NIGERIAN TIMES: presidential elections

Showing posts with label presidential elections. Show all posts

Saturday, April 2, 2011

African Union observer mission to Nigeria's 2011 Elections

1 Apr 2011 20:37 Africa/Lagos

African Union observer mission to Nigeria's 2011 Parliamentary and Presidential elections / Arrival statement

ABUJA, April 1, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- African Union observer mission to Nigeria's 2011 Parliamentary and Presidential elections / Arrival statement

1. In response to the invitation of the Independent National Electoral

Commission of Nigeria (INEC), H. E. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African

Union (AU) Commission, dispatched an Observer Mission to Nigeria to

observe the country's National Assembly (House of Representatives and

Senate) and Presidential Elections, which will be conducted on the 2 and 9

April, 2011 respectively

2. The AU Observer Mission is led by Mr. Ahmed Issack Hassan, the

Chairperson of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya

(IIEC). The Mission is composed of 40 members drawn from Elections

Management Bodies (EMBs), National Parliaments, the Pan African

Parliament, Ambassadors, eminent persons and members of civil societies

from various African countries. Egypt, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda also

sponsored delegates to the Mission. The Mission is assisted by a team of

technical staff from the AU Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia.

3. The Mission Observers are from Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,

Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda,

Zambia and Zimbabwe.

4. The AU Observer Mission arrived in Nigeria on March 27, 2011 and will

remain in the country until April 13, 2011.

5. The purpose of the Mission is to make an objective, independent and impartial

observation of the National Assembly and Presidential elections. In particular,

the Mission is expected to:

i. Determine whether the National Assembly and Presidential Elections

are conducted in accordance with the country's constitution, electoral

laws, other appropriate laws and the guidelines governing the conduct

of such elections.

ii. Determine whether the election environment is conducive for voters to

participate and exercise their fundamental rights;

iii. Establish whether the participating political parties, agencies and

groups are satisfied with the preparations for and conduct of the

elections;

iv. Evaluate the level of voters' awareness and whether the voters' right to

choose freely and in secrecy are guaranteed, upheld and protected;

v. Identify and record electoral malpractices, if any;

vi. Assess whether the media coverage and conduct are in conformity with

the laid down rules and guidelines;

vii. Evaluate transparency and adequacy of the voting, counting and

collation processes; as well as the announcement of the results; and

viii. Establish whether the results of the elections are a true reflection of

the democratically expressed will of the people of Nigeria.

6. The Mission will be guided by the AU Declaration on the Principle Governing

Democratic Elections in Africa and the 2002 AU Guidelines for Elections

Observation and Monitoring Missions.

7. The Mission is situated at the Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Tamarind B Room,

Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Source: African Union Commission (AUC)

Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
1 Apr 2011
20:53	CAMAC Statement on Events in the Congo
20:37	African Union observer mission to Nigeria's 2011 Parliamentary and Presidential elections / Arrival statement
14:30	Breast Health Global Initiative Offers Unprecedented Tools for Developing Nations
14:19	Agenda des actions africaines en région parisienne de avril 2011
14:00	World Autism Day: Launch of the Global Autism Alliance and the Premiere of Their First International Video on Autism
31 Mar 2011
20:40	The African Union sends an observer mission to Nigeria

Monday, March 10, 2008

Nigerian Times News, Current Affairs and Features By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Monday, December 17, 2007

NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Sleeper, John Edwards

16 Dec 2007 17:56 Africa/Lagos

NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Sleeper

John Edwards Believes he can Score Upset win in Iowa; Has Been Visiting Rural Precincts Where Frontrunners Have Paid Less Attention

Didn't get Negative Feedback After Being Combative With Clinton 'I Thought it was More Important for People to Understand ... The Substantive Policy Differences Between us, and now I Think we're at a Stage Where it's Time to Focus on why I Want to be President'

NEW YORK, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ --

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards believes he can still come from behind for an upset win in Iowa, Newsweek reports in the December 24 cover "The Sleeper," (on newsstands Monday, December 17). For months, Edwards has been doggedly working to round up support in the state's rural precincts where the frontrunners have paid less attention.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071216/NYSU007 )

As Correspondent Arian Campo-Flores and Senior Writer Suzanne Smalley report, while Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have drawn crowds in the thousands in places like Des Moines and Ames, Edwards has been winning over people in tiny towns like Sac City (pop. 2,189). That's important, Edwards's strategists say, because under Iowa's arcane caucus rules, a precinct where 25 people show up to vote gets the same number of delegates as a place that packs in 2,500. "The bulk of our support is in small and medium counties," says Jennifer O'Malley, Edwards's Iowa state director. O'Malley says Edwards has visited all 99 counties in the state; the campaign has so far trained captains covering 90 percent of all 1,781 precincts. Rural voters are sometimes reluctant to caucus, so the campaign has been enlisting respected community leaders to encourage first-timers to get past their apathy or fear.

