Tag: Africans

  • Smart Europeans, daft Africans – By Owei Lakemfa

    Smart Europeans, daft Africans – By Owei Lakemfa

    Smart Europeans. After building their wealth from resources taken from the colonies, including gold, diamond, rubber, cocoa, cotton and human beings, they decreed that the only way to prosperity is through ‘market forces’. They taught gullible Africans that only the perfect market delivers, while state intervention stagnates.

    They are never in short supply  of maladjusted African academics who spent precious time writing ‘Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, PRSPs, for European cartels and gambling clubs like the International Monetary Fund, IMF. They also had a large reservoir of retards on the continent who injected  a debilitating virus called the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, into the people.

    They shout from the rooftops that the world is a ‘Willing Sellers, Willing Buyers’ one and anybody who opposes this must be a communist or communist agent. However, when faced with rising energy costs following their ill-advised proxy conflict, called the Russo-Ukrainian War,  they changed the music.

    Since the prices negatively affect them, they decided to abandon their religion of market forces and choose state intervention. Rather than allow ‘Willing Sellers, Willing Buyers’, they decided to force sellers to sell gas to them at prices they, not the market, will  dictate. Under the umbrella European Union, EU, they decided to impose  a price cap on gas imports and transactions.

    The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, who is leading the charge, says European countries must be prevented from outbidding each other so as to force prices down the throat of the sellers. Trust the Europeans, they will not admit that they are trying to force prices down to artificially low levels; so they have euphemisms for their anti-market plan; one is that it is a “price corridor”, another is “circuit breaker”. Whatever the nomenclature, the fact is that 27 European countries are united in trying to break the backbone of the mythical ‘Market Forces’ in the gas supply chain.

    Do you think African leaders and elite would learn from this? No. Many of them are too dense to comprehend basic issues. Many are power drunk and cannot in such stupor, think straight. As for many African economists and academics, they work towards the answer set for them by Western institutions, hoping to be given  grants, international job placements, visa or residence permit.

    This is why the African political class cannot decipher the simple game of neo-colonialists who built a world after their own image. A world in which they sit at the top  of the pyramid while Africans are at the bottom as the hewers of wood, fetchers of water and suppliers of raw materials. Let’s take sports.

    When Africa was repressed by the Apartheid regime, sowing death and destruction in South Africa and across its borders, they decided to take action against this monster created and nurtured by some European countries like Britain and their North American cousins in the United States.

    Then, New Zealand decided to send its rugby team to tour the Apartheid enclave as a way of breaking its isolation. Africa decided not to have anything to do with that country. It demanded that New Zealand be barred from the 1976 Montreal Olympics Games. Rather than take this serious, Africans were lectured by some European leaders and the International Olympics Committee, IOC, about how sports and politics do not mix.

    Twenty-seven African countries boycotted the games. This led to world champions like Filbert Bayi of Tanzania and John Akii-Bua of Uganda being absent. This, and the loss of $1 million in seat refunds and event cancellations, led to further condemnation of African countries.

    Today, 46 years later, the European countries who condemned Africa for allegedly mixing sports and politics, are doing the same thing for less edifying reasons: to get back at Russia. To them, it does not matter whether a particular Russian sportsman or woman supports or condemns the war. For the EU, every Russian is guilty. So they expel Russians from sports events. The Executive Board of the IOC which had condemned Africa for allegedly mixing sports and politics, directed “International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not (to) invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international   competitions”.

    The Russian and Belorussian football teams were banned from qualifying for the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The basic lesson Europe teaches Africa is: ‘Do what I say, not what I do.’ It is assumed that the Nobel Prize is a neutral one. No. Rather, it is enmeshed in politics. This year, the main issue in the world is the Russo-Ukrainian War; the Nobel  Committee could not ignore that. In wanting to be seen as neutral, it split  the Peace Prize cake between  two human rights organisations from Russia and Ukraine: Memorial and Centre for Civil Liberties and then added  a jailed human rights advocate, Ales Bialiatski from Russia’s main ally, Belarus, as the icing.

    Many in Africa believe that the Nobel Prize Committee is apolitical,  but its meandering on the Peace Prize indicates that it is not. In fact, some of its past winners were clearly unworthy of the Peace Prize. If, as the Award Committee claims: “Alfred Nobel said that the prize should be given to those who worked for disarmament,” how could it have awarded it in 2012 to the EU when it is a major player in the arms race?”

