March 15, 2006, Washington DC (USAfricaonline.com): Dr. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia's recently inaugurated president has called on the U.S to relate with her battered country on a platform of partnership rather than patronage. Hoping that "with your prayers and with your help, we will demonstrate that democracy can work, even under the most challenging conditions. We will honor the suffering of our people, and Liberia will become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of what the love of liberty can achieve. We will strive to be America's success story in Africa, demonstrating the potential in the transformation from war to peace; demonstrating the will to join in the global fight against terrorism; demonstrating that democracy can prevail, demonstrating that prosperity can be achieved. The people of Liberia have already rolled up their sleeves, despite overwhelming obstacles, confident that their work will be rewarded, confident in the hope and promise of the future."

USAfricaonline.com and CLASS magazine Publisher Chido Nwangwu who was in the gallery and saw the speech live reports: She said with a certain, dignified lucidity that "I stand before you today, as the first woman elected to lead an African nation, thanks to the grace of Almighty God; thanks to the courage of the Liberian people, who chose their future over fear; thanks to the people of west Africa and of Africa generally, who continued to give hope to my people."

Her history-making, impactful 40-minute speech to the joint session of the U.S Congress on Wednesday March 15, 2006 in Washington DC drew almost a dozen standing ovation from Washington power brokers like U.S Vice President Dick Cheney (constitutionally, the president of the American Senate) who co-presided with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, influential Democrats Joe Biden, diplomats, business executives, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and U.S-based members of the Liberian community.

She continued "Our abundant natural resources have been diverted by criminal conspiracies for private gain. International sanctions, imposed for the best of reasons, still prevent us from exporting our raw materials. Roads and bridges have disappeared or been bombed or washed away. We know that trouble could once again breed outside our borders. The physical and spiritual scars of war are deep indeed." She encouraged Black Americans to come do business in Liberia, arguing no other group in America has more stake in Liberia's stabilization and redevelopment. CBC's chair Mel Watts assured her of the commitment and support of the group. Houston congresswoman Sheila Jakcson Lee spoke on the need to sustain the immigration status of many Liberians in the U.S. Congressman John Lewis, civil rights icon, recalled he went to Liberia in 1964 as part of a student group.

President Sirleaf, without a doubt, left an indelible impression and sense of dignity despite the massive problems faced by her impoverished and war-torn country. Additional features and reports will appear her e and our related special events magazine, CLASS magazine

"The first female in Africa, in the history of the [Liberian] nation," said Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick. "The continent of Africa is two-and-a-half times the size of the U.S. [and] not without its problems. But [this will be] an opportunity to build real communities and countries with resources that can partner with the United States of America." In the regular 2006 U.S. fiscal year budget, $128 million was designated for Liberia, a point driven home by Congressman Jim Kolbe who heads the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee. However, the funding has been held up and Kolbe says congressional appropriators have been waiting for U.S. government agencies to come back with specific plans on how the money will be spent in Liberia, which he agrees is at a crucial point.

"It is fragile, it is extraordinarily fragile," he said. "We have made a tiny baby step forward with the election of the new president there. And we should do everything we can to assist that process."

Lawmakers will be pressing for more money for Liberia as part of the 2007 budget process which will be unfolding in coming months. South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn says the Liberian leader needs to be able to return home with some tangible results in the form of aid commitments: "I believe it is important for us to show some support for this great woman, who was educated in this country, and who I believe will be an outstanding symbol for freedom and justice," said Clyburn. "We need to support her." Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. says while the United States has helped Liberia in its peaceful transition from former President Charles Taylor, to President Johnson-Sirleaf, more needs to be done by Liberians "to ensure that this investment is not squandered."

Congresswoman Nita Lowey says she expects the Liberian president to give President Bush, whom she meets next week, and other government officials specifics about plans for reconstruction in the wake of Liberia's long and bloody civil conflict: "It is my understanding that President Johnson-Sirleaf does have a plan, in addition to the $128 million," she said. "There are infrastructure projects. It is critical that we respond positively, in my judgment, to her request." "Liberia is at a crucial turning point," said Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. "The next few months will be critical in determining whether peace and democracy prevail, or whether political instability, the threat of violence, rampant corruption, and criminality burgeon anew." Among pledges she has made since taking office in Liberia, President Johnson-Sirleaf says she wants to bring back electricity to the capital, Monrovia, by this July's 159th anniversary of Liberia's independence. U.S. lawmakers say this and other reconstruction hopes may be dashed without a commitment of substantial new U.S. aid.USAfricaonline.com reports with additional info by Dan Robinson.

