Anyibuofu Ujomamaka
IBB posters flood Okuku - The Sun News On-line | Apr 5, 2010 ... Printed in gloss, the posters announced the IBB presidency come 2011. Unfortunately for his campaigners, the ever-smiling retired army ...
www.sunnewsonline.com/.../news/.../national-05-04-2010-009.htm - Cached
2011: IBB posters flood Osun Published on Apr 05 2010,Page 5. 2011: IBB posters flood Osun. Tunde Oyekola,. Article Rank. Osogbo. Powered by pressmart Media Ltd ...
anax1a.pressmart.net/...//NT/NT/.../05_04_2010_005_007.shtml - Cached
IBB's Campaign Posters Flood Oyinlola's Home Town, Okuku | OSUN ... Apr 9, 2010 ... It is no longer news that the embattled Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State has been jostling to be the running mate of former ...
www.osundefender.org/?p=8702 - Cached
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Babangida campaign posters flood Gusau streets - NigeriaDailyNews.com Apr 28, 2010 ... The News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that hundreds of such posters, reading “2011: IBB for president” now deface many public utilities, ...
http://ndn.nigeriadailynews.com/?a=28616 - Cached
Business Hallmark News - IBB campaign posters flood Gusau streets IBB campaign posters flood Gusau streets. Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font. Richard Aderounmu 28/04/2010 14:06:00. image Babangida ...
http://bizhallmark.com/index.php/permalink/3885.html - Cached
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Babangida campaign posters flood Abeokuta May 6, 2010 ... Babangida campaign posters flood Abeokuta. ... came with the inscriptions: 'IBB Movement 2011', 'Babangida For President; It's our cause'. ...
news2.onlinenigeria.com/.../18051-Babangida-campaign-posters-flood-Abeokuta.html?... - Cached
May 7, 2010 07:46AM
Babangida campaign posters flood Abeokuta Babangida campaign posters flood Abeokuta .... pls ask Gbenga Daniel about the posters! He was d one who gave IBB d 1st public forum to voice his ...
234next.com/.../babangida_campaign_posters_flood_abeokuta_.csp - Cached
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IBB's Posters Flood Ibadan | P.M. News Nigeria May 18, 2010 ... First with Nigerian News. Top daily news updates for the people of Nigeria. Nigeria's leading evening Newspaper.
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2010/05/18/ibb’s-posters-flood-ibadan/ - Nigeria - Cached
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IBB presidential posters flood Ado-Ekiti - NigeriaDailyNews.com May 19, 2010 ... Hundreds of giant-sized posters of Ibrahim Babangida for President in 2011 have flooded streets in Ado-E...
http://ndn.nigeriadailynews.com/templates/?a=29403&z=8 - Cached
IBB presidential posters flood Ado-Ekiti : 8221 May 23, 2010 ... Petter Buddy,I believe that I once read on the forum that even the street beggars in Ekiti have PhDs, perhaps the level of relative poverty ...
http://news.lifegang.com/ibb-presidential-posters-flood-ado-ekiti.html - 11 hours ago
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Sunday, May 23, 2010
Yemeni cleric advocates killing US civilians
By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF
An American-Yemeni cleric whose Internet sermons are believed to have helped inspire attacks on the U.S. has advocated the killing of American civilians in an al-Qaida video released Sunday.
Anwar al-Awlaki has been singled out by U.S. officials as a key terrorist threat and has been added to the CIA's list of targets for assassination despite his American citizenship. He is of particular concern because he is one of the few English-speaking radical clerics able to explain to young Muslims in America and other Western countries the philosophy of violent jihad.
The U.S.-born al-Awlaki moved to Yemen in 2004 and is in hiding there after being linked to the suspects in the November shooting at an Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, and the December attempt to blow up a U.S. jetliner bound for Detroit.
"Those who might be killed in a plane are merely a drop of water in a sea," he said in the video in response to a question about Muslim groups that disapproved of the airliner plot because it targeted civilians.
Al-Awlaki used the 45-minute video to justify civilian deaths — and encourage them — by accusing the United States of intentionally killing a million Muslim civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
American civilians are to blame, he said, because "the American people, in general, are taking part in this and they elected this administration and they are financing the war."
He added that the Prophet Muhammad also sent forces into battles that claimed civilian lives.
The video was produced by the media arm of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, though the exact nature of al-Awlaki's ties with the group and possible direct role in it are unclear. The U.S. says he is an active participant in the group, though members of his tribe have denied that.
For its part, al-Qaida appears to be trying to make use of his recruiting power by putting him in its videos. Its media arm said Sunday's video was its first interview with the cleric.
In the months before the Fort Hood shooting, which killed 13 people, al-Awlaki exchanged e-mails with the alleged attacker, U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki's Internet sermons, and approached him for religious advice.
Yemen's government says al-Awlaki is also suspected of contacts with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused in the failed attempt to blow up the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab traveled to Yemen late last year, and U.S. investigators say he told them that he received training and his bomb from Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot.
In Sunday's video, al-Awlaki praised both men and referred to them as his "students."
Speaking of Hasan, the cleric said, "What he did was heroic and great. ... I ask every Muslim serving in the U.S. Army to follow suit."
Al-Awlaki appears in the video wearing a white Yemeni robe, turban and with a traditional jambiyah dagger tucked into his waistband.
Al-Awlaki was born in 1971 in New Mexico. His father, Nasser al-Awlaki, was in the United States studying agriculture at the time and later returned with his family to Yemen to serve as agriculture minister. The father remains a prominent figure in Yemen, teaching at San'a University in the capital.
The younger al-Awlaki returned to the United States in 1991 to study civil engineering at Colorado State University, then education at San Diego State University, followed by doctoral work at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
He was also a preacher at mosques in California and Virginia before returning to Yemen in 2004.
"We have had more freedom in America than in any Muslim country," he said in Sunday's video. "But when America started to feel the danger of Islam's message, it tightened limits on freedom, and after 9/11 it was impossible to live in America as a Muslim."
Al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding in Yemen's Shabwa province, the rugged region of towering mountains that is home to his large tribe.
Yemen, which has cooperated with the United States in battling al-Qaida, says it is searching for the cleric.
Al-Awlaki said he was moving from place to place under the protection of his tribe.
Accusing al-Awlaki of involvement in planning and operations by al-Qaida, the Obama administration placed him on a target list of terrorists to be killed or captured, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said last week. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.
"As for the Americans, I will never surrender to them," he said. "If they want me, they have to search for me and God is the one who decides my fate."
An American-Yemeni cleric whose Internet sermons are believed to have helped inspire attacks on the U.S. has advocated the killing of American civilians in an al-Qaida video released Sunday.
Anwar al-Awlaki has been singled out by U.S. officials as a key terrorist threat and has been added to the CIA's list of targets for assassination despite his American citizenship. He is of particular concern because he is one of the few English-speaking radical clerics able to explain to young Muslims in America and other Western countries the philosophy of violent jihad.
The U.S.-born al-Awlaki moved to Yemen in 2004 and is in hiding there after being linked to the suspects in the November shooting at an Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, and the December attempt to blow up a U.S. jetliner bound for Detroit.
"Those who might be killed in a plane are merely a drop of water in a sea," he said in the video in response to a question about Muslim groups that disapproved of the airliner plot because it targeted civilians.
Al-Awlaki used the 45-minute video to justify civilian deaths — and encourage them — by accusing the United States of intentionally killing a million Muslim civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
American civilians are to blame, he said, because "the American people, in general, are taking part in this and they elected this administration and they are financing the war."
He added that the Prophet Muhammad also sent forces into battles that claimed civilian lives.
The video was produced by the media arm of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, though the exact nature of al-Awlaki's ties with the group and possible direct role in it are unclear. The U.S. says he is an active participant in the group, though members of his tribe have denied that.
For its part, al-Qaida appears to be trying to make use of his recruiting power by putting him in its videos. Its media arm said Sunday's video was its first interview with the cleric.
In the months before the Fort Hood shooting, which killed 13 people, al-Awlaki exchanged e-mails with the alleged attacker, U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki's Internet sermons, and approached him for religious advice.
Yemen's government says al-Awlaki is also suspected of contacts with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused in the failed attempt to blow up the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab traveled to Yemen late last year, and U.S. investigators say he told them that he received training and his bomb from Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot.
In Sunday's video, al-Awlaki praised both men and referred to them as his "students."
Speaking of Hasan, the cleric said, "What he did was heroic and great. ... I ask every Muslim serving in the U.S. Army to follow suit."
Al-Awlaki appears in the video wearing a white Yemeni robe, turban and with a traditional jambiyah dagger tucked into his waistband.
Al-Awlaki was born in 1971 in New Mexico. His father, Nasser al-Awlaki, was in the United States studying agriculture at the time and later returned with his family to Yemen to serve as agriculture minister. The father remains a prominent figure in Yemen, teaching at San'a University in the capital.
The younger al-Awlaki returned to the United States in 1991 to study civil engineering at Colorado State University, then education at San Diego State University, followed by doctoral work at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
He was also a preacher at mosques in California and Virginia before returning to Yemen in 2004.
"We have had more freedom in America than in any Muslim country," he said in Sunday's video. "But when America started to feel the danger of Islam's message, it tightened limits on freedom, and after 9/11 it was impossible to live in America as a Muslim."
Al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding in Yemen's Shabwa province, the rugged region of towering mountains that is home to his large tribe.
Yemen, which has cooperated with the United States in battling al-Qaida, says it is searching for the cleric.
Al-Awlaki said he was moving from place to place under the protection of his tribe.
Accusing al-Awlaki of involvement in planning and operations by al-Qaida, the Obama administration placed him on a target list of terrorists to be killed or captured, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said last week. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.
"As for the Americans, I will never surrender to them," he said. "If they want me, they have to search for me and God is the one who decides my fate."
First Lady Patience Jonathan On Gold Buying Junket To Dubai
Ayo Adewuyi
Our attention has been drawn to a malicious on-line news report on Sahara Reporters about the recent trip of Her Excellency, the First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan to Dubai. The report smacks of an attempt by the authors to rubbish the goodwill of a modest woman who has chosen to waive her privileges as the First Lady and travel on a commercial flight for a private visit.
The said report ordinarily should not attract a reaction but for the malicious intentions of the authors who we understand are bent on carrying out the orchestrated plan of their sponsors.
The authors claimed in the said report that Mrs. Jonathan is “known to be interested in buying gold jewelry†and as such concluded that she is in Dubai on a spending spree shopping for gold. This cannot be farther from the truth. It is ungodly and an unnecessary distraction that is not needed now.
For the avoidance of doubt, Her Excellency, the First Lady is on a private visit which has been scheduled long before her husband was sworn-in as President, the assumption therefore that the First Lady took advantage of her present position is in the imagination of the writers.
Her Excellency, the First lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan did not, will not and does not intend to take undue advantage of her position.
The First Lady has come a long way as the wife of a Deputy Governor, wife of a Governor, wife of the Vice President and wife of the acting President, it therefore defy any logical reason that it is now that she will be scrambling to buy gold. This is uncharitable.
Mrs. Jonathan rather than being vilified should be commended for maintaining low profile, being modest and considerate for choosing to fly a commercial flight for the visit even though she has the privilege of requesting for the use of a Presidential aircraft.
To say that Mrs. Jonathan has “unveiled a high profile presence since her husband became the President†shows how ignorant the writers are and how deficient they are in investigative journalism. Otherwise, they should have known that the only official function performed by Mrs. Jonathan since she became the First Lady was the launching of “Master Care Foundation†the pet project of the wife of the Delta State Governor, Mrs. Roli Uduaghan.
This is in furtherance of her passion to assist the less privileged in the society. We wonder if speeches are not supposed to be made on such occasions.
We are aware of the intentions of the authors and their sponsors but the President and his wife will not be distracted by these specialists of “Pull Him Down†syndrome in the arduous task of moving the Nation forward.
The report also made reference to the EFCC case of which Mrs. Jonathan has since been absolved.
This is a case on which investigation had been concluded and Mrs. Jonathan was not found culpable, but the detractors continue to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
If she had been found culpable, we are certain that Nuhu Ribadu would have charged her to court because she has no immunity.
We want to state categorically that Mrs. Jonathan has no link whatsoever with the seized N104million and has no knowledge of any $13.5 million dollars. In fact there was never an incident of $13.5million dollars.
We challenge Sahara Reporters to contact Mr. Nuhu Ribadu or Mrs. Farida Waziri to get the facts of the matter.
We state without any iota of equivocation that Mrs. Jonathan has no case against her. She never had any case to answer. All the controversy was a storm in a tea cup stirred up by political mudslingers in her husband’s home state Bayelsa in the quest for the governorship seat.
Her Excellency the First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan will continue to uphold the dignity of the office of the First Lady and will not relent in promoting the well being of Nigerian Women.
Our attention has been drawn to a malicious on-line news report on Sahara Reporters about the recent trip of Her Excellency, the First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan to Dubai. The report smacks of an attempt by the authors to rubbish the goodwill of a modest woman who has chosen to waive her privileges as the First Lady and travel on a commercial flight for a private visit.
The said report ordinarily should not attract a reaction but for the malicious intentions of the authors who we understand are bent on carrying out the orchestrated plan of their sponsors.
The authors claimed in the said report that Mrs. Jonathan is “known to be interested in buying gold jewelry†and as such concluded that she is in Dubai on a spending spree shopping for gold. This cannot be farther from the truth. It is ungodly and an unnecessary distraction that is not needed now.
For the avoidance of doubt, Her Excellency, the First Lady is on a private visit which has been scheduled long before her husband was sworn-in as President, the assumption therefore that the First Lady took advantage of her present position is in the imagination of the writers.
