The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on Friday issued a statement announcing the registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM a party reportedly co-sponsored by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Independent Democrats, ID party.

This is coming barely two weeks after the registration of the All Progressive Party, APC which is a merger of three main opposition parties, namely: the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP.

Secretary to the commission, A. C. Ogakwu, said in the statement that: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has registered two new political parties in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as Amended).”

He went on to say that “The newly registered parties are the Independent Democrats (ID) and the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).”

Ogakwu said the Commission had approved the constitution, manifesto, logo/flag and list of National Executive Officers of the two new parties.

But the former Vice President says he has no plans of leaving the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,PDP as is been speculated in the media.

National daillies had reported that Abubakar, together with nine PDP Governors were sponsoring an application for the registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM party which is before the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Some of the Governors named as co-sponsors are Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, BabangidaAliyu of Niger State, Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State.

However, Abubakar who disassociated himself from the report said he would always welcome the expansion of the political space.

While acknowledging that many of his political associates are involved in registering the PDM,Abubakar explained that he had no powers to stop adults with common interests from coming together to form a party.

He also noted several active roles played by the PDM in the country’s democratic transition from the Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar military administrations.

“The PDM platform, which was founded by late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, provided the impetus for his impressive performance across the country during the September 1992 Presidential primaries, which were later cancelled by the military regime,’ he said.

Abubakar said further that: “The late Yar’Adua came close to becoming President, thanks to the formidable PDM structure. In 1999, the PDM was also in the forefront in the emergence of former President Obasanjo as PDP Presidential candidate.”

Indications that Abubakar, a founding member of the PDP, may be nursing plans to bolt out of the party emerged from his recent public expression of dissatisfaction with the current leadership style of the ruling party.

He has alleged that he is not accorded due respect as a founding father of the party and has not been getting invitations for major meetings.

In fact, some of his associates think he is being tactfully de-registered from the party.

The former Vice President was not invited to the last National Economic Council, NEC meeting inAbuja, neither has he received invitations to the meetings of the Board of Trustees (BoT), led by Tony Anenih.

The most recent is his exclusion of his name from the delegates’ list to the PDP mini-convention, which will hold later this month.

Abubakar had written a letter to the party’s national chairman, Bamanga Tukur about his exclusion from the list which he described as “curious”.

He said in the letter that: “As a member of our party, I look forward to the respect and privileges conferred on the office of the Vice President and founding fathers of the party by our party constitution. I therefore, request for a correction and restitution of my right to attend the forth-coming special national convention of our great party and also membership of the Board of Trustees”.

The interim President of Mali, Diongunda Traore, on Thursday conferred on President GoodluckJonathan the country’s highest honour .

Traore, while bestowing the title of “Grand Croix de L’ordre National du Mali” meaning “the Highest Cross of the National Order of Mali” on Jonathan in Abuja, described him as an “astute mediator” who “lit the light when everything was dark and sombre” in Mali.

The ceremony, which held at the council chamber of the Presidential Villa, was witnessed by top political leaders from Mali.

Governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Peter Obi of Anambra, ministers and presidential aides were also in attendance.

Speaking through an interpreter, Traore said the honour was to appreciate the pivotal roles played by Jonathan and Nigeria in the restoration of peace and security to Mali.

“I transmit the greetings and gratitude of the Malian people to the Nigerian people who have shown themselves in solidarity in the Malian course,” he said.

The Malian interim President thanked Jonathan for the solidarity he showed the country even at a time when it was most inconvenient.

“We know how much your country suffers also from terrorism. We know how much Nigeria has needs of its troops, of her soldiers and all the soldiers at her disposal to ensure internal security…however, in spite of this internal need and pressure, your country has not hesitated to put at the disposal of Mali her soldiers and her logistics,” Traore said.

“You have spent without counting the cost Mr. President, you have spent for Mali, your efforts have born fruits. Mali has come back among you strong from the lessons learnt, proud of what it has been able to achieve and proud of what you have been able to do for peace.”

“It is this Mali which has found itself again and which is very grateful which has sent me today Mr. President, to tell you that it will never forget what you have done for it. To tell you of the light which you lit in her way when everything was dark and sombre,” he added.

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In a response, President Jonathan said the honour bestowed on him symbolised  acknowledgement and appreciation of Nigeria’s commitment and sacrifice towards ensuring peace and stability in Mali.

“The importance of this is that our substantial financial, military and material contributions, including the supreme sacrifice paid by two Nigerian Airforce pilots, have all not been in vain,” he said.

“I assure you that Nigeria remains steadfastly committed to supporting the course of peace in Mali,” he pledged.

The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, said on Thursday that the underlying causes of the present security challenges facing the country are joblessness, illiteracy and hunger.

