Police Officer Who Fatally Shot 15-Year-Old Texas Boy Is Charged With Murder

By MANNY FERNANDEZ and MATTHEW HAAG
New York Times
MAY 5, 2017

Jordan Edwards with his father, Odell, in an undated photo.
BALCH SPRINGS, Tex. — A police officer in a Dallas suburb was charged with murder on Friday, six days after he fired his rifle into a car full of teenagers leaving a party, killing a black 15-year-old in the front passenger seat.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department issued a warrant on Friday for the arrest of the officer, Roy D. Oliver II, 37, the authorities said. Mr. Oliver turned himself in Friday night in Parker County, Tex., officials said.

Mr. Oliver, who was a patrol officer with the Balch Springs Police Department, responded late last Saturday to reports of underage drinking at a house party. Mr. Oliver and another officer entered the house but left after the police said they heard gunshots outside the residence.

As a car with five black teenagers inside drove away from the house, Mr. Oliver, who is white, fired his AR-15 rifle, fatally striking Jordan Edwards, a freshman at Mesquite High School, in the head, according to the police and the law firm representing the Edwards family.

The Balch Springs police chief fired Mr. Oliver on Tuesday, saying he had violated departmental policies. In the Police Department’s first account of the fatal shooting, Chief Jonathan Haber had said that the car was reversing aggressively toward the officers when Mr. Oliver opened fire. But after Chief Haber reviewed the two officers’ body cameras, he corrected that description: The car had reversed but was accelerating forward and away from the officers when Jordan was struck.

The Edwards family released a statement on Friday evening calling the arrest warrant “a bit of a reprieve in a time of intense mourning.”

“Although we realize that there remain significant obstacles ahead on the road to justice, this action brings hope that the justice system will bend against the overwhelming weight of our frustration,” the family said.

The warrant was issued the day before Jordan’s funeral. Friends and relatives are planning to gather Saturday at Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church in nearby Mesquite, Tex. The funeral is closed to the public.

Cedric W. Davis Sr., a former mayor of Balch Springs, said the news of the murder charge would help ease tensions in the city, a working-class suburb of 25,000 east of Dallas.

“I think the benefit here is that it moved fast,” said Mr. Davis, who became Balch Springs’s first black mayor when he was elected in 2008. “The charge came quickly. In those previous cases, it took months and months,” he said, referring to other high-profile shootings of young black men by police officers across the country.

The Edwards family urged people on Friday not to protest at Jordan’s funeral. “Though we understand what his life and death mean symbolically, we are not ready to make a martyr of our son,” the family said.

Linda Oliver, Mr. Oliver’s mother, said Friday night, “We are under a hard no comment.” She said that her son is being represented by James Lane, a Fort Worth lawyer, who did not return a call or an email.

The charges against Mr. Oliver came during another week of national debate about race and police brutality and amid uncertainty over how police violence will be addressed by the Trump administration. The Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions has indicated it will move away from the aggressive efforts of the Obama administration to oversee law enforcement agencies.

Events of the past week revealed little about the department’s new direction. Federal prosectors received a guilty plea by a white police officer who fatally shot a black man in South Carolina, but the department declined to press charges against two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a black Louisiana man.

Still, the charges brought Friday by Dallas County were seen by black leaders in the region as a positive step.

Mr. Oliver became a police officer after serving as an infantryman in the Army, eventually rising to sergeant. He was deployed twice to Iraq, from October 2004 to September 2005 and again in 2009 from January to November. In an interview this week, Ms. Oliver recalled that a suicide attacker set off an explosion at a military mess tent in December 2004, killing 22 people, while Mr. Oliver happened to be away from the base.

Before he was hired by the Balch Springs Police Department, Mr. Oliver worked as a police officer for about a year starting in 2010 in Dalworthington Gardens, a small town outside Fort Worth. He received no disciplinary actions or complaints during his time as an officer there, according to the city’s Department of Public Safety. He submitted his voluntary resignation in May 2011 and began officially working for Balch Springs two months later.

Mr. Oliver was reprimanded by the Balch Springs Police Department in 2013 for aggressive and unprofessional behavior while working with Dallas County prosecutors on a drunken-driving case. A prosecutor described the interactions with Mr. Oliver as “scary,” and others said Mr. Oliver was uncooperative and cursed at an assistant district attorney. Balch Springs suspended him for 16 hours and ordered him to attend anger management training.

A lawyer for the Edwards family, S. Lee Merritt, reflected this week on Mr. Oliver’s past.

“I think we see two things out of military-trained policemen,” he said. “Sometimes, you get some of the best policemen out there. They’re calm, they’ve learned to operate in the battlefield. They’ve been extensively trained, a lot more than your average officer. And at other times you have officers who are dealing with the effects of being in a war zone, the post-traumatic effects.”

“As I learn more about this officer,” Mr. Merritt continued, “he seems to be one who had some problems. It should have been dealt with and it should have been identified a long time ago.”

Manny Fernandez reported from Balch Springs, and Matthew Haag from New York. Serge F. Kovaleski contributed reporting from New York, and Patrick McGee from Dallas.

Namibians 3rd Wealthiest People in Africa

by Ndama Nakashole
The Namibian

NAMIBIANS are the third wealthiest people in Africa, according to an April 2017 report by Mauritius' AfrAsia Bank and Johannesburg-based market research firm New World Wealth.

According to the report, the average wealth of a person living in Namibia (wealth per capita) was US$10 800 (about N$142 500) in 2016, up from US$10 200 (about N$132 600 ) in 2015.

Mauritians were found to be the wealthiest in Africa, with US$25 700 (about N$339 000) in wealth per person. At the other end, the report found that Zimbabweans, with just US$200 (about N$2 600) per person, were the poorest in Africa.

South Africans are the second wealthiest people in Africa with an average wealth per person of US$11 300 (about N$149 000) in 2016.

Botswana comes fourth at US$6 700 (about N$88 400) per person.

According to the researchers, they preferred to use wealth per capita rather than gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to determine wealth. For instance, GDP ignores the efficiency of the local banking sector and the local stock market at retaining wealth in a country.

THE MILLIONAIRES

With a population of just over two million people, the reports says Namibia is home to 3 300 millionaires. These were defined as individuals with wealth of US$1million (about N$13,2 million) or more.

Namibia also has 120 multi-millionaires. The report defines these individuals as having wealth of US$10 million (N$132 million) or more.

The report indicates that 1 400 of Namibia's millionaires live in Windhoek, and the city is home to 60 multi-millionaires.

Namibia is classified as one of the most unequal societies in the world, with a Gini index of 61,3, and a highly skewed wealth and income distribution.

SECOND HOMES ABROAD

The report shows that 34% of African 'high net worth individuals' (HNWI) (millionaires in this regard) owned residential property in other countries at the end of 2016, and especially preferred international cities such as London, New York, Geneva, Sydney, Paris, Melbourne, Tel Aviv and Dubai.

Owning property in London, New York, Sydney, Melbourne and Tel Aviv was especially popular amongst South African millionaires. While London, Geneva and Paris properties are popular amongst Nigerian millionaires, Dubai is popular amongst Egyptian, Nigerian, Algerian and Moroccan millionaires.

A large number of African millionaires also buy homes in other African countries, most notably South Africa, the report further reveals.

The majority of African millionaires buying houses in South Africa are from Angola, Ghana and Nigeria.

The Africa Wealth Report 2017 was produced by New World Wealth for Mauritian private and corporate bank AfrAsia. According to its website, New World Wealth is a “global market research group, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and provides customised services to wealth managers, family offices, real estate professionals, migration platforms and fund managers”.

