Amidst tension: Burundi says elections will go ahead

Burundi's government insists that the first stage of controversial elections will go ahead next week despite the Central African nation's ongoing political crisis.

Interior Minister Edouard Nduwimana said that even after the withdrawal of support from the influential Catholic Church and the European Union, parliamentary polls will take place on Friday next week.

"There isn't any electoral process that doesn't suffer from problems, in Burundi or any other country. We regret that certain partners have pulled out of the process... but despite this, the elections will go ahead in good condition," he said.

"That the EU withdraws and that the Church withdraws its priests does not mean the elections should not take place. The Burundian people are thirsty for these elections and we need to do everything so they take place in good conditions," he added.

Burundi's crisis erupted over President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in office, with opposition and rights groups saying the move violates the constitution as well as the terms of a peace deal that ended a 13-year civil war in 2006.

Burundi's capital has been hit by weeks of civil unrest which has left at least 30 dead in a major security crackdown, and the crisis intensified earlier this month when a top general staged a failed coup attempt - increasing fears that the impoverished, landlocked country could be plunged back into widespread violence.

Parliamentary elections are due to be held on June 5, with a presidential poll scheduled for June 26.

Burundi's Catholic Church said earlier that it could not support the upcoming polls and that priests who serve in electoral commissions across the country would step down.

The opposition has also said the holding of free and fair elections is impossible, with independent media silenced and allegations of threats and intimidation by Nkurunziza's supporters.

Photographer sells others' Instagram photos as art

Richard Prince recently made huge profits from sale of strangers’ Instagram photos. This has been drawing a lot of negative reaction.

The painter and photographer blew up screenshots of other people's Instagrams, hung them at the Frieze Art Fair in New York and reportedly sold almost all of them for $90,000 each.

Prince called his exhibit "New Portraits," and the fact that he sold photos without the permission or even the knowledge of many of the original photographers is not sitting well with some people.

"New Portraits" originally went up last year at the Gagosian Gallery, but it was the sale of the pieces this month that has had a negative development for the man who has been "rephotographing" for years, taking pictures of other photographs and altering them.

The issue has prompted a conversation about copyright and fair use, a debate that Prince has found himself in the center of before.

The Washington Post reports that in 2008, "French photographer Patrick Cariou sued Prince after he re-photographed Cariou's images of Jamaica's Rastafarian community. Although Cariou won at first, on appeal, the court ruled that Prince had not committed copyright infringement because his works were 'transformative.' "

Inaugural Speech By President Buhari

I am immensely grateful to God Who has preserved us to witness this day and this occasion. Today marks a triumph for Nigeria and an occasion to celebrate her freedom and cherish her democracy. Nigerians have shown their commitment to democracy and are determined to entrench its culture. Our journey has not been easy but thanks to the determination of our people and strong support from friends abroad we have today a truly democratically elected government in place.

I would like to thank President Goodluck Jonathan for his display of statesmanship in setting a precedent for us that has now made our people proud to be Nigerians wherever they are. With the support and cooperation he has given to the transition process, he has made it possible for us to show the world that despite the perceived tension in the land, we can be a united people capable of doing what is right for our nation. Together we co-operated to surprise the world that had come to expect only the worst from Nigeria. I hope this act of graciously accepting defeat by the outgoing President will become the standard of political conduct in the country.

I would like to thank the millions of our supporters who believed in us even when the cause seemed hopeless. I salute their resolve in waiting long hours in rain and hot sunshine to register and cast their votes and stay all night, if necessary, to protect and ensure their votes count and were counted. I thank those who tirelessly carried the campaign on the social media. At the same time, I thank our other countrymen and women who did not vote for us but contributed to make our democratic culture truly competitive, strong and definitive.

Having just a few minutes ago sworn on the Holy Book, I intend to keep my oath and serve as President to all Nigerians.

I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody.

A few people have privately voiced fears that on coming back to office, I shall go after them. These fears are groundless. There will be no paying off old scores. The past is prologue.

