Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Can Still Become President of Nigeria

Lest we forget, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Turaki Adamawa, has not given up his presidential ambition. And I actually felt sorry for him when former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for personal political vendetta stopped Atiku from succeeding him after Atiku served as his Vice-President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, and denied Nigeria of having a better, healthier and stronger President, because Atiku would have become the best Nigerian President from northern Nigeria.

Please, those who don't like Atiku for personal reasons or political vendetta should look at themselves in the mirror first. I don't believe in those who want to stop the best intentions of others, because of their past imperfections. I always look at the bright side and let your light shine as God also does so as long as you are ready to make amends and go on to excel and succeed for the common good. After all, the senior citizen castigated as "Mr. No Certificate" is today his excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces of Nigeria by the grace of God who qualifies the unqualified. Supporting retired General Buhari cost me millions of naira and hatred from the goons of the former ruling party, PDP. But at the end of the race, the will of Almighty God prevailed. But if Buhari had given up, he would not be sitting on that great seat he is sitting on today since he moved into the State House yesterday. Therefore, Atiku should not give up his Nigerian Dream as long as he means well for Nigeria. And whosoever means well for Nigeria should not give up his or her Nigerian Dream.

All I am going to do is to challenge Atiku and other Nigerian politicians to become more of patriotic nation builders than greedy title chasers and repent from using the poor masses as their political pawns and sacrificial lambs in their evil greed for power. Lest we forget, the election of President Muhammadu Buhari cost the lives of many people in Rivers State, where I lost my in-laws who were members and supporters of the APC; in Kaduna where people were also attacked and murdered and other parts of Nigeria. Today, as the leaders of the APC are dining and wining in celebration, let them remember those who sacrificed their precious lives for their victory. I doubt if President Muhammadu Buhari has gone on condolence visits to their bereaved families.


 ~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, author of The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream, In the House of Dogs, The Prophet Lied and other books.
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The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream By Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi

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The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream: My Testimony on the 2015 Presidential Election is an important chronicle of the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria and the principal actors in the emergence of the first Nigerian presidential candidate to defeat an incumbent President in the political history of Nigeria.

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Huge Global Investment Ploughed Into Africa's Telecoms Industry

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, June 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

The telecoms industry forms a crucial foundation to Africa's economic growth affecting all aspects of the business and social sphere. The continent has seen a dramatic expansion in its telecoms sector over the past 5 years. Mobile subscription expansion in Africa is currently the fastest worldwide (72% penetration on average across the continent).


Consequently a huge amount of investment is happening to improve Africa's infrastructure to cope with higher levels of data usage and the need for better connectivity, particularly in rural areas. For example, Algérie Télécom, in northern Africa announced plans to deploy 20,000km of additional fibre by the end of 2015.

The international telecoms community also recognises Africa as an area of high value for new business. Gagun Gahir, director of carrier services for EMEA for the American telecommunications company, IDT Corporation, said Africa "is a massive investment opportunity" with $25 billon needed "to build the next generation of internet-ready networks".

Due to the size and scale of investment opportunities in African telecoms, wholesale telecoms carriers from across the globe meet annually at Capacity Africa, the largest pan-African wholesale conference to network, develop business and hear industry leaders deliver future commercial strategy. Taking place on 8 & 9 September in Dar es Salaam, 400+ senior telecoms executives from over 65 countries will take advantage of the entire African telecoms ecosystem being represented, all looking to secure new deals in the region's lucrative telecoms market.

Discussing the event's importance, Mike Last, Director, Marketing and International Business Development, WIOCC said "Capacity Africa is without a doubt the best networking event for the African wholesale telecoms industry," adding it attracts "a very strong set of African and international carriers and creating a great environment for doing business."

Expanding networks means increased demand for infrastructure and competition amongst operators. Regulators are playing a key role in providing stability to these operators active in the region ensuring a market driven industry. Capacity Africa recognises this, offering an agenda which brings together both the C-level executives of major telecoms organisations such as Seacom, Liquid Telecom, WIOCC as well as the regulators such as the Nigeria Communications Commission to discuss the latest growth opportunities in front of an audience made up of the key decision makers in African telecoms.

To find out more information about Capacity Africa 2015, please visit http://www.capacityconferences.com/Capacity-Africa or contact Simon Murray on simon.murray@capacitymedia.com, +44(0)207-779-7235

SOURCE Capacity Africa 2015

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Bukola Saraki is A Political Title Chaser and Not A Nation Builder

Senate President Bukola Saraki.

The new Senate President, Bukola Saraki is a political title chaser and not a nation builder. And he brings nothing new to the table, because it is going to be business as usual at the senate.
Change of political leadership does not automatically translate to change of political policy or change in governance.
Changing the bottles or kegs of sour palm wine does not change the taste of the sour palm wine.

The desperation of Senator Bukola Saraki and his political gang has done more harm than good to the new ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC). He is the political joker of his political power group for the 2019 presidential election. And their plan is to upset the political apple cart of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
But can Saraki win the support of the south west?