Angola's Presidential Council Proposes August 23 for National Vote

Angolan President and MPLA leader, Jose Eduardo dos Santos attends a party central committee at a meeting in Luanda, Angola, December 2 ,2016. REUTERS/Herculano Coroado REUTERS

LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's Council of the Republic, a presidential group that consults on national decisions, has proposed Aug. 23 for a national election, state radio reported on Monday, a decision which hangs on President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' approval.

Dos Santos, 74, will step down as president after 38 years at the helm but will retain control of the powerful ruling MPLA party. He is Africa's second longest-ruling leader and said in February he will not run in this year's presidential election.

The MPLA chose Defence Minister Joao Lourenco, 63, as its presidential candidate last December.

Dos Santos, a communist-trained oil engineer and a veteran of the guerrilla war against Portuguese rule, will remain president of the MPLA, retaining sweeping powers over what has become Africa's No. 2 crude producer and third largest economy.

His inscrutable public demeanor belies his tight control of Angola, where he has overseen an oil-backed economic boom and the reconstruction of infrastructure devastated by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.

Despite its oil wealth, most of Angola's 22 million people live in grinding poverty and they have become increasingly frustrated in recent years as low crude prices hammered growth.

(Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia and Louise Ireland)

Opening Up a New Era of Mallima

Enthusiastic, selfless devotion of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un to the country and people serves as a powerful stimulant for the Korean people to make miracles and innovations.

The DPRK is witnessing an era of fresh leap forward, the Mallima era, being opened up in the country, although the frantic attempts by the imperialists and the enemy against it have gone to extremes.

In January last year the Supreme Leader visited the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Textile Mill. Saying that the Party members and other working people should inherit the fighting spirit and mettle of the preceding generations who had performed miraculous achievements, always asking themselves whether they were on Chollima, and thus live and work, asking themselves whether they are on Mallima, he inspired the Korean people to turn out in creating a Mallima era.

To ride Mallima is the iron will of the Supreme Leader to add eternal lustre to the achievements President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il had performed for the country and the revolution, times and history, as well as his great affection for the Korean service personnel and people to ride them on Mallima towards a happy future of a thriving socialist country.

When he visited the construction site of the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital in May last year, he earnestly said that the hospital should be built to be boasted internationally and flawless even by the standard of the future at an early possible date. Visiting the construction site of the Medical Oxygen Factory, he instructed that the factory should be completed by September 9.

On his visit to the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Silk Mill in June last year he expressed his expectations and belief that its officials and working people should become the model for the country in the Mallima era by rushing forward on Mallima, upholding the Party’s intentions, as their preceding generations had done in the Chollima era, racing against time on Chollima as intended by the President and the Chairman.

His infinite trust in them to become models for the country in the Mallima era following the tradition of the Chollima era touched the heartstrings of not only the working people of the silk mill but also other people across the country.

Greatly inspired by this, the Korean service personnel and people created miracles and successes of great significance in the national history, adorning the new era of Mallima.

The DPRK, overcoming all challenges and difficulties, charged ahead at full speed to develop rapidly day after day, racing against time.

In the course of this, it consolidated its status of a nuclear power, a military giant, in the East, opened up a broad avenue to a space power, and erected numerous monumental structures such as the Paektusan Hero Youth Power Station No. 3 and the Wonsan Army-People Power Station. Many industrial establishments and cooperative farms across the country surpassed the peak-year level. The Korean People’s Army stood in the vanguard in adding lustre to the history of “gold seas” and a miraculous success was achieved in the restoration effort for the areas in North Hamgyong Province devastated by a sudden natural calamity.

Even the south Korean mass media commented on the Mallima speed of the DPRK in surprise. They said they had thought at first that it was a mere exaggeration, but it was the truth that the DPRK was going to dash forward at the pace of Mallima, as much as ten times of Chollima. They continued that the Chollima movement created by President Kim Il Sung was added by the speed campaign movement proposed by Chairman Kim Jong Il and multiplied by ten times.

Thanks to the outstanding leadership of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un who is writing a brilliant chapter of the socialist political history, cherishing a firm belief that the strength, intelligence and mettle of the people are the best in the world and nothing is impossible when the masses are mobilized, more and more miracles are being wrought out in the country and the Songun Korea is nearing its final victory.

DPRK May Day Significantly Marked Across Country

All the people in the DPRK significantly enjoyed May Day, international holiday of the working people in the world.

Colorful celebrations took place in Pyongyang and other parts of the country.

Art performances by national art troupes in Pyongyang and sports and amusement games of working people took place at theatres, parks and pleasure grounds in the DPRK.

A concert was given by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Moranbong Theatre and a musical dance and poem "'Arirang' Story" at the Ponghwa Art Theatre.

Multifarious pieces including physical acrobatics, funny acrobatics, illusionary jugglery and other forms of jugglery were put on the stages of the Pyongyang Circus Theatre and the Magic Theatre of the National Acrobatic Troupe.

Pieces of acrobatics and juggleries reflecting thoughts and feelings and desire of the Korean people were put on the stage at the Mangyongdae Amusement Park to please the audience.

Artistes of the Phibada Opera Troupe and the National Folk Art Troupe gave performances at the Rungna People's Pleasure Park and the plaza of South Gate at the foot of Mt Taesong.

Sports games of builders in the capital of Pyongyang took place at the Kim Il Sung Stadium.
Multifarious art performances and amusement games were held at factories, enterprises and cooperative farms across the country.

KCNA

Senior Party and State Officials Enjoy May Day together with Working People

Senior party and state officials significantly enjoyed May Day together with working people across the country.

Pak Pong Ju, Kim Ki Nam and other senior party and state officials, vice-premiers of the Cabinet, officials of the party and power bodies went to the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex, the Namhung Youth Chemical Complex, the State Academy of Sciences, the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Silk Mill, the Chongsan Co-op Farm in Kangso District, the Chollima Steel Complex, the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Textile Mill, the Migok Cooperative Farm in Sariwon City and other institutions, industrial establishments and farms to congratulate workers, agricultural workers and intellectuals on May Day.

They laid floral baskets and bouquets before the statues of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il and portraits of the smiling great leaders and mosaics depicting them before paying tribute to them.

Going round the revolutionary museums, rooms dedicated to the history of the relevant units and other places, they felt once again the undying exploits of the peerlessly great men who turned the country into an invincible power.

The senior Party and state officials and other officials across the country met with innovators creating labor feats and encouraged their successes, listening to their stories about the great upsurge and great innovations on the fronts for building a socialist power.

Together with the working people they conducted colorful sports and amusement games such as tug-of-war and enjoyed art performances.

They called upon all the working people to faithfully uphold the leadership of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and achieve a series of successes with the might of self-reliance and self-development and glorify the Conference of Mallima Frontrunners as the one of victors.

KCNA

Press Release of North Side Preparatory Committee for Pan-National Conference

The North Side Preparatory Committee for the Pan-National Conference for Peace and Reunification of the Country and Development of North-south Relations made public a press released on May 1.

According to it, a ceremony for inaugurating the preparatory committee of workers organizations in the north and the south for the Pan-National Conference took place in the north and the south of Korea on the 127th May Day.

Attending the ceremony in Pyongyang were officials of the Central Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK), members of its reunification committee and delegates of industrial and regional trade unions, including the Central Committee of the Metal and Machine Trade Union of Korea, the Central Committee of the Education and Culture Trade Union of Korea, the Central Committee of the Transport and Fishery Trade Union of Korea, the Central Committee of the Mining and Power Trade Union of Korea and the Pyongyang City Committee of the GFTUK.

After speeches were made there, solidarity letters from the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Trade Unions of south Korea were read out.

Then, a preparatory committee of workers organizations in the north and the south for the Pan-National Conference was formed with the chairmen of workers organizations in the north and the south as co-chairmen. And it discussed an action program to enhance the vanguard role of workers organizations in the north and the south in ensuring the Pan-National Conference in close touch with the north, south and overseas side preparatory committees for the conference.

