Yar'Adua Orders Probe of British Airways Incident

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has directed the Minister of State for Transportation (Aviation), Mr Felix Hyatt, to begin an urgent investigation into a March 27, 2008 incident in which British Airways (BA) allegedly ordered more than 100 Nigerians off its London to Lagos flight "for protesting against the brutal treatment of a deportee aboard."

Yar'Adua, who is in Germany for a medical review, asked Hyatt to take all necessary measures and protect "the travelling public from the humiliation they face daily from foreign airlines."

A source told The Guardian that the President had seen reports of the incident from the British media, expressing "disgust" at the "seeming non-chalant attitude of BA officials."

He, therefore, directed that since the minister has not forwarded any report of the incident to his office, he should be formally written to investigate the incident and report back to him.

The source added: "The President is said to be concerned by the recent resurgence of complaints about the poor treatment, discrimination and downright abuse meted out to Nigerians by some foreign airlines operating in the country.

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Last month over 100 Nigerian passengers attempted to board a plane in London on a British Airways flight to Lagos, but were ordered off the flight for protesting the heinous treatment of a deportee on the flight. Yar'Adua has vowed not to stand for this kind of treatment. Though he is currently in Germany receiving some sort of medical treatment, he is investigating the situation to determine what course of action to take. This action shows that the president will no longer stand for second-class treatment of Nigerian citizens.

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Yar'Adua Signs N2.748 Trillion Budget 2008

After several months of disagreement between the executive and the legislative arms of government on the 2008 Appropriation Bill, President Umaru Yar'Adua, yesterday, signed the Bill into law with a charge to all government agencies to implement it with "the highest sense of responsibility and with total deference to due process."

The total amount budgeted for the 2008 fiscal year is N2.748 trillion, comprising N860 billion for capital and N1.888 trillion for recurrent.

Although the signing ceremony was billed for 10 o'clock in the morning, it was not until 3:00 p.m that it finally took place following what a source described as the state of the president's health. Reporters were not allowed to witness the event as has been the tradition.

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The compromise that was offered last week was signed into action, so this is just confirmation of what was expected to happen. It is good that Nigeria is attempting to build capital, but it is hard to tell how much will actually buy the capital. The banning of reporters during the event shows the strong presence of tradition in Nigeria.

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Yar’Adua Ill, Flown to Germany

President Umaru Yar’Adua was on Monday flown to Germany following an undisclosed ailment.

His Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, who disclosed this to journalists in Abuja, linked the sickness to an allergic reaction.

“The President will leave for Wiesbaden, Germany later today (Monday)
to see his private physicians for a medical review of an indisposition believed to be due to an allergic reaction,” Adeniyi said.

Read the full story here.



This article addresses Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua's recent visit to Germany to receive medical treatment, and this is not the first time that the President has left Nigeria to receive treatment elsewhere in the past year. According to the article, Yar'Adua was visiting a hospital in Germany to receive treatment for an allergic reaction. The article then discusses Yar'Adua's passing of the 2008 budget for Nigeria which was done in a less than extravagant manner which is much different than in the past. This could cause some worry among Nigerians, but according to the article, Yar'Adua essentially just had to sign the bill and pass it on without any sort of ceremony. The true question here is whether or not the Nigerian people see this as a weakness in their leader because he is having to leave the country to receive medical treatment.

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President and Assembly agree on budget

After the protracted bickering over the delay in the passage of the 2008 Appropriation Bill, the Presidency and the National Assembly have reached an agreement on how to address the points of disagreement in the budget.

According to [Ayogu Eze], the President would compile his reservations on the budget and send them to the National Assembly in form of an amended bill to the budget with the Assembly pledging to give them positive consideration.

Adeniyi said in Abuja yesterday that "it was an amicable meeting. It was very cordial. And an agreement was reached. And under it, the President will assent to the budget. He will then send an amendment bill to the National Assembly on the areas there were consensus on review.

"Both parties resolved their differences on the budget and decided to reach a compromise. The budget document will be signed the way it is now but an amendment would be sent to the NASS in another two weeks."

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As posted earlier, the budget delay has been very detrimental to Nigeria's economy. It's a good thing that the disagreement is getting closer to being resolved. Contrary to the somewhat misleading news headline, however, the budget is not yet finalized or written.

