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A group of Nigeria's powerful governors have said they will back President Goodluck Jonathan for next year's elections - seen as a major boost to his campaign. Half of the 36 governors backed Mr Jonathan's bid to be selected as the ruling party's candidate.
Whoever wins the PDP nomination will be the favourite for the April 2011 poll.

Mr Jonathan, a southerner, is opposed by some in the PDP, who say the party should choose a northerner.
The PDP (People's Democratic Party) has a tradition of alternating power between north and south every two elections, meaning a northerner would normally stand in 2011.
Several northern powerbrokers have backed the campaign of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, to be the PDP candidate.
'Principle of incumbency'

At an emergency meeting in the capital, Abuja, 18 governors and two deputies said they would support Mr Jonathan in PDP primaries on 13 January 2011.
"Democratic systems all over the world recognise the principle of incumbency and continuity," said Ibrahim Shema, governor of the northern state of Katsina, reports the Reuters news agency

The chairman of the governors' forum, Bukola Saraki, also later dissociated himself from their position, saying he would support a candidate from the north.
The PDP has 26 of Nigeria's 36 state governors and, in the party's structures, they wield considerable power.

In previous primaries, they have instructed delegates from their states how to vote.
So the BBC's Bashir Saad Abdullahi in Abuja says their announcement is a significant boost for Mr Jonathan.

But he says that if state delegates vote independently, rather than how governors tell them, Mr Abubakar could still secure the party's nomination.
Mr Jonathan became president in February after the death of Umaru Yar'Adua, a northerner.
He is the first president from Nigeria's southern, oil-producing Delta region.

Nigeria's recent elections have been tarnished by fraud and violence.
Mr Jonathan has promised to introduce electoral reforms, but correspondents say it will be difficult to implement radical changes before April.
The main opposition candidates are former anti-corruption campaigner Nuhu Ribadu and Gen Muhammadu Buhari.

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THE Nigerian Premier League was thrown into dark moment on Sunday with the death of Ocean Boys of Yenagoa left back defender, Emma Ogoli.
Ogoli, e News sports learn he slumped on the pitch of the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa after playing only for 39 minutes during the team's week six tie against visiting Niger Tornadoes of Minna which ended 2-1 in favour of the homers.
The stopper who joined Ocean Boys from sister club,Bayelsa United suddenly collapsed on the pitch and was rushed to a waiting ambulance at the stadium but died on the way to the hospital.

In his reaction, Head Media and Awards Committee of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL),Akin Akinbobola described the incident as pathetic, adding that the player's death was not only a loss to his immediate family and club, but to the the entire Nigerian football fraternity.


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 AS the controversy surrounding the statement made by the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, about the budget of the National Assembly rages on, the CBN governor has declared that politicians in the country, particularly those who participated in the second and the botched third republics, should be held responsible for killing most of the dead banks in the country.

The CBN governor, who delivered a public lecture entitled “Global Financial Meltdown and the Reforms in the Nigerian Banking sector” at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, said that, “most of the people who killed Nigerian banks are still very much around us, they borrowed money and refused to repay them and when the banks died, they turned around and reinvested the money into their businesses with some of them becoming governors, senators, members of the National Assembly.”

Mallam Sanusi, who said that he did not believe in the categorisation of the banks as ‘failed banks’, explained that, “the banks did not fail but were killed and we must do everything possible to find the killers of the banks just like would be done to find the killers of anybody killed by some people.”
On the banking reform he introduced in the last 17 months, he stated that the reforms had brought stability to the banking sector and the Nigerian economy, adding that due to the measures put in place, no single bank in Nigeria had collapsed ever since the full implementation of the reforms.

He added that no depositor had lost money as a result of the banking sector crisis because, according to him, “the banking system has stabilised and the most affected banks have continued normal operation while modalities for injecting fresh capital into them, either by shareholders or through acquisition and merger arrangements, are being finalised.”

The CBN governor further said that the reforms had also succeeded in returning macro economic and financial system stability, adding that overall output in 2010 was expected to be higher than in 2009, saying, “projections by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the real GDP in 2010 will grow by 7.85 per cent compared to 6.66 per cent in 2009. The growth rate appears robust but there is need to ensure that it translates into job creation and poverty reduction.”

