Usain Bolt!

The date was 16 August 2008. The event was the men 100 meters race at the Bejing 2008 Olympics. I was actually watching the Olympics! Anyway I was glad I did because I watched Usain Bolt bolting his way through the race! That was a very good race. I personally feel he would have achieved a lower record time if he had completed the race before celebrating. Some meters before the finish line, Usain throw out his arms in a manner that says "come get me if you can" to the other athletes. Be that as it may, USAIN BOLT set the new world record by finishing the 100 meters race in 9.69 seconds! What a speed!

As if that was not enough. Usain went on to snatch the gold in the mens 200 meters race! He set another world record with a timing of 19.30 seconds.

Bolt is now the current fastest man in the World after Carl Lewis who made the World Record in 1984! With these great achievements, Usain is now the proud holder of the World and Olympic records in both 100 meters and 200 meters! Also, he is the first man in history to break both world records at 1 Olympics!

I join the World in celebrating his great success! Today 21 August 2008 is Bolt's 22nd birthday. Happy Birthday Usain Bolt. You gave yourself a very good birthday gift. Congratulations!

All for little Safa'a!

Yesterday I watched CNN and I saw a young couple release their one and only little boy (Safa'a) to the hands and care of Surgeons to operate on him.

Safa'a was was diagnosed in with Wilms' tumor. According to medical experts, Wilms tumour is the most common kidney tumor in children. The good news here is that if it is diagnosed on time, the cancer has a high survival rate.

When I saw the baby on the TV I was shocked! I can imagine his pains and sufferings! O! and the poor Mother. O my God! I prayed to God to save him and spare his life!

Well thank God for good Samaritans all over the globe. Safa'a was able to go for his surgery in Jordan with the help of an 85-year-old liquor tycoon.

The surgery lasted FIVE hours, and it was a success as the massive tumor was removed completely! Praise God!

Safa'a's parents were overjoyed! His mother in her joyous mood said "I cannot put my happiness into words." And the Dad said "this is such a happy occasion. You brought happiness into the hearts of parents."

I am indeed very happy for Safa'a and his parents! I wish him a smooth recovery process.

Voodoo in Government

For some time now there has been a new twist in the Nigeria politics. Apart from the "shaky shaky" going one amongs the politicians, there are more revelations to show that most office holders are into all sorts of diabolical stuff!

Can you imagine that the Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ambassador Sam Edem, spent 1 billion naira to secure the services of a sorcerer to employ spiritual means to enable him secure contracts from the Akwa Ibom State Government? Wonders shall never end!

The stories also have it that Edem burnt a whole N270 million at a cemetery in Port Harcourt. He later bathed with the ashes of the burnt N270 million in order to realise his wishes from the State Government. What are these wishes? In his statement, the voodoo man, one Dr. Perekambowei Ogah informed the Police in Benin, Edo State that he (Ogah) was paid the sum of N15 million by Ambassador Edem. He said the money was to make some sacrifices in order to ensure that Edem retains his position as the Chairman of NDDC when the board was dissolved!

O that was not all. The voodoo master informed the Police that Edem also instructed him to "work" on the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Dr. Godswill Akpabio, in order to secure contracts from him. Edem also wanted Mr. Timi Alaibe, dead! Now Timi Alaibe is the Managing Director of NDDC, and he also works in the same office with him (Edem) to enable him have his way in decision making processes. And the final straw was for Ogah to "work" on Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan! Can you imagine? Edem wants Mr. VP to always give him (Edem) support if there is any plan to remove him. Let him stay there forever!

The secrets became known when Edem demanded for a refund of his money on the ground that Alaibe never "died" on the date he was expected to "die". The native doctor refused to make any refund but rather insisted that there were some outstanding of his professional fees!

Oga Edem, Oga for NDDC reported the matter to the police as a case of fraud. Of course in investigating the matter, the Police arrested the native doctor. As is expected, he has to write his statement. The said statement was what revealed all these to the general public!

In his own statement, Edem said he was under a spell when he made the payments he made to Ogah. “The amount of money the fraudster collected from me through the hypnotic spell is about N800million. The extortion spread over months and were always with death threats to my person and family members, friends and staff”.

Anyway, our own President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has ordered an investigation into these allegations. In addition, the President directed Mr. Mike Okiro, the Inspector General of Police, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to get to the root of the matter.