Edwards has been campaigning in Iowa, on and off, for four years and polls show he's still in third. He tells Newsweek in an interview that his responsibility "is to close this campaign in Iowa with a very specific set of ideas about how we give all Americans the chances I've had ... It's what I've been able to do, and we can do it again ... both the specific policy ideas and also the heartfelt passion behind it, which is real, and they need to see it."

He says he wasn't getting negative feedback on the period when he was more combative with Clinton. "I thought it was important for people to understand the differences, the substantive policy differences between us, and now I think we're at the stage where it's time to focus on why I want to be president."

When asked what lessons he had learned as a candidate in 2004 and what he is doing differently this time, Edwards turned cold. "I'm not in the business of going back and analyzing the '04 campaign," he says, "so I just don't."

"I can tell you what I believe about America today. I think that what the country is looking for in a president is somebody who has clear, very specific ideas and bold ideas about what needs to be done. I think that's what America needs. It's what I believe, and I think they're looking for somebody to be straight with them about the challenges they face, and very direct."

Edwards says in the interview that he wasn't sure whether to run again after the 2004 loss. "I was trying to decide during that period of time after '04, "Where is the best place for me to serve? Where can I do the most good?" because I had made the decision, Elizabeth and I made [it] together, that we were going to spend the rest of our lives serving and the question was what was the best way to do it ... I'd been through a national campaign, a national spotlight, and there's a seasoning and a toughness that comes from doing that. And Elizabeth's health, the two of us went through that, our family went through that together. And I think my feeling is that I'm going to tell people, "I'm going to speak the truth, whatever the consequences are."

(Read cover story and interview at www.Newsweek.com)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/78238

http://www.newsweek.com/id/78239 - Q&A w/ Edwards

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071216/NYSU007
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN1
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: Jan Angilella of Newsweek, +1-212-445-5638

Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Political Ignorance of Those Attacking Hillary Clinton

I have doubts about the political education of those attacking Hillary Clinton in replies to serious issues.

It would be better if readers take time to read and study the political biography of Hillary Clinton, who has been active in the democratic development of America since the 1960s and that was long before she met Bill Clinton.

When Oprah Winfrey was name dropping Martin Luther King, Jr., in South Carolina, I laughed at her ignorance of the life history of Hillary Clinton, because Hillary Clinton is more qualified to speak on the Civil Rights Movement than both Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama.

It would be really foolish to nominate Barack Obama as the presidential candidate of the Democrats, because he would be a walk over for the Republicans.

Look at Obama's record as a senator and compare his performance so far to that of Hillary Clinton.
Look at the political facts and not indulging in petty personalities.

Barack Obama has a shallow knowledge of foreign policy and making noise about his opposition to the war in Iraq is mere playing to the gallery.
Very cheap sales pitch.

I hope the political strategists of the Democrats are reading what Arianna Huffington has addressed for their own good.
It would be a sad day in America if the Democrats should lose the presidential election to the Republicans in 2008.

After the publicity stunts of Oprah Winfrey, Madonna has offered to hit the road for Hillary Clinton as reported by the Daily News. But I don't think Hillary Clinton is as desperate as Barack Obama.

God bless America.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

President Umaru Yar'Adua is A Liar

Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua

I won April polls, Yar'Adua tells tribunal
Vanguard Online Edition - Saturday, 08 December 2007

The fact is, since the local and international monitors have provided facts and figures to prove that the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) rigged the presidential election last April, and even Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua agreed that the election was far from being fair and free, therefore, it is contradictory for him to turn around and claim that he won the presidential election based on the final result of the corrupt Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The government has failed to probe the death of over 700 people who were killed during the April polls and the political thugs of the PDP who attacked, maimed and murdered hundreds of people all over Nigeria have not been prosecuted for their crimes. A 17-year-old school girl who was gang-raped by the political hoodlums of the PDP in Osun state in southwestern Nigeria is still recovering from the wounds in the hospital and the chieftain of the PDP who should have been arrested is still protected by the notorious ruling party in Nigeria.

The corrupt ex-governors and legislators who misappropriated revenue allocations to finance the rigging of the April polls are still enjoying the immunity of the Nigerian government and President Umaru Yar'Adua is doing his best to divert the attention of the citizens from the prosecution of these criminals who stolen tax-payers money and our oil revenues to finance the rigging of the presidential election in his favour.