The ceremony adopted an inaugural declaration of the preparatory committee of workers organizations in the north and the south for the conference which was agreed between the workers organizations in the north and the south.

In the declaration the workers organizations in the north and the south said that the Pan-National Conference would become a significant occasion in implementing the north-south agreements to improve the north-south relations and open a new heyday of peace of the country and its independent reunification, underscoring the need to orient all exchanges and solidarity activities to be conducted between the workers organizations in the north and the south this year to holding the conference.

Stressing that they would launch proactive and staunch activities to strengthen the forces for great national unity and check the war and confrontation moves of the separatist forces at home and abroad, the declaration expressed the firm resolution of the workers in the north and the south, the eldest son of the nation and engine of independent reunification, to take the lead in implementing the north-south declarations and holding the Pan-National Conference.

Meanwhile, a ceremony of the preparatory committee of the workers organizations in the south and the north for the Pan-National Conference took place in Seoul with delegates of organizations of all social standings attending, under the sponsorship of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Trade Unions of south Korea.

A solidarity letter from the GFTUK Central Committee was read out at the ceremony.

KCNA

Origins of the Korean National Association

The Korean National Association was organized by Kim Hyong Jik at Haktanggol, Pyongyang, on March 23, 1917.

It was a secret organization with the aim of achieving national independence and establishing a truly civilized state through the concerted efforts of the Korean nation. Its fighting task was to enlist the broad sections of the masses in the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle by rallying them, firmly build up its organizations and drive the Japanese imperialists out and achieve the independence of the country on the strength of the Korean people themselves by taking advantage of the rivalry between the US and European forces and Japan for hegemony in the East in the future.

It drew its membership from among people from all walks of life including workers, peasants, teachers, students, soldiers (of the Independence Army), merchants, religious believers and artisans.

Its organizational network spread throughout the country–North and South Phyongan, Hwanghae, North and South Jolla, North and South Kyongsang and Kyonggi provinces–and even reached Beijing, Shanghai, Jilin, Fusong, Linjiang, Changbai, Liuhe, Kuandian, Dandong, Huadian and Xingjing in China.

At the same time as expanding its organizations, it vigorously launched information and publicity activities aimed at rousing the broad sections of the masses to the anti-Japanese struggle, and gave a strong push to raising funds and obtaining weapons needed for an armed struggle and training military cadres.

Some organizations were exposed in the autumn of 1917, and over 100 members of the association were arrested, but it was restored rapidly thanks to the energetic activities of Kim Hyong Jik.

It held a meeting in November 1918 and then in July 1919 at Chongsudong in Korea, and a meeting in August 1919 in Kuandian and a meeting in August 1925 in Fusong, China. At those meetings it advanced new fighting policies and tasks for its subordinate organizations and their members. To implement these tasks, it organized and launched enlightening of the masses and military activities by armed corps.

It was one of the largest underground anti-Japanese, revolutionary organizations at home and abroad which the Korean patriots formed before and after the March First Popular Uprising.

DPRK Will Bolster Nuclear Deterrence at Maximum Speed

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK in a statement May 1 said that the touch-and-go situation, created on the Korean peninsula due to the US DPRK-targeted joint military exercises for aggression and the military threat, has left a serious lesson.

The confrontation between the DPRK and the US has lasted for more than half a century but the US aggression hysteria has never reached such a height and the situation on the Korean peninsula has never inched close to the brink of nuclear war as in the period of the recent drills, the statement said, and went on:

The situation on the Korean peninsula proves once again that the US is the chieftain of aggression and war, and harasser of peace who is escalating tension and that the DPRK was just and far-sighted when it opted for bolstering its powerful nuclear deterrence for self-defence under the uplifted banner of the simultaneous development of the two fronts.

If the DPRK had not had access to the powerful nuclear force and had not gotten itself ready to counter the US and its vassal forces' provocation with merciless military counteraction, the US would have committed without hesitation the same brigandish aggression act in Korea as what it committed against other countries.

In order to check such high-handed and arbitrary practices and defend the sovereignty and the right to existence of the country and the nation, and to contribute to regional peace and security and genuine international justice, the DPRK has been bolstering its nuclear deterrence despite manifold difficulties.

The recent confrontation with the US reminds us once again of the iron truth that one has to build one's own strength in order to defend oneself from the whirlwind of history in which it is neither aided nor sympathized by anyone.

Now that the US is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK, pursuant to its new DPRK policy called "maximum pressure and engagement", the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence.

The DPRK is fully ready to respond to any option taken by the US, and unless it withdraws its hideous hostile policy toward the DPRK and nuclear threat and blackmail, the DPRK will continue to bolster its military capabilities for self-defence and preemptive nuclear attack with the nuclear force as a pivot.

The DPRK's measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership.

KCNA

The Legend of Kumdang and Sindok Natural Mineral Water

One day in August 1985 President Kim Il Sung was having a meal with Chongryon officials. During the meal he asked them to drink some Sindok Natural Mineral Water, saying that it was good for the health.

They tried it and found it refreshing.

Looking around at them, Kim Il Sung said: “There’s a place called Kumdang-ri in Onchon County, South Phyongan Province. ‘Kumdang’ means golden donkey.”

Then he told them the legend of how Kumdang village had come into being.

Once upon a time, a hunter lived in a village. One day he went hunting. He saw a deer and shot an arrow at it. The arrow lodged in the deer’s leg. The hunter ran after the deer. Suddenly, the deer was engulfed in a ring of haze, and disappeared.

After a moment the haze lifted and revealed a golden donkey. The hunter was so astonished that he gave no thought to shooting the donkey. The golden donkey disappeared and the deer reappeared. It limped towards a spring, drank the water and washed its bleeding leg in it.

Then, to the surprise of the hunter, the deer stretched out and leapt up to the top of a nearby mountain, as if it had never been wounded. The hunter tried the water, and found it refreshing.

Afterwards he built himself a house beside the spring. As time went by he grew stronger and stronger, until he could fire an arrow as far as 40 km.

The story spread rapidly across the country and lots of people gathered where he lived. Thus a village was created, called Kumdang-ri.

Winding up his story, Kim Il Sung said: “The water of Kumdang-ri is Sindok Natural Mineral Water.

Ten years ago, I visited Kumdang-ri and I saw elderly people over 100 years old making straw ropes, cushions and reed mats.”

The Chongryon officials, who had been fascinated by his story, fell into deep thought. Although they had heard that Kim Il Sung was very knowledgeable about nature, geography, history and customs, they had never imagined that he would know even the history of the spring water from a small rural village far from the capital city.

Kuandian Meeting and Kim Hyong-jik

The Kuandian Meeting was held in Hongtong District, Kuandian County, China, in August 1919. At the meeting Kim Hyong Jik set forth the strategic policy of developing the Korean anti-Japanese national liberation movement onto a new high.

Attending the meeting were the heads of various districts and liaison agents of the Korean National Association and chiefs of the organizations for independence.

At the three-day meeting he put forward a new, strategic policy of shifting the anti-Japanese national liberation movement from a nationalist to a proletarian movement.

For this, he stressed that members of the association should be equipped with the communist ideology, firmly build up the revolutionary ranks with workers and peasants as the main force by giving wide publicity to this ideology among the masses, and conduct vigorous armed activities.

With the Kuandian Meeting as a momentum, a struggle was waged to shift the anti-Japanese national liberation movement from a nationalist to a proletarian movement.

Great Program for Independent Reunification of the Korean Peninsula

Today the Korean people look back with deep emotions upon the exploits of President Kim Il Sung who provided an immortal programme for Korea’s reunification by clarifying the three principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity.