    This year’s Literature prize went to French writer, Annie Ernaux. Annie who? You are likely to ask.  How come the prize goes to people like Annie Ernaux or last year’s winner,  Abdulrazak Gurnah of Tanzania, while a prodigious and captivating writer like Ngugi wa Thiong’o is bypassed? The answer is simple: Ngugi is too politically conscious and independent to be handled. The clever Europeans also created in our minds what to believe or disbelieve. For instance, Adolf Hitler is presented as the devil who wanted to colonise the world. But they will not tell us that not just Hitler, but his brother European leaders and monarchs were also colonialists who in fact fought over colonies.

    Hitler’s genocide against six million Jews is unimaginable, but so also is the genocide against African, Asian and Latin American peoples by various European countries. For instance, while Hitler’s atrocities are drummed into our ears, we are not taught about King Leopold II of Belgian who massacred 15 million Africans in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet, unlike Leopold, Hitler did not loot Africa nor severe limbs. So, how come he is the Devil and Leopold and his fellow colonial raiders are not?

    The Europeans will continue to be smart; it is left for Africans to be reflective if they are to break the chains of underdevelopment.

  • Africans in conversation with their Cuban brothers and sisters, By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    AFRICAN leaders including former Presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Sam Nujoma of Namibia, Pedro Pires of Cape Verde, and Cuban solidarity movements in 23 African countries were last Thursday, October 7, 2021 engaged in conversations with Cubans on their collective past and future.

    It was not the usual intercontinental summit of states or institutions where deals are struck, diplomatic commitments made or aid promised. They were discussions among peoples with a shared ancestry, a common past and who foresee a better future based on their unity.

    The date chosen was forty eight hours before the ‘Day of the Heroic Guerrilla.’ This refers to the Argentine-born medical doctor-turned Cuban national hero and symbol of international solidarity, Ernesto Che Guevera.

    He had left his country to spread the message of hope and liberation among the hopeless, the hapless and the wretched of the earth. Along with Fidel Castro, Che fought in the triumphant Cuban Revolution, waged an armed struggle alongside Laurent-Desire Kabila in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC in an effort to unseat the puppet Joseph Mobutu Seseseko regime before being ambushed and captured in the jungles of Bolivia.

    Although a Prisoner of War, he was summarily executed on October 9, 1967 in an attempt to kill a myth, but ironically, this created the myth and legend that is Che Guevera. The Afro-Cuban international conversations held virtually as the biennial conference slated for Maputo, Mozambique could not hold due to COVID-19.

    A star contributor in the conversations was Father Michael Lapsley, 72, a Che-like international figure who at 24, left his original New Zealand home for Apartheid South Africa, made so much contribution in the liberation struggle, that within three years, was sent into exile.

    But in exile, the Anglican priest became so effective in the international anti-Apartheid movement that even when that evil system was being dismantled with the unbanning of the liberation movements and release of their symbol, Nelson Mandela on February 11, 1990, the Apostles of Apartheid still wanted Lapsley dead.

    Three months after the release of Mandela, the Apartheid regime sent Lapsley a parcel bomb in Zimbabwe in which he lost both hands, one eye with severe burns. The Father who had written that he was introduced to: “Cuba in gospel terms as providing good news for poor people” said when he was bombed, Cuba offered him free medical care. Partly in appreciation, when he returned to South Africa in 1992, he founded the Friends of Cuba Society, FOCUS.

    Lapsley speaking from Cape Town last week as President of FOCUS, told the Cubans: “Since the triumph of the revolution in 1959, you taught the world the meaning of solidarity. You taught us that solidarity is not about giving people the leftovers when you become rich, but sharing what you have however that may be.” Lapsley said Cuba can play a central role in vaccinating the entire African continent against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Former President Nujoma relived the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola where Cuban troops defeated the Apartheid army. That forced the Apartheid regime to accept independence for Namibia on March 21, 1990 and South Africa four years later.

    Cecilia Muezile, Secretary General of the Namibia-Cuban Solidarity added that struggles of the Cuban people have “inspired millions of oppressed people throughout the world to stand up for their freedom.”

    His Excellency Pedro Pires, Prime Minister of Cape Verde for fifteen years from 1975 and President for a decade from 2001, emphasised that “Africans in general have a duty standing with Cuba” for not just assisting in the liberation struggles, but also training cadres for post-independence Africa. He said he personally disagrees with the suffocating blockade against Cuba.

    Imani Na Umoja, of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, PAIGC said: “When Africa called, Cuba responded and when Cuba calls Africa responds! Revolutionary Solidarity!

