No BRT Bus Fell At 3rd Mainland Bridge

Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) and LAGBUS have said no BRT bus fell into the lagoon as rumoured. It would be recalled stories started spreading about a full-loaded BRT bus falling into the ocean, and rescue operations are at work. However, this has been denied. "Some people can be mischievous! Nothing of such has happened and nobody is praying for such a disaster," the LAGBUS authorities revealed. The FRSC twitter handle had early this morning posted "A fully loaded BRT bus fell off the 3rd mainland bridge into the Lagos lagoon, 26-11-12. Rescue work in progress. Motorists be cautious". Now, it has been denied. Thank goodness. Nigerians sure are experts at taking rumour mongering to its highest level.

Still On Kaduna Blast...

Kaduna State Government Monday relaxed by 12 hours, the 24-hour curfew imposed on the state following Sunday’s bombing of three churches in Zaria and Kaduna. The curfew will now take effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Saidu Adamu made this known while speaking to newsmen after the State Security Council meeting. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the state government had imposed the curfew following a violent protest that erupted in Kaduna after the attacks. Hundreds of youths had taken to the streets in Trikania and Gonin-Gora areas of the metropolis, protesting against the bomb blast near Shalom Church in the Trikania neighbourhood. Explosions also occurred at CKC Church in Sabon Gari area, as well as the ECWA Church, Wusasa, both in Zaria. Scores died in the attacks while many were injured. *Vanguard*

Ojukwu Comes To Aba...Exclusive Pictures

Eze ndigbo, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was finally brought to his beloved Aba for the last time. It proved to be a very emotional event. Enyimba stadium was filled to the teeth. He was shown all the love he truly deserves. See some of the pictures below.














Jega Makes Promises On Sokoto Election

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has promised to ensure the gubernatorial election set to take place in Sokoto state becomes one of the best, if not the best.
"Sokoto election would be the best ever and because of our commitment to free and fair election, we have left no stone unturned," he stated confidently.
He however has one fear.
"Our apprehension in Sokoto State is on the youth who move freely in the street with dangerous weapons like cutlasses and machetes. Please draw the attention of your supporters to this; you must insist that they don't carry weapons during the election and they must conduct themselves within the ambit of the laws," he warned.
He did not fail to announce the success story of the previous elections in his control.
"The election in April was adjudged to be the best in the country but we know that there are some areas that needed to be corrected and since the April elections we have been taking it as a challenge to address the imperfections. From Kogi, Adamawa and Bayelsa states we have noted remarkable improvement," he boasted.
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) would beg to disagree with him, however. Elections conducted in the three states he mentioned have been seriously contested by the party, who would always suspect foul play. All these are what Jega wants to get rid of, anyway.
My only fear is Jega's only fear. With youths wielding sticks and objects, ready to pelt anyone with them, there is bound to be trouble, even if the elections turn out free and fair. Now that it has been said, the security operatives would not claim they are unaware of this.

"In Nigeria, Boko Haram Is Not The Problem"

I wouldn't say I agree entirely with everything this man from America has written in New York Times. But read and make your mind up what you really think on this malaise.
GOVERNMENTS and newspapers around the world attributed the horrific Christmas Day bombings of churches in Nigeria to "Boko Haram" - a shadowy group that is routinely described as an extremist Islamist organization based in the northeast corner of Nigeria. Indeed, since the May inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the Niger Delta in the country's south, Boko Haram has been blamed for virtually every outbreak of violence in Nigeria.
But the news media and American policy makers are chasing an elusive and ill-defined threat; there is no proof that a well-organized, ideologically coherent terrorist group called Boko Haram even exists today. Evidence suggests instead that, while the original core of the group remains active, criminal gangs have adopted the name Boko Haram to claim responsibility for attacks when it suits them.

The United States must not be drawn into a Nigerian "war on terror" - rhetorical or real - that would make us appear biased toward a Christian president. Getting involved in an escalating sectarian conflict that threatens the country's unity could turn Nigerian Muslims against America without addressing any of the underlying problems that are fueling instability and sectarian strife in Nigeria.

Since August, when Gen. Carter F. Ham, the commander of the United States Africa Command, warned that Boko Haram had links to Al Qaeda affiliates, the perceived threat has grown. Shortly after General Ham's warning, the United Nations' headquarters in Abuja was bombed, and simplistic explanations blaming Boko Haram for Nigeria's mounting security crisis became routine. Someone who claims to be a spokesman for Boko Haram - with a name no one recognizes and whom no one has been able to identify or meet with - has issued threats and statements claiming responsibility for attacks. Remarkably, the Nigerian government and the international news media have simply accepted what he says.

