Photonews: President Buhari And The "Change" Apostles

Speech: “I Belong To Everybody And I Belong To Nobody.”-------President Buhari

President Buhari

I am immensely grateful to God Who Has preserved us to witness this day and this occasion. Today marks a triumph for Nigeria and an occasion to celebrate her freedom and cherish her democracy. Nigerians have shown their commitment to democracy and are determined to entrench its culture. Our journey has not been easy but thanks to the determination of our people and strong support from friends abroad we have today a truly democratically elected government in place.

U-Report: IHRC Writes Nigerian Government To End Persecution Of Islamic Movement

Report By Stephen Lawan

 

Since July 2014 there have been at least four incidents in which Nigerian armed forces or people linked with them have attacked the Islamic Movement. IHRC has written to the Nigerian High Commissioner in London requesting that he urgently draw his government's attention to the targeting of Nigeria's Islamic Movement in what seems to be a concerted campaign of aggression against the group.

Article: Labour Challenges Facing APC Governments

By Salihu Moh. Lukman (smlukman@gmail.com)

2015 Elections and Campaign Promises

During the 2015 electioneering campaigns, the All Progressives Congress (APC) pledged to “create 3 million new jobs a year through public works programmes and shifting the economy towards value-added production” as the primary economic targets of governments produced by the party. The APC is today victorious having won the presidency and 22 states. No doubt, the challenge facing the party is how it will deliver on all campaign promises, which include the creation of 3 million jobs annually.

News Release: Afreximbank’s Abidjan Office Comes On Stream, Expected To Drive Integration

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) today opened its Abidjan Branch Office, with the Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan saying that the Branch Office would accentuate the Bank’s effort at achieving economic integration in Africa.

News Release: Nigerian-America Leadership Council Pushes For A Bold Agenda Beyond The 2015 Ballot

A cross section of participants at the event

On Monday May 18^th, 2015, the Nigerian-American Leadership Council hosted a successful gathering of experts at the Rayburn Building of the US Congress; tagged “Nigeria 2015, Beyond the Ballot.”  The Event was Co-sponsored by Office of US Congressman Chris Smith, Chairman Africa-Sub-Committee, and the Office of US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee.

Article: EFCC And The Corruption In Jonathan’s Government

Ibrahim Lamorde

By Olufemi Adegbenro

On Monday, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) addressed the world, reeling out what it considered as achievements,  the commission left only one feeling: A desperate agency, whose boss is trying to impress the incoming government in order to retain his job.

Article: Ibrahim Lamorde's Cheap And Lazy Way To Retain His Job As EFCC Boss

Ibrahim Lamorde

By Farouk Lawal

Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is fighting tooth and nail to retain his job as head of the anti-graft agency, following the change in the central administration, which swept away his boss, President Goodluck Jonathan.

News Release: “Africa, A Land Worth Exploring”---DHL

Africa Day 2015 is an opportunity to celebrate the development of the African continent as well as consider the various opportunities that it offers - DHL

Africa Day 2015 is an opportunity to celebrate the development of the African continent as well as consider the various opportunities that it offers. This is according to Charles Brewer, Managing Director of DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (http://www.dpdhl.com), who not only believes that the continent offers vast opportunities but also that it is one of the last frontiers for economic growth and development.

Article: The Imperativeness Of A New National Orientation Paradigm (Part 2)

By Chris Nwaokobia Jnr.

“Today is the moment that makes great feats possible, yesterday is history, the future scores the moment, we must work hard in the NOW such that posterity would say of this generation of Nigerians, when the moment of change came a great band of patriots rose up and took it.”- Prof Chris Nwaokobia Jnr.

Since the March 28 and the April 14, 2015 General Elections our nation has recorded about 23 Trekkers and Bikers,the young and the old alike, traversing the nation, doing unimaginable distances with glee, some in support of Buhari, some pro Goodluck Jonathan for his presumed love for peace ditto the concession of defeat at the polls, and some for peaceful coexistence, unity and progress. In all of this the score is manifest; democracy is the winner and Nigeria the victor. By this Nigerians have said in no uncertain terms that we want to remain together and make our Fatherland great.

Article: Ahead Of Yaumus Shuhada; Supporting The Cause Of Our Great Martyrs

By Sheikh Muhammad Turi

In the name of Allah who states “And do not speak of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead; nay they are alive but you do not perceive” Q2:154

Peace and blessings of Allah be upon His chosen servant, our master Muhammad (S) and his noble progeny.

With best regards and well wishes to the respected readers appreciated by the Sheikh and reintroducing my humble self, I wish to carry on with this   piece. Although a little was written on this topic earlier, this can enrich our readers’ knowledge especially as the event is fast approaching.