    The worst crime in the world is ungratefulness.” In recalling the role Cuba played in the liberation and development of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, he said: “Our children went to Cuba with only their bags and returned as trained cadres: doctors, nurses, lab technicians, teachers, agricultural and agronomic engineers, sports and physical education specialists, among other professionals.”

    The Nigeria Movement of Solidarity with Cuba which includes the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; the Trade Union Congress, TUC; the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU; the Joint Action Forum (Civil Society Coalition) made a written presentation titled “We must not tire, we cannot be defeated!”

    In the address, presented by its Co-ordinator, Abiodun Aremu, the Nigerians affirmed that: “the relationship between Nigeria and Cuba is symbiotic and deeply rooted in shared historical and cultural heritage. It is not possible to speak of Cuba and the Cuban without reference to the tremendous influences of African, especially, Nigerian cultures.

    Hence, at these times of the tightening of the criminal US Blockade against Cuba with over 243 punitive economic, financial and commercial measures, targeted at crippling the Cuban people, we the Nigeria Movement cannot be indifferent.

    We are resolved to stand with Cuba as a duty to defend the Cuban people and the unparalleled gains of the Cuban Revolution. We declare to the whole world that Cuba is never, and will never be alone!”

    Kesselee K. Kanneh, President of the Liberia-Cuba Friendship Association said Che Guevara is in the heart of the peoples of Africa. South African, Moeketsi Sekhokoane said: “We as Africans like our respective governments, people and the world at large have categorically rejected the injustice, inhumane and diabolic economic blockade of the USA towards Cuba and its people.

    We call upon President Joe Biden and the USA Congress to immediately lift this blockade during these difficult times of COVID-19 and at all times. Cuba medically is assisting many countries and is also assisting in other spheres of our lives. Like our Father President Nelson Mandela said, it helped Africa including in Angola militarily against apartheid racists with no monetary interests at all and suffering more than 2000 casualties.”

    The Cuban side included the indomitable internationalist, Victor Dreke, who with Che Guevera, fought in the Congo and participated in the liberation wars in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde under the alias “Commandante Moya.”

    The Cubans were led by Fernando Gonzalez Llort, the President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, ICAP. He thanked Africans for their unshaken solidarity with the Cuban people which he says is manifested in the annual vote by all African countries at the United Nations for Cuba, against the American sanctions and embargo. Gonzalez who spent fifteen years in an American prison in Arizona for monitoring the US-based anti-Cuban terrorists, assured that Cuba will never surrender to “imperialists.”

  • Why Africans must henceforth reject Black identity – Oyakhilome

    Why Africans must henceforth reject Black identity – Oyakhilome

    Founder, Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome says it is high time Africans should stop claiming to be black as black signifies absence of direction and evil.

    He said the toga: ‘Black lives matter’ should stop, as Africans were not black.

    In a monitored telecast to members of his church, Oyakhilome said “Maybe I should tell you something, those of you that say black lives matter, I feel sorry for you! Do you really believe you have a black life? Do you want me to read to you the meaning of black?

    “Who called you black? Shouldn’t you have rejected that from the beginning? A contradiction, a bundle of contradiction. You refused negro and nigga… But that’s what black is. You took the English version.

    “Negro means black. Do you know what black means… Have you ever seen black? Black means the absence of colour, absence of good, absence of light and absence of direction. These are the meaning of black. Black is not a colour but the absence of colour.. like you are sick, don’t you understand it?”

    According to him, “It’s about time Africans say to themselves we are not black. STOP ALL THIS BLACK LIVES MATTER!
    Let no one call you black because you are not black… The definition of black is not good and they are using it to destroy you…

    “When you keep calling yourself black… You mean light is absent, colour is absent and you will never come to a place of light… You will be under… When God gives you a Prophetic instruction, it is important that you follow into the latter.”

  • US artistes only interested in us for retweets-Samklef

    Ace music producer, Samklef has averred that American artistes pretend to care about Africans for retweets.
    In a video shared on his Twitter page, the music producer said it is disastrous that many Africans have continued to fall for the various stunts used by American artistes just to gain attention.
    Samklef claimed majority of the actions of such artistes were inspired to get comments and retweets on social media.
    The singer also wondered why several of such artistes have continually claimed to love Africa over the years, yet failed to invest in grooming potentials and talents originating from the continent.
    “All these American artistes. How will they keep saying help Africa, help Africa, and yet they don’t have investment in the continent? Did any of them own a record label in Africa where they’ve paid for rent for and built? No,” he queried.
    “But yet they keep using our names, that they did this for Afrobeats. They’ll be dancing to Fela’s songs because they know we will go to their timelines to comment.”

