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Monday, April 11, 2011

NIGERIA’S ELECTIONS: Massive Turnout across the state wth pockets of violence, Posted by Meosha Eaton



By Williams Ekanem, MACTV News


THE aborted April 2 National Assembly election did little to dampen the enthusiasm of Nigerians to perform their civic responsibility yesterday in the rescheduled exercise.

Indeed, against the prediction of possible voter apathy, the people turned out in large numbers in most urban and rural areas across the country. There were also reports of low attendance in some areas.

However, the dampener came in the form of violence and snatching of ballot papers and boxes in several places.

For instance, bombs were exploded in Borno State capital, Maiduguri, injuring five persons while an ANPP local chairman and his son in Jere council of the state were shot dead by unknown assailants. In the same vein, a bomb blast was, around 6.15 pm yesterday, reported from a collation centre in Maiduguri.

As at press time, there was sketchy details regarding the magnitude of casualties recorded.

Also, there were reports of election officials preventing people, who did not queue to be counted after being accredited, from the actual voting. Many were thus disenfranchised.

Nonetheless, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, described the turnout for the election as impressive. His assessment came on the heels of the poll’s eve bomb explosions in Suleja, Niger State, which killed many officials of the INEC, particularly members of the NYSC, who are serving as ad-hoc staff in the election.

Similarly, prominent Nigerians and local and international observers have hailed the election as successful. President Jonathan, along with his wife, Dame Patience, voted at his Otuoke community in Bayelsa State.

Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, said the election was the shape of things, and called on the voting public to come out in larger numbers in subsequent polls.

Accompanied by his wife to the voting centre at the State Grammar School, Surulere, the governor said: “This is what we have all asked for. We have all asked to participate; we have all asked to be given the opportunity to choose our leaders. Now that the opportunity is in our hands, let us make use of it.”

Kwara State governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was satisfied with the poll, noting that the large turnout of voters was an indication that Nigerians were no longer politically docile.
Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, after voting at Isote Sagamu, saluted Nigerians for the resilience shown so far in the democratic process.

He said: “From what we have seen today, there appears to be a marked improvement over what happened last week. We pray that this will be conclusive.
What would have become a relatively peaceful National Assembly elections after two successive postponements by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday threw up new concerns, ranging from pockets of violence in a few states to late arrival of electoral materials in some others.

Most of the polling centres in Lagos, Ondo and Abia States, for example, recorded impressive turnout as INEC officials reportedly started accreditation of voters as early as 8am, while the real voting began at 12.30 pm as stipulated in INEC’s election programme. In Ikorodu and Isolo areas of Lagos, there was “massive” turnout of voters who came out as early as 7.30 am to get accredited. They waited until 12.30 pm when real voting commenced in most of the polling centres.

osNIGERIA: Electoral Body to prosecute senator for electoral malpractices, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem



A senator is to be prosecuted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for electoral malpractices, Prof. Attahiru Jega has said.

According to the INEC chair, the senator “commandeered corps members and election materials to his house.

“We are discussing with security agencies about having him apprehended and prosecuted,” he said.

Jega spoke at the INEC headquarters yesterday while reviewing the National Assembly elections. He said the turnout was more than 75 per cent.

According to him, but for some isolated cases in parts of the country, the elections were peaceful.  “We had reports of people trying to hijack ballot boxes in places like Delta. In Bayelsa, there is an unfortunate situation where a serving senator in Bayelsa commandeered corps members and election materials to his house. We are discussing with security agencies about having him apprehended and prosecuted,” he said.

According to Jega, a violent incident was reported from Biu in Borno State on Friday while a bomb explosion at a polling unit in the state injured several voters on Saturday.
Jega was at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada to see victims of the bomb explosion at INEC office in Suleja where 13 corps members died.

He said: “When such things happen, some people will be scared. We received reports that some parents told their children not to do the work again and we had to get replacements,” Jega stated.

However, he said in spite of the dastardly act, “more than 75 per cent of Nigerians went to various polling units to cast their votes,” adding that such legislative houses’ elections tend to record only about 65 per cent voter’s turnout in most countries.

