INFORMATION NIGERIA » goodluck jonathan

2011: Jonathan kicks off campaign in Bayelsa

informationnigeria — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:44:09 +0000

As politicians begin to re-strategize following the release of a tentative schedule for next year’s elections by the new Electoral Act, indications emerged at the weekend that arrangements are almost concluded for President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration for 2011 presidency.
A formal campaign rally has been scheduled to kick off in his home state of Bayelsa, next month.

The rally to be hosted by Governor Timipre Sylva, will be organized under the auspices of Conference of Niger Delta Youths. Daily Sun gathered in Abuja that the rally has been scheduled for between August 25 and 26 and all the Niger Delta State governors are expected to be in attendance as a show of loyalty and acceptability of President Jonathan’s candidature.

The presence of the governors at the planned rally is meant to drive home a message that they are all in support of his ambition. This is expected to finally put an end to speculations that some of them are opposed to his ambition. Coordinator of the Niger Delta Youth Leaders Conference, Hendrick Opukewe confirmed at a press briefing at the weekend that the rally would be a total one and that most Niger Delta youth organizations are involved because they are determined to ensure that, for the first time, a son of the South-South is in vantage position to contest the Presidency of Nigeria.

Tagged ‘Affirmation and Sensitization’ rally, Opukewe explained that the philosophy behind the event is to counter the series of threats and provocative utterances emanating from some quarters against the propriety of President Jonathan’s aspiration to lead the country beyond 2011. He described as ‘an insult to the collective intelligence of the people of the South-South the calls from some quarters, including a section of the South-South, that President Jonathan should just conduct election and go in 2011.

The coordinator, who was supported by other members of the conference, said the his group was already mobilizing toward the rally, adding “we are in support of President Jonathan for 2011 because he represents the generational change we have been clamouring for; he is not a recycled politician like others.

“It would be a monumental morale booster and a veritable instrument of regional solidarity and support for our son if the project is successfully implemented. Youths constitute 60 per cent of all the manpower and therefore the mobilization of the youths to assert ourselves and chart a purposeful direction in the events and processes leading to the emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as president beyond 2011,” he said.

“Besides, in a mono-cultural national economy, where oil and gas resources from the bowels of the Niger Delta accounts for over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s federally generated revenue for 50 years and whereas the northern geo-political entity alone has ruled for 38 years, the South-West and South-East, 12 years, there couldn’t have been an appropriate time than now for the South-South to produce the next elected president,” Opukewe stated.

Source: Sun Newspapers – www.sunnewsonline.com

2011: Northern leaders give Jonathan go ahead

informationnigeria — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:17:58 +0000