According to him, between 2009 and 2010, the volatility of the economy has moderated significantly explaining that, “headline inflation declined steadily from 15.1 per cent in end-2008 top 10.4 per cent in September, 2009, rising thereafter to 15.6 per cent in February 2010.
“Since then, it has maintained a downward trend to 13.4 per cent in October, 2010.”

However, on the challenges of the reforms, he said that the major challenge was how to sustain and translate the stability into employment opportunities, because, according to him, “the link between major growth drivers, particularly agriculture and manufacturing, has continued to be weak,” there was, therefore, the need to urgently address all binding constraints to growth, he noted.

He also said that, “inadequate or absence of basic economic and social infrastructure remains a major binding constraint on Nigeria’s economic growth and development. There is, therefore, an urgent need to fast-track the proposed reforms in some key sectors of the economy, notably power and oil and gas sectors, to attract the much-needed investment and reduce large import bills on refined petroleum. There is also need to deepen the deregulation process in the electricity process and transport sector to attract private investment.”




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NEWS of the death of Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s wife, Mrs. Clara Oshiomhole, on the night of last Tuesday,  in Abuja brought about, albeit momentarily, a sad and solemn atmosphere which enveloped the state. The departure of this woman who stood by her husband as he fought and won different battles on different fronts, as a labour activist and President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), for the well-being of the Nigerian worker and for the recovery of his electoral mandate, came to many Edo State indigenes and residents as a shock.
Unfortunately, however, Mrs. Oshiomhole lost the battle against one of humanity’s most malignant diseases, breast cancer. Even with the unofficial knowledge of some persons that Mrs. Oshiomhole was suffering from breast cancer, they still received the fact of her death in a somewhat surprised manner.
The 54-year-old mother of five died barely four days to the traditional wedding of the family’s second daughter, Jane, for which preparations were said to have reached an advanced stage. The event had been fixed for Sunday, December 12. The other children are Cyril, Winnie, Steve and Adams Jnr. 
On hearing of his wife’s death, Governor Oshiomhole was reported to have stepped out of his office and wept as he deeply pondered over what had happened. He reportedly left for Abuja by road at about 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday but later returned to Benin City same day in the afternoon to meet a state thrown into a solemn mood.
A statement from the Edo State Government signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Pally Iriase, which officially announced her death on Wednesday, confirmed that Mrs. Oshiomhole died “after a protracted battle with breast cancer,” adding that she would be deeply missed by her husband, children, the people and government of Edo state.
An anonymous profiler once wrote that “Mrs. Oshiomhole might not have possessed the crowd-pulling charisma of her husband, but on her own, the affable woman was a force to reckon with.”
Born on 18 June 1956 to the Akaragbon family of Idumu-Agho, Okaigben, Ewohimi, in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State, Clara never had the privilege of acquiring early education. This seeming impediment did not affect her determination to acquire a professional academic relevance with which she armed herself.
She then took up appointment as a staff member of the National Institute of Public Information, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Information, Kaduna. She was a secretariat staff of the institute until her husband won a popular victory through a judgment of the Court of Appeal to become governor of Edo State.
“Quiet, admirably low-keyed but forceful, Mrs. Oshiomhole was until her demise, the strong tower behind her husband’s uncanny doggedness and fights with establishments for the welfare of Nigerian workers. Her contributions to the success of her husband’s numerous struggles also played a great impact in his emergence as the governor of Edo State and, indeed, his quest to emancipate the state from the grip of imposed under-development,” the profiler added.
On becoming the First Lady of Edo State, she set up the Health Foundation for Maternal and Child Care (HEFMAC), an NGO for bringing qualitative health care to the indigent people of the state, and which she successfully used to take free health programme to the three senatorial districts of the state.
“As part of her determination to end the travails of women and children, particularly the girl-child, Mrs. Oshiomhole has not only given out millions of naira in payment of hospital bills, she has equally given out scholarships to indigent but brilliant young girls to cover tuition and books from secondary to tertiary institutions of learning. The girls were selected from the three senatorial districts of the state.”
Clara’s battle against cancer apparently limited her public appearances as First Lady and the scope of her plans for the people of Edo State. But that low-keyed disposition no doubt endeared her to the hearts of many, including those who never had the opportunity of meeting her. It might also be part of the reasons the news of her death was received with shock and solemnity, even across political divides. Indeed, the outpouring of emotions knew no bounds.
The number of sympathisers were enormous. The list included those who personally called at the Government House in Benin City to see the bereaved, and those who sent in their condolences. Among them were President Goodluck Jonathan; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former governors Bola Tinubu of Lagos State, Dr. Chris Ngige of Anambra State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun state, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State; Senate President David Mark; Governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state, Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State, Bukola Saraki of Kwara State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, and acting governor of Delta State, Sam Obi.
Others included the national chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande; the Edo State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih; Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan; the Benin monarch, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa; the Esogban of Benin, Chief David Edebiri; first democratically elected governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; and National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Lai Mohammed.
The tributes were unanimous in describing Mrs. Clara Oshiomhole as a quiet, unassuming, supportive and courageous woman.


