US urges President to remain global leader

The United States has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to continue to play a role in global leadership despite his failed re-election bid.

The advice was given to Jonathan by US Vice President, Joe Biden during a conversation on Monday, April 20, 2015.

Details of the conversation were disclosed via a statement issued by the US Embassy in Abuja.

It reads:

“Vice President Joe Biden spoke today with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to commend him for his leadership in ensuring Nigeria’s recent elections were peaceful and orderly.”

“The Vice President noted that President Jonathan’s actions to accept the results and congratulate President-elect Buhari, as well as his steps to date to ensure a successful transition, have strengthened Nigeria’s democracy and set a strong example for Africa and the world.”

“The Vice President encouraged President Jonathan to remain engaged and play a leadership role in global issues after his presidency ends.”

Jonathan is expected to officially hand-over to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015.

Foreigners Tell Of Being ‘Hunted Like Dogs’ In South Africa

Foreigners fleeing xenophobic violence in South Africa told Tuesday of how they escaped marauding death mobs and vowed never to return to the country where they had sought a new life.

Holding her one-year-old daughter in her arms, Malawian Agnes Salanje said she “faced death” during the wave of anti-immigrant violence that has claimed at least seven lives.

“We could have been killed as these South Africans hunted for foreigners, going from door to door,” Salanje, who was a domestic worker in the Indian Ocean port city of Durban, told AFP.

Nearly 400 Malawian refugees arrived overnight in the city of Blantyre in the south of the country, where they were met by government ministers and officials.

The attacks on foreigners have sparked a wave of anger and protests against South Africa across the rest of the continent.

Salanje, who was paid $200 a month, said she escaped the attackers after being “tipped off by a good neighbour and we ran to a mosque to seek shelter.”

“I will not go back. It is better to be poor than be hunted like dogs because you are a foreigner,” she said.

“I lost everything. I only managed to grab a few clothes for myself and my baby Linda.”

South African authorities have struggled to contain mobs in the economic capital Johannesburg and Durban who have been attacking foreigners from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and other African countries.

Foreigners are often the focus of resentment among poor South Africans who face a chronic jobs shortage.

Chisomo Makiyi, 23, who worked at a clothes manufacturing factory in Durban, is still puzzled why they were attacked.

“Had I not run away to safety, I would not be here,” she said.

“I just don’t know why all of a sudden they start hating foreigners and giving them two choices — be killed or go home.”

Makiyi pledged to never return to South Africa despite “the good pay of $280 (a month) which back home would be a dream.”

On average, civil servants in Malawi get $100 per month while labourers receive only $50.

“My life is more important than a good salary,” she said. “I am better off being poor and without a good job than be killed in a foreign land.”

Warm Welcome For Man Who Trekked From Lagos to Abuja in Celebration of Buhari's Victory

Suleiman Hashimu who promised to trek from Lagos to Abuja if Muhammadu Buhari wins the 2015 Presidential election arrived in Abuja yesterday evening.

The Wind of Vengeance: Obasanjo's Axe to Fall on Kashamu Next

Buruji Kashamu, a PDP chief in Ogun state (also Ogun senator-elect) has said that former president Olusegun Obasanjo has begun pulling illegal local and international strings to see that he is extradited to USA.

PUNCH reports:
Buruji said Obasanjo was involved in the alleged plot to extradite him to the United States over drug related indictment in the foreign land because of the defeat the former President had suffered in the PDP.

The senator-elect, through his lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, said this in a petition to the National Human Rights Commission, seeking investigation into an alleged plan to abduct him and forcibly extradite him to the US.

The petition, dated April 15, 2015 and addressed to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Prof. Bem Angwe, is entitled, ‘Prince Buruji Kashamu: Abduction plans by United States of America agents in collaboration with law enforcement agencies in Nigeria’.

“The current plan to abduct him (Kashamu) is an admission by the US authorities that there is no case against him and is a design instigated and commissioned by Obasanjo who seeks revenge against him for the comprehensive political defeat Obasanjo suffered because of Kashamu in the PDP,” Oluyede wrote.

Senator Uche Chukwumerijie is Dead

Senator Uche Chukwumerijie, a former minister of Information and senator representing Abia North Senatorial district, has died.

His son, Chidi, broke the news:

“On the evening of Sunday, the 19th of April, 2015, surrounded by his family, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije passed into the open arms of history, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, after a long but gallant battle with lung cancer.

“His life is many volumes, which can only be told with care and time, of dedication and focus, integrity and discipline, and an unbroken love for the highest ideals of our shared humanity.

“Details of burial arrangements will be announced in due course. We ask only for your prayers and good wishes.”

May he rest in peace.

Terror group massacre 30 Ethiopians

The 29-minute online video, titled “Until There Came to Them Clear Evidence”, purports to show militants holding two groups of captives. It says one group is held by an IS affiliate in eastern Libya known as Barka Province and the other by an affiliate in the south calling itself the Fazzan Province.

A masked fighter brandishing a pistol delivers a long statement, saying Christians must convert to Islam or pay a special tax prescribed by the Koran.

The chief executioner speaks in English and says “our battle is a battle between faith and blasphemy”.

A narrator says: “To the nation of the cross, we are back again on the sands, where the companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, have stepped on before, telling you: Muslim blood that was shed under the hands of your religion is not cheap.

“In fact, their blood is the purest blood because there is a nation behind them (which) inherits revenge. And we swear to Allah: the one who disgraced you by our hands, you will not have safety, even in your dreams, until you embrace Islam.”

Those executed were described as “the worshippers of the cross belonging to the hostile Ethiopian church”.

It is however unclear who the captives were or when they were captured.

Ethiopian Communications Minister, Redwan Hussein, said its embassy in Egypt is working to verify the video.

“We strongly condemn such atrocities, whether they are Ethiopians are not,” Hussein said.

“There are elements of IS around Ethiopia who are already carrying out operations, even though under a different name. We will keep on fighting them.”

3 weeks later, another INEC office razed by fire in same zone

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) area office in Katsina-Ala, Benue, was razed by fire in the early hours of Sunday, April 19, NAN reports.

No sensitive materials were lost to the inferno, according to the Commission.

INEC Public Relations Officer in Benue, Louis Ochai, said the commission had removed sensitive materials, such as card readers, from the building immediately after the elections.

In the past three weeks, two other INEC offices had been razed by in the senatorial zone, the April 19 incident makes it the third.

The office serves as the commission’s collation centre for the Benue North-East Senatorial District.

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