NORTHERN leaders, yesterday, gave President Goodluck Jonathan the green light to contest the 2011 elections saying that he became the President under a joint ticket with late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
They said that Yar’Adua’s death should not deprive Jonathan the rights and privileges of the joint ticket.
Rising from a one-day summit at the Kaduna International Trade Fair Complex, Kaduna, under the auspices of “Northern Political Summit,” the leaders said that what the North needed now, was good governance irrespective of where the person came from.
Giving a summary of the communiqué towards the end of the summit, one of the conveners, Prof. Jerry Gana said the North desired a free, fair and credible election in 2011 and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission under Professor Attahiru Jega to ensure free and fair polls next year.
Gana said: “The summit expressed the strong desire for free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria and called on the Chairman and commissioners of INEC to do everything within their power to ensure preparation for credible elections in Nigeria come 2011.
“The summit also called on governments of the federation to make adequate resources available to the electoral commission to ensure that free, fair and credible elections are conducted in Nigeria.
“There was a strong desire by the summit for every effort to be made to use good governance to bring development to every sector of the economy in the northern part of Nigeria in terms of infrastructure, education, industries, employment and uplifting the lives of our people.
The summit resolved to hold a northern economic summit next year in order to focus attention on the economic and social conditions of communities in the northern part of Nigeria.
Power sharing and rotation
“The summit considered the various positions, viewpoints and options together with the related implication to the peace and stability of the country. It resolved that the zoning produced the presidency of Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan was an inseparable ticket, therefore, the demise of one did not invalidate the privileges of the remaining beneficiary of that zoning.
“The summit called on the leadership of the PDP to allow superior provision of the Nigerian constitution to guide the party in producing guidelines and regulations in the conduct of primaries to elect presidential candidate.
In the circumstances, the most viable option is what has been expressed. First, to ensure that indeed, the conduct of the primaries are such that the best candidates are given the opportunity to run for the office of the president.”
Yakowa declares open the summit
Speaking while declaring the summit open, the Kaduna State Governor, Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa urged delegates not to look at only one parameter “with regards to power sharing and power rotation” in the country.
Yakowa said: “Whatever we would do should be in the context of the Nigerian constitution which is supreme over all other arrangements that would be made or might have been made at some point.
“Many countries of the world are fast reviewing their positions with a view to being first class players in the globalization arrangements where justice, unity, and national integration of our country serve as our roadmap to 2011.”
Former Governor of Plateau State and pioneer National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Solomon Lar said: “As one of the founding fathers of the PDP, I remember clearly the basic considerations of the principle of zoning, and the interim nature of its application.
“Zoning was never meant to be a permanent feature of our democracy. Surely, the day is coming when both our nation and our democracy would become so mature as to make zoning most unnecessary.
“Having tasted the power of civil discussion and dialogue in the resolution of problems, I am a great believer in the wisdom of talking things over, hence my solid support for this summit. This is the beauty of democracy- the freedom of expression.”
Prof. Jerry Gana, apparently referring to the insistence by some northerners that it was the turn of the zone to produce the president in 2011, said, that democracy was about “the primacy of the rule of law, the culture of honour, transparency, and accountability of governments to the people” adding that “coercion is not only costly but rapidly erodes effectiveness.”
He said: “The policy of zoning was adopted by the founding fathers of PDP to resolve the huge crises that followed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election and it was through leadership gatherings of this nature that the questions of power shift and power rotation were peacefully resolved in 1998/1999.”
Ambassador Shehu Malami said there was nothing like good governance in the North as most of the elected leaders were not developing the area physically. He said: “We need to use our finances judiciously. We need not talk about politics most of the time and not talk of the economic and industrial development of the north and the country at large.”
Source: Vanguard Newspaper – www.vanguardngr.com

Jonathan Extends Pay Rise to Military, Police

informationnigeria — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:19:57 +0000

President Goodluck Jonathan has extended the new salary package to the military, para-military, police and intelligence community, who were not always covered by similar salary reviews in the past.
The extension of the jumbo increase to other public servants as opposed to the core civil servants, has shot the entire wage bill to N267. 4 billion.

President Jonathan had on May 1, 2010 promised to implement a new salary package for workers.
The new wage bill, which is said to be effective from July 1, 2010, shows an increase of N233,034,129,947 or 777 percentage increase from the present N34,388,156,375, which the Federal Government spends on core civil servants annually.
The wage bill is contained in a letter sent to the Minister of Finance Olusegun Aganga and Head of Service Steve Oronsaye by President Jonathan.

The letter was signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Administration), Mr. Matt Aikhionbare.
The letter reads, “I am directed to forward Reference A to you and to convey to you Mr. President’s approval of paragraph 8 on page 3.”
Also, attached to the letter was a letter from Oronsaye to the President, which gave the details of the salaries increase for federal workers.

The letter reads: “Your Excellency may please wish to be informed that the compilation of the increase for the core civil service is an increase in wage bill of N34,388,156,375 per annum.
“However, because of the unrest the increase for the core civil service will likely generate among parastatals, the para-military, the police, the Armed Forces, the intelligence community and research institutes, it was recommended that a holistic approach be adopted.