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Action Congress Asks Nigeria to 'Sack Iwu Now"

Action Congress (USA) has again called for the removal of Maurice Iwu as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a statement made available to leadershipnigeria.com it said that again the verdict in Edo State proves that he had failed to deliver as promised free and fair elections at every level of government throughout Nigeria.

We have and continue to witness the election tribunal void election after election and ask for re-runs. He is a disgrace to progress and democracy, his denial of his failure is shameful and should be prevented from making further statements publicly regarding it.

They thanked President Yar'Adua in his belief in the rule of law, but strongly opposed his statement which includes "do-or-die" in any re-elections throughout the country. However, we expect that we will do free and fair elections, whereby each registered voter is given the opportunity to cast their vote without fear, that those votes are counted without bias and that the true count is given declaring only the individual who rightfully wins regardless of who does.

The statement said, "As a man who has tried to convince the country and the outside world of his sincerity to provide safety for the people of Nigeria, it becomes highly embarrassing to hear the word 'die' coming from him (Yar'Adua) in reference to any election, when he should be guaranteeing protecting the lives of all its citizens and not a select few".

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In a delayed response to the elections, Action Congress called for a reform of the election commission of Nigeria in the form of firing its chairman. Although this approach may or may not be effective in reforming the elections, it is good to see that some action is being suggested. The only way to improve a flawed system is to change something, and Nigeria, or at least some parts, is trying to reform.

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Japan to Promote Africa's Growth at Tokyo Confab

Africa's promising economic prospects and the pursuit of progress in consolidating peace and democratisation processes through self-efforts are the credentials the Government of Japan hopes to build upon as African leaders gather to discuss contemporary issues of development concerning the continent next month.

They will be meeting at the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in the port city of Yokohama, Japan, in May.

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has also been invited to the event.

The TICAD was launched in 1993 to promote high-level policy dialogue among African leaders and development partners. It has since evolved into a major global forum to promote development on the continent under the principles of African "ownership" and international "partnership."

The two concepts had a great influence on the launch of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a strategy for development designed by Africans themselves.

The hosts believe Africa would be fully represented at the five-yearly summit, hopefully at the highest levels, describing the responses to the invitation so far as "very encouraging."

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The Tokyo Internation Conference on African Development will be held this May to aid African countries in their economic development. Hopefully the interference of more developed countries in African affairs will help Nigeria to make changes for the betterment of the country as a whole. President Yar'Adua was invited and plans to attend. The conference aims to help African ownerships and partnerships.

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Nigeria's Buhari Renews Challenge

Muhammadu Buhari says the tribunal was wrong. A Nigerian opposition candidate is appealing to the Supreme Court over the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Defeated All Nigeria People's Party candidate Muhammadu Buhari wants last year's widely criticised poll annulled.

Last week, the election tribunal said Mr Buhari had failed to prove the result of the election had been affected by rigging.

Mr Buhari's lawyers said the burden of proof should be on the government.

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Buhari was Yar'Adua's competition in the last presidential election. Last week there was a tribunal held to determine whether the presidential election should be annuled due to the recent evidence found that makes it appear that the election was rigged. Though Buhari lost the tribunal last week, he has not given up. He had plenty of evidence proving the Yar'Adua was not the fair winner, including ballots that did not have serial numbers. Buhari has not given up yet, even though Yar'Adua was declared innocent. Considering all of the evidence that Buhari presented, it is surprising that he did not win. Perhaps Yar'Adua had to resort to corrupt practices in order to hide how he won the presidential election.

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Yar'Adua Orders Minister's Arrest

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest a serving Minister for allegedly flouting a presidential directive on returning unspent funds in the last days of 2007 to the public treasury and for partaking in sharing in the proceeds of contracts awarded illegally.


Sources also told The Guardian that the female Minister might be among those to be shown the way out in the "looming sweeping changes in several areas of the Executive, including top officials of the administration."


The sources also added that the President, buoyed by recent court reprieve, has made it known to some of his aides that many of the Ministers, who emerged through unavoidable political process, "do not have the requisite capacity for their assignments."


The Minister, currently facing interrogation by the EFCC, is accused of awarding contracts without following due process in the last few days of 2007 and sharing in the proceeds of the contracts.