Her Excellency, the First lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan did not, will not and does not intend to take undue advantage of her position.
The First Lady has come a long way as the wife of a Deputy Governor, wife of a Governor, wife of the Vice President and wife of the acting President, it therefore defy any logical reason that it is now that she will be scrambling to buy gold. This is uncharitable.
Mrs. Jonathan rather than being vilified should be commended for maintaining low profile, being modest and considerate for choosing to fly a commercial flight for the visit even though she has the privilege of requesting for the use of a Presidential aircraft.
To say that Mrs. Jonathan has “unveiled a high profile presence since her husband became the President†shows how ignorant the writers are and how deficient they are in investigative journalism. Otherwise, they should have known that the only official function performed by Mrs. Jonathan since she became the First Lady was the launching of “Master Care Foundation†the pet project of the wife of the Delta State Governor, Mrs. Roli Uduaghan.
This is in furtherance of her passion to assist the less privileged in the society. We wonder if speeches are not supposed to be made on such occasions.
We are aware of the intentions of the authors and their sponsors but the President and his wife will not be distracted by these specialists of “Pull Him Down†syndrome in the arduous task of moving the Nation forward.
The report also made reference to the EFCC case of which Mrs. Jonathan has since been absolved.
This is a case on which investigation had been concluded and Mrs. Jonathan was not found culpable, but the detractors continue to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
If she had been found culpable, we are certain that Nuhu Ribadu would have charged her to court because she has no immunity.
We want to state categorically that Mrs. Jonathan has no link whatsoever with the seized N104million and has no knowledge of any $13.5 million dollars. In fact there was never an incident of $13.5million dollars.
We challenge Sahara Reporters to contact Mr. Nuhu Ribadu or Mrs. Farida Waziri to get the facts of the matter.
We state without any iota of equivocation that Mrs. Jonathan has no case against her. She never had any case to answer. All the controversy was a storm in a tea cup stirred up by political mudslingers in her husband’s home state Bayelsa in the quest for the governorship seat.
Her Excellency the First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan will continue to uphold the dignity of the office of the First Lady and will not relent in promoting the well being of Nigerian Women.
GOP wins House seat in Obama's home district
By HERBERT A. SAMPLE
A Honolulu city councilman has defeated two Democrats to give Republicans a midterm election victory in the U.S. congressional district where President Barack Obama grew up.
Charles Djou's win Saturday is the latest triumph for the GOP as it looks to take back control of Congress. And it came as a blow to Democrats who could not rally around a candidate and find away to win a congressional race that should have been a cakewalk. The seat had been held by a Democrat for nearly 20 years and is located where Obama was born and spent most of his childhood.
"This is a momentous day. We have sent a message to the United States Congress. We have sent a message to the national Democrats. We have sent a message to the machine," Djou said. "The congressional seat is not owned by one political party. This congressional seat is owned by the people."
But Democrats believe the success in Hawaii will be short-lived. Djou will only serve through the remainder of 2010, and another election will be held in November for the next term.
Djou received 67,610 votes, or 39.4 percent. He was trailed by state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, a Democrat who received 52,802 votes, or 30.8 percent. The other leading Democrat, former U.S. Rep. Ed Case, received 47,391 votes, or 27.6 percent.
Republicans see the victory as a powerful statement about their momentum heading into November. They already sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts — a place that was once thought to be the most hostile of territories for the GOP. Now Republicans can say they won a congressional seat in the former backyard of the president and in a state that gave Obama 72 percent of the vote two years ago.
"Charles' victory is evidence his conservative message of lowering the tax burden, job creation and government accountability knows no party lines. It is a message Americans want to hear from candidates across the country," said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
Democrats are confident they can topple Djou in November because the vote won't be split among several candidates, as it was Saturday.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen said the fact that the Democratic candidates together received over 50 percent of the vote, "demonstrates that Democratic prospects are very good in November."
"This district is still, as stated, a Democratic district," Hanabusa said, pointing to the combined Democratic vote of 58 percent. "We're energized to start all over again."
Hanabusa said she intends to campaign in the September primary for the Democratic nomination to take on Djou in November. Case suggested to supporters he would seek the Democratic nomination in September. But when asked directly, he said all he planned to do Monday was "wake up, go body surfing and cut the lawn. We'll figure out the rest of it later."
"The people of Hawaii have give us a short-term lease with an option to buy in November," Djou said. "This is not the time for us to rest on our laurels. This is the time to redouble our efforts to bring out change. To do good, to restore our nation to prosperity."
The party was on at the Republican party headquarters in Honolulu. A band played Hawaiian music and hundreds of supporters hugged Djou, piling on a stack of floral lei around his neck. A whiteboard inside the office read, "Just Djou it!"
Djou, 39, enjoyed solid support from state and national Republicans and ran a disciplined campaign focused on taxes and government spending at a time when Hawaii's tourism-driven economy remains troubled, with the state facing a $1 billion deficit, large cuts to state programs and workers and an unemployment rate that has nearly doubled in the last three years.
In contrast, Democrats bickered over whether Case or Hanabusa was the strongest candidate for their party, and the situation got so bad that Obama and national party leaders weren't able to endorse one contender. Instead, they aired television ads and made automated telephone calls that asked voters to chose "a Democrat."
Djou will replace Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who resigned after 10 terms to run for governor.
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle said Djou's victory indicated that voters "are looking for people who aren't tied to special interests."
At one point, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee appeared ready to throw its support to Case. That was until Hawaii's influential senior senator, Democrat Daniel Inouye, made it clear Hanabusa was his choice. He has scorned Case since the then-congressman ran against Hawaii's other senator, Democrat Daniel Akaka, in the 2006 primary.
In contrast, Djou enjoyed solid support from local and national Republicans, who funneled money to his campaign but took a much lower profile than their Democratic counterparts.
He burnished his conservative bona fides during the campaign, making appearances at Hawaii's tea party protest and on Fox News Channel for an interview with host Sean Hannity.
His message was clear: Taxes are too high, the federal government has grown too large, and wasteful government spending hinders economic prosperity.
Djou, the son of immigrants from China and Thailand, joined the Army Reserve after Sept. 11 and obtained the rank of captain. He has an Ivy League education and a law degree, served in the state Legislature and worked as a law school professor.
Djou's next political challenge will be in the November general election, when he will face only one Democratic nominee. That candidate will be chosen in the September primary election.
Democrats have expressed certainty that Djou will not be able to repeat in November when he will face a single Democratic candidate in the left-leaning district.
The likely candidates for the party will again be Hanabusa and Case. Hanabusa is a fourth-generation American of Japanese ancestry whose grandparents worked on a plantation and were interned by the U.S. government during World War II. Case, 57, is the oldest of six children and the cousin of AOL co-founder Steve Case.
Djou will be the first Republican to represent Hawaii in Congress since Rep. Pat Saiki left office in 1991.
The election was being conducted entirely by mail. Eleven other candidates were on the ballot, but none of them had a serious chance of contending.
Final results showed that 54 percent, or 171,417, of the 317,337 ballots that were sent to voters were returned. It was a strong turnout compared to the 2002 special election to fill a vacancy in the 2nd Congressional District, when only 13 percent cast their votes.
A Honolulu city councilman has defeated two Democrats to give Republicans a midterm election victory in the U.S. congressional district where President Barack Obama grew up.
Charles Djou's win Saturday is the latest triumph for the GOP as it looks to take back control of Congress. And it came as a blow to Democrats who could not rally around a candidate and find away to win a congressional race that should have been a cakewalk. The seat had been held by a Democrat for nearly 20 years and is located where Obama was born and spent most of his childhood.
"This is a momentous day. We have sent a message to the United States Congress. We have sent a message to the national Democrats. We have sent a message to the machine," Djou said. "The congressional seat is not owned by one political party. This congressional seat is owned by the people."
But Democrats believe the success in Hawaii will be short-lived. Djou will only serve through the remainder of 2010, and another election will be held in November for the next term.
Djou received 67,610 votes, or 39.4 percent. He was trailed by state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, a Democrat who received 52,802 votes, or 30.8 percent. The other leading Democrat, former U.S. Rep. Ed Case, received 47,391 votes, or 27.6 percent.
Republicans see the victory as a powerful statement about their momentum heading into November. They already sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts — a place that was once thought to be the most hostile of territories for the GOP. Now Republicans can say they won a congressional seat in the former backyard of the president and in a state that gave Obama 72 percent of the vote two years ago.
"Charles' victory is evidence his conservative message of lowering the tax burden, job creation and government accountability knows no party lines. It is a message Americans want to hear from candidates across the country," said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
Democrats are confident they can topple Djou in November because the vote won't be split among several candidates, as it was Saturday.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen said the fact that the Democratic candidates together received over 50 percent of the vote, "demonstrates that Democratic prospects are very good in November."
"This district is still, as stated, a Democratic district," Hanabusa said, pointing to the combined Democratic vote of 58 percent. "We're energized to start all over again."
Hanabusa said she intends to campaign in the September primary for the Democratic nomination to take on Djou in November. Case suggested to supporters he would seek the Democratic nomination in September. But when asked directly, he said all he planned to do Monday was "wake up, go body surfing and cut the lawn. We'll figure out the rest of it later."
"The people of Hawaii have give us a short-term lease with an option to buy in November," Djou said. "This is not the time for us to rest on our laurels. This is the time to redouble our efforts to bring out change. To do good, to restore our nation to prosperity."
The party was on at the Republican party headquarters in Honolulu. A band played Hawaiian music and hundreds of supporters hugged Djou, piling on a stack of floral lei around his neck. A whiteboard inside the office read, "Just Djou it!"
Djou, 39, enjoyed solid support from state and national Republicans and ran a disciplined campaign focused on taxes and government spending at a time when Hawaii's tourism-driven economy remains troubled, with the state facing a $1 billion deficit, large cuts to state programs and workers and an unemployment rate that has nearly doubled in the last three years.
In contrast, Democrats bickered over whether Case or Hanabusa was the strongest candidate for their party, and the situation got so bad that Obama and national party leaders weren't able to endorse one contender. Instead, they aired television ads and made automated telephone calls that asked voters to chose "a Democrat."
Djou will replace Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who resigned after 10 terms to run for governor.
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle said Djou's victory indicated that voters "are looking for people who aren't tied to special interests."
At one point, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee appeared ready to throw its support to Case. That was until Hawaii's influential senior senator, Democrat Daniel Inouye, made it clear Hanabusa was his choice. He has scorned Case since the then-congressman ran against Hawaii's other senator, Democrat Daniel Akaka, in the 2006 primary.
In contrast, Djou enjoyed solid support from local and national Republicans, who funneled money to his campaign but took a much lower profile than their Democratic counterparts.
He burnished his conservative bona fides during the campaign, making appearances at Hawaii's tea party protest and on Fox News Channel for an interview with host Sean Hannity.
His message was clear: Taxes are too high, the federal government has grown too large, and wasteful government spending hinders economic prosperity.
Djou, the son of immigrants from China and Thailand, joined the Army Reserve after Sept. 11 and obtained the rank of captain. He has an Ivy League education and a law degree, served in the state Legislature and worked as a law school professor.
Djou's next political challenge will be in the November general election, when he will face only one Democratic nominee. That candidate will be chosen in the September primary election.
Democrats have expressed certainty that Djou will not be able to repeat in November when he will face a single Democratic candidate in the left-leaning district.
The likely candidates for the party will again be Hanabusa and Case. Hanabusa is a fourth-generation American of Japanese ancestry whose grandparents worked on a plantation and were interned by the U.S. government during World War II. Case, 57, is the oldest of six children and the cousin of AOL co-founder Steve Case.
Djou will be the first Republican to represent Hawaii in Congress since Rep. Pat Saiki left office in 1991.
The election was being conducted entirely by mail. Eleven other candidates were on the ballot, but none of them had a serious chance of contending.
Final results showed that 54 percent, or 171,417, of the 317,337 ballots that were sent to voters were returned. It was a strong turnout compared to the 2002 special election to fill a vacancy in the 2nd Congressional District, when only 13 percent cast their votes.
Banks are Free to Lend to Politicians – CBN
Emma Okwuahaba
With another election year looming in the horizon, the Central Bank of Nigeria has stated that banks are free to lend to politicians in the country. The CBN provided the clarification while refuting claims in some quarters that it had directed banks to stop granting credit facilities to politically exposed persons (PEPs).
In a statement yesterday, signed by its Head of Corporate Communica-tions Mohammed Abdul-lahi, the banking regulator stated that it had at no time issued such a directive “as such would amount to the CBN meddling with the internal credit administration processes and procedures of banks.”
It said: “For the avoidance of doubt, banks and other financial Institutions are at liberty to grant credit facilities to any individual and/or a corporate entity in line with the institution’s credit policy and in consonance with extant rules and regulations.”
The CBN also yesterday pegged the interest rate on loans from the N200 billion Intervention Fund introduced recently for the purpose of refinancing bank loans to the manufacturing sector, at 7 per cent.
Under the guidelines released by the Development Finance Department of the CBN and posted on its website, it stated that “the Fund shall be administered at an all-in interest rate/charge of 7 per cent per annum payable on a quarterly basis.
It added that “the managing agent (the Bank of Industry) shall be entitled to a 1 per cent management fee and the banks, a 6 per cent spread.”
The CBN also published the conditions for operating the intervention fund as well as the guidelines for the N200 billion Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme, pegging the interest rate to the prime lending rates of the participating banks.
