The Week in Review

On a sad note, the week ends with an order by Cameroonian soldiers giving Nigerians living in the Bakassi Peninsula up to today to vacate the said territory despite the original "August 28, 2008 pull-out date." Earlier in the week, President Umar Yar'Adua had written the senate asking for ratification of the Green Trees Agreement which sought the handing over of the peninsula to Cameroon. The Nigerian fishermen whose source of livelihood in the area are beginning to tell their ordeal since Nigerian soldiers left the peninsula last year. Anietie Akpan of Guardian Newspapers reports from Calabar:

"...Narrating their ordeal to The Guardian in Ibibio language in Abana, one of the fishermen, Mr Etim Udo Inyang said: "On Wednesday (December 12), some Cameroun soldiers who have occupied this place since our (Nigerian) soldiers left last year, came to us and said we must leave on or before December 15, otherwise there will be problem." "For fear of being maltreated and my fishing instrument seized from me, I have left Atabong to stay in Abana (headquarters) of Bakassi. I don't know what will happen next," Inyang added. Chairman of Bakassi Council, Chief Emmanuel Etene, confirmed the incident. He said: " Reports reaching us from our people at Ekpot Abia, that is, Atabong East in Bakassi, is that on Wednesday December 12, the Camerounian soldiers there gave Nigerians living there until December 15 (today) to leave the territory otherwise they will face the consequences..."

Interestingly, the Federal Government of Nigeria is getting serious about franchise, starting from its fire service which had been monopolized by the center since independence. According to Deji Elumoye of This Day, the federal governmend has summed up handing over the federal fire service to the states. This was made known by the Minister of Interior, retired Major General Godwin Abbe while paying a courtesy call to Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola. It's about time, I guess, and hopefully the Nigerian Police Force would follow, meaning our respective communities would be policed by the people we know, people we perhaps eat and dine with which sets the tone for a thorough democratic fabric.

Religious riots resurfaced again in the state of Bauchi where Churches and mosques were razed to the ground by religious fanatics who had complained about a mosque being built by a secondary school in Kagadama. Perhaps the 2000 Sharia riots in the North wasn't much lesson to be learnt.

The construction of Primary Health Care Centers in the nation's 774 local governments initiated by the Olusegun Obasanjo's administration was cancelled by the National Economic Council on the ground the decision was unconstitutional coupled with "irregular" deduction of money from the accounts of the local governments. Vanguard's Ben Agande writes;

"THE National Economic Council, yesterday, cancelled the contract awarded by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo for the construction of Primary Health Care Centres in the 774 local governments in the country, saying the contract was not only unconstitutional, the deduction of money from the accounts of the local governments was irregular. President Umaru Yar'Adua had set up a committee to investigate the deduction of money from the accounts of local governments in the country to fund the construction of the Primary Health Care Centres following an outcry from local and state governments that they were not consulted before the decision to deduct the money from local government accounts was made. Mathan Nigeria Limited won the contract for the construction of the primary health care centres in the 774 Local Government Areas of the country. The then Minister of Information and Communications, Mr Frank Nweke, had alleged that the leadership of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria was taken along before the contracts were awarded. But announcing the suspension of the contract in August this year, the Minister of Finance, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, explained that some illegalities had been detected in the deductions. He explained that “as at now, N18 billion has been deducted although not all of that has been paid over to the contractors. N3.7 billion deducted for July has not been remitted and that is being kept in an escrow account in the CBN."

In today's news, the tabloid, Daily Sun reports that the presidency is now panicking since the arrest of former Delta State Governor, James Onanefe Ibori on too many complicated reasons from the ex-governors days as intelligence czar. Heads about to roll or just blowing hot air?

Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Alhaji Abdulahi Bayawo was yesterday arraingned at a Lagos High Court for helping drug smugglers escape. He was indicted on a six-count charge for drug related offences using his position to aid drug suspects.

The ex-governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose landed himself in Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC) net while paying a surprise visit to the commission at its Ikoyi, Lagos office. The weeping Fayose who is also facing murder charges in Ekiti State will be flown to Kaduna next week and charged for the crimes levelled against him. Sesan Olufowobi and Tony Amokeodo of The Punch reports:

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on Friday broke down and wept at the Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to the bewilderment of the commission’s officials who had to urge him to calm down.According to an official of the commission, who requested that his name be withheld because he was not the spokesman, the former governor had to mop his tears with three handkerchiefs. The source said that while he shed tears, Fayose kept blaming his bosom friend, Gbenga James, for his predicament, saying he knew nothing about the fraud in the poultry contract handled by James. He also claimed that the car James bought for his mother was before the contract and not a gratification as was suggested in the media. Fayose’s conduct at the EFCC’s office contrasted sharply with his initial posture when he arrived the office at about 11 am.

The visiting Nigerian President, Yar'Adua has reversed his earlier decision and agreed to work with Africa High Command (AFRICOM) in achieving its peace initiatives on the shores of the African Continent. Security in Nigeria, the Gulf of Guinea, Education, HIV/AIDS were among other things discussed with President George Bush. "I briefed him on our current strides to change things in Nigeria and our commitment to equity, fairness, good governance, transparency and accountability," Yar'Adua told reporters.