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President Yar'Adua has ordered that the now former minister of the EFCC be arrested for not returning unspent funds back to the treasury at the end of the year. This punishment seems a little hypocritical considering that Yar'Adua allegedly also uses government funds for his own personal use. However, despite Yar'Adua's hypocrisy, this story shows that the government is making an attempt to punish criminals and thereby decrease the corruption that plagues the government. Possibly the most interesting thing about this story is that editors of a competing newspaper were payed earlier this year to not report this story. However, the story leaked out and now the government looks even more corrupt.

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Yar’Adua’s victory: Military warns troublemakers

The flag of the Nigerian Defence Forces

The Defence Headquarters on Wednesday warned anyone contemplating to protest the affirmation of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s election by the Presidential Election Tribunal to have a rethink.

It said the warning was necessitated by information that there were plots by some people to breach the peace in the country because of the Tuesday verdict by the tribunal.

The DHQ said in a statement by the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yusuf, that the military would do anything to defend the rule of law in the country.

The statement which was signed by Yusuf for the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoye Azazi, said the disruption of the public peace would not be the best way to react to Tuesday’s judgment by the tribunal.

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Apparently, the military believes that there is some chance of violent protest in response to the recent tribunal. The article makes it seem that the chance is relatively high. It is good that the military at least claims it will stick with the president, given the history of military rule in Nigeria.

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'Super Tuesday': Verdict on Yar' Adua's Fate Today

After several months of legal battle over the legitimacy or otherwise of the April 21, 2007 presidential elections, the presidential election petition tribunal will today deliver its verdict on whether the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and his running mate, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, validly emerged winners or not. The Appeal Court President, Justice Umaru Abdulahi, has meanwhile okayed live coverage of the event by the media.

The election was widely described by national and international observers as marred by rigging and irregularities across the nation.

Specifically, the tribunal will give its verdict in two separate, but consolidated petitions filed by the presidential candidates of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his counterpart from the Action Congress (AC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

In their separate petitions, the two candidates have urged the tribunal to void the election on the claim that the elections were a ruse as, according to them, votes were
merely allotted to candidates by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

They also argued that since the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2006, the tribunal had a duty to nullify the results so declared by INEC.

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The decision concerning whether or not the 2007 election was flawed or not will be given later on today. Yar'Adua's opponents filed both petitions. Their main arguments were that the votes were alloted solely to the canidates running on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the the election was not compliant with the rules set by the Electoral Act of 2006. They think that the election should be declared null and void. This shows that theNigerian government is finally dealing with the corrupt government. They are taking a step to no longer allow cheating, bribery, theft, and blackmail within the government.

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Nigeria parliament passes 2008 budget, spending up

Nigeria's National Assembly passed a final version of the 2008 budget on Wednesday that foresees a 21 percent hike in proposed expenditure and an even sharper increase on what the government actually spent last year.

The Senate and House of Representatives, which had passed slightly different versions of the budget last week, reconciled their figures and adopted the 2.89 trillion naira total spending proposed by the upper chamber.

The harmonised bill will now be sent to President Umaru Yar'Adua for final approval. He had originally proposed an annual spending figure of 2.45 trillion naira.

To increase the amount of money available to be spent in this year's budget, the lawmakers revised upwards the benchmark oil price to $59 per barrel from $53.83 in the executive's original bill.

The Senate had said the additional spending was "committed to the provision of water, roads, power, enhancement of social services such as education and healthcare delivery".

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Although the budjet has not been approved by Yar'Adua, a 20% increase in spending is quite signifigant. The addition is supposed to help provide more quality public goods and services, and the Nigerian people may appriciate the extra spending. Hopefully, this new budjet, and the higher oil prices from Nigeria do result in added stability and satisfaction with the Nigerian Government.

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Yar'Adua Renews War on Corruption

President Umaru Yar’Adua on Thursday took a retrospective view at the governments efforts to stamp out corruption and declared: We still have a long way to go.

Yar’Adua lamented that in spite of the country’s natural and physical endowments, it was yet to realise its potential.

He, however, said he had absolute faith in the ability of Nigerians to overcome the nation’s present challenges.