The guidelines for the N200 billion intervention fund further specified that the loan is a maximum of N1 billion for a single obligor in respect of refinancing/restructuring, with the facility of a maximum tenor of 15 years and or working capital facility of one year with provision for roll over and allows for moratorium in the loan repayment schedule.
The BOI is the managing agent for the fund which is targeted at manufacturers including SMEs defined as entities with an asset base (excluding land) of between N5 million and N500 million and with a labour force of between 11 and 300.
The fund is accessible as a long term loan for the acquisition of plant and machinery, refinancing of existing loans, resuscitation of ailing industries, refinancing of existing leases, or for working capital purposes.
For the N200 SME fund, of which the CBN is the managing agent, the guidelines specified that it shall cover activities in manufacturing, agricultural value chain, educational institutions, and any other activity as may be directed from time to time.
Besides, the borrower, noted the CBN, can be a legal business operating as a sole proprietorship, that is, a start-up company with satisfactory cash flows indicating a fixed asset cover ratio of 100:150.
The maximum loan amount is N100 million which can be in the form of working capital, term loans for refurbishment/equipment upgrade/expansion, overdrafts, and so on.
The guidelines also specified that the guarantee cover shall be 80 per cent of principal and interest and shall be valid up to the maturity date of the loan with a maximum tenure of 7 years, inclusive of a two-year moratorium.
With another election year looming in the horizon, the Central Bank of Nigeria has stated that banks are free to lend to politicians in the country. The CBN provided the clarification while refuting claims in some quarters that it had directed banks to stop granting credit facilities to politically exposed persons (PEPs).
In a statement yesterday, signed by its Head of Corporate Communica-tions Mohammed Abdul-lahi, the banking regulator stated that it had at no time issued such a directive “as such would amount to the CBN meddling with the internal credit administration processes and procedures of banks.”
It said: “For the avoidance of doubt, banks and other financial Institutions are at liberty to grant credit facilities to any individual and/or a corporate entity in line with the institution’s credit policy and in consonance with extant rules and regulations.”
The CBN also yesterday pegged the interest rate on loans from the N200 billion Intervention Fund introduced recently for the purpose of refinancing bank loans to the manufacturing sector, at 7 per cent.
Under the guidelines released by the Development Finance Department of the CBN and posted on its website, it stated that “the Fund shall be administered at an all-in interest rate/charge of 7 per cent per annum payable on a quarterly basis.
It added that “the managing agent (the Bank of Industry) shall be entitled to a 1 per cent management fee and the banks, a 6 per cent spread.”
The CBN also published the conditions for operating the intervention fund as well as the guidelines for the N200 billion Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme, pegging the interest rate to the prime lending rates of the participating banks.
The guidelines for the N200 billion intervention fund further specified that the loan is a maximum of N1 billion for a single obligor in respect of refinancing/restructuring, with the facility of a maximum tenor of 15 years and or working capital facility of one year with provision for roll over and allows for moratorium in the loan repayment schedule.
The BOI is the managing agent for the fund which is targeted at manufacturers including SMEs defined as entities with an asset base (excluding land) of between N5 million and N500 million and with a labour force of between 11 and 300.
The fund is accessible as a long term loan for the acquisition of plant and machinery, refinancing of existing loans, resuscitation of ailing industries, refinancing of existing leases, or for working capital purposes.
For the N200 SME fund, of which the CBN is the managing agent, the guidelines specified that it shall cover activities in manufacturing, agricultural value chain, educational institutions, and any other activity as may be directed from time to time.
Besides, the borrower, noted the CBN, can be a legal business operating as a sole proprietorship, that is, a start-up company with satisfactory cash flows indicating a fixed asset cover ratio of 100:150.
The maximum loan amount is N100 million which can be in the form of working capital, term loans for refurbishment/equipment upgrade/expansion, overdrafts, and so on.
The guidelines also specified that the guarantee cover shall be 80 per cent of principal and interest and shall be valid up to the maturity date of the loan with a maximum tenure of 7 years, inclusive of a two-year moratorium.
Why are appropriate policies not adopted in Nigeria?
By Martin Oluba
We need appropriate public policies. No doubt about it? They cushion or
eliminate many of the challenges that we face. With many of such across the
public sector decision-making terrain, many of our challenges as a country will
inevitably be resolved. However, beside the fundamental issues pertaining to the
adequacy and appropriateness of policy components and processes, concerns have
revolved around the determination of the actual point where chances of
unriddling the identified chain of Nigeria's problems are frustrated. Many such
points are identifiable and comprise stages where (a) the intention of the
government is made known (b) goals to be achieved are declared (c) means for
achieving the goals are stated (d) announcement of the collateral programmes for
achieving those goals as well as (e) specific actions taken in order to
implement programmes are made. Points (a) – (d) may well represent the policy
design and communication stage while stage (e) represents the implementation
phase. The attendant concern for the former is about the appropriateness or
otherwise.
In many quarters, the platitude is that Nigeria's problem is sustained by poor
policy implementation. If this is true then the issue of policy appropriateness
has been put to rest. On the contrary, Nigeria's perennial history of
inappropriate policy design is its core undoing. These have resulted in gross
resource misallocations, heightened inefficiency levels, grievous reduction in
the levels of productivity of capital and labour available to the economy.
Cumulatively this has continued to negatively hurt the growth of output, income
and employment. It has equally exacerbated uncertainty levels and macroeconomic
instability with implications for reduced investor confidence on the economy.
Examples abound and have been well rehashed in the media and are amply evidenced
in the failures of the economy in virtually every aspect of its life as a
country giving birth to many public bads such as long fuel queues, burgeoning
unemployment, poor quality of education, endless brain drain, poor medicare etc.
In effect therefore, even with well implemented inappropriate policies, the
actual results must be less than desirable.
When is a policy considered to be inappropriate? Rarely do governments and their
agencies admit to inappropriateness of policies enunciated by them. Let's cite a
few examples. Inflation in Nigeria is rarely reported as a consequence of CBN's
money supply disposition which is always its true source. On the contrary the
underlying causes are always popularly attributed to changes in the prices of
agricultural products. A similar example is government's declining revenue
position. This is rarely located within government's historical policy neglects
or wrong policies that have not addressed the base infrastructural challenges
that would have supported entrepreneurial growth and enabled the expansion of
tax bases but are erroneously placed on the unwillingness of people to pay
increasingly multiple level taxes which is theoretically explained by the Laffer
curve. Employment is equally blamed on laziness or changing value system that
makes white collar jobs more fascinating. Fingers are not pointed to the fact
that many wrong policies have actually killed firms that ought to have provided
young people with jobs.
Government's decisions and actions (policies) become ineffective when they fail
to address public problems in ways that are consistent with widely shared values
and preferences. Consequently effectiveness cannot be consistent with making
`supposed' genuine efforts to live up to statutory responsibilities. In the
domain of economics for instance there are popularly pursued macroeconomic goals
which are restated annually in the rites of budget speeches: strong and
sustainable economic growth, price stability, low levels of unemployment and
balance of payment stability. In Nigeria, failures in these areas have been
palpably constant across time even with deliberately structured attempts to play
them down. For instance rather than focus on productivity growth that would
present the true pictures of failure, assessments based on output growth that
hide many policy failures are played up.
It therefore follows that policy makers in Nigeria see good policies as those
that their experts tell us are good for us rather than the one that truly
satisfies the value expectations of the claimants. In some sense therefore,
their view of national problems and how they solve them define policy
appropriateness. Unfortunately even some policies with supposed short term
positive outcomes may have very grave chain of consequences that take time to
manifest. These other sides are rarely discussed and are played down. The
appropriateness of policy therefore should be evaluated based on the following
criteria namely the (a) underlying theoretical soundness and logical consistency
that will demonstrate how the policy will on a sustainable basis prevent public
bads or provide public goods as well as correct emerging negative externalities,
(b) contextual relevance of the policy, and (c) policy design process that is
clearly supported by law which at its basest form determines what is good or bad
for the public.
These go a long way to explain why in this country, good policies are actually
not pursued. Appropriate policies require substantial rigour as virtually all
these conditions must be met. For instance, bad theory always results in
inappropriate public policy when adopted as frameworks. Many of such bad
theories abound and command some level of popularity depending on the underlying
motivations and stridency of the policy designer. However, even with such
popularity, it is not possible that such policies can deliver public good or
prevent public bads or minimize negative externalities on a sustainable basis.
The typical collateral manifestation has always been bouts of `the more you
look, the less you see' short term positive outcomes that are quickly followed
by the inevitable long term destructive consequences. In the same way, blindly
copying policies that worked in other geographical contexts and blindly imposing
same on us with the expectation of efficacious results can many times be a
chasing-after-the-shadow. Foreign policy importation should be based on
satisfactory evaluation of the contextual compatibilities before adaptation.
Following through these rigorous standards in almost all circumstances does not
permit the actualization of the personal interests and motivations of many
policy makers. Needless to point out that many of them merely pursue interests
that are substantially public as defined and promoted by them but are not
genuinely common to warrant their attentive evaluation of the magnitude of the
pain that they can cause the public. But aside this, policy making positions by
those who are not properly trained to develop sound policies will produce
similar effects as inappropriate rather than good policies may be pursued.
We need appropriate public policies. No doubt about it? They cushion or
eliminate many of the challenges that we face. With many of such across the
public sector decision-making terrain, many of our challenges as a country will
inevitably be resolved. However, beside the fundamental issues pertaining to the
adequacy and appropriateness of policy components and processes, concerns have
revolved around the determination of the actual point where chances of
unriddling the identified chain of Nigeria's problems are frustrated. Many such
points are identifiable and comprise stages where (a) the intention of the
government is made known (b) goals to be achieved are declared (c) means for
achieving the goals are stated (d) announcement of the collateral programmes for
achieving those goals as well as (e) specific actions taken in order to
implement programmes are made. Points (a) – (d) may well represent the policy
design and communication stage while stage (e) represents the implementation
phase. The attendant concern for the former is about the appropriateness or
otherwise.
In many quarters, the platitude is that Nigeria's problem is sustained by poor
policy implementation. If this is true then the issue of policy appropriateness
has been put to rest. On the contrary, Nigeria's perennial history of
inappropriate policy design is its core undoing. These have resulted in gross
resource misallocations, heightened inefficiency levels, grievous reduction in
the levels of productivity of capital and labour available to the economy.
Cumulatively this has continued to negatively hurt the growth of output, income
and employment. It has equally exacerbated uncertainty levels and macroeconomic
instability with implications for reduced investor confidence on the economy.
Examples abound and have been well rehashed in the media and are amply evidenced
in the failures of the economy in virtually every aspect of its life as a
country giving birth to many public bads such as long fuel queues, burgeoning
unemployment, poor quality of education, endless brain drain, poor medicare etc.
In effect therefore, even with well implemented inappropriate policies, the
actual results must be less than desirable.
When is a policy considered to be inappropriate? Rarely do governments and their
agencies admit to inappropriateness of policies enunciated by them. Let's cite a
few examples. Inflation in Nigeria is rarely reported as a consequence of CBN's
money supply disposition which is always its true source. On the contrary the
underlying causes are always popularly attributed to changes in the prices of
agricultural products. A similar example is government's declining revenue
position. This is rarely located within government's historical policy neglects
or wrong policies that have not addressed the base infrastructural challenges
that would have supported entrepreneurial growth and enabled the expansion of
tax bases but are erroneously placed on the unwillingness of people to pay
increasingly multiple level taxes which is theoretically explained by the Laffer
curve. Employment is equally blamed on laziness or changing value system that
makes white collar jobs more fascinating. Fingers are not pointed to the fact
that many wrong policies have actually killed firms that ought to have provided
young people with jobs.
Government's decisions and actions (policies) become ineffective when they fail
to address public problems in ways that are consistent with widely shared values
and preferences. Consequently effectiveness cannot be consistent with making
`supposed' genuine efforts to live up to statutory responsibilities. In the
domain of economics for instance there are popularly pursued macroeconomic goals
which are restated annually in the rites of budget speeches: strong and
sustainable economic growth, price stability, low levels of unemployment and
balance of payment stability. In Nigeria, failures in these areas have been
palpably constant across time even with deliberately structured attempts to play
them down. For instance rather than focus on productivity growth that would
present the true pictures of failure, assessments based on output growth that
hide many policy failures are played up.
It therefore follows that policy makers in Nigeria see good policies as those
that their experts tell us are good for us rather than the one that truly
satisfies the value expectations of the claimants. In some sense therefore,
their view of national problems and how they solve them define policy
appropriateness. Unfortunately even some policies with supposed short term
positive outcomes may have very grave chain of consequences that take time to
manifest. These other sides are rarely discussed and are played down. The
appropriateness of policy therefore should be evaluated based on the following
criteria namely the (a) underlying theoretical soundness and logical consistency
that will demonstrate how the policy will on a sustainable basis prevent public
bads or provide public goods as well as correct emerging negative externalities,
(b) contextual relevance of the policy, and (c) policy design process that is
clearly supported by law which at its basest form determines what is good or bad
for the public.
These go a long way to explain why in this country, good policies are actually
not pursued. Appropriate policies require substantial rigour as virtually all
these conditions must be met. For instance, bad theory always results in
inappropriate public policy when adopted as frameworks. Many of such bad
theories abound and command some level of popularity depending on the underlying
motivations and stridency of the policy designer. However, even with such
popularity, it is not possible that such policies can deliver public good or
prevent public bads or minimize negative externalities on a sustainable basis.
The typical collateral manifestation has always been bouts of `the more you
look, the less you see' short term positive outcomes that are quickly followed
by the inevitable long term destructive consequences. In the same way, blindly
copying policies that worked in other geographical contexts and blindly imposing
same on us with the expectation of efficacious results can many times be a
chasing-after-the-shadow. Foreign policy importation should be based on
satisfactory evaluation of the contextual compatibilities before adaptation.