Speaking on the reactions that followed last week’s botched polls, he said vested interests have been disseminating disinformation against the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but all those holding top positions in INEC are prepared to give account of every decision or act they did, INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega has declared.

He said about 25 injured victims of the Suleja bomb blast are being treated. He decried what he called the aggressive disinformation being sponsored by influential political elite. He said it would not succeed in creating the division that such persons envisaged at INEC.

Jega who gave assurances that INEC will take very good care of dead and injured youth corps members who work as ad-hoc staff, said that the group life insurance policy arranged by INEC covers all of them against disability, accidents or death.

He also said that comprehensive details of all incidents of electoral violence and arrests made in various parts of the country will soon be released, adding that INEC has continued to learn lessons that would facilitate the continuous improvement in the conduct of electoral processes, adding that the leadership of INEC has nothing to hide.

“We are fully in possession of all the materials we need and there will be no problem with the presidential election; the adjustment of election dates has given us more time to prepare more adequately for the presidential election.

Jega further expressed regrets that “some people out there who are highly placed in politics and can get always get some of you to print whatever story without corroboration”, adding that the list of companies that INEC was said to have given contracts for the printing of ballot papers is false.

“So many things have been happening… a lot has been made about re-run ballot papers arriving before that of the main presidential election. We identified one of the best companies in the world and gave them the contact for the main and rerun presidential ballot papers.

“We changed some of the security features that we wanted on the ballot papers; although they assured us that they will be able to do that, subsequently, they could not. They got another company in South Africa that said it could do it and eventually that South African company later said that they couldn’t meet the deadline of the presidential election.

“So we had to cancel the contract for the main presidential ballot papers and they were able to supply the ones for the rerun and we had to get the main presidential election done by another company. Those who knew this and wanted to cause further confusion and division along with the impression that everything is wrong and that INEC cannot do this job were now making it appear as if we did the contract for rerun papers first because we are anticipating a rerun to take place.

“In a situation where there are so many vested interests looking for so many things to accuse us of, some newspapers get information from certain sources and they do not corroborate or give the other party the chance to respond.

Everything the say are sometimes half-truths and conjectures because they got information from vested interests and they want to please such interests by publishing the stories.

“We are prepared to defend ourselves and everything we have done as a commission because we have done everything honestly and sincerely; we have not been partial to anybody. Some reports try to project us as if we are working for candidates; we feel terribly insulted and people who know us know that there is no way we can bring partisanship to this job that we are doing,” he said adding that some people have concocted stories alleging secret meetings with some political parties.

Speaking further, Professor Jega disclosed that a mob burnt down the house entered by some persons who snatched ballot boxes in Zaria even though soldiers prevented the lynching of the ballot box snatchers who are now in police custody.

He said that while a high profile arrest is expected in Bayelsa, incidences of violence have been recorded in four states.

Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives Accepts defeat, Posted by Meosha Eaton


By Williams Ekanem



The speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole has accepted defeat in last Saturday's Parlaimentary elections.

Bankole of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party lost in his constituency to the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN).

He accepted defeat in a statement he issued today in his constituency.

Also, a former Governor of the ruling party in one of the States in the South-West, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola who contested for a senate seat accepted defeat.

Oyinlola was defeated by the opposition ACN candidate Prof. Sola Adeyeye.

UK says will act in Libya to protect civilians, Posted by Meosha Eaton

LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday that any ceasefire in Libya must be genuine and that it would continue to take military action as required to protect civilians.

"We will continue to take military action as required to protect civilians," a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said in response to comments by South African President Jacob Zuma, head of an African Union peace mission, that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had accepted a peace 'road map'.

"Any ceasefire deal needs to be a genuine ceasefire. That can only be judged by Gaddafi's actions rather than his words or the words of anyone else for that matter," the spokesman said. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Matt Falloon)

Japan expands nuclear evacuation zone, new quake hits, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* High radiation forces extention of evacuations

* 7.1 magnitude quake triggers tsunami alert

* Voter anger at nuclear crisis hits PM Kan's party

* No end in sight to month-long nuclear crisis (Updates with strong quake and tsunami alert, evacuation details)

By Yoko Kubota and Yoko Nishikawa

TOKYO, April 11 (Reuters) - Japan on Monday expanded the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high levels of accumulated radiation, as a strong aftershock rattled the area one month after a quake and tsunami sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

A magnitude 7.1 tremor shook buildings in Tokyo and a wide swathe of eastern Japan on Monday evening, triggering a small tsunami alert. NHK state television said it caused the off-site power supply for two damaged reactors to shut down.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the aftershock struck 38 km (24 miles) west of the city of Iwaki, at a depth of 13 km (8 miles).