"I think it's really important worldwide," Mrs. Bush said about Sirleaf's inauguration, which falls on the day Americans honor civil rights icon, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "I think it's particularly important on the continent of Africa, because traditionally women have been excluded in many African cultures not all of them, but in many." Full report by Deb Reichmann in Monrovia/AP here.

Senator Udoma: Why I oppose 3rd term for Obasanjo or anyone.

Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, (Nigeria's Senate Chief Whip from Akwa Ibom State) on why "in good conscience" he cannot support the  retired general Olusegun  Obasanjo's controversial and thus far unconstitutional quest to seek a third term of office as Nigeria's president (ruling since 1999). It is titled 'Why I am against third term amendment provision' Among other points, he argues that "To permit the power of incumbency to be used to extend term limits, by constitutional amendment, is to undermine the very purpose of the term limit. Why have a term limit when it can be extended any time it is considered inconvenient for an incumbent... One of the fundamental principles of lawmaking is that laws should not be made for the benefit of a particular individual. Even if we pass the amendment and the President decides to contest, which decision, we understand, he is yet to make, all we would have achieved is a maximum of four more years for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. But at what price? His successor will be able to rule Nigeria for twelve unbroken years..." Full text here

Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, (Nigeria's Senate Chief Whip) on why "in good conscience" he cannot support the  retired general Olusegun  Obasanjo's controversial and thus far unconstitutional quest to seek a third term of office as Nigeria's president (ruling since 1999). It is titled 'Why I am against third term amendment provision':

"Following my decision not to support the proposal to amend the constitution to allow the President and state governors to be able to run for a third term, I have been contacted by one or two well-meaning friends who asked me the reason for my decision.  In particular, they asked me how I reconcile my strong support for the Obasanjo administration's economic programmes and policies and my reluctance to support an amendment that could allow the President four more years to continue these programmes.

I wish to make it clear that there is no conflict at all.

Indeed, it is dangerous to allow one's support for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to determine whether it is in the national interest for the President and state governors to be allowed three terms in office, as opposed to the current two term provision.

One of the fundamental principles of lawmaking is that laws should not be made for the benefit of a particular individual. Even if we pass the amendment and the President decides to contest, which decision, we understand, he is yet to make, all we would have achieved is a maximum of four more years for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. But at what price? His successor will be able to rule Nigeria for twelve unbroken years!

A period long enough to enable such a President to entrench himself, and using the precedent already established, supported by the powers of incumbency, to even contemplate doing away completely with term limits - a common enough occurrence in Africa.

Term limits are critical to building and sustaining democracy. It is generally accepted that the powers of incumbency, particularly in emerging democracies, are so overwhelming that there cannot be a level playing field where any person challenges an incumbent with executive power.

It is for this reason that the framers of the 1979 Constitution set a two term limit for incumbents holding executive offices. This was retained in all subsequent Constitutions, including the current one, the 1999 Constitution.

To permit the power of incumbency to be used to extend term limits, by constitutional amendment, is to undermine the very purpose of the term limit. Why have a term limit when it can be extended any time it is considered inconvenient for an incumbent!

In addition, the third term debate has led to such mistrust of informal political understandings and amendments that there is now a clamour for the principle of rotation, which had hitherto been left to informal agreements within political parties, to be entrenched in the Constitution. As a consequence, if the third term amendment which allows 12 years for each President is passed into law, the earliest a person from the South-South political zone can constitutionally aspire to be President of Nigeria will be in 16 years time - and possibly 40 years time, if the South-East gets the Presidency first. For the South-West, it's even worse. If the third term amendment is passed, no person from the South-West can be eligible to contest for the Presidency of this country, after Obasanjo, for 60 years! All this just to secure a possible four more years for Obasanjo!"

Finally, all those persons in the private sector who are anxious to see the continuation of the private sector friendly policies of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo's administration should remember the words the French Emperor, Napoleon 1 uttered from bitter experience in 1815,"Men are powerless to secure the future; institutions alone fix the destiny of nations." 

Udoma, born in 1954, is a lawyer and represents Akwa Ibom South in the Senate.

