PDP Crisis: Clashes Between Jonathan And Obasanjo Escalate Over Andy Uba’s Rejection

The recent confrontation between the former and the current presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, seems to be escalating after the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the Anambra State governorship primary that produced a former aide to Obasanjo, Senator Andy Uba, as the party’s candidate for the November 16 governorship election in the state.

Not long ago, the former president had sought Jonathan’s support for Senator Uba in the run-up to the PDP nomination date, after what Obasanjo joined the crisis between the President and some governors elected on the platform of the PDP two weeks ago.

But, the PDP national Chairman Bamanga Tukur confirmed Mr. Tony Nwoye as the party's candidate. The party's leadership also condemned the parallel primary and rejected Uba's candidacy.

However, it has been revealed, that Obasanjo is angry as he was said to have questioned what Nwoye possessed that was lacking in Uba.

“We are watching where the action of the PDP leadership would lead us. We begin to wonder why they would have a preference for a youth leader and why they would reject the man who had won the same governorship poll for our party before the court terminated his mandate, and who is now a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."
“From all indications, if the party fails to reverse itself, then the outcome of that November 16, 2013 election in Anambra has been decided by them,” a political follower of Obasanjo told Leadership's correspondent."

The source recalled the efforts made by Senator Uba in the ongoing reconciliation between Jonathan and the ex-president and called on the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, Chief Tony Anenih, to intervene quickly before it is too late for the party:

“It is our hope that Chief Anenih would stop this drift before it would be too late; we wonder why these people would never see anything good in Baba Obasanjo and yet they run to him in the cover of the night asking him to help them to come out of their self-inflicted crises. “Mark my words, PDP would never win that poll with that boy as PDP’s candidate.”

Meanwhile, both the presidency and the former president have denied that they were on a collision course over the choice of PDP candidate for the Anambra election.

It will be reminded, that the parallel primaries took place on 24 August 2013. The PDP disapproved the primary held by the faction chaired by Ejike Oguebeogu and recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), where Mr. Uba was elected as its governorship candidate. After that, PDP summoned Uba to appear before a disciplinary panel to "show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against them.” Senator will be joined by his brother Chris and three other party leaders in Anambra, Ejike Oguebego, Benji Udeozor, and Tonia Nwankwu. They are to appear before the National Working Committee (NWC) for a preliminary hearing at the PDP National Secretariat at Wuse Zone 5, Abuja on Wednesday, August 28, at 10 am.