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) , which operates the plant, said workers had stopped pouring cooling water on reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 at Fukushima.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said villages and towns outside the 20 km (12 mile) evacuation zone that have had more accumulated radiation would be evacuated. Children, pregnant women, and hospitalised patients should stay out of some areas 20-30 km from the Fukushima nuclear complex, he added.

The decision to widen the evacuation band around the Fukushima plant was "based on data analysis of accumulated radiation exposure information", Edano told a news conference.

"These new evacuation plans are meant to ensure safety against risks of living there for half a year or one year," he said. There was no need to evacuate immediately, he added.

Japan had resisted extending the zone despite international concerns over radiation spreading from the six damaged reactors at Fukushima, which engineers are still struggling to bring under control after they were wrecked by the 15-metre tsunami.

Residents of one village, Iitate, which is 40 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, have been told to prepare for evacuation because of prolonged exposure to radiation, a local official told Reuters by phone. It has a population of 5,000.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has urged Japan to extend the zone and some countries, including the United States, have advised their citizens to stay 80 km away from the plant.

TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu visited the area on Monday for the first time the March 11 disaster. He had all but vanished from public view apart from a brief apology shortly after the crisis began and has spent some of the time since in hospital.

"I would like to deeply apologise again for causing physical and psychological hardships to people of Fukushima prefecture and near the nuclear plant," said a grim-faced Shimizu.

Dressed in a blue work jacket, he bowed his head for a moment of silence with other TEPCO officials at 2:46 p.m. (0546 GMT), exactly a month after the earthquake hit.

Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato refused to meet Shimizu during his visit, but the TEPCO boss left a business card at the government office.

Sato has criticised the evacuation policy, saying residents in a 20-30 km radius were initially told to stay indoors and then advised to evacuate voluntarily.

RADIOACTIVE WATER

Engineers at the damaged Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said they were no closer to restoring the plant's cooling system which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control.

In a desperate move to cool highly radioactive fuel rods, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) <9501.t> has pumped water onto reactors, some of which have experienced partial meltdown.

But the strategy has hindered moves to restore the plant's internal cooling system, critical to end the crisis, as engineers have had to focus how to store 60,000 tonnes of contaminated water.

Engineers have been forced to pump low-level radioactive water, left by the tsunami, back into the sea in order to free up storage capacity for highly contaminated water from reactors.

China and South Korea have both criticised Japan for pumping radioactive water into the sea, with Seoul calling it incompetent, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long atomic disaster and the spread of radiation.

TEPCO hopes to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean on Monday, days later than planned.

Engineers are also pumping nitrogen into reactors to counter a build-up of hydrogen and prevent another explosion sending more radiation into the air, but they say the risk of such a dramatic event has lowered significantly since March 11.

POLITICAL FALLOUT

The triple disaster is the worst to hit Japan since World War Two after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a huge tsunami battered its northeast coast, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing and rocking the world's third-largest economy.

Concern at Japan's inability contain its nuclear crisis is mounting with Prime Minister Kan's ruling party suffering embarrassing losses in local elections on Sunday.

Voters vented their anger at the government's handling of the nuclear and humanitarian crisis, with Kan's ruling Democratic Party of Japan losing nearly 70 seats in local elections. [ID:nL3E7FA09V]

The unpopular Kan was already under pressure to step down before March 11, but analysts say he is unlikely to be forced out during the crisis, set to drag on for months.

