USAfricaonline.com, 1st African-owned U.S.-based professional newspaper on the internet, assessed by The New York Times as the largest (and arguably the most influential) African-owned, U.S-based multimedia networks; established May 1992. News@USAfricaonline.com 713-270-5500. wireless: 832-45-CHIDO (24436)
Two (persons) were injured and windows were blown out of the meeting room in an attack that was heard on live TV. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, warned that the bombings in Warri are part of a new wave of attacks coming to Delta state, which remains deeply impoverished despite its oil wealth.
Mutombo to lead NBA talent to Dakar for youth camp
(AFP) NEW YORK — Retired NBA star Dikembe Mutombo will lead a group of NBA players and coaches to Dakar for the eighth Basketball Without Borders trip to Africa in August, the league announced on Wednesday.
The four-day basketball camp for 65 top 19-and-under players from across [...]
In the likeness of Obama, Donald Duke’s message of change connects with Nigerians at home and abroad.
By Chido Nwangwu, USAfricaonline.com
http://www.USAfricaonline.com/donaldduke-obama-nigeria-chido
USAfrica, March 10, 2010: Donald Duke, the charismatic former Governor of the Cross River State of Nigeria, will speak in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston, Texas, on Friday March 12, 2010. The interactive [...]
“I cannot forgive him for going to receive the Nobel with his jailer de Klerk. Hand in hand they went. Do you think de Klerk released him from the goodness of his heart?” She asked.
Clinton says Nigeria must bring killers of Christians to justice.
Special to USAfricaonline.com
(AFP) Washington DC— US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Nigeria to find and punish those responsible for the killings of more than 500 Christians in a wave of sectarian slaughter.“We continue to urge all parties to exercise restraint,” Clinton told reporters, [...]
Why Nigeria’s Acting President Jonathan fired his security adviser.
Special USAfricaonline.com report by Chido Nwangwu
USAfrica, March 8, 2010: In his first bold, presidential security interest move, Nigeria’s Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has removed his country’s national security adviser Sarki Mukhtar.
He announced a familiar replacement in the person of retired General Aliyu Gusau. A polite statement from [...]
“The Acting President has placed all the security forces in Plateau and neighbouring states on red alert so as to stem any cross-border dimensions to this latest conflict,” Jonathan’s office said in a statement on Sunday March 7, 2010
Togo presidential rival Fabre claims victory ahead of results….
Lome, March 5 (Reuters) – The main opposition candidate in Togo’s presidential election said on Friday he believes he won by a broad margin — a claim that sets the stage for protests if the official results disagree.
The vote held on Thursday in the small West African [...]
VOTERS in the small west African country of Togo went to the polls March 4, 2010 to pick a new president in a poll seen as a test of democratic progress in a nation notorious for electoral violence.
More than three million voters (have voted) to choose a new leader among seven candidates including incumbent Faure [...]
South Africa marks 100 days to World Cup
Special to USAfricaonline.com
JOHANNESBURG — With 100 days to go before the World Cup, jackhammers shuddered and bulldozers rumbled Tuesday as workers wearing “Proud to be building Soccer City for 2010″ buttons readied South Africa’s main stadium.
Inside, the grass was smooth and inviting. But not far away stacks of [...]
Nigerians are moving on, with casual regard for the mysterious presidency of the indisposed Yar’Adua and the man who imposed him and his VP Goodluck Jonathan on Nigeria in 2007, the retired General and former president Olusegun Obasanjo. The truth of the matter is that Nigerians are sick and tired of subjecting our youth and children to compete and struggle for the same political positions with their grand-fathers…. the demands of Nigerians for a responsible and responsive government will not quieten with the return from Saudi Arabia (after 100 days) of the unwilling president of Nigeria ‘Baba Go-Slow’ Umar Yar’Adua. Nigerians say welcome, and goodbye….
With Yar’Adua out of sight and reach since Feb 24 return, confusion continues in the presidency.
Special to USAfricaonline.com and CLASSmagazine
Umaru Yar’Adua’s unexpected return to Nigeria while still too ill to resume office has undermined the acting president and sown further confusion in the government, analysts say.
“We are just creating a bundle of confusion in the presidency [...]
Nigeria’s indisposed 58 years-old President Umaru Yar’Adua, apparently, has returned to Abuja a few minutes ago into the wee early hours of Wednesday (Nigeria), after 90+ days in a Saudi Arabian hospital undergoing treatment for a heart condition and other complications….. more info, breaking on www.USAfricaonline.com
THE AUTHORITATIVE LINK. wireLess: 832-45-CHIDO (24436)
“I saw him the day before yesterday … He’s really feeling better now,” Nigeria’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Aminchi told AFP.
Aminchi confirmed that a delegation of senior legislators were not allowed to see Yar’Adua earlier this month despite coming to Jeddah on a mission to gauge the health of the 58-year-old president, who checked into King Faisal Specialist Hospital on November 23 for an acute heart condition.
Niger’s junta enters as Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, led by Major Salou Djibo.
Special to USAfricaonline.com and CLASSmagazine, Houston
NIAMEY: Salou Djibo, leader of the coup that overthrew Niger’s president Mamadou Tandja, is an army major who is virtually unknown to the people of the underdeveloped but uranium-rich west African state.
Born in 1965, the [...]
Into 2010 in Niger, whether the military coup succeeds or not, Tandja’s age and relevance to Niger’s future and representative democracy are dim and out. In one of his most controversial moves, after more than 10 years in office as commander-in-chief and president, he extended his rule via an unfair referendum in August 2009. The conflicts and rumbles within and outside the military grew….
A few months following the twisted referendum, he dissolved the Nigerien national assembly/parliament and the country’s court for constitutional issues. Soon after, in October 2009, he rail-roaded a parliamentary election which was widely condemned by African countries, the U.S., European countries and donor agencies who for almost 50 years have supported the needs of the poor country which shares borders with Nigeria’s northern region.
After three coups hit Niger between 1974 and 1999, Tandja twice won votes deemed fair. But in the waning months of his final term, critics say he went down the path of many long-serving African despots, breaking a promise he had frequently made to step down when his term expired in December. Opposition leaders say Tandja morphed from democrat to dictator over the course of several months last year. In May 2009, he dissolved the national assembly because it opposed his plan to hold a referendum removing term limits.
Nominated for Best African player on the continent: Uche Agba (Heartland FC, Nigeria), Mputu Mabi (T.P. Mazembe, DR Congo), Abdelmalek Ziaya (Entente Setif, Algeria)
A group of Nigerian lawmakers who tried to visit Yar’Adua (in Saudi Arabia) to determine his state of health returned at the weekend after five days without seeing him.
Presidential voting postponed; Togo’s main opposition quits elections commission, calls it “electoral masquerade”
Special to USAfricaonline.com
Togo’s main opposition party said Saturday it had quit the commission organising presidential elections next month (March 2010).
The Union of Forces for Change said in a statement that it did not want to be associated with an “electoral masquerade,” charging that [...]