The PDP stole the mandate of the Nigerian electorate.

If President Umaru Yar'Adua is still unrepentant and continues to defend the fake result of the violent presidential election, then he would never convince us in the Niger Delta region to support his illegitimate government.

If the judiciary fails to pass the right judgment, then Nigerians should prepare for the worst case scenario.

No justice, No peace.

We are not fools.

Monday, November 26, 2007

We Must Sack The Notorious Ruling Party in Nigeria Before It Is Too Late

Kano LG Polls - the Inside Story

Daily Trust (Abuja)

ANALYSIS
25 November 2007
Posted to the web 25 November 2007

By Hassan A. Karofi
Kano

Last weekend's local government polls in Kano State left traces of violence, destruction and heavy presence of troops, reminding residents of the anarchy that reigned in parts of the state for days during and after the elections.

The election was never envisaged to be peaceful. Reason: pre-election campaign tones of the rival political parties dimmed any ray of hope of peaceful polls in the volatile city and across the state.

A day to the Saturday, November 17 elections, strange movements of men and materials were noticed, while political party offices soon became munitions depots. The party offices were taken over by weapons-wielding youths, who were publicly smoking marijuana, blowing flutes of hunters-reminiscent of the war period. These election-eve events instilled fear in the minds of residents of the looming danger ahead of the polls.

An estimated 25, 000 political thugs were recruited by various politicians during the elections. Over 400 of them were later arrested by the police and 40 by the army.

On the election day, polling units became virtual war zones. Many voters were scared from casting their votes. Those who dared the thugs paid heavily, some with their lives. Twenty five persons were reported to have been killed in the fracas that heralded the elections, though the police confirmed only six deaths.

It was in this condition of fear that the November 17 council polls in Kano were conducted.

Soon the trend became the same across the state, with reported taking over of polling units by thugs, who preventing voters from casting their votes and dared the security agents.

The situation was to be exacerbated when conflicting radio announcements started giving different election results. While the state radio station announced results got from the electoral officers, a private radio station in the city countered the results by announcing conflicting ones. The airwaves war soon worsened the tense situation.

When Sunday Trust visited Kura on the voting day, over 200 dagger-wielding youths were seen taking control of the poling unit adjacent to the district head's residence. They were chanting war songs, condemning the rival party as the police watched despondently.

The thugs, who prevented voters from nearing the booth, suddenly started attacking whoever was in their sight. The district head himself had to be persuaded back into his house. The thugs then took over the busy Kaduna-Kano road stopping motorists and forcing them to chant solidarity songs in favor of their (the thugs') political party. They also set up bonfires, forcing many prospective voters to flee to safety.

Because of the reigning anarchy, the electoral officers had to abscond from their posts, in many cases leaving the ballot boxes. Two persons were reported dead and several others sustained injuries.

The violence soon spread to many parts of the state making elections in five local governments impossible. Government properties in Minjibir, Gwale, Ungogo, Gezawa, Garun Malam, Albasu, Doguwa, Bichi and within the city centre were targeted.

Sunday Trust was also at Madobi Local Government Area, home of former Defense Minister Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, where the battle was fierce. The former minister locked horns with his estranged political ally and now state commissioner, Musa Iliyasu over who controls the council. Hundreds of thugs marched around the polling centres in the local government. In the ensuing blood shedding, residents were forced indoors, electoral officers taken hostage and the police appeared helpless. The police station in the council headquarters was also targeted as thugs surged with dangerous weapons.

Before sun set, one was confirmed dead and many other persons were injured after bloody clashes between supporters of PDP and ANPP.

The battle for supremacy between the ANPP and PDP were also bloody in Bichi, Gwale, Minjibir, Garun Malam, Albasu and Dawakin Kudu areas. The most daring of the attacks was the killing of the Dawakin Kudu electoral officer Malam Ado. Sunday Trust learnt that luck ran out for Ado when rampaging thugs attacked the vote collation centre. Ado tried to escape but he was apprehended by the thugs, who inflicted fatal injuries on him. He died later at the hospital. Several attempts by our reporters to speak to his family at Tudun Maliki in Kano failed on the ground that the case is with the police.

The thugs also recorded casualties. In Bichi, four suspected thugs were killed when they attempted to ransack a poling booth. Youths totting dangerous weapons confronted the attacker and in the free-for-all, four thugs were killed instantly.

When Sunday Trust attempted to trace their families, it was found out that they were all brought from the neighboring Niger Republic by politicians to help destabilize the elections. Their corpses were still at the Bichi General Hospital when our reporter visited.