“The cost implication of the holistic approach is a total wage increase of Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven Billion, Four Hundred and Twenty-Two Naira (N267, 422, 286, 322) per annum.”
A memorandum containing the proposed agreement reached between the Federal Government Team and the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council-Trade Union Side was also attached.

The letter continues, “Your Excellency is invited to please note:
(i) That the salary negotiation committee has completed its assignment;
(ii) That increase of 53.37 % was agreed for Salary Grade Level 01-16 and for Directors at least 1/3 of the Salary of a Permanent Secretary;
(iii) That for peace to reign, increase of the same percentage for parastatals, para-military, the Armed Force, the intelligence community and the research institutes is recommended.
(iv) That additional Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven Billion, Four Hundred and Twenty-Two Million and Eighty-Six Thousand Naira (N267,422,286,322) is required to service the increase per annum;
(v) That 50 per cent of the figure in paragraph 1v above will be captured in the 2010 Supplementary Budget;
(vi) That the Budget Office is in agreement with the cost implication of the increase.
He consequently asked and got the President’s approval for salary increase of 58.37 per cent for workers at Grade levels 01-16.
The President has also directed that salaries of directors in federal ministries and agencies be increased by at least 1/3 of the salary of a permanent secretary.

The Armed Forces, police, paramilitary, intelligence community (State Security Services, Nigerian Intelligence Agency among others), parastatals as well as research institutes will also enjoy the same salary increase.
President Jonathan approved the new salary structure wherein the new minimum wage, that is the salary of the least paid worker, is put around N17, 000.
The President has also proposed a supplementary appropriation to take care of the wage increase among other things. The bill is receiving the attention of the National Assembly.

Defending the wage increase, the President had said in his postings at the weekend on Facebook that the high cost of goods and services was the reason his administration decided to pay living wages to workers in the public service.
He had said: “Having taken time to inform myself of the prices of the most basic goods and services. I personally can imagine the strain many Nigerians go through in order to make ends meet.

“As such, I’m glad to report that progress has been made in terms of paying living wages to workers under the control of the Federal Government. This will not remedy the situation but it will grant some relief while we also apply the resources at our disposal to improving other sectors that will have a positive impact on our general standard of life.”
Meanwhile, Oronsanye has confirmed that the Presidency has approved wage increase for ministries, departments and agencies, which were not considered for salary review in the past.

Speaking with newsmen at the opening ceremony of the Procurement Skill Training for Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Abuja, Oronsanye, however, said the payment of the new wage would commence after proposals currently before the National Assembly have been passed.
Also, the head of service cautioned the federal workers who see training programmes as opportunity for welfare packages that “it is no longer business as usual” as they will now be assessed at the end of every course conducted by the office to know if they have added value to themselves.”

He said: “And if you do not scale through that test you don’t go for any promotion exams… academic qualification is not the issue, it is competence, we do know that there are people who have certain qualifications but they cannot express themselves; academic qualification only brings you to be considered but it is what you are able to offer when you are tested that is important,” he said.
According to him, only 180 out of 1,500 civil servants who applied and participated in the previous training exercise actually passed the assessment given at the end of the course.

“That is the reason why I stressed that it is no longer welfare…before now, people go to training because of the allowances they’ll get, they just show up but when you now introduce the competency test at the end of the training exercise, you find that people now take it seriously.
“I can just tell you only recently the office of head of service reintroduced the mandatory training but what was new was that at the end of the training, people were tested…what we found out is that those who took the very first set of training didn’t do well at the end but those coming after, the pass rate was very high and because they now know that they’ll be tested from day one, they’ll take it seriously. I believe that the pass rate this time will be better than the first one.

“The beauty of all of it is that at the end of the training programme, you’ll then be assessed. This tells you that it is no longer business as usual, we should not just take training as a welfare package…by the time you come in for training, you should from the very beginning know that it is a very serious business because you’ll be tested at the end when you finish,” he said.
Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Emeka Eze explained that the idea of the workshop was to ensure that public servants are brought to a level where they could help government to achieve value for money in public expenditure.

