Tribunal nullifies senate president's election

Once in a while this blog tilts a lot towards the political side of things. It can't be helped though, with the kind of changes and upheavals going on in the country right now. Another bombshell was dropped by the judiciary.
The election of the current senate president, Senator David Mark,was nullified by the election tribunal, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was given orders to conduct fresh and credible elections in the two local government areas which are currently under contention, (Agatu and Okpokwu) within 60 days from the day of judgment.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) contender, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, challenged the return of Senator David Mark on the grounds that he (Abubakar) had the majority of the votes cast in seven of the nine local governemt areas of the senatorial district, and that the results from the two controversial local governments (Agatu and Okpokwu) were cancelled.
Well, that leaves the senate president in a very uncomfortable situation.
The outcomes of the cases handled by the election tribunals in the country have given the Nigerian judiciary more credibility, and we hope the current trend of upholding justice continues. It is really commendable.

Tu Face Idibia robbed again - what has this guy done?

Not much has happened on the Naija scene these few days, apart from the odd bit of news here and there. The only interesting incident is the reported attack made by armed robbers on Tu Face Ididbia, one of Nigeria's hottest musicians.
From what we hear, Tu Face, or 2Baba, was robbed two days ago, at Anthony Village, Lagos, where the robbers made away with his jeep.

This is about the third time that 2Face has been robbed in one year. Quite a sad turn of events for the music star. This is getting too much. Tu Face might end up running away to Ghana or somewhere else in the sub-region. At least the poor guy will have some peace then.

Nigerian robbers, wetin dis guy do una sef? If this is what it means to be a celebrity, then I might reconsider my celeb status.

News from everywhere - Jerome Kerviel Makes History

Well, it's been quite an eventful week, with some spectacular things happening.
First, some relatively unknown guy rips off Societe Generale, France's second-biggest listed bank, and then a Nigerian lawmaker eats his own words.

In just a few hours after the Societe Generale incident, Jerome Kerviel went from backroom boy to a full-blown celebrity. Call it what you will, but this guy has made history.

According to Reuters, The 31-year old banker was brought into police custody in Paris on Saturday, suspected of causing a $7 billion loss through rogue trades at Societe Generale.
Kerviel worked as a trader at Societe Generale, and somehow managed to lose almost €5 billion in a series of complex, concealed deals on European stock derivatives. Kerviel's colleagues described him as a "computer genius" who was allegedly able to hack into the bank's computers and hide his reckless trading.

The funny thing is, in the wake of the whole ruckus, the number of Kerviel's friends listed on the Facebook networking site also gradually disappeared. Well, so much for friendship.

As for the amount, that's quite huge. I wonder how long it would take I and my pal Meesuan to blow that much cash. Mon amico, whatcha think? I'd run for president or something, and you could get that Yacht you've always wanted.

Well, on the Nigerian front, Senator Nuhu Aliyu has chickened out and apologized to his fellow Federal legislators, following his allegations against the National Assembly. The former Deputy Inspector General of police had claimed that the National Assembly was harboring some fraudsters and that he would name them.

He later ate humble pie, apologizing and citing legal reasons for not being able to name them. Well, good luck to him.

In football, Liverpool fans are set to make an ambitious plan to buy the football club from its American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. The group, called "Share Liverpool FC", will present a plan to organise the buy-out by 100,000 fans of the club.

Share Liverpool FC hopes to raise £500 million from the 100,000 fans, each paying £5,000 for one share in the club. This is to enable them purchase the club and build a new stadium.

The group intends to launch a website to attract the interest of Liverpool's supporters all over the world.

Those behind this buy-out idea are football business lecturer and Liverpool fan Rogan Taylor, former director of communications at the Premier League Phil French, and Kevin Jacquiss, a lawyer.

Sounds interesting, but I don't really see much coming out of this buy-out bid of theirs.
That's all for today. More stuff coming up tomorrow.

Two Nigerians Fight Aboard A Moving Aircraft

Two Nigerians threw caution to the wind and exchanged blows aboard a Chanchangi Airlines flight. The aircraft was on its way to Lagos from Abuja, and was just preparing to take off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

According to news reports, the fight started when a passenger refused to comply with the order from the pilot and cabin crew to switch off all cell phones. Totally oblivious to the events around him, he was still talking on his mobile phone and when he was asked to switch it off, he became abusive. This drew the ire of another passenger who confronted him.
The caller was said to have rained abuses on the other passenger, and the exchange of words soon degenerated into a fight.

With this new development, the pilot ordered all the passengers to disembark, and called for the immediate arrest of the two errant passengers. They were detained by the airport police, and the flight later left for Lagos without them.

Well, so much for Nigerians and their respect for law and order. Some people have such an overpowering sense of importance that they even flout simple rules which are for their own safety.