Our neighbours in the Sub-region and our African brethren should rest assured that Nigeria under our administration will be ready to play any leadership role that Africa expects of it. Here I would like to thank the governments and people of Cameroon, Chad and Niger for committing their armed forces to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria.

I also wish to assure the wider international community of our readiness to cooperate and help to combat threats of cross-border terrorism, sea piracy, refugees and boat people, financial crime, cyber crime, climate change, the spread of communicable diseases and other challenges of the 21st century.

At home, we face enormous challenges. Insecurity, pervasive corruption, the hitherto unending and seemingly impossible fuel and power shortages are the immediate concerns. We are going to tackle them head on. Nigerians will not regret that they have entrusted national responsibility to us. We must not succumb to hopelessness and defeatism. We can fix our problems.

In recent times Nigerian leaders appear to have misread our mission. Our founding fathers, Mr. Herbert Macauley, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Malam Aminu Kano, Chief J.S. Tarka, Mr. Eyo Ita, Chief Denis Osadeby, Chief Ladoke Akintola and their colleagues worked to establish certain standards of governance. They might have differed in their methods or tactics or details, but they were united in establishing a viable and progressive country. Some of their successors behaved like spoilt children breaking everything and bringing disorder to the house.

Furthermore, we as Nigerians must remind ourselves that we are heirs to great civilizations: Shehu Othman Dan fodio’s caliphate, the Kanem Borno Empire, the Oyo Empire, the Benin Empire and King Jaja’s formidable domain. The blood of those great ancestors flow in our veins. What is now required is to build on these legacies, to modernize and uplift Nigeria.

Daunting as the task may be, it is by no means insurmountable. There is now a national consensus that our chosen route to national development is democracy. To achieve our objectives, we must consciously work the democratic system. The Federal Executive under my watch will not seek to encroach on the duties and functions of the Legislative and Judicial arms of government. The law enforcing authorities will be charged to operate within the Constitution. We shall rebuild and reform the public service to become more effective and more serviceable. We shall charge them to apply themselves with integrity to stabilize the system.

For their part, the legislative arm must keep to their brief of making laws, carrying out over-sight functions and doing so expeditiously. The judicial system needs reform to cleanse itself from its immediate past. The country now expects the judiciary to act with dispatch on all cases especially on corruption, serious financial crimes or abuse of office. It is only when the three arms act constitutionally that government will be enabled to serve the country optimally and avoid the confusion all too often bedeviling governance today.

Elsewhere, relations between Abuja and the States have to be clarified, if we are to serve the country better. Constitutionally, there are limits to powers of each of the three tiers of government but that should not mean the Federal Government should fold its arms and close its eyes to what is going on in the states and local governments. Not least the operations of the Local Government Joint Account. While the Federal Government cannot interfere in the details of its operations, it will ensure that the gross corruption at the local level is checked. As far as the constitution allows me, I will try to ensure that there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country. For I will not have kept my own trust with the Nigerian people if I allow others abuse theirs under my watch.

However, no matter how well organized the governments of the federation are, they cannot succeed without the support, understanding and cooperation of labour unions, organized private sector, the press and civil society organizations. I appeal to employers and workers alike to unite in raising productivity so that everybody will have the opportunity to share in increased prosperity. The Nigerian press is the most vibrant in Africa. My appeal to the media today; and this includes the social media is to exercise its considerable powers with responsibility and patriotism.

My appeal for unity is predicated on the seriousness of the legacy we are getting into. With depleted foreign reserves, falling oil prices, leakages and debts, the Nigerian economy is in deep trouble and will require careful management to bring it round and to tackle the immediate challenges confronting us, namely; Boko Haram, the Niger Delta situation, the power shortages and unemployment especially among young people. For the longer term, we have to improve the standards of our education. We have to look at the whole field of medicare. We have to upgrade our dilapidated physical infrastructure.

