Photos: See what this beauty wore to the American Music Awards

Photos: See what this beauty wore to the American Music Awards

TV personality Bleona Qereti dressed this way to the American Music Awards last night #diarisgodo!

Speculations mount over Jega’s resignation

on April 06, 2011   /   in 2011 April Polls Update, Headlines 1:08 pm   /   Comments

 By Okey Ndiribe, Asst. Political Editor

There were speculations yesterday, that Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega may have resigned from office.

The speculations became rife after the INEC boss held a marathon meeting with the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) across the country. The meeting  lasted for over seven hours.

At the end of the meeting, both local and foreign journalists who had been waiting for the usual briefing from Jega , were told that he would not address the media on the outcome of the meeting until tomorrow(today)

 It was the INEC Director of Public Affairs (DPA) Mr Emmanuel Umenger and the Chief Press Secretary to the Commission’s boss Mr Kayode Idowu who informed journalists at the crowded INEC Media Centre about the directive that they should return tomorrow(today) for a briefing on the outcome of the meeting. 

Umenger  spoke first and later handed over the microphone to Mr. Idowu for further explanation on the directive that had been given to the waiting journalists. Several journalists then seized the opportunity to ask Mr Idowu to comment on rumours that had been circulating that Jega had resigned, but he refused to do so. The question was asked repeatedly but Idowu avoided it and instead addressed other issues.

In response to another question he was asked Idowu had replied: “ What the understanding was at the meeting was that  there were logistical problems that would be addressed. And if for any reason there is a decision to be taken  concerning constituencies then the Chairman would let you know”.

Then almost in a chorus several journalists asked: “ Is it true that the INEC Chairman has resigned? This is the rumour making the rounds”

Then others asked: “ Why is he not here to address us?”

Idowu then replied: “ What happened was that the Commission has decided that the election of  next Saturday must have credibility. For instance, the issue of transportation and supply of materials has been addressed. Now all those materials are available for deployment.”

INEC Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega during the nationwide broadcast announcing the postponement of the N/Assembly elections, Saturday, in Abuja.

When the question about rumours concerning Jega’s resignation was asked once again, Idowu responded by saying “we don’t work with rumours here. We don’t react to rumours”.

 Meanwhile a prominent  online publication ( not Vanguardngr.com ) published a story in its yesterday edition that powerful Nigerians close to President Jonathan are pushing for the removal of  Jega.

According to the publication: “ They are using last Saturday’s botched parliamentary elections as a convenient peg, and are mobilizing members of the National Assembly to return to Abuja to carry out a speedy trial and removal of Jega from office.”

The publication further stated that  The plot, which has identified  several top Nigerians centres on the “disloyalty of Prof. Jega to President Jonathan.

The publication quoted reliable sources  which revealed last Monday at a stormy  meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja, which was presided over by Jonathan, the top officials of the Federal Government railed against Jega’s bungling of the Saturday election.

Jega’s “weakness,” according to several sources familiar with the discussions, is his alleged link with opposition candidates and civil society advocates.

China blasts US comments on island project as ‘irresponsible’

Beijing on Monday dismissed as “irresponsible” US criticism of its construction of an artificial island reportedly large enough for an airstrip in a disputed section of the South China Sea.

The statement by China’s foreign ministry came after a US military spokesman urged Beijing to stop what it described as a vast land reclamation project on the Spratly Islands.

The island chain, which the Chinese call Nansha, is also claimed in whole or part by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei.

“External forces have no right to make irresponsible remarks,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing when asked about Washington’s comments.

“The construction activities China is undertaking are for the improvement of the working and living conditions of the island-stationed personnel, so that they can better fulfil their international obligations and responsibilities in search and rescue,” she added.

A report last week by IHS Jane’s Defence revealed new details of a land reclamation project China is undertaking on Fiery Cross Reef, known as Yongshu in Chinese.

Beijing claims nearly all of the resource-rich South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have their own claims, several of them also building structures on reefs or occupying islands.

According to the IHS Jane’s Defence report the artificial island is 3,000 metres (9,842 feet) long and 200-300 metres wide, one of several reclamation projects being pursued by China in the region but apparently the first that could accommodate an airstrip.