2015: Jonathan dumps Sambo

Starves VP of funds
Considers Lamido, Shema
ALL is definitely not well with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). For months now, the party leadership has been straining topatch up the cracks dividing the self-touted largest party in Africa, but to no avail. Last week's highly celebrated National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja fell
woefully short of the desired, it even went down as the shortest ever: only 15 minutes; without resolving many issues including granting of automatic tickets to President Goodluck Jonathan and governors seeking a second term in office.
As if that was not enough, damning reports emanating from the Aso Rock Villa showed that the cracks within the party run deeper than currently being speculated, the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is waging a silent war against his immediate colleague, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, a situation reminiscent of the unsightly war that characterised the twilight of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku partnership.
A source close to Presidency told National Daily that President Jonathan is now weary of Sambo's political antics, hence his decision to starve the VP's office of funds.
According to the source, all files from the VP's office that bear any trace of financial implication of recent has been deliberately kept in view so as not to allow any further cash flow in that office, this is because, the President is of the opinion that his Vice is working with some northern elders to thwart                              his (President Jonathan's) 2015 ambition.
“It appears that President Jonathan no longer trust his Vice. He is suspecting that Sambo has a hidden agenda for 2015. One of the informants of the President revealed that VP Sambo is currently working with some northern elders to endorse him as a consensus candidate from the North in 2015.
President Jonathan's camp is thinking that Sambo might have deliberately refused to reach out to his co-northerners so as to weaken Jonathan popularity in the North. Others also said that he has not done enough to market the president to his northern brothers just as Atiku Abubakar did to former President Olusegun Obasanjo before the 2003 presidential elections. It was based on these permutations that the office of the vice president is being starved of funds. 
“Apart from that, there is also pressure from some prominent northern elites and politicians to drop Vice President Sambo in 2015 elections because, according to them, he is a businessman who does not know politics. They also believe that he is a political liability and that he has not represented the north very well,” our source revealed.
National Daily investigations further revealed that the president has concluded plans to run for 2015 elections with either Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state or Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina state. The choice for Sule Lamido was based on his current rising political profile in the north.
According to our investigations, Jonathan/Lamido combination in 2015 could ensure the ruling party, PDP clinching victory in the polls once again while Shema is merely being considered to personify the Yar'Aduas of Katsina.
However, a reaction from Vice President's camp said it will be suicidal for Jonathan to dump Sambo at this stage of the struggle, adding that they have come a long way; “The VP has been very loyal to the President, he has served him faithfully. Whoever is thinking of Jonathan dumping Sambo is just day dreaming. Jonathan will crash in 2015 if he tries it. As far as Nigeria politics is concerned both of them are still learning.”
Beleaguered Party
Sambo's palaver began, early in the year, when, well ahead of the upcoming Special National Convention of the PDP,four governors of the party in the North-west and some elements within the Presidency moved, albeit separately, against Sambo over the choice of persons to fill the posts of National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary, which are zoned to the geopolitical region.
The four are Sokoto's Aliyu Wamakko, Kebbi's Usman Dakingari, Jigawa's Sule Lamido, and Kano's Rabiu Kwankwaso. The governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero, being Sambo's political godson, is, expectedly, backing the VP's nominee for the office of National Organising Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, while Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema is said to be neutral.
But Wamakko, Dakingari, Lamido and Kwankwaso, along with some persons within the PDP, are said to be sponsoring another candidate from Kaduna State for the office of National Organising Secretary, against Sambo's nominee.
The office of the National Organising Secretary is the engine house of all electoral activities in PDP and the political leaning of its occupant is viewed as an indicator of future trends.
The pre-convention intrigues emerged according to PDP sources, when Kwankwaso, Lamido, Wamakko and Dakingari backed former PDP National Treasurer Bala Kaoje to obtain a nomination form for the office of National Organising Secretary to contest against the vice president's nominee, Mustapha, at the upcoming Special National Convention.
Kaoje was among the National Working Committee members that resigned en masse on June 20 to allow for the rectification of anomalies in their elections on March 24 last year, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) observed in a report.
INEC had noted in the report, which was published on April 8, that 12 of the 16 members of the NWC were not properly elected; stating that the process that brought them into office is unacceptable.
Mustapha, who held the post of National Organising Secretary until the June 20 resignations, was Head of Service of Kaduna State when Sambo was the governor. He was believed to have also been sponsored by the VP to emerge National Organising Secretary at last year's national convention.
A source in the party disclosed that, “The four governors have asked Bala Kaoje (former national treasurer) to pick form for the National Organising Secretary knowing full well that the vice president is still sponsoring Abubakar Mustapha for the same office.
“The four governors are also insisting that there should be voting for the office.”
The source said some elements within the Presidency were also sponsoring another politician from Zaria, Ibrahim Bamali, for the same office of National Organising Secretary.
By this, three candidates may be vying for the office at the PDP special national convention, namely Mustapha, who is believed to be sponsored by Sambo; Kaoje, alleged to be sponsored by the governors of Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano, and Jigawa states; and Bamali, who is said to be a nominee of some hawks in the Presidency.
Fence Mending
Moreover, the President, sources revealed, has been trying to tow a moderate path in order to rally the whole party, especially, the aggrieved elements from the north, behind him before the 2015 Elections campaign starts.
Early in the month, Governors Babangida Muazu Aliyu of Niger, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso reportedly at a meeting with President Jonathan notified him of their intention to quit the PDP ahead of the 2015 election on grounds of irreconcilable differences with the leadership of the party.
Although both sides later denied the incident, the evidence of the dire strait the party is refused to be wished away.
The governors stated that the meeting with the president was as a result of their resolve to rescue the party.
Nyako's chief press secretary, Ahmed Sajoh stressed that, “For record purposes, it must however be stated that the visit of the governor, alongside his colleagues, to the president was not abnormal as it was meant to save the ruling party from suffering further crisis as well as a means to save our democracy.”
“However, it should be noted that Governor Nyako's meeting with the president, including other governors, was to avail the president an opportunity to know certain things that have gone wrong in the PDP under the current leadership.
“More contradicting in the report is the fact that the governors only went to the president to save the PDP and democracy as the leader of the country and of the PDP; so it is only laughable to read that such governors with that level of passion for the party have issued a notice to quit the PDP.
But a recent call from former president Obasnajo directing the aggrieved governors of the party to forget any plot to dump the ruling party, showed the magnitude of the ongoing rumble within the party.
An impeccable source close to the Otta farmer revealed that the former president passed the message through one of the aggrieved governors during the recent birthday celebration of Chief Tony Anenih in Abuja, warning that the solution to their grievances is not in quitting the party.
The former Nigerian leader, whose presence at the birthday reportedly excited the presidential family, was quoted as telling one of the governors at the event that All Progressives Congress (APC) was not an option, urging them to “explore all internal remedies, and if necessary, fight from within.”
It was, however, gathered through the source that the directive to the aggrieved governors and others did not signify that he had endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan; rather the source hinted that the retired general could be “strengthening a bloc within the ruling party.”
Another source close to Obasanjo in the South-West, while confirming this mindset of the former president, added that he had also impressed it on his other allies across the country to remain in the PDP.
Obasanjo was reported to have reminded all aggrieved party chiefs that the real reason behind the formation of the PDP was to safeguard the unity of the nation, insisting that PDP remained the only vehicle to sustain the unity of the country.
It would be recalled that Chief Obasanjo was responsible for the nomination by the PDP of the governors involved in the nationwide consultation which the Presidency considered hostile but which the governors called Save Democracy Campaign.
It was, also, gathered that notable governors from the PDP, who were on lesser hajj (umrah) in Saudi Arabia, held several meetings in the holy land on whether or not to remain in the party.
A party insider stated that the governors were unanimous in their opinion that President Jonathan had been unfair to them for supporting the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and refusing to recognise the River State governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
The source stressed that most of the said PDP governors are from the North-West and North-Central. But the source added that those of them (governors) who are currently in their second term called for caution, saying that, for the sake of those still eyeing a second term, it would be risky for them to openly work against the establishment by identifying with the All Progressives Congress (APC).
All these agitating issues and several undisclosed ones forced last week's NEC meeting to close early. The absence of former vice president Atiku Abubakar from the meeting was resonant enough. The Turaki was angry at the preference of some supporters of the President for an automatic ticket.
The party stakeholders, at the meeting, were said to have agreed to shelve the contentious issues on the grounds that they could tear the party apart and widen the gulf between the various aggrieved members of the party.