“The idea of public procurement is to make sure that value for money as a policy of public expenditure is achieved. My expectation is that at the end of this workshop, participants would have been in a position to quickly at the close of the eyes know the ABC of public procurement so that if any political office holder comes or permanent secretary, they would be able to advise them
that this is what the rule says about how things are going to be done… rules for the sake of ensuring transparency and efficiency and providing level playing ground to all Nigerians that there is something happening in our ministry,”
The training programme is organised for officers in MDAs who want to covert to the new procurement cadre that has been created by the federal government.

Source: Thisday Newspapers – www.thisdayonline.com

Senators slam presidency over N10b anniversary budget

informationnigeria — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:46:10 +0000

Senators yesterday lambasted the presidency’s plan to spend about ₦10 billion on the celebration of Nigeria’s 50th anniversary as an unnecessary extravagance.

The lawmakers who were debating the supplementary budget bill submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan, which included the sum of ₦10 billion for the celebration, described the plan as bogus and out of place. “This is just appropriating money for some people to siphon,” Andrew Babalola (PDP Oyo State) said. “It should be removed completely and budgeted for employment generation”.

Mr Babalola added that it was misplaced priority for the nation to spend that much on celebrations when most able-bodied Nigerians are without jobs.

His argument was taken up by other senators who said there was nothing to celebrate.

Osita Izunaso (PDP Imo State) said that since Nigeria gained independence, the country has not achieved any meaningful progress that will justify such ostentatious celebrations.

“What are we celebrating?” Mr Izunaso said. “Nigeria at 50, to me, have not achieved anything worthy of celebration.” Arguing in the same line, Joseph Akaagerger (PDP Benue state) said: “I do not think there is something to celebrate after 50 years, I support the bill (supplementary budget) but nothing should be reserved for the celebration.” Others argued that even though the nation hitting the golden age in unity calls for celebration, the celebration is not worth the N10 billion proposed for it.

“My idea is that the money voted for the Nigeria at 50 celebrations should be slashed to the barest minimum and we think of appropriating it for job creation and reduction in unemployment,” Dahiru Kuta said.

Since the presidency made the decision to spend N10 billion on the celebration of the nation’s 5oth independence anniversary, it has come under heavy criticism from the general public, setting up a cue for the senators.

Progress on budget

The supplementary budget, which is worth ₦639 billion, however passed through for second reading despite the oppositions to some of its contents.

Teslim Folarin, the senate leader who led debate on the bill, said the additions being sought after by the president will also be applied to settle the negotiated civil service wage increase and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) arreas of monetisation.

“This bill becomes necessary due to the desire of the federal government to provide funds to accommodate certain critical items such as statutory transfers, debt servicing, the service-wide vote and other critical expenditure heads that were either inadvertently omitted or under-provisioned for in the 2010 appropriation act,” the senate leader said.

The senate also passed the request of the president to slash the 2010 budget by 40 per cent for second reading.
Source: Next Newspaper – www.234next.com

Grant Africa 100 Percent Debt Cancellation, Says Jonathan

informationnigeria — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:01:09 +0000

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday urged member countries of the G8 Summit to consider 100 per cent cancellation of debts owed them by African countries.

Jonathan, while addressing the G8 Summit in Muskoda Canada, also urged the developed countries to consider the establishment of joint funds for MDG 4 and 5 as priority actions to help co-ordinate and improve the MDG programmes at sub-regional levels in Africa.

He also canvassed for improvement on the commitment of the G8 nations to mutual financial obligations towards fast-tracking the attainment of the millennium development goals particularly in Africa’s health sector.

Jonathan pointed out that the primary health sector in Africa is still plagued with major challenges that could be redressed if development partners, particularly members of the G-8 countries would meet mutual financial commitment contained in the 2005 Gleneagles Agree-ments.

He noted that less than half of the funds promised by development partners by the end of this year have been delivered.

