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I Look Forward  To Making More Mistakes'-AirisRelocated Singer, Asmaa Idrisu, popularly called Airis, talks about the interesting and challenging things in life in and out of the entertainment world in this chat .

QUE, How challenging has it been trying to make a headway in your career since you relocated back home?
Like most careers in the world, you have to pay your dues to be a part of your industry. Getting the music out there has been a bit challenging since my 

music is different from the familiar club mixes, but it's been good so far. People who listen to my music love it, and my video has done very well. Coming back home was a good decision I don't regret.
 
Que, What are the major challenges you face?
Traffic in Lagos and the whole electricity situation is a major drawback for me, but what can I say, we're all in it together.
 
Que, Do you consider operating on your own platform Airis music as much of a boost as you expected?
Absolutely! I can write and produce my music myself and reveal the true artist in me to the world. Also, things are much less complicated from a business perspective. I have creative control of what I share with the world. It's a great place to be.
 
Que, How do you rate the acceptance of your kind of music an alternative pop and soul music with cultural influences so far?
I've always believed that people will always appreciate good music regardless of the origin or genre. My music appeals to people from all over the world. I think incorporating my culture into my music has not necessarily made it acceptable but more identifiable.
 
Que, Do you consider being married a boost or otherwise to your efforts at gaining relevance taking into consideration the peculiarities of the local industryOne's personal status should not be a hindrance to their career growth or personal success. There are ways to make both work.
 
Que, Your debut single "Without You" appears to be gathering international followership with limited local recognition what will you attribute this to- or do you think otherwise?
I think I've actually received more local recognition and I say this because majority of my fans abroad are Nigerian.
 
QUE, AIRIS, that is a coinage of what identity, philosophy?
The name AIRIS is a combination of my first and last name: Asmaa Idrisu. The name AIRIS as an artist name also has it's own meaning; in botany Iris is a type of flower of many colors, and in anatomy, its the colored part of the eye. I come from a diverse cultural background and the word "iris" is a good analogy I can use to describe myself: colorful, vibrant, and diverse.
 
QUE, The death of your father was a huge factor in your returning back to Nigeria- do you have regrets?No regrets. Life happens, Death is a part of life, eventually we will all understand that and accept it.
 
QUE, Engineering to music,outside of the love for the later one tend to wonder why the switch from one to the other- and the correlation?
Music has always been my passion, however I still felt the need to get a college education.I chose engineering because it was challenging. Upon practicing it I felt unaccomplished and decided to go after my passion, music.

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Since the postponement, the Commission has worked tirelessly to address the challenges observed in the conduct of the rescheduled elections. Thus, result sheets have not only been delivered to the country, but have been received by states and Local Government Areas nationwide. Similarly other election materials needed at the State and Local Governments have been supplied. Logistic challenges have been addressed and we have had further consultations with political parties, security services and other stakeholders to address other challenges that emerged last Saturday. Consequently, all is now set for the National Assembly elections to hold across the country on Saturday.

However, some challenges emerging from the fact that voting took place in some areas in spite of the postponement require more time than we have had since last Saturday. For example, in some areas a good quantity of ballot papers had been used and it is not possible to reprint enough replacement ballot papers before the elections. Also, in a few constituencies, party names and logos were missing on ballot papers. While some of these resulted from human errors in compiling the names of qualified candidates and parties for the elections, others are related to sudden changes emanating from several judicial pronouncements on party nominations. These challenges dictate that fresh ballot papers be printed prior to conducting the elections.

The Commission has made strenuous efforts to get these ballot papers printed within the available time; but given the security requirements of the printing of ballot papers and the inability of domestic and international companies to deliver on time, it has become imperative that sufficient time be given for the printing of these ballot papers. Consequently, while elections will in general take place next Saturday, it has become inevitable to postpone elections in a few affected constituencies, that is 15 Senatorial Districts and 48 Federal Constituencies which are as follows: [See Below]

I should say that the postponed elections affect only about 14% of all Senatorial Districts and 13% of Federal Constituencies. This means that elections will take place this Saturday in 86% and 87% of Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies respectively.

Elections in these affected constituencies will now hold on Tuesday the 26th of April 2011 together with the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

For purposes of clarity, it is not everywhere that voting took place last week that is affected by this rescheduling. In some areas, only very few ballots were used, which means that elections can go on unhindered in those places this Saturday.