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I believe that such insight has made him a favorite of African-Americans, and other scholars and regular folks in search of a better, realistic understanding of Africa, at least, from Achebe's utilization of his rich and dynamic Igbo ancestry, in south eastern Nigeria. I share the same ancestry, and he's one of my mentors. By Chido Nwangwu. Click here for commentary Chinua Achebe returns "home" from U.S., to love and adulation of community.Achebe on oral tradition, juxtapositioning of language and linguistic colonialism. World-famous Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe has said that Africans should not be overly concerned if the long-established tradition of oral storytelling dies out. Achebe, once described by Nelson Mandela as "the writer in whose presence prison walls fell down," told the BBC that he agreed that the art was dying out - but insisted it could be revived "if we decide that the oral story is absolutely necessary." 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By Professor Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, contributing editor of USAfricaonline.com, author of the highly-acclaimed African Literature in Defence of History: An Essay on Chinua Achebe and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. Seriously, is your web site a Turkey, too? Get Solutions Anambra's rigged 2003 elections: Chris Uba's confession at WIC 2004 in Newark, USA. In a matter-of-fact manner, PDP's chieftain in Anambra Chris Uba stood up and astonished all that were present in Newark when he said, "We, the PDP, did not win the election (of 2003). I have gone to church to confess. The election had no document. I called the result before 12 midnight. I gave INEC the money and asked them to call the result." The revelation caused an uproar as well as some applause in the hall. "The person we took his thing is here," Uba said, pointing at Peter Obi (the APGA candidate) who was sitting among the audience, in the back row. 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Nwangwu, adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35 million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for Governor Bush's ill-advised position which removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be elected president. By Al Johnson ARTS The Life and Irreverent times of Afrobeat superstar, FELA     PANAFRICANIST Tanzania's founding president Julius Nyerere       ELECTIONS Gigolos on the Campaign Trail. By Prof. Walt Brasch Can Africa live a future without war? An Open Letter to Mandela. By Fubara David-West Sex, Women and (Hu)Woman Rights. By Chika Unigwe Abati's Revisionisms and Distortions of history. 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At 26, Woods has since become the youngest golfer to win his seventh professional major championship. He was joined by his parents and his 22 year-old Swedish model girlfriend, Elin Nordegren. Impeachment process shows Nigerian democracy "is alive... being tested." Nigeria's president retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the impeachment process shows that "democracy is alive, is being tested, and being tried.... What they (the legislators) have tried to do in the democratic way, which is not easy, would probably have been done by taking arms or by -- with bullets. So, but with democracy, of course, some people feel that this is the way this should be, and then I have an opportunity to defend myself. There is discussion. There is dialogue. There is a decision. There is fairness." He made these comments when he appeared on Tuesday September 17, 2002 on CNN International to discuss the issues of impeachment facing him, the allegations of corruption, abuse of the constitution and deployment of soldiers ina civilian environment which led to the "massacre of civilians" in Odi (Bayelsa) and Zaki Biam (Benue). On the charges by international human rights organizations and Nigerian media that his government has been involved in actions which have led to the deaths of thousands of Nigerians, the retired General gave a surprising answer. He was asked that "as many as 10,000 people, it's being reported, have been killed in Nigeria (in) communal rivalries, and the number is believed to be increasing. And people are saying that although President Obasanjo has done a lot of good for Nigeria, you're accused of not -- accused of failing to halt that spiraling violence." Obasanjo: Let me say this to you, when you put the question of 10,000 -- 10,000 people dying in Nigeria, of course, for a population of over 120 million people...." But USAfricaonline.com Founder and recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997), Chido Nwangwu, who appeared on the same program as as a CNN International analyst (Africa) pointed out that "when (President Obasanjo) answered that in a country of 100 million that 10,000 people are said to have died, as if that was a small number, that in itself reflects a disconnect with the concerns of Nigerians. The second one is that when the risk is civil disagreement, the police are required to intervene in the country. And the deployment of the armed forces of Nigeria requires at least some consultation, however modest, with the parliament." Nwangwu, former member of the editorial board of Nigeria's Daily Times continued that "the third factor that is equally important to underscore is that the armed forces of Nigeria moved in for a punitive action rather than just containing a civil disagreement." He noted in USAfricaonline.com backgrounder "it was revealing and interesting interesting discussing Nigeria's issues with its leader - under the current circumstances of an increasingly out-of-schedule elections and the gathering storm of an impeachment process by a majority of the members of the National Assembly, predominantly by Obasanjo's party members." See rush transcript of the CNN International news program. Obasanjo facing corruption and ineptitude impeachment charges, again since the parliament, a few weeks ago, passed a motion carrying a majority of the members of Obasanjo's party, the PDP. 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