Mark dismisses alleged interim government plot, says May 29 sacrosanct

President of the Nigerian Senate, David Mark, has described the call for
Interim National Government by some Nigerians as ‘’imprecise, sordid and
strange’’ to the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Mr. Mark stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the resumed sitting of the
Senate after its one-month recess.
Mark said that the issue of polls rescheduling and the call for interim
government had been given undeserved prominence across the country.
According to him, the Senate will not be part of any move to violate the
provisions of the 1999 Constitution, which the lawmakers have sworn to
uphold.
“I am alarmed that the issue of Interim National Government has been given
underserved prominence in our national discourse. Interim National
Government is alien to the 1999 Constitution as amended. Therefore, those
calling for it are calling for an exercise in futility,” Mr. Mark stated
“This Senate is committed to the provisions of our constitution which we
swore to protect and we will not do anything to sabotage the democratic
process. It is important to note that on the 29th of May, 2015, a
democratically elected government, through a free, fair, transparent and
credible election will be sworn in.”
Mr. Mark called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to use
the six weeks extension to continue to put measures in place to ensure a
free, fair and credible election.
He also urged Nigerians to support INEC in its effort to conduct a
transparent election, adding that all Nigerians, including lawmakers, should
desist from making comments that would instigate violence.
“These are not ordinary times in our nation; there is palpable tension in the
land. Comments and even the body language of the political class further
exacerbate the tension. As statesmen and women, we must rise to the
occasion and help reduce this tension.
“We must refrain from acts that will aggravate this already charged
atmosphere across the country. I urge you, my distinguished bosses, to be
dedicated to our constitutional duties as you have always done,” he said.
Mr. Mark further urged Nigerians to be true statesmen and women both in
words and deeds to douse the tension in the nation.

Obasanjo created Jonathan, other Governors; we will beg him to forgive us – Lamido

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State on Tuesday disclosed that Peoples
Democratic Party stakeholders would beg former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, who dumped the party on Monday to have a rethink.
Lamido made this disclosure after a meeting with President Goodluck
Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.
The governor, who heads the North-West Council of Goodluck/Sambo
Presidential Campaign, told State House correspondents that Obasanjo
remained the father of all.
He said Jonathan and all the state governors were creations of the former
President.
He explained that it was only appropriate that “when a father is angry with
his children, the children should beg him.”
Lamido said, “Baba (Obasanjo) is more than a party man. He is an icon, a
national symbol and a leader and an inventor, a creator of all the institutions
today in Nigeria from the President to the governors who are his own sons,
are all his creations.
“And so, when a father is angry with his own children, we will only say we
are sorry to him. But then, we cannot be renounced for whatever it is.
“If you do any political DNA of our blood, you will find his (Obasanjo’s) blood
in us. No matter what we are, we may not be able to live up to his
expectations.
“We might have made some mistakes, but abandoning us is not the solution
because the country is first before anything else. So, he is our Baba even up
to the President.
“Baba is our baba no matter what. He is angry with us, but then, what do
we do? He gave us the life at a time when Nigerians were fighting us, he
stood for us. Since 2011, in 2007, he stood firm for us.
“He is our father. And so, if we made some mistakes, we are only human
because we are heading human institutions. And I think by the time he
reflects, how could he abandon his own children like that. Wherever we are,
we are right in his heart. He feels for us, he cares for us.”
When asked to be specific on whether they would go and beg Obasanjo to
return to the party, Lamido said such issue was not the kind he would
announce publicly.
“When there is some kind of misunderstanding between a father and a child,
you don’t go to NTA or any other media to say you are going to do this.
“I mean the bond between us is so strong. I know he is equally pained. I
know what he is going through because he is our father, but I will not tell
you the strategy because when he was producing us, you were not there,
when he was making us, were you there,” the governor said.
When told that some party chiefs had already said they would not miss the
former President, the governor said Jonathan, who he described as
Obasanjo’s first child, had not said so.
“But then, the first child is the President, did he say so?,” he asked.
When asked again if Obasanjo’s constant criticisms of the President did not
worry him, Lamido said “when parents get old, they tend to manifest signs of
old age.”
He added, “What I am saying is that all of us have parents. When we were
born, they pepped us, gave us their love, gave us everything. By the time
they get old, naturally, there is what they call role reversal. We became the
parents and they became the children. So, what is wrong if our parents begin
to manifest those signs of old age?”
He said, “What is this opposition in Nigeria? You must know Nigerian
history. Nigeria cannot be governed by an aggregate of pain, anger and
frustration”.