My Oga At The Top Speaks Out

Obviously, Commandant Shem Obafaiye of the National Security and Civil Defence Corp, Oyo State, was not prepared for the aftermath of the live interview conducted with him on a Channels Television’s promamme, Sunrise, on March 16, 2013. Just one innocuous question – What is the website of the NSCDC? – and he tripped. He struggled over the question and with the insistence of the interviewee, he couldn’t but give in to the blunder that earned him instant fame: My Oga At The Top.
The immediacy of his fame was almost unprecedented. While he, so to say, basked in the fame, countless Nigerians worked on the side, projecting his popularity and smiling to the banks in the process. T-shirts, face-cap, bangles, ties and countless other accessories bore Obafaiye’s picture and the new found cliché, My Oga At The Top.



Shortly after the “project fame,” the commandant was transferred to Oyo State from Lagos, a move which many people believe was a face saving measure. And there, life assumed a new dimension. The now famous Obafaiye lives far away from where he made his name. Several weeks after he resumed work in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, it was mum from him. With characteristic curiosity which the average journalist shares with the cat, a mission was embarked upon by Saturday Mirror, and the destination was Ibadan.
The subject was Shem Obafaiye, the new Commandant of the NSCDC in Oyo State. And what about him? To do an undercover work of how he operates in his new duty post; how those under him hold him, especially against the backdrop of the fame he has enjoyed and how he had also carried on despite the negativity attached to the event that led to his fame. With two days of undercover work at his office located in Iyaganku area of Ibadan completed, this reporter decided to go for the kill: Get My Oga At The Top to speak about life after the event that led to his new trade mark. A visit to his office was frustrating.

Obafaiye was said to be out of town and would not be around until the week after! Oh, how fantastic it would have been getting the interview at once to complement the undercover work. But hope was not lost as the Assistant Public Relations Officer, Mr. Segun Odedina, promised to intimate My Oga At The Top with the interview request when he came back.
The reporter’s call card was dropped with the hope that a call would one day come through to announce the date of the interview. Would such a call ever come? Skepticism reigned. However the undercover work was as reflected in the Saturday Starters story published as What is new with My Oga At the Top on Saturday, July 27, 2013. But barely 72 hours after the publication, a call came through to this reporter and it was the Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Command of the NSCDC that was on the line. “Would you come for the interview with the Commandant in the afternoon?”
The NSCDC officer must have thought that the reporter was resident in Ibadan when making the request. But when he was made to realise the reporter was in Lagos, a change in date was effected. And on Friday, August 2, 2013, at exactly 2.00 p.m. as agreed, My Oga At The Top, in his spacious office, was already talking, for the first time to any newspaper, after the Channels’ interview, to Saturday Mirror on how he felt about the incident that led to the My Oga At The Top fame. Quite free, very lively and unrestrained, Obafaiye spoke on how he felt about the incident.
Surprisingly, his position was far different from the way many Nigerians considered it. To him, the incident lacked the negativity attached to it. Rather, it was a divine announcement of His glory in his life.

AMAECHI GIVES TERMS FOR QUITTING AS GOVS’ FORUM CHAIRMAN

To douse the controversy over the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Rivers State helmsman, Chibuike Amaechi, has offered to resign.

But this is with a condition: If the 19 governors who voted for him asked him to quit.

Amaechi like Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang is claiming to have won the election for the chairmanship of the NGF.

The position of Amaechi was disclosed yesterday by his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari.

According to the governor, those who are accusing him of nursing a vice presidential ambition are mischievous since there has not been any formal declaration by him in that regard.

Semenitari told journalists in Port Harcourt Wednesday that Nigerians were aware of the democratic process in which Amaechi emerged as the chairman of the NGF and that the governor is someone who does not treat a democratic process with levity.

According to her, Amaechi remains the authentic chairman of the NGF, but if his colleagues, especially those who voted for him insist that he should step down in a bid to pave the way for peace in the forum, he will step down.

“If all the governors decide, especially those who voted for Governor Amaechi, that he should step down, naturally, he will concede to his colleagues,” she said.

On the issue of reconciliation between President Goodluck Jonathan and the governor, the commissioner stated that there had been meaningful discussion between both leaders.

She denied an allegation that Amaechi was planning to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because of his difficulties within it.

According to her, irrespective of the governor’s suspension which is now before a court, he remains a bonafide member of the PDP.

To Semenitari, the speculation that the governor is nursing a vice presidential ambition is the work of mischief-makers who are bent on creating disaffection between him and the Presidency. She said that the governor had never told anyone that he would be vying for vice presidency in 2015.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Leyii Kwanee, has urged youths to support Amaechi in what he described as a critical moment of his political career.

He advised the leadership of PDP at the national level to disregard those who were feeding it with the wrong information that they could do without the governor.

According to him, the option left for PDP if they are interested in Rivers State is to intervene and have an amicable solution because the people that are deceiving them are mere paper tigers in the state’s politics.

JONATHAN, PROMOTING ETHNO-RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS, EL-RUFAI INSISTS

The interim Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Wednesday upbraided the presidency over its recent attack on him.