Following through these rigorous standards in almost all circumstances does not
permit the actualization of the personal interests and motivations of many
policy makers. Needless to point out that many of them merely pursue interests
that are substantially public as defined and promoted by them but are not
genuinely common to warrant their attentive evaluation of the magnitude of the
pain that they can cause the public. But aside this, policy making positions by
those who are not properly trained to develop sound policies will produce
similar effects as inappropriate rather than good policies may be pursued.
Namadi Sambo and Jonathan’s wanton Impunity
Daniel Elombah
Namadi Sambo was sworn in as Nigeria’s vice president yesterday following the confirmation of his nomination by the National Assembly on Tuesday. But the former governor of Kaduna State was last week dragged before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over allegations of financial impropriety.
A Kaduna-based lawyer, Sadau Garba, petitioned the anti-graft body asking that the governor be investigated for allegedly misappropriating N153.6bn with the support of the state legislature.
A copy of the petition alleged among other things that the N1.2bn spent by the state government in hosting the U-17 World Cup championship in Kaduna State, 2009 was yet to be accounted for.
In the petition, Garba averred that the state obtained a $17.32m loan guaranteed by the Minister of Finance from the Islamic Development Bank, but that the loan was not captured in the 2009 budget as required by law.
Instead of investigating his claim, the petitioner was harassed by security operatives. Garba accused security operatives of acting out the script of the state government by harassing him on account of the petition.
Compare with the case of Eric Illsley, the Labour MP for Barnsley Central in the United Kingdom. He was charged with three charges of false accounting involving more than £20,000.
Illsley was immediately suspended by the Labour party. Announcing Mr Illsley's suspension from the Labour Party, a spokesman said: "The Labour Party's general secretary has issued Eric Illsley with a suspension following the CPS's announcement of criminal charges against him.
"As a result, Eric Illsley has been suspended from the Whip and cannot attend any Labour Party meeting. This was felt necessary in light of the criminal charges."
I am not personally against the nomination of Namadi Sambo as the vice-president. Sambo might not be bad as an individual and a citizen of the country. It might even that as some people claim that Garba's allegation is baseless, a mre distration. But the confirmation of Sambo as Vice-President when there are pending allegations of corruption before him is bad for Sambo, speaks ill of President Goodluck Jonathan, and bad for the country.
Please note, this is not another faceless individual or group sending anonymous petitions to the EFCC, this is a named individual, a Lawyer, based in former Governor Namadi Sambo's Kaduna State. He was willing to stand by his petition. The least that Jonathan could have been done is to quickly order investigations of the allegation in a clear and transparent manner before Namadi is sworn in a vice-president.
The confirmation of an alleged corrupt Nigerian to the exalted office of Vice-president is a practice that can only be seen practiced in a nation without conscience like Nigeria. While Sambo may happily assume his position in Aso Villa, the alleged corrupt practices labelled against him while in the office as Kaduna governor would be hanging on his neck.
It is very bad that he was confirmed vice-president without the agencies in charge of handling corruption cases telling Nigerians that they have the cleared air of his alleged corrupt practices.
On the UK expenses scandal, Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said yesterday: “Having thoroughly reviewed a file of evidence we received from the Metropolitan Police in March this year, we concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to bring criminal charges against Eric Illsley MP.”
The charges, under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968, relate to expenses he claimed on his second home in London. They included council tax, service and maintenance charges, repairs and insurance charges, and utilities and communications charges.
The first charge covers May 2005 to April 2006, the second the following year and the third for the year after, concluding in April 2008.
Mr Illsley will appear in court for the first time at City of Westminster magistrate’s court on 17 June. He is the fourth Labour MP to be charged over his expenses and a fifth parliamentarian, Lord Hanningfield, also faces trial on similar charges.
"The first charge alleges that Mr Illsley dishonestly claimed expenses in relation to council tax, service and maintenance charges, repairs and insurance charges, and utilities and communications charges for his second home in Renfrew Road, London, between May 2005 and April 2006.
"The second charge relates to the same claims between May 2006 and April 2007, and the third charge relates to the same claims between May 2007 and April 2008.
"In total the charges allege a sum in excess of £20,000 was dishonestly claimed over this three-year period." But Namadi Sambo was accused of embezzling N1.2bn!
This is a country where the rule of law and transparent governance matters.
The president has just displayed wanton impunity and fragrant disregard for the feelings of on-looking Nigerians. He has also inadvertently harmed his war against corruption. Ironically, the swearing in of Vice-president Sambo comes on the same day President Jonathan restated his full commitment to war against corrupt officials.
Goodluck Jonathan yesterday declared “a result-oriented anti-corruption crusade, acceptable electoral reform and stable power supply as the irreducible minimum factors for gauging the performance of his administration”
In displaying this impunity, Jonathan is imitating his former boss, late president Umaru Yar’adua and former president Olusegun Obasanjo before him.
In September 2006, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) named Mrs. Patience Jonathan, wife of Goodluck Jonathan, then Bayelsa State Governor, as an accomplice in the N104million-money laundering case involving Mrs. Nancy Ebere. Yet that did not stop former President Olusegun Obasanjo from crowning Goodluck Jonathan as vice-president.
Needless to say, once he became the vice-president, the EFCC dropped all the corruption charges pending against Mrs Jonathan.
In the days of Umaru Yar’adua, Orji Uzor Kalu was hounded by allegations of corruption and the plundering of public money. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) indicted him for diverting Abia State fund totalling N5 billion, in 36 instalments into the account of his Slok Nigeria Limited during his tenure as the governor of Abia State.
While still undergoing trials for his crimes and was granted judicial bail, the first thing he did was to drive to Aso Villa to confer with President Yar’Adua. Kalu’s party the PPAwas allowed to nominate individuals to Yar’Adua’s government.
James Ibori- was being tried for alleged money laundering. Ibori and four others were arraigned on a 103-count charge of money laundering and abuse of office.
The EFCC, in one of the charges, alleged that Ibori on 26 April, 2007 attempted to bribe the EFCC investigators with a cash payment of N1.8 billion ($15m) in order to influence their investigation. But Mr Ibori enjoyed free access to Aso Villa at the time of President Yar’adua.
When asked about these in an interview, President Yar’adua declared; these are former governors, they are my friends, I cannot stop entertaining my friends simply because I am now the president.
These are Yar’Adua’s friends, corrupt ex-governors that must be invited to Aso Rock- the president’s residence, transported with presidential Planes, and consulted on matters of state policy.
It is this arrogant, contemptuous dismissal of the feelings and view of the masses that is at the root of the Namadi Sambo debacle today. The feeling that what the citizens may think does not matter, ‘After all, you would always have your way, you would always win another election, whether they like it or not; whether they like you or not and whether they voted for you or not’.
Namadi Sambo was sworn in as Nigeria’s vice president yesterday following the confirmation of his nomination by the National Assembly on Tuesday. But the former governor of Kaduna State was last week dragged before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over allegations of financial impropriety.
A Kaduna-based lawyer, Sadau Garba, petitioned the anti-graft body asking that the governor be investigated for allegedly misappropriating N153.6bn with the support of the state legislature.
A copy of the petition alleged among other things that the N1.2bn spent by the state government in hosting the U-17 World Cup championship in Kaduna State, 2009 was yet to be accounted for.
In the petition, Garba averred that the state obtained a $17.32m loan guaranteed by the Minister of Finance from the Islamic Development Bank, but that the loan was not captured in the 2009 budget as required by law.
Instead of investigating his claim, the petitioner was harassed by security operatives. Garba accused security operatives of acting out the script of the state government by harassing him on account of the petition.
Compare with the case of Eric Illsley, the Labour MP for Barnsley Central in the United Kingdom. He was charged with three charges of false accounting involving more than £20,000.
Illsley was immediately suspended by the Labour party. Announcing Mr Illsley's suspension from the Labour Party, a spokesman said: "The Labour Party's general secretary has issued Eric Illsley with a suspension following the CPS's announcement of criminal charges against him.
"As a result, Eric Illsley has been suspended from the Whip and cannot attend any Labour Party meeting. This was felt necessary in light of the criminal charges."
I am not personally against the nomination of Namadi Sambo as the vice-president. Sambo might not be bad as an individual and a citizen of the country. It might even that as some people claim that Garba's allegation is baseless, a mre distration. But the confirmation of Sambo as Vice-President when there are pending allegations of corruption before him is bad for Sambo, speaks ill of President Goodluck Jonathan, and bad for the country.
Please note, this is not another faceless individual or group sending anonymous petitions to the EFCC, this is a named individual, a Lawyer, based in former Governor Namadi Sambo's Kaduna State. He was willing to stand by his petition. The least that Jonathan could have been done is to quickly order investigations of the allegation in a clear and transparent manner before Namadi is sworn in a vice-president.
The confirmation of an alleged corrupt Nigerian to the exalted office of Vice-president is a practice that can only be seen practiced in a nation without conscience like Nigeria. While Sambo may happily assume his position in Aso Villa, the alleged corrupt practices labelled against him while in the office as Kaduna governor would be hanging on his neck.
It is very bad that he was confirmed vice-president without the agencies in charge of handling corruption cases telling Nigerians that they have the cleared air of his alleged corrupt practices.
On the UK expenses scandal, Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said yesterday: “Having thoroughly reviewed a file of evidence we received from the Metropolitan Police in March this year, we concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to bring criminal charges against Eric Illsley MP.”
The charges, under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968, relate to expenses he claimed on his second home in London. They included council tax, service and maintenance charges, repairs and insurance charges, and utilities and communications charges.
The first charge covers May 2005 to April 2006, the second the following year and the third for the year after, concluding in April 2008.
Mr Illsley will appear in court for the first time at City of Westminster magistrate’s court on 17 June. He is the fourth Labour MP to be charged over his expenses and a fifth parliamentarian, Lord Hanningfield, also faces trial on similar charges.
"The first charge alleges that Mr Illsley dishonestly claimed expenses in relation to council tax, service and maintenance charges, repairs and insurance charges, and utilities and communications charges for his second home in Renfrew Road, London, between May 2005 and April 2006.
"The second charge relates to the same claims between May 2006 and April 2007, and the third charge relates to the same claims between May 2007 and April 2008.
"In total the charges allege a sum in excess of £20,000 was dishonestly claimed over this three-year period." But Namadi Sambo was accused of embezzling N1.2bn!
This is a country where the rule of law and transparent governance matters.
The president has just displayed wanton impunity and fragrant disregard for the feelings of on-looking Nigerians. He has also inadvertently harmed his war against corruption. Ironically, the swearing in of Vice-president Sambo comes on the same day President Jonathan restated his full commitment to war against corrupt officials.
Goodluck Jonathan yesterday declared “a result-oriented anti-corruption crusade, acceptable electoral reform and stable power supply as the irreducible minimum factors for gauging the performance of his administration”
In displaying this impunity, Jonathan is imitating his former boss, late president Umaru Yar’adua and former president Olusegun Obasanjo before him.
In September 2006, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) named Mrs. Patience Jonathan, wife of Goodluck Jonathan, then Bayelsa State Governor, as an accomplice in the N104million-money laundering case involving Mrs. Nancy Ebere. Yet that did not stop former President Olusegun Obasanjo from crowning Goodluck Jonathan as vice-president.
Needless to say, once he became the vice-president, the EFCC dropped all the corruption charges pending against Mrs Jonathan.
In the days of Umaru Yar’adua, Orji Uzor Kalu was hounded by allegations of corruption and the plundering of public money. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) indicted him for diverting Abia State fund totalling N5 billion, in 36 instalments into the account of his Slok Nigeria Limited during his tenure as the governor of Abia State.
While still undergoing trials for his crimes and was granted judicial bail, the first thing he did was to drive to Aso Villa to confer with President Yar’Adua. Kalu’s party the PPAwas allowed to nominate individuals to Yar’Adua’s government.
James Ibori- was being tried for alleged money laundering. Ibori and four others were arraigned on a 103-count charge of money laundering and abuse of office.
The EFCC, in one of the charges, alleged that Ibori on 26 April, 2007 attempted to bribe the EFCC investigators with a cash payment of N1.8 billion ($15m) in order to influence their investigation. But Mr Ibori enjoyed free access to Aso Villa at the time of President Yar’adua.
When asked about these in an interview, President Yar’adua declared; these are former governors, they are my friends, I cannot stop entertaining my friends simply because I am now the president.
These are Yar’Adua’s friends, corrupt ex-governors that must be invited to Aso Rock- the president’s residence, transported with presidential Planes, and consulted on matters of state policy.
It is this arrogant, contemptuous dismissal of the feelings and view of the masses that is at the root of the Namadi Sambo debacle today. The feeling that what the citizens may think does not matter, ‘After all, you would always have your way, you would always win another election, whether they like it or not; whether they like you or not and whether they voted for you or not’.
FASHOLA GIVES FREE LAND
Ujomamaka Anyibuofu
As a policy shift, the Lagos State Government has is prepared to offer well meaning developers in the state free land for mass housing development to help reduce the housing shortage in the state.
Gov. Babatunde FasholaUnder the new arrangement tailored towards a Private Partnership Programme (PPP), the Lagos State Government would be responsible for the provision of suitable land for appraised and evaluated proposals, issuance of sub-lease agreement/ C of O on land, give development permit at reduced cost and subsidized rate, handover the site to the developer, give necessary support to ensure project success, jointly market the property alongside the developer and have percentage share of profit from project at an agreed period and formula. The developers on the other hand would be responsible under the partnership for the draft proposal of project, prepare all drawings (Architectural, Civil and Structural, Mechanical and Electrical) and Bill of Quantities, arrange and provide finance for the Project, manage the construction and also jointly market the property alongside Government.