The President advanced a line for national reunification at the outset when Korea was divided by foreign forces and wisely led the struggle to this end. In his speech delivered at a mass rally on August 6, Juche 60 (1971) he put forward a proposal for wide-ranging negotiations that the DPRK was ready to make contact at any time with all political parties, including the ruling Democratic Republican Party, and public organizations and individual personages. As a result, the north and south of Korea held multifaceted contacts and talks, including Red Cross talks, and high-level inter-Korean political talks, the first of its kind in the history of national division, in Pyongyang in May 1972.

In his conversation with a south Korean delegate who came to Pyongyang to attend the political talks, Kim Il Sung said in the following vein: We cannot tolerate the Korean nation being divided into two.

We should reunify the country as soon as possible and hand over a reunified country to the coming generation. In order to reunify the country, it is most important to establish the fundamental principles correctly, which can provide the basis for the solution of the reunification question. Only when there are fundamental principles agreed upon by the north and the south, can the two sides make joint efforts for reunification and successfully solve all problems concerning it.

Then he clarified the three principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity for reunification, a cornerstone for the settlement of reunification issue.

He went on: National reunification should be achieved independently without reliance on outside forces and free from their interference. It is important to strictly adhere to the principled stand of solving the problems arising in realizing the cause of national reunification independently with the Korean nation as the master. Success or failure of the cause of national reunification depends on whether both sides promote great national unity by transcending the differences in ideas, ideals and systems or not.

The north and south sides should achieve reunification by peaceful means without resorting to arms and solve all problems through dialogue and negotiations.

The three principles, which indicate the fundamental stand and ways for solving the reunification issue by the Korean nation itself in conformity with its will and interests, is a charter common to the nation showing the shortcut to independent reunification.

The principles provided the Korean nation with a common programme to be adhered to in solving the reunification issue and made a fresh turning point in the struggle for national reunification. The three principles was made public in the North-South Joint Statement on July 4, 1972, with the result that they became the one and only programme which the north and the south confirmed jointly to proclaim to the world their decision to implement it.

The three principles were a striking demonstration of validity and vitality of the line of the Workers’ Party of Korea for independent and peaceful reunification, which embodies the immortal Juche idea, as well as an epochal event in the history of the nation illuminating the road for independent and peaceful reunification.

All the Korean people in the north, south and abroad should vigorously launch the patriotic struggle for reunification, closely united under the banner of the three principles, and achieve the historic cause of independent reunification without fail.

Zimbabwe President in South Africa for World Economic Forum On Africa

President Mugabe arrived here yesterday for the 27th edition of the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA), which begins today.

He was seen off at Harare International Airport by Vice-Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, Cabinet Ministers, service chiefs and senior civil servants.

VP Mphoko is Acting President.

Ministers Patrick Chinamasa (Finance and Economic Development), Mike Bimha (Industry and Commerce), Obert Mpofu (Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion) and Simbarashe Mumbengegwi (Foreign Affairs) are accompanying the President.

President Mugabe will join host President Jacob Zuma and fellow African leaders President Edgar Lungu (Zambia); Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Filipe Nyusi (Mozambique), Macky Sall (Senegal), Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (Mauritius), and King Mswati III of Swaziland at the economic forum.

The three-day event -- running under the theme "Achieving Inclusive Growth through Responsive and Responsible Leadership" -- will convene more than 1 000 delegates from 100 countries around the world.

According to the World Economic Forum, the meeting "aims to move leaders to change the way they approach development planning by designing policies that allow everyone to benefit from economic growth".

Benefits of economic growth, WEF believes, are disproportionately distributed around the world.

Oxfam International, whose executive director Winnie Byanyima is also co-chair of WEFA, claimed in a report titled: "An economy for the 99 percent", published on January 16 this year, that eight of the world's richest men own the same wealth as the 3,6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity.

The world, it claimed, could see its first trillionaire in the next 25 years.

The federation of more than 20 international non-governmental organisations blames big businesses and the super-rich for fuelling inequalities in wealth by evading and avoiding taxes, including paying unfair wages. Organisers of WEFA say policy makers will explore how the African continent has to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution -- a phenomenon where technology is materially changing the way human being relate across the globe.

Some of the topical issues that will come under the spotlight include Africa's large infrastructure gap, the digital divide, improving healthcare, financial inclusion, which is designed to help promote financial services to the general population, and promoting intra-regional trade.

Trade within the continent at 13 percent remains relatively low compared to Europe, North America and Asia, where it currently stands at 60 percent, 40 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

Since the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe has made giant strides in empowering locals through redistributing 12 million hectares of land -- considered by economists as the primary source of production -- from 3 500 white minority farmers to 276 000 households.

Notably, beneficiaries included vulnerable and previously disadvantaged groups such as women, youth and war veterans.

Over the past 17 years, Zimbabwe has been challenging exploitative neo-liberal economic policies that favour multinational companies and minority groups. And it is this principal stand that has attracted sanctions from the European Union bloc and the United States of America.

Zimbabwe: Opposition Party Zimpf Splits Again

Zimbabwe People First founders Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo and Joice Mujuru (file photo).

By Felex Share
Zimbabwe Herald

Zimbabwe People First has split for the second time in two months after a faction in the party today officially appointed former Ambassador and Retired Brigadier-General Agrippa Mutambara as the interim leader.

The development did not go down well with another faction led by the party's elders Messrs Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa. The faction led by the two elders said by so doing, Rtd Brig-Gen Mutambara and his group had expelled themselves from the party.

They accused Rtd Brig-Gen Mutambara of using money to land the post. ZimPF first imploded in February when then interim leader Dr Joice Mujuru parted ways with the council of elders led by Messrs Gumbo and Mutasa.

Dr Mujuru later formed National People's Party (NPP) while the elders remained in ZimPF. Mr Mutambara today convened a press conference together with Messrs Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, Munacho Mutezo, Claudious Makova and other officials whom they claimed were members of the steering committee running the party.

Mr Bhasikiti said they only wanted Messrs Gumbo and Mutasa to be advisors in the party with no leadership positions. He said they rejected a proposal whereby Mr Gumbo wanted to be the president of the party, with Mr Mutasa coming in as his deputy.

Zimbabwe: Not Under My Watch - Chiwenga

By Mabasa Sasa
Zimbabwe Herald

Zimbabwe's security services will not stand by while rogue elements belittle their Commander-in-Chief, warning that dissent from quarters that should know better will not be tolerated.

In an interview with The Herald and Sunday Mail yesterday, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantino Chiwenga said many of the people making political noises today were either utterly misguided, had a history of treachery or were Johnnies-come-lately to the struggle.

This follows a stream of commentary in the private media from one war veterans grouping which is trying to create the impression that the majority of liberation fighters - who are a Reserve Force - have lost faith in their Commander-in-Chief.

The general's sentiments also come on the back of claims by some politicians within Zanu-PF that they are the President's number one backers, yet they had a well-documented history of treachery.

Gen Chiwenga said: "The majority of war veterans have nothing to do with this nonsense that we are now getting daily in our media.

"The ones who are now championing themselves as the war veterans are members of an association which emanates from way back in the time of (Cde Chenjerai) Hunzvi."

Gen Chiwenga said people like Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) spokesperson Mr Douglas Mahiya must appreciate that they were fronting an NGO and not the majority of ex-combatants.

"I am talking on behalf of the Defence and Security Services of the country; and besides that, on the Zanla side, I am the surviving most senior commander. And I am not in the association.

"But when they go out there they talk as war veterans. They must talk as a war veterans association. But who are these people? What were they during the struggle that makes them think that they are now more revolutionary than Zanla and Zipra at the height of war? What role did they play?

"If they understood the political teachings -- that the party commands the gun and not vice versa, that everyone must respect the leadership -- they should know that today in Independent Zimbabwe we must all respect the leadership both in Government and in the party."