According to el-Rufai, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), President Goodluck Jonathan’s response to an interview he granted over the weekend showed that he is “the promoter and apostle of ethnic and religious divisions of Nigeria, purely for political gains”.

The former minister, while featuring on Liberty Radio’s Guest of the Week programme, had alleged that it was unfortunate that Jonathan’s political handlers thought that if they introduced religion, they would be able to divide the north and garner Christians’ votes from the region for the president.

He also said the proceeds from crude oil theft were being used by Niger Deltan to amass arms to prepare for war should Jonathan lose in 2015.

However, a rebuttal on Sunday by presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, dismissed el-Rufai’s allegations, describing him as a “serial liar”, who should not be taken seriously.

Abati, in a statement, said the wild allegations against the president that he was playing ethnic and religious politics, was not an objective assessment of his person.

But el-Rufai, in a statement yesterday, took on Abati, insisting that the president had resorted to ethno-religious politics to divide the country in order to promote his political ambition.

He accused the president of giving more federal appointments to his kinsmen from Bayelsa State since he came to power.

“According to a report issued by Governance and Sustainable Initiatives Ltd., entitled Analysis and Lessons of the Current Geopolitical Distribution of Federal Appointments, the Jonathan

administration is said to have favoured his home state of Bayelsa 200 per cent times more than the next states with the highest federal representation - Delta, Edo and Anambra.

“If Jonathan is not playing the ethnic card, can he possibly explain to Nigerians why Bayelsa, which has the smallest population in Nigeria and the fewest number of local government areas, has more than double the number of federal appointees measured by population and weight of responsibility than that of the next state, whilst the most populous states of Lagos and Kano were at the bottom of the representation ladder? What is the president’s response to that?

“If President Jonathan is not playing ethnic politics, why was he quick to exonerate those he called ‘my people’ in the aftermath of the October 1, 2010 bombings in Abuja?

“Did Henry Okah, who was eventually convicted of the offence in South Africa, not reveal in court that he was contacted by a high-ranking official from the presidency who told him to implicate some northerners in the bombing?

“A year later, after his highly divisive election, he told a delegation of the Ohanaeze that he believed that the only votes he got from the north were from Igbo residents in the north. Are those the words of a patriot or an ethnic bigot? This was after an election where he received nearly 100 per cent of all votes cast in the South-south and South-east states, in some cases, getting more votes than there were registered voters or even residents.

“The presidency did not respond to these facts, but chose to distort the matter in order to sweep the issues under the carpet. It may interest the president to know that Nigerians are much wiser now and will not be deceived by the antics of a drowning president and his desperate aides,” el-Rufai said.

He explained that instead of responding to his allegations that Jonathan was using divisive strategies for electoral gains, the presidency was announcing the fact that Jonathan fasted along with Muslims during Ramadan to show that he identified with Muslims.

“It may interest him to know that former President Olusegun Obasanjo also fasted while in office, but did not broadcast it for political gains.

‘Incidentally, fasting goes beyond abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours; it is an intrinsic spiritual contact between man and his creator to strive for higher ideals including truthfulness, honesty and keeping promises.

“Which promise has Jonathan kept? Where is the integrity in this government? Where is the genuine fear of God when looting is the order of the day?

“Nigeria, by the will of the people, is a secular state. But of all Nigerian leaders, no one except Jonathan makes policy proclamations from his place of worship.

“Perhaps, the irony is lost on the president, but not only is it religious politics to make policy statements before only a section of the populace, the implications of making those promises in the house of God, then refusing to fulfil them are serious,” he added.

He accused the presidency of distorting his comments during the radio programme and challenged it to respond to his allegation that Jonathan is the godfather of the oil thieves.

He said: “If that is not the case, how come oil theft jumped from about 100,000 barrels per day before his election to a staggering 400,000 per day now?

“Can Jonathan explain why he ordered the removal of recognised maritime security officials from the creeks and handed over pipelines and oil installations security to militants? In what country does a bank employ a former bank robber to guard its vaults? Is there not a grand strategy to ease oil theft and procure arms for the militants to use against their fatherland? Why is there no response to this issue?”

On his comments that Vice-President Namadi Sambo left massive debts as governor of Kaduna State with little to show for it, el-Rufai urged anyone who doubted his claim to check with the Debt Management Office (DMO) where records show that Kaduna State has

the second highest debt of all states in Nigeria, due to loans that Sambo pursued as governor.

Reacting, the vice-president debunked the allegations that he left behind a huge debt and some uncompleted projects in Kaduna.

In a statement by his spokesman, Alhaji Sani Umar, he said el-Rufai was being economical with the truth.

He challenged him to provide the public with accurate data on Kaduna State debt and the Zaria water project, which the former minister alleged was unsatisfactorily executed by Sambo.

“I challenge el-Rufai to publish the debt profile of Kaduna State from 1996 to date for the public to decipher and judge whether massive debts were bequeathed to Kaduna or not by the Sambo administration," Sani said.

He explained the genesis of the Zaria water contract and how the vice-president salvaged it.

According to him, “The contract for the reactivation of the two treatment plants built separately by the defunct North Central State Government and later the Kaduna State Government was awarded to Nalado Nigeria Limited to return to its original capacity of a 60-million litre per day water treatment plant. At the time of the award of the contract, it was operating at a minimal of 10 million litres per day.

