A constitutional leadership crisis threatens to tear Nigeria apart.
With the elected president, Umaru Yar'Adua absent since November the parliament has handed power to Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president.
The guests invited to give their insight are former Nigerian anti-corruption chief Nuhu Ribadu, Nigerian human rights advocate Hauwa Ibrahim and Emira Woods, co-director of foreign policy at the institute for policy studies.
ACTING President Goodluck Jonathan has said the Federal Government was determined to make electricity available for all Nigerians.
He stated this when he received Mr. Samuel Jonah, Director of Jonah Capital Companies; a pan-African mining investment group, in State House, Abuja.
Dr. Jonathan affirmed that improved power supply will fast-track wealth creation for the citizenry and assured that Government is working round the clock to address the sector.
He noted that Government is aware of the yearnings of Nigerians for improved power supply and expressed Government's resolve to alleviate the strains being experienced by small and medium scale enterprises with regards to adequate power supply. "The power sector will be addressed and Government is totally committed on this," he stated.
The Acting President welcomed initiatives towards exploring alternative sources of electricity generation, saying "we will encourage what is best for the country".
Earlier, Jonah, who is also a distinguished member of the Honourary International Investors Council (HIIC), congratulated the Acting President on his assumption of office. He said his company is ready to partner with Government on coal exploration as an alternative energy source to boost electricity generation in the country. He said discussions are ongoing with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development on the best way forward in this regard.
Borno is tension-soaked after Al-Jazeera released a video showing persons in police uniforms ordering the killings of unarmed civilians in the Boko Haram sectarian crisis.
Over 1,000 people were believed to have died and properties destroyed.
The footage obtained by Al-Jazeera shows that many of the deaths occurred once the fighting was over in Borno, Yobe, Kano and Bauchi states in July and August 2009.
Al-Jazeera, a renowned international cable network based in Qatar, released the video about the August 2009 mayhem early last week. The video clippings also revealed how persons suspected to be policemen were discussing how not to shoot one of the victims in the head so they could take away his hat.
Claims by Al-Jazeera that elements of the police and army staged a follow-up operation in which house-to-house searches were conducted and individuals were apparently selected at random and taken to a police station have caused stir in Borno, forcing security agencies to beef up security across the state and warning people against violence.
Borno government and the state police command declined comment, but many have accused the Al-Jazeera of deliberately spreading mischief and wanting to incite violence in the country.
While the video clips of the shooting of arrested persons by the police rented the Al-Jazeera airwaves during the week, many in Borno state continued to react in mixed feelings as memories of the ill-fated Boko Haram massacre in opposition to westernisation flooded back to torment victims and their relatives.
Though the situation in Maiduguri, the state capital, has remained calm as the police have since been on security surveillance, many residents fear the video could stir the hornet's nest.
The fear is worsened by the January ethno-religious crisis in Jos, the Plateau State capital, where hundreds were killed.
Most people contacted from within the government circle declined comments on the Al-Jazeera video clips, but hinted at the possibility of Borno Government investigating the cable network "to ascertain why they chose to broadcast the video clips of crisis eight months after the people of the state have gotten over their traumas. This is a mischief that is unbecoming of a reputable media outfit like Al-Jazeera."
The state deputy governor was quoted in the Al-Jazeera broadcast as defending the alleged actions of the police and the military during the religious strife.
According to him, the military and the police who are being paid with tax payers' money can only protect the citizens and not shooting them.
That emerged as family of the late Baba Fugu Muhammed, the father-in -law of the fallen Boko Haram leader, Muhammed Yusuf, sued President Umaru Yar'Adua, Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Michael Aondoakaa, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ogbonna Onovo, for allegedly ordering the summary killing of their aged father during the massacre eight months ago. Baba Fugu was said to have been killed by the police on suspicion that he was a chief financier of his son-in-law's atrocity.
"They killed our innocent father on unfounded suspicion that he sponsored the sect," eldest son of the slain father-in-law, Alhaji Babakura Fugu, told Sunday Independent.