The most immediate is Boko Haram’s insurgency. Progress has been made in recent weeks by our security forces but victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja. The command centre will be relocated to Maiduguri and remain until Boko Haram is completely subdued. But we cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.

This government will do all it can to rescue them alive. Boko Haram is a typical example of small fires causing large fires. An eccentric and unorthodox preacher with a tiny following was given posthumous fame and following by his extra judicial murder at the hands of the police. Since then through official bungling, negligence, complacency or collusion, Boko Haram became a terrifying force taking tens of thousands of lives and capturing several towns and villages covering swathes of Nigerian sovereign territory.

Boko Haram is a mindless, godless group who are as far away from Islam as one can think of. At the end of the hostilities, when the group is subdued, the Government intends to commission a sociological study to determine its origins, remote and immediate causes of the movement, its sponsors, the international connexions to ensure that measures are taken to prevent a recurrence of this evil. For now the Armed Forces will be fully charged with prosecuting the fight against Boko Haram. We shall overhaul the rules of engagement to avoid human rights violations in operations. We shall improve operational and legal mechanisms so that disciplinary steps are taken against proven human right violations by the Armed Forces.

Boko Haram is not only the security issue bedeviling our country. The spate of kidnappings, armed robberies, herdsmen/farmers clashes, cattle rustlings all help to add to the general air of insecurity in our land. We are going to erect and maintain an efficient, disciplined people, friendly and well-compensated security forces within an overall security architecture.

The amnesty programme in the Niger Delta is due to end in December, but the Government intends to invest heavily in the projects, and programmes currently in place. I call on the leadership and people in these areas to cooperate with the State and Federal Government in the rehabilitation programmes, which will be streamlined and made more effective. As ever, I am ready to listen to grievances of my fellow Nigerians. I extend my hand of fellowship to them so that we can bring peace and build prosperity for our people.

No single cause can be identified to explain Nigerian’s poor economic performance over the years than the power situation. It is a national shame that an economy of 180 million generates only 4,000MW, and distributes even less. Continuous tinkering with the structures of power supply and distribution and close on $20billion expended since 1999 have only brought darkness, frustration, misery, and resignation among Nigerians. We will not allow this to go on. Careful studies are under way during this transition to identify the quickest, safest and most cost-effective way to bring light and relief to Nigerians.

Unemployment, notably youth unemployment features strongly in our Party’s Manifesto. We intend to attack the problem frontally through revival of agriculture, solid minerals mining as well as credits to small and medium size businesses to kick-start these enterprises. We shall quickly examine the best way to revive major industries and accelerate the revival and development of our railways, roads and general infrastructure.

Your Excellencies, My fellow Nigerians, I cannot recall when Nigeria enjoyed so much goodwill abroad as now. The messages I received from East and West, from powerful and small countries are indicative of international expectations on us. At home, the newly elected government is basking in a reservoir of goodwill and high expectations. Nigeria, therefore, has a window of opportunity to fulfill our long-standing potential of pulling ourselves together and realizing our mission as a great nation.

Our situation somehow reminds one of a passage in Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar:

There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life, Is bound in shallows and miseries.

We have an opportunity. Let us take it.

Thank you

Muhammadu Buhari, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander in-chief-of the Armed forces.

PDP Wishes Buhari Success in Office

Olisa Metuh, PDP National Publicity Secretary

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) congratulated General Muhammadu Buhari as he took office as President, yesterday.

The party, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh on Friday wished the new President success in piloting the affairs of the country in the next four years.

“The PDP wishes president Buhari a successful tenure as President of our dear nation. Indeed, we appreciate the fact that his success would be to the benefit of Nigeria as a nation. It is against this backdrop that we wish him good health, vigour and wisdom to pilot the affairs of the nation in the next four years.”

“We also join millions of Nigerians and the international community in commending and applauding immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan for a smooth transition as well as his democratic credentials and enduring legacies in ensuring the stability of the nation”, the statement said.