I want to seize this opportunity to advise all voters to be orderly and peaceful during the elections. Those who choose to stay behind after voting must be orderly and non-violent. I appeal to political parties to implore their supporters to eschew violence. We are working closely with the security agencies to arrest political thugs and vigilantes. Also, underage voters will be arrested. I appeal to parents and community leaders not to allow their children to indulge in this illegal act.

We also noticed last Saturday that some Governors did not comply with the appeal to them not to move around with their security orderlies during the elections. Although we recognize that Governors are Chief Executives of their States, I once more appeal to them to vote and return home in order to reduce political tensions during the elections. Security agencies will strictly enforce compliance with this directive.

Let me once again thank Nigerians for their understanding and support for the Commission in its efforts to deliver free, fair and credible elections. I urge you all to come out on Saturday, April 9th, to exercise your right to vote.

Professor Attahiru M. Jega, OFR,

Honourable Chairman

See table for details:

Professor Wole Soyinka has declared his lack of support for Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria Nobel Laureate made the declaration at this interview, watch below

For daring to speak up about how Attahiru Jega`s led INEC plotted the false start, in the April 2^nd elections, and how INEC was ill prepared for the subsequent presidential elections on April 4^th, a local printing contractor in Nigeria has received death threats.

However, for the third time within seventy two hours, INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega has chosen to be economical with words.

Rather than take responsibility for his actions, Jega has absolved himself and labeled the contractors, whom he hired single handedly, against the better judgment of many specialist, as saboteurs.

Not holding brief for the contractors, but if anyone should be branded “saboteur” it should be our activist lecturer turned INEC czar, who lied to Nigerians and the President, who reluctantly refused Jega`s resignation letter over the weekend, as it brought to question the President`s sense of judgment. After all, he hired Jega, a source affirmed

Was it the contractors who waited till March 10^th 2011, three weeks before the elections to award contract for the printing of over five hundred million election materials? the source asked.

Huhuonline.com understands that Prof. Attahiru Jega rejected contractors who were competent and had excellent track record of delivering because they were from Southern Nigeria. Finding shows that ¾ of the contractors hired by Prof Jega were from the North.

Specifically, one Alhaji Musa, a very close ally of Attahiru Jega and his benefactor (a Presidential aide) received a chunk of the printing job.

The total sum of printing contract awarded to Musa was one hundred and fifty million naira (N150, 000,000.00), which he subsequently subcontracted to UK based Graphic Inline.

Alhaji Musa was first given a work order for Seventy five million naira, and later another Seventy five million naira work order was signed off for him, after a leading printing company (name withheld), rejected the job, because they were over booked.

The other two local contractors are Alhaji Sanni and Alhaji Yerima, who represents Aeroprint and Aero Vote Limited respectively. Aero Vote Limited is a security printing company, based in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.

Our checks reveals that Aero Vote Limited, Aero print and Graphic Inline are not new to INEC as the have printed election material for the commission in the past.

 findings shows that INEC had contracted a Spanish firm to print one hundred and fifty million ballot papers for the presidential elections. Eighty million of the ballot papers were to be used for presidential, while the other seventy million was for the runoff. Due to conflicting instructions or lack thereof, the company rather than start with the ballot papers for the presidential elections, printed the runoff first.

Stuck and desperate, Prof Attahiru Jega then re-awarded the printing of the ballot papers for the presidential elections to his crony Alhaji Musa, who had not delivered the first job that was awarded to him.

Unbeknown to Nigerian registered voters, on April 3^rd 2011, INEC had not taken delivery of all the electoral materials. Yet, Prof Attahiru Jega in his nationwide broadcast, titled “we can’t afford to fail”, said:

“Finally, as elections commence tomorrow, we must seek free, fair, credible and peaceful elections with a vigorous commitment that restores confidence, dispels fear, and moves the nation away from the mistakes of the past. We must do the elections right".

Continuing, Jega said:

“We must not fail each other and we must not fail our dear country”.

But Prof. Attahiru Jega, who in the past had told Nigerians not to expect a "perfect poll", was not true to his words, as he had planned to fail; he did not have the material conduct the elections.Yet he announced that Nigerian should go to the polls.

Embarrassed by the public outcry, Jega hurriedly move the election to the 4^th of April, which also was not a feasible date, until he was prevailed upon by the presidency, (who had received intelligence report that Jega did not have the election materials), and other political parties to move the election to April 9^th.