A Bichi PDP stalwart, Alhaji Kabiru Sale, accused the ANPP of starting the violence after they realized they were loosing the election. He said over two thousands political thugs were brought in from other states into Bichi because the ANPP realized they cannot win the election in the area. Bichi is home to the Minister of State for Commerce, Ahmed Garba Bichi, who lost the April gubernatorial elections to Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.

In Albasu, the local government secretariat was burnt. But the election officials, including the secretary to the ANPP Sabiu Bako, who were taken hostage by political thugs for over 30 hours, escaped unscathed. Bako told Sunday Trust that he was rescued by the divisional police officer of Garko local government after the Albasu police failed to contain the hostage-taking.

It was in the midst of this lawlessness that the state government solicited the intervention of the military. By Sunday night, troops were drafted to major streets of the city to help restore law and order and protect public buildings.

By Monday it was confirmed that crisis occurred in 15 of the 44 local government areas of the state, six of them losing their secretariat as they were razed down by rampaging thugs. The councils where council secretariats were targeted were Minjibir, Gwale, Ungogo, Gezawa and Rano.

While these crises went on, the state Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) announced results that saw the ruling ANPP sweeping the polls with 36 local government areas. The main rival PDP got three local governments while elections in five others were cancelled. Chairman of the commission, Alhaji Aliyu Tijjani said elections were cancelled in the five areas because they were inconclusive due to violence.

On Tuesday, the General Officer Commanding 1 Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army accompanied by Major General Kenneth Agbola Vigo, Commander of the 3rd Brigade, Kano, said the army had taken control of the situation and that peace had returned to almost all parts of the state.

The military and the police made hundreds of arrests during and after the violence. The arrested political thugs who appeared before a Chief Magistrate all pleaded guilty to the four-count charges of criminal intimidation, possession of dangerous weapons, unlawful assembly and disruption of public peace. They were all remanded in prison custody till November 25 and December 5 when the court is to rule.

Influential politicians were also accused of taking part in the violence. Secretary to the state electoral commission, Barrister Wada Bashir alleged that former defence minister Kwankwaso led a team of suspected political thugs to the commission's premises.

But the former governor denied leading a team of thugs. "Nothing like that ever happened," Kwankwaso's media assistant, Alhaji Ibrahim Gwangwazo told Sunday Trust. Gwangwazo said when Kwankwaso in company of other party leaders went to the electoral commission to protest the refusal of the commission to count some votes, they were attacked by ANPP officials at the KANSIEC premises. "We did not bother to respond to them as we just went straight to the KANSIEC chairman's office," he said. The state police commissioner, Alhaji Yesufu also denied knowledge of any gunshot when Kwankwaso went to KANSIEC's premises. "I do not know about that allegation and there is no any report or complaint from anybody (about this)," Yesufu said.

Sunday Trust spoke with some of the arrested political thugs who confirmed that they were paid by some politicians to carry out the attacks. One of them who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were hired from Katsina to help fight during the election. He said four of his colleagues died during the fight in Bichi.

With the election results already announced and troops still patrolling Kano city, complaints are still trickling to the electoral commission. In one of the petitions to the commission, the Kura local government chapter of the PDP through its chairman, Barau Salisu Kura alleged that the election was upturned in favor of the ANPP.

There are many such other complaints, Sunday Trust learnt. But is KANSIEC willing to address these grievances? The commission's scribe Bashir said KANSIEC is not mandated by law to listen to any post-election complaint. The proper place to take protest to, he said, is the election tribunal. "They are being guided by ignorance about the law, as we lack any jurisdiction to entertain complaints. Only the tribunals can do that," he said.

For now what remains to be seen is how the situation now under control can be sustained as already despite the announcement of the results, opposition politicians still continue to announce themselves as winners of the polls.

The news report quoted above, based on eyewitness accounts, is a confirmation of the state of lawlessness in Nigeria. The lawlessness caused by the notorious and monstrous politicians and their hired hoodlums and marauders on rampage in Nigeria since the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) rigged the elections in 2003 and the violations of the Federal Constitution of Nigeria by the PDP have become worse since the last April elections.

The new President of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua has failed to convince Nigerians and foreigners that he won the last presidential election and has failed to prove that he is capable of leading Nigeria.
The convicted and indicted members of the PDP have not been punished for their horrible and terrible crimes and the PDP led government cannot protect the lives and properties of the citizens of Nigeria.