The annual day of martyrs was deliberately set aside to correspond with the martyrdom of Imam Musa al – Kazem on similar date -25th Rajab- as a result of poisoning under the Harun – led Abbasid regime. The programme is meant to honor the over 200 martyrs of the Islamic movement oppressively murdered in its about 40 years history of existence.

Article: Tribute To Emma Ezeazu

Emma Ezeazu

By Salihu Moh. Lukman (smlukman@gmail.com)

Emma Ezeazu, former President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) - 1986 – 1988, former National Secretary, Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) – 1990 – 1992, former Executive Director, Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP) – 1992 – 2000 and until the early evening of Monday, May 18, 2015, Executive Director, Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE) died after long protracted illness. He died at the age of 52 after clearly more than four years of health challenges. Everyone that may have encountered Emma in the last few months would have certainly noticed that he was going through very trying times but one thing that is also veryclear was that he remained his determined self. Partly on account of that, conversations with him never focus on his personal health. Rather, it remained as usual around politics and national issues.

Article: Where Nigeria’s Power Roadmap Missed Road

By SKC Ogbonnia Despite investing over $30 billion in the sector in the past 15 years,  Nigeria ’s epileptic power supply has taken a turn for the worse in recent months. Today, the total electricity supply is less than 2,100 megawatts (MW) for a country of over 170 million people. As a result, the citizens and businesses have resorted to use of electric generators to the point where some industry experts are now placing the frontal cost including imported fuel as high as the size of annual national budget. This mire has provoked a wide range of debates with a host of powerful voices overtly urging the President-elect Muhammadu Buhari to scrap current power sector reform altogether. But any temptation to toe that line readily translates to a right cause on the wrong course. The problem is definitely not the policy by itself. The gospel truth that the highly celebrated Road Map for Power Sector Reform under President Goodluck Jonathan has simply missed road, but can and should be redirected.

News Release: Disastrous Performance Of The Seventh National Assembly Of Nigeria & Challenges Before The Eight National Assembly (Concluding Part)

Summation: This part (three) concludes the extensively researched appraisal of the parliamentary stewardship of the outgoing Seventh National Assembly of Nigeria. The appraisal was extended to the State Houses of Assembly for the purpose of setting the records straight and putting in public domain and consciousness of Nigerians the fundamental standard of measuring the modern public lawmaking functions in Nigeria. In the course of the referenced extensive research by ours ( International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law- Intersociety), it was indisputably established that parliamentary quackery and mercantilism have steadily remained the bane of the lawmaking processes in Nigeria since the arrival of the Fourth Republic National Assembly (1999-2003).

News Release: “Nigeria 2015: Beyond the Ballot”

On Monday May 18^th, 2015, the Nigerian-American Leadership Council hosted a successful gathering of experts at the Rayburn Building of the US Congress, at an event aptly tagged: “Nigeria 2015, Beyond the Ballot.”  The Event was Co-sponsored by Office of US Congressman Chris Smith, Chairman Africa-Sub-Committee, and the Office of US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee.

Article: Where Is Emenike Ihekwaba?

Emenike Ihekwaba

By Engr. Chike Ihekwaba, Prof. Ola Nnadi, Dr. Nzeribe Ihekwaba And Mr. Okezie Ihekwaba

This troubling question has been on our mind every day over the last two and half years that God has granted breath and life to us: Where on this earth is our brother, Emenike Ihekwaba? We have not given up and would never, at least not until we have logical answers to our inquiry. We have cried, we have prayed, and we are still full of hope, because we are believers and much as Jesus the Christ had admonished us. Like Mary had asked on that faithful morning of resurrection day, as recorded in the Book of John 20:15, so we ask: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” It is not a secret that we are hurting. This vicious, man-made agony has inflicted untold toll on us, during the past 31 months of utter hell. Contrary to the expectations of the perpetrators of this heinous crime, our heads may be bloodied but yet it remains unbowed. Here is the inscrutable dilemma: To go missing, inexplicably, in any part of Nigeria today, is becoming an ironic civic duty that honest Nigerians ought not to owe their nation. The filial pain is inexplicable, not just to the wards and siblings of the victim, but also to the community that cherished the honesty and selflessness of the one to whom harm has been wrought. The time is now to arrest this peculiar vicious circumstance that is unraveling the public safety net. No one, anywhere and anymore, has to become another statistic for this absurd reality.

Article: The Nigerian “New Dispensation” And Options For Strategic Engagement

By Jaye Gaskia

As we approach the inauguration of the new regime and the ascension to power of the new governing party, it is important that we begin to outline the manner and mode of our engagement with this incoming new but old reality.