However, it remains to be seen if Prof. Attahiru Jega and his select team of contractors will do the election right.We are watching 

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, insisted this morning that it will not reveal the identity of the vendor whose failure to deliver sensitive election materials resulted in postponement of National Assembly election last Saturday.

•INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega at a press conference in Abuja.

Kayode Idowu, the spokesperson for Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman, INEC told P.M.NEWS this morning that the commission will not disclose the identity of the contractor in spite of curiosity from the public. The refusal to reveal the name of the vendor, he said, is to avoid “media trial of the contractor”.

Professor Jega had last Saturday afternoon announced the postponement of the National Assembly elections in spite of the fact that millions of prospective voters had lined up in polling booths across the country, with voting already commencing in some areas.

Jega had blamed the postponement on ‘ unprecedented late arrival of result sheets’ as one of the vendors awarded contract for the printing of the document said he was unable to secure aircraft to transport the materials to Nigeria on time.

The INEC Chairman said the contractor had in turn blamed the Tsunami disaster that occurred in Japan for the problem.

According to Jega, though the vendor had earlier promised to deliver the materials to Nigeria on Thursday, the result sheets arrived in Nigeria late Saturday morning, when the process of the election is already underway across the country.

The INEC Chairman said it therefore became imperative to postpone the election because it will not be possible to distribute the materials across the 120,000 polling booths in the country before the end of the polls that day.

“We could have proceeded with the election in a few states of the country where materials are available such as Lagos, Kaduna, Kebbi, Delta, Zamfara and Enugu among others. In order to maintain the integrity of the election and take effective overall control of the process, the commission has taken a very difficult but necessary decision to postpone the National Assembly election to Monday, April 4,” Jega said.

But as controversies mount over the reason given for the cancellation of the election, Nigerians have continued to demand that the identity of the contractor who defaulted in the supply of the report sheets be disclosed.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and Action Congress of Nigeria leader, had, following the postponement of the election last Saturday raised posers on the contract and the contractor: “Can you vouch that contract has not turned to patronage? How much did it cost Bangladesh to register 80 million? How much did it cost Nigeria? Is it not part of influence? Is it not that some National Assembly members influenced the INEC to favour one contractor or the other irrespective of its capacity to deliver? Has it been independent of all the exercise?”

There are reports that about 10 companies were awarded the contract for the printing of the ballot papers and the result sheets. One report had indicated that the company is Royal Mint of Spain, while there are speculations that the company is a Japanese company.

Idowu had denied that the company is based in Spain, but insisted this morning that INEC will not reveal the identity of the defaulting vendor since the issue is being taken through a legal process for appropriate sanctions. He said this is to avoid media trial while he vowed that the commission will ensure that appropriate punishment is meted out to the contractor.

When asked if the commission is trying to shield the contractors from Nigerians, Idowu replied: “No, no, appropriate measures are being taken to punish the vendor for breach of contract and media trial of the contractor may also be another breach of the contract.”

Idowu also told P.M.NEWS that contract for the printing of the result sheets was awarded just before the elections, but was not specific on the particular time. We gathered that the contract was awarded on 10 March.

On whether the late award of the contract was not responsible for the delay in the delivery of the materials, Idowu, while insisting that the contract was awarded at the appropriate time, added that “even if the contract was awarded late, the contractual terms will not stipulate that the materials should be delivered late.”

Apart from Royal Mint of Spain, other foreign companies allegedly contracted to print the ballot papers are Aero Vote Limited, a security printing company based in Buckingamshire, United Kingdom, Sanfrano, a Germany-based company with a Nigerian associate called Alhaji Sani; Musa.

Aero Print, and V.I Solutions said to belong to a Nigerian called Alhaji Yahaya Musa.

culled & adapted from huhuonline.com & pmnews papers

Former Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc., Dr. Erastus Akingbola, Tuesday,  stated that there is no truth whatsoever in a recent media report that  United Kingdom (UK)  had asked him  to forfeit any asset or pay £68million or any other sum to Intercontinental Bank Plc.

Intercontinental Bank had on December 23, 2009 instituted the case against Akingbola, alleging financial impropriety against the former chief executive of the bank. But  a  statement issued in Lagos Tuesday  and signed by his Media Counsel, Charles Nwajagu, described the media report as misleading, saying the case involving  the bank and Akingbola in which the bank was asking for a summary judgment on financial misappropriation has been slated for trial next year. Nwajagu said ”Contrary to the erroneous March 24, 2011 report being  spread around, the judge gave his ruling only on Monday, April 4, 2011 thereby casting doubt on the motive and credibility of the story being circulated.”