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The ill health of Nigeria's president sparked fears of a military coup and caused screaming matches over who was in charge of the country, according to secret US diplomatic cables.
Umaru Yar'Adua, who was terminally ill, left the country in November 2009 for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.
A US memo marked secret and dated 26 February, just after Yar'Adua's return, reveals frantic negotiations in the corridors of power of Africa's most populous nation.
It says the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, admitted "'everyone's confused' about who is in charge of Nigeria".
"He said the last cabinet meeting was disastrous and included yelling and screaming, and it is totally dysfunctional. He said he is 'not a politician' and had very limited experience as an administrator, but concluded, 'I will not tolerate a brawl.'"
Jonathan named political enemies whom he accused of destabilising the government. "This terrible situation in the country today has been created by four people: Turai Yar'Adua [the ailing president's wife], his chief security officer (CSO) [Yusuf Muhammad Tilde], his aide-de-camp (ADC) [Colonel Mustapha Onoedieva] and Professor Tanimu Yakubu [his chief economic adviser]."
Referring to Jonathan as "the AgP", the memo states: "The AgP said he does not know their motives, but expected it was likely for nefarious purposes ... The AgP noted that 'people are angry'."
Nigeria has a history of army interventions and under the subheading "Fears about military" the cable notes: "The AgP said the military chiefs are making sure no politicians are reaching out to the rank-and-file, and encouraging the military to stay in the barracks so that the uncertain political situation does not generate coup-like behaviour emanating from the mid-ranks because of the confusion."
The memo reveals America's silent role in the Nigerian crisis. Robin Sanders, the US ambassador, "encouraged Jonathan to change the perception that he is a regional figure, and be seen, rather, as a national figure who has the best interest of the nation at heart".
"Ambassador expressed that given that the US and Nigeria are very best friends, we feel the need to share our concerns, as any good friend would do, and that we are counting on him to steer Nigeria through this troubled and uncertain period."
Jonathan said he was picked as Yar'Adua's running mate in 2007 because he represented the Niger Delta. "I was not chosen to be vice-president because I had good political experience. I did not. There were a lot more qualified people around to be vice-president, but that does not mean I am not my own man."
The document concludes: "It is always hard to judge how some will behave (or surprise you) when leadership is unexpectedly thrown in their lap. The verdict is out on Jonathan and his previously underwhelming personality and performance needs to keep us in the cautious lane, but so far, so good. Things are quiet."
Yar'Adua died in May this year and Jonathan was swiftly sworn in as president. He has since announced his intention to contest elections next January.


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The Minister of Health and President of ECOWAS Assembly of Health Ministers, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that from January 2010 to date, meningitis had hit seven countries of West Africa, causing 1,720 deaths.

“In truth, epidemic-prone diseases have always prevailed in our environment. Cholera alone has caused in 2010, approximately 1900 deaths in 8 countries; meningitis hit 7 countries since January 2010, causing 1,720 deaths; measles a disease placed in test phase, is growing every year, reflecting not only the weakness of our health systems, but also their inability to sustain gains achieved with the mass action through international support,” he said.