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader and Power Broker of the new ruling party APC.

President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 presidential election as the presidential nominee of the APC.

The political mantra of "Change" that won the presidential election for the party is now becoming the noise of clashing cymbals making discordant sounds of more noise than music, because the players are not obeying the conductor of their orchestra.
The national leaders of the APC who promised to take Nigerians to the Promised Land of a New Nigeria are already fighting over political titles, because that is what they are really after and not the nation building of a New Nigeria.
That is why on World Refugee Day June 20, instead of President Muhammadu Buhari to address the humanitarian emergency of Nigerian refugees abandoned and neglected in the neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon, he preferred to return to his farm in Daura to have a meeting with his cattle and not meeting with the National Assembly on the security and welfare of more than 100, 000 Nigerian refugees and over 3, 000, 000 internally displaced people (IDPs), the largest population of IDPs in Africa. The welfare of his cattle is more important to him than the welfare of Nigerian refugees and IDPs. Even former President Goodluck Jonathan would not have been that clueless on the World Refugee Day. It is a great pity.

The political crisis of national leadership plaguing Nigeria since 1960 to date is the lack of nation builders, because majority of them have been political opportunists and political title chasers and not nation builders. That is why their desperation for the highest political office has caused widespread political crises from the days of the bloody and gruesome wild wild west political riots in the western region in the First Republic to the first coup and counter coups that plunged Nigeria into the tragic civil war that left more than one million people dead and changed the fortunes of the nation. And since that terrible civil war, Nigerian political leaders have not repented, but have continued in their do or die political contests with more military coups disrupting the democratic system and the former successful military coup plotters forming and joining the leadership of political parties which they have used to contest for political leadership of Nigeria.

The Boko Haram insurgency ravaging  northern Nigeria would not have become worse if the political leaders have been nation builders. And without inspirational political leaders, Nigeria will continue to suffer in the crooked ways of political title chasers manipulating  the electoral system in their greed for political power and using the masses of poor and powerless voters as their political pawns and others as their sacrificial lambs from the Niger Delta to Lake Chad and from Lagos to Abuja. Nothing has changed.

The victory of Muhammadu Buhari may not fulfill our Nigerian dream for the nation building of a New Nigeria in the leadership of Africa in the 21st century.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, author of The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream, In the House of Dogs, The Prophet Lied and other books.
                                         
The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream By Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi

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See How President Buhari of Nigeria Celebrated World Refugee Day

President Muhammadu Buhari and his son, Yusuf at his farm in Duara, Katsina State, taking stock of his livestock. Photo Credit: Nairaland. 

President Muhammadu Buhari did not know yesterday was World Refugee Day. And he was visiting his farm to see his cattle instead of visiting Nigerian refugees in neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. And he did not even address the humanitarian emergency of these innocent victims of Boko Haram insurgents in northern Nigeria.

This is really disappointing. Has he seen the 2015 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)subregional report on the humanitarian emergency of Nigerian refugees on http://www.unhcr.org/?

Nigeria Refugee Crisis - A Journey of Survival Today, United Nations Agencies and non-governmental organizations are launching the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP) for Nigerian refugees. This appeal is urgently seeking USD 174.4 million to protect and assist some 192,000 people who have fled brutal attacks by insurgents in north-eastern Nigeria. The plan also foresees to respond to any additional population movements to the neighbouring countries. The appeal is seeking funds to provide life-saving assistance to at least 74,000 Nigerians who have found refuge in northern Cameroon, to 18,000 in south-west Chad and to some 100,000 people - a mix of Nigerian refugees and returning Niger nationals - in Niger.

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Statement by António Guterres on World Refugee Day 2015

Statement by António Guterres on World Refugee Day 2015

Press Releases, 20 June 2015.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres (Photo © UNHCR/S.Hopper)

Fifteen years into a millennium that many of us hoped would see an end to war, a spreading global violence has come to threaten the very foundations of our international system.

More people fled last year than at any other time in our records. Around the world, almost 60 million have been displaced by conflict and persecution. Nearly 20 million of them are refugees, and more than half are children. Their numbers are growing and accelerating, every single day, on every continent. In 2014, an average of 42,500 people became refugees, asylum-seekers or internally displaced persons, every single day – that is four times more than just 4 years ago. These people rely on us for their survival and hope. They will remember what we do.

Nigerian Refugees.

Yet, even as this tragedy unfolds, some of the countries most able to help are shutting their gates to people seeking asylum. Borders are closing, pushbacks are increasing, and hostility is rising. Avenues for legitimate escape are fading away. And humanitarian organizations like mine run on shoestring budgets, unable to meet the spiraling needs of such a massive population of victims.

We have reached a moment of truth. World stability is falling apart leaving a wake of displacement on an unprecedented scale. Global powers have become either passive observers or distant players in the conflicts driving so many innocent civilians from their homes.

In this world at war, where power relations are unclear, and unpredictability and impunity have become the name of the game, it is now urgent for all those with leverage over the parties to these conflicts to put aside their differences and come together to create the conditions for ending the bloodshed.