According to the statement, the April 4 ruling rejected the bank’s application for Summary Judg-ment  “on the ground that it is only fair for a defendant (in this case Dr. Akingbola) to cross examine the plaintiff’s witnesses,” adding “ Consequently the judge ordered trial to start sometime next year.”

Maintaining that all allegations regarding payments are misleading, the statement affirmed that “no court has asked Akingbola to forfeit any asset or pay £68million or any other sum to Intercontinen-tal Bank Plc.”

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has raised the alarm over the rising tension in the state following alleged brutality unleashed on the people by troops at the instance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during last Saturday’s botched National Assembly elections.

But a group sympathetic to the PDP in the state, Edo Youth Vanguard (EYV), has accused the governor of training and camping 600 youths at Okpujie Primary School, Uromi, to be used as thugs ahead of this Saturday’s rescheduled elections. Addressing journalists Tuesday in Benin City, the governor said as the chief security officer of the state, it was his duty to appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan clearly and promptly about the dangers posed to the Nigerian Army and the nation, should the troops continue to provoke and humiliate citizens of the state on behalf of a political party.

According to Oshiomhole, by the early hours of Saturday, the troops had been unleashed on leaders and members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), ordinary voters and members of the public across the three senatorial districts of the state.
He added that the conduct of the officers and men in various places strongly indicated that their operational order was not to give effect to the president’s resolve to provide adequate security during the elections.

He said rather, the army actively executed the bidding of the PDP, as the various contingents were allegedly deployed to harass ACN leaders and members in order to pave the way for the rigging of the elections.

He alleged that in Owan West and East, Edo North, PDP thugs, including those hired from neighbouring states wore special red and yellow arm bands, which became symbols of immunity even in the face of premeditated violence they unleashed. He said the pre-agreed colours allow PDP thugs easy passage.

The governor also disclosed that several innocent persons and voters were rounded up in eateries, on the streets and in voting centres in Edo Central for no reasons, while in Edo South, many ACN leaders had abandoned their homes based on reports that they were to be arrested and bundled to Abuja.

In contrast, Oshiomhole said in Akoko-Edo, the army left off the hook, even without interrogation, well armed PDP thugs brought in from the Niger Delta who had been apprehended by the youths and handed over to the military patrol teams.
He also alleged that thugs allegedly arranged by two PDP senatorial candidate paraded the streets and shot at ACN leaders, including one Andrew Osigwe, yet no arrest was made by the army or the police.

Meanwhile, speaking to newsmen Tuesday in Uromi after its emergency meeting, National Coordinator of the EYV, Mr. Mathew Idemudia, said ACN’s alleged recruitment of thugs was worrisome as the Federal Government had done everything humanly possible to see that this year’s election was devoid of rancour and acrimony following the review of the Electoral Act and the promise by Jonathan to allow a conducive environment for free and fair election.

Idemudia alleged that the inducement of Esan Youths Coalition (EYC) with N60,000 each to the 600 members amounted to N36 million, adding that the amount was taken from the local governments’ funds for  developmental projects.
He said four members of the Esan Youth Coalition (EYC), who rushed to the secretariat of EYV to report the incident, said arrangements had been concluded to recruit additional 500 youths to the existing 600, adding that residents of Uromi who watched the parade were scared at such number of youths few days before the general elections.

In Umuahia, the Abia State government has condemned a report in a national newspaper that election materials meant for the botched National Assembly elections in the state last weekend, were allegedly taken to the Government House by the State Resident Electoral Commission (REC) , Mr. Austin Okojie.

A statement issued in Umuahia Tuesday and signed by Mr. Kingsley Emereuwa, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Theodore Orji, described the report as routine falsehood, wondering   if the newspaper had its “usual” invisible “reporters” in the Government House “when the materials were brought in”.

Maintaining that it was glaring that the report emanated from the political enemies of the state governor, the statement noted that “it is laughable that the same man who has never visited the Government House since he assumed duties would suddenly divert materials meant for elections to the same Government House”.

While advising the general public to disregard the report, it stated that “It is common knowledge that the current Resident Electoral Commissioner in Abia, Barrister Austin Okojie, since he assumed duties in the state had even neglected simple courtesies of paying official visit to the sitting governor.

“And when he was confronted by newsmen on that unusual development, he said it was the directive given by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega,  that RECs are banned from paying courtesy calls on state governors,” Orji said.