     

    The ‘Molowo’ singer enjoin Africans, particularly Nigerians, to disperse their support for their own artistes.
    “It’s high time we start supporting our own. Jamaicans support their own, Nigerians support your own. All these American wash (stunts), you people should not be swayed by them anymore,” he added.
    “I have seen and experienced it myself. So anytime a big American artiste talks about Burna Boy, Davido or Wizkid. They are just looking for retweets, they know you will rush to their pages. It’s time we wise up.”
  • In Africa, Trump’s Fate Is Worse Than A Laughing Stock – Azu Ishiekwene

    In Africa, Trump’s Fate Is Worse Than A Laughing Stock – Azu Ishiekwene

    Azu Ishiekwene

    In a recent article in The Atlantic also widely used elsewhere, American journalist, Anne Applebaum, described the pathetic meltdown of US President Donald Trump, especially since the outbreak of the global health crisis, COVID-19.

    According to the journalist, not only has Trump become the butt of jokes in video games, the US President’s serial faux pas in managing the health crisis has also made him a laughing stock in memes and cartoons.

    On April 29, the US President reportedly phoned his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari, and promised to help with some ventilators. The next day, an irreverent mascot in a cartoon strip in LEADERSHIP, a Nigerian newspaper, asked if Trump was also going to send “Dettol vaccines,” a sarcastic reference to the President’s claim that disinfectants could mitigate the effect of Coronavirus.

    Now, something worse than being a laughing stock is happening to Trump and he could be merrily unaware. That idiom – laughing stock – was reserved for President George W. Bush, who was looked upon disdainfully in some intellectual circles because of his demeanour and his penchant for off-colour jokes. Yet, for good or ill, Bush still managed to keep the world riveted on America. It was difficult to ignore him.

    Trump is making the Bush White House look like the golden era of US exceptionalism. Africa is not laughing at Trump. The continent is ignoring him.

    It seems so long ago when his book, The art of the deal or How to get rich, was the companion of young wannabe millionaires. Or when his reality TV show was a favourite of millennials on the continent and those in diaspora.

    It seems so long ago when his entrepreneurial skill and maverick essence were hailed by non-conformists as the only way to checkmate the status quo.

    It seems so long ago when Trump’s underdog status and his story as the ultimate political outsider were regarded as the new model for recruiting transformational leadership and hailed as the cookbook to overthrow gerontocrats, sit-tight leaders and vested interests on the continent.

    Yet today, even Trump’s promise to make America great again sounds so alien and so hollow, that all the catastrophes in between – from his shredding of the Paris Climate Agreement to his scuppering of the Iran nuclear deal to his trade wars with China – are like echoes from a distant past.

    But they are not. These imprints from the Trump years created shock and consternation at first, then quickly gave way to sneering and laughter. Now, it seems some countries are no longer laughing, as Applebaum suggested in her article. They’re doing something worse: ignoring Trump and his America.

    How do you deal with the President of the most powerful country in the world who decides that it is in the world’s greatest moment of the need for co-operation and solidarity that he must walk alone?

    How do you respond to a president who despite multiple early warnings by his own experts that his country – and perhaps the rest of the world – could be faced with a pandemic decides to live in denial, only to be looking for scapegoats later?

    How exactly do you handle a president who does not know the difference between bug and germ and microbe and yet would not listen to those who know? A president who, in spite of being surrounded by people who know, insists, with a straight face, that UV light, a bit of sunshine or perhaps ingestion of disinfectant, will make everything all right again?

    From some of the world’s shitholes – so described and despised by Trump – answers are coming that ought to make the US President feel ashamed, if he hasn’t passed that point already.

    South Africa is not looking to the US for help to combat COVID-19, as it once did at the height of its struggle against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Bush was US President then. He will be remembered for making the most consequential intervention through the provision of antiretroviral drugs at a cost of about $80billion, which saved about 13million lives, mostly in Africa.

    Today, Washington and Pretoria have grown apart, with President Cyril Ramaphosa rebuffing Trump’s request to slam the door on Huawei over 5G. And in the fight against Coronavirus, instead of going to the US, South Africa has engaged Cuban doctors, as have Togo, Cape Verde and Angola.

    Ghana has been quite exemplary in its testing, tracing and treatment, and even deployed drones in delivering test results from rural areas to some hospitals at a time when deaths in the US were mounting, tests lagging and yet Trump was locked in a bitter quarrel with China over what to call the virus.