He said such "unbecoming behaviour shows that they (ZNLWVA leadership) were never cooked properly and they never understood what they stood for and what the revolution was all about".

"Apa ndipo patinoti ava vana ava vagara pfumo vachida kuridza ngoma nedemo -- hapana chinofamba. Pfumo harigarike, ngoma hairidzwe nedemo. Vazvizive kubva nhasi izvozvo, kuti hazviitwi," he added.

Gen Chiwenga said anyone with a grievance should follow the correct channels to air their views, and already such opportunity had been presented by President Mugabe to all war veterans and not just a single association - when he invited them to last year's historic indaba.

"This must now stop... If they want to remain as part and parcel of those disciplined, loyal, patriotic cadres, they must now understand that it is the party, it is the Government that sets the direction.

"The party commands the combatants and not vice versa. Hakuna mwana akagara nhaka, kana kutora tsvimbo dzababa, ivo baba vachiripo.

"Ndino dzokorora zvekare, ukadaro uri kugarira pfumo uchida kuridza ngoma. Handizvo?" he counselled.

Gen Chiwenga dismissed claims that he should not intervene in such matters, asserting that his history as a liberation fighter, and his status as the Commander of the ZDF and a citizen gave him the right to defend his Commander-in-Chief and safeguard Zimbabwe's stability.

"Here we are talking about how people, more specifically combatants, must behave. They are supposed to be role models to the rest of society."

He said there was still opportunity for those who had gone astray to clean up their act and stand on principle.

"But speaking on behalf of the Defence and Security Services of the country, this nonsense must now come to an end. We will not have our Commander-in-Chief being belittled by nobodies, who never commanded any battle ... Ngatiregei kudaro," he said.

He said President Mugabe had shown over the decades that he was a man of principle, and the rest of the body politic and the populace would do itself good if it learnt this valuable lesson from him.

"Nevamwe zvino vakuzviti vanoziva, tafunda sitereki, tava ma professor - vakatiza hondo iyi. Nhasi ikozvino izvi they now know," he said.

Africa Needs $35 Billion to Close Power Deficit, Says AfDB President

By NAN
Nigeria Guardian
03 May 2017   |   6:14 pm

Dr Akinwumi Adelina, the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), says that the continent needs 35 billion dollars to close its power deficit.

A statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Jennifer Patterson, AfDB Acting Director, Communications and External Relations, said Adesina made the remark at the Centre for Global Development in Washington.

Adesina said that the bank’s vision for Africa was encapsulated in the High 5s.

“They are to “Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa”.

He said to improve on energy, the bank had launched the New Deal on Energy for Africa with a commitment of 12 billion dollars over the next five years and with the goal of leveraging between 45 billion dollars and 50 billion dollars.

“Our goal is to connect 130 million people to the grid, 75 million via off grids and provide some 150 million with clean cooking energy.

“We have set up a whole new Vice Presidency just for Power and Energy; the first and only Multilateral Development Bank to do so.

“Last year, we financed 1.7 billion dollars in the power sector across 19 countries and will increase this to two billion dollars this year, leveraging 5-7 billion dollars.

“We’ve launched a 500 million dollar Fund for Energy Inclusion with 100 million dollars seed capital to provide affordable finance for companies investing in renewable energy.’’

He said that just as electricity powers an economy, so does food provide energy for people.

According to Adesina, Africa’s annual food import bill of 35 billion dollars, estimated to rise to 110 billion dollars by 2025, “weakens African economies, decimates its agriculture and exports jobs from the continent’’.

He also said that the bank had prioritized agriculture to rapidly support Africa to diversify its economies and revive its rural areas.

He said that the bank had committed 24 billion dollars towards agriculture in the next 10 years with a sharp focus on food self-sufficiency and agricultural industrialisation.

Adeshina that the recent drought and famine facing some countries (South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda) deserved swift action as 20 million faced food insecurity and severe malnutrition.

Adesina, however, said that the bank was planning to deploy 1.1 billion dollars following board approval to address the crisis and ensure that drought did not lead to famine.

He also said that the bank was taking action to level the playing field for women in Africa by launching the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) with the goal of mobilising three billion dollars for women entrepreneurs.

Adesina also said that to tackle the issue of high youth unemployment rates, the bank had launched the Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment (ENABLE) Youth initiative for young ‘Agripreneurs’ in several countries, including Nigeria and Sudan.

He said the bank had partnered with the European Investment Bank to launch the Boost Africa Initiative for young innovative entrepreneurs.

He said that it was also investing in training for young people in science, technology and mathematics to prepare them for the jobs of the future.

Outlining some other achievements of the bank on the continent, he said that 3.3 million Africans had benefitted from new electricity connections, while 3.7 million also benefited from improved access to water and sanitation.

He said that 5.7 million benefitted from improvements to agriculture, 9.3 million from access to better health care services and seven million from improved access to transport.
“The African Development Bank is delivering for Africa and it has the capacity to deliver more for Africa.

“It now needs substantial financing wind behind its sails, it’s time for speedy financing actions to accelerate Africa’s development,” Adesina said.

Nigerian Federal Government, States Incur N18tr Debt, Says Bureau of Statistics 

MAY 4, 20172:17
By Babajide Komolafe
Nigeria Vanguard

LAGOS — The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), yesterday said that the total public debt of the Federal Government and the 36 states jumped by 43 per cent to N18 trillion in 2016.   The bureau disclosed this in its report on Nigeria’s Domestic and Foreign Debt for 2016, issued yesterday.  

According to the report, total foreign debt of the Federal Government and 36 states rose by 6.5 per cent to $11.41 billion in 2016 from $10.71 billion in 2015, while the total domestic debt rose by 36.5 per cent to N14.02 trillion from N10.49 in 2015 trillion.

At the exchange rate of N360 per dollar, which is the rate for invisibles, the domestic and foreign debt result in N18.02 trillion for 2016.

The NBS report stated: “Nigerian States and Federal Debt Stock data as at 31st December 2016 reflected that the country’s foreign and domestic debts stood at $l1.41 billion and N14.02 trillion respectively in 2016.

Further disaggregation of Nigerian foreign debt showed that $7.99 billion of the debt was multilateral; $198.25million was bilateral (AFD) and $3.22 billion from the Exim Bank of China credited to the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). “Total FGN debt accounted for 68.72 per cent of Nigeria’s total foreign debt while all states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for the remaining 31.28 per cent.

Similarly, total FGN debt accounted for 78.89 per cent of Nigeria’s total domestic debt while all states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for the 21.11 per cent balance. “A breakdown of the FGN domestic debt stock by instruments reflected that N7.S6trn or 68.41 per cent of the debt are in Federal Government bonds; N3.28 trillion or 29.64 per cent are in treasury bills and N21.99 million or 1.95 per cent are in treasury bonds."

“Lagos State has the highest foreign debt profile among the thirty-six states and the FCT, accounting for 38.70 per cent while Kaduna (6.25 per cent), Edo (5.15 per cent), Cross River (3.22 per cent) and Ogun (2.90 per cent) followed closely. Similarly, Lagos State has the highest domestic debt profile among the thirty-six and the FCT, accounting for 10.54 per cent; while Delta (8.15 per cent), Akwa Ibom (5.25 per cent), FCT (5.16 per cent) and Osun (4.97 per cent) followed in that  order. Debt  is 18% of GDP — Rewane Financial market chief executives however noted that the huge debt profile portends danger to the economy in terms of job creation and infrastructural development Commenting, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane said that the issue with the level of debt is the huge debt service obligation which now stands at 66 per cent of total federal budget."

He said: “The debt profile is just about 18 per cent of our GDP. But the main concern is the debt service which is now at 66 per cent, and this is because the interest rate is too high. There is need to bring down interest rates in this country. I am not saying we should crash interest rates, but we should change the direction.