One of the problems that this arrangement is envisaged to solve includes the high-cost of acquiring land within the state. This is one problem developers have always complained about and have time and again mentioned as the reason why affordable mass housing has been difficult to achieve within the state. This is one problem the State Government intends to solve with the free land initiative.
Other problem the new initiative is expected to solve includes the issue of credibility of the developers and the genuineness of titles for acquired properties. It is expected that with a partnership by the Lagos State Government potential property buyers will be more confident to part with their monies to acquire properties and will also be rest assured that the titles they will be getting on such properties will be more authentic and superior.
For interested developers, official information shows that the state government currently has land in land in Epe, Ibeju Lekki, Badagry and Ikorodu for allocation to qualified developers. On a more specific note, the State Government has also mentioned that interested developers and investors can also tap into the investment potentials of its proposed Kings Court Estate Scheme, located in Sangotedo, Eti-Osa Local Government and its LASU-Iba New Town Development Scheme off the Lagos Badagry Expressway. Both planned as a mixed use community, Kings Court Estate is on approximately 70.19hectares of land, while The LASU-Iba New Town will be developed on approximately 567.56hectares of land.
THE LASU-IBA NEW TOWN
Located in the South Western Part of Lagos, Iba Town is about to see another town rise within it. Sited along the LASU- Iba road and bordered on the South by Ojo Military Cantonment, East by Ijedodo, North by the Ijagemo and in the West by Iba Town, Iba New Town Development Scheme as it will be known is a joint development by the Lagos State Ministry of Housing and the New Towns Development Authority (NTDA) in conjunction with the private sector.
Planned to kick-off this year and proposed to be financed by State and Private funds, official information from the Lagos State Government shows that the Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the new scheme will soon be signed by the Lagos State Government and selected developers while the C. Of. O will be issued in the name of Ministry of Housing. Already, a feasibility study for the scheme to show the investment viability of the scheme has been done and the layout and financial plan for 85Hectares out of the first parcel of land has also been done. The contract for sand filling of the first phase of the scheme has also awarded.
The New Iba Development Town Features 8 Different Uses as follows:
LAND USE HECTARE PERCENTAGE (%)
RESIDENTIAL 211.84 37.33
COMMERCIAL 40.90 7.21
PUBLIC 38.55 6.79
RECREATIONAL 44.71 7.88
INDUSTRIAL 14.10 2.48
ANCILLARIES 9.38 1.65
BUFFER 131.12 23.10
ROAD 76.96 13.56
TOTAL 567.56 100
As a policy shift, the Lagos State Government has is prepared to offer well meaning developers in the state free land for mass housing development to help reduce the housing shortage in the state.
Gov. Babatunde FasholaUnder the new arrangement tailored towards a Private Partnership Programme (PPP), the Lagos State Government would be responsible for the provision of suitable land for appraised and evaluated proposals, issuance of sub-lease agreement/ C of O on land, give development permit at reduced cost and subsidized rate, handover the site to the developer, give necessary support to ensure project success, jointly market the property alongside the developer and have percentage share of profit from project at an agreed period and formula. The developers on the other hand would be responsible under the partnership for the draft proposal of project, prepare all drawings (Architectural, Civil and Structural, Mechanical and Electrical) and Bill of Quantities, arrange and provide finance for the Project, manage the construction and also jointly market the property alongside Government.
One of the problems that this arrangement is envisaged to solve includes the high-cost of acquiring land within the state. This is one problem developers have always complained about and have time and again mentioned as the reason why affordable mass housing has been difficult to achieve within the state. This is one problem the State Government intends to solve with the free land initiative.
Other problem the new initiative is expected to solve includes the issue of credibility of the developers and the genuineness of titles for acquired properties. It is expected that with a partnership by the Lagos State Government potential property buyers will be more confident to part with their monies to acquire properties and will also be rest assured that the titles they will be getting on such properties will be more authentic and superior.
For interested developers, official information shows that the state government currently has land in land in Epe, Ibeju Lekki, Badagry and Ikorodu for allocation to qualified developers. On a more specific note, the State Government has also mentioned that interested developers and investors can also tap into the investment potentials of its proposed Kings Court Estate Scheme, located in Sangotedo, Eti-Osa Local Government and its LASU-Iba New Town Development Scheme off the Lagos Badagry Expressway. Both planned as a mixed use community, Kings Court Estate is on approximately 70.19hectares of land, while The LASU-Iba New Town will be developed on approximately 567.56hectares of land.
THE LASU-IBA NEW TOWN
Located in the South Western Part of Lagos, Iba Town is about to see another town rise within it. Sited along the LASU- Iba road and bordered on the South by Ojo Military Cantonment, East by Ijedodo, North by the Ijagemo and in the West by Iba Town, Iba New Town Development Scheme as it will be known is a joint development by the Lagos State Ministry of Housing and the New Towns Development Authority (NTDA) in conjunction with the private sector.
Planned to kick-off this year and proposed to be financed by State and Private funds, official information from the Lagos State Government shows that the Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the new scheme will soon be signed by the Lagos State Government and selected developers while the C. Of. O will be issued in the name of Ministry of Housing. Already, a feasibility study for the scheme to show the investment viability of the scheme has been done and the layout and financial plan for 85Hectares out of the first parcel of land has also been done. The contract for sand filling of the first phase of the scheme has also awarded.
The New Iba Development Town Features 8 Different Uses as follows:
LAND USE HECTARE PERCENTAGE (%)
RESIDENTIAL 211.84 37.33
COMMERCIAL 40.90 7.21
PUBLIC 38.55 6.79
RECREATIONAL 44.71 7.88
INDUSTRIAL 14.10 2.48
ANCILLARIES 9.38 1.65
BUFFER 131.12 23.10
ROAD 76.96 13.56
TOTAL 567.56 100
Why Women Should Not Have An Abortion :Ethical Issues Related to Life and Death. Why does it matter in African society!!!
By Akin Awofolaju Ph.D.,CLE.,CSP
Many women in the entire world have abortions. Women believe there are many reasons to abort such as fear of having or raising a child, rape, or not having enough money. But whatever the situation, there is never an acceptable reason to get an abortion. Some important reasons why women should not abort have to do with human values, religious values, and values of conscience.
The first reason why women should not have an abortion is related to basic human values. Women need to think about their unborn babies who are not responsible for this situation. These unborn babies should have the privilege to live and grow into a normal person. Women need to be more humanitarian and less egoistic with these babies. On the other hand, the baby doesn't know how or why he is here. It is not necessary to kill a life; there are many other solutions to resolve this problem short of abortion.
The second reason why women should not abort has to do with religious values. In almost all religions, a woman is not permitted to have an abortion. If they do, their religions will punish them. In some religions, for example, a woman cannot take communion after having an abortion, and before taking communion again, she must do many things as a form of penitence. In whatever religion, abortion is punished and for this reason, women should not abort.
Finally, the third and most important reason why women should not abort is the related to her conscience. When a woman has an abortion, she will always think about the baby she might have had. She will always think about the future that could have happened with her baby which will always remind her that she killed it. Because she has had an abortion, she will never have a good life, and her conscience will remind her of what she had done. Because a woman who has an abortion can't forget about what she has done, these thoughts will always be with her, and the results can be calamitous.
There are many reasons why women should not have an abortion. The truth is that women need to think about the consequences that can occur before having sexual relations. I think that the effects of an abortion can be very sad for everyone involved, both for the woman who has the abortion and for the family who lives with her.
It has been stated that approximately ten to fifteen percent of all married couples in the United States and Canada are infertile, while an additional ten percent have fewer children than they desire. As in the case of various Old Testament characters, childlessness can become a burden to individuals or couples today. In the past there was little to be done to cure or correct infertility. Now, however, with the modern advances of medical technology, these people have various options to choose from in order to have children to call their own. These options include artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, embryo transplant, and surrogate mothering. There are, however, moral and ethical implications involved in these procedures that make them unsuitable.
After nearly 30 years, abortion has had a phenomenal impact on society. "Decriminalized" abortion has liberated women, advocates argue. But are they really better off because of the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision? And how has abortion affected the lives of men? Actually, unrestricted abortion has cheapened human life, thus affecting all aspects of American society.
Impact on Women
Advocates claimed abortion would bring women "freedom" and "empowerment." Sadly, the opposite has occurred. Instead of freeing women from male exploitation, abortion has made them more vulnerable—playing into the hands of men who seek sex without marriage.
Columnist Jeff Jacoby discusses abortion's impact on male-female relationships: It has corrupted romance and sexuality. In the ancient times before Roe, the price of an unwanted pregnancy could be terrifyingly high. That gave unmarried women a powerful incentive to be careful—to reserve themselves for men whom they knew to be worthy. Sometimes worthiness could be proven only by walking down a church aisle; if not that, it often required at least courtship, love and commitment.
But after Roe, an unwanted pregnancy became little more than a nuisance. To undo it, you had only to see an abortionist. So why be careful? Why hold back? There was no longer a need to wait for that aisle walk—or even for commitment. … For men who wanted sex without strings, without having to make promises, without having to go through the rituals of romance, Roe was a godsend. And if she has a baby? Hey, that's her problem. She could have gotten an abortion.
In the past, fear and respect have motivated people to make responsible sexual choices. But since Roe divided sex from reproduction, people stopped being responsible for the consequences of their actions. Exercising so-called "equality," women began engaging in sex with little discretion. When women inevitably became pregnant, abortionists were waiting.
Impact on Men
While abortion has degraded women, it has also negatively influenced men. Some laugh at the idea of men being "victims" of abortion. But counselor and author Steve Arterburn understands the psychological conflict and its ramifications. He pressured his girlfriend into having an abortion after getting her pregnant during his first year of college.
"I had selfishly destroyed a human life because I didn't want to be inconvenienced," he explained. "I'm one of the thousands of abortion fathers who have also gone through this ordeal. In my case, it resulted in 80 ulcers eating at my stomach, intestines and colon. The pain was excruciating and made worse by the knowledge that it was a result of my secret sin." Just as abortion demands that women violate their natural inclination to nurture, it forces men to reject their role as provider and protector. The new life should motivate the man to embrace new levels of responsibility. Instead, he acts against his instincts, destroying what he should most vehemently defend—his own child.
Indeed, if a man would ask his girlfriend to commit this act of violence against a child, what's to keep him from inflicting violence on her? A glaring example is a case in which a Washington, D.C., man was charged with assaulting his girlfriend. The man admitted that he beat her outside the abortion clinic when she changed her mind about going through with the procedure. Another instance occurred when a man hired three assailants to beat his girlfriend for the purpose of killing her unborn child. The attack occurred one day before the woman was expected to deliver.
The increasing rates of domestic violence since Roe further illustrate this point:
· Approximately 1.9 million women are physically assaulted annually in the United States, a conservative estimate based on reporting. Experts estimate the actual incidence of partner violence is closer to 4 million annually.
· Women annually reported about 500,000 rapes or sexual assaults. Friends or acquaintances of the victims committed more than half of these crimes.
· In 1972, there were 60,000 [reported] child-abuse incidents. Four years later, the number passed the half million mark. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, slightly fewer than 1 million children were victims of substantiated or indicated child abuse and neglect in 1997.
Abortion and Crime
Today, 52 percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25. Although two-thirds are unmarried, more than half are already mothers. Moreover, 47 percent have already had at least one abortion. These women soon learn that abortion hurts, rather than helps, them.
Sydna Massé, who founded Ramah International, a post-abortion ministry, also works with Prison Fellowship. The connection between these ministries makes sense. The emotional impact of abortion often drives women to destructive, sometimes criminal, behavior. For example, in one Michigan prison ministry, 77 of the 100 women were post-abortive.
Moreover, Colorado is pressed for room for its growing female prison population. Since 1989, the number of women entering the state prison has risen 200 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. Furthermore, the women's national prison population has nearly doubled since 1990—from 39,054 to 75,241—
according to 1998 statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice. Among minors, the female juvenile crime arrest rate increased nearly 42 percent between 1990 and 1997.
If only one-third of those who have been aborted were available to start work on their 18th birthday, the demise of Social Security would be put off for decades. By the time the baby boom begins to retire in 2010, there would have been an additional 10 million workers ready to shoulder the burden of paying for Social Security.
Law-school professor John Donohue and economist Steven Levitt released a controversial—and, some say, even discriminatory—study in 1999. In short, they claim that legalized abortion has reduced the crime rate. They base this assumption on the opinion that "unwanted" children are more likely to commit crimes, and abortion prevents "unwanted" children from being born. They used overall decreased crime rates and increased abortion rates to support their assumption.
If Donohue's and Levitt's theory were true, then those born after 1973 would be less likely to commit crime. However, the opposite is true. The majority of delinquency cases involve teens aged 15 to 17. Youth born between 1973 and 1979, the period during which abortion increased most dramatically, reached ages 15 to 17 during 1988 to 1996. Delinquency cases increased significantly from 1988 and the following years. Furthermore, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistics, the murder rate among 14- to 17-year-olds in 1993 was 3.6 times that of children born between 1966 and 1970. Lastly, girl gangs have grown significantly in recent years. According to a Chicago Crime Commission report, between 16,000 and 20,000 female gang members and associates reside in the Chicago area alone. Seeing the value of life disrespected in their generation negatively skews the outlook of youth.
Far-Reaching Effects
Initially, abortion-on-demand cheapened the life of the unborn child, but the downslide did not stop there. Roe v. Wade placed America on the edge of a slippery slope. And one does not have to be an expert to see how far we've fallen since 1973.