Shettima said this while addressing the United States- Nigeria Bi-national Commission meeting at the federal ministry of foreign affairs headquarters in Abuja.

The governor was invited by the American government to appraise it of the security situation in northern Nigeria, particularly Borno State.

He urged the federal government to as a matter of urgent national importance provide employment for teeming youth across the country, which in his view is fundamental for the sustenance of peace.

The governor said Nigerians should not be fooled into believing that the present crisis affects only a particular zone or region, noting that it could spill over to other parts of the country.

He thanked the US for its concern for peace in the country and appealed to it to improve on its collaboration with the Nigerian security authorities for the speedy restoration of peace.

At the opening of the closed door meeting, the U.S under secretary, political affairs, Wendy Sherman, said the United States and Nigeria have ties with each other at every level.

She said the Bi-national Commission has been a successful forum to advance mutual goals since its establishment in 2010, stressing that the meeting had showcased the important and challenging issues of national interest to both countries.

Sherman said the United States was ready to help Nigeria “develop a multi-faceted strategy” to contain the violence, but warned that a military crackdown alone would not work.

The Boko Haram conflict has “increased tensions between various ethnic communities, interrupted development activities, frightened off investors and generated concerns among Nigeria’s northernneighbours,” she said.
At the meeting were high ranking officials from the two countries including Nigeria’s General SarkinYaki Bello, the officer in-charge of counter terrorism activities in the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA.

The people of Jigawa state have been thrown into mourning following the death of two prominent politicians – the deputy speaker of the state House of Assembly, Inuwa Sule Udi and former commissioner of education and information, Salisu Ibtahim Dandoka.

The 47-year-old Udi, who was a third term member representing Ringim constituency at the House died along with his driver, Mas’ud Ringim, in a fatal road accident Thursday night.

The former commissioner on the other hand died after a brief illness at the Malam Aminu KanoTeaching Hospital.

The accident involving the deputy Speaker was said to have occurred along the Kano-Ringimroad amid a heavy down pour.

Spokesman of the Udi family, Balarabe Mohammed, said that the orderly to the late deputy speaker survived the accident.

Udi left behind four wives,18 children and grandchildren.

Prominent sympathisers who thronged his residence to condole with the family included the chief of staff, Government House, Dutse, Aminu Ringim, who represented the state governor, SuleLamido and the Speaker of the state Assembly, Ahmed Adamu, as well as commissioners, local government chairmen and lawmakers.

Both have been buried according to Islamic rites.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on Friday arrested a 27-year-old drug peddler, who attempted to smuggle 5.300kg of cannabis and 660 grammes of heroin to Rome, Italy.

The spokesman of the agency, Mitchell Ofoyeju, who announced this in a statement, said the drugs were detected during the outward screening of Alitalia passengers at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos.

“The parcels of cannabis were covered with dried bitter leaf vegetables inside a bag while the heroin was ingested by the suspect,” Ofoyeju said.

He said that the suspect who was not named claimed to have graduated from the Philosophy department of the Ebonyi State University in 2009.

The spokesman said that the suspect also claimed that he was introduced to the drug by a baron who bought his ticket and gave him 1,000 Euros.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has disqualified two governorship candidates in Anambra State for failing to produce an up-to-date tax clearance certificate during screening.

Chairman of the PDP appeal committee on Anambra governorship election, Mahmud Shinkafi, former governor of Zamfara State, said 15 other aspirants were cleared.

Shinkafi named Sylvester Okonkwo and Owuanyin Afamefuna as the two disqualified candidates.

The Anambra governorship election has been slated for November 26, while the state primaries are expected to hold three months earlier on August 24.

The screening panel headed by Aminu Wali had on August 6 screened 17 aspirants and cleared 13 while four were disqualified.

However, Ugochukwu Okeke and Tony Nwoye, were cleared by the committee on Wednesday, bringing the total number of aspirants to 15.

The remaining 13 deemed eligible to contest the party’s primaries include: Obinna Uzoh, MikeOkoye, Akachukwu Nwankpo, Josephine Anenih, Emmanuel Anosike, Andy Ubah, Jerry Ugokwe.

Others are: Nicholas Ukachukwu, Patrick Ogbomo, Kramer Ifunanyachukwu, Alex Obiogbolu, CharlesOdunukwe and Walter Okeke.

The 40-year-old Eguhuo Bridge in Agba, Ishiellu local government area of Ebonyi State, caved in on Wednesday after a heavy downpour.

The rainfall crippled economic activities in Ogboji, Eguhuo, Eguotu, Eguogiji and Onunweke as vehicular access to these communities was hindered.

The bridge links the area to Amagunze in Enugu state.