Prof Chukwu, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja during the Second Extraordinary Assembly of Health Ministers of ECOWAS, said that the region has the highest rates of epidemic-prone diseases despite the enormous efforts devoted for increased disease surveillance, preparedness and response.

The minister said that despite the outbreaks of diseases recorded in all countries of our community, mortality rates have decreased significantly.

“This fact in itself means that with better organisation and capacity building interventions, we can surely achieve positive results in the control of epidemics,” he said.

He said that WAHO has tried to make the fight easy by developing a 2011-2014 regional support plan for epidemic prone disease control in the ECOWAS region.

Also speaking, Dr. Placido Cardoso, Director General of WAHO said “our mandate requires that we support the efforts of ECOWAS member-states to reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality due to epidemic-prone diseases and their negative impact on socio-economic development in the region

“It is also our responsibility to lead a dynamic regional coordination of preparedness and response to epidemics, in collaboration with states, technical and financial partners.” he said.

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The party urged the organised labour, civil society organisations and political parties to march to the National Assembly to ensure such anti-democractic law was not passed.
It described the current National Assembly as the most expensive and anti-people ever in Nigeria 's history, saying it was time to stop them from ruining the democracy that mil-lions of Nigerians fought to entrench.
“Our legislators are the highest paid in the world, with those of Kenya - a distant second. Yet, they never consulted us before padding their pay to such high levels.
“The widespread story is that each of them earns a million naira per day, except on weekends and public holidays! This is not far from the truth, since each one smiles home with N45 million per quarter in a country where most citizens live on less than US$1 a day, and the minimum wage being fought for comes to US$4 per day!”

Security forces in Nigeria believe a recently-seized arms shipment -- reportedly from Iran -- was bound for the western African nation, not another land.
Marilyn Ogar, spokeswoman for the county's security service, on Friday rejected reports that the material was headed to the Palestinian territory of Gaza, as claimed by some reports in Israel.
In fact, some observers speculate, the weaponry was seized ahead of the 2011 controversial elections which would pit Goodluck Jonathan, the current president from the Christian south, and presidential candidates from the Muslim north.
The country's security service said that it had seized 13 shipping containers in the port of Lagos filled with illegal weapons, including rockets, grenades and bullets.
Each shipping container carried 20 wooden crates, and a leading global shipping company has said that the weaponry came from Iran.
Nigerian officials won't confirm that the materiel originated in Iran, and the country's foreign ministry issued a statement knocking down reports that Nigeria was targeting a particular nation in its investigations and that it was planning to go to the United Nations to lodge a complaint.
This comes as the foreign ministers of Nigeria and Iran met on Thursday.
"If at the end of these investigations, there were breaches of international instruments or conventions to which Nigeria is party, the country would, as a responsible member of the international community, 'do whatever was necessary,' " the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The company, CMA CGM, said it was a victim of a false cargo declaration. The shipper -- who the company identified as an Iranian trader -- had listed the materials inside the containers as "packages of glass wool and pallets of stone."
The containers in question were loaded in Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran, and discharged in Lagos in July, the company said.

An explosive suspected to be bomb at the early hour of Friday went off  at the premises of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Matter, Mr. Ndutimi Alaibe, in Opokuma community, Kolokuma/ Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, killing one police constable.
The attack, allegedly carried out by  suspected gunmen, was confirmed by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Aliyu Musa, stating that one of his men died while the other one earlier declared missing had been found.
Aliyu said the gunmen did not go away with any of the property in the house. He, however,  stated that one of the hoodlums alleged to have participated in the bombing of the building had been arrested.
This is coming barely 48 hours after the police foiled the attempt to bomb the popular Ekeki Motor park by suspected members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which has thrown the entire community into panic.
Unconfirmed reports disclosed that the suspected gunmen invaded the  community around 1:00 a.m and started shooting sporadically into the air to scare villagers..
After gaining entry into the compound, the bomb was  allegedly detonated, thereby causing severe damage to the building.
However, it could not be ascertained whether the victim was shot while trying to repel the attack by the gunmen.
As of the time of filing this report, movements to the compound have been restricted while passersby were subjected to search by combined team of police and operatives of the Joint Military Task Force, (JTF).
Also, anti-bomb squad was said to have been deployed in the area in order to ascertain whether there are explosives that are yet to be detonated.
Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called for a full investigation into Friday’s bombing  describing the act as barbaric, inhuman and cowardly.
Making this known in a statement, the state chairman of the party, Mr Miriki Ebikibina, noted with dismay that the attack was coming barely few weeks after a similar one was launched at the oil installation of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company, (NAOC).
Meanwhile, Special assistant to Alaibe, Henry Ngbolue, described the bomb blast as shocking, saying details of the incident were not known yet.
According to him, his boss was in Abuja when the event took place, adding that Alaibe remained unruffled.