Kanye West Buys Bomb Proof Armored Trucks For Kim And Their Baby

I guess if you’re Kanye West, you have to protect baby North West by any means necessary, even if that requires you to plop down $2,000,000 bucks on two heavily armored SUV’s.  Kanye, who’s been dealing with on again, off again problems with the paparazzi in recent weeks apparently wanted to make a statement and did so by purchasing two Dartz Prombron armored SUV’s from Latvia.

They can retail for around $400,000, but the way Kanye has labeled his “North West Protection Mobiles” come to about $1 million each.  While one of the rides is a ‘cheaper’ version (only about $800K or so) the more expensive of the two, the ‘Prombron Iron Diamond’ model (valued approximately at $1.2 million) is able to withstand attacks from landmines and rocket-propelled grenades, because that’s exactly what you need driving around the streets of Calabasas, California.

You never know why you might run into the “Bieber”.  The ‘cheaper’ version is essentially a spiced up version of what the President of the United States rolls around in.  On the plus side, being the good husband he is, West has requested Dartz to expedite the shipping of the vehicles so baby momma Kim Kardashian can have one before Yeezus begins his US tour this October.

10 Common Habits That Damage Peoples' Kidney

I stumbled on this and though I should share with you guys because you never know whose life you may end up saving with such valuable information. Below are the 10 habits that damage the Kidneys:

1. Not emptying your bladder early
2. Not drinking enough water
3. Taking too much salt
4. Not treating common infections quickly and properly

5. Eating too much meat
6. Not eating enough
7. Painkiller drugs abuse
8. Missing your drugs
9. Drinking too much alcohol
10. Not resting enough

Kindly share this with your friends and family.

Rivers People Demand Arrest, Prosecution Of Minister Of State For Education Nyesom Wike

The Rivers Peoples’ Forum (RPF) has restated its call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike over his comments in Port Harcourt this past weekend, which they say is dangerous to democracy in the country and threatens the peace and security of Rivers State and could lead to a breakdown of law and order in the State, if the minister is not checked.
Wike on Saturday last week, at a Grassroot Democratic Initiative(GDI) event in Port Harcourt had said that, “for those who think that they can destroy Obio-Akpor(Local Government Council), we will make life uncomfortable for them. We will make sure they will not sleep again. When they are sleeping, they will not sleep with their two eyes closed. One eye will be open because they know there is danger.” Wike was referring to the former Chairman and Councilors of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area who were suspended by the Rivers State House of Assembly for the House to carry out investigations of monumental fraud and corruption against them

RPF in a statement signed by its President, Charles Bekwele described the comments of Wike as a direct threat to the good people of Rivers State, that can lead to a breach of peace and security, and security agencies must now take steps to curtail the excesses of Nyesom Wike.
“First, Obio-Akpor Council was not destroyed. Its former Council Chairman Timothy Nsirim and Councilors were only suspended by the Rivers State House of Assembly to enable the House investigate allegations of monumental fraud and corruption against them. And the State Assembly had repeatedly said they would be reinstated if they are not found guilty at the end of the investigations. And we must also bear in mind that it is constitutionally the function of the State legislators to oversee, supervise and check the excesses of local councils”

These legislators were elected by Rivers people to represent them in the Assembly. This also means that whatever action they take in the House(including the suspension) was taken by Rivers people since we voted for them and gave them our mandate to represent us in the Assembly. This then translates to the fact that the junior minister’s threat is a direct threat to the good people of Rivers State.”
“Nyesom Wike must be arrested and prosecuted now for threatening the lives of Rivers people, for threatening the peace and security of Rivers State. As a matter of fact, his comments are dangerous to our democracy, Wike is a danger to our democracy. Comments like that can easily lead to a breach of peace in the state. The Inspector General of Police, the Director-General, State Security Service(SSS) must act now to arrest and prosecute Wike for threatening the peace and security of the State. His excesses must be curtail, Rivers people have had enough of Wike’s shenanigans.”
“Since that young man (Wike) was appointed Minister, he has carried on like a demi-god, acting like he’s above the law abusing, attacking and denigrating the people and Governor of the State, the same Governor that nominated him to be appointed minister. If Wike chooses to fight his benefactor, Governor Amaechi, that is entirely is headache. However, we will not allow him to destroy our democracy, to destroy the peace in the State because of his petty political fight. He’s not above the law, he’s just a minister, a deputy or assistant minister at that.”

“Wike must be told in clear terms that he cannot threaten the peace and security of Rivers State because he has political ambition. Wike is very free to pursue whatever ambition he has, but we won’t allow him destroy our peace and security because he(Wike) wants to be Governor? How can a minister in this country even talk like that? A minister in the ministry of education, at a time when all the universities in this country are shut down due to a lingering strike action by lecturers, this minister is busy roving and roaming all over Rivers State politicking and threatening the peace and security of Rivers State. So, when would Wike have time to find a resolution to the ASUU strike? This is indeed sad for Nigeria. That’s why this minister must be taught a lesson to serve as a deterrent to other power-hungry monsters in the country”

Talking robot takes off for International Space Station

Japan has launched the world's first talking robot into space to serve as companion to astronaut Kochi Wakata who will begin his mission in November.

The android took off from the island of Tanegashima in an unmanned rocket also carrying supplies for crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Measuring 34cm, Kirobo is due to arrive at the ISS on 9 August. It is part of a study to see how machines can lend emotional support to people isolated over long periods.

The launch of the H-2B rocket was broadcast online by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa).