In Osun, a 17-year-old secondary school pupil is still in a hospital after she was brutally raped by a gang of political thugs from the PDP, because she was a prime-witness of the rigging of the April elections in Osun state and her testimony proved that the PDP rigged the gubernatorial election.
The political chieftain of the PDP in the state sent the thugs who attacked and raped her. Then, they shaved her private part and stuffed the pubic hair into her mouth before they left her gasping for breath as she writhed in the bloody wounds they inflicted on her. She was rescued and rushed to the nearest hospital where she is still on admission, being treated for the wounds inflicted on her by the criminal thugs of the PDP. She would live with the nightmares of the trauma and the stigma of the violation of her womanhood by the political thugs of the notorious and monstrous ruling party in Nigeria.

The sooner, this evil and wicked ruling party is sacked the better for Nigeria, otherwise the PDP will continue to violate the statutes of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the tenets of democracy and governance.

We must sack the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) from government before it is too late.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Political Analysis of the CNN Las Vegas Democrats Presidential Debate

Hillary Clinton Wins in CNN Las Vegas Debate

Dear Orikinla,

Did you watch the debate last night? When there was the most at stake, Hillary put on her best performance. She was prepared, firm, and 100 percent ready to lead America.

It was obvious to everyone watching: Hillary will be a president we can be proud of every day.

But you don't have to take my word for it; you can watch Hillary for yourself. We've collected some of her best moments in one place on our website:

Las Vegas Debate

And I know that she would want me to tell you what a difference you are making for her. When I told her before the debate that you beat the remarkable goal of raising $1 million in just a few days, she told me that she was so proud to have you standing with her.

We're achieving so much together. Thank you for all you do to help Hillary make history.

Sincerely,

Patti Solis Doyle
Campaign Manager
Hillary for President

CONTRIBUTE NOW FOR THE ELECTION OF SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON AS THE FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Benazir Bhutto Has Called For President Pervez Musharraf To Step Down

Puja Bharwani reports

Nov. 13 - The detained Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has called for military leader Pervez Musharraf to step down as the country's president.
Bhutto has long called for Musharraf to step down as army chief but this is the first time she has called for him to quit as president altogether.

Military ruler Musharraf set off a storm of criticism when he imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3. He suspended the constitution, sacked most judges, locked up lawyers, rounded up thousands of opposition and rights activists and curbed the media.
Musharraf has come under mounting pressure from Western allies to set Pakistan back on the path to democracy.

Soundbites:
· Lahore Police Chief Aftab Cheema
· Benazir Bhutto via telephone

Nigerian Times Commentary:

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is not an angel and no matter her provocative outbursts, she cannot make President Pervez Musharraf the devil.

Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, from her chequered political biography is not the best leader for Pakistan and no matter her fallacies and hypocrisies, majority of the citizens of Pakistan would vote for Pervez Musharraf than vote for her. She is just a political impressionist and she does not have the support of the military and the support of the military matters more than the support of her emotional followers.

Her house arrest is for her own safety and security and Prevez Musharraf is only doing his best to protest her and save her from being assassinated.

If Benazir Bhutto thinks Pervez Musharraf is her worst enemy, she is wrong.

Watch more of Nigerian Times 24 hours video news below.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Democrats Take Over Virginia Senate

The GOP lost the control of the Virginia Senate to the Democrats Tuesday.

These legislative elections are good indicators of the likely results of the presidential elections next year.

See the Washington Post for the full report.

I knew how Guy Cecil, National Political and Field Director of the Hillary Clinton for President, urged thousands of voters in Virginia to help Hillary Clinton turn Virginia blue and they did so yesterday.

Meetings were held in Northern Virginia, Richmond, Roanoke, Blacksburg, and Charlottesville last Monday to encourage voters to turn out in support of the Democrats. A victory for the Democrats in Virginia is a victory for Hillary Clinton.

Monday, November 5, 2007

NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Billion Dollar Wild Card

NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Billion Dollar Wild Card

BLOOMBERG ON RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT: 'I am not running for president. I have 790-odd days to go in this job, the greatest job in the world-maybe the second greatest job.'

'One of the sad things is that at the moment America is not liked around the world. We are closing our eyes ... And I don't hear from the candidates how they would go about pulling the world together, getting people to respect us.'

One year from Election Day, Newsweek takes an in-depth look at the people - and places - that could have a major impact on Campaign 2008

NEW YORK, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ --

For New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- the billion dollar wild card in the 2008 presidential election -- public service and public attention are inextricably linked, and have been since boyhood. Now he is thinking hard about taking a turn on the biggest stage of all: a campaign for the White House. The odds against an independent bid for the White House are long, but if Bloomberg's life tells us anything, it is that he is often more motivated, and more successful, when other people say he cannot do something, writes Editor Jon Meacham in "The Billion Dollar Wild Card" cover story in the November 12 issue (on newsstands Monday, November 5).