14-year-old escapee claims Boko Haram’s Jihad is false

A Fourteen year-old boy, identified as Alaji, from kerenua, who was forced to serve the terrorist
group, Boko Haram, has narrated his ordeal after being kidnapped by the extremists recently.
The teenager explained in an interactive session that he was abducted at gunpoint by two men on
a motorcycle and taken to a town where he saw hundreds of fighters of the terrorist group.
According him, “I was abducted at gun point by two men on a motorcycle and taken to a town
occupied by the group. After a day, we moved to another town, then another, that was how we
kept on.
“There were lots of us, I saw hundreds of fighters, there were also many captives, but all of us,
including the captives, were set on groups but not in one place within the camps”, he said.
Talking about the activities in the camp, Alaji said that the females in the camp were morally and
sexually abused while the males were being sent on errands.
“There were lots of women in the camps, they raped and abused them.
“For boys, we run errands but everyone knows the repercussion for disobedience, they enforce
discipline; they don’t let captives to mix freely,” he stated, adding that “this goes to show that the
jihad they claim to be waging is not true”.

INEC insists using PVC will curb rigging

The Independent National Electoral Commissioner in Charge of Lagos, Ondo and Osun States,
Prof. Akinola Salawu and Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Segun Agbaje, on
Monday said there is no going back in the usage of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) in the
general elections.
Salawu, who spoke with reporters when on a courtesy visit to Ondo State INEC headquarters in
Akure, said using PVC would add value to the elections.
The national commissioner explained that the use
of the smart will enrich the electoral system and guarantee free,
fair and credible election.
The INEC boss assured that the commission is above board and not partisan, noting that the
decision to use the smart card is not to favor any political party but to add value to the election.
He reiterated that the commission is prepared
better than the 2011.
Also, Agbaje, who had earlier spoken on Adaba FM Private Radio Station in Akure and monitored
by our reporter before the rival of his boss, informed that 70.7 percent of PVCS have been
distributed in the State.
On the Radio Programme, the State REC said “There is electronic voting in most countries but law
does not allow it in Nigeria. So, what we did is to use the card readers in order to add value to
the electoral system.
“Any electronic item can have problem at any time. But these are new card readers. They have
been tested in some area councils I FCT. We know that they have high degree of reliability. We
also have backup in case of any problem.
“We are going to keep some quantities at the wards so that if there is any problem, they can
change the machine of rectify the problem.
“We have take delivery of more than 3060. what we need. We have 3009 polling unit. We will have
one card reader for each polling unit. There will also be polling points which are going to assist
that you don’t waste people’s time on that day. The card readers can last for ten hour. We can’t
use it more than five hours, at most six hours.
“In Ondo state, we were give a total number of 1, 494, 169 cards by the national headquaters. Out
of these, we have so far distributed 1,057,066 representing 70.7 percent of what we received. It
remains 437, 032 or 29.3 percent”, he disclosed.

Exit from PDP: Seun Kuti blasts Obasanjo, accuses him of killing Fela, grandmother

Seun Kuti, son of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti has lambasted former president, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo following his exit from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
DAILY POST reports that the former president had on Monday announced his exit from the
acclaimed largest party in Africa after tearing his membership card.
It would be recalled that Obasanjo served as President of Nigeria under the PDP’s umbrella as
well as its board of trustees chairman before his eventual fallout from the party on Monday.
Reacting to the development, Kuti said Obasanjo should not exonerate himself from the many
problems currently facing the country.
He also accused him of killing his father, Fela and his grandma, Ramson Kuti.
He vented his anger via his Facebook wall thus: “Baba Obasanjo has blamed everyone else for this
bad government except himself. You were no different and this is just an escalation of your
tactics. Na so u burn my father house, kill my grandmother and blamed unknown soldiers. Hian.
Oga take responsibility sometimes too. Not only are we on the wrong journey we got lost there
too and are on the wrong path. We are lost in a wrong journey and Obasanjo is the navigation
officer.”

NDLEA arrests pastor with 174kg of narcotics

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended the resident
pastor of the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim at Agodo-Egbe, Ikotun Lagos over
alleged unlawful exportation of 174 kilogrammes of narcotic drugs to South Africa.
The suspect, Prophet Michael Raji was arrested following the interception of the drug at the cargo
section of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) during pre-shipment examination.
Preliminary investigation has indicated that the 60 year old suspect, Michael Raji is a suspected
top member of a drug syndicate operating in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
He had three international passports bearing his photographs.
One of the passports bears the name Michael Raji while the other two bear the name Kadigun
Fatah Ola.
It was equally discovered that the church premises where he ministers also serves as a
warehouse for narcotics.
The seized drugs concealed inside large bags of foodstuff were found to contain 91kg of
Methamphetamine and 83kg of Ephedrine with an estimated street value of 609 million naira.

Real Madrid, Bayern not favourites to win Champions League – Mourinho

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, has insisted that Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, are not favourites
to win the UEFA Champions League this season.
The Blues will face Paris-Saint Germain tonight at the Parc des Princes, in the first leg of the
round of 16 tie.
Madrid, who clinched their La Decima last year and former champions Bayern, have been tipped to
win the competition, but Mourinho refused to rule out the other teams left.
“I don’t agree at all that they’re favourites, because the Champions League always has space for
surprises,” he told reporters.
“You go through the last decade and see teams winning the competition who you expect to win,
but you also have teams you don’t expect to win. You can balance it almost 50-50.
“You have three or four teams people would not be expecting. I really don’t know the candidates
when it goes to the knockout stage. At the moment there are 16 candidates for me.”