The unmanned rocket is also carrying drinking water, food, clothing and work supplies to the six permanent crew members based at the ISS.

Kirobo with developer Tomotaka Takahashi Tomotaka Takahashi with his creation 'Giant leap' Kirobo's name derives from the Japanese words for "hope" and "robot".

The small android weighs about 1kg (2.2 pounds) and has a wide range of physical motion. Its design was inspired by the legendary animation character Astro Boy.

Kirobo has been programmed to communicate in Japanese and keep records of its conversations with Mr Wakata who will take over as commander of the ISS later this year.

In addition, it is expected to relay messages from the control room to the astronaut.

"Kirobo will remember Mr Wakata's face so it can recognise him when they reunite up in space," the robot's developer, Tomotaka Takahashi said.

"I wish for this robot to function as a mediator between a person and machine, or a person and the Internet, and sometimes even between people."

The biggest challenge was to make the android compatible with space, Mr Takahashi added.

Dozens of tests were carried out over nine months to ensure Kirobo's reliability.

Kirobo has a twin robot on Earth called Mirata, which will monitor any problems its electronic counterpart may experience in space.

"It's one small step for me, a giant leap for robots," Mirata said of the mission last month.

Link to video: Japanese robot astronaut floats in zero gravity

When the Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata arrives at the International Space Station in November, a companion will be waiting for him whose eyes will light up in recognition – literally.

Kirobo, the world's first talking humanoid space robot, has already taken off – in the nattiest red Wellingtons since Paddington Bear – and should arrive at the space station by 9 August to await Wakata's arrival. It knows he is coming: it has been programmed to recognise his face, and greet him warmly in Japanese.

Its name comes from the Japanese words for hope and robot, and its task is momentous for a kilo of superbly engineered plastic and a bundle of plug leads: nothing less than to supply emotional warmth and companionship.

Kirobo was fired into space from the Tanegashima space centre in southern Japan, zipped into a specially designed travelling case, along with 3.5 tons of more conventional supplies and equipment.

Although Kirobo stands just 34cm tall, weighs slightly less than a kilo, and is modelled on a beloved Japanese cartoon figure, Astro Boy, it would be quite wrong, indeed grossly offensive, to describe it as a toy. It will also relay messages and commands from the control centre to Wakata, and keep records of all their conversations.

Its developer, Tomotaka Takahashi, said: "Kirobo will remember Mr Wakata's face so it can recognise him when they reunite up in space. I wish for this robot to function as a mediator between a person and machine, or a person and the internet, and sometimes even between people."

It has been extensively tested over the last year, including in zero gravity conditions, and has an Earth-bound twin called Mirata which can monitor any problems in space. When the two robots were introduced to the media last month, Mirata said: "It's one small step for me, a giant leap for robots."

Generally robots in space have had a bad press, from the sarky C-3PO in the Star Wars series, to Marvin the Paranoid Android in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, his systems almost fused with depression at having to apply his "brain the size of a planet" to interacting with pathetic human beings.

HAL 9000, (Heuristically programmed Algorithmic), the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick's film of the Arthur C Clarke novel, could do face recognition like Kirobo, but not necessarily face liking: it decided to kill its astronauts when they planned to disconnect it.

The robot dog in Doctor Who, K-9, although resembling a bread bin on casters, was closer in temperament to Kirobo, and allegedly at one point was in danger of being consigned to the crusher lest viewers find him more appealing than the Time Lord.

Before blast off, Kirobo told a press conference it had a dream of a society where humans and robots could get along together. Fuminori Kataoka, project manager from Toyota, which backed the project to make Kirobo, said they believed back on planet earth children and the elderly might benefit from such robots, endearing little machines which would really listen - and respond with entranced attention.

READ MORE:  http://news.naij.com/42526.html

Obama administration overturns US import ban on some iPhones, iPads

President Obama's trade representative on Saturday vetoed a ban on imports of some Apple iPads and older iPhones, dealing a setback to rival South Korean electronics company Samsung.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman overruled a June decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which had banned imports of the iPhone 4 and some variations of the iPad 2. The commission ruled that the Chinese-made Apple devices violated a patent held by Samsung and couldn't be imported. The ban never went into effect, though, because the Obama administration had 60 days to decide if it would uphold the commission.

Obama is against import bans on the basis of the type of patent at issue in the Samsung case. The White House has recommended that Congress limit the ITC's ability to impose import bans in these cases.

Samsung and Apple are in a global legal battle over smartphones. Apple argues Samsung's Android phones copy vital iPhone features. Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints.

In an email, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said the company applauded the administration "for standing up for innovation."

Samsung said in a statement late Saturday night that it was disappointed in Froman's ruling, saying the ITC "correctly recognized that Samsung has been negotiating in good faith, and that Apple remains unwilling to take a license."

Froman wrote in a letter to the commission that he has concerns about patent holders getting too much leverage over competitors that use their technology under licenses.

Companies license patented technology to competitors so the devices can communicate as part of an industry standard for cellphones. Under the "standards-essential patent" legal theory prevailing in federal courts, holders of such patents are obligated to license them to all comers on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms.

U.S. courts have ruled that such patents cannot be the basis for import bans. The International Trade Commission follows a different standard than the courts, but the Obama administration wants it to adhere to the same principles.

Froman wrote that he shares the Obama administration's concerns that the holders of standards-essential patents could get "undue leverage" over their competitors.