Source: Thisday Newspaper – www.thisdayonline.com

Jonathan assembles team for 2011 presidential run

informationnigeria — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:53:46 +0000

President Goodluck Jonathan has formed the nucleus of the campaign team that is expected to deliver him the presidency in 2011. NEXT can exclusively reveal that the group of 15 members, which includes 9 serving ministers, is being bankrolled by Femi Otedola, the billionaire oil magnate and Abdusamat Rabiu, the sugar merchant .

A source close to the campaign team has disclosed that the most immediate task of the team is to ensure that President Jonathan gets the Peoples Democratic Party ticket in the party primaries in September. The source also confirmed that the campaign will be principally funded by Mr. Otedola.

“Most of the money at the moment is used for mobilization and logistics,” the source said.

According to the source, the campaign team has been meeting every two days in a fervent bid to ensure that their man staves off the PDP’s rotational presidency agreement.

The campaign team is being co-ordinated by President Jonathan’s chief-of-staff, Mike Oghiadomen, and is made up mostly of Northern ministers. President Jonathan’s dream team includes: Adamu Waziri, the agriculture minister, Labaran Maku, state minister of information, Bala Muhammed, FCT minister, Sanusi Daggash, minister of works, Mohammed Bello Adoke, the attorney general of the federation, and Shamsudeen Usman, minister of national planning.

President Jonathan has also included three of his long term associates on the federal executive council: Diezani Allison-Madueke, the petroleum minister, Godsday Orubebe, the Niger Delta Minister and Odein Ajumogobia, the foreign affairs minister.

The non-ministers on the list include Sani Dauda, a businessman with oil and automobile investments and Kashim Bukar, a Kaduna businessman. Namadi Sambo, the vice president is believed to have brought in two of his own trusted associates: Hassan Jumare, Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly and Yakubu Lame, former minister of police affairs under President Yar’Adua.

Northern stronghold

With Messrs Orubebe and Ajumogobia and Ms. Allison-Madueke as the only Southerners in the team, it is clear the North-heavy contingent will be launching a charm offensive to challenge the rotational zoning agreement in 2011. As it stands, leading members of the PDP as well as influential Northern groups remain adamant that the Presidency has been ceded to the region until 2015. This view culminated in a meeting of 150 Northern elders in the federal capital last week. The unyielding stance of the northern group has led many to believe that it may pave the way for Ibrahim Babangida to carry the majority of the North’s PDP backing.

Mr. Jonathan’s administration has moved quickly to impede such an eventuality.

Earlier this week, Mr. Adoke, one of the members of the team, revealed that the committee on the Okigbo report has been constituted. He added that the committee will begin probing the part played by the former head-of-state in the $12.4bn Gulf oil misappropriation. In a separate interview, however, he claimed that he did not know anything about a campaign team for the president.

“Campaign team? No I don’t know anything about it,” he said.

Billboards

The source further revealed that the team is directly responsible for the Jonathan 2011 campaign posters and billboards which have sprung up across the Abuja metropolis in the past six weeks. According to the source, the idea behind the promotional material is to “sensitise the public” to a re-elected Goodluck Jonathan.

However, according to the source, President Jonathan is not heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the campaign.

“The president does not need to know everything the team is doing,” the source said.

“At this stage he needs a little protecting.”

Power shift

Meanwhile, Isa Yuguda, the governor of Bauchi State, was expected to launch an election campaign this weekend on behalf the president. Mr. Yuguda is the late President Yar’Adua’s son-in-law and was regularly mentioned as a key figure in the now infamous cabal. The move is an indication that support from the north might slowly be swinging in President Jonathan’s favour.

On Thursday, Mr. Jonathan publicly said that a person’s ethnic and religious background should play no part in the upcoming elections, a veiled jab at advocates of the rotational agreement.

Addressing a group of Nigerians during his Canada visit, he said: “We are a country where our leaders tend to play tribal sentiments, saying I am from the South-South; I am from North-west; I am North, I am South, I am a Muslim and I am a Christian.