Three Former African Presidents To Headline Events At Afreximbank’s 22nd Annual General Meeting

No less than three former African Presidents are expected at activities marking the 22^nd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) scheduled to take place in Lusaka from 10 to 13 June, according to a programme of events released by the Bank.

News Release: Disastrous Performance Of The Seventh National Assembly Of Nigeria & Challenges Before The Eight National Assembly (Part 2)

There are numerous archaic Acts of the Federation and Laws of the States begging for legislative attention as it concerns their amendments or repealing. There are also hundreds of new legislative items waiting to be legislated into law for improved order and good governance of the country or any part thereof. Yet, the present legislative chambers at the Federal and State levels have turned blind eyes on them and stuck to the pursuit of illicit or ill-gotten wealth and other primordial interests. In the Criminal Justice sector, most of the criminal laws at the Federal and State levels have remained archaic. Except late minute (March 2015) passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, which President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law few days ago; many others are left outdated.

News Release: Disastrous Performance Of The Seventh National Assembly Of Nigeria & Challenges Before The Eight National Assembly (Part 1)

The heart of the leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law is gladdened over the decision of the outgoing Seventh National Assembly of Nigeria to join the outgoing Government of Lagos State in heeding our recent calls for the account of stewardship of the outgoing executive and legislative arms of government in Nigeria including the Federal and State Executive Councils as well as the Federal and States Legislative Chambers. The call of ours under reference stems from the fact that whatever that has a beginning must have an end as well as the need to institutionalize at all times an enviable benchmark for public governance accountability in Nigeria.

Article: Unmasking The Blackmailing Monster

By Okey Asinobi

With the return of the various institutions and organs of democracy in the country, which no doubt, granted the citizenry the unrestrained access to hold and ventilate varied shades of opinions and information, one major drawback that is militating against this universally accepted democratic norm remains the unsubstantiated falsehood and deliberate blackmail, laced with pernicious propaganda, which some ‘unlicensed’ stakeholders had capitalized on to perpetrate one crime or another.

U-Report: Shaikh Zakzaky Gives More Insight Into The Conspiracy To Kill Him

Shaikh Ibraheem Zakzaky

Report By Stephen Lawan  

Shortly after the Nahjul Balagha study at the Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, Zaria on yesterday, His Eminence Shaikh Ibraheem Zakzaky briefly narrated how the plan to kill him by the out-going President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration through the Zazzau Emirate council was hatched.

News Release: Afreximbank Syndications Bring $8 Billion Into Africa

Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra, flanked by Denys Denya, Executive Vice President, Finance, Administration and Banking Services, and Dr. George Elombi, Executive Vice President, Corporate Governance and Legal Services/Executive Secretary, during the update meeting with the Bank’s relationship banks in London.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) attracted some $8 billion into Africa in 2014 through the 19 syndicated financing deals which it either arranged or co-arranged, Jean-Louis Ekra, President of the Bank, has announced.

News Release: Public Debts Management In Nigeria; Time For Creation Of Public Debts Management Commission

It is the observation of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law that time has come for the creation through an Act of Nigeria’s National Assembly of the Public Debts Management  Commission of the Federation to centrally coordinate the compilation and management of the country’s public debts of the three tiers of Federal, State and Local Government systems.

Open Letter: Response To Kenneth Uwadi’s Blackmailing Petition Against Rt.Hon Benjamin Uwajumogu

Uwajimogu

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,

President-elect, Federal Republic of Nigeria,

Government Reserved Area (GRA)

Off Daura-kwangolam Road

Opposite Daura Shagari Low Cost Housing Estate

Daura, Katsina state

Nigeria.

His Excellency,

Re: Nomination Of Rt.Hon Benjamin Uwajumogu As A Nigerian Minister: Response To Kenneth Uwadi’s Blackmailing Petition Against The Imo Speaker

 His Excellency, as we celebrate your election as the president elect of this country, we congratulate you on your emergence as the leader of our great party and nation Nigeria. Our hearts are gladdened by numerous evidence of your integrity, discipline, fairness and high sense of judgment. You have assured Nigerians that your government would work tirelessly to ensure the necessary change which will give birth to the Nigeria of our dreams. Change constitutes a departure from all those vices that has hitherto shackled our progress as a nation, change translates to a departure from the usual maligning of public characters to feed the hunger for personal and political vendetta.

