Only in Yoruba: Some People Died While Jubilating Over Election Results
By Hamed Shobiye | Published 23 Feb 2009
The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has frozen the accounts of the state government in various commercial banks.
Mimiko, who was declared the winner of the April 2007 governorship election by the Court of Appeal in Benin on Monday, has also appointed the spokesperson of the Labour party, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi, as his Chief Press Secretary. A statement by Olabisi, on Monday, said that Mimiko had warned commercial banks not to transact any business with members of the administration of ousted governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu.
Mimiko also advised the state‘s civil servants to keep watch over government property.
Meanwhile, Agagu, who has accepted the verdict, reportedly fled the state immediately the appeal court‘s verdict was announced. There were also reports that some people died while jubilating over the development.
Also, the Peoples Democratic Party has described the development as a setback and shocking. However, leaders of some other political parties have hailed the appeal court for upholding the rule of law and democracy in the country.
In a unanimous decision by a panel of five justices led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, the court upheld the decision of the Ondo State Election Petitions Tribunal, that had on July 25, 2008 declared Mimiko as the winner of the election. The appeal court said Mimiko, a medical doctor, won in 12 out of the 18 local governments of the state.
The removal of Agagu, who is of the PDP, has reduced the ruling party‘s control of states in Nigeria to 25, with Ekiti State, where the appeal court on February 17, 2009 ordered for a rerun governorship election in 90 days, still hanging in the balance.
Mimiko‘s ascension to office follows an acrimonious battle since 2007 between him and Agagu. Both were formerly of the PDP, before Mimiko‘s bid to clinch the governorship ticket in 2007 was truncated by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mimiko is a former minister of Housing and Urban Development and has been a Secretary to the State Government in Ondo State.
The Labour Party was formed along ideologies espoused by the Nigeria Labour Congress, as the only pro-workers‘ political party in Nigeria. It was the initial platform on which the former NLC President, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, sought to run for governor of Edo State in 2007. However, due to political exigencies, Oshiomhole later dumped the LP and moved to the Action Congress.
He was eventually declared winner of the April 2007 governorship election by the appeal court on November 11, 2008. The LP has thus joined other opposition parties which control states in Nigeria such as the Action Congress, All Nigeria Peoples Party, the Progressive Peoples Alliance and All Progressive Grand Alliance.
Former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige, was the first governor to be removed through the judicial process in the Fourth Republic. After his removal in March 2006 by the appeal court, other governors similarly ousted include Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Ibrahim Idris (Kogi); Sir Celestine Omehia (Rivers); Mr. Andy Uba (Anambra); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Mr. Segun Oni (Ekiti); Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor (Edo).
However, Imoke, Nyako and Idris returned to office after winning the rerun elections in their states, as ordered by the appeal court. Omehia was removed by the Supreme Court and replaced with Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, whom the apex court said was wrongly substituted as the PDP’s governorship candidate.
There are reports of wild jubilation on the streets of the Ondo State capital, Akure, while officials of Agagu’s ousted administration have been moving their property out of official quarters since Sunday.
MEND Attacks Lagos - No Road Is Infinite
ByBBC, Reuters
13 Jul 2009
In a statement, Mend said that “heavily armed” men had “carried out an unprecedented attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty in Lagos” at 2230 (2130 GMT) on Sunday. The jetty is the main entry point for ships entering Nigerian waters from the West and for oil tanker loading. “The problems facing our dear country Nigeria has nothing to do with militant freedom fighters but with the corrupt political leadership and certain arrogant tribes still living on past glory”- MEND
Text-Video-Speech By President Obama to the Ghanaian Parliament
ByPresident Barack Obama
11 Jul 2009
We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans. I say this knowing full well the tragic past that has sometimes haunted this part of the world. Now, to realize that promise, we must first recognize the fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends on good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That’s the change that can unlock Africa’s potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans. Repression can take many forms, and too many nations, even those that have elections, are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves
Yoruba Assassinations & Self-Deceptions Continue As President Obama Lands in Ghana
ByDr Spinoza
10 Jul 2009
As President Obama lands in Ghana, the Yoruba people continue to plot, to kill and to deceive themselves because they strongly believe that Yoruba democracy of Olusegun Obasanjo is better than democracy in Ghana or in any other world nation. From Wole Soyinka to the dog catcher in Yoruba Land, these people slyly and self-deceptively think, talk, and live as if Obasanjo and Adedibu can never be matched in political acumen and achievements. They feel that their Yoruba democracy deserves respect and honor from President Obama because deep down in their bones they believe that Olusegun Obasanjo and Lamidi Adedibu should be crowned the “best” statesmen from the African Continent.