Olejeme: Delta politicians strategize; say she is an embodiment of political excellence

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Olejeme: Delta politicians strategize; say she is an embodiment of political excellence

Leading politicians in Delta State on Thursday gathered in Sapele to perfect strategies towards ensuring the emergence of the Chairman of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Ngozi Olejeme as the governor of the state in 2015.

“We are building critical alliances with the various communities. We are dialoguing with bigwigs in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). We are talking with opinion leaders, influencers in Delta State and prominent Deltans abroad. We are in touch with traditional rulers, youth leaders, professionals and others. Olejeme will scale through the primary as well as win the main election” the leaders said.

The governorship ambition of Dr. Olejeme has the support of key leaders in the country, particularly Delta State.

The leaders advised Deltans at home and abroad to be guided by wisdom in deciding the next governor of the state.

In a statement issued after the meeting by the Chairman, Delta Political Forum (DPF), Chief James Oki, the leaders described Dr. Olejeme as an embodiment of political excellence, development and kindness.

“We want a dynamic and resourceful governor in 2015; a governor with vision, a governor that will analyze and synthesize Delta’s political, social and economic problems; a governor that can provide jobs, unite the people, bring pride to education and provide good roads throughout the state”.

They commended the NSITF boss for her achievements.

“Olejeme has excelled in the public sector. She has the energy and will power to turn things around. She will inspire Deltans to attain greater heights”.

The leaders also described some governorship aspirants as political jobbers.

“Olejeme’s sterling qualities stand her out among the pack”.

They enjoined politicians in the state to adhere strictly to democratic tenets.

 “There is need for the tolerance of other people’s points of views if politics must become a healthy game” they advised.

DPF is a political movement striving for the enthronement of accountable and responsible government in the state.

“We are guided by merit, fairness and acceptability. We will put everything at our disposal to ensure that Olejeme emerges as governor of the state” the leaders added.

More than 30 heavyweights in politics attended, including local government and councillorship aspirants.

 

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Christian woman freed after death sentence ruled ‘faulty’ in Sudan

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Read Time:2 Minute, 7 Second

(CNN) — A Sudanese woman has been freed from prison a month after being sentenced to die by hanging for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.

"I am a Christian," Meriam Yehya Ibrahim told the judge at her sentencing hearing in May, "and I will remain a Christian."

An appeals court in Sudan ruled that a lower court's judgment against the 27-year-old was faulty, her lawyer, Mohaned Mustafa El-Nour, said Monday. He declined to elaborate.

An international controversy erupted over Ibraham's conviction in May by a Sudanese court on charges of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith, and adultery. Ibrahim was eight months pregnant when was sentenced to suffer 100 lashes and then be hanged.

"I'm so frustrated. I don't know what to do," her husband, Daniel Wani told CNN in May. "I'm just praying." Wani, uses a wheelchair and "totally depends on her for all details of his life," Ibrahim's lawyer said.

Ibrahim was reunited with her husband after getting out of custody, her lawyer said Monday.

Ibrahim gave birth to a girl in a prison last month, two weeks after she was sentenced. She was in the women's prison with her 20-month-old son, but Sudanese officials said the toddler was free to leave at any time, according to her lawyer.

The criminal complaint filed by a brother, a Muslim, said her family was shocked to find out Ibrahim had married a Christian, U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, after she was missing for several years, according to her lawyer. A Muslim woman's marriage to a Christian man is not considered legal in Sudan, thus the adultery charge.

The apostasy charge came because Ibrahim proclaimed herself to be Christian, not Muslim. Her mother, an Ethiopian Orthodox, was abandoned by her Sudanese Muslim father when Ibrahim was just 6 and she was raised as a Christian, she said.

Sudanese Parliament speaker Fatih Izz Al-Deen defended the conviction last month, insisting that claims that Ibrahim was raised as non-Muslim are untrue. She was raised in an Islamic environment, Al-Deen said.

The lower court had warned Ibrahim to renounce her Christianity by May 15, but she held firm to her beliefs while her lawyer appealed the conviction and sentence.