The PDP underscored that as a party that has nurtured and sustained democracy in the last 16 years, it would remain committed to the democratic ethos as well as the unity, stability and prosperity of Nigeria at all times.

Muhammadu Buhari's swearing in, a first for Nigeria

Moves toward power transfer

A new wave of air will soon cover the atmosphere of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy as new President, Muhammadu Buhari prepares to take up the baton of leadership.

Security across the capital was tight as power was peacefully transferred from the ruling party to the opposition for the first time ever in the west African nation.Thousands of policemen patrolled the Abuja's hotels and set up barricades on all roads leading in and out of the city.

Pre-event activities took their stead to make this day remarkable and memorial as can be seen below:

This marks the first peaceful transfer of power between rival parties in the nation.

When he takes over from Goodluck Jonathan, he'll have to tackle a stubborn militant insurgency and lingering fuel shortages despite Nigeria being a leading oil producer.

Buhari has ruled Nigeria before and was among military strongmen who dominated the country between the 1960s and the 1990s.

Nigeria On The Cusp of Epochal Glycogenesis by Ayobami Oyalowo

The long awaited 29th May 2015 is finally upon us. The Christian Bible says weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.

Nigeria went down into the abyss of despair, hope became a forlorn exercise in futility. Terrorism and insurgency ravaged our land like wildfire. Women, children, the old and the young became preys and targets. Life in Nigeria had degenerated into the Hobbesian circus of that which is so short, nasty and brutish.

The Nigerian economy was touted as the largest in Africa but the country is also home to millions of poor folks living on less than two dollars a day. Over 10 million children of primary school age currently out of school. Universities and Polytechnic students spend more time on forced, strike-induced holidays than they spend on their various campuses.

A huge population of Nigerian youths are either unemployed or underemployed. Transformation agenda messages were daily blared on radios and television sets, but such agendas were only heard on air but nobody can point at anything transformational in their daily existence. Food became plenty and inflation was minimal but we could only see and hear about it all on radio, TV and newspaper pages. Hunger, starvation and hopelessness assailed the people as if they were related.

At the height of the oil boom, our government officials became rich and fat at the expense of the people they purportedly serve.

Private jets littered our skies while the bulk of the people were left to struggle with decrepit commercials planes that were not only old and in bad shape, but are also poorly managed with most canceling and rescheduling flights at the drop of a hat to the detriment of travelers who continually miss business appointments and valuable time waiting endlessly for flights that were simply unavailable.

Nigeria was on a brink…

Nigeria's Akinwumi Adesina wins thrilling continental battle for AfDB presidency

New AfDB President Adesina: Said he wanted to “finish off the white elephants”

Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina was Thursday elected new president of the African Development Bank  (AfDB) in a thrilling vote that saw major heavyweights from North Africa and southern Africa stripped away early in the opening rounds.

The dapper bow-tie wearing Agriculture and Rural Development Minister will be a popular choice with the Africanist policy community but will also provide a major boost for Nigeria’s flagging geopolitical ambitions, with a new president set to be sworn-in today, May 29.

He has widely heralded innovations in hugely improving his country’s often-precarious food security position, but was not as steeped in finance as some of his rivals, the majority of who were all serving or former finance ministers. 

He, however, had arguably the most impressive academic credentials.

Three candidates had been left in the nerve-wracking race to head the 50-year-old bank. 

Adesina, Cape Verde’s Cristina Duarte and Kordje Bedoumra of Chad were the only contestants still standing by early evening on Thursday, as AfDB governors sought a successor to Donald Kaberuka, who will have served the maximum two terms.

A winning candidate needs at least 50.01% of both the regional and non-regional votes. The latter are members who are not from Africa and wield 40% of the vote. They include the US, China, Japan and a raft of European countries who were brought in 1982 to help boost the capital base of the bank, which was at that time starved of cash. 

Nigeria has the highest voting power of the bank’s members, ahead of the United States.