But in the meantime, the world must either shoulder collectively the burden of helping the victims of war, or risk standing by as less wealthy countries and communities – which host 86% of the world's refugees – become overwhelmed and unstable.

Since the beginnings of civilization, we have treated refugees as deserving of our protection. Whatever our differences, we have recognized a fundamental human obligation to shelter those fleeing from war and persecution.

Yet today, some of the wealthiest among us are challenging this ancient principle, casting refugees as gate crashers, job seekers or terrorists. This is a dangerous course of action, short-sighted, morally wrong, and – in some cases – in breach of international obligations.

It is time to stop hiding behind misleading words. Richer nations must acknowledge refugees for the victims they are, fleeing from wars they were unable to prevent or stop. And then wealthier countries must decide on whether to shoulder their fair share, at home and abroad, or to hide behind walls as a growing anarchy spreads across the world.

For me, the choice is clear: either allow the cancer of forced displacement to spread untreated, or manage the crisis together. We have the solutions and the expertise. It won't be easy or cheap, but it will be worth it. History has shown that doing the right thing for victims of war and persecution engenders goodwill and prosperity for generations. And it fosters stability in the long run.

The world needs to renew its commitment now to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its principles that made us strong. To offer safe harbor, both in our own countries and in the epicentres of the crises, and to help refugees restore their lives. We must not fail.

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EU Boosts Humanitarian Aid To Those Displaced By Boko Haram Violence

People displaced in Africa. Photo credit: WFP/Jiro Ose
  EU boosts humanitarian aid to those displaced by Boko Haram violence

BRUSSELS, 18 June 2015 / PRN Africa / -- The European Commission is providing €21 million to help the populations in Nigeria and the neighbouring countries that are affected by the violence inflicted by Boko Haram.

EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides, who is visiting Nigeria to assess the humanitarian situation, said: "More than 1.7 million people have been displaced by the terror of Boko Haram. Many of them live in precarious conditions in other parts of Nigeria or the neighbouring countries where they have fled. Meeting some of them today, I saw with my own eyes the immense needs that the conflict is causing among civilians. We are stepping up our humanitarian response to the call of those in the greatest need".

WFP Statement: World Refugee Day - 18 June 2015

 WFP Statement: World Refugee Day - 18 June 2015

ROME, 18 June 2015 / PRN Africa / -- As another year passes we continue to see staggering numbers of men, women and children living far away from home, struggling to feed their children, send them to school, pay medical bills and live a normal, healthy life.

Almost 60 million people are now suffering from forced displacement – that's one in every 122 people on the planet. South Sudan is on the verge of a hunger catastrophe, violence is worsening in Iraq and Syria, and there are new trouble-spots in Yemen and Nigeria. Needs increasingly outpace resources and this poses a moral and financial challenge to the international community.

It is critical to remember that extreme situations produced by conflict and natural disasters not only destroy the lives of those who must flee but also stretch the resources of the communities who accept them. World Refugee Day (20 June) is an important opportunity to remind the world of these complex issues.

In 2014, working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other partners, WFP assisted 6.7 million refugees and 14.8 million internally displaced people around the world.

As the newly displaced join the ranks of those who have been exiled for years, we must ensure they are not forgotten and they do not go hungry‎. With our colleagues at UNHCR, partner organizations and donor governments, we will continue responding in every way we can, helping meet the demand for urgent food assistance and other essential relief.

Last year on a visit to Ethiopia, I met a woman grieving for her youngest child. Her daughter hadn't survived the long journey she made on foot from South Sudan. She had walked for days in an attempt to find safety and food for her family. This mother is not alone. ‎Thousands of women including those from South Sudan, Syria and now Yemen take enormous risk with the goal of protecting and even saving their children. We must do more to prevent this immense human tragedy. We run the risk of losing a generation to conflict and hunger.

SOURCE World Food Programme (WFP)

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President Muhammadu Buhari is the Luckiest Nigerian Political Leader Since Independence

President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, is the luckiest Nigerian political leader since the independence of Nigeria in 1960.

He was born on December 17, 1942. 
He was appointed Governor of the North-Eastern State of Nigeria in 1975 at the age of 33. 
At the age of 33, in March 1976, the Head of State of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Buhari as the Federal Commissioner (position now called Minister) for Petroleum and Natural Resources. 
He was a military Head of State of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985 at 41 and today he is the civilian Head of State and President of Nigeria at 72 after failing in three previous presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011. 
He succeeded, because he never gave up his faith in the Almighty God and his Nigerian Dream.
What no other Nigerian political leader has ever achieved and I don't see another Nigerian breaking these records in the future as long as Almighty God keeps the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a democratic nation. 

The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream By Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi

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The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream: My Testimony on the 2015 Presidential Election is an important chronicle of the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria and the principal actors in the emergence of the first Nigerian presidential candidate to defeat an incumbent President in the political history of Nigeria.

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