"The great disaster was a double tragedy for Japan. The first tragedy was the catastrophe caused by the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear accident. The other misfortune was that the disaster resulted in prolonging Prime Minister Kan's time in office," Sankei newspaper said in an editorial on Monday. ($1=85.475 Japanese yen) (Additional reporting by Issei Kato, Shinichi Saoshiro, Chisa Fujioka, Elaine Lies, Masahiro Koike and Linda Sieg in Tokyo; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Alex Richardson)

U.S. budget deal leaves scars on both parties, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Accord shifts debate toward spending cuts

* Republicans risked backlash in event of shutdown

* Obama scores points too for being willing to cut deal (Repeats with no changes in text)

By Caren Bohan and Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - Democrats and Republicans did little to improve their battered image with Americans in a bitter budget debate that ended only with a last-minute deal that barely averted a government shutdown.

The political adversaries reached agreement to fund the government over the next six months little more than an hour before a midnight Friday deadline. The deal must still be voted on next week, after days of invective over spending and policy issues.

That was only round one. Now they have to launch into negotiations over the U.S. budget for fiscal 2012, and if the past few weeks have been any indication, it will be a difficult undertaking.

Welcome to divided government, 2011. Republicans won the House of Representatives in last November's congressional elections, forcing President Barack Obama to take into account their views after he governed mostly with Democrats his first two years in office.

American voters are now seeing the results of the elections: Both parties battling over what they believe are the true concerns of the people. Republicans want deep cuts in spending, and Democrats want to protect programs for their constituents.

Who comes out ahead? The 1995 government shutdown was perceived to help the Democrats in a showdown between President Bill Clinton and then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican.

This time, the top House Republican, Speaker John Boehner, survived his first major test, gaining $37.8 billion in spending cuts and averting a government shutdown that could have proven politically disastrous for Republicans in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Obama will score some points, too, for being willing to compromise with Republicans, a potential plus as he campaigns for re-election and tries to rebuild ties with independent voters who fled Democrats in congressional elections last year.

Obama, who convened evening meetings this week at the White House to push Republicans and his fellow Democrats toward a deal, was also worried about the repercussions of a shutdown, which he said could have hurt the economy just as it was showing vigor.

REPUBLICAN MOMENTUM?

But Republicans may reap more political gains from the accord, which could give them momentum leading into upcoming spending battles, the first over the fiscal 2012 budget and the other in a bid to increase the U.S. debt limit.

"Republicans are going to go out and say this is a big start," said Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. "Their argument is going to be that they were elected to do this."

By making some last-minute concessions, Boehner could face some heat from rock-ribbed conservative Tea Party activists, who had demanded cuts of at least $100 billion in the budget for the rest of this year and felt it would have been worth it to fight for them even if the government shut down.

But Madonna said Republicans would have "flubbed" their bigger goals if they refused to budge.

Obama might have paid a price too if the impasse had continued.

He faced criticism from both Republicans and some Democratic supporters for failing to engage more actively in the budget negotiations up until this week when he took on a much higher-profile role.

Liberal blogger Ezra Klein labeled Obama's approach the "Can you hear me now strategy?" and some accused the president of delegating too much of the negotiations to Vice President Joe Biden.

"The truth is Obama hasn't been closely involved in this and Biden hasn't either," said Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. "I don't think anybody will say Obama has been a leader on the budget and the debt. He has basically avoided making decisions."

In terms of sheer numbers, Republicans got more of what they wanted than Democrats, who initially resisted any cut in the overall budget for this year.

The spending measure initially passed by House Republicans would have cut the budget by $61 billion. As of last week, Democrats were willing to go along with $33 billion and ultimately agreed to $37.8 billion.

Budget experts say the cuts in discretionary spending will barely dent a U.S. budget deficit projected to hit $1.4 trillion this year.

But Republicans have set their sights on a more far-reaching effort to shrink the federal government's size and that one is likely to be a much tougher sell. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Djibouti president leads in vote, calls for unity, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Vote gives president Guelleh a third term

* President calls on the country to unite

* Opposition leader asks Guelleh to accommodate all

(Adds opposition leader quotes, background)

By Abdourahim Arteh

DJIBOUTI, April 9 (Reuters) - Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh garnered 80.58 percent of votes cast in the country's elections on Friday, provisional results showed on Saturday, giving him a third term in power.