“All these are selfish motives to make people who probably cannot compete with others… to use these sentiments.”

According to analysts, this statement is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Jonathan is not prepared to allow his party’s zoning formula to deter his presidential aspirations.

Wunmi Sebanjo, an Abuja-based political activist, said that the president is increasingly showing determination to challenge the status quo.

“He has gone from distancing himself from the job to visibly reducing all the obstacles that lie in wait to become elected president,” she said.

“I fully expect the president to run in the PDP primaries and I would be surprised if, by December, there are many political hurdles left for him to scale.”
Source: Next Newspaper – www.234next.com

Bukhari Bello Next INEC Boss

informationnigeria — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:17:39 +0000

BARRING any last minute change of mind by President Goodluck Jonathan, there are very strong indications that Bukhari Bello would replace out-going National Chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Maurice Iwu and this is authoritative.

In addition, the National Council of State, NCS, a body made up of past heads of state and Chief Justice of the Federation, with all the state governors will meet Thursday to consider the nomination as required by the constitution.

Vanguard can also disclose that Bello’s nomination might have been the indirect result of consultations with a key segment of the Nigerian society: the human rights community.Enquiries by Vanguard, yesterday, revealed that Bello, who might “have been screened and passed fit to be the chairman of INEC, is very capable” of taking charge at INEC.

Contrary to speculations in the media, Vanguard can authoritatively reveal that Nigerians would be shocked at the expected announcement of Bello as the new helmsman at INEC.

Vanguard’s cue on the possible person to replace Professor Iwu was provided by President Jonathan in far away Nice, France. A source said that Mr. President had immuned himself from “the plethora of persons who had been presented as possible replacement.”

Bello, who had been at the helm of affairs at the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, is said “to be a very energetic and zealous individual.”

Vanguard can confirm that President Jonathan had never met Bello before in his life. In fact, the delay in the announcement, apart from the needed endorsement of the NCS, was caused by Jonathan’s lack of any personal of filial relationship with the nominee. Vanguard can also confirm that Bello’s nomination was the handiwork of a bloc, the human rights community.

Jonathan’s cue

President Jonathan had, Sunday, in France revealed that the final screening for a new INEC Chairman was concluded Saturday night, and would be made known to Nigerians after the National Council of State, NCS, had ratified the nomination.

Jonathan also said that though he had neither seen nor met the new appointee all his life, but from the report of the screening, the new man could possess the needed energy and zeal to conduct credible elections that could stand the test of time.

President Jonathan had also made it clear that none of those being speculated by the Nigerian media came close to the identity of the man that would eventually emerge, noting that throughout his career as civil servant and politician he never met with the lucky Nigerian.

Jonathan, who arrived the Nice International Airport at 3.00 p.m. (local time) narrated how the names of possible nominees (State commissioners) proposed and submitted to him by some governors for consideration were jettisoned simply because of his desire to give the best to Nigerians.

He also noted that after the stabilization of the nation’s polity, one of his priorities was how to conduct credible elections for Nigerians, adding that he hoped to achieve this by giving it all it takes for the nation to get it right for the first time, in terms of elections where every vote counts, appeared excited at the choice he had made for Nigerians.

Goodluck Jonathan plans floating cities in Niger Delta

informationnigeria — Sun, 23 May 2010 03:05:59 +0000

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is set to change the face of the Niger Delta with the construction of floating cities in the oil-rich region.

According to sources at the Presidency, the cities are being designed to uplift the area and its people.

Said the source: “The President is determined to provide basic amenities of life, jobs, education, security, state of the art transportation, and recreation centres, as well as potable water.

“This plan would consolidate on the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s on-going rehabilitation of the people of Niger Delta. It will bring lasting peace and eradicate the restiveness observed before the amnesty granted to former militants in the region.