My own is that there is no smoke without a fire somewhere. I only pray that justice prevails.

Democracy!

I read in the papers today that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria had resolved to (amongst other things) reconstitute the present Board of Trustees of the Party. The National Execuive Committee of the PDP also reolved that the constitution which made the chairmanship of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) an exclusive preserve of former Presidents will be reviewed. This is a big blow to bros OBJ! I wonder how and what he feels about these various recommendations/resolutions as they concern him. Anyway that is for him to wonder and for Nigerians to . . .

Please read. . .

Obasanjo's ouster looms as PDP okays new BoT

IN what appeared like the beginning of the end to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo's hold on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the leadership of the party rose from a marathon meeting yesterday, endorsing the recommendations of the two panels raised by the party to pacify aggrieved members who left the party. One of the recommendations is that the present Board of Trustees of the party be reconstituted and its functions refocused. Obasanjo was absent at yesterday's meeting.

The party, under the chairmanship of Senator Ahmadu Ali, set up a reconciliation committee in July last year headed by former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, but the report of the panel was not implemented. The committee noted that most of the former members of the party complained of lack of internal democracy in PDP and declared the urgent need to do something about it. The committee recommended that article 12:77, which was introduced during the 2006 constitution amendment exercise, should be expunged.

The clause makes the chairmanship of the board the exclusive preserve of former presidents on the platform of the party, which was what led to Obasanjo's emergence in succession to Tony Anenih as BoT chairman.

Another panel set up by the party under the chairmanship of Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Bello Haliru Mohammed, upheld the recommendations.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the national secretary of the party and the national publicity secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje and Prof. Ahmed Rufai Alkali respectively, said the meeting resolved that a meeting of founding fathers of the party be convened before the end of the year to work out the way forward for the party. They also said the meeting decided that henceforth, rule of law would be allowed to guide the party in all actions.

"NEC considered the recommendations of the Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed-led Committee that reviewed the report of Dr. Alex Ekwueme's National Reconciliation Committee. NEC deliberated extensively and arrived at the following resolutions:

"A summit of the founding fathers of the Party has been summoned for the last quarter of 2008 to deliberate on how best the Party can revert to the original values and principles on which it was founded.

"NEC believes this would form the bedrock for reconciliation and internal democracy.
"The Party henceforth commits itself strictly to its electoral guidelines and constitutional provisions on issues of nomination.

"The era of arbitrariness in the nomination process is over. NEC also resolved to propose an amendment to the provisions of the party's constitution that deals with the leadership, membership and functions of the Board of Trustees.

NEC accepted the recommendation that the Board of Trustees should revert to its advisory role as contained in the PDP Constitution 2001 (as amended). NEC also accepted the recommendation that any member of the Board of Trustees can aspire to Chair the Board as against the current provision that limits the chairmanship to former holders of particular offices. NEC also resolved on the reconstitution of the Board of Trustees in line with the proposed amendments."

"A special National Convention of the Party shall hold in the first quarter of 2009 to consider these constitutional amendment proposals," they disclosed. The two men further said that the meeting also decided to set up a think-tank at all levels to advise the party, while an evaluation committee would also be set up to appraise performances of elected members of the party.

"The PDP shall set up standing monitoring committees to evaluate the performance of its elected officials in each geo-political zone. Each committee shall comprise members drawn from the six geopolitical zones who shall ensure compliance to the Party's manifesto in the conduct of state affairs.

"NEC resolves to establish a think tank at National and State levels that will brainstorm, digest and proffer advice over key issues that will put the Party ahead of its rivals. This think-tank shall work with the Peoples Democratic Institute, PDI and relevant agencies of government.

"NEC also proposed an amendment to the PDP 2006 Constitution to include the power of each state caucus to co-opt elders into its membership. This will address some of the complaints of sidelining by members of the party. All nominations for appointments must come from the recommendations of state caucuses," the meeting resolved.

It was resolved that all members of the party who defected should be contacted immediately. The party reconstituted its disciplinary committee with the following members.

For more please go to Guardian Online

In a related development, the former EFCC Boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was demoted from the rank of an Assistant Inspector-General of Police to Deputy Commissioner of Police. Read more on that here.