A harbour has been dug out on the east side of the reef that appears large enough for tankers and naval warships, it said.

Days after the report, US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Pool called on China and other governments to cease such construction.

Outspoken People’s Liberation Army Major General Luo Yuan also defended the project, which he called “completely legitimate and justifiable” in an interview with the state-run Global Times newspaper.

“The US is obviously biased considering that the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam have already set up military facilities,” Luo was quoted as saying.

In a separate editorial the newspaper contended that China was building on the reef “mainly to improve the living standards of the reef-stationed soldiers”.

“China’s construction on the Yongshu Reef will not be affected by US words,” the paper wrote.

It added: “The Yongshu Reef is becoming a big island, which shows China’s prominent construction capabilities.”

Photos: Model reportedly had two ribs removed to get an hourglass shape

Photos: Model reportedly had two ribs removed to get an hourglass shape

A popular Miami video model and stripper named Estrella reportedly had two of her ribs removed to get the perfect hourglass shape...that she obviously believed she couldn't get with the help of body magic?

MTO reports that she flew to South America to have her bottom two ribs removed. The controversial procedure is banned in the US (except for health reasons) because of how dangerous it is. It also has an extensive recovery time of up to 6 months sometimes. See more photos after the cut...

‘B’Haram slits throats of some, tied hands and legs of others before throwing them into the lake’

 

MAIDUGURI — Suspected Boko Haram extremists ambushed and slaughtered 48 fish vendors near Nigeria’s border with Chad, the head of their association said, the latest violence to hit the country’s volatile northeast.

“Scores of Boko Haram fighters blocked a route linking Nigeria with Chad near the fishing village of Doron Baga on the shores of Lake Chad on Thursday and killed a group of 48 fish traders? on their way to Chad to buy fish,” Abubakar Gamandi, head of the fish traders association, told AFP.

Gamandi said that after setting up a barricade at Dogon Fili, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Doron Baga in Borno state, the attackers stopped a convoy of fish vendors around midday, silently slaughtering some and drowning others in the lake.

“The Boko Haram gunmen slit the throats of some of the men and tied the hands and legs of the others before throwing them into the lake to drown,” Gamandi told AFP by telephone from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

It was unclear if the motive for the gruesome attack was robbery or if there were other reasons for the killings. Boko Haram has at times targeted residents seemingly indiscriminately in its deadly insurgency.

Doron Baga, 180 kilometres from Maiduguri, is the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), comprising troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger fighting the Islamist group.

The MNJTF was formed in 1998 to fight trans-border crime but its mandate has been expanded as part of efforts to tame the Boko Haram insurgency in the region.

Gamandi claimed the assailants killed all of their victims without using their guns.

“The attackers killed their victims silently without the use of the gun to avoid attracting attention from the multi-national troops,” he said.

News of the attack was slow to emerge due to the destruction of mobile phone towers in the area by Boko Haram in previous attacks.

A military officer in Maiduguri confirmed it but said details were sketchy.

“We heard of the attack near Doron Baga but we don’t have any details because the area falls under the operational jurisdiction of the MNJTF,” the military officer said.
‘Barbaric act’ –
In nearby Niger, visiting French Prime Minister Manuel Walls condemned “a new barbaric act” by what he called “a terrorist organisation”.

“This is a new illustration of the threat posed by this group, this sect, on the people of Nigeria as well as those of neighbouring countries,” he said.

Incessant Boko Haram attacks have disrupted fishing and farming along the shores of Lake Chad. Fishermen from Doron Baga have been forced to abandon fishing and have turned to importing dried fish from neighbouring Chad.

Gamandi said the Dogon Fili route provided the safest passage for traders from Doron Baga to Chad as other routes are infested with Boko Haram gunmen who rob and kill travellers.

Last December at least seven fishermen were killed when Boko Haram Islamists attacked Doron Baga in a nighttime raid that left many homes burnt.

In August, the Islamists raided Dogon Baga and kidnapped 97 people after killing 28 villagers.

The hostages, including women and children, were loaded on speed boats and ferried across the lake into Chad.

Chadian troops rescued 85 of the hostages when they intercepted a convoy of buses transporting them from the shores.