Her sentence had drawn international condemnation from rights groups and foreign embassies in Khartoum, including those of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Sudan to release woman on death row for apostasy

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KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — A Sudanese woman on death row for apostasy had her sentence canceled and was ordered released by a Khartoum court on Monday, the country's official news agency reported.

SUNA said the Court of Cassation canceled the death sentence against 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim after defense lawyers presented their case. The court ordered her release.

Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but who was raised by her Christian mother, was convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian. Sudan's penal code criminalizes the conversion of Muslims to other religions, a crime punishable by death.

Ibrahim married a Christian man from southern Sudan in a church ceremony in 2011. As in many Muslim nations, Muslim women in Sudan are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, though Muslim men can marry outside their faith.

Ibrahim has a son, 18-month-old Martin, who was living with her in jail, where she gave birth to a second child last month, local media reported. By law, children must follow their father's religion.

The sentence drew international condemnation, with Amnesty International calling it "abhorrent." The U.S. State Department said it was "deeply disturbed" by the sentence and called on the Sudanese government to respect religious freedoms.

Sudan introduced Islamic Shariah law in the early 1980s under the rule of autocrat Jaafar Nimeiri, a move that contributed to the resumption of an insurgency in the mostly animist and Christian south of Sudan. The south seceded in 2011 to become the world's newest nation, South Sudan.

Sudanese President Omar Bashir, an Islamist who seized power in a 1989 military coup, has said his country will implement Islam more strictly now that the non-Muslim south is gone.

A number of Sudanese have been convicted of apostasy in recent years, but they all escaped execution by recanting their new faith.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Uganda Currency Plunges as Anti-Gay Law Prompts U.S. Aid Cuts

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Read Time:1 Minute, 41 Second

The shilling slumped 6.1 percent since President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill on Feb. 24, the most after Ghana’s cedi among 24 African currencies monitored by Bloomberg.

Uganda’s shilling slumped to the lowest level in 15 months after the U.S. government said it was cutting aid to the East African nation over a February law that toughened punishment for homosexual acts.

The currency fell 1 percent to 2,616.50 per dollar by 5:11 p.m. in the capital, Kampala, the lowest since March 2013. The shilling slumped 6.4 percent since President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill on Feb. 24, the most after Ghana’s cedi among 24 African currencies monitored by Bloomberg. That’s a reversal of the first seven weeks of the year, when it rallied 3.1 percent.

The U.S. is discontinuing or redirecting funds for programs in Uganda, where life sentences can be imposed for some homosexual acts, the National Security Council said last week, without giving an amount. Norway, Denmark and Sweden also redirected or withheld aid and the law has forced people to flee the country or go into hiding, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said last month.

The shilling weakened “because of the negative sentiment after the U.S. announced they are cutting off donor funding,” Joseph Mwanguo, head of treasury at NIC Bank Uganda Ltd. said by phone today. “There will definitely be reduced inflow of dollars.”

The reduction in aid, which was announced on June 19, will impact people that the U.S. “purports to support and aims to protect,” the Ugandan government said in an e-mailed statement a day later.

Market sentiment “that there will be shortage of dollars” after the U.S. announcement came at a time when there was a lack greenback supplies in the market, Ahmed Kalule, a currency trader at Bank of Africa Uganda Ltd., said by phone from Kampala

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Hunting down Kony harder than fighting him in CAR

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Read Time:9 Minute, 24 Second

The rebel leader, Jospeh Kony and his men, who have been fighting President Museveni’s government since 1987, has remained dodgy, even with the intervention of the US with modern technology to capture him. Sunday Monitor’s Risdel Kasasira was in Central African Republic recently and brings you what the UPDF go through in the hunt for the rebels and why Kony still remains elusive.

Many people wonder why Joseph Kony, the leader of Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, has not been captured or killed even with deployment of American sophisticated technical intelligence to hunt him down.

He has been fighting Uganda Peoples Defence Forces since 1987 and the hunt has gone as far as 2000kms outside Uganda.
Four armies; UPDF, SPLA of South Sudan, FARC from Central African Republic, and the Congolese FARDC under African Union authorised Regional Task Force (RTF) are all hunting this warlord in the thick and vast jungles of Central African Republic (CAR) and he still remains elusive.

The question of when, where and how can Kony can be captured is hard to answer even by those actively involved in the hunt.