In late November, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security issued a report with the provocative title: "Boko Haram: Emerging Threat to the U.S. Homeland." The report makes no such case, but nevertheless proposes that the organization be added to America's list of foreign terrorist organizations. The State Department's Africa bureau disagrees, but pressure from Congress and several government agencies is mounting.

Boko Haram began in 2002 as a peaceful Islamic splinter group. Then politicians began exploiting it for electoral purposes. But it was not until 2009 that Boko Haram turned to violence, especially after its leader, a young Muslim cleric named Mohammed Yusuf, was killed while in police custody. Video footage of Mr. Yusuf's interrogation soon went viral, but no one was tried and punished for the crime. Seeking revenge, Boko Haram targeted the police, the military and local politicians - all of them Muslims.

It was clear in 2009, as it is now, that the root cause of violence and anger in both the north and south of Nigeria is endemic poverty and hopelessness. Influential Nigerians from Maiduguri, where Boko Haram is centered, pleaded with Mr. Jonathan's government in June and July not to respond to Boko Haram with force alone. Likewise, the American ambassador, Terence P. McCulley, has emphasized, both privately and publicly, that the government must address socio-economic deprivation, which is most severe in the north. No one seems to be listening.

Instead, approximately 25 percent of Nigeria's budget for 2012 is allocated for security, even though the military and police routinely respond to attacks with indiscriminate force and killing. Indeed, according to many Nigerians I've talked to from the northeast, the army is more feared than Boko Haram.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram has evolved into a franchise that includes criminal groups claiming its identity. Revealingly, Nigeria's State Security Services issued a statement on Nov. 30, identifying members of four "criminal syndicates" that send threatening text messages in the name of Boko Haram. Southern Nigerians - not northern Muslims - ran three of these four syndicates, including the one that led the American Embassy and other foreign missions to issue warnings that emptied Abuja's high-end hotels. And last week, the security services arrested a Christian southerner wearing northern Muslim garb as he set fire to a church in the Niger Delta. In Nigeria, religious terrorism is not always what it seems.

None of this excuses Boko Haram's killing of innocents. But it does raise questions about a rush to judgment that obscures Nigeria's complex reality.

Many Nigerians already believe that the United States unconditionally supports Mr. Jonathan's government, despite its failings. They believe this because Washington praised the April elections that international observers found credible, but that many Nigerians, especially in the north, did not. Likewise, Washington's financial support for Nigeria's security forces, despite their documented human rights abuses, further inflames Muslim Nigerians in the north.

Mr. Jonathan's recent actions have not helped matters. He told Nigerians last week, "The issue of bombing is one of the burdens we must live with." On New Year's Eve, he declared a state of emergency in parts of four northern states, leading to increased military activity there. And on New Year's Day, he removed a subsidy on petroleum products, more than doubling the price of fuel. In a country where 90 percent of the population lives on $2 or less a day, anger is rising nationwide as the costs of transport and food increase dramatically.

Since Nigeria's return to civilian rule in 1999, many politicians have used ethnic and regional differences and, most disastrously, religion for their own purposes. Northern Muslims - indeed, all Nigerians - are desperate for a government that responds to their most basic needs: personal security and hope for improvement in their lives. They are outraged over government policies and expenditures that undermine both.

The United States should not allow itself to be drawn into this quicksand by focusing on Boko Haram alone. Washington is already seen by many northern Muslims - including a large number of longtime admirers of America - as biased toward a Christian president from the south. The United States must work to avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy that makes us into their enemy. Placing Boko Haram on the foreign terrorist list would cement such views and make more Nigerians fear and distrust America.

**Jean Herskovits, a professor of history at the State University of New York, Purchase, has written on Nigerian politics since 1970**

Calabar Carnival Pictures

I could be easily forgiven for trying to at least have fun for once. After all, all writing and no play makes Kelechi a quiet guy, which is surely not wanted. So the only place to raise my spirit common-sensically had to be Calabar, and the carnival the perfect scene (Kaduna? Not a chance! Abuja? You've got to be kidding me). It gave me the opportunity to not only see beaus and belles, but also reminded me that good governance could actually be achieved in Nigeria. It may have come late, but when exactly is late, for an event that would live long in your memory?
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