    Senegal, traditionally France-leaning, has set its own modest example accrued from its experience in managing dengue fever and Ebola six years ago. It has developed a $1 test kit, which gets the job done in 10 minutes and has joined the global race in the search for a vaccine.

    And though COVID-organics from Madagascar may sound like the herbal version of Trump’s disinfectant, it’s a measure of the desperate times that Nigeria, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau and even Liberia, have ordered supplies. Nigeria’s President could not even wait for Trump’s ventilators before lining up!

    It’s a tragic irony that Liberia joined the train to Antananarivo for a suspicious herbal remedy, even though its historical ties with the US should have made Washington its first port of call. Those days are gone.

    Those who are not looking to Cuba or Madagascar are going East, inviting Chinese help in spite of the recent upsurge in racism against Africans in that country.

    Sure, China is not exactly a sterling example in managing Coronavirus. It has more to account for than it is willing to admit. But Trump’s incompetence has managed to make President Xi Jinping look like a messiah. That is what the Chinese Coronavirus response team around the world has been called: messiah.

    The void created by US absence, compounded by Trump’s personal hubris, has left others with no choice but to take their fate in their own hands – the very opposite of the lesson history teaches about how the world overcame some of its greatest trials in the past.

    Some may argue that the response from many parts of the world, especially the unsparing criticisms of what appears to be Trump’s congenital flaws, have been unfairly exploited by his opponents in an election year.

    Conspiracy theories on both sides have had a field day and Trump may have been hard done by a section of the liberal press. In the end, however, he only is responsible for his own fate.

    If instead of using his own experts he chooses to rely on anecdotes and instead of following the facts he decides to invent his own reality, how can even his allies defend or save him, much less his enemies?

    Even in Nigeria where Trump had a sizable following among evangelicals who believed Barack Obama was the anti-Christ (mainly because of his stance on gay rights), the US President’s mismanagement of COVID-19 has left his reputation in shreds. And Nigeria’s President whose encounter with him in Washington Trump once described in morbid terms, must be wondering who really needs a life now.

    This could be the moment when the continent rediscovers itself and redeems its shambolic healthcare system. The voices calling for China to pay reparation for its malicious negligence are as resonant and determined as those asking the continent to look beyond the US to protect and save itself and its citizens. That is good.

    Fewer and fewer people are concerned about what the US does with itself in November – whether it would be Blue or Red, Joe Biden or Donald Trump again. Trump is not a laughing matter anymore.

    We’re past caring.

    Ishiekwene is the MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview

  • NIS clears air on visa on arrival for Africans policy

    NIS clears air on visa on arrival for Africans policy

    The Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammed Babandede, has said the visa on arrival for holders of passports of African countries from January 2020 was to accelerate African Integration.

    A statement in Abuja by Sunday James, the NIS Public Relations Officer, quoted Babandede as saying the decision would remove barriers hindering free movement of people within the continent.

    “Nigeria’s strategic decision is taken to bring down barriers that have hindered free movement of our people within the continent by introducing the visa at the point of entry into Nigeria with effect from January 2020,” he said.

    Babandede assured Nigerians of the service’s commitment to high professionalism in delivering its services without compromising National Security.

    Babandede statement on Dec. 11, which announced the Federal Government’s decision to allow Africans into Nigeria without Visa from January 2020, had been greeted with mixed reactions by Nigerias with many expressing fears over its security implications.

  • FG adopts ‘no visa’ Policy for other Africans visiting Nigeria

    FG adopts ‘no visa’ Policy for other Africans visiting Nigeria

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) said the Federal Government has approved that all Africans could come to Nigeria without Visa from January 2020.

    The Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede, disclosed this at the inauguration of the Africa–Frontex Intelligence Community (AFIC) on Wednesday in Abuja.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that European border and Coast guard Agency also known as Frontex is an agency of European Union (EU) tasked with border control of the European Schengen Area, in coordination with border and coast guard of Schengen area member states.

    “The announcement would be made soon by the President of the Federation.

    ”But we cannot succeed without a tool like AFIC. This tool is key if we want to implement an effective free movement across our border.

    “The tool is actually coming at the right time. AFIC would help African countries especially Nigeria that want to open its border for all Africans to enter at will. And now that tool is available, it would make the work easier for us,” he said.

    Babandede said that it was important to acknowledge the different forces in Nigeria curbing crime and insecurity.

    “But our duty is unique and you may not see it as it is in Chad, Benin or Cameroon.