“I cannot tell you when because fighting is not like a wedding where you set a date to know the time of church, printing cards and others. But all our efforts are focusing on capturing or killing him,” says Brig Sam Kavuma, the RTF Commander.

In fact, foot soldiers feel happy when they meet and fight the enemy because exchange of fire brings life into this wild goose chase.
“The problem is not fighting him but where and how to find him,” says Pte James Musiime under 88 UPDF fighting squad in Kawusa in east CAR.

Life like LRA’s
Unkempt, ragged but burly, Pte Musiime says they now behave and live like LRA for them to keep up with the seemingly un-ending LRA hunt.

Like LRA, they don’t shave, it rains on them, walk long distances and cross crocodile-infested rivers and swamps using ropes. Some of his colleagues have either been killed or injured by these reptiles.

Each soldier carries their food, bullets, 10 littre – jerrycan to fetch water, saucepan, a pouch of bullets, beddings and of course, a loaded gun. Life is inherently unhealthy, with various small insects and scorpions that inflict stings which are painful but not fatal.
These fighting squads are flown hundreds of kilometres on Mi-17 helicopters and dropped in the middle of these jungles where they spend months hunting the enemy.

The planes only come back to drop supplies and go back.

Without roads, the area is inaccessible to vehicles and so makes supply and transport difficult, which in turn leaves them with the only option of air transport.

The American government pays for jet fuel and the planes.
The jungles are vast and span 1,300km from UPDF’s rear base in Nzara, South Sudan to Mbii in the east CAR.

An aerial view of these jungles may give an impression of short shrubs but these are large and tall trees whose branches have spread and locked together to form canopies.

Underneath these forests, there are thorny and climbing plants that make walking a horrendous experience. Soldiers have to use machetes to cut this meandering and thorny vegetation to create path.

In August last year, a soldier got lost as he went to fetch water from a nearby river. He walked 170kms for a month to reach a UPDF base in Zemio, about 500km, east of Obo, the tactical headquarter.

“He spent a month lost without food and he was eating leaves and plants. By the time he luckily found one of our bases, he was so, so tired and hungry. He was almost dropping dead. Interestingly, he was still carrying his gun,” says one of the soldiers.

He fought armed groups in the jungles and luckily they didn’t kill him. But he later died when he was sent home on leave. “He could have died of infections he got during that month he spent lost in the jungles,” the soldier says.
Some of these armed groups like the Janjaweed and Seleka have been hostile to UPDF.

“They see us and our American partners as ‘visitors’ who will leave anytime and feel more comfortable with LRA, whom they see as friends because they live the same life style. They are trading with LRA. They give LRA guns in exchange of ivory and minerals,” says UPDF intelligence office in CAR.

With such hostile groups to UPDF, empty and vast land, LRA finds a safe haven in CAR and DRC.

In these un inhabited lands, there is completely no state control and the only semblance of authority that exists in this area is UPDF, a foreign force which they have also asked to build them roads, hospitals and schools.

With this environment, getting intelligence about LRA becomes hard because these armed groups are not willing to reveal the whereabouts of LRA and instead leak information to LRA on UPDF activities.

People in this area still live as hunters and gatherers. They don’t farm despite having extremely fertile lands. They eat game meat and wild food, but surprisingly speak French, a sign that they could have gone to school, which is an extremely rare social service in these areas.

Some have never eaten salt and use salty plants to cook and use salty plants as a substitute. Armed nomadic pastoral communities wander from Sudan, down to South Sudan, CAR and DR Congo looking for water and pasture.

Despite this rough terrain, UPDF continues to vigorously hunt for the rebels and this pressure has forced LRA to split into several highly mobile groups operating with a significant degree of autonomy in the CAR and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“They split into six groups and they are primarily in survival mode. They are trying so hard to conceal their activities,” Col Michael Kabango, the commander of Ugandan troops in CAR, says.

LRA groups
To conceal their activities, they have reduced attacking civilians, looting and kidnapping because if they do, UPDF would know their whereabouts.

The first group, according to Col Kabango, is under Kony who is believed to be hiding in the disputed enclave of Kafia King with an estimated 50 fighters.