More than 13,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began in 2009 and Boko Haram is now said to be in control of more than two dozen towns in Nigeria’s northeast in its quest for a hardline Islamic state.

The Islamists have made major gains over the past 18 months and violence has continued at a relentless pace in three northeastern states that had long been under a state of emergency.

The emergency measures expired this week and President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running for re-election in February, has yet to get a parliamentary approval for an extension.

In Lagos, Nigeria’s main opposition party claimed Sunday that security agents had ransacked its office in Lagos, arresting workers and seizing documents, in the latest flareup ahead of February elections.

FG to cut petrol subsidy by half in 2015

 

 

The Federal Government has said it plans to cut subsidies on petroleum products by half next year after sharp falls in global crude prices, spurred a reversal of its 2015 budget downwards.

President Goodluck Jonathan submitted the revised budget figures to lawmakers last week, proposing to spend 458.68 billion naira ($2.59 bln) on petrol subsidy in 2015, down from 971.14 billion naira presented for 2014.

It also assumed further cuts to petrol subsidies in 2016 to 408.68 billion naira and 371.18 billion naira for 2017.

The Minister of finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has proposed lowering the assumed benchmark oil price for the 2015 budget to $73 per barrel from the $78 proposed in September, after global crude prices collapsed.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters last week that declines in the price of oil, which has lost almost 30 percent since July, would impact the economy, requiring the government to cut non-essential spending and raise more revenues.

Recall that the FG tried to end subsidy in 2012 in efforts to cut government spending and encourage badly needed investment in local refining, doubling the price of a litre of petrol overnight to about 150 naira ($0.93) from about 65 naira

The budget proposals assumed an exchange rate of 162 naira to the U.S. dollar for 2015, weaker than 160 naira assumed for 2014. It expects the naira to weaken further to 163.50 in 2016, reaching 165 in 2017.

Toll rises to 57 as survivors tell of Afghan volleyball bombing

 

Survivors of a horrific suicide attack which killed 57 people at a volleyball game in eastern Afghanistan told Monday how the blast ripped through a crowd of spectators enjoying the final moments of the match.

In the country’s deadliest single attack since 2011, the bomber detonated his explosives Sunday as hundreds of young men and boys attended a tournament featuring three local teams in the volatile province of Paktika.

Separately, two NATO soldiers were killed in an attack in the east of Afghanistan on Monday morning, the coalition said, giving no further details.

Paktika provincial spokesman Mukhlis Afghan said in a statement the death toll from Sunday’s blast had risen to 57 after 15 people died of their injuries overnight.

“The game was about to end when we heard a big bang,” Salaam Khan, 19, told AFP at a military hospital in Kabul where he was flown for treatment to his injured chest and right leg.

“I was shouting for help. Just beside me was a dead army officer,” he said. “There were local police and commanders watching the game. I saw some killed and wounded.”

Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, said four local police were among the fatalities, but they did not appear to have been specially targeted.

The attack underlined the challenges facing President Ashraf Ghani, who came to power in September, as US-led NATO troops wind down operations and Afghan security forces take over full responsibility for fighting Taliban insurgents.

“I was watching the game, sitting on the ground with my brother, when the blast happened,” said Mohammad Rasoul, 11, who was wounded in the chest and whose brother was in intensive care.

“People were covered in blood all around me. There were many friends of mine among them.”

Many of the wounded were children or young men, wrapped in bloody bandages.

Doctor Seyawash, head of health services at the hospital in Kabul, told reporters that about 12 victims were in a critical condition. The injuries were from ball bearings packed in the bomb.

There was no immediate response from the Taliban, but the insurgents often distance themselves from attacks that claim many civilian lives.

 

- ‘Inhumane, un-Islamic’ -

 

The blast, in the Yahya Khail district of Paktika, came at about 5:00 pm (1230 GMT) Sunday as crowds peaked at the volleyball, a popular sport among young men in Afghanistan.

“I arrived after the bombing, it was an emergency situation. People were rushing the dead and wounded into cars,” said Ghulam Mohammad, 60, whose injured grandson cradled a teddy bear in hospital.

“I went looking for my son and grandson. My son was fine but my grandson was wounded and we came to Kabul in a helicopter.”

