5 3 Nigerian Tribune _ _ _ F,--r:.::iday, 8 April, 2011

Oyo govt distributes N90m " cheques, 80 motorcycles to farmers

By Seye Adeniyi

D ETERMINED to make Oyo State one of the food baskets

of the country, the Oyo State government, on Thursday, distributed cheques worth N90 million to farmers in different parts of the state, to empower them and en­hance their food production capacity.

Ibadan, before distributing the cheques to them, said the state government was deter­mined to banish hunger and achieve' food security for the people of the state.

According to him, the of­ficial inauguration and dis­tribution of motorcycles to facilitators ' as well as cheques to farmers partici­pating in the National Programme for Food Secu-

rity (NPFS), Root and Tu~ , . Expansion '- Programme

(RTEP) and FADAMA III projects in the state we~e parts of the promises of Gov­ernor Adebayo Alao-Akala to boost agricul tural devel­opment in every part of the state.

The commissioner said the occasion marked an­other step and a demon­stration of the commitment of the current administra- . tion in the state to partner with relevant stakeholders, in order to ensure food se­rurity.

NEWS Oyo ACN alleges plan to disrupt NASS election ~t~O;~~~~~ .Osun PDP alleges plan to hack into INEe computer 1. ~~ess of Nigeria organisation, Mr Yanju cially designed ·for that pur­

(ACN) has alerted the Inde- Adegbite, the party said it pose. pendent National Electoral had been inundated with The alarm followed a re­Commission (!NEC) and se- reports that stalwarts of the lease by the state chapter of rurity agencies to an alleged PDP in the state had been the ACN, in which it ac­plot by the state chapter of threatening ACN members cused security agencies of the Peoples Democratic that they would disrupt the seizing laptops belonging to Party (PDP) to disrupt the re- election tomorrow, to forstall its ICf consultant. scheduled National Assem- the massive tum out of vot- The ACN said there was bly election tomorrow. ers in areas identified as no law barring it from "de-

In a statement released in strongholds of the ACN. veloping softwares to moni-Ibadan, on Tuesday, by the The campaign organi- tor elections." . Director of Publicity of the ' sation also said creation of · Osun State chairman of Senator Ajirnobi campaign more jobs for the citizens of the PDP, Sunday Ojo Will­

The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Re­sources and Rural Develop­ment, Mr Kunle Ishola, while addressing hundreds of farmers from different parts of the state that gath­ered inside the farmers' hall of the Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP), Ibadan/ Ibarapa zonal headquarter, Moor Plantation, Apata,

Again, !NEe postpones NASS election in 25 states ' the state was close to Senator iams, in a statement issued Ajirnobi's heart, which he on Thursday, urged security would irnplementifvoted for agencies to intensify efforts as governor of the state. at aborting the plans of the (Continued from page 4)

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has protested plan by the INEC to hold only the election into the House of Representatives in Ekiti South constituencies I and II tomorrow, saying that "If INEC does not have

We'll sanction election cheats in Nigeria -us (Continued from page 4) on Golden opportunity for

Nigeria while exchanging views with stakeholders in Abuja, said the Federal Gov­ernment was not solely re­sponsible for the S).Ia:ess of "these watershed elections."

. materials to conduct the National AsSembly election throughout the state, it should postpone them to April 26." .

The state chairman of the party, Chief Bola Olu­Ojo, said the PDP did not believe that it was because of materials that INEC shifted the polls, adding that "even in the South sena­torial district, where !NEC wants to hold House of Representatives , election, materials were used last Saturday." .

Chief Olu-Ojo said "our position is .that there should not be staggered elections

in Ekiti, because this will allow for deployment of state goverment machinery to the two federal constitu­encies on Saturday.

"Holding election in just two ou t of the six federal constituencies in the state would amount to a by-elec­tion and we all saw wha~ the government in Ekiti did during the Moba Lotal Government by-election.

"Therefore, INEC should hold all the NASS elections in Ekiti the Same day, else we will be forced to believe that !NEC was carrying out the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) agenda.