    “The essence is that we are very keen and we have been working with EU for a long time. Frontex is in charge of border before they got another responsibility called coast guard which is also very keen to Africa especially checking member state of ECOWAS,” he said.

    The CGI commended the EU and Frontex delegates for establishing the risk analysis centre, adding that analysis could not be done physically without analytical system.

    “I was opportune to be at the Frontex headquarters, and I came with useful tools which are for border and control centre.

    ”This has brought about the building of border and control centre which will be inaugurated next year. So the analytical system from Frontex, border control system and even mobility would all be in one place,” he said.

    Babandede assured the delegates that the service would maintain the equipments and called for more training of officers.

    “We assure you of the site maintenance if we have a technical know how of maintaining this system. We have done that with IOM very well.

    ”All the equipments donated for e-Migrants registration are already been installed by all our trained officers,” he said.

    Roman Fantini, the head of sector, Frontex, assured the immigration service of training the officers as requested to help maintain the system and usage.

    Fantini said that AFIC was not a new development as it started nine years ago and had since grown to what it was today.

    He commended the EU and NIS for collaborating to ensure the security of the country.

    Ms Eleni Zerzelidou, EU head of delegates, appreciated the immigration service for beefing up the collaboration by taking a step further to ensure border opening for all Africans by 2020.

    Zerzelidou added that the EU would continually support the service in delivering its mandate and ensuring the safety of the country.

    She said that the long standing partnership with NIS resulted into border management such as NIS border management strategy, MIDAS, among others.

    “But we believe Frontex would do more to compliment all we have done so far in assisting the service and the county at large,” she said.

  • Review: Beyonce delights Africans with Lion King, the Gift Album

    The Bey Hive was feeling the love Friday over Beyonce’s release of the album “The Lion King: The Gift,” which the pop queen dropped as a sister piece to her new film, a remake of the Disney classic.
    Beyonce dubbed the 27-track album she curated and produced “a love letter to Africa,” enlisting several African artists as well as a host of stars including her husband Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, her co-star Donald Glover (who also performs as Childish Gambino) and Pharrell Williams — along with none other than Jay and Bey’s seven-year-old daughter Blue Ivy Carter — as collaborators.
    “I wanted to be authentic to what is beautiful about music in Africa,” Beyonce, who voices Nala in “The Lion King,” told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
    “The Gift” is separate from the film’s official soundtrack which includes a rendition of Elton’s John’s iconic “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” by Beyonce and Glover, who plays Simba in the film.
    John himself also graced the film’s soundtrack, released 25 years after the original, with a new song entitled “Never Too Late.”
    Both albums include Beyonce’s latest single “Spirit.”
    But it’s Beyonce’s “Gift” that has her legions of fans abuzz.
    The album features Afrobeat-heavy songs interspersed with dialogue from the highly-anticipated film, which also was released on Friday and stars Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar.
    In addition to pop royalty, Beyonce brought Nigerian musicians Tekno, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy, Wizkid and Mr. Eazi on board for “The Gift,” along with Ghanaian reggae-dancehall artist Shatta Wale.
    Cameroonian urban music star Salatiel sang with Beyonce and Pharrell on the thumping groove “Water.”
    “I wanted to make sure we found the best talent from Africa, and not just use some of the sounds and did my interpretation of it,” Beyonce said on ABC.
    In classic Beyonce fashion, the album skews toward the visual — what she calls “sonic cinema.”
    “This is a new experience of storytelling,” she said in announcing the album.
    “It is a mixture of genres and collaboration that isn’t one sound. It is influenced by everything from R&B, pop, hip hop and Afrobeat.”
    Beyonce also released a sprawling, richly pigmented video to accompany “Spirit,” which features the star and Blue Ivy in matching ruffled pink dresses, their long curls blowing in the desert wind.
    “Your destiny is comin’ close / Stand up and fight,” she sings. “So go into a far off land / And be one with the great I Am.”
    Pairing her powerful vocals with a visual feast, Beyonce makes about a dozen outfit changes in the video including both custom and couture looks, according to Vogue. The clip was partially filmed in Arizona’s remote Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon.
    It also includes the legendary “Lion King” scene where Simba and Nala lock eyes over a pool oasis, which the new film recreated from the original animated take.
    “The soundscape is more than just the music because each song tells the story of the film,” Beyonce said.

