Contemporary news
BOKO HARAM AND OBAMA: THE SAD NEWS.
This morning, Nigeria’s National Tabloid-Vanguard Newspaper reported that U.S ignored Nigeria’s 2013 request to check Boko Haram.
A copy of the paper’s report is reproduced below:
“THE United States of America ignored requests by Nigeria for intelligence information and aid to help fight the militant Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram last year, reports have revealed..
Two American newspapers, ABC News and the Daily Beast, weekend, accused the Obama administration of failing to reply to requests by lobbying firm Patton Boggs on behalf of the Nigerian government.
Last weekend, US Senator John McCain told CNN, “We should have utilized every asset that we have, satellite, drones, any capabilities that we had to go after them. We didn’t have to wait until a practically non-existent government of Nigeria gave us the go-ahead before mounting a humanitarian effort to rescue those 276 abducted girls.”
But the ABC and the Daily Beast noted that the “revelation comes as many in the administration have blamed the Nigerian government for their rationale behind why the United States government was tardy in designating Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
The papers said, “Two months prior to Boko Haram’s FTO designation, the Nigerian government reportedly reached a three million dollar agreement with lobbying firm Patton Boggs. According to U.S. Justice Department documents, the contract was enacted to “provide comprehensive security advice, including the donation of excess military and law enforcement equipment.” Patton Boggs assigned retired Marine Colonel John Garrett to represent Nigeria’s requests.
According to the ABC News report: On behalf of Nigerian National Security Adviser, Muhammadu Sambo Dasuki, Garrett requested information on Boko Haram activities derived from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance overflights of northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state. Patton Boggs also asked for non-lethal protective hardware to be donated to Nigeria such as mine-resistant armored personnel vehicles, night vision goggles and communications equipment from Iraq and Afghanistan stockpiles left over from U.S. withdrawals from those warzones.” Vanguard reported.
America’s failure to respond to Nigeria’s request in 2013 further confirms Africa Thisday’s theory that Boko Haram may not be unconnected with the west.
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ENTERTAINMENT: RITA NZELU, VICTOR OSUAGWU, NONSO NWAIWU STORMS YOUR SCREEN WITH A HOLY VIBE.
Nollywood’s Rita Nzelu is set to bounce back to your screens, this time with a holy vibe. The Nollywood astute actress has just finished working on her latest movie titled PSALM 91 which stares Nollywood’s comedian Victor Osuagwu and London based actor- Nonso Nwaiwu and Marie Gomez.
Africa Thisday learnt that the movie tells a sad Nigerian religious story.
Details soon.
BREAKING NEWS: CASTER SEMENYA PAYS BRIDE PRICE OF FIANCE.
South Africa’s Olympic silver medallist Caster Semenya has reportedly paid lobola (bride price) for athlete Violet Raseboya.
Africa Thisday can authoritatively report that Caster has apparently sent her elders to Violet’s family in Polokwane to negotiate lobola – as both athletes wanted to settle down.
It is understood they went to Violet’s family two weeks ago.
“Caster’s dad, ntate Jacob Semenya, was accompanied by other family members to negotiate lobola,” said a source.
“Caster had made her intentions clear that she wanted to take Violet as her other half.
“Both families were happy to negotiate lobola and Caster’s family paid R25 000 to have Violet as their makoti.”
A popular South African tabloid, Sunday Sun has also reported that preparations for the wedding are underway.
A friend of the couple said Caster and Violet are inseparable.
“They really love each other and this is a bold step for them. They have a bright future together and I believe once they have settled down, they will achieve more in their careers.”
In a recent interview, Caster was asked which three items she would take if her house was on fire.
She revealed her undying love for Violet and stated that she was her soulmate for life and that is the first person she would think of.
Chibok: The emerging and uncomfortable facts.
By Femi Fani-Kayode.
Now that the operational leadership and visible face of Boko Haram, in the person of the filth called Mr. Abubakar Shekau (aka Darul Tawheed), has finally admitted that they were responsible for the abduction of hundreds of our school girls and that they intend to ‘’sell them in the market like slaves’’, it is pertinent and necessary for us to consider some of the emerging, though uncomfortable, facts.