It said that rather than ACN, with the connivance sacking the existing civil sec- of the state Resident Elec­vants, the administration toral Commission (REC), Dr would' employ additional Rufus Akeju, to compromise 20,000 youths, in order to re- the !NEC system and its duce the rate of unemploy- database. ment in the state. 'Group advises Jega

According to the state-ment , "there is no iota of A 'political group in truth that ACN government Festac Town, Lagos will sack anyone, whether State, Achievers Fo-teacher or civil servant, to rum, has advised the chair­pay the N18,000 minimum man of the Independent wage. We have the resources National Election Cpmmis­tocaterfortheexistingwork-' sion (INEC), Professor' ers and the 20,000 to be ern- Attahiru Jega, to monitor the ployed." INEC officials and Resident

"We continue to sup­port fully Professor Jega and other like-minded election officials in their efforts to achieve better elections, but we are also monitoring the political environment closely. Presidency keeps Jega under surveillance

"Democracy is impor- (Continued from page 4)

On the allegation of at- Electoral Commissioners tempt by the PDP to cause (RECs)on the conduct of the chaos in the state, the party rescheduled National As­stated further that PDP stal- sembly election tomorrow. warts were also threatening According to a statement that they would change the signed by the public rela­

tant and we are prepared to The decisions taken af-take appropriate measures against those individuals ter the meeting, the N~

~:c ~~~~ ~a~~ :..:,;~ ~:~ l~i~e~~~n ~~!si~e~t Jonathan re-affirmed con­

places such as Cote d fidence in the !NEC chair-' Ivoire, Zimbabwe and man, noting that he would Madagascar. have forwarded a new

"If Nigeria's current name to the National As­elections are not a signifi- sembly if he did not have cant improvement over the confidence in him. 2007 and if the current elec- However, indication tionsdonotmeettheexpec- that INEC is now leaving tations of a majority of vot- no stone unturned towards ers, the Nigerian people will cleaning its house has lose confidence in their lead- started emerging, as it di­ers, their democratic insti- rected a probe of one of its tutions and the capacity of commissioners (name Nigeria to sustain a positive withheld), who was sus­democratic trajectory. pected.of being the mole to

'We believe Nigeria has some politicians. an historic opportunity to The suspicion against

the commissioner allow the Nigeria people the sternmed from a text mes-opportunity to elect their sage being circulated in local, state and national Abuja, detailing his alleged representatives in a climate unwholesome activities free of violence and intirni- which portrayed him as a dation. We hope thatoppor- mole. The text was sent also tuni ty will not be lost," he to some !NEC officials and added. . journalists.

Meanwhile, US Ambas- The commissioner in sador to Nigeria, Terence question, who hails from McCulley, on Thursday, one of the northern states, said only Nigerians, by according to investigations, their vote and by their com- had raised the issue at a mitment to democracy, meeting of top officials could ensure that the elec- which was held at the!NEC tions are free, fair, and trans- headquarters the previous parent. day, wi.th, the claim .that he

He said the US encour-- was bemg blackmailed. aged all eligib~e Nigeri~,. .. .. H~ reportedly told the to turn out agam and prove ,meeting., that he could trace to the world how much t~e'attempt to blackmail they believed in the derno- him to a hange~-{)n who, he

. . ddin th SaId, made futile attempts cratic process, a g at to extort money from him It was only through a sus- , for no just cause stressing tained commitment to de- that he resorted'to black­mocracy that free,. fair, cred- mail to get at him. ible and peaceful electio,ns It was learnt, however" could be promoted. that all the policemen and

The envoy, who spoke men of the State Security

Services (SSS) in !NEC had been directed to probe the commissioner, with a view to unravelling the allega- . tions levelled against him.

Meanwhile, the police has announced the restric­. tion' of movement from 10.00 p.m on Friday, to 6.00 a~m on Saturday.

Also, there will be re­striction of people from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p .m on Satur­day within the voting areas and centres.