Interior Minister Yacin Elmi Bouh said Guelleh's rival, Mohamed Warsama, got 19.42 percent of votes cast in the election, which had a 69.68 percent turnout.

Just over 152,000 people are registered to vote in the small Red Sea state which has the only U.S. military base in Africa and the largest French army camp on the continent. It is also used by anti-piracy naval patrols.

Guelleh called on television for all Djiboutians to unite and start work so they could overcome the challenges ahead together.

He said whatever people voted, there were more things that united Djiboutians than divided them, adding the election result was not a victory for one side, but for the nation as a whole.

The opposition in the former French colony initially boycotted the ballot and tried to start Egyptian-style protests in February. Thereafter it supported independent candidate Warsama, a former president of Djibouti's Constitutional Court.

The opposition claimed ahead of the election there was little chance of it being free and fair, given the crackdown on demonstrations in a country which is ranked by the United Nations as one of the poorest in the world.

NATIONAL UNITY

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the U.S.-funded Democracy International election monitoring organisation was expelled from Djibouti in March. The government said the body had failed to maintain its neutrality in the run-up to the vote.

Abdourahman Boreh, a leading opposition leader who withdrew from the presidential race, said Guelleh could now foster national unity by consulting opposition groups inside and out of the country on the best way to move forward.

"We knew that the election would not be fair and free, and I've already said that it will not be a legitimate government, he told Reuters by phone from London.

"He should accept that people should have a political voice, and work with them together to open up the democracy in Djibouti and create a proper parliament in 2012 and to accommodate all the opposition."

Asked about the possibility of any anti-government demonstrations in future, self-exiled Boreh said what mattered now was for the country to be united.

"Personally what is more important for me is to have national unity, to discuss these things, to open up the democracy and to see whether we do it in a more civilised manner," he said.

Guelleh, 63, has been in power since 1999 and a change in the constitution in 2010 allowed him to run for a third term, a move that angered opposition leaders.

Djibouti serves as a port for its landlocked neighbour Ethiopia, which accounts for about 70 percent of traffic, and is also bordered by Eritrea and Somalia.

Its economy is chiefly based on the port, which is run by Dubai's DP World. (Writing and additional reporting by George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Editing by Sophie Hares)

US says cannot predict how Mideast revolts play out, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday said it was impossible to predict whether democratic upheavals in the Middle East would take root, noting in its annual rights report that Egypt has yet to end its state of emergency.

The spread of camera-enabled mobile phones and online video has dramatically amplified democratic protests around the world but also produced a government backlash seeking a tighter grip on information flows, the U.S. State Department said.

The survey of human rights in 194 countries -- but not the United States -- identified three trends: an explosion of civil society groups promoting rights, the growing importance global communications networks, and greater violence and discrimination against vulnerable racial, religious and ethnic minorities.

The report, covering 2010, did not address in detail the popular revolutions that toppled long-time authoritarian leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and that have led to power struggles in Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and other Arab nations.

"At this moment, we cannot predict the outcome of these changes and we will not know the lasting impacts for years to come," the State Department said in the introduction of its 2010 "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" document.

"The United States will continue to monitor the situations in these countries closely, knowing that the transition to democracy is not automatic and will take time and careful attention," it added.

The Obama administration, and much of the world, has been stunned by pace of the upheavals sparked by a Tunisian man who immolated himself in a protest against his treatment by local authorities.

The resulting protests forced former Tunisian strongman Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali into exile in January and toppled Egypt's long-time leader Hosni Mubarak in February.

In the report, the United States noted that the military committee that took control of Egypt in February has not yet ended the state of emergency that has been in place since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

"We await the lifting of the state of emergency," the report said, noting that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has promised to do so before parliamentary elections, currently scheduled for September.

The State Department said that many countries have ramped up their efforts to control nongovernmental groups that press for civil liberties, citing a new law in Ethiopia that cut the number of such groups to 1,655 from 3,522.

It also cited government efforts to control the flow of information over the Internet, saying that Saudi Arabia restricted access and violated its citizens' online privacy and that China "tightly controlled content on and access to" the Internet and detained those who criticized the government. (Editing by Vicki Allen)