The President said, “We are yet to overcome the bogeys of mindless corruption, sectionalism, ethnicity, religious bigotry, self-serving politics of intolerance and lack of commitment to national ideals.

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As you can see from the map above (Click for a larger version), Nigeria, like all of Africa, has large issues with corruption. It is very good to see Yar'Adua taking a stance on corruption, but it would be even better to see action taken. Claims of fixing the corruption in Nigeria show that the country is aware of its problem, but the lack of action in the past show that even beginning to reduce corruption is much more difficult than simply mmaking a speech.
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Nnamani, Masari, Others Task Yar'Adua on PDP's Drift

CRISIS is, no doubt, becoming the signature of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Whenever it seems some quiet has descended on the self-styled largest party in Africa, a storm is thrown up.


The latest is that some prominent members of the PDP under the aegis of G-21 have written to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in his capacity as the leader of the ruling
political grouping to call former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the national
chairman, Ahmadu Ali, to order.


In the letter titled: "The problem of Peoples Democratic Party: A recipe for its survival," and which was signed by former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari and Chief Alani Bankole, father of the present Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, among others, the group alerted that the party was on the verge of total collapse and they felt that as concerned members, they should draw his attention to the issue so as to see what could be done to salvage it.

Read the full story here.


This article shows the power that the People's Democratic Party (PDP) has in Nigeria; and this same power that they would like to keep. This article also mentions how God had placed Yar'Adua in the President's position which shows that Nigeria practices some aspects of theocracy. This article also states that there are personal vendettas for changing certain aspects of the government, including the constitution. According to the article, "the amendments carried out so far in the constitution of the party were not intended to strengthen the party but to suit the wishes of a few individuals." This article also asserts that the PDP has lost some credibility which could cause lower legitimacy because it can make the citizens of Nigeria feel as though their government does not have a right to rule. The letter mentioned in this article draws President Yar'Adua's attention to many important issues, and a true test of his power and ability to rule this nation will be evident in his next steps.


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The Chairman of INEC Allegedly Lied Under Oath

Some ballot papers used for the April 21, 2007 presidential election were printed in South Africa, findings by THE PUNCH have revealed.

This contradicts the claim of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, that the printing were solely handled by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company at a cost of N7.7bn.

Iwu’s claim was contained in his affidavit in response to the 27 questions raised by the presidential candidate of the Action Congress, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on the conduct of the poll.

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In support of the accusations made by Buhari and Abubakar on the 24th, Punch newspaper has discovered that the ballots for the most recent election were indeed made at least partly by a South African company, but it has not been confirmed whether or not the ballot had serial numbers. The handling of the elections, however, was under the control of Obasanjo, and Yar’Adua may or may not have been at fault.
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Yar'Adua Faces Court Over Alleged Fraudulent Elections

Since the election, denounced by some outside observers as the most fraudulent they had ever witnessed, over 1,200 petitions have been filed by the losing candidates in protest against the results. Almost all the successful petitions so far have alleged individual breaches of the electoral law, such as ballot papers with missing names. But more systematic crimes may have occurred, and indeed the first petitioner to prove wholesale malpractice on election day—many voters never even saw ballot papers—won his case last week against the governor of Enugu state. Those bringing the case against the president hope to do the same.

The former military president, Muhammadu Buhari, and the former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, are leading the charge against Mr Yar'Adua—both lost to him in the presidential poll. They allege that the elections were a sham, that the country failed to produce a complete voters' register and that ballots lacked serial numbers (and were therefore impossible to track). Furthermore, Mr Abubakar says he was illegally excluded from the poll until the very last minute, preventing him from campaigning.

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Many people in Nigeria are claiming that the most recent elctions were fraudulent, and this is no surprise for a counry so recently Democratic as Nigeria. The recent change to Democracy would also make it easy for someone to denouce the elections as the "most fraudulent," because they have probably only witnessed three. In all seriousness, the claims over fraud are probably true to at least some degree, but whether anything will be done remains to be seen. Holding elections for a seceond time may prove difficult or impossible to accomplish.
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Yar'Adua Not an Honest Man, Says Enahoro

Elder statesman and leader of Pro-National Conference Coalition(PRONACO), Anthony Enahoro, has dismissed with a wave of the hand President Umaru Yar’Adua’s much-flaunted credential as an honest man.