But the Government of the Sudan indicates that there are no LRA elements in the enclave, on the border between the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Sudan.

The second group of about 40 fighters is under Johnson Okello Palutaka and has not been violent. Col Kabango says they were in touch with Seleka, requesting for negotiations with CAR.

Dominic Ongwen, who was along with other four LRA commanders indicted by International Criminal Court in 2005, is said to have broken off from the LRA and is now seen as a renegade.

His group, according to UPDF commanders, is in Rafayi and continues to commit atrocities. Ongwen and Kony are the only two living out of five LRA commanders indicted by the ICC.

The other three indicted commanders; Vicente Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Raska Lakwiya have died.
The fourth group is commanded by Sam Otto Ladeere which works as a courier group of ivory from Garamba in DR Congo while Odoch Gwee commands the fifth one.

Ogwee replaced Odhiambo who was killed last year after sustaining injuries in a battle with UPDF.

The returnees say his three wives have been inherited by other commanders, a conservative cultural practice done when a husband dies. The last group is commanded by Doctor Acaye, mostly composed of the injured fighters.
In DRC
Some of these groups have already moved into DR Congo where UPDF is not allowed to operate yet Congolese forces have no capacity to engage these rebels, UPDF says.

Currently, MONUSCO peacekeepers would be the only force in DRC that can fight LRA but they rarely risk direct contact with the LRA, instead seek to deter LRA attacks through a presence in key towns and periodic patrols along roads.

They were attacked in 2010 and their base overrun, an attack that was seen a humiliation to the UN forces.

According to a report released by Invisible Children, an advocacy group, highly mobile LRA fighters easily exploit gaps in the mission’s predictable civilian protection tactics and regularly carry out attacks in close proximity to MONUSCO bases in Niangara.

One would hope that with American troops using technology, Kony would easily be monitored but Brig Kavuma says it is hard to monitor because they don’t use phones to communicate.

“If five people are hiding in a thick forest and they are not communicating on phone, where will you find them? It would be human intelligence to help us,” he says, “But this huge country has only four million people living along the roads. Even with technical intelligence, it has been difficult”

The American government recently sent four Ospreys to help in easy mobility of troops in the area but have since left the country because they are used in other parts of Africa including Mali in West Africa.

But for how long will UPDF remain in CAR chasing LRA? Brig Kavuma says unless they kill or capture Kony or weaken LRA to a level where it cannot kill or abduct people, they will not withdraw.

“His fighters are not many now. Currently, out of five ICC indicted commanders, we are talking of only two. If we continue capturing those who are not indicted but have influence, it will be good for us,” he says.

It might take years for UPDF to weaken LRA to that level because among the four armies hunting LRA, it’s only UPDF that’s active on ground and this makes them over-stretched. The DR Congo, CAR and South Sudan have internal conflicts and LRA is not a priority.

New fighting techniques
To maintain pressure, UPDF is now using three-pronged offensive approach. They are combining airpower, infantry and dog section.
Col Kabango calls it a winning a formula. The dogs were donated by Bridgeway Foundation, an American charitable arm of Bridgeway Capital Management, an investment firm with more than $2 billion under management that gives half its after-tax profits to organisations working to end genocide and protect human rights.

Whenever a helicopter attacks the enemy, ground troops and kennel section quickly move close to “engage” the fleeing fighters.

“Dogs help us to identify injured fighters who are hiding near the contact area. This is good because they sometimes hide and we can’t find them. But with dogs, it’s easy to smoke them out,” Col Kabango says.

The dogs are still undergoing training and might soon be sent to the field to complement human effort to end this two-decade insurgence that has left thousands dead and displaced.

Capturing or killing Kony remains high on the UPDF agenda, but it will not come easily because the warlord has mastered the jungle life survival tactics that has made him survive for the last 27 years.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Malawi 74-Years Old President Weds His Long Time Lover(Photos)

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The 74 years old Malawian President, Mutharika  who defeated Joyce Banda  in Mallawi's presidential election  walked down the aisle yesterday with his partner . The President from what I learnt lost his wife 30 years and yesterday, he decided to test the marriage institution again by saying I do to the love of his life 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 

                                

 

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Israel threatens to expel UN envoy over Qatar cash for Gaza

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JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel’s foreign minister has threatened to expel the UN’s special envoy for offering to help transfer Qatari funds to the Gaza Strip, Channel Two television reported.