"That is why we are approaching the court as defender of the weak. They not only killed my father, they also destroyed our expansive family house, rendering our mothers homeless. This is cruel, and we won't let it go unchallenged," Babakura added.
Babakura said his father had earlier on told authorities of Yusuf's unbecoming behaviour and later voluntarily reported to the police station after he was accused of bankrolling the sect. "But rather than act on the information my father gave them, they ended up killing him," he stated.
In the suit filed before a Borno State High Court 3, he and his siblings accused Yar'Adua, the Attorney-General, Police Chief and State Governor of complicity in the extra-judicial killing of their father and destruction of their properties.
Presiding judge in the case, Justice Mohammed Mustapha, has granted them exparte motion to serve all the accused the notice of summon.
Anayo Adide, counsel to the litigant, said the President is sued for issuing the order that led to the alleged extra-judicial killing of people in the state, while the state government is joined in the suit for ordering the destruction of the Fugu family compound.
"The IGP is considered a major culprit for allowing police to shoot their father alongside many others in what was extra-judicial murder that is punishable under our law. The Federal and State Attorneys General were joined in the suit for allowing the breach of constitutional rights of the people during the Boko Haram scuffle," he added.
It could not have been better - two hours plus of professional non-stop command performance atop a pool stage in the cosy atmosphere of Tribecca; an A-list club located in Victoria Island Lagos.
Two-time Grammy nominee Femi Kuti and his band; the Positive Force, thrilled a select assembly of guests last Friday into Saturday morning, strutting the stuff that earned him Grammy nominations and has kept him as the only eligible Afrobeat king after his father's demise.
The get together was coming thirteen days after the 'King' lost out in the Best Contemporary World Music category to Bela Flec at the 2010 edition of the Grammys which held at Staples Centre, Los Angeles. Femi together with his band reeled out hit after hit causing a reminiscence of yester-years teaching the new generation artistes present, the art of stage performance and musicianship.
Guests in attendance at the N10,000 per seat show included Nollywood's Dakore Egbuson and hubby; Lanre Akande, D'banj, Ikechukwu Asa, Sunday Are and Banky W, who left quite early. Perhaps the happiest attendee at the show was elder sister Yeni Kuti, who raced up and down many times across the pool side in theatrical gestures causing laughter.
As radical yet comical as ever, Femi mounted the stage at exactly 12a.m after his band had warmed up the audience. Using anecdotes on some occasions, he introduced each song stating the year they were first performed or released and the political situations surrounding them.
He didn't fail to take a swipe at ex-president Obasanjo saying 'Obasanjo said he didn't know Yar Adua was sick (scoffs and laughs)' while punctuating each remark with his traditional shrine slang 'A ra ra ra ra' to which the crowd and his band responded 'O ro ro ro ro'.
Songs like 'Wonder wonder', 'Day by day', 'Sorry sorry' and the NBC banned 'Bang Bang' were toasts of the morning. Femi implored guests to patronise the Afrika shrine - where he's on stage every weekends- for a token of N500 per guest.
It was a morning and money well spent as each guest walked away with a copy of the Grammy rated CD titled 'Lets Make History'.
The United States Government has given Nigeria three conditions to have its name wiped off its list of countries to watch on global terrorism.
The conditions are: the country must enact a legislation criminalising terror acts, shore-up its airport security and make a public denunciation of all forms of terror and their sponsors.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, said this at a meeting with members of the House of Representatives Committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Affairs.
The Committee on Foreign Affairs is led by Rep. Umar Bature, while the Diaspora Affairs Committee is headed by Rep. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
The minister, who had in the meeting commended the committees for their efforts in good diplomatic relations between the country and its foreign partners, urged the committees to collaborate more with the ministry in its fight to improve the country's image in the last few months.
The minister, according to Bature had told them in a closed-door meeting that the United States had told the ministry that only a public renunciation of terrorism activities in forms of religious skirmishes, socio-cultural conflicts, extra-judicial killings and militancy in some parts of the country, the passage of a bill against terror and a security improvement at international airports would save the country's name from the ignoble list.
The United States Government, it was learnt, also wants its Special Marines to aboard flights from Nigeria to the United States.