For some, abortion has become simply a form of birth control. Theresa Flores is not sure how many abortions she has had—she thinks nine. After her first abortion around the age of 15, she continued having unprotected sex with her boyfriend. Over the next few years, the abortions continued. "I basically used abortion as a form of birth control," she admitted.
In 1973, Dr. Francis Shaeffer predicted that abortion would be the first step in a downward spiral:
Of all the subjects relating to the erosion of the sanctity of human life, abortion is the keystone. It is the first and crucial issue that has been overwhelming in changing attitudes toward the value of life in general … Since life is being destroyed before birth, why not tamper with it on the other end? Will a society which has assumed the right to kill infants in the womb … have difficulty in assuming the right to kill other human beings?
By the time the peak of the baby boom reaches retirement age, the number of abortions since Roe v. Wade will equal the number of births in the baby boom.
One only needs to look at recent headlines to see how Schaeffer's prediction has come true: From the advancement of the "Right to Die" movement to Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer, who openly advocates infanticide up to 28 days after birth. "Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person," Singer argued in his 1979 book Practical Ethics. "Sometimes it is not wrong at all."
Today, if their child is born with a congenital defect, parents in some states can sue their doctor for "wrongful birth" if he does not recommend abortion. For example, in New Jersey, Deborah Campano and her now ex-husband Michael Imbergamo won a suit against Dr. James Delahunty, to the tune of $1.85 million. Campano said she would have aborted her son Michael if she knew he had Down syndrome.
"What we're dealing with here is the promotion of eugenics as a birth policy whereby doctors are sued for not weeding out the 'unfit,'" said Clark Forsythe, president of Americans United for Life.
While 27 states allow "wrongful-birth" suits, in 1999, three other states ruled them invalid. In Taylor v. Kurapati, the Michigan Court of Appeals stated that recovery in wrongful-birth suits depends on the "unseemly spectacle" of parents disparaging their children's worth in court, and awarding damages would contradict the presumptive value of every human life. The National Down Syndrome Congress filed a brief in the Georgia case stating that the parents' claim for damages "presupposes that the life of a child with Down syndrome is less valuable than no life at all."
Now, the mentality that life does not inherently have value has reached into the lives of other vulnerable members of our society. As health care costs rise, the elderly have become targets. They find themselves pressured to accept euthanasia so they will not be too much of a "burden" on society.
Abandoned Generation
"[T]here is another group of children who have been overlooked in the [abortion] debate … the children now 10 or 15 or even 20 years old who have had it drummed into them by TV, radio and magazines," writes Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter for President Reagan and author of What I Saw at the Revolution and The Case Against Hillary. "Is it too much to see a connection between the abortion culture in which these young people came of age and the moral dullness they are accused of displaying?"
This disrespect for life has had a profound effect on teens: Melissa Drexler was a teenager who managed to hide her pregnancy to full term. She gave birth in a toilet stall and then allegedly choked or suffocated her 6-lb., 6-oz. son. Minutes later, she returned to the floor of her high school formal dance in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, where she ate salad and danced with her boyfriend.
The epidemic of baby abandonment, or "dumping," is growing. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the number of babies found abandoned in public places increased from 65 to 105 between 1991 and 1998. Of those, eight were found dead in 1991, and 33 were found dead in 1998. Further, the number of children abandoned at hospitals grew from 22,000 in 1991 to more than 31,000 in 1998. During this same time period, teenage pregnancies and abortions were both dropping. Maureen Hogan, president of Adopt America, blames the pervasive "just-get-rid-of-it mentality."
Save a life today !!!! It is your sole responsibility
Many women in the entire world have abortions. Women believe there are many reasons to abort such as fear of having or raising a child, rape, or not having enough money. But whatever the situation, there is never an acceptable reason to get an abortion. Some important reasons why women should not abort have to do with human values, religious values, and values of conscience.
The first reason why women should not have an abortion is related to basic human values. Women need to think about their unborn babies who are not responsible for this situation. These unborn babies should have the privilege to live and grow into a normal person. Women need to be more humanitarian and less egoistic with these babies. On the other hand, the baby doesn't know how or why he is here. It is not necessary to kill a life; there are many other solutions to resolve this problem short of abortion.
The second reason why women should not abort has to do with religious values. In almost all religions, a woman is not permitted to have an abortion. If they do, their religions will punish them. In some religions, for example, a woman cannot take communion after having an abortion, and before taking communion again, she must do many things as a form of penitence. In whatever religion, abortion is punished and for this reason, women should not abort.
Finally, the third and most important reason why women should not abort is the related to her conscience. When a woman has an abortion, she will always think about the baby she might have had. She will always think about the future that could have happened with her baby which will always remind her that she killed it. Because she has had an abortion, she will never have a good life, and her conscience will remind her of what she had done. Because a woman who has an abortion can't forget about what she has done, these thoughts will always be with her, and the results can be calamitous.
There are many reasons why women should not have an abortion. The truth is that women need to think about the consequences that can occur before having sexual relations. I think that the effects of an abortion can be very sad for everyone involved, both for the woman who has the abortion and for the family who lives with her.
It has been stated that approximately ten to fifteen percent of all married couples in the United States and Canada are infertile, while an additional ten percent have fewer children than they desire. As in the case of various Old Testament characters, childlessness can become a burden to individuals or couples today. In the past there was little to be done to cure or correct infertility. Now, however, with the modern advances of medical technology, these people have various options to choose from in order to have children to call their own. These options include artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, embryo transplant, and surrogate mothering. There are, however, moral and ethical implications involved in these procedures that make them unsuitable.
After nearly 30 years, abortion has had a phenomenal impact on society. "Decriminalized" abortion has liberated women, advocates argue. But are they really better off because of the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision? And how has abortion affected the lives of men? Actually, unrestricted abortion has cheapened human life, thus affecting all aspects of American society.
Impact on Women
Advocates claimed abortion would bring women "freedom" and "empowerment." Sadly, the opposite has occurred. Instead of freeing women from male exploitation, abortion has made them more vulnerable—playing into the hands of men who seek sex without marriage.
Columnist Jeff Jacoby discusses abortion's impact on male-female relationships: It has corrupted romance and sexuality. In the ancient times before Roe, the price of an unwanted pregnancy could be terrifyingly high. That gave unmarried women a powerful incentive to be careful—to reserve themselves for men whom they knew to be worthy. Sometimes worthiness could be proven only by walking down a church aisle; if not that, it often required at least courtship, love and commitment.
But after Roe, an unwanted pregnancy became little more than a nuisance. To undo it, you had only to see an abortionist. So why be careful? Why hold back? There was no longer a need to wait for that aisle walk—or even for commitment. … For men who wanted sex without strings, without having to make promises, without having to go through the rituals of romance, Roe was a godsend. And if she has a baby? Hey, that's her problem. She could have gotten an abortion.
In the past, fear and respect have motivated people to make responsible sexual choices. But since Roe divided sex from reproduction, people stopped being responsible for the consequences of their actions. Exercising so-called "equality," women began engaging in sex with little discretion. When women inevitably became pregnant, abortionists were waiting.
Impact on Men
While abortion has degraded women, it has also negatively influenced men. Some laugh at the idea of men being "victims" of abortion. But counselor and author Steve Arterburn understands the psychological conflict and its ramifications. He pressured his girlfriend into having an abortion after getting her pregnant during his first year of college.
"I had selfishly destroyed a human life because I didn't want to be inconvenienced," he explained. "I'm one of the thousands of abortion fathers who have also gone through this ordeal. In my case, it resulted in 80 ulcers eating at my stomach, intestines and colon. The pain was excruciating and made worse by the knowledge that it was a result of my secret sin." Just as abortion demands that women violate their natural inclination to nurture, it forces men to reject their role as provider and protector. The new life should motivate the man to embrace new levels of responsibility. Instead, he acts against his instincts, destroying what he should most vehemently defend—his own child.
Indeed, if a man would ask his girlfriend to commit this act of violence against a child, what's to keep him from inflicting violence on her? A glaring example is a case in which a Washington, D.C., man was charged with assaulting his girlfriend. The man admitted that he beat her outside the abortion clinic when she changed her mind about going through with the procedure. Another instance occurred when a man hired three assailants to beat his girlfriend for the purpose of killing her unborn child. The attack occurred one day before the woman was expected to deliver.
The increasing rates of domestic violence since Roe further illustrate this point:
· Approximately 1.9 million women are physically assaulted annually in the United States, a conservative estimate based on reporting. Experts estimate the actual incidence of partner violence is closer to 4 million annually.
· Women annually reported about 500,000 rapes or sexual assaults. Friends or acquaintances of the victims committed more than half of these crimes.
· In 1972, there were 60,000 [reported] child-abuse incidents. Four years later, the number passed the half million mark. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, slightly fewer than 1 million children were victims of substantiated or indicated child abuse and neglect in 1997.
Abortion and Crime
Today, 52 percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25. Although two-thirds are unmarried, more than half are already mothers. Moreover, 47 percent have already had at least one abortion. These women soon learn that abortion hurts, rather than helps, them.
Sydna Massé, who founded Ramah International, a post-abortion ministry, also works with Prison Fellowship. The connection between these ministries makes sense. The emotional impact of abortion often drives women to destructive, sometimes criminal, behavior. For example, in one Michigan prison ministry, 77 of the 100 women were post-abortive.
Moreover, Colorado is pressed for room for its growing female prison population. Since 1989, the number of women entering the state prison has risen 200 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. Furthermore, the women's national prison population has nearly doubled since 1990—from 39,054 to 75,241—
according to 1998 statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice. Among minors, the female juvenile crime arrest rate increased nearly 42 percent between 1990 and 1997.
If only one-third of those who have been aborted were available to start work on their 18th birthday, the demise of Social Security would be put off for decades. By the time the baby boom begins to retire in 2010, there would have been an additional 10 million workers ready to shoulder the burden of paying for Social Security.
Law-school professor John Donohue and economist Steven Levitt released a controversial—and, some say, even discriminatory—study in 1999. In short, they claim that legalized abortion has reduced the crime rate. They base this assumption on the opinion that "unwanted" children are more likely to commit crimes, and abortion prevents "unwanted" children from being born. They used overall decreased crime rates and increased abortion rates to support their assumption.
If Donohue's and Levitt's theory were true, then those born after 1973 would be less likely to commit crime. However, the opposite is true. The majority of delinquency cases involve teens aged 15 to 17. Youth born between 1973 and 1979, the period during which abortion increased most dramatically, reached ages 15 to 17 during 1988 to 1996. Delinquency cases increased significantly from 1988 and the following years. Furthermore, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistics, the murder rate among 14- to 17-year-olds in 1993 was 3.6 times that of children born between 1966 and 1970. Lastly, girl gangs have grown significantly in recent years. According to a Chicago Crime Commission report, between 16,000 and 20,000 female gang members and associates reside in the Chicago area alone. Seeing the value of life disrespected in their generation negatively skews the outlook of youth.
Far-Reaching Effects
Initially, abortion-on-demand cheapened the life of the unborn child, but the downslide did not stop there. Roe v. Wade placed America on the edge of a slippery slope. And one does not have to be an expert to see how far we've fallen since 1973.
For some, abortion has become simply a form of birth control. Theresa Flores is not sure how many abortions she has had—she thinks nine. After her first abortion around the age of 15, she continued having unprotected sex with her boyfriend. Over the next few years, the abortions continued. "I basically used abortion as a form of birth control," she admitted.
In 1973, Dr. Francis Shaeffer predicted that abortion would be the first step in a downward spiral:
Of all the subjects relating to the erosion of the sanctity of human life, abortion is the keystone. It is the first and crucial issue that has been overwhelming in changing attitudes toward the value of life in general … Since life is being destroyed before birth, why not tamper with it on the other end? Will a society which has assumed the right to kill infants in the womb … have difficulty in assuming the right to kill other human beings?
By the time the peak of the baby boom reaches retirement age, the number of abortions since Roe v. Wade will equal the number of births in the baby boom.
One only needs to look at recent headlines to see how Schaeffer's prediction has come true: From the advancement of the "Right to Die" movement to Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer, who openly advocates infanticide up to 28 days after birth. "Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person," Singer argued in his 1979 book Practical Ethics. "Sometimes it is not wrong at all."
Today, if their child is born with a congenital defect, parents in some states can sue their doctor for "wrongful birth" if he does not recommend abortion. For example, in New Jersey, Deborah Campano and her now ex-husband Michael Imbergamo won a suit against Dr. James Delahunty, to the tune of $1.85 million. Campano said she would have aborted her son Michael if she knew he had Down syndrome.
"What we're dealing with here is the promotion of eugenics as a birth policy whereby doctors are sued for not weeding out the 'unfit,'" said Clark Forsythe, president of Americans United for Life.
While 27 states allow "wrongful-birth" suits, in 1999, three other states ruled them invalid. In Taylor v. Kurapati, the Michigan Court of Appeals stated that recovery in wrongful-birth suits depends on the "unseemly spectacle" of parents disparaging their children's worth in court, and awarding damages would contradict the presumptive value of every human life. The National Down Syndrome Congress filed a brief in the Georgia case stating that the parents' claim for damages "presupposes that the life of a child with Down syndrome is less valuable than no life at all."
Now, the mentality that life does not inherently have value has reached into the lives of other vulnerable members of our society. As health care costs rise, the elderly have become targets. They find themselves pressured to accept euthanasia so they will not be too much of a "burden" on society.
