Yar'Adua Seeks China's Help on Nigeria's Energy Crisis

Sino-Nigerian relations got a boost yesterday after talks in Beijing between Presidents Hu Jinatao and Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who pledged to pursue mutually
beneficial industrial, economic and political interests at home and on the global stage.

In fact, Yar'Adua called for the setting up of a mutually-beneficial strategic partnership with China for the rapid development of Nigeria's power and energy sector as well as its transportation infrastructure.

He said at the end of his bilateral talks with Hu Jintao that "the direction we want to go is Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) in which Chinese investors can partner with their Nigerian counterparts to invest in these strategic areas and recoup their investments within a certain period."

The Chinese President also proposed the establishment of a Nigeria-China Joint Commission on Trade and Investment.

Hu Jintao promised that China would work with the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN) and the Sudanese government to achieve a permanent resolution to the crisis in Darfur.

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Nigeria and China are beginning to work together to help one another's energy crises. China needs gas for their industrial sector, whereas Nigeria needs gas for transportation, power, and energy. The two countries could form a commission of trade and investment. By 2020, they hope to include as many as twenty countries. Hu Jintao has promised to help Nigerian and the African Union permanently resolve the crisis in Darfur. This relatioship with China should be beneficial to Nigeria. In the long run, it will help their economy as well as help them establish better relationships with other countries.

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Dissent abroad over tribunal results

Shamsey Oloko

Nigerians abroad, many of who monitored the live delivery of the presidential tribunal's ruling yesterday via satellite television, the Internet and tele-conferencing, have expressed divergent opinions on it.

Former President of the U.S.-based Nigerian Lawyers Association and a New York-based lawyer, Shamsey Oloko, noted: "To accept this verdict as credible requires a willing suspension of disbelief.

Aluko added: "The Ogebe elevation saga, his absence from court, the unanimity of the ruling and all the rumours leading up to this judgment are all saddening. One would only hope that the Supreme Court would in some way redeem the newly battered image of the judiciary."

Similarly, Dr. Baba Adam, chairman, Pro-National Conference Organisations in the U.S. said it was a sad day for Nigeria, "rolling back the progress made by the judiciary over the last eight years."

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Although these are not the opinions of local Nigerians, this may be indicative of what those who do live in Nigeria think. Nigerians have been very patient to wait for this tribunal, hoping for a nullification of the election. Now that the election is final, will the people of Nigeria stay placated, or will they resort to violent or nonviolent protest?

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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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Tribunal Sacks Orji, Orders Ugochukwu In

THE Abia State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia yesterday nullified the election of Governor Theodore Orji of the Progressive People's Alliance (PPA) and declared Chief Onyema Ugochukwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election in the state.

The tribunal based its decision on what it called Orji’s membership of the Ogwugwuakpu Secret Cult in Okija and his failure to resign his appointment as a public officer of Abia State before contesting the election. His deputy, Chief Chris Akomo, according to the tribunal also did not resign from public office before contesting the election. The tribunal said consequently, Orji did not qualify to contest the election.

The tribunal in the two judgement which lasted two hours, 45 minutes and read by the Chairman of the panel, Justice Abdullahi Yusuf, held that Orji did not come before the tribunal to refute the claims of the petitioner, the consequences of which were that the election of the first and second defendants ought to be nullified.

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This article addresses the recent overturning of the decision of who would be governor of the Abia state. According to the article, Governor Theodore Orji was not "qualified to contest the election;" therefore, his winning was overturned, and Onyema Ugochukwu was declared the rightful winner. This decision shows the power that the government has to completely overturn the decision of who would be governor of a particular state. Also, this shows the corruption of Nigeria because the leaders are not always properly qualified but will still manage to do whatever it takes to win the election if that is what they want.

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Captors Demand N50m for Odili's Nephew

GUNMEN again struck in the early hours of yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, killing a man in his car in front of the Federal High Court Complex.

The Guardian learnt that two men stopped the driver of the car while leaving the court premises on a motorcycle, and ordered him to bring out the money in the boot of his car. He allegedly replied that he did not have any money, a response believed to have provoked the gunmen, who shot him twice and sped off.

Also yesterday, the kidnappers of Mr. Eni Odili, the nephew of the former Governor of the state, Peter Odili, demanded N50 million as ransom from the family.

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This article addresses the recent kidnapping of former Governor of state Peter Odili's nephew. The kidnappers have demanded N50m ransom for the release of the boy. According to the article, this is not the first case of kidnapping, and the kidnappings are solely for economic gains. Also according to the article there has been an outrageous number of "hostage-taking, oil theft and militancy." This shows the corruption that has filled Nigeria for so many years. This article also addresses the recent murder of a man who was in his car in front of the Federal High Court Complex. These acts show the violence that consumes many of the Nigerian people. Because of these two incidents, the government is being called upon to make changes that will lower the amount of violence and prevalence of anger in the Nigerian people. The power of the government will be shown through what they can do to ease the tension and violence in Nigeria.