This will enable us to understand the nature of who and what we are dealing with. Permit me to share the following facts that have been brought to my attention:
1. That the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has told us that 90 per cent of the girls that were abducted from their school at Chibok were Christians.
2. That President Goodluck Jonathan himself alluded to this during his last media chat when he said that ‘’the majority’’ of girls that were abducted were Christians.
3. That the majority of the girls that either ‘’escaped’’ or were released by their abductors were Muslims.
4. That the Governor of Borno State refused to accept the counsel and abide by the directives of WAEC that the exams should not take place in Chibok due to the precarious security situation and instead he insisted that the exams should take place there and that he would guarantee the security of the children.
5. That the Christian Association of Nigeria has formally accused the Governor of Borno State of ‘’conspiracy and collusion’’ and they have urged him to tell us exactly where the girls are and what he knows about the whole incident.
6. That the girls that have been kidnapped are being raped up to 15 times a day by their captors and that those amongst them that have refused to convert to Islam are having their throats cut (read the testimony of one of the girls that ‘’escaped’’ on page 8 of the Vanguard Newspaper, 5th April, 2014).
7. That there was not a single adult in the school grounds watching over the 278 girls that entire night apart from one security man and that there was no electricity, no generator, no principal, no matron, no house master and no house mistress in the grounds with them.
8. That the children were all alone in their dormitories that night in the blistering heat and deepest darkness before the Haramites arrived to burn their school and carried them away into captivity.
9. That the soldiers that were guarding the school in Chibok were redeployed a few hours before Boko Haram launched their attack and abducted the children.
10. That up till now pictures of the abducted girls have not been produced or released by the school authorities or the state government.
11. That this was a predominantly christian School and that Chibok is a predominantly Christian community.
S-H-A-M-E: TWO SISTERS FIGHT OVER A MAN WHILE THEIR MOM WATCH.
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THIS IS THE CRAZIEST VIDEO YOU EVER GONNA WATCH IN YOUR LIFE. TWO SISTERS FIGHT OVER A MAN WHILE THEIR MOM WATCH AND THEIR BROTHER CAPTURE THE MOMENT ON CAMERA. THE FAIR GIRL IN THE VIDEO IS PREGNANT. NOW THIS LEFT AFRICA THISDAY WONDERING IF AFRICA-AMERICANS STILL GOT ANY IOTA OF AFRICAN VALUES.
SHARE THIS VIDEO UNTIL THE AMERICAN AUTHORITIES BANS/STOPS VIOLENT VIDEO COVERAGE.
NIGERIANS AND THEIR FIRST LADY IN COURT…QUESTIONS NIGERIANS MUST ANSWER!…featuring things you never knew about the FIRST FAMILY.
She is Dr. Dame Chief (Mrs). Patience Fakabelema Jonathan (nee Oba), the first lady of Nigeria and he is President Goodluck Jonathan. Dame Patience Jonathan was born in Port Harcourt on the 25th October 1957 while President Goodluck Jonathan was born on 20th November, 1957, a month younger than his wife.
They met at the Rivers State College of Education (now Rivers State University of Education, Rumuolumeni). President Goodluck Jonathan was her lecturer and one thing led to another, they both fell in love. Today, the rest is history as that Mr. Lecturer of yesterday now leads the most populous black nation on earth. Hear her:
“We first met at the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt where I was a student. He was my Biology lecturer.Later, he left for university of Port Harcourt to pursue his PhD but he was already attracted to me and later we both fell in love and got married.”
She is widely criticized for her poor grammar. She is currently been crucified in the social media for her recent outburst on national television where she lost control of her emotions crying: “Chai, there is God oh” with a heavy Nigerian ascent.
Africa Thisday asks Nigerians: What is her crime? Is been original and real a crime in Nigeria? Why have Nigerians chosen ‘fashion’ instead of ‘passion’? Has the west so enslaved you that you have lost that African factor-Respect? Isn’t pidgin English the Nigerian thing? When did good English become a yardstick to measure good leadership? Is English your mother tongue? Does the English man speak your language let alone been fluent in any African language? Africa Thisday asks!Answers wanted!