Abandoned Generation
"[T]here is another group of children who have been overlooked in the [abortion] debate … the children now 10 or 15 or even 20 years old who have had it drummed into them by TV, radio and magazines," writes Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter for President Reagan and author of What I Saw at the Revolution and The Case Against Hillary. "Is it too much to see a connection between the abortion culture in which these young people came of age and the moral dullness they are accused of displaying?"
This disrespect for life has had a profound effect on teens: Melissa Drexler was a teenager who managed to hide her pregnancy to full term. She gave birth in a toilet stall and then allegedly choked or suffocated her 6-lb., 6-oz. son. Minutes later, she returned to the floor of her high school formal dance in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, where she ate salad and danced with her boyfriend.
The epidemic of baby abandonment, or "dumping," is growing. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the number of babies found abandoned in public places increased from 65 to 105 between 1991 and 1998. Of those, eight were found dead in 1991, and 33 were found dead in 1998. Further, the number of children abandoned at hospitals grew from 22,000 in 1991 to more than 31,000 in 1998. During this same time period, teenage pregnancies and abortions were both dropping. Maureen Hogan, president of Adopt America, blames the pervasive "just-get-rid-of-it mentality."
Save a life today !!!! It is your sole responsibility
An Activist's letter to Mr. President - Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
It is destiny that has placed you where you are today in this momentous time in our national history. You MUST UNDERSTAND that unlike no other Nigerian leader before, you have the unique opportunity to salvage the Nigerian situation.
You MUST be steadfast, vehement, firm and out-rightly audacious in carrying your duties as a Commander in Chief; don't permit any sycophants and insanely corrupt political associates or subordinates scuttle this God-ordained chance you have to make a lasting impact on Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.
YOUR FOCUS: Mr. President, must be on electoral reform, infrastructural development, Economic advancement, and of course, providing Nigerians with the great governance that we have yearn for, and which has eluded us for decades.
If I may advise you on the fierce urgency of our electoral and political dilemma, I will essentially offer a three-sided advise for you to make a choice rather than force you (as others seem to want to do) into a corner with no options.
1) You may choose to reform our electoral system, and conduct a credible election next year and then forever establish your reputation on not only the Nigerian political platform, but on the global platform, on which you can retain international acclaim, which will place you on high international demand to advise and assist with elections in Africa and perhaps, the rest of the world.
2) Like any other Nigerian, you have the right to contest for the Nigerian presidential election, and there is nothing in our Constitution that says you could not. No pressure from any part of the country or from any senseless group should have the moral or political authority to constitutionally compel you not to contest if you choose to. However, you must use your God-given wisdom to weigh the situation before you contest. The whole thing is about what you want or not want to do at this point. I must nonetheless, categorically state that YOU MUST CREDIBLY REFORM OUR ELECTORAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEM BEFORE YOU CAN CONTEST IF YOU CHOOSE TO.
3) Please, abolish that senseless, idiotic, anti-democratic, anti- progressive, and anti-Nigerian garbage called PDP North-South zoning of the presidency. That is completely an insult that the rest of Nigerians DO NOT DESERVE. There is not only the the North and South, There is also the Central, West and East Nigeria. With audacity, I tell you, all Nigerians SHOULD, AND MUST HAVE EQUAL RIGHT TO ANY POLITICAL OFFICE PROVIDED THEY MEET THE CRITERIA IN OUR CONSTITUTION. FULL STOP!!!
Here I stand!
EMAKOJI AYIKOYE
You MUST be steadfast, vehement, firm and out-rightly audacious in carrying your duties as a Commander in Chief; don't permit any sycophants and insanely corrupt political associates or subordinates scuttle this God-ordained chance you have to make a lasting impact on Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.
YOUR FOCUS: Mr. President, must be on electoral reform, infrastructural development, Economic advancement, and of course, providing Nigerians with the great governance that we have yearn for, and which has eluded us for decades.
If I may advise you on the fierce urgency of our electoral and political dilemma, I will essentially offer a three-sided advise for you to make a choice rather than force you (as others seem to want to do) into a corner with no options.
1) You may choose to reform our electoral system, and conduct a credible election next year and then forever establish your reputation on not only the Nigerian political platform, but on the global platform, on which you can retain international acclaim, which will place you on high international demand to advise and assist with elections in Africa and perhaps, the rest of the world.
2) Like any other Nigerian, you have the right to contest for the Nigerian presidential election, and there is nothing in our Constitution that says you could not. No pressure from any part of the country or from any senseless group should have the moral or political authority to constitutionally compel you not to contest if you choose to. However, you must use your God-given wisdom to weigh the situation before you contest. The whole thing is about what you want or not want to do at this point. I must nonetheless, categorically state that YOU MUST CREDIBLY REFORM OUR ELECTORAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEM BEFORE YOU CAN CONTEST IF YOU CHOOSE TO.
3) Please, abolish that senseless, idiotic, anti-democratic, anti- progressive, and anti-Nigerian garbage called PDP North-South zoning of the presidency. That is completely an insult that the rest of Nigerians DO NOT DESERVE. There is not only the the North and South, There is also the Central, West and East Nigeria. With audacity, I tell you, all Nigerians SHOULD, AND MUST HAVE EQUAL RIGHT TO ANY POLITICAL OFFICE PROVIDED THEY MEET THE CRITERIA IN OUR CONSTITUTION. FULL STOP!!!
Here I stand!
EMAKOJI AYIKOYE
Nigerian Intellectual Abroad Open Letter to IGP
If I am the Inspector General of Nigerian Police, I will know the exact number of firearms belonging to the police, the exact number in every state, division, or unit, and the particular officer to whom a firearm was checked out, all in real time. Yes, with the click of a mouse, I will know who has what and the location. I can even call the officer and tell him the particular firearm in his possession. I will deploy a simple Inventory Control System.
Inventory control is a process for keeping track of objects or materials. Modern inventory control systems rely upon barcodes, and potentially RFID tags, to provide automatic identification of inventory objects. Inventory objects could include any kind of physical asset: merchandise, consumables, fixed assets, circulating tools, library books, or capital equipment; and in my own case, the Nigerian Police firearms.
To record an inventory transaction, the system uses a barcode scanner or RFID reader to automatically identify the inventory object, and then collects additional information from the operators via fixed terminals (workstations), or mobile computers. Real time inventory control systems use wireless, mobile terminals to record inventory transactions at the moment they occur. A wireless LAN (Local Area Network) transmits the transaction information to a central database.
Everyday, as the officers check out firearms for the day, the barcode on the firearms will be scanned against their number so I know who has what. On their return from duty, the firearms will be checked in so I know they are in the armory. Every Monday, the firearms in every state and division will be scanned and transmitted to my control database. This will take about one hour depending on the quantity; it will take about an hour to scan three thousand firearms.
No longer will they use notebooks to keep record of who has possession of the firearms. While it will take one minute to scan out ten firearms to ten officers, it will take not less than 30 minutes to do same using notebook! No longer will my men lease their arms to criminals; because I will know using RFID if the firearm leaves a predetermined vicinity of their patrol vehicle. No longer will the arms cross state boundaries to be used in another state to perpetrate crime; RFID will take care of that.
If I am the Inspector General of Nigerian Police, I know exactly how to control my firearms inventory in real time so they will not fall into wrong hands. And if my officer is the wrong hand, I will know.
Emeka Maduewesi
Emeka Maduewesi is a dual-qualified (Nigeria and California) international lawyer with cross-border intellectual property and technology transactions, licensing, regulatory, complex commercial litigation and antitrust experience. He has a Masters Degree in Intellectual Property and Technology Law from the University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, California. He is the Publisher of http://www.nigerianlawregistry.com/ and http://www.nlid.info/
Inventory control is a process for keeping track of objects or materials. Modern inventory control systems rely upon barcodes, and potentially RFID tags, to provide automatic identification of inventory objects. Inventory objects could include any kind of physical asset: merchandise, consumables, fixed assets, circulating tools, library books, or capital equipment; and in my own case, the Nigerian Police firearms.
To record an inventory transaction, the system uses a barcode scanner or RFID reader to automatically identify the inventory object, and then collects additional information from the operators via fixed terminals (workstations), or mobile computers. Real time inventory control systems use wireless, mobile terminals to record inventory transactions at the moment they occur. A wireless LAN (Local Area Network) transmits the transaction information to a central database.
Everyday, as the officers check out firearms for the day, the barcode on the firearms will be scanned against their number so I know who has what. On their return from duty, the firearms will be checked in so I know they are in the armory. Every Monday, the firearms in every state and division will be scanned and transmitted to my control database. This will take about one hour depending on the quantity; it will take about an hour to scan three thousand firearms.
No longer will they use notebooks to keep record of who has possession of the firearms. While it will take one minute to scan out ten firearms to ten officers, it will take not less than 30 minutes to do same using notebook! No longer will my men lease their arms to criminals; because I will know using RFID if the firearm leaves a predetermined vicinity of their patrol vehicle. No longer will the arms cross state boundaries to be used in another state to perpetrate crime; RFID will take care of that.
If I am the Inspector General of Nigerian Police, I know exactly how to control my firearms inventory in real time so they will not fall into wrong hands. And if my officer is the wrong hand, I will know.
Emeka Maduewesi
Emeka Maduewesi is a dual-qualified (Nigeria and California) international lawyer with cross-border intellectual property and technology transactions, licensing, regulatory, complex commercial litigation and antitrust experience. He has a Masters Degree in Intellectual Property and Technology Law from the University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, California. He is the Publisher of http://www.nigerianlawregistry.com/ and http://www.nlid.info/
Clinton to push China for 'balanced' relationship
MATTHEW LEE
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that she would be pushing the Chinese for a "more balanced economic relationship" with the U.S. in upcoming economic and strategic talks in Beijing.
Those talks, to be co-chaired by Clinton and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, are likely to be dominated by efforts to win China's support to punish North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship. But the U.S. officials will be focused on economic issues as well.
"For trade to work in any economy and for it to produce the benefits we know it can, there must be a level playing field where domestic and international companies can compete freely and openly," she told workers at a Boeing maintenance facility at Shanghai's Pudong Airport.
Clinton said she, Geithner and the U.S. delegation would press the Chinese for greater regulatory transparency, nondiscrimination, fair access to markets and strong enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Geithner and Clinton are leading a delegation of nearly 200 officials to Beijing as part of an effort to help President Barack Obama deliver on his pledge to double U.S. exports within five years and create 2 million jobs.
One issue likely to come up is the trade advantage Beijing has because of an undervalued Chinese currency.
As the European financial crisis deepens, Beijing appears to be pulling back from expected moves to loosen its currency's peg to the U.S. dollar, saying the euro's slide to four-year lows against the dollar is putting too heavy a burden on its own exporters.
China has kept the yuan at a rate of about 6.83 per dollar for nearly two years, seeking to cushion its exporters from the global financial crisis. Some economists reckon the yuan is undervalued by up to 40 percent against the dollar, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage in overseas markets.
While trying to make progress on economic issues, Clinton will also be trying to win Beijing's support for punishing its ally North Korea.
She faces a hard sell convincing China's leaders that they should back U.N. penalties after an international investigation blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean navy ship.
Her trip has been a hectic and intense three-nation journey to Asia. She stopped briefly in Japan on Friday, and her schedule put her in Beijing on Sunday and the South Korean capital of Seoul on Wednesday.
"Virtually every major challenge that we face in the world requires China and the United States to work together," she told staff at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai.
But the downed ship is crowding out all else on her agenda, even the high-level strategic and economic talks between the U.S. and China on Monday and Tuesday that were the main thrust of her trip.
The release Thursday of the report blaming the North changed all that. Now, her chief task is persuading China to go along with U.N. Security Council action against the communist nation.
An international team of civilian and military investigators said that a North Korean submarine fired a homing torpedo on March 26, ripping South Korea's 1,200-ton Cheonan in two. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued, but 46 died — South Korea's worst military disaster since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The U.N. Command began an investigation Saturday into whether the attack violated the Korean War truce agreement.
North Korea threatened Sunday to "crush" South Korea, calling its Cheonan report an "enormous fabrication" only designed to justify its attempt to invade the North in collaboration with the U.S.
"What kind of mercy is needed for this kind of warmongers?" the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has routinely accused Washington and Seoul of plotting to invade the nation, despite the repeated denials by the allies.
China is North Korea's primary ally and financial supporter. Beijing has been neutral on the conclusions of the report.
In Tokyo on Friday, Clinton said the evidence was "overwhelming" that North Korea was behind the sinking and that the reclusive communist country must face international consequences.
Chinese officials have appealed for calm and called the sinking "unfortunate." But they have stopped short of backing South Korea, instead reiterating long-standing views on the need to maintain peace on the peninsula. China is a veto-holding permanent member of the Security Council, so its backing for any action is critical.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that she would be pushing the Chinese for a "more balanced economic relationship" with the U.S. in upcoming economic and strategic talks in Beijing.
Those talks, to be co-chaired by Clinton and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, are likely to be dominated by efforts to win China's support to punish North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship. But the U.S. officials will be focused on economic issues as well.
"For trade to work in any economy and for it to produce the benefits we know it can, there must be a level playing field where domestic and international companies can compete freely and openly," she told workers at a Boeing maintenance facility at Shanghai's Pudong Airport.
Clinton said she, Geithner and the U.S. delegation would press the Chinese for greater regulatory transparency, nondiscrimination, fair access to markets and strong enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Geithner and Clinton are leading a delegation of nearly 200 officials to Beijing as part of an effort to help President Barack Obama deliver on his pledge to double U.S. exports within five years and create 2 million jobs.
One issue likely to come up is the trade advantage Beijing has because of an undervalued Chinese currency.