Sierra Leone’s Foreign Affairs minister Samura Kamara, who as finance minister led his country’s reconstruction effort, was the first to fall in the opening round, though few eyebrows would have been raised at his early exit, given his region had propped up three other stronger candidates.

But the identity of the next candidate to be eliminated was more surprising, as Ethiopia’s Sufian Ahmed tumbled out. His country’s finance and economic development minister had been one of the heavy-hitters expected to at least make the final rounds of voting.

Mali’s Birama Side lasted longer than forecast by analysts, becoming the third candidate to be knocked out. Tunisia’s Jaloul Ayed was next, as North Africa lost a chance to head the bank for a third time. 

The bank’s sixth president, Omar Kabbaj, is credited with instituting reforms that set the bank on its current path, while Kaberuka cemented its place as the continent’s premier development financier. 

Zimbabwe’s Thomas Sakala, a former AfDB insider, tumbled out next. He had come in on the backing of southern Africa, but his bid run into headwinds when it was revealed that he had been a benefit of “primaries” which is perceived to be against bank rules.

Nigerians might be forgiven for thinking the country is enjoying a brilliant spell, after president-elect Muhammadu Buhari became one of only a handful of African opposition leaders to defeat an incumbent comprehensively, but perhaps one of the proudest moments was the grace with which Goodluck Jonathan accepted defeat.

Nigeria’s outgoing Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala immediately tweeted’ “Great news! Nigeria’s Akin Adesina has won the AfDB presidency after our strong campaign! Great campaign! Great candidate!”

Beyond Adesina’s victory, his triumph signaling a significant change in continental power politics. Until recently, it was the custom that the big and richer nations kept the smaller countries happy by ceding the leadership of continental bodies to them.

Court Bars NDLEA, others from Arresting Kashamu

Buruji Kashamu

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, on Wednesday restrained security agencies from unlawfully arresting and extraditing Mr. Buruji Kashamu to the United States, to stand trial on drug-trafficking offences.

Justice Okon Abang, who presided over the case, declared as illegal, the arrest and planned extradition of the Senator-elect for Ogun East Senatorial District, in relation to drug-trafficking allegations from which he had been exonerated by two British Courts.

Justice Abang granted Mr. Kashamu’s request that having earlier obtained a judgment in Nigeria in January 2014, barring his arrest and extradition and the judgment having not been set aside, he could not be arrested and extradited.

A Federal High Court in Lagos had on Tuesday, ordered the NDLEA operatives to immediately vacate Mr. Kashamu’s Lagos residence.

The NDLEA denied receiving any court order, insisting that it would continue to maintain presence.

The Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke on Saturday, said that the arrest of the Senator-elect was not an extra-judicial action, explaining that a formal request had been made by the American Government, seeking his extradition and that same had been passed to the appropriate legal body.

Justice Abang then awarded a penalty of 20,000 Naira against the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), National Security Adviser to the President, and the Nigeria Security And Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Nigerian soldiers dismissed for 'cowardice in Boko Haram war'

The Nigerian Army has dismissed close to 200 soldiers as a result of their cowardice in tackling the Boko Haram insurgents terrorising communities in the nation’s north-east.

The Army said on Tuesday at the Rukuba Barracks in Jos, the Plateau State capital, that the militias were dismissed due to their negligence of duty. The dismissal is coming months after the military increased counter-terrorism operations in the north-east, chasing the terrorists, trying to establish an Islamic State, out of communities they had earlier occupied.

Last week, some 260 women and children rescued from the Boko Haram terrorists’ stronghold, Sambisa Forest, were relocated from a camp in the North-eastern city of Yola to an unspecified military facility.

The Nigerian troops fighting the terrorist group had also inflicted another crushing defeat on the Islamist militants at the Sambisa Forest, in a major offensive described as ‘merciless’ against the insurgency.

The Nigeria Army then warned that the army would not condole any act of cowardice, neglect or indiscipline from any of its personnel.

