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.

Count down to the 2008 Olympics

The Olympic Games is an international sports competition, held every four years at a different site. During the competition, athletes from different nations compete against each other in various sports, some of which are football, basketball, swimming, wrestling, baseball, hockey, gymnastics, rowing, javelin etc

This year, the Olympic Games will be held in Beijing from the 8th to the 24th day of August 2008. So it is tagged Beijing 2008. (That reminds me of Beijing 1995!)


History has it that the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Hercules, son of Zeus. Although the Olympic Games had been going on for many years, the first Olympics ever recorded was held in the year 776 BCE. It was at during this Olympic Games that a cook from Elis, Coroebus won the only event at the Olympics. Having accomplished that, Coroebus became the very first Olympic champion in history.

Another important historical fact worthy of note is the five Olympic Rings. The rings were adopted by the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Baron Pierre de Coubertin in the year 1913. However it was debuted at the Olympic Games 1920, although there was no record of the Olympic Games. The five rings represent the five major regions of the world, that is Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Also of note is the fact that every national flag in the world includes at least one of the five colors, which are blue, yellow, black, green, and red.

Do you know that there is a motto for the Olympic Games? Well there is, and the motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius." These Latin words mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." These words were borrowed from Father Henri Martin Dideon, the then headmaster of Arcueil College in Paris. Father Dideon used the motto to describe the great achievements of the athletes at his school. Baron de Coubertin borrowed the motto because he felt it could be used to describe the goals of great athletes all over the World.

The theme for this years Olympic Games is - One World One Dream!

It is 7 more days to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games! Brace yourself for some entertaining events!

Sirens!

On my way home after work yesterday . . . the traffic was helele!! I mean it was the very one! This is one major reason I do not like to drive! I know say if hubby reads this he'll just call me lazy. Why not? He has been making things easy for me. We go out in the morning together . . . drops me at my place of work, continues the journey to his own office and thereafter he picks me up after work! Abeg God bless you jare! I only drive whenever he is out of town.

Back to my gist . . .there we were crawling jejely in the traffic and hoping we'd get home before it gets dark. The traffic was moving small small o. . .all of a sudden, I heard the sound of a siren blaring annoyingly behind us! O I just hate it when that sound comes up and we are all in traffic. Where do they expect us to move to? Well the truth is that I do not shift my ground for them sha. If you see space, pass. . . if not stay for queue like others! The only siren I allow are ambulances. At least I know that the ambulances are used for emergencies. Why do these people just intimidate other motorists?! This guy tried to squeeze pass but no car would let him. He just kept blaring the siren, disturbing every body. . . when he saw that the traffic was stand still, he adviced himself to put he darn thing off! I guess every driver was thinking like me at that very moment.

The other day one of such siren noise makers hit one cool car in its attempt to wriggle through the traffic. Gbosa! The owner of the cool car stepped out of his car and then examined the extent of the damage. . . the drama that followed was something else. . . but I was happy the rough driver met his match!

What do you guys feel about sirens and all?