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071104/NYSU004 )

A rich man with a record of service and seemingly limitless ambition, Bloomberg represents a formidable threat to the traditional party nominees, Newsweek reports. "This is a billion-dollar campaign," Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's chief political adviser, told Newsweek aboard Bloomberg's Falcon 9 jet late last week. He then amended the declaration-slightly: "If it happens, it's a billion-dollar campaign." If it happens. What would make it happen? In Sheekey's view-on the record, Bloomberg himself answers questions about his White House ambitions by saying he has 790-odd days to go as mayor, and that he could not be happier-the two major parties may wind up nominating candidates with negative ratings at or above 40 percent.

Looking ahead to the future, Bloomberg tells Newsweek, "I am not running for president. I have 790-odd days to go in this job, the greatest job in the world-maybe the second greatest job. The mayor's job is where you can really get things done ... And I have been successful in business, and I hope when I leave this job they will say I was a good mayor or a great mayor. Philanthropy will probably be the next big thing. I am lucky enough to have a lot of money, I am planning on giving it all away, and I think you change the world that way."

Bloomberg believes, "The job of being president is to lead the country and the legislature, and it is pulling those together. And because America is the only remaining superpower, you are the leader of the free world, it is having the credibility and working with other countries to get them all to work together to stop genocide, to stop nuclear proliferation, to make sure we have fair trade among countries... And one of the sad things is that at the moment America is not liked around the world. We are closing our eyes ... And I don't hear from the candidates how they would go about pulling the world together, getting people to respect us."

Pressed once more, he says he is not running, but then offers a lucid, if indirect, case for a man like him at a time like this, Newsweek reports. "I think that the candidates are not addressing, in a way at least I can understand, what they would do if they got elected. Unfortunately in the process that we go through-all of these, quote, 'debates'- ... there's no way to do that," he says.

Also part of the cover package marking one year from Election Day, a team of Newsweek correspondents look ahead to the 2008 presidential campaign:

-- According to the new Newsweek Poll, almost exactly a year before
Election Day, Hillary Clinton's lead for the party's nomination remains
unchanged with 44 percent of the overall Democratic vote, compared to
24 percent for Barack Obama (down a point since Newsweek's August poll)
and 12 percent for John Edwards (down two points).
-- Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas and Senior White House Correspondent
Richard Wolffe examine why the Iowa caucus, although arcane and
confusing, has a critically important role in the 2008 presidential
race.
-- Senior Washington Correspondent Howard Fineman and Senior White House
Correspondent Richard Wolffe debut "Report From the Front," a new
series featuring interviews with candidates, with an interview with
Sen. Barack Obama. With the Iowa caucuses, a must win, just eight weeks
away, Obama talks about the sense of urgency in his campaign and amps
up his new willingness to criticize Democratic front runner Sen.
Hillary Clinton, whom he calls "disingenuous."
-- Trapped in a series of fuzzy nonresponses, Clinton was bruised in last
week's Democratic debate in Philadelphia. 'The lawyer is back, like one
of her bad hairdos from the 1990s," writes Senior Editor and Columnist
Jonathan Alter.
-- Washington Correspondent Eve Conant reports on what the Democratic
Party's new Faith In Action Initiative is doing to court religious
voters, and profiles Brooklyn's Rev. Leah Daughtry, the group's
charismatic leader, who serves as chief of staff of the DNC-No. 2 to
Chairman Howard Dean-and is in charge of planning for the '08
Democratic convention in Denver.
-- White House Correspondent Holly Bailey reports on GOP candidate Mike
Huckabee and how, despite only visiting Iowa three times since August
and spending almost nothing campaigning there, he is running a close
second to Mitt Romney in a recent Iowa poll. Also, Editorial Assistant
Andrew Romano reports on the time he spent with Huckabee and his
classic-rock cover band, Capitol Offense.

The cover package also features an extensive online component at www.Newsweek.com.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071104/NYSU009
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN1
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: LaVenia LaVelle of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4859

Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

Highlights:

22:07 NEWSWEEK: Cover: The Billion Dollar Wild Card
22:05 NEWSWEEK: Interview: Sen. Barack Obama
21:17 NEWSWEEK: International Editions: Highlights And Exclusives Nov. 12, 2007 Issue
20:53 NEWSWEEK: Mel Brooks on 'The Producers,' His First Smash Hit: 'I Didn't Expect it. I was Just Adapting My Little Cult Movie - I Didn't Know how Much Resonance it Had'
20:21 NEWSWEEK: Media Lead Sheet/November 12, 2007 Issue (on newsstands Monday, November 5)
02:40 NEWSWEEK Poll: Hillary Clinton Took the Heat at This Week's Democratic Debate and Emerged Undamaged

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Only Solution To The Niger Delta Crisis and End Corruption in Nigeria

It would be more beneficial if we analyze the crisis in perspective.

