Ruling party wins rerun state election

A ruling party candidate who saw his first gubernatorial election win overturned by the courts for irregularities won a rerun election in an oil-rich Nigerian state, officials said Friday.

By JON GAMBRELL

Associated Press

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LAGOS, Nigeria —
A ruling party candidate who saw his first gubernatorial election win overturned by the courts for irregularities won a rerun election in an oil-rich Nigerian state, officials said Friday.

Officials with the Independent National Electoral Commission said Emmanuel Uduaghan, a candidate with the ruling People's Democratic Party, clinched the vote Thursday in Delta state. Statistics offered by commission Friday showed Uduaghan won with 275,253 votes out of 433,312 valid ballots cast.

Nigeria's government hoped the election would prove to its citizens the oil-rich nation could hold a free and fair election as an upcoming presidential election looms in April. However, even with more than 20,000 police officers and federal election officials on hand, allegations of ballot box thefts and faked voter cards still persisted.

The closest opposition candidate, Great Ogboru of the Democratic People's Party, pulled in just 138,244 votes.

The state-run Nigerian Television Authority aired the results live Friday. The program even showed video of upset crowds complaining about faked voter registration cards being in circulation during the election.

Attahiru Jega, national chairman of the electoral commission, said officials "took the business of organizing this election very, very serious."

"We did our best to learn from the mistakes of the past," Jega said.
Nigeria, one of the largest crude oil suppliers to the U.S., became a democracy through a presidential election in 1999, but its polls remained mired in vote-rigging, violence and political thuggery. International observers called the 2007 election of the late President Umaru Yar'Adua rigged, even though it represented the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the nation's history.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who took over after Yar'Adua's death in May, has promised a free and fair election in April. However, equipment to register voters was stolen from Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport just after its arrival in Nigeria last month, raising questions about manipulating the voter rolls. Registration is scheduled to begin Jan. 15

UPDATE - Ruling party candidate ahead in Nigeria state vote

* Opposition candidate questions conduct of election

* Analysts fear unrest if PDP candidate wins (Recasts with DPP candidate's quote)

   By Samuel Tife of Reuters

Nigeria's ruling party candidate is ahead in a rerun governorship election in the oil-producing Delta state, the electoral commission said on Friday, but his opponent expressed doubts about the conduct of the vote.

The election is seen as test before national elections in April and voting passed off without serious unrest on Thursday, although there were isolated acts of sabotage.

Delta is one of three main states in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry and a restive region seen as a potential flashpoint during the presidential and parliamentary elections.

After more than half the votes were counted, results showed Emmanuel Uduaghan of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) was ahead in a close contest with his nearest rival, Great Ogboru of the Democratic People's Party (DPP).

Ogboru hinted he might not accept the result if Uduaghan won. He said some of his party agents had been unfairly arrested and he had doubts about how the election was conducted.

"This injustice must not be allowed to continue because of major irregularities in some (voting) areas," Ogboru told journalists in the city of Asaba, where the results will be announced.

Thousands of armed police and soldiers were drafted into Delta state for the vote, held after a court last year overturned the victory of Uduaghan in 2007. [ID:LDE7050WD]

A Reuters correspondent said military trucks carrying hundreds of soldiers arrived in Warri on Friday and were patrolling the streets.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) acknowledged problems, including omissions on the voters' register and the late arrival of election materials, but said they were not enough to call the credibility of the poll into question.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta, flew from Abuja on Tuesday to support Uduaghan's campaign. However, Uduaghan is not universally popular and security experts fear unrest if he is declared the winner.

Nigeria has been shaken by violence in recent weeks, including a New Year's eve bomb blast near an army barracks in Abuja a week after a series of blasts and subsequent clashes killed 80 in the central city of Jos. [ID:nLDE70101O]

* Rerun vote seen as test before national elections in April

Nigerian star Uche Okafor Dies At 43

By George Akpayen of Supersports

 

 

Former Nigeria international, Uche Okafor, was found dead at his Dallas, Texas home in the United States of America (USA) early Thursday.

- Vote for Nigeria's 50 greatest players

Ben Iroha, a former Nigerian team-mate of Uche between 1990 and 1994, told SuperSport.com that he received the shock news via a telephone conversation from the United States that the 43-year-old has died.

“Seriously I still find it hard to believe when I got the call from the US yesterday (Thursday) evening. This is a really sad way to begin the year,” said Iroha.

 

Iroha added that he is yet to know what really transpired up to the death of his former teammate. “I am yet to know what happened. But I feel so sad to hear this because he was a very marvelous friend and brother,” said the former Heartland assistant coach.

 

However, there are still no details concerning surrounding the death of the former winner of the Africa Cup of Nations. The former Nigerian footballer was said to have taken his daughter to school early Thursday and was later found dead in his US home.

 

The police in the United States are said to have cordoned off the home of Okafor, as a coroner is carrying out an inquest into circumstance surrounding his death.

 

Okafor’s professional career began at defunct ACB of Lagos before he moved to KRC Mechelen.

 

The late Nigerian player has also played for Hannover 96 before ending his career at Sporting Kansas City, formerly known as Kansas City Wizards.

 

Late Okafor also featured in one of the four matches of Nigeria’s Super Eagles at the 1994 Fifa World Cup in the USA. He was also a football pundit on African football for ESPN until his death.

