, put together, and as such, should have done better than it did.
Babangida, who sought media support for his desire to contest for the presidency in next year's election, said: ``Our country needs an experienced and tested leader.’’
He said that he wanted to become the president because he had ``a lot of new policies that will drive Nigeria's plural society under a new federal system that will cater for the needs of the various nationalities for equity and unity.’’
On the Okigbo report, Babangida said that it did not state that he was engaged in financial impropriety.
“Given my wealth of experience and decades of leadership study, plus the urgent need to confront the challenges of our national lives, I believe the time is ripe for me to serve our people as a civilian president with your kind support, cooperation and understanding,’’ he said.
Babangida said that he had informed former heads of state of his intention to vie for the highest political office in the country.
He also promised to send a formal letter to President Jonathan on his ambition.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
OBJ, S/West PDP govs parley on 2011
Written by Olayinka Olukoya, Abeokuta Monday, 16 August 2010
AHEAD of the 2011 general election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Sunday, met with governors elected on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to discuss the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan, to contest the coming election.
The meeting, held behind closed door for almost two and a half hours, was attended by governors of Oyo, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; his Ogun State counterpart, Chief Gbenga Daniel; Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and Mr Segun Oni of Ekiti, with the former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu.
An insider source had earlier informed the Nigerian Tribune that the issue of whether or not Jonathan should contest the presidential election was extensively discussed, while final decision had not be taken over the matter.
Obasanjo, clad in Ankara and blue cap to match, briefed newsmen, saying that the meeting was just a consultative meeting at the request of the PDP governors, to meet on some issues concerning the party in preparation for the elections.
“At the request of PDP governors in the South-West, we decided to hold a consultative meeting among ourselves. I, as the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party and they as the leaders of the party in their respective states and, of course, former governor of Ondo State, Dr Agagu, is the leader of the party in Ondo State.
“Since the PDP has resolved the issue of zoning and people are gearing up for declaring and showing their hands and all of that, we decided to hold a preliminary meeting to put our heads together in the South-West as a party and as a component, a dynamic and vibrant component of the PDP in the country and we are going to have another meeting in due course,” he said.
He said they were concerned about the polity of the country and the way forward for the party in the coming elections, adding that the issue of zoning had been laid to rest by the leadership of the party at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, on Thursday, last week.
The former president said that the next meeting would accommodate a lot of representation from the South-West, adding that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State was aware that a meeting would be held in his Abeokuta residence.
“When we have the next meeting, there will be representatives and heavy representatives from all the states of the South-West. This, as I said, is a consultative meeting and in a consultative meeting, you have few people,” he added.
On the crisis over the ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Obasanjo said the issue had been resolved finally, adding that Governors Oyinlola and Alao-Akala, at no point in time, fought over the matter.
“We have resolved that. They never fought. They have had argument and discussion; this time we have had final argument and discussion,” he said.
AHEAD of the 2011 general election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Sunday, met with governors elected on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to discuss the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan, to contest the coming election.
The meeting, held behind closed door for almost two and a half hours, was attended by governors of Oyo, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; his Ogun State counterpart, Chief Gbenga Daniel; Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and Mr Segun Oni of Ekiti, with the former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu.
An insider source had earlier informed the Nigerian Tribune that the issue of whether or not Jonathan should contest the presidential election was extensively discussed, while final decision had not be taken over the matter.
Obasanjo, clad in Ankara and blue cap to match, briefed newsmen, saying that the meeting was just a consultative meeting at the request of the PDP governors, to meet on some issues concerning the party in preparation for the elections.
“At the request of PDP governors in the South-West, we decided to hold a consultative meeting among ourselves. I, as the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party and they as the leaders of the party in their respective states and, of course, former governor of Ondo State, Dr Agagu, is the leader of the party in Ondo State.
“Since the PDP has resolved the issue of zoning and people are gearing up for declaring and showing their hands and all of that, we decided to hold a preliminary meeting to put our heads together in the South-West as a party and as a component, a dynamic and vibrant component of the PDP in the country and we are going to have another meeting in due course,” he said.