Late on Sunday President Ghani visited victims at the 400-bed military hospital in the Afghan capital.

He condemned the attack as “inhumane and un-Islamic”, adding that “this kind of brutal killing of civilians cannot be justified”.

Paktika, one of the most restive provinces in Afghanistan, borders Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, where many insurgent leaders seek refuge from NATO and Afghan forces.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif denounced the bombing and vowed to fight the “terrorism that is the common enemy of both countries”.

Paktika was also hit by a massive suicide blast in July, when a bomber driving a truck packed with explosives killed at least 41 people at a busy market in Urgun district.

In April last year 46 people — 36 civilians and 10 troops and police — were killed in a Taliban attack against the law courts in the western province of Farah.

A suicide blast at a shrine in Kabul on the Shiite holy day of Ashura in December 2011 killed 80.

Sunday’s attack occurred on the same day that the lower house of parliament approved agreements to allow about 12,500 NATO-led troops to stay on next year.

US-led NATO combat operations will finish at the end of this year, but the Taliban have launched a series of offensives that have severely tested Afghan soldiers and police.

The new NATO mission — named Resolute Support — will focus on supporting the Afghan forces, in parallel with US counter-terrorism operations.

But fears are growing that Afghanistan could tip into a cycle of violence as the US military presence declines, with the national security forces already suffering huge casualties.

 

One killed as hoodlums attack Ibadan residents

One killed as hoodlums attack Ibadan residents

 

•Houses, shops, vehicles vandalised

A man,  identied as Sodiq, was killed yesterday when hoodlumsattacked Born Photo, Idi-Arere, near Oke-Ado, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, vandalising property and looting shops.

The early morning violence began at 5am with no fewer than 15 vehicles vandalised. Three of them were burnt in addition to a tricycle and a motorcycle.

A petrol station, BK Petroleum, was also destroyed.

It was learnt that the hoodlums swooped on the neighbourhood before many residents woke up and policemen arrived at the scene.

Riot policemen arrived at the scene at 7am, according to an eyewitness, who pleaded for anonymity.

The hoodlums fled gradually as the presence of the policemen became stronger.

Another eyewitness said firefighters were turned back by the hoodlums.

A popular photographer in the area, whose shop was vandalized, said residents telephoned him, informing him about the incident, prompting him to run down quickly.

The victim, who preferred to identify himself only with his popular name, Born Photo, said: “When I came in the morning, I was dazed by what I saw.

“Thugs were attacking one another. We don’t know why they were fighting.

“They broke my door, took away several photos and other items before police came. The thugs, mostly  young people, are too many around here.”

Yesterday’s attack was seen as a reprisal to Friday’s attack in which hoodlums attacked residents and supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who were waiting to receive Governor Abiola Ajimobi during his tour of the area.

The governor suspended his visit to the area after learning about the attack.

Police spokesperson Mrs. Olabisi Clet-Ilobanafor said no arrest had been made.

She said the police appealed to the irate youths to stop the violence or face arrest.

The police spokesperson said the hoodlums chose to stop the violence as an understanding had been reached with the police.

But she said several arrests were made on Friday and Saturday.

OYO NDIGBO FELICITATES WITH HID AWOLOWO AT 99

Oyo Ndigbo felicitates with HID Awolowo at 99

  

YEYE Odu’a and matriarch of Awolowo dynasty, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, will, on Tuesday, November 25, clock 99.

A short service to commemorate the anniversary will be held by 10.00 a.m at the Efunyela Hall, inside the Awolowo family house in Ikenne Remo, Ogun State.

Chief (Mrs) Awolowo, who is co-founder and chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, publishers of the Tribune titles, was born on November 25, 1915 in Ikenne-Remo.

Meanwhile, The Igbo community in Oyo State has congratulated the matriarch of the Awolowo family, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, on her 99th birthday.

Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo clocks 99 on Tuesday.

In a letter signed by the Eze Ndigbo of Ibadan and Oyo State, Dr Alex Anozie, the Oyo Ndigbo described Mama HID’s 99 years on earth as having been very positive in every aspect of life, in service to God and humanity.

The statement read: ““Your 99 years on earth have been very positive in every aspect of life, to God and humanity.