“These floating cities will definitely attract tourism to the Niger Delta region, since they would be of the same standard as those built in the UAE, which is one of the wonders of the world. They will be equipped with modern power generation unit, to be powered with wind and solar systems.”

While speaking on some obstacles, which the project may face, the source said: “There will be some problems in the implementation, because of the activities of politicians, who are using their positions to enslave the people. But where there is a will, there’s always a way.”

Source: Compass Newspaper – www.compassnewspaper.com

Ogbulafor’s successor: Jonathan, governors, NASS members divided

informationnigeria — Sat, 15 May 2010 02:54:33 +0000

Two days after the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, tendered his resignation letter, intense lobbying has commenced among members of the party for his successor.

Saturday Punch learnt that the top hierarchy of the party is divided over who should be propped up to succeed Ogbulafor, who served a 30-day notice of resignation on Thursday.

The Presidency, governors and National Assembly members are said to be supporting different candidates.

It was gathered that governors elected on the party‘s platform from the South-East, who delivered President Goodluck Jonathan‘s message to Ogbulafor advising him to quit, had started consultations on who should succeed the outgoing party chairman.

The governors are, Chief Martins Elechi (Ebonyi State), Mr. Sullivan Chime (Enugu State) and Chief Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State.

Those said to have indicated interest in Ogbulafor‘s job included a former President of the Senate, Chief Pius Anyim Pius; former governor of Ebonyi State who is also the immediate past Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu; and former national secretary of the party, Chief Bernard Eze.

Also listed for consideration are Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo from Enugu State, and former Minister of Defence, Chief Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, who hails from Ogbulafor‘s state of Abia.

While Eze is said to be favoured by those who engineered Ogbulafor‘s removal, it was gathered that the governors are not favourably disposed to him.

Our correspondent also learnt that the fear of Eze had prompted Ogbulafor‘s National Working Committee to include his name among the 19 members of the PDP Reform Group who were recently suspended over alleged anti-party activities.

While others, including former senate president, Chief Ken Nnamani, and a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Bello Masari, had their names published in newspapers as invitation to come and clear themselves before the NWC, Eze‘s name was never mentioned.

However, his name surfaced among those suspended a few days later. But a group of politicians in Abuja argued that since President Jonathan hails from the southern part of the country, it would be unfair to have the party‘s chairman from the same zone.

The group has traced the tradition to the days of the National Party of Nigeria. A source within the group said, ”You remember that while President Shehu Shagari came from the North, the chairman of the party, Chief Adisa Akinloye, was from the South.
Source: Punch Newspaper – www.punchng.com

Goodluck Jonathan Selects Kaduna Governor Namadi Sambo As VP

Kingsley Ezeani — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:10:46 +0000

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday did the unexpected by selecting Namadi Sambo, the Governor of Kaduna State as

the Vice President.
Sources have revealed that Goodluck Jonathan’s choice of Sambo over the long list of nominees was because he felt

he could work with Sambo.
Sambo, a relatively new entrant into the Nigerian political scene became the Governor of Kaduna state in 2007.
The 58 year old Northerner has to be approved by the house of representatives and the senate before he can be

inaugurated as the Vice President.
Goodluck Jonathan having not ruled out the possibility of running for the office of President in 2011, is said to

have selected Sambo who is not likely to challenge him for the post.
Namadi Sambo’s profile can be found below:

* Elected governor of Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state in May 2007

* He was born on August 2, 1952 in Zaria in Kaduna state.

* Married with six children

* Graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria with a degree in architecture.

* Worked as agriculture commissioner in Kaduna for three years and also state commissioner for works, transport and

housing.

* He owns three companies:

- Coplan Associates, a consultancy group for architecture and engineering.

- Nalado Nigeria Limited, which specializes in energy, water supply and waste disposal.

- Manyatta Engineering Services Limited, which supplies hospital equipment and airport maintenance.

* Governor Namadi Sambo has worked with President Jonathan(then the VP) at the National Economic Council and on

Power Projects.