He said they were concerned about the polity of the country and the way forward for the party in the coming elections, adding that the issue of zoning had been laid to rest by the leadership of the party at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, on Thursday, last week.
The former president said that the next meeting would accommodate a lot of representation from the South-West, adding that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State was aware that a meeting would be held in his Abeokuta residence.
“When we have the next meeting, there will be representatives and heavy representatives from all the states of the South-West. This, as I said, is a consultative meeting and in a consultative meeting, you have few people,” he added.
On the crisis over the ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Obasanjo said the issue had been resolved finally, adding that Governors Oyinlola and Alao-Akala, at no point in time, fought over the matter.
“We have resolved that. They never fought. They have had argument and discussion; this time we have had final argument and discussion,” he said.
DARK SUNDAY: 40 die in Lagos auto crash •Another 2 in Edo accident
Written by Olalekan Olabulo, Adelowo Oladipo and Uchechukwu Olisah Monday, 16 August 2010
NO fewer than 40 people were feared burnt to death on Sunday and scores of others severely injured in a multiple auto accident that occurred at the Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Over 30 vehicles were involved in the accident that occurred around Otedola Estate and it completely crippled movement of vehicles on the expressway. Fifteen of the vehicles got completely burnt.
An articulated vehicle, otherwise known as trailer, loaded with sugar, while descending the bridge that links the old Lagos Toll Gate to Berger Bus Stop, reportedly had a failure and rammed into a stream of vehicles on the busy road.
Some of the eyewitnesses, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, however, blamed the accident on the roadblock mounted on the expressway by men of the Nigeria Police.
The blood of the victims flowed on the expressway and sympathisers rained curses and abuse on men of the Nigeria Police.
A five-year-old boy and his mother were among those who lost their lives in the accident, while those who jumped down from the bridge were all injured.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the unmarked truck was heading towards Ibadan, when it ran into the barricade in the middle of the road and attempts by the driver to halt the vehicle were futile, forcing him to ram into the vehicles in front of him.
One of the buses hit by the truck reportedly went up in flames before the affected vehicles in turn caught fire.
Seventeen passengers of an 18-seater bus and another 13 passengers from another 18-seater bus were carrying the people who got burnt in the road carnage.
The accident scene almost became riotous, as some people threw various objects at every police van that attempted to stop at the scene of the accident.
Fadipe Rasak, the assistant director in charge of the Lagos State Fire and Safety Services, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, stated that his office got a call around 11:30 on Sunday morning about the accident.
He also added that it took his men some time to put out the fire as efforts were initially made to see if some of the trapped victims of the involved vehicles could be rescued.
He stated that some of the rescued victims of the accident were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
A survivor, Nike Abidogun, told the Nigerian Tribune that she had joined a bus from Ketu to Mowe and that her vehicle had got hooked in traffic “caused by a police checkpoint,” when the trailer crashed into a long queue of vehicles.
Another survivor, Isaac Ejivwevwo, who lost his Toyota RAV 4 in the accident, corroborated Abidogun’s view when he declared: “I was close to the policemen, when the trailer lost control and began to hit all the vehicles before one of them caught fire.”
Bolaji Bello, who claimed to have taken one of the survivors of the accident to an unnamed hospital in the area, stated that he had gone to refuel his vehicle when he saw a young girl jumping from the top of the bridge.
He stated that the young girl was unconscious at the time she was taken to the hospital, with every likelihood that she might have broken some bones in her body.
There were conflicting reports on the identities of the policemen that reportedly caused the accident.
While some of the eyewitnesses claimed that they were men of the Rapid Response Squad, others stated that they were from Isheri Police Station.
Efforts to speak with the spokesman of the Lagos State police command were futile as calls to his mobile phone lines were not answered.
Also, on Sunday, two persons died in a road accident at Obadan, on the Benin-Auchi road.
The accident, in which a male and female died, involved two commercial buses with registration numbers XP 548 JJJ and XA 522 EHR.
The autocrash reportedly occurred when one of the buses, in the process of dangerously overtaking another vehicle, collided with another bus coming from the opposite direction.