  • Africans and narratives on Liberty, By Bobson Gbinije

    By Bobson Gbinije

    “That this nation under God, shall

    Have a new birth of freedom,

    And the government of the people,

    By the people, and for the people,

    Shall not perish from the Earth”

    ABRAHAM LINCOLN (THE GETTYSBURGH ADDRESS, 1863)

    Despotism has a promethean and phoenix-like characteristic. Its vulpine temperaments make it draconic and long lasting. The only antidote to it is democracy and quintessential liberty. But a democratic structure in which the citizenry are assertive and vigilant about and of their rights and liberties.

    The liberty and consummate rights of men are exponentially elucidated in ‘the American Declaration of Independence’ that “we hold these truths to be self evident- that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” .

    Despotism has continued to spread its tyrannosaurus octopoidal tentacles in the 21st Century because of the deliberate misapplication of the nuts and bolts of democracy, cowardice of the electorate, edacious amendment of the constitution to suit the despots’ gluttonous quest for power, manipulation of the so-called educated, religious institutions, tribal pettifoggers, dunderheaded noodles, traditional rulers, cultural stalwarts, economic dapplegangers, lily-livered conscience mortgaging Unionists and political psychopaths etc.

    The skullduggery manipulation of Democratic Institutions like the Police, Judiciary, Legislature, Electoral Bodies etc by the powers that be has led to the prevalence of Machiavellian travesty masquerading as democracy in Africa and nay in our world. The essayist Henrik Ibsen posited in his book ‘An Enemy of the People’ thus “The most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom in our midst is the compact majority. Yes, the damned compact liberal majority”. If not so, the prolific and fertile growth in the past and present of African despots like Idi Amin Dada, Sanni Abacha, Jean Bokassa, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Gnassingbe Eyadama, Pierre Nkuru Ziza, Yoweri Musevini, Ngueso, Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Kabila etc wouldn’t have been a reality in Africa.

    The pulchritudinous streak of our democratic rights, liberty and freedom will continue to be a notional brummagem and splendiferous histrionics unless we stand up for our democratic rights and liberties in Africa. In his historic speech delivered in 1790 John Philpot Curran on ‘The Protection of our Rights’ said “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to men is eternal vigilance, which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt”. This is buttressed by the statesman Benjamin Franklin in his ‘Historical Review of Pennsylvania’ that “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety”.

    We have little or no ‘Democracy Building and Concretization Institutions’ in place in Africa. The democracy watchman and their watchtowers are just not there. Some members of Labour Unions, the Press, the Electorate etc are suffering from Laodicean lethargy, sordid pobyphagia, sunken in bacchanalian orgies in the land of the Lotos-Eaters and drowned in the caves of polyphemus to know the need for patriotic commitment to the tenets of democracy.

    The very, very few Africans who put and lost their lives and suffered martyrdom from their fight for the entrenchment of freedom and liberty have been consigned to the oubliette of history. The likes of Gani Fawehemi, Fela Anikulakpo, Steve Biko, Herbert McCauley, Isaac Adaka Boro, Victor Atiri, Raymond Pemu and others too numerous to mention have been forgotten by the march of autocracy.

    Hence, the patriot Lydia Maria in an Appeal on Behalf of that Class of Americans called Africans’ said “They (slaves) have stabbed themselves for freedom-jumped into the waves for freedom – fought like very tigers for freedom! But they have been hung and burned and shot and their tyrants have been their historians”. That is what Africans are suffering till today. What a shame!

    If not, why were our legal institutions in Delta State and nay Nigeria unable to call former Governor Onanefe Ibori to order? Why are we still quiet about the gross malfeasance and malversation of past Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for plunging Delta State into debts totally about N636 Billion? Why are most indicted people Governors, legislators, Commissioners and Ministers in Nigeria and ditto most African countries gone scot free? We are the greatest predators and worst enemies of our democracy, rights, freedom and liberty.

    We need to consolidate the foundational equipoise of our democracy in Africa by building democratic institutions not persons or individuals (President Obama). We most re-acculturate and re-orientate our minds and psyche through grassroots education and practice of democracy. It must be inculcated from play group, kindergarten, primary, secondary schools through tertiary institutions. The churches, mosques, family units must be involved to ensure the entrenchment of democracy not only grass root levels but from root hair base to tree top heights. The syllabuses of our schools and curriculum must be rewritten to involve true democracy.