“May the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth bless you with many more years of prosperous life, good health and peace.”

Economic crisis: Many states’ll shut down next year —Suswam

Economic crisis: Many states’ll shut down next year —Suswam

  

Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State has cried out that if the economic downturn  in the country continues unabated, there is the possibility many state governments will shut down next year.

The governor who spoke through his media aide, James Uloko decried the economic crisis in the country, particularly, the reduction in the crude oil prices, stating, ‘if the crisis continues, I’m sure so many states will be grounded next year’.

The governor who was reacting to non payment of workers’ salaries in the state cited the October allocation to buttress his argument, stressing that the wage bill of state workers stands at over N3 billion while the October allocation was N2.7 billion. He asked; “where do we make up the difference?”

While acknowledging that the issue of salary was not peculiar to the state, Suswam said something drastic has to be done, calling on workers to understand the station.

On the purported report that he may likely dump the PDP, as a result of the automatic ticket granted serving senators. He denied such plans, noting that he had already been screened to contest the senatorial seat for Benue North-East district. He posited that if the country is practicing true democracy, then the issue of automatic ticket is a complete variance to the tenets of democracy.

He noted that President Jonathan as a true democrat would not indulge in such act of granting automatic ticket to anyone, adding that he has undergone successful screening and is ready to go into the primaries against his opponent, Sen. Barnabas Gemade.

Police quiz Oyo lawmaker over gunrunning

Police quiz Oyo lawmaker over gunrunning

Officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in the Oyo State Police Command, on Thursday, drilled a member of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Ibrahim Bolomope for several hours over alleged gunrunning.

Bolomope, who represents Egbeda State Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was invited by the police, on Thursday, in connection with the arrest of a gun-toting political thug at a rally of the party in the state.

The arrest had no bearing with the bloodbath that claimed lives at the rally of the party in Oke-Ado on Friday.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the thug, in his confessional statement, told the police the arm was given to him by Honourable Bolomope, a former labour leader, prompting the lawmaker’s invitation by the police.

On interrogation at the Dugbe headquarters of SARS, the APC lawmaker told the police that though he knew the man, identified as Maja, he never gave him the gun.

The lawmaker, Sunday Tribune further gathered, was delayed for hours after making his own statement and was later released and asked to report the following day.

When the Commissioner of Police, Mr Kola Sodipo, was informed of the matter, he was said to have ordered full scale investigation into the alleged gunrunning, after which those found culpable would be prosecuted.

Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent of Police (SP) Bisi Ilobanafor, confirmed the incident to Sunday Tribune and explained that the thug was arrested with a cut-to-size pistol he claimed was given to him by the lawmaker.

Political Associate Of Chad’s Idriss Déby Arrested With Missiles For Boko Haram

Political Associate Of Chad’s Idriss Déby Arrested With Missiles For Boko Haram

A Cameroonian investigative journalist, Bisong Etahoben, is reporting via twitter the arrest of Mahamat Bichara Gnoti, a close associate of Chadian President IIdriss Déby Itno.

Mr. Gnoti was reportedly arrested on the Chadian-Sudan border with 19 SAM2 missiles he purchased from the Sudanese army meant for Boko Haram terrorist in northeastern Nigeria.

Mr. Gnoti who claimed that President Idriss Déby gave him the funds to purchase the weapons, had waved a presidential pass issued to him by Mr. Deby’s office in order to get past border guards but was stopped and searched by the guards who found the deadly weapons on him.

There has not been an official confirmation or denial either by the Chadian or the Nigerian authorities. A text message sent to the office of Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the National Security Adviser in Nigeria regarding Gnoti’s arrest did not receive a response, an aide said Mr. Dasuki is traveling in Mexico.

However, the arrest of Mr. Gnoti, if confirmed, will provide solid evidence that the Chadian President is largely behind Boko Haram lightning insurgency in Nigeria’s northwest.

Mr. Derby recently swindled the Nigerian government of millions of dollars in a failed attempt to negotiate the release of some 200 high school girls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok town in April.

On September 8th President Goodluck Jonathan made a dramatic visit to N’djamena to meet with Idris Derby, Mr. Jonathan was accompanied on the trip by former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sherrif.