Avigdor Lieberman said Robert Serry, the world body’s special envoy on the Middle East peace process, had first tried to convince the Palestinian Authority (PA) to transfer $20 million (14.7 million euros) from Qatar to resolve a pay crisis for Hamas employees in Gaza, the broadcaster reported Saturday.

But after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas refused to do so, the rightwing ultra-nationalist Lieberman charged, Serry proposed UN help in making the transfer.

Serry rejected the allegations, saying in a statement that the Palestinian authority had approached him “informally” on the matter.

“In considering any UN role on the issue of payments of salaries in Gaza that has potentially destabilising effects on security in Gaza, I made it clear that we would only be able to be of assistance if acceptable to all stakeholders, including Israel,” he added.

Israel had been kept informed of all the discussions, he insisted.

Lieberman told AFP he was seeking an “urgent meeting” on Sunday about the row in which Israeli television reported the foreign minister would propose that Serry be declared persona non grata in Israel.

“We look upon Robert Serry’s behaviour with the utmost seriousness, and strong measures will be imposed,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.

“The foreign ministry issues diplomatic visas and can also withdraw them,” he added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement the premier told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon he opposed the transfer of Qatari funds to Hamas, which he accuses of kidnapping three young Israelis in the West Bank on June 12.

On June 13, the gas-rich Gulf state of Qatar said it would help the new Palestinian unity government pay former employees of Islamist movement Hamas’s disbanded Gaza government.

Doha said it would contribute a total of $60 million while the PA grapples with a pay row, the first challenge for a government formed to try to end years of Palestinian rivalry.

The dispute erupted when the PA’s Gaza-based staff received their salaries but their Hamas counterparts did not. This prompted Hamas to demand that employees from its disbanded Gaza government be taken onto the PA payroll.

The PA, which previously refused to adjust the salaries of Hamas officials because they were named after Fatah forces were ousted from the Gaza Strip in 2007, announced the creation of a special fund to pay wages while the government discussed how to resolve the issue.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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U.S. Cuts Aid To Uganda, Cancels Military Exercise Over Anti-Gay Law

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Read Time:2 Minute, 36 Second

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday cut aid to Uganda, imposed visa restrictions and canceled a regional military exercise in response to a Ugandan law that imposes harsh penalties on homosexuality.

The White House said in a statement the measures were intended to "reinforce our support for human rights of all Ugandans regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

Homosexuality is taboo in most African countries and illegal in 37, including in Uganda where it has been a crime since British rule.

Uganda's new law, signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February, imposes jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" which includes homosexual sex with a minor or while HIV-positive.

Widely condemned by donor countries, the law also criminalizes lesbianism for the first time and makes it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts.

Western donors, including the United States, had halted or re-directed about $118 million in aid to the east African nation's economy before Thursday's announcement.

The White House said on Thursday the United States would impose visa restrictions on Ugandans it believes have been involved in human rights violations, including gay rights.

The United States will halt $2.4 million in funding for a Ugandan community policing program in light of a police raid on a U.S.-funded health program at Makerere University and reports of people detained and abused while in police custody.

In addition, Washington will shift some funding for salaries and travel expenses of Ugandan health ministry employees to non-governmental agencies involved in health programs.

It will also reallocate $3 million in funding for a planned national public health institute in Uganda to another African country, which it did not name. A National Institutes of Health genomics meeting would be moved from Uganda to South Africa, the White House said.

It also canceled plans for a U.S.-sponsored military exercise in Uganda that was meant to include other East African countries. A date had not yet been set for the exercise.

Uganda is a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic extremism in Somalia, where Ugandan troops for the backbone of the African Union force battling al Qaeda-aligned militants.

U.S. special forces have also been involved in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the elusive rebel commander seeking to topple the Ugandan government. Kony is believed to be hiding in the jungles of central Africa.

In Kampala, a government official asked about the U.S. measures said that Uganda would not alter its decision to toughen laws against homosexuals.