Ignorant observers should not mistake the volatile crude oil politics in the Niger Delta for what you read in the newspapers, because it is more than meets the ordinary eye.

1. The Nigerian government is controlled by a plutocracy of kleptomaniacs both in the military, public, and private sectors.

2. Illegal oil blocks have been acquired by both top ranking Nigerian military officers, both the retired officers and those still in active service and their civilian accomplices..
IBB, OBJ, Danjuma, and others have acquired illegal oil blocks.

They have saved the fiscal proceeds in various foreign banks, bought properties in foreign lands, and only invested some millions of dollars in Nigerian banks, telecom companies, and other ventures.

3. Illegal oil bunkering started in the 1980s when IBB was in power and corruption and crime were in ascendancy.
The proceeds have also been spent on similar ventures mentioned above.

4. Before the Nigerian Civil War, there was little or no misappropriation of oil revenues and proceeds were used for agriculture and other national development projects and programmes.
The Nigerian state prospered and Nigeria was one of the emerging economies in the world until the young ill-informed and naive Nigerian military officers staged the bloodiest coup in the history of Nigeria. The civil war would have been averted, but the intellectual naivety and ignorance in the masquerade of arrogance made the childish and foolish Nigerian rulers to plunge the country into the horrible and terrible internecine civil war, which claimed over one million lives.

5. After the civil war, General Yakubu Gowon was now wiser. He appointed astute and resolute administrators, such as the late Chief. Obafemi Jeremiah Awolowo who proved to be the best civil servant in the history of Nigeria. Nigeria had well planned national development programmes and was governed by true patriots with dignity, integrity and accountability until another group of ill-informed and naive military officers led by the late Brigadier Murtala Muhammad derailed the Nigerian train of progress and drove Nigeria off the tracks.

6. The man who succeeded the late Muhammad, General Olusegun Obasanjo made a secret pact with the Arewa mafia to hand over to an Hausa leader and that was how they lured and used the late Chief. O.K. Abiola, the late Chief Adisa Akinloye and others against Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the presidential election and rigged the election. Obasanjo handed over to Alhaji Shehu Shagari who could not rule as his conscience led him. He was a weak leader and the power brokers controlled the Nigerian state until another coup toppled the government.

7. The Solution is very simple.
The Federal Government of Nigeria must treat crude oil like cocoa, palm produce; groundnut and other cash crops and minerals, by handing over the resource control to the states and let the states pay taxes to the Federal Government.

We must practice true federalism and not this plutocracy of kleptomaniacs called the Federal Government of Nigeria.

All the illegally acquired oil blocks and oil wells must be returned to the oil producing states, illegal oil bunkering must be stopped, and this can be done.
Nigerian Naval officers are all implicated in the corruption of illegal oil bunkering and we know all these criminals in uniform and their civilian accomplices.

We must change the corrupt system of government in Nigeria by peace or by force.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Sent Me Her Personal Thanks

The former First Lady of the United States of America, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton sent me a letter of appreciation to thank me for supporting her campaign to become the next President of America.

You read it on my Support Hillary Clinton for President Blog.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Mandate of MKO Abiola

The Mandate of MKO Abiola

By Adeleke O. Adeyemi, with the remarks of Reuben Abati

The Mandate: Audio Drama

Suffused with score after score of original, lilting music that resonates with its power and purpose The Mandate, Audio Drama tracks along a ponderous part of Nigeria’s story as it totters on a way forward, past a crossroads onto a path leading past her present – into an impending future. It is here presented for education and entertainment in a way that is gratifying to the soul.
This is Drama to experience – over and over again!
Following in the chequered tradition of the groundbreaking radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds (by American actor and director Orson Welles, written by the British H.G. Wells, a generation earlier) that captured the imagination of a whole nation an eon of a generation ago, another playwright has given us–startling as gripping–another War.
It centres on the calling and career of one whose essence has been aptly captured as: …Truly the first national hero and icon, whose personality and symbolism tied together the deepest aspirations of the [Nigerian] people about their own lives.

~Reuben Abati

Description:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. – George Santayana.