Open Letter: Nomination Of Mr Benjamin Uwajumogu As A Nigerian Minister

Uwajimogu

Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,
President-elect, Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Government Reserved Area (GRA)
Off Daura-Kwangolam road
Opposite Daura Shagari Low Cost Housing Estate
Daura, Katsina State
Nigeria

7TH May 2015

Re: Nomination Of Mr Benjamin Uwajumogu As A Nigerian Minister

His Excellency, once again we say congratulation to you for your victory at the 2015 Nigerian general election. The Youths for Human Rights Protection and Transparency Initiative (YARPTI) is happy to note that you have promised Nigerians that you will not betray or disappoint them. You made this comments while receiving a delegation of All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters from Taraba State in Abuja.

News Release: Unpaid Workers’ Salaries & Allowances In Nigeria; Why Debtor Governors Should Be Impeached

A series of vindication have come the way of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law in recent times over its research based positions on burning national issues in Nigeria. From its projection that INEC has already rigged the 2015 general polls (presidential poll in particular) per skewed and lopsided PVC distribution, to criminal borrowings & governances in Nigeria; the list is endless. All these are attributed to our insistence on feeding Nigerians and the global community with factual and un-adulterated opinions on social, political and economic issues as they concern public governance in Nigeria or any part thereof, without caring whose ox is gored.

News Release: Governance Accountability In Nigeria & Lagos State Government Response: The Missing Points

Governor Fashola of Lagos State

On 28^th May 2015, we issued a public statement titled: “Out-going Governors & Democratic Governance Accountability In Nigeria: Time For Stock Taking”. The referenced publication of Intersociety became imperative on account of the age-long failure of various democratic tiers and arms of government in Nigeria to give detailed and satisfactory accounts of their governance particularly towards the end of their democratic tenures. This had made art of governance in Nigeria roguery, shapeless and directionless.

News Release: Roadshow Demonstrates Philips Ambitions To Further Progress Its Business Footprint Across Africa

• Philips’ Cape Town to Cairo roadshow retains a strong focus on advancing healthcare, and energy efficient lighting solutions;

• Roadshow demonstrates Philips commitment to Africa, and its ambitions to further progress its business footprint across the continent;

• Over the past five years the roadshow has championed the UN Millennium Development Goals (4 and 5) with many successes along the way – in 2015, maternal and child health and non-communicable diseases will continue to remain a focus, aligned to the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

• Since 2010 the roadshow has spread light across Africa– improving and beautifying cities, illuminating iconic landmarks and extending the day for rural life with solar lighting; new LED innovations will be introduced once again this year.

Philips’ Cape Town to Cairo roadshow (http://www.philips.com/C2CAfrica) is back for the sixth consecutive year! On Monday 11th May, Philips will embark on its annual journey across the African continent, covering 12,000 km, 11 cities and 8 countries over a period of 4.5 months.

The roadshow has gained significant momentum over the past five years, and as a result Philips has got to the very heart of some of the key issues facing Africa. This year too, the roadshow will continue to listen to the markets and focus on advancing healthcare and energy efficient lighting solutions.

News Release: Power In Africa Awards

(The inaugural awards will honour individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the electricity sector across Africa)

“We’ve never made such a massive investment in one function in the history of EnergyNet and I can’t wait to see everyone’s reaction as they walk through those doors. The Silent Auction alone should raise US$100,000, and 100% of that money will be given to one attendee of the dinner to donate to their charity of choice – yes, we’re excited!” Simon Gosling, EnergyNet (http://www.energynet.co.uk).

Article: The Imperativeness Of A New Nigeria National Orientation Paradigm

By Prof. Chris Nwaokobia Jnr

“Nationhood is definitely the product of hard-work; it is not an event nor is it the product of happenstance, wistfulness and or presumptuous historicity. Nations are built not wished.” – Prof Chris Nwaokobia Jnr.

The aftermath of the 2015 General Elections leaves our Country with profound questions seeking urgent answers; questions ranging from how tenuous the woodwork of this collective edifice sustains to how variegated the fouled waters of our corporate existence appear. We cannot pretend that all is right; we cannot pretend that governance will sail pretty without national cohesion; we cannot pretend that the CHANGE we preached will not meet with despair if we do not etiolate the fires that raged during the campaigns; and we cannot pretend that all is well.

News Release: “Nigeria 2015; Beyond The Ballot”

The Nigerian-American Leadership Council (NALC) Presents:

Topic: “Nigeria 2015;Beyond the Ballot”

A Discussion of: Democracy-Governance, Business Opportunities, and Security, in Africa’s largest and fastest rising Economic Power

Photonews: A Town Crier Announces The Birth Of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's First Daughter

 Photo Credit: Royal Baby Live Blog

News Release: Statement From Brand South Africa On The Progress Made By South Africa In Response To The Violent Crimes Committed In The Country

Brand South Africa (http://www.brandsouthafrica.com) has participated in a number of platforms aimed at condemning the violent crimes committed in the past few weeks and implementation of interventions to quell the violence.