"Uganda is a sovereign country and can never bow to anybody or be blackmailed by anybody on a decision it took in its interests, even if it involves threats to cut off all financial assistance," government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said.

U.S. President Barack Obama previously told Museveni the law would complicate relations between the two countries. Since then Washington has been reviewing its funding to Uganda, while privately pressing Museveni's government to repeal the law.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Mpeketoni attack was done by local networks, Kenya’s President says

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(CNN) — Al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked militant group active in Somalia, is not responsible for a terrorist attack in Kenya's coastal town of Mpeketoni that killed at least 48 people, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday.

Instead, he blames local political networks for the attack Sunday that witnesses say turned a World Cup viewing party into a bloodbath. Armed men stormed the city center, shooting and hacking people to death before moving into a residential area, where they went from door to door, the witnesses said.

"The attack was well planned, orchestrated and politically motivated ethnic violence against the Kenyan community with the intention of victimization for political reasons. This therefore was not an Al-Shabaab terrorist attack," Kenyatta said.

The heavily armed gunmen, many in military uniforms, attacked hotels, a restaurant, gas station, bank, police station and a government office, according to the Kenyan Red Cross. Video from the scene showed burned-out vehicles and walls pockmarked by bullets.

"Those unwilling to work to unite Kenyans will not have the space, nor the room, for hate speech," Kenyatta said.

There were no claims of responsibility for the attack, but the Kenyan Disaster Operation Centre had blamed it on Al-Shabaab.

Mpeketoni sits to the west of the Kenya-Somalia border, where the Kenyan army is fighting troops loyal to the al Qaeda-linked militant group.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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NIGERIA: 1,000 LASU Students Have Dropped out Due to High Tuition, Students’ Union Insists

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Read Time:3 Minute, 5 Second
The Students Union Government (SUG) of the Lagos State University yesterday faulted the claim of the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa, that the students did not drop out of school as a result of increase in tuition fee.
 
The students union rolled out facts and figures, which put the number of the students who dropped out from the institution since the new tuition regime was introduced three years ago at over 1,000.
The President of the SUG, Mr. Yusuf Temilola Nurudeen, gave the figure during a media chat, noting that the affected students quit because they could not afford the new fees.
 
Before the students staged protests, the president said the number of drop-outs was just 192, contending that the affected victims “could not afford the new tuition fee. But when we started the protest, we discovered that over 1,000 students have left the school because of the new fee.
 
“I have a list of students with me that are out of the school because they could not pay the tuition fee. We have the list of students who paid for the first session and could not pay for the second. I know of students who wrote examination in the first semester but could not afford the second.
 
“It is of no business to the vice-chancellor if the government decides to reduce the tuition fee or make it free. His own is to administer the school. On his own job, he is lagging. We have decided to face the government now. After this battle, he is next. We will make him realise his lapses.
 
“Probably, I want to challenge him to a public debate on this issue. He is too hypocritical about it. At first, we did sit with the management to set the new tuition fee. We discovered 192 students who have dropped out of school because they could not afford the new tuition fee,” Nurudeen said.
 
He argued that in the university, 1.0 “is the minimum CGP for a good standing student, meaning that such student can survive in the school. In LASU, if after one first session, he has less than 1.0 as CGP, the letter the university will issue to such student is advice to withdraw.”
 
Nurudeen added that the university did not issue any withdrawal letter “to students that have more than 1.0. Students are not sent away for academic reasons. I have students in my class who at their first year, they were advised to withdraw. But today, they survived it.
 
“I cannot remember the last time the university pasted names of students whose admission were withdrawn. The vice-chancellor should stop this propaganda and tell the state government what should be done in the school.”
 
He acknowledged that the state government earmarked about N1.3 billion for scholarship and bursary, but noted that only N200 million “is allocated to LASU students as bursary.”
 
According to him, the entire fund is meant for the students in the state, other states and international students. We discovered this as we perused the budget of the state government.
 
The SUG leader said N200 million was allocated because tuition fee has been increased, noting that it used “to be between N80 and N120 million. The bursary increase covers only the tuition fee. With the old tuition fee, students received 100 percent of their tuition fees, but with the increment, a law student whose tuition fee is N250, 000; what he or she receives as bursary is N80, 000.”

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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