“The foreign debt can be used to substitute the domestic debt, and that will reduce the interest payment. Even though the level of debt will remain the same, and there is exchange risk, but this will reduce government borrowing from the domestic economy.

“This is because the banks are not lending to the private sector again; what they do is to lend to government because of the high interest rate. So, government is crowding out the private sector. If the private sector cannot borrow, then how do you get of recession? Also the total debt might increase to N25 trillion when you include new borrowings that is sought for capital projects. I think we should begin to tie debt to projects and productivity.” ‘Little headroom for development’ On his part, Managing Director Chief Executive, Cowry Assets Management Limited, a Lagos-based investment firm, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, said there is need to scale back on government borrowing saying the debt profile is unsustainable and could impede infrastructural development."

He said: “The Federal government debt service to revenue ratio  is moving toward 50 per cent. When you compare this to the capital expenditure; you will see that there is little head room for infrastructural development. The state of economic development in terms of capital development will be very limited.

“The good thing about domestic debt is that government is borrowing in its own currency, so the likelihood of default is low. But unless government increases its revenue we will get to a point of unsustainable debt which will make development almost impossible. So there is need to scale back on government borrowing.

“The domestic debt profile is not good for the system. It implies the Federal Government is crowding out the private sector. A situation where the government borrows at 18 per cent while the private sector is borrowing at 25 per cent does not encourage the private sector to create employment. We should not focus on debt-to-GDP ratio but on the debt service obligation. The level of debt is unsustainable. There is need to scale back on borrowing.”

Debt to hit N21 trillion in 2017 Meanwhile there are indications that the total public debt might rise to N21 trillion this year given the decision of the Federal Government to increase its foreign debt by $7 billion. This emerged last week, when the Federal Government wrote to the National Assembly, seeking approval for a proposal to borrow $5.85 billion from China to modernise its rail network and another $1.075 billion from the World Bank to help rebuild the insurgency-torn North-East. Buhari urged parliament in a letter to approve the railway borrowing because China has a limit on funds available from its China Africa Fund.

The president wants to sign loan agreements as soon as China approves the project. “These loans form part of the overall money for the rail strategy,” Buhari said in the letter. The loans are part of the government’s 2016-2018 foreign borrowing plan, he said. Buhari also asked lawmakers to also approve a $1.075 billion loan to help rebuild the northeast, which has been ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency, and to expand support to the poor in Nigeria.

“There is need for urgent consideration of the identified projects, which will enable us to start reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region in other to create jobs … and rehabilitate the schools,” he said.

China Exim bank has approved a $1.231 billion loan to modernise the rail network linking the commercial hub of Lagos to Kano, and also a Lagos-Ibadan segment, the letter read. Reacting to the development, the Head of Research at FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Ayodele Akinwunmi, told Vanguard that the domestic portion of the debt profile went up astronomically because it was partly in line with the government’s theoretical debt mix plan of 60:40 in favour of domestic. Even at that, he said the government couldn’t have pursued the foreign portion in 2016 because of the challenged external sector under the unstable oil price regime coupled with production disruptions in the Niger Delta. Consequently, he stated, the foreign debt servicing and repayment obligation was not going to be favourable and under this circumstance the government had to backtrack on external borrowings.

However, Akinwunmi said the seeming success or huge jump in domestic borrowing was crowding out the private sector as interest rate remained high while scarcity of fund persisted amidst huge government borrowings. Looking beyond 2016 Akinwunmi said he sees government already leveraging the improved external sector occasioned by a higher oil price and improved oil production to sure up confidence in external borrowings.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/fg-states-incur-n18tr-debt-nbs/

Workers’ Day Revolt is a Warning to APC, Says Wike 

May 3, 2017
Nigeria ThisDay

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has declared that the Workers’ Day revolt at the Eagle Square in Abuja was a warning to the All Progressives Congress  (APC) and the federal government that Nigerians are tired of their needless propaganda, lies and poor performance.

He also declared that the plot by the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris,  to plant weapons and money in his Abuja  residence was tantamount to a coup against  an elected state government.

In an interview with the African Independent Television in Abuja, Wike  advised the federal government  to  heed the  warning of the workers, retrace its steps and stop the lies, intimidation  and anti-democratic steps overheating  the polity.

He said the revolt during  the May Day event in Abuja, “is a signal for them to be careful.  Don’t take the people for a ride. It is a warning  to security  agencies  who are used to kill, intimidate opponents and rig elections.

“People are tired. People are impatient with the blackmail and deceit  of the APC.  Enough is enough  with the unnecessary  propaganda.  The patience of Nigerians is running out. What happened  at the Eagle Square is a warning.”

He regretted  that  rather than focus on fulfilling her campaign promises, the APC-led federal government has spent  time planting  weapons and monies in the homes of  opposition politicians, mainly  to distract Nigerians.

On the IG, the governor said the APC  is using the police chief to deliberately  create crisis  in the state as part of their  plan to declare a state of emergency in the state.

He said: “He wants the state to be pulled  down, so that they will  engender crisis and declare  a state of emergency.

“I will always stand against injustice, impunity and intimidation in this country.  It doesn’t matter what it costs me.”

He said the motive behind the plot by the IG to plant weapons and money in his Abuja residence is to embarrass him and create doubts on the credible information  he gives Nigerians.

Buttressing  his  assertion  that the IG is a politician  in uniform, Wike  reminded Nigerians of the APC leaders arrested printing  fake ballot papers before the Rivers rerun elections, which the police transferred out of the state  and swept  under the carpet.

He said the anti-corruption war is selective, citing the case of a former NDDC Director, Henry Ogiri, who was under EFCC  investigation, but was left off the hook the moment he defected to APC.

President Buhari’s Health: When Lying Becomes An Art

May 4, 2017
Niran Adedokun
Nigerian Punch

Early this week, I said elsewhere that I do not imagine there could be many other countries in the world where agents of government play on the intelligence of their people as Nigeria. Then, I did not realise that the manipulators of the polity had grander plans coming. And from the events of the past two days, it is clear that there just will never be an end to the absurdities that we get around the seat of power in this country

In my write-up, I talked about the three-week public non-appearance of President Muhammadu Buhari and the serial modification of reasons for his failure to show up by government spokesperson, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

You will recall that since his return to the country on March 10, after a 59-day medical trip abroad, the President would at least appear at the Federal Executive Council meeting and join other faithful to observe Jumat service on Fridays.

For a lot of Nigerians who appreciate the fragile state in which the President appeared on his return, those two occasions, one in the service of his fatherland and the other, in satisfaction of his personal spiritual affiliation, were good enough.

But, on April 12, the President did not turn up at the weekly FEC meeting. Mohammed informed alarmed Nigerians that the agenda for that day was too light and insignificant to demand the Buhari’s attention; hence he ceded the responsibility to direct the meeting to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The meeting did not hold the following week and Mohammed was ready for the nation. He explained that away with some excuse about the Easter holidays and why things didn’t work together in favour of the meeting.

When President Buhari did not turn up at the meeting for the third time last week, the minister bluffed on by saying that his principal had now chosen to work from home. He was working for the country as files had been moved to his home office and he got briefings from the VP on a daily basis.

Governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress were a bit bolder at telling us off shortly after. They came out of their first meeting to tell us that it was not compulsory for Buhari to preside over meetings of the FEC, hence we should permanently shut up. The nation then patiently waited to see what would happen at the FEC meeting this week.

But the minders of the President pre-empted the nation. The day after speculations that three former heads of state, two of who have been involved in deciding who leads Nigeria for four out of its five decades had a clandestine meeting in Minna, Niger State, Buhari came out of his hibernation. Never mind that no television camera, including that of the state owned Nigerian Television Authority captured the President at any time before, during or after his “closed door” meeting with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and the Group Managing Director of The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr Maikanti Baru.