He also dismissed the current effort by the government to reform the nation’s Electoral Act, saying that "there is no way we can have a free and fair election under this present system." Enahoro made this position known during an interview with Sunday Independent.

He said if Yar’Adua was a sincere man he should long have resigned his position as President immediately he admitted the controversial election that brought him to power was indeed flawed.

"I was impressed when the President acknowledged in far away Germany, before the Western world and their press, that the process that brought him in was faulty. But I was expecting him to follow it up. He has not done anything so far and I am still waiting. I would have thought that an honest man should have resigned his post on the basis of that, but he did not do that; I am still waiting for what he will do about it."

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Enahoro, the elder statesman and leader of PRONACO, asserts that the flawed Nigerian presidential elections can not be fixed unless Yar'Adua gives up his presidency. Though he realized that the elections were flawed, Yar'Adua had no trouble accepting his new presidential position.

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Bill Proposing High Level Pay Raises Passed by the Senate

A chart showing the exchange rate between the Naira and the British Pound

With the conclusion of work and passage of the Bill to amend the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances) Act, by the Senate yesterday, a legal backing has now been given to the new pay packages for the President, his deputy and other senior officials of the Bench.

The President's salary, according to the Bill, has now been raised from N1,405,882.00 to N3,514,705.00 while that of the Vice President goes up to N3,031, 572.00 from N1,212,629.00. The Chief Justice will earn N3,363,972.00 while a Justice of the Supreme Court and the President of the Court of Appeal will take N2,477,110.00. A Justice of the Court of Appeal will get N1, 995, 430.00.

The decision to increase the salaries was taken after an exhaustive deliberation on a report presented to that effect by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Senator Zainab Kure.According to her, the upward review was in harmony with submissions made by RMAFC. She pointed out that the issue of salaries was dynamic and as such it was supposed to be reviewed from time to time.

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The raise that was probably well merited, judging by the chart shown above. The chart show that more and more Naira are needed to make one pound, thus denoting inflation. To retain the same standar of living, salaries must be increases on a regular basis. This certainly does not explain all of the larger salary, though. The remaining amount of the more than doubled salaries may or may not be justified, and the ambiguous explanation does not shed any light on the matter.
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Danger in the President

National Chairman and presidential candidate of the African Liberation Party (ALP), Emmanuel Okereke, has raised alarm over the "dangerous character" of the Umaru Yar’Adua presidency.

He warned that "President Yar’Adua may turn out to be more dangerous than former President Olusegun Obasanjo".

…

"And what is worse, he filled the panel with card-carrying members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). You can quote me on that: almost all of them are PDP members. So the whole thing is not meant to serve any reformist purpose; it is not meant to reform anything, and that is why our party is not sending any memoranda to it. We do not believe in it and neither do we recognise it.

Read the full story here.

This article addresses the recent election of Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua. Emmanuel Okereke has questioned President Yar’Adua’s goals as president of Nigeria, and he has questioned his character. This is just the beginning of what could be a series of questions regarding President Yar’Adua and his policies. This questioning affects Nigeria’s legitimacy which can affect the people’s feelings that the government has a right to rule and implement legislation.

$10b was spent on power sector over 7 years with no results

"The Action Congress (AC) has said the shocking revelation by President Umaru Yar’Adua, that the Obasanjo Administration spent $10b on the power sector in 7 years without a commensurate result, has further justified the growing calls for the probe of the Obasanjo government.

AC wondered what the Obasanjo Administration did with $10 billion, an amount that represents about half of this year’s federal budget, when his government left the power sector worse than it met it in 1999.

Former President Yar'Adua

Meanwhile, the AC has said the target of 6,000mw of electricity generation for 2009, set by Yar‘Adua, has shown that his Administration does not appreciate the depth of the crisis in the sector and the urgency it deserves.

'We are aware that industrial analysts have said Nigeria needs to generate as much as 40,000mw of electricity to ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity to its numerous people.'"

-My Naija News, a local Nigerian news company.

The fact that the same administration that pledged to reduce corruption also spent half of a years of the country's budget with no apperent result and likely used it to their own benefit is very disheartening. Any respect that Nigeria's anti-corruption agency had is now likely on shaky grounds.