2 Charged In ‘Nigerian Black Money Scam

2 Charged In ‘Nigerian Black Money Scam

Scam Involves Dyed Paper, Phony Inheritance

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WARNING!

Friends be wary of emails promising incredibly

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some unscrupulous elements that are 

everywhere in the web today. If its too

good to be true, disregard and
hit the delete button.

 

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas Metro police have arrested two men they said were linked to the infamous “Nigerian Black Money Scam” that e-mail users are often warned to avoid. 

Police said an undercover detective met with 26-year-old Fidelis Oselu Okukpujie and 23-year-old Harrison Doe at an unnamed hotel. The detective said the men were attempting to exchange “black money” for $200,000 in U.S. currency.

The scam involves e-mailing a person to let them know they have inherited a substantial amount of money in Nigeria. Victims are told the money is dyed black to avoid detection in customs and they have to pay to have it washed. Authorities said the “black money” is often just black pieces of paper, but victims don’t know until it’s too late. 

Okukpujie, according to Metro, is originally from Nigeria and lives in Phoenix, while Doe was born in Liberia but is a resident of Coon Rapids, Minn. Both are charged with attempting to obtain money under false pretenses and conspiracy. They are being held in the Clark County Detention Center.

Leicester City line up swoop for Everton striker Yakubu

Leicester City have made an inquiry for 

Everton striker Yakubu.

By rob tanner of thisisleicestershire.co.uk

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Leicester City have made an inquiry for Everton striker Yakubu as Sven-Goran Eriksson continues his search for a big-name signing.

Toffees manager David Moyes has revealed a Championship club had made an approach for the Nigeria international.

However, the Everton boss said it was too early to say whether the move would be a loan or permanent, but the Leicester Mercury understands it is City.

City have also been linked with a move for Aston Villa striker John Carew.

The Norway international has fallen out with manager Gerard Houllier and is almost certain to leave Villa Park during the January transfer window, but sources at the Premier League club say City have not made an approach.

City boss Eriksson is targeting a quality striker and has previously tried to entice Tottenham Hotspur's Robbie Keane and Manchester City's Roque Santa Cruz to the Walkers Stadium, and even made an inquiry about Emile Heskey's availability.

Eriksson was promised the financial backing of the club's Thai owners to make the deals happen, but was unsuccessful as neither Keane or Santa Cruz wanted to drop down into the Championship. He will face a similar issue with Yakubu.

One possibility is for Eriksson to offer a contract with a non-promotion release clause should City fail to go up this season.

Everton turned down a £6million offer for Yakubu from West Ham United in the summer but the 28-year-old, who signed a five-year contract with the Toffees in 2007 after his £11m transfer from Middlesbrough, could be available for around £4m as he has struggled to force his way into Moyes' side this season.

Yakubu has scored just one goal in 13 appearances, starting only six, and the Merseysiders may be prepared to cash-in to finance any transfer activity this month as they look to avoid a relegation dogfight.

With top scorer Tim Cahill away with Australia at the Asia Cup, Moyes wants to bring in another striker but has limited funds.

Meanwhile, City will face a fight with Wolverhampton Wanderers to convince defender Curtis Davies to re-sign.

Davies, who Eriksson wants to sign, has returned to Villa after his loan period finished and has said he wants to review all his options during January before committing his future.

Davies has said he wants to stay in the Premier League and Eriksson has admitted City may struggle to sign the centre-back if top-flight clubs make him an offer, but Leicester will be able to match any financial package Wolves offer Davies.

CIA Predicts More Bomb Attacks In Nigeria

As reported by By Ike Nnamdi,

of Sunnewsonline.

Nigeria will experience more deadly bomb attacks this year as extreme militant groups affiliated to Al-Qaida step up their efforts to undermine the government, according to America’s elite spy agency, The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In a memo sent to President Barack Obama and top defence chiefs, the CIA said the long term objective of the groups is the overthrow of “Nigeria’s secular government to be replaced by a strict Islamic administration under Sharia law.

“The agency also concluded that foreign terrorist groups have set up safe havens in the country and are actively recruiting and training youths who they intend to deploy for terror attacks against government facilities.” Officials also warned that some Nigerian security officials have also been compromised by terror groups and could be playing an active part in helping them achieve their objectives.

“The agency predicted the rise of terror groups in Nigeria years ago but the situation now is dire, worsened by the combination of unemployment, the religious and ethnic direction of the present political scenarios”, officials of the Homeland Security Department told Daily Sun. Sources said facilities on the target list of these groups include airports, power stations, oil pipelines, hotels and any place where large number of casualties can be recorded. “The ultimate aim is to cause a large number of deaths and damages”, according to a counter-terrorism official.

The Daily Sun learnt that it was because of the urgency of the Nigerian situation that the administration took the unprecedented step of President Obama and Homeland Security chief Janet Napalitano jointly criticizing the New Year eve bombing in Abuja. “The administration is concerned about the unfolding event in Nigeria and is in discussion with its relevant security agencies for greater security cooperation,” officials stated.

The CIA recommends that Abuja must monitor more closely religious schools, especially in the north and funds sent in by foreign groups as gifts. It also warns that officials who lose out in the elections are likely to play the religious card, which could further raise tension.