To further defuse speculations that Buhari may be terribly ill in such a way that should provoke national disquiet as suggested by one of his political acquaintances and  former Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, wife of the President, Aisha, got unusual inspiration to tell the nation that her husband’s  health is “not as bad as being perceived.” She went on to tap into the brief of the duo of Messers Femi Adesina and Shehu Garba, official spokespersons for the President, to inform us that he was scheduled to meet Malami and Baru.

Although it would pass off as very convenient to the careful observer, Mrs. Buhari’s intervention in the confusion at hand was meant to be a masterstroke to hold off queries which were beginning to torrent in over the weekend. I am sorry to say, but it fails in that bid. On the contrary, it has inspired a desire to interrogate the motives of those who manufacture these strategies.

From the information that was shared, Mrs. Buhari just confirmed the fears of all Nigerians that the President is not exactly in good health, even if Mr. Lai Mohammed always tried to decorate the facts. The question to ask those who manage the President, including his wife, is this: if he is not in absolute good health, why lock him up at the Aso Rock instead of allowing him to seek medical attention in the United Kingdom as he told Nigerians when his returned in March? Buhari had at one time or the other confessed to the overwhelming nature of the job that he took on May 29, 2015, so what would a country in dire need of urgent leadership and direction gain from a President who can only function at half capacity.

It is more telling on the nation because, although the President is unable to attend to state duties with any vigour and diligence, his presence in the country, without any form of transition of power to Osinbajo, restrains the capacity of the Vice President to take those far-reaching decisions that would move the country forward at the needed pace. This is one of the reasons why I found Osinbajo’s chairmanship of the committee probing the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal and the Director -General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke, as comparable to sending a child on a meaningless errand just to distract him. It all suggests that Nigeria is currently running on auto pilot and only serving the interest of a few people.

Sometime last week, a popular online platform quoted sources as attributing the continued stay of the President in Nigeria to the ambition of some of the people around him. In the estimation of the publication, this powerful group has discouraged Buhari’s medical travel so they will continue to have a grip of the enormous powers of the Presidency. So for their own personal gains, they have enslaved and denied him the right to good health. They also deny the country quality leadership and unwittingly set us back.

But these friends of Buhari should do more harm to their hostage than they do anyone else. No matter how long it takes, the people will one day, have the benefit of good governance whether those who currently hold us down like it or not. What should be of concern to those who have the ears of the people currently is getting him in good health and the legacy that he leaves behind at the end of his tenure, the way generations of Nigerians will remember him.

Unfortunately, rather than focus on how to make the best of the next two years to execute the revolutionary mandate handed Buhari in 2015 to the advantage of the country and its people, politicians across the Babelic divides of the APC are busy strategising on how to outsmart each other in 2019, which is one of the reasons why lying and deception are becoming prominent tools in high places in Nigeria. But with God, Nigeria will prevail.

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Address Nigerians Now, Group Tells Buhari

By Yole Samuel
Nigeria National Accord
May 3, 2017015

A Non Governmental organisation, (NGO), Advocacy for Integrity and Economic Development, (AIED), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation in a live and interactive broadcast to douse the raging tension across the country over the state of his health.

In a statement signed by its Director of Research &Publicity, Comrade O’Seun John and made available to NATIONAL ACCORD, the group stated that the request has become expedient in light of various rumours and counter rumours ranging from incapacitation, disorientation and even death.

According to AIED, the cacophony of defenses which more than often have turned out to be false is doing more harm than good to waning goodwill left in the Buhari’s administration.

“Today the fragile fabric of peace and unity of our great country, Nigeria is on the vestiges of ruin. The continuous non-appearance of President Muhammadu Buhari from sworn duties and the reports of cabal infiltration of the seat of power is not only worrisome but negates the tenets of democratic rule.

“From available reports, our seat of power has once again been infested by garrison of political jobbers and power musketeers who have taken over the affairs of the country in order to purge it of its resources and wealth.

“We condemn in totality the grand disregard of Nigerians and mockery of our collective intelligence by aides of the President who have turned matter of national importance into a comic show of who can lie the most.

“In light of this, we are hereby calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation in a live and interactive broadcast on the state of his health without further delay”, the release concluded.

Anxiety Over Muhammadu Buhari’s Health Heats Up Polity

By Niyi Bello and Seye Olumide
Nigeria Guardian
03 May 2017   |   3:38 am

•Intrigues in high places threaten nation’s survival

Last Monday’s meeting between Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdusalaam Abubakar, three former Heads of State, ostensibly to discuss the state of health of President Muhammadu Buhari, has shown the level of anxiety the issue has generated in the polity.

The three generals who, at one point or the other since 1976, have been charting Nigeria’s course for ill or for good, are known to be the architects of the current democracy in which one of them, Obasanjo, was given the mantle to nurture.

Although not known to share the same thoughts on many issues, a trait that has brought them against each other in the past, they are undoubtedly united in their quest to offer directions for the nation to follow.

To underscore the importance of the May Day meeting at Babangida’s Hilltop mansion in Minna, Niger State capital, to the current political situation in Nigeria, is the fact the last time the trio met to take a stand on the nation was to midwife the current democratic rule in 1999.

While no communiqué was issued at the end of the two-hour parley held behind closed door, inside sources said the three generals expressed concerns about the failing health of Buhari, a fellow general and former Head of State, and discussed how to avert any political crisis that could be its fallout.

They are said to be wary of the intrigues within the Aso Villa seat of presidential power and the plan by some powerful players in the political turf to undermine the constitution and unity of the country for selfish political gains.

Being former occupants of the Villa, who understand the powerful influences that always hover around the seat of political authority and the dangers inherent in not having them reined in to protect the wider interest of the nation, the generals are said to have agreed to be on the side of the constitution in checking the situation from degenerating further.

Sources also disclosed that the generals agreed to use their wide contacts and influences to prevent the nation from getting to the near precipice that a similar scenario presented during the regime of late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua when, despite a clear constitutional provision, a “principle of necessity” had to be adopted to allow the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan emerge as the Acting President when Yar’Adua became clearly incapacitated.

JUST like the Yar’Adua era, handlers of the presidential public relations initially acted the ostrich by saying Buhari was hale and hearty even when he had surpassed his announced ten-day medical trip to London earlier this year until the President himself, at the end of a 49-day trip, declared that he had never been that ill in his life.

Although he appeared in public for a few days, he had since holed up within the confines of his official residence and after absenting from the weekly Executive Council meetings three times consecutively, the Minister of Information, last Wednesday, declared that the President would henceforth work from home.

With no definite official pronouncement on his health condition, the rumour mill has been agog with a lot of fabrications and insinuations that are already heating up the polity particularly on the role expected of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in the situation and how some forces are standing between him and the constitution.

The existence of these forces was first mentioned by no less a personality than the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who said those who didn’t know how her husband got to power had hijacked him.

Although Buhari, reacting to the statement during a visit to Germany last year, jokingly described it as mere women talk as his wife belonged to “the other room”, the impression of him as a president in captivity has been cast in solid iron.

Incidentally, as the generals’ meeting was being held, pioneer interim chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, in a rare gesture that exposed the underbelly of the crisis of confidence among the leadership of the party, between the party and the presidency and within the presidency itself, released a statement warning of how the President’s sickness, if not properly managed, could ultimately lead to ill-health of the nation.

While urging Nigerians to pray for the President and by extension, the nation, Akande whose statement many believe was the inner thoughts and fears of the Southwest power bloc that paved the way for the emergence of Buhari as president in 2015, confirmed the rumour in the public domain that the presidency has been hijacked by a “cabal” of powerful elements for selfish personal and regional interests.

In the statement, Akande said, “The greatest danger however is for political interests at the corridor of power attempting to feast on the health of Mr President in a dangerous manner that may aggravate the problems between the Executive and the National Assembly without realizing if, in the end, it could drag the entire country into avoidable doom.