CODENAME JUNE 12: MANDATE AND MAYHEM A Tragedy on the Greatest Threat Ever to Nigeria’s Ruling Mafia. And How it was Checked.

Product Details:
Printed: 59 pages, 6" x 9", jacket-hardcover binding, cream interior paper (50# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-color exterior ink
PDF (408 kb)

Download: 1 documents (PDF), 408 KB
ISBN: 978-9-7837-5294-8
Publisher: Nigerian Times International
Copyright: © 2007 Adeleke O’ Adeyemi Standard Copyright License
Language: English
Country: Nigeria
Edition: First Edition

Hardcover book: $22.20
Hardcover book: £12.23
Download: £2.75

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adeleke O’ Adeyemi attended Government College, Katsina (GCK) where he was Essayist Laureate. This was where he became fascinated with the story of the groundbreaking play for radio The War of the Worlds on the Voice of America, VOA, being a lifelong radio DXer.

He went on to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and was later at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he obtained a Bachelor degree in Science. He’s also an alumnus of Daystar Leadership Academy, Lagos.

He has been Editor of the Timeless newspaper and continues to work as a freelance literary analyst and writer. He maintains avid interests in literary/publishing consulting, songwriting, and copyediting. His passions range from Child Development, Social Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development, to Audio-visual, Stage Productions and full-length Animation movie-making, and TV Presentation.

He considers his primary objective in life to be: Enriching the social consciousness through literary endeavours for ensuring a sane and progressive polity for communicable personal and corporate development.

This stems from his avowed conviction that: “The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them” (Barry Lopez).

"The Mandate of MKO Abiola" is Distributed Worldwide by Lulu Press/King of Kings Books International.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Nigeria: President Yar'Adua Must Save Nigerian Universities From Total Collapse

Nigeria: President Yar'Adua Must Save Nigerian Universities From Total Collapse

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan were university lecturers before dumping their academic gowns for Nigerian politics. And millions of their old boys expect the best things to begin to happen to Nigerian education, because of these two former academics that are now in power. That is why they are not surprised that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is going to end the three months old strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).The pragmatic measures of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua ended the last nationwide workers strike and he is employing the same pragmatic approach to end the protracted ASUU strike.

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua knows the cause of disagreement between the government and Nigerian university lecturers, because he had been through similar trials and tribulations of Nigerian academics in the past. And it would be unfortunate if he fails to end their plight.

The terrible state of Nigerian universities can be traced to the ignorance of previous leaders who misappropriated the revenue allocations meant for the sustainable development of higher institutions in Nigeria and neglected the welfare of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Nigerian universities have been relegated to bottom of the accredited universities in the world. No Nigerian university is even rated among the best 1, 000 universities in the world. And only one Nigerian university ranked among the top 50 universities in Africa at the 44th position.Nigerian administrators neglected Nigerian universities, sent their children to the best colleges and universities in America and the UK, and then misappropriated revenues to establish private universities. But none of their private universities made the list of the best universities in the world in the latest global rankings. And the best private university, the Christian Covenant University is at the bottom of the rungs in Africa at the 98th Position..

The Nigerian Tribune reported on June 17, 2007, that many stakeholders are calling for the"De-unionization of university lecturers as a way of saving the nation’s ivory towers from incessant strike actions.” But the leadership of ASUU disagreed that strike actions have stymied the advancement of Nigerian academic institutions.“I think we should ask ourselves this pertinent question. Do we want to produce graduates for the sake of doing so or we want to produce quality graduates? In the latest ranking of world universities, no Nigerian university made the list of the first 1,000 in the world. This is because of the rot in the system. The government should address the issue and rid the system of the rot. Proscribing ASUU will not solve the problem,” said Dr. Suleiman Kano, ASUU President.
“It is very disappointing that some people are saying that university lecturers be de-unionized. We are not fighting for our comfort; we are fighting for an improved society. This is a country where the government itself says we need 47,000 university lecturers, now we have 16,000. What are we doing about getting the balance? Good students do not want to join academic staff, they prefer to work elsewhere. Many medical students do not get to see, let alone use, the equipment they will need when they start practice. What kind of graduates are we producing?” Dr. Suleiman told the Nigerian Tribune.

The ASUU strike is in the best interest of Nigerian education. President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and the ASUU President, Dr. Suleiman Kano are both well educated to address the academic crisis and save Nigerian universities from total collapse.

By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

The Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
Nigerian Times International

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Chronicles of Our Recent Past

You can read my news articles and features on http://www.huliq.com/tracker/126 and know how much I have done so far, even without blogging on my blogs.

I am more active on my forums and news sites.

NIGERIAN TIMES

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