As the European financial crisis deepens, Beijing appears to be pulling back from expected moves to loosen its currency's peg to the U.S. dollar, saying the euro's slide to four-year lows against the dollar is putting too heavy a burden on its own exporters.
China has kept the yuan at a rate of about 6.83 per dollar for nearly two years, seeking to cushion its exporters from the global financial crisis. Some economists reckon the yuan is undervalued by up to 40 percent against the dollar, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage in overseas markets.
While trying to make progress on economic issues, Clinton will also be trying to win Beijing's support for punishing its ally North Korea.
She faces a hard sell convincing China's leaders that they should back U.N. penalties after an international investigation blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean navy ship.
Her trip has been a hectic and intense three-nation journey to Asia. She stopped briefly in Japan on Friday, and her schedule put her in Beijing on Sunday and the South Korean capital of Seoul on Wednesday.
"Virtually every major challenge that we face in the world requires China and the United States to work together," she told staff at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai.
But the downed ship is crowding out all else on her agenda, even the high-level strategic and economic talks between the U.S. and China on Monday and Tuesday that were the main thrust of her trip.
The release Thursday of the report blaming the North changed all that. Now, her chief task is persuading China to go along with U.N. Security Council action against the communist nation.
An international team of civilian and military investigators said that a North Korean submarine fired a homing torpedo on March 26, ripping South Korea's 1,200-ton Cheonan in two. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued, but 46 died — South Korea's worst military disaster since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The U.N. Command began an investigation Saturday into whether the attack violated the Korean War truce agreement.
North Korea threatened Sunday to "crush" South Korea, calling its Cheonan report an "enormous fabrication" only designed to justify its attempt to invade the North in collaboration with the U.S.
"What kind of mercy is needed for this kind of warmongers?" the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has routinely accused Washington and Seoul of plotting to invade the nation, despite the repeated denials by the allies.
China is North Korea's primary ally and financial supporter. Beijing has been neutral on the conclusions of the report.
In Tokyo on Friday, Clinton said the evidence was "overwhelming" that North Korea was behind the sinking and that the reclusive communist country must face international consequences.
Chinese officials have appealed for calm and called the sinking "unfortunate." But they have stopped short of backing South Korea, instead reiterating long-standing views on the need to maintain peace on the peninsula. China is a veto-holding permanent member of the Security Council, so its backing for any action is critical.
Our Culture, Our Guide To The Promise-Land
Deji Sule Odu
If we must insist that leadership is the bane of our predicament in Nigeria, then we must also appreciate the fact that, we are also lacking in good followership… This in essence, is due to the fact that no one is particularly born a leader, but people grow from being followers to becoming leaders. It then goes on to show the need for all and sundry to as a matter of urgency embarked on total Value reorientation, if only we must begin to head for the promise land. Nigeria, like every other Africa countries has been richly blessed in Cultures and Values; we have always been a respecter of human lives, we have always shown respect to our elders, our wives and even our children. We have always respected our individual beliefs, as well as shown much love to our neighbours just as much as ourselves. Nigerians have always shown pride in each others. But all of a sudden, these are becoming a thing of the past.
Fellow Change Agents, you could not have loved your neighbours just as yourselves and also wished him dead, you could not have ever wished he didn’t live a good life, you could not have ever wished his children never had access to good education, you could not have loved him and ever wish he lives in abject poverty… We must all learn to love and tolerate each other all over again, we must begin to consciously respect and tolerate each other’s differences and views, we must be concern about each other’s feelings and wellbeing, and we must be conscientious enough to do the right thing, that way we shall begin to have a better Nation that we can all be proud to call our own. That way we shall begin to effect the desired change we have all longed for….
Each of the developed Countries we are talking about today, has been able to achieve this much solely because of respects for their cultures and Values. Once you happen to find yourself in America, for you to be able to excel, you must be able to Americanize yourself, once in England then you must be able to live an English… the same goes for Japan, china, and all the likes. At the same time the reasons why whatever works in those countries, never works here, in Nigeria is simply because we refused to give consideration to our cultures and values. I bet you once a developmental plan working anywhere in the world, is ready to put our cultures and values into consideration, then such plans will begin to work here in Nigeria. Therefore, as Nigerians we must bring back our cultures and values into cognizance, we must begin to respect each other once again, we must begin to see each other just like one big whole family; north or south, west or east, we are all Nigerians; One Nation, One destiny…. We must begin to sincerely from the bottom of our heart, love One another; it must not just be a lip service.
Even, the multi racial United State of America sees itself as one big indivisible Family/Nation. How much more here in Nigeria where all of us are blacks… I assure you that, once we are ready to accord due respect to our cultures and Values, then there we go… straight to the promise land!
If we must insist that leadership is the bane of our predicament in Nigeria, then we must also appreciate the fact that, we are also lacking in good followership… This in essence, is due to the fact that no one is particularly born a leader, but people grow from being followers to becoming leaders. It then goes on to show the need for all and sundry to as a matter of urgency embarked on total Value reorientation, if only we must begin to head for the promise land. Nigeria, like every other Africa countries has been richly blessed in Cultures and Values; we have always been a respecter of human lives, we have always shown respect to our elders, our wives and even our children. We have always respected our individual beliefs, as well as shown much love to our neighbours just as much as ourselves. Nigerians have always shown pride in each others. But all of a sudden, these are becoming a thing of the past.
Fellow Change Agents, you could not have loved your neighbours just as yourselves and also wished him dead, you could not have ever wished he didn’t live a good life, you could not have ever wished his children never had access to good education, you could not have loved him and ever wish he lives in abject poverty… We must all learn to love and tolerate each other all over again, we must begin to consciously respect and tolerate each other’s differences and views, we must be concern about each other’s feelings and wellbeing, and we must be conscientious enough to do the right thing, that way we shall begin to have a better Nation that we can all be proud to call our own. That way we shall begin to effect the desired change we have all longed for….
Each of the developed Countries we are talking about today, has been able to achieve this much solely because of respects for their cultures and Values. Once you happen to find yourself in America, for you to be able to excel, you must be able to Americanize yourself, once in England then you must be able to live an English… the same goes for Japan, china, and all the likes. At the same time the reasons why whatever works in those countries, never works here, in Nigeria is simply because we refused to give consideration to our cultures and values. I bet you once a developmental plan working anywhere in the world, is ready to put our cultures and values into consideration, then such plans will begin to work here in Nigeria. Therefore, as Nigerians we must bring back our cultures and values into cognizance, we must begin to respect each other once again, we must begin to see each other just like one big whole family; north or south, west or east, we are all Nigerians; One Nation, One destiny…. We must begin to sincerely from the bottom of our heart, love One another; it must not just be a lip service.
Even, the multi racial United State of America sees itself as one big indivisible Family/Nation. How much more here in Nigeria where all of us are blacks… I assure you that, once we are ready to accord due respect to our cultures and Values, then there we go… straight to the promise land!
Thai PM extends curfew; no polls until unrest over
By ERIC TALMADGE
Thailand's prime minister on Sunday extended a nighttime curfew in the capital and said he will consider early elections only after the violence that has wracked the nation for the past two months is completely over.
Elections are seen as a key step toward healing the deep divide that has split Thailand between supporters of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the so-called Red Shirts, who are made up mainly of the urban and rural poor and see Abhisit's government as elitist and illegitimate.
The rift with the Red Shirts, who have strong support in the country's north and northeast, came to a crescendo of violence after they occupied the heart of Bangkok, sparking a military crackdown that ended in a rampage of grenade attacks and arson at dozens of buildings, including the country's stock exchange and biggest shopping mall.
In all, 85 people were killed in the violence — the worst the Thai capital has seen in decades.
Abhisit said in a weekly address that while he is still willing to call elections before his term expires late next year, he will not do so under the threat of violence.
He accused Red Shirt followers of planning further mayhem, although he stressed the government was in control and the capital has largely returned to normal after a final push by the military to clear the main protest site on Wednesday left 16 dead and more than 100 injured.
"It is now entirely up to me to see when is the most appropriate time to hold the election," Abhisit said. "At the moment, no one can tell when is the best time. We don't know what will happen next."
Hoping to appease the protesters, Abhisit earlier this month offered to hold elections on Nov. 14. But the reconciliation plan fell through when Red Shirt leaders, who want him to resign immediately, made more demands.
All but two of the movement's top leaders are now in custody, although no charges have been filed yet.
Many analysts believe the Red Shirts, who support ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, could cause unrest for years to come. Thaksin lives in exile after his 2006 ouster in a military coup and subsequent conviction on corruption-related charges.
He continues to cast a dark shadow over Thai politics, however.
Abhisit's government took power in December 2008, not through an election but by a vote in Parliament, to fill the power vacuum after disputed court rulings ousted two elected pro-Thaksin governments.
Despite the political upheaval, there were increasing signs that the residents of Bangkok were trying to get back to normal routines.
Thousands of residents mobilized in cleanup squads to clear the streets of mountains of garbage and rubble left by the protests and violence.
"On my way here, I passed a lot of places that were either burned down or damaged. I was in tears," said Ratwipa Saenyo, and 18-year-old student who with a friend was scrubbing stains from a burned billboard at a bus stop.
Schools, government offices and the stock exchange were to reopen Monday, and Abhisit said he will move back to his office from an army base where he had set up a temporary workplace during the unrest. The nighttime curfew, which was imposed on Wednesday, was extended through Monday, albeit for a shorter period, Abhisit said.
Further extensions would be considered on a day-by-day basis.
The city's two main mass transit systems, the Skytrain and the subway, reopened Sunday after a week's closure. But TAN Network, Thailand's English language television, reported that cleaning operations were stopped after troops found 20 homemade bombs near a station.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said "generally it has been quiet" in the country, but added that there are "a few reports of people gathering" and sporadic incidents of violence.
He said a British citizen, Jeff Savage, was being questioned by police on suspicion he instigated some of the arson attacks, as reported by the British media.
"He admitted to newspapers that he was present at a few locations. Authorities want to question him under what condition he was there," Panitan told The Associated Press.
The Times of London said Savage, 48, a long-time resident of the Thai beach resort of Pattaya, was caught on video saying he and others were going to burn down the CentralWorld shopping mall.
Savage told The Times he was not involved in the burning, but added it was common knowledge in the Red Shirt camp that CentralWorld would be burned.
Thailand's prime minister on Sunday extended a nighttime curfew in the capital and said he will consider early elections only after the violence that has wracked the nation for the past two months is completely over.
Elections are seen as a key step toward healing the deep divide that has split Thailand between supporters of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the so-called Red Shirts, who are made up mainly of the urban and rural poor and see Abhisit's government as elitist and illegitimate.
The rift with the Red Shirts, who have strong support in the country's north and northeast, came to a crescendo of violence after they occupied the heart of Bangkok, sparking a military crackdown that ended in a rampage of grenade attacks and arson at dozens of buildings, including the country's stock exchange and biggest shopping mall.
In all, 85 people were killed in the violence — the worst the Thai capital has seen in decades.
Abhisit said in a weekly address that while he is still willing to call elections before his term expires late next year, he will not do so under the threat of violence.
He accused Red Shirt followers of planning further mayhem, although he stressed the government was in control and the capital has largely returned to normal after a final push by the military to clear the main protest site on Wednesday left 16 dead and more than 100 injured.
"It is now entirely up to me to see when is the most appropriate time to hold the election," Abhisit said. "At the moment, no one can tell when is the best time. We don't know what will happen next."
Hoping to appease the protesters, Abhisit earlier this month offered to hold elections on Nov. 14. But the reconciliation plan fell through when Red Shirt leaders, who want him to resign immediately, made more demands.
All but two of the movement's top leaders are now in custody, although no charges have been filed yet.
Many analysts believe the Red Shirts, who support ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, could cause unrest for years to come. Thaksin lives in exile after his 2006 ouster in a military coup and subsequent conviction on corruption-related charges.
He continues to cast a dark shadow over Thai politics, however.
Abhisit's government took power in December 2008, not through an election but by a vote in Parliament, to fill the power vacuum after disputed court rulings ousted two elected pro-Thaksin governments.
Despite the political upheaval, there were increasing signs that the residents of Bangkok were trying to get back to normal routines.
Thousands of residents mobilized in cleanup squads to clear the streets of mountains of garbage and rubble left by the protests and violence.
"On my way here, I passed a lot of places that were either burned down or damaged. I was in tears," said Ratwipa Saenyo, and 18-year-old student who with a friend was scrubbing stains from a burned billboard at a bus stop.
Schools, government offices and the stock exchange were to reopen Monday, and Abhisit said he will move back to his office from an army base where he had set up a temporary workplace during the unrest. The nighttime curfew, which was imposed on Wednesday, was extended through Monday, albeit for a shorter period, Abhisit said.
Further extensions would be considered on a day-by-day basis.
The city's two main mass transit systems, the Skytrain and the subway, reopened Sunday after a week's closure. But TAN Network, Thailand's English language television, reported that cleaning operations were stopped after troops found 20 homemade bombs near a station.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said "generally it has been quiet" in the country, but added that there are "a few reports of people gathering" and sporadic incidents of violence.
He said a British citizen, Jeff Savage, was being questioned by police on suspicion he instigated some of the arson attacks, as reported by the British media.
"He admitted to newspapers that he was present at a few locations. Authorities want to question him under what condition he was there," Panitan told The Associated Press.
The Times of London said Savage, 48, a long-time resident of the Thai beach resort of Pattaya, was caught on video saying he and others were going to burn down the CentralWorld shopping mall.
Savage told The Times he was not involved in the burning, but added it was common knowledge in the Red Shirt camp that CentralWorld would be burned.
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