#BringBackOurGirls: American Marines locate abducted girls in Sambisa forest.
There were indications yesterday that the 230 female students abducted by Boko Haram terrorists from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, GGSS, Chibok, Borno State, have been sited at the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, by the Special Forces of the United States Marines.
The girls who were abducted on April 14, were part of the 250 students boarded at the school for the West African School Certificate, WASC/ Senior Secondary School Certificate, SSSC, examinations, triggering world-wide condemnations.
This was even as more US military officials arrived Nigeria yesterday to join local officials in the search for nearly 300 school girls taken captives by the Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram, the US Secretary of State John Kerry, and the defence department, Pentagon, said.
The UK team had earlier arrived in Abuja to support Nigerian government in its response to the abduction of over 200 school girls.
The US Secretary of State, John Kerry said the US team, working with the Nigerian government, would do everything possible to free the girls and everything possible to stop the atrocities of Boko Haram.
“We are also going to do everything possible to counter the menace of Boko Haram. The entire world should not only be condemning this outrage but should be doing everything possible to help Nigeria in the days ahead,” he added.
Africa Thisday learnt that the American Military Team to Nigeria is comprised of just Seven (7) officers.
#CHIBOK GIRLS: Masterminds of Nyanya bomb blasts nabbed – Jonathan.
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday revealed that the masterminds of the two deadly bomb blasts that rocked Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory have been arrested and are currently helping the security agencies in their efforts to unmask their financiers.
Jonathan spoke while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the 24th World Economic Forum for Africa, WEFA, held in Abuja which ended yesterday.
Jonathan said he had declared a total war on Boko Haram ‘’terror group’’ to rout it out of existence in the country, warning that anybody thinking that the spate of bombings and other devastation activities by the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria would force his administration to bend over forward and negotiate power with the sect or their sponsors should rather have a re-think as such a situation would not arise.
“Boko Haram is a terror group and as journalists you should know the meaning of terror. Before the 9/11 no body in the US or UK imagined the dimension of terrorists in the world. You can not be too sure of what ideology that drives their leaning. Sometimes, it is from the religious sentiments… but we need to combine so many factors to underscore their driving spirit . But I want to advice that the terrorists should also know that they don’t do certain things and get away with it because most of these activities are criminal offenses and they should know that when they are caught, they would pay dearly for it. ‘’For instance, I can tell you that the masterminds of the last Nyanya bomb blast have been arrested and would face the long arm of the law. I want to assure also that sooner than later, the abducted Chibok school girls would also be rescued with the help of the global community and we will use remote sensing technology to smoke them out to face the consequences,” Jonathan said.
#Bring Back Our Girls: Why the Nigeria Military failed to stop Boko Haram – Amnesty International.
Nigeria’s military had advanced warning of the April 14 attack by Boko Haram that led to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls but failed to take immediate action, Amnesty International said Friday.
“Damning testimonies gathered by Amnesty International reveal that Nigerian security forces failed to act on advance warnings about Boko Haram’s armed raid on the state-run boarding school in Chibok which led to the abduction,” the rights group said.
Amnesty said it had verified the information about the abduction with “credible sources”.
“Amnesty International has confirmed… that Nigeria’s military headquarters in Maiduguri was aware of the impending attack soon after 7:00 PM (1800 GMT) on 14 April, close to four hours before Boko Haram began their assault on the town,” the group said.
The military however could not assemble the troops needed to suppress the attack, “due to poor resources and a reported fear of engaging with the often better-equipped” Islamists, according to Amnesty.
The 17 army personnel based in Chibok were overpowered by the attackers and had to retreat, the London-based group further said.
“The fact that Nigerian security forces knew about Boko Haram’s impending raid, but failed to take the immediate action needed to stop it, will only amplify the national and international outcry at this horrific crime,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Africa Director for research and advocacy.
AFRICA THISDAY 