Force Public Relations Officer, Olusola Amore, who announced this on Thursday, reminded Nige­rians that the restriction of movement during the elec­tion would remain in force ,till the end of election.

According to him, this restriction order was to en­able law enforcement agents to monitor the activi­ties of miscreants, thugs and other criminal ele­ments, who might intend to use the cover of darkness to interrupt the smooth con­duct of election.

Those on essential du­ties and !NEC officials are exempted from this restric-tion order. .

In another development, the Inspector-General of Po.lice, Alhaji Hafiz Ringim, on''Thursday, approved the dismissal of two policemen who were found to have engaged in illegal election duty.

The dismissed police­men are No. 210711 !shaya David and No. 430026 Yusuf Abdullahi

The men were formerly attached to 44PMF Force Headquarters, Abuja and without lawful excuse or permission, left their all""

cated place of duty and venue of polling units in tions officer of the, group, embarked on illegal escort many parts of the state, ahead Kola Folorunso, "with the duty to Akure, Ondo State, of the election tomorrow. shaky start of the ongoing where they were arrested. Meanwhile, the Osun elections, the entire Nigeri-

The defaulters claimed State chapter of the PDP has ans will hold Professor Jega to be. on escort duty of un- raised the alarm over a plan responsible for its success speCIfIed sum of money, by the ACN to hack into the or failure at the end of the which they said belonged - computer system of the day." to a lawmaker. INEe, using a software spe-

Lagos Metro Line: Jonathan's campaign tackles Buhari Taiwo Adisa, Abuja

TI presidential ca.rn­paign council of President Goodluck

Jonathan, .on Thursday, de­scribed the excuses given by the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progres­sive Change (CPC), Major­General Muhammmadu Buhari (retd), for the cancel­lation of the Lagos Metroline Project as scandalous and a slap'on the face of the Lagos people.

The campaign council, in a statement by its media department, said it was scandalous that Buhari had suddenly found voice to defend the inexplicable er­ror, more than 30 years af­ter he committed the crime.

The council also said Buhari's excuses amounted to contempt for the people of Lagos, who daily suffered the traffic gridlock on the roads.

"After almost 30 years of silence, Major-General Buhari has finally found his voice and provided a spe­cious political excuse for his disastrous cancellation of the Lagos metro line project.

'While speaking with his political associates in Lagos,

,Buhari explained that the

project was cancelled be­cause his government did not want to take more loans or devalue the naira.

"It is interesting that Buhari has found his voice now, when the presidential election .is days away, after shOwing contempt and dis­dain for the people of Lagos and, indeed, Nigerians, by refusing to provide any ex­planation for the numerous acts of wickedness and high-handedness of the military dictatorship he led.

"Sadly though, Major­General Buhari is all too economical with the facts. His spokesman, Mr Yinka Odurnakin, told Saturday Punch a few weeks ago that Buhari knew nothing about the cancellation and that it was the late Gbolahan Mudashiru who unilaterally cancelled the contract. But today, Buhari has categorically repudi­ated Mr Odumakin's poorly concocted lies, But was Buhari Iiirnself telling the whole truth?

'We wish to state, how­ever, that Buhari is just try­ing to score cheap political points and is being clever­by-half when he said the project was terminated be-

i .-

cause of financing issues. "Firstly, the project

which was initiated by the administration of "Alhaji Lateef Jakande, was going on smoothly and on sched­ule before the coup-d' etat by General Buhari. The project would, no doubt, have been completed on time if not for General Buhari's coup and the transportation night­mare Lagosians face today would not have existed.

"The visionary Jakande administration had con­cluded all the plans to fi­nance the project, putting everything in place for 'its successful execution. The government had secured a $450 million loan at six per cent fixed interest rate for 25 years. As at the time the project was cancelled, the government had paid parts of the loan and, therefore, had no worry about financ­ing the project," the state­ment read.

The council said the cancellation of the Lagos metro line project by Buhari was shortSighted and im­moral, adding that the people . of Lagos and, in­deed, Nigeria would not be fooled by cheap political moves to win votes.