The visit was condemned by opposition figures and civil society groups in Nigeria as they see it as an open embrace of individuals funding Boko Haram militants.

An Australian negotiator, Stephen Davis had accused Mr. Sheriff and former Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika of actively funding Boko Haram.

SR

Invasion of our Lagos office, worst political scandal — APC

 

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned Saturday invasion of its offices in Lagos by security agents, calling it perhaps the worst political scandal in Nigeria’s history.

In a statement, Saturday, in Ijebu -Ode, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the invasion can only be likened to the Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974, as a result of the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the attempted cover-up of its involvement by the Republican Nixon Administration.

It therefore called for an independent inquiry to fish out those who ordered the needless and unprovoked attack on the offices of the APC and ensure that they face very serious consequences, irrespective of their status.

”Saturday’s attack is another one in the string of attacks and illegal actions of the PDP-led administration. The attack was unwarranted and unjustifiable. To attack one of the offices of the opposition party, APC, where legitimate operations of the party were being undertaken is an act of fascism and totalitarianism. To the point of brigandage, the invasion of the APC centre is an assault on the APC and its entire membership across the country. It must not go unpunished,” APC said.

A vandalised server in the APC Lagos office

The party said though it had been tipped off about an impending attack on the ‘secret warehouse’ of our leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ”we dismissed such plan because there was no ‘secret warehouse’ anywhere and also because we never imagined that the government will attack the offices of an opposition party in a constitutional democracy. Obviously we under-estimated the desperation of the Jonathan Administration and its worsening proclivity to impunity.”

Giving details of the invasion, the APC said in the early hours of Saturday morning, a combined team of men of the DSS and OP-MESA stormed the Bola Ajibola Data centre belonging to the APC in the Ikeja area of Lagos and arrested 25 APC data agents and 3 security guards.

”In what was a gestapo-like operation, the APC membership data centre located at Number 10, Bola Ajibola street, off Allen Avenue in Ikeja, came under siege between the hours of 5:30 am and 7:30 am on Saturday. An operation of terror and brigandage was unleashed on a legitimate operation of a leading national party. They came without a search warrant for the premises. Over 50 security operatives drafted from Abuja operations blocked the two major street entrances to the APC data entry centre, pulled down the gates and spent over 2 hours ransacking and vandalizing the centre.

”More than a dozen computers were destroyed. The server was also vandalized along with other equipment in the building. Just like the Watergate scandal in the USA, the state-sponsored security operatives apparently acting at the behest of the ruling PDP government turned the office upside down, and pulled out and vandalized everything in sight.

”If the PDP-led government and the security agents had done due diligence and acted professionally, they would have known that the APC data centre is a legitimate operation and the staff are Nigerian youths who were left jobless by the Jonathan government. Apart from the Lagos centre, the operation is decentralized and similar centres are functional in about six different locations around the country.

The office after the raid.

”They chose to believe the lie that it was a warehouse belonging to one of the national leaders of the party where dangerous weapons were being kept, when in fact it is a centre for entering the data provided by the millions of Nigerians who registered as members of the party during its membership registration exercise,” the party said.

It described the invasion as another act of impunity, now a trademark of the Jonathan-led presidency which is being edged on by the hawks in the PDP.

APC called the invasion of its offices an attempt to suppress the opposition, get details of its membership with the intention of using it to rig the 2015 elections and also to destroy the spirit of democracy.

”When in Oct. 6th, 2013 we issued a statement alerting Nigerians that the Jonathan Administration was using Rivers State as a testing ground for creeping fascism ahead of the 2015 elections, some said we were raising a false alarm.

”Well, here we are. In the past five months, the PDP-led government has stepped up its acts of impunity and terror against the leaders of the APC and all non-PDP actors. Elected officers, who are not PDP members, have had their rights repeatedly violated by the police and other security operatives. Never before has an elected government been so scared of the opposition to the point of shutting it down.

…

”Now that they have overreached themselves by attacking the offices of the main opposition party and destroying part of its membership database, can the PDP-led government still claim to be operating under the rule of law? Can the government sincerely tell the world it is now ready for a free and fair elections in 2015? This is one impunity too many, and we will not allow it to be swept under the carpet,” the party vowed.