Last year, a federal court ruled that Samsung owed Apple $1 billion in damages for infringing on non-essential Apple patents. But the judge refused to impose an import ban on Samsung phones and later struck $450 million from the verdict, saying the jurors miscalculated. The case is set for a rematch in appeals court.

Samsung is the world's largest maker of smartphones. Analysts estimate it outsold Apple nearly 2 to 1 in the first three months of the year. However, Apple's smartphone business is more profitable

The iPhone 4 was launched in 2010 and is the oldest iPhone still sold by Apple. The ITC ruling applied only to the AT&T version of the phone. Apple is likely to retire the model.

Apple launched the iPad 2 in 2011. The ruling applies only to the version equipped with a cellular modem for AT&T's network.

The ruling also applies to older iPhones, though these are no longer sold by Apple.

Petrol should not sell for more than N40 per litre.

PROF. TAM DAVID WEST

A former Minister of Petroleum, Prof. Tam David-West, speaks about his misgivings against the running of the petroleum ministry, corruption and sundry

 You have been criticising the Minister of Petroleum, what is the point of disagreement?
When you are assessing your colleagues after you, you are also in another context putting yourself on the line to be assessed. Of course, we are public officers and public officers must open themselves up for assessment by anybody. The assessment should be constructive and should help the system. I don’t talk to press and I don’t write anything without praying to God to guide me. My prayer has always been very simple. I thank God for granting me the talent of social analysis and commentary. I thank God for that blessing. I pray to God to direct my thoughts and pen, my words and actions. Whatever I am going to use the talent for must glorify God’s name and contribute positively to the system. If God directs me and people are not happy with what I have said and they are annoyed I have no apologies. I know Diezani (Alison-Madueke) for as long as she was working for Shell. I know her father too. But I am not happy with her stewardship, not based on my own time as a benchmark, but based on what I know. What is good everybody knows is good. Diezani should consider what I am saying constructively. Every human being is the best judge of himself. You know your weaknesses and strengths more than anybody else. The industry, as it is, is terrible. As I have always said, any minister or government that cannot manage the Nigerian oil industry well is a failure. Over 90 per cent of the money Nigeria has abroad is from oil. Oil makes about 85 per cent of our budget. Diezani is free to say whatever she likes about me. The public will judge. One of her problems is that I don’t think she does her job faithfully. She did not prepare herself well for the task of a petroleum minister. I became the minister with the background of a virologist. I didn’t know anything about oil. I never met (Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu) Buhari before he appointed me and he had been a petroleum minister before me. Buhari is a brilliant person.

He can match many professors. What I did was that I first understudied him. I got a lot of instructions from him. Then the heads of the oil companies in the country became my personal friends. Mobil, Shell and a number of them became personal friends and not drinking friends; the ones I can ask for guidance. From them, I gained a lot. I also asked questions to cross-check from members of my staff. I discussed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as if it was a seminar in the university. I didn’t take oil policies to the government without informing the oil companies that ‘this is what I want to do, what is your position?’ They will make their input. So, I never brought in a policy in which there was a friction. For example, the flaring of gas: Government after government had said that oil companies should stop flaring gas. During (President Shehu) Shagari’s time, the FG said if they flared gas, the government would seize their licence. They could not be threatened; they said if they stopped flaring gas, they would stop production. Now, the Federal Government made a political policy without studying the science behind it. There is no place where they do oil drilling and they don’t flare gas. I have been to the Gulf, I travelled extensively in Saudi Arabia, they flare gas. The rationale is to consult before making a policy. The policy will affect not only Nigerians, but also the operators. They are very vital; so, we don’t have to antagonise them just as we don’t have to pamper them. We must bring them on board whenever we want to make a policy that will affect them. What I did was that I sent Mr. Green (an engineer) and two others to go round the oil producing areas. They brought the record of all the gas flaring fields. There are three types of oil wells. For the first, they must flare gas if they must drill oil, if you tell them to stop flaring it means you are telling them to stop drilling oil and the Nigerian economy will collapse. They can also re-inject. We identified the fields where they must flare and gave them authority to flare. Where they can afford not to flare there is an alternative for re-injection. But, we fined them by calculating how many cubic of gas they flared. It is not easy to tell the oil companies that you want to fine them. I called a meeting and told them the government knows they must flare gas but in those areas where they can inject without flaring gas, we will fine them if they flare gas. I knew the names of the directors of the oil companies at the time, so at meetings, I would call them by their first names and we would discuss. I would joke with them. The policy was approved by the oil companies. Nigeria needs the oil companies. All of them complied before I left. During Shagari’s administration, the policy could not stand so they reneged. But this time, the policy went through with an approval. If I didn’t bring them on board they would give me problems and I needed them. All of them complied till I left.
Under Diezani, they make the oil companies look as if they are enemies. Even the Senate president said the oil companies should not threaten us. Diezani is brilliant, I am a virologist and she is an architect. The oil minister of Saudi Arabia was in the position for 25 years. He is a lawyer. So, it is not your field that matters but how God guides you to use it. But there is too much corruption in the oil sector in Nigeria.
Some people wonder why you are not satisfied with the performances of your successors in the petroleum ministry.