High intrigue as tightest race yet for AfDB president draws to a vote

Donald Kaberuka, outgoing President of the African Development Bank last annual meeting's address

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has in recent years sought to stay out of the hot political spotlight, preferring to shunt attention to its developmental agenda, but the tight race for its presidency has morphed into one of its most exciting yet, pitting high-level power play against individual credentials and the cashing in of political favours.

It threatens to rival if not surpass the drama of the 1995 election which saw a stalemate that was only resolved two months later, and in favour of Morocco’s Omar Kabbaj against the candidate from Nigeria, which again has a horse in the race.

Well-placed sources close to the behind-the-scene election games at the AfDB, which is currently holding its Annual General Meetings, which have provided the backdrop for outgoing president Donald Kaberuka’s swan song, indicated there is frenzied lobbying and tight horse trading, with the eight candidates Wednesday set to meet AfDB governors ahead of the anticipated May 28 vote.

The role of the so-called non-regionals, members who are not from Africa but who wield a powerful vote, will also be in the spotlight, with the US reportedly having told its missions that it had no preferred candidate. But few would believe it. Former AfDB president, Kwama Fordwor of Ghana in 1981, two years after the end of his tenure, complained how over-politicisation and bureaucracy had starved the now 50-year bank of much-needed capital, with the effect that the US did not make much-needed financial contributions for seven years until 1999 because it thought the bank was being run badly. 

What is known is once the green and yellow ballots have been counted, there will be a lot of hurt feelings, several bruised egos and grudges quietly filed away.  A winning candidate needs at least 50.01% of both the regional and non-regional votes.

Kabbaj is credited with the sweeping reforms that gave back the bank its credibility, especially with the non-regionals who were brought on board in 1982 to help increase its weak capital base and who now hold 40% of the voting power, but also with regional members who had complained of rampant AfDB interference in national affairs.

Stop Buhari’s Inauguration: Group requests Court

Nigerian President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari

A group, Advocacy for Societal Rights Advancement and Development Initiative, has instituted a fresh suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, from swearing the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday.

The suit filed on Tuesday is also seeking an order nullifying the certificate of return issued to Buhari by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The plaintiff hinged the suit on the allegation that Buhari did not qualify to contest the presidential election on the grounds that he gave false information about his academic qualification to INEC.

Between January and February 2015 there were about 10 cases instituted by various plaintiffs challenging Buhari’s eligibility to stand for the poll on the grounds of his academic qualification controversy. But after he won, the cases were withdrawn.

In the fresh suit filed by its lawyer, Mr. Philip Ekpo, the group alleged that Buhari did not meet the qualification enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act to stand for the March 28, 2015 presidential election. Buhari, INEC, the CJN are the 1st to the 3rd respondents in the suit respectively.

The plaintiff is seeking an order of interim injunction restraining the CJN “or any person acting in his capacity” from swearing in Buhari as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 2015 or any other date thereof pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The plaintiff seeks among other orders, “A declaration that the 3rd defendant be stopped from swearing in the 1st defendant as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as the issue of perjury involving the 1st defendant has not been resolved.”

“An order restraining the 3rd defendant or any person appointed for such purpose from swearing in the 1st defendant as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 2015 or any future dates whatsoever for giving false information to the 2nd respondent on oath.”

“An order annulling the Certificate of Return given to the 1st defendant by the 2nd defendant.”

The grounds canvassed by the plaintiff read, “The 1st respondent (Buhari) gave false information in the affidavit he presented to the 2nd respondent (INEC) and on the strength of which he contested and purportedly won the presidential election which was conducted by the 2nd respondent on March 28, 2015.

“The 1st respondent deposed to an affidavit dated November 24, 2014 that his West African School Leaving Certificate is in the custody of the Secretary to the Military Board.

“The Nigerian Army on January 20, 2015, said that in the personal file of the 1st respondent with the Nigerian Army, they do not have the original copy of his West African School Leaving Certificate nor does the Nigerian Army have the Certified True Copy of his WASSCE results neither do they have a photocopy of the said result.