“As delicately fragile the Union of nations making up Nigeria, so delicately fragile the democracy and the rule of laws governing the polity of the Union called Nigerian Federation. Certain Nigerian leaders, having been blindfolded by corruption, assume the possibility of using money in manipulating the national security agencies to intimidate, suppress and hold down certain ethnic nationalities or playing one ethnic nationality against the other with a view to undermining the constitution and perversely upturning the rule of law.

“To avoid the ugly consequences of letting President Buhari’s ailments throw Nigeria into confusion, I am urging all Nigerians to begin to pray for his divine healing and perfect recovery.”Apparently alluding to the 1993 political crisis that arose after the June 12 presidential election won by late Chief M.K.O Abiola threatened to tear the country along ethnic and regional lines, Akande said, “This is not Nigeria of 1993. We are in a new national and global era of constitutionalism and order. We hope Nigerians have enough patience to learn from history. My greatest fear, however, is that the country should not be allowed to slide into anarchy and disorder of a monumental proportion.”

PREEMPTIVE of a situation of anarchy that in the words of Akande, may be looming over the country, the Nigerian constitution in Section 144 (1) (a) and (b), (3), (4) (a) and (b), stated categorically what should be done to insulate the smooth running of the government from the President’s or Vice-President’s ill-health.

The relevant section recommends the setting up of a medical panel by two-third majority of members of the Federal Executive Council with inputs from the President of the Senate to ascertain whether “the President or Vice-President is suffering from such infirmity of body or mind as renders him permanently incapable of discharging the functions of his office, a notice thereof signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation.”

How ready the country is to do the needful in the current situation seems to be the question on many lips as the undercurrent of the deadly politics within the confinement of Aso Rock is taking its toll on the management of the nations economy at this crucial period of recession.

The war on corruption, which is the pillar on which Buhari put the administration, is also believed to be suffering because those who allegedly took over the government are said to be beneficiaries of corrupt dealings and are only using the situation to shield their actions.

While Buhari is said to be favourably disposed to staying in the background to take care of his health and leave governance in the hands of his Deputy, as he publicly announced at his arrival from London when he thanked Osinbajo for holding the forth, the same forces are said to have prevented the President from walking the talk.

ALREADY it is being rumoured that Osinbajo, who ordinarily should take over from his boss according to the constitution has not been stable in Abuja in the last three weeks probably out of fear.

A source also disclosed that some elements in the North have vowed that in case the president passes on “his vice would not be allowed to take over principally based on ethnic sentiment.”According to him, “This is the reason some northerners, who are concerned about the development have been making overtures to the Southeast geo-political zone to join the ruling party.”

It was also disclosed that some founding members of the party have begun to re-strategise based on Buhari’s state of health.Reacting to the developments the Deputy National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South West zone, Dr. Eddy Olafeso said the ruling party and particularly, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed are not sincere to Nigerians on the state of health of Buhari.

Olafeso said it is very embarrassing the way APC is concealing Buhari’s state of health, adding, “That has been the usual character of Alhaji Mohammed when he was the APC’s spokesman.”

While he challenged APC to convince Nigerians that Buhari is hale, sound and hearty, he said it has a far reaching implications because the president is the symbol and authority of the nation that must been seen in public functions and representing the country from time to time.He said the onus is on the ruling party to clear the doubt in the minds of Nigerians that Buhari is not critically ill “otherwise it would amount to a slap on our face and it shows that APC has turned Nigeria to a Banana Republic.”

The Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere also described the situation as unfortunate and embarrassing, as it urged the ruling party to shed more information on Mr. President’s state of health.

In a telephone conversation, Afenifere’s Spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said it was unfortunate the country is heading towards another crisis over the president’s state of health.

According to him, “APC must be told that Nigerians did not elect a leader that would be operating from home rather they voted a sound and healthy president, who is expected to represent them anywhere anytime.”A legal luminary, Ebu Olu Adegoruwa urged the Senate to declare the office of the President vacant since he is no longer in a good state of health to rule.

Adegoruwa said, “Since I personally got to know of the ill health of Buhari, I’ve changed a lot of my views concerning his government. We are all human after all, and no one can play God or rejoice over another man on account of his ill health.I then decided to pray for the President and also to lie low, in respect of my usual assessment of his policies, in order to give him enough time to fully recover. But hard as I tried, I couldn’t just convince Uncle Lai Mohammed or any other member of Buhari’s cabinet, to publicly admit to the people of Nigeria that the President is truly and seriously sick, as sick could be, even though I personally know the true position.”

He therefore said the option before Nigeria is for the Senate to declare the office of the President vacant and to constitute a medical panel of experts to examine his health status in order to determine if he can still continue to function in office, saying: “In the meantime, the Vice President should be sworn in as Acting President. We cannot continue in this fashion whereby a cabal has taken over the affairs of Nigeria, causing great panic in the land, purely for their own selfish ends. Enough is enough!”

In his reaction, former Delta State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dafe Akpedeye (SAN), called for caution in dealing with the matter of the President health since it is natural to fall ill.

He said: “anybody can be ill and you must know that age is not on the side of Mr. President. He is not getting younger again and it is not because the president is indispensable that make people to complain, rather it is the way things are presently”.

Akpedeye also called for efforts that will bring about improvement on the people rather than undue emphasis on the health of the president.Another senior advocate, Gani Adetola-Kassim said: “the president can operate from anywhere: even he can also operate from any part of the world. The point is that as far as he is still doing what he should do. As far as I am concerned, there is no place in the constitution that says the president of Nigeria must operates only from his official residence or office.

“There are also provisions as to when the president will not be able to perform his official functions and operating from home or wherever is not part of this provisions. So, the most important thing is, if the job is going on. I think the last time he traveled abroad, he fulfilled necessary conditions to some extent.”

But another lawyer, Chris Akiri, said, what the constitution says is that there is only one office for the president and that is Aso Rock Villa Abuja.“If he wants to go to anywhere for any reason, say on annual vacation or medical vacation, he must comply with section 145 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) i.e transmit a written declaration to the Senate President and Speaker that he is going on medical vacation.

“And immediately the vice president becomes the Acting President, the president cannot be sick at home and at the same time work in his office as president,” Akiri said.He also called on the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to summon up courage to act on the provisions of section 144 (1)-(5) of the constitution.

Buhari Absent Again From Cabinet Meeting

By Editor
Nigeria Guardian
03 May 2017   |   11:43 am

President Muhammadu Buhari failed to show up for a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, despite assurances from his wife that his health was not a cause for concern.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo chaired the meeting in the absence of the 74-year-old Buhari, who has now missed the last three gatherings of senior ministers and advisors.

The devout Muslim was also absent from Friday prayers last week and failed to attend his grandson’s wedding on Saturday.

His spokesman said he had undergone “a long period of treatment” for an undisclosed illness in London earlier this year and needed rest. He was working from his private residence.

Buhari has been under growing pressure to disclose his state of health since he returned from the British capital in early March after nearly two months away.

On Tuesday, prominent Nigerians and civil society activists advised him to take medical leave.

Local media reported on Wednesday that former president Olusegun Obasanjo met other ex-military rulers Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar to discuss the situation.

Buhari’s wife, Aisha, however said her husband’s health was “not as bad as it’s being perceived”, without specifying the nature of his illness.

“He continues to carry out his responsibilities during this period,” she wrote on her Twitter account on Tuesday evening.

The health of Nigeria’s president has been a sensitive issue since the death in office in 2010 of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, which sparked months of political turmoil and uncertainty.

During the 2015 election campaign, Buhari rejected opposition claims that he was seriously ill with prostate cancer and said they were a smear to show him as unfit for office.