Julius Nworkpor, member who represents the area in the State House of Assembly said that the situation had made it impossible for the people of the area to gain access to their communities with vehicles.

“Before this unfortunate situation, a journey to Enugu State from the area took about 30 minutes but now its lasts for some hours. Indigenes of the area who wish to access their communities fromAbakaliki now have to get to Enugu through the Enugu-Abakaliki expressway and then take Abanito reach the place,” he said.

Nwokpor noted that this was the second time the bridge was caving-in in three years.

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Conducting journalists and a team of engineers round the bridge, the state’s commissioner for works and transport, Chukwuma Nwandugo, said the bridge caved-in due to heavy traffic.

“The pressure weakened the bridge and forced the abutment to cut off from the metal reinforcement. The unity bridge beside it could have been completed before now, but it was discovered it was poorly designed and could pose serious threat to users,” he said.

The commissioner urged the people to be patient, adding that the government would expedite action to work on the bridge to ensure that economic and social activities returned to the area.

A real estate developer, Ishola Salauden, was on Wednesday dragged before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on a 210-count charge of defrauding 111 accommodation seekers of about N1 billion.

Thirty-seven-year-old Salaudeen, who resides at No. 59, Oriola St., Ketu Alapere, Lagos, was charged with stealing and obtaining by false pretences.

The prosecutor, G.O. Osuyi, said that the accused committed the offences between April and July at his residence.

Osuyi said that the developer collected various amounts of money from 111 accommodation seekers in the guise of securing the same mini flats for them at his residence.

He said that when each of the victims went to occupy the apartment, he discovered that the developer had rented it out to other persons.

The prosecutor said that when the victims sought to recover their money, the developer absconded.

Osuyi said that the offences contravened Sections 285 and 312 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 and attracts penalty of 15 years imprisonment.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

The Chief Magistrate, S.O. Solebo, granted him bail in the sum of N2 million with two sureties in like sum.

Solebo ordered that one of the sureties should be a property owner in Lagos State and must produce evidence of three years tax payment to the state government.

The court adjourned the case to September 9.

Reginald Stanley, Executive Secretary, PPPRA
The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has cleared the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, over the non-remittance of the sum of N4.423 billion to the federation account.

At the end of a reconciliatory meeting between NEITI and the PPPRA over the recently released 2009-2011 industry audit in the oil and gas sector, a joint statement issued said that the dispute over the missing funds has been reconciled and traced to the Petroleum Support Fund, PSF, account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The statement which was signed by Zainab Ahmed, executive secretary, NEITI and Reginald Stanley, executive secretary, PPPRA, said “there is nothing outstanding against PPPRA on the said amount”.

It added that the meeting evolved strategies for both NEITI and PPPRA to address other issues arising from the report, using the platform of Inter-Ministerial Task Team, IMTT, set up by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.

“The meeting also resolved to ensure effective communication network between the two Agencies for effective Inter-Agency cooperation in pursuit of their mandates,” the statement added.

NEITI had accused the PPPRA of failing to account for the N4.423 billion recovered from 10 oil marketers as over-payments between 2008 and 2009 in its audit report and challenged it to show evidence of such remittance.

NEITI’s director of communications, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, had stressed that there was no evidence that the recovered fund was remitted into the federation account.

However, the PPPRA in its response, accused NEITI of “confusing” the public with its audit report, adding that NEITI appeared to have embarked on a wild-goose chase instead of addressing the issues at stake.

President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated Mali’s President-elect, Ibrahim Keita, on his victory in last Sunday’s run-off presidential election in the country.

In a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Reuben Abati, the President also commended people of Mali for successfully conducting the elections and taking a major step towards the full restoration of democratic governance to their country.

The President noted that having served capably as his country’s Prime Minister for many years, Keita will assume the Malian Presidency with the requisite experience, knowledge and wisdom needed to guide the country towards a speedy return to peace, normalcy, political stability and further development.

He assured Keita of the support, assistance and cooperation of Nigeria, ECOWAS and the African Union, AU, as he prepares to take on the burden of leading Mali away from political strife and instability to national peace and progress.

Keita accepted his presidential election victory after his rival, Soumaila Cisse, conceded defeat in a run-off vote that Malians hope will bring stability and democracy to the country.

“You have done this not for yourself, not for me, but for the good of Mali. Your visit was a symbol of the new Mali,” Keita told Cisse on Malian television after Cisse paid a congratulatory visit to Keita in his Bamako home on his second round victory.

Keita won double the number of votes as Cisse in the first round of voting on July 28, and received endorsements from nearly all of the other candidates from the first round.

European and African election observers declared the elections as “credible and transparent”.

The election is relevant to helping Mali end a period of instability as it attempts to recover from a military coup last year and an Islamist insurgency that prompted France to send troops to its former colony.