The bodies of the dead victims of the accident were said to have been deposited at Our Clinic Hospital mortuary in Benin City.
The Edo State Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) boss, Mr. Henry Olatunji, who confirmed the development on Sunday, described the crash as unfortunate, saying the accident could have been avoided if the drivers had followed defensive driving techniques.
He cautioned road users against reckless driving, just as he said the command had embarked on special patrols tagged 'Operation Eagle Eye', to curb the excesses of road users.
NO fewer than 40 people were feared burnt to death on Sunday and scores of others severely injured in a multiple auto accident that occurred at the Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Over 30 vehicles were involved in the accident that occurred around Otedola Estate and it completely crippled movement of vehicles on the expressway. Fifteen of the vehicles got completely burnt.
An articulated vehicle, otherwise known as trailer, loaded with sugar, while descending the bridge that links the old Lagos Toll Gate to Berger Bus Stop, reportedly had a failure and rammed into a stream of vehicles on the busy road.
Some of the eyewitnesses, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, however, blamed the accident on the roadblock mounted on the expressway by men of the Nigeria Police.
The blood of the victims flowed on the expressway and sympathisers rained curses and abuse on men of the Nigeria Police.
A five-year-old boy and his mother were among those who lost their lives in the accident, while those who jumped down from the bridge were all injured.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the unmarked truck was heading towards Ibadan, when it ran into the barricade in the middle of the road and attempts by the driver to halt the vehicle were futile, forcing him to ram into the vehicles in front of him.
One of the buses hit by the truck reportedly went up in flames before the affected vehicles in turn caught fire.
Seventeen passengers of an 18-seater bus and another 13 passengers from another 18-seater bus were carrying the people who got burnt in the road carnage.
The accident scene almost became riotous, as some people threw various objects at every police van that attempted to stop at the scene of the accident.
Fadipe Rasak, the assistant director in charge of the Lagos State Fire and Safety Services, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, stated that his office got a call around 11:30 on Sunday morning about the accident.
He also added that it took his men some time to put out the fire as efforts were initially made to see if some of the trapped victims of the involved vehicles could be rescued.
He stated that some of the rescued victims of the accident were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
A survivor, Nike Abidogun, told the Nigerian Tribune that she had joined a bus from Ketu to Mowe and that her vehicle had got hooked in traffic “caused by a police checkpoint,” when the trailer crashed into a long queue of vehicles.
Another survivor, Isaac Ejivwevwo, who lost his Toyota RAV 4 in the accident, corroborated Abidogun’s view when he declared: “I was close to the policemen, when the trailer lost control and began to hit all the vehicles before one of them caught fire.”
Bolaji Bello, who claimed to have taken one of the survivors of the accident to an unnamed hospital in the area, stated that he had gone to refuel his vehicle when he saw a young girl jumping from the top of the bridge.
He stated that the young girl was unconscious at the time she was taken to the hospital, with every likelihood that she might have broken some bones in her body.
There were conflicting reports on the identities of the policemen that reportedly caused the accident.
While some of the eyewitnesses claimed that they were men of the Rapid Response Squad, others stated that they were from Isheri Police Station.
Efforts to speak with the spokesman of the Lagos State police command were futile as calls to his mobile phone lines were not answered.
Also, on Sunday, two persons died in a road accident at Obadan, on the Benin-Auchi road.
The accident, in which a male and female died, involved two commercial buses with registration numbers XP 548 JJJ and XA 522 EHR.
The autocrash reportedly occurred when one of the buses, in the process of dangerously overtaking another vehicle, collided with another bus coming from the opposite direction.
The bodies of the dead victims of the accident were said to have been deposited at Our Clinic Hospital mortuary in Benin City.
The Edo State Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) boss, Mr. Henry Olatunji, who confirmed the development on Sunday, described the crash as unfortunate, saying the accident could have been avoided if the drivers had followed defensive driving techniques.
He cautioned road users against reckless driving, just as he said the command had embarked on special patrols tagged 'Operation Eagle Eye', to curb the excesses of road users.
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