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Nigerian Tribunal Upholds Yar'Adua's Victory

Ibadan, Nigeria -- A Nigerian tribunal Tuesday upheld the victory of President Umaru Yar'Adua in last year's presidential election, declaring him duly elected.

The tribunal, in a three-and-a-half hour judgment carried live on national radio and television, nullified all grounds brought against the election by Messrs. Buhari and Atiku and said Mr. Yar'Adua remained the elected president of Nigeria.

In their separate petitions, Messrs. Buhari and Abubakar had asked the tribunal to annul the result, alleging widespread fraud. They said the election wasn't conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2006 and urged the tribunal to nullify the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.

Local and international observers said the election was marred by vote-rigging, ballot stuffing, ballot-snatching and other irregularities.

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Inspite of many claims of illegitamacy, this nigerian tribunal has stated that the elections were valid, although there is much evidence of less than legal techniques used to obtain votes. From previous events, it seems that the Nigerian people will probably accept this decision without violence.

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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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D-Day for Yar'Adua: Judge Dismisses Muhammadu Buhari's Petition

A Nigerian judge has dismissed one of two opposition petitions asking that President Umaru Yar'Adua's election in April last year be annulled.

Opposition candidate Gen Muhammadu Buhari had said the ballot did not take place in 29 of the 31 states.

A judge is still to rule on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar's claim that the incumbent People's Democratic Party rigged the vote.

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This article addresses the claims that the recent election that elected Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua was flawed because of the corrupt practices it was run. There have been two petitions stating that the election should be annulled because Yar'Adua won through unfair means. The claims of flawed elections show the corruption that have filled the nation since its beginning, and if the elections were rigged it can cause the Nigerian people to lose their trust in the government which can lower the legitimacy of Nigeria.

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Assessment Complete

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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Undoing Immunity: Is Nigeria Ready?

Fraud, misrepresentation and obstruction of justice are the problem we face. Graft and corruption remained a problem nine years after democracy .The senate goes largely undetected to harbour thieves in the senate. They have not cared to find out because they know who the thieves are. The names of these thieves are well known to all Nigerians. Do we need to talk about the chief presiding officers, whose nationality and foreign accounts makes mincemeat of any moral pretensions to any responsible office, or their deputy whose name found its way advertently into EFCC’s list of corrupt politicians? The senators need only to look in the mirror to see the thieves that Nigerians have known all along. With Nuhu Aliyu’s volte-face, Nigeria’s clamour to be rescued from the grip of elitist leeches has suffered yet another set back. With every such betrayal, Nigeria’s future is buried by installment. Nigeria is now a corpse that should relax and enjoy its eternal alliance with the coffin of corruption.

Again this time, reports that corruption is the root cause of the economic collapse in this nation and financial problems of some countries throughout the world is appearing boldly visible. It could come as fraud, bankruptcy fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, medical crime, public corruption, identity theft, environmental crime, pension fund crime, RICO crimes, consumer fraud, occupational crime, securities fraud, financial fraud, and forgery is no longer prosecuted.

Sometimes, crime tends to be made up of complex, sophisticated, and relatively technical actions in disguise. It tends to be intermingled with legitimate behaviour. It comes with diffusing victimization. Harm is not always conceptualized or identifiable as such because it is usually spread out over a substantial number of victims. The monetary sums that are involved tend to be quite large as pictured from Patricia Etteh’s scandals. As the former Speaker in the Assembly of thieves! She approved over N628 million to renovate her house and that of the Deputy Speaker. I am not surprised at all! This woman was just following the footprints that she saw ahead of her. What more can we say about the thieves and illegitimate people that are ruling Nigeria?

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The reason that the Nigerian government is as corrupt as it is is not because of ignorance, but because of apathy. Government officials are not being punished for stealing, embezzling, bribery, or anything else even though others know what is going on. For this reason, the majority of Nigerians live impoverished. Though Nigeria has technically been a democracy for 9 years now, the situation has not improved.

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Nigeria Made $55b from Oil Exports in 2007

Information made public by the United States (U.S.) government on earnings by members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for 2007 has placed Nigeria fourth on the ladder with a total income of $55 billion.

The amount, the report noted, did not translate into improved standards of living for the citizens as their plight remained deplorable with a mere $409 as per capita income.

With the figure, Nigeria emerged the fourth highest revenue earner among OPEC countries coming behind Saudi Arabia, which earned $189 billion, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which made $63 billion and Iran's $57 billion.

Although Nigeria featured prominently among the four leading nations in OPEC in terms of oil export revenues, the country lagged behind significantly in per capita distribution.

But the rise of the oil prices in the international market above $100 is being attributed to several factors such as the lingering crisis in the Niger Delta region.

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Though Nigeria produced the fourth most oil out of all of the OPEC countries, the per capita income of all of the OPEC countries is close to $400. Obviously the oil profits are going elsewhere. The oil prices will continue to rise for the remainder of the world due in part to the problems in the Niger Delta. This article further exemplified how oxymoronic the financial status of Nigeria is.

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