“The 1st respondent has not met the qualifications enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act, Cap E6, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2010 (as amended) to have contested the position of President of Nigeria at the 2015 general elections.

“That the authority conferred by Section 140 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on the 3rd respondent to administer oath of office to any person who will occupy the office of the President of Nigeria cannot be exercised in respect of the 1st respondent who has not fulfilled the requirements of the same constitution and the Electoral Act as it relates to his eligibility to occupy the office of President of Nigeria.”

Element Under Review: Unbihexium (Ubh)

Calculations concerning the origin of the universe show that unbihexium is a "primordial superheavy element", meaning that it was formed in supernova explosions in a very early period. Further calculations show that an isotope of this element, having 126 protons and 184 neutrons, should have a high stability and that large amounts of this isotope must have been present when the earth was formed.

It is assumed that giant monazite halos, seen in a black mica called biotite, derive from the decay of this element. Other supposed traces of its decay are found in meteorites, namely Angra dos Reis in Brasil, Kapoeta in Sudan, Toluca in Mexico, El Taco in Argentina, and Nakhala in Egypt [2].

Present experimental plans for the production of element 126 are the nuclear fusion of hafnium with xenon, palladium with bromine, and thorium with krypton.

Proposed Poem

You blossomed

in ancient times

in the burst

of exploding

stars.

Now people are searching

for your ashes on Earth,

in giant halos of mica

and in stones

from the sky.

And there are

also those

who are striving

to see you blossom

among us,

as a tiny star,

with Hafnium

and a beam

of Xenon,

right here

in the lab.

NUPENG and PENGASSAN Call off Strike: Fuel crisis coming to a halt soon

Marketers commence 24-hr loading

The end appears in sight for the persistent fuel scarcity that has rocked most cities in the country, as the Senate committees on Petroleum brokered a truce among the feuding stakeholders in the sector.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe, who presided over a meeting alongside his counterpart in the Upstream Committee, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, told newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, that the oil marketers, as well as unions in the sector had all agreed to end the scarcity.

The meeting, held at the New Senate wing, was attended by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), major and independent oil marketers. Other stakeholders in attendance included the NNPC, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depots and Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), among others.

According to Senator Abe, the meeting resolved that stakeholders, as well as the striking workers, immediately call off the strike, while oil lifting was to resume immediately.

The meeting resolved that oil marketers and depot owners, as well as the NNPC, must commence lifting of petroleum products within six hours of the resolution, while depot owners are to ensure 24 hours service within the next two weeks, to ensure that fuel situation is normalised across the country.

It was also agreed that the committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), set up to reconcile outstanding debts owed oil marketers, should continue its assignment.

The meeting resolved that if the committee was unable to complete its assignment within the life of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, the incoming administration would take over.

Minister of Finance and the oil marketers were, however, unable to agree at the meeting on the correct figures owed the marketers by the government.

While the marketers claimed that government was owing N200 billion, the minister insisted that over N150 billion had not been verified.

The meeting was also told that the striking workers, under the aegis of  Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria PENGASSAN and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), had called off their strike.

The meeting at a stage went into closed door, ostensibly to allow some form of reconciliation between government delegation and the marketers.

The agreement, as read out by Senator Abe, indicated that “the Minister of Finance will give an undertaking to the major marketers (MOMAN) and DAPMAN that the work of the committee, being headed by the CBN/PPPRA will be concluded.”

"If it is concluded in verifying the outstanding claims before the end of the life of this administration, it would be reflected in the handover notes to the new president.”

"If it is not concluded, then, the fact that such a committee was set up and is working will be reflected in the handover notes and a copy of the letter, conveying the existence of this committee, will be sent to MOMAN and DAPMAN and also, a copy will be sent to us in this committee.”

“On the basis of that agreement, MOMAN will offer whatever cooperation that is needed to enable lifting of petroleum products to begin nationwide within six hours.