If I take a job, I will give it my all. Why I am complaining is that I know where they are failing. They sometimes have not been able to resist personal interests. If you are doing that type of job and you have a tinge of personal interest, you have failed. One contract of oil can make you a multi-millionaire in dollars. Many people have not been able to resist this. Now, they are talking about local content. It is good for Nigerians but they should not glamorise it. When I was minister, I told the oil companies that they could not remove a white person, whose tenure has expired, from a position and replace him with another white man. You must check with me if there is no Nigerian that is suitable to fill the vacant position. It is a good policy and Buhari approved it but it was later cancelled by another administration.
You have always insisted that the Federal Government’s subsidy is a fluke. What prove have you?
I challenged President Goodluck Jonathan and all his ministers to a public debate on oil subsidy, but they refused to take the challenge. I have the facts that there is no subsidy, Buhari and the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi said there was no subsidy. Fawehinmi wrote a pamphlet on it. Oil subsidy is all a fraud. At a Gani Fawehinmi lecture, I said the amount the Federal Government would get from oil subsidy was like an amoeba that is always changing shape. The government gave 10 different figures that we could get, so we know it doesn’t exist. They will bring fuel from Port Harcourt to Lagos and say it is imported. It is fraud and the navy has proved it. If any government delights in making life difficult for the people, God will punish them. In every society, the poor are more in number than the rich. Let the government’s policy be directed towards alleviating the suffering of the masses. If you develop a policy against the masses, you are going against God. They had a conference in Lagos on subsidy. They did not invite me; they avoided me because they would be exposed.
Petrol should not sell for more than N40 per litre. After my calculation, a professor of petroleum (a Nigerian based in Texas) sent an article to the media, saying petroleum should not cost more than N35 per litre. They are lying.

Do you agree with the objectives of the Subsidy Reinvestment programme of the FG?
SUREP is a fraud. How can you invest what you don’t have? You are going to put money into that project from other sources. They have not invested well. They just used the SURE Project as a palliative for Nigerians. They are getting money for the SURE project by punishing the people. It is all propaganda. They said they were going to have millions of work, but they have nothing because the premise is wrong and faulty. I said there is no subsidy on technical grounds. It is callous – what do you have the international price for? You don’t need any international price because the oil was given to us by God. We have refineries and why don’t you drill the oil? Get the product you want to consume into the refineries, refine and sell at the filling stations. So, forget about the international price. But they increased the price and punished the people. They sabotage the refineries by making them moribund. As I am talking to you, no Nigerian refinery is working up to 30 per cent capacity. By this, they create an artificial problem and start to import fuel. We are drilling and there are four refineries but all of them are having problems. The vital parts of the refineries are destroyed.
Don’t you think it is the system that is supporting the illegality?
We can link the problem to poor value system. You cannot do that during the Buhari administration. But what is happening now is that when the leadership cannot address the issue, people will take chances because they know they can get away with it. A former petroleum minister has a filling station and he attends oil marketers’ meeting. He is no longer a minister but a marketer.

Should the President have the sole power to approve licence for oil blocks?
One of the things that I have against Diezani is that the petroleum minister in Nigeria has a lot of power even before my time. The Petroleum Industry Bill gives the minister more powers that he can award and revoke any contract without recourse to anybody. It is crazy to put all the livewire of a country in the hands of one person. The minister should not have all that power. At the National Assembly, Diezani’s argument defeated her. She mentioned Malaysia and Norway as countries where the oil ministers have so much power. A minister that uses Malaysia and Norway to justify a policy in the oil sector is an ignorant minister. Why don’t you use Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela, who are big players in the oil industry? What is the role of Malaysia in the global oil market? She didn’t use the appropriate examples.
How well is Jonathan’s administration faring in terms of touching the lives of Nigerians?
If Jonathan is thinking that the Nigerian economy is doing well, I am sorry for him. I criticise him to put him right. What will I derive by criticising a president that is doing well? If I do, I will ridicule myself. Unfortunately for Jonathan, his advisers are not fair to him. Machiavelli in his book, The Prince, said, “For the prince or leader to be wisely advised, he also should be wise in the first place.” What is wrong with Jonathan is that he takes hook, line and sinker whatever he is told. He is a PhD holder, who should be grounded in the methodology of investigation. He listens to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as if she is a repository of wisdom. How do you judge that your economy has gone up? Is it by how much you have in your foreign reserve? That is nonsense. It is like saying you have money in your bank account and still complaining that you are hungry. There is poverty in the land but the President is comfortable with getting an approval for N1bn food money to feed himself and his deputy in a year. Are their stomachs digesting rocks? He should be very careful and know that God is not asleep and there is nothing that touches God than the cries of the poor. Any leader that makes the poor people unhappy should be very careful.
How do you assess infrastructural development under this administration?
What infrastructure? What is the cause of the grouse between Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi? It is the East-West Road. It is very bad. Sometimes you pay someone to push your car on that road. Jonathan and his minister for Niger Delta abused Amaechi and painted the governor in bad light. No infrastructure. Education is finished.

The National Assembly members were accused of collecting so much money as salaries but they passed the buck to the executive. How do you react to this?
It is nonsense. What they are saying is that my neighbour is a thief so I must be a thief. Why can’t you correct your neighbours? Were they not the ones that approved the salaries for the executive? But the economy is suffering. Someone wrote in The Sun that a senator in Nigeria can employ four Barrack Obama, the American President. It shows we are not serious. The economy is down. When it comes to helping themselves at the expense of the poor, they do it. President Jonathan has 10 presidential jets and two are still coming at the state’s expense. The Prime Minister of Britain goes in public transport. He has no fleet.