Nigerian authorities believe both men are hiding in the Iranian Embassy, located down a quiet street in Abuja, the capital, and which is being watched by Nigerian security officials.
"If Nigeria finds at the conclusion of the investigation that there has been a breach of international law, a breach of U.N. sanctions, Nigeria is a member of the U.N. Security Council (and) we will do what is necessary," Ajumogobia told reporters.
In a 2007 resolution stepping up sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, the U.N. Security Council banned Iranian arms exports, forbidding the sale or supply of weapons by Iran, whether directly or indirectly. It requires nations to prevent any such transfers and prevent their citizens from obtaining any weapons from Iran.
Mottaki's visit came after Nigerian authorities had concluded that Iran's government was behind the arms shipment, according to internal Nigerian government documents seen Thursday by The Associated Press.
The Nigerian foreign minister said Mottaki cleared the way for Nigerian security officials to interview Azimi Agajany, one of the men who Nigeria says organized the secret arms shipment through a Tehran-based company called International Trading and General Construction. Ajumogobia said Agajany may be questions as early as Friday.
The internal government reports seen by AP say Agajany received a visa to travel to Nigeria after getting an endorsement from Sheikh Ali Abbas Othman, also known as Abbas Jega, a Nigerian who worked for Radio Tehran's Hausa language service and studied in Iran. Jega is in the custody of Nigeria's State Security Service, a Nigerian government official told the AP.
The other Iranian implicated in the case, Sayed Akbar Tahmaesebi, entered Nigeria after Nigerian authorities received a letter of recommendation from Iran's foreign ministry saying he would "provide administrative support" at its Abuja embassy, according to the internal Nigerian reports.
Tahmaesebi has diplomatic immunity and cannot be questioned without Iran's consent, Ajumogobia said.
"If the Iranians are willing to waive immunity then we will pursue that, but in the meantime we are taking one step at a time," the Nigerian foreign minister told journalists.
Inside the cargo containers at Nigeria's main port in Lagos, inspectors found 107mm artillery rockets, rifle rounds and arms. The rockets can accurately hit targets more than 5 miles (8.5 kilometres) away with a 40-foot (12-meter) killing radius. Insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq have used similar rockets against U.S. troops. China, the United States, and Russia manufacture versions of the rocket, as does Iran.
Displaying a lack of knowledge about Nigeria's geography, Agajany initially wanted the consignments shipped to Abuja, the documents said. When Agajany was told there is no port in Abuja, which lies hundreds of miles (kilometres) from the coast, he came up with Lagos as the destination.
By shipping arms to the country, Iran may be attempting to "tweak" Western powers by showing it can influence affairs in a country vital to U.S. oil supplies, said David Bender, a Washington-based analyst who studies Iran for the Eurasia Group.
"From their perspective, it doesn't cost anything," Bender said. "But it gives the impression that they are a global player."
Nigeria has a predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. Targeted killings allegedly committed by a radical Islamic sect have been shaking the north while militants have launched attacks in the oil-rich southern delta. Presidential elections are scheduled for next year in Africa's most populous country that embraced democracy only a decade ago after a string of military dictatorships and coups.

“The voters register was deliberated manipulated in the last voters’ registration to favour Emmanuel Uduaghan. This manipulation was done in some wards in some local government areas where Dr.Uduaghan was perceived to have strength,” he said. “We therefore call on Jega to ensure compilation of a new voters register before conducting the re-run election in Delta State. The present voters register in Delta State cannot guarantee a free and fair election”, the statement said.