    Our emphasis should be on knowledge of our rights, liberty and freedoms and we must develop the courage to rise up for our rights and liberties. Our leaders and our tyrants must realize in the words of Thomas Jefferson that “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is in its natural manure”. We must be prepared to make sacrifices for the preservation of Democracy, liberty and our rights. Hence, the essayist Thomas Paine (1737-1809) observed in his book ‘First Principles of Government’ that “He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from destruction”. Substantiated by General Douglas Macarthur (1880-1964) that “The inescapable price of liberty is an ability to preserve it from destruction” and buttressed by William Summer (1840-1910) in his book ‘The Forgotten Man’ that “There is ……. no liberty but liberty under law. Law does not restrict liberty, it is the only real liberty there is”

    Finally, despots all over Africa and nay in our world will continue to take the democratic rights and liberties of the electorate and the citizenry for granted unless we are Ulyssian, Jeffersonian, Lincolnian and Mandelian in our propensities to assert and claim our rights. The toga of cowardice and lily-livered conscience mortgaging proclivities must be discarded hook, line and sinker from our political lebensraum and we must put on the audacious streak of martyrdom and the fearlessness of patriotic sacrifices for our democratic rights, freedom and liberties. It is only then that we can rid Africa and nay our world of Neanderthal despots and tyrannosaurus monsters. God bless democracy, freedom and liberty in Africa.

     

    CHIEF BOBSON GBINIJE

    MANDATE AGAINST POVERTY (MAP)

    WARRI – 08023250378

  • Fake Buhari UN speech in circulation, Presidency says

    The Nigerian government has said a fake text of President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech to be delivered at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday is making the rounds online.

    The government, however, did not give the details of the content of the ‘fake speech’.

    President Buhari is currently in New York for the 72nd General Assembly of the United Nations, where he is expected to address the body.


    Bellow is the fake Buhari’s speech

    The president of the United Nation’s General Assembly, Your Excellencies, Heads of States and governments, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election to preside over the 72nd session of the United Nations’ General Assembly. I also wish to express my country’s appreciation to the

    I also wish to express my country’s appreciation to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Antonio Guterres, for his steady leadership and this body’s dedication to the search for a peaceful and equitable world through the charter of the United Nations. Every year we gather here to deliberate on the affairs of the world. Sometimes we implement what we talked about and move humanity an inch closer to that ideal relationship as members of the world community. At other times, we have our talks and end up not implementing anything to the disappointment of millions and millions of people around the world who look up to this body to provide leadership in a world that is constantly oscillating between advancement and doom. In all of these, we often forget that what we have accomplished in the last 72 years is unprecedented in the annals of human history.

    The world may be badly governed, but the fact that there is a form of governance agreed upon by all is an accomplishment in and of itself. So, I congratulate us all. Mr. President, as we say in Nigeria, he who does not look ahead remains behind. Our charge now is to aspire to make this world better for the next generation. We, the generation that knows how the world was before the United Nations was formed, must bequeath to those coming behind us a better United Nations that would be in a position to deal with the challenges of tomorrow. To accomplish that, we need to fast forward the reformation long proposed in this chamber. To restructure or not to restructure is no longer the question – the United Nations must be restructured for it to remain relevant in years to come. How to restructure the United Nations should be our priority number one. Several ideas are out there. All that we need is to get them together and agree on what works for

    Every year we gather here to deliberate on the affairs of the world. Sometimes we implement what we talked about and move humanity an inch closer to that ideal relationship as members of the world community. At other times, we have our talks and end up not implementing anything to the disappointment of millions and millions of people around the world who look up to this body to provide leadership in a world that is constantly oscillating between advancement and doom. In all of these, we often forget that what we have accomplished in the last 72 years is unprecedented in the annals of human history.

    The world may be badly governed, but the fact that there is a form of governance agreed upon by all is an accomplishment in and of itself. So, I congratulate us all. Mr. President, as we say in Nigeria, he who does not look ahead remains behind. Our charge now is to aspire to make this world better for the next generation. We, the generation that knows how the world was before the United Nations was formed, must bequeath to those coming behind us a better United Nations that would be in a position to deal with the challenges of tomorrow. To accomplish that, we need to fast forward the reformation long proposed in this chamber. To restructure or not to restructure is no longer the question – the United Nations must be restructured for it to remain relevant in years to come. How to restructure the United Nations should be our priority number one.

    Several ideas are out there. All that we need is to get them together and agree on what works for majority of the people of this world. As a leader of one of the leading African nations, I want to see a United Nation’s Security Council that is expanded to have one or two African permanent members with veto powers. It is a fair thing to do – one that will benefit the world by giving it a chance for a more balanced outlook to matters of importance to us all. As we have learned in Nigeria, sometimes you need to change in order to remain the same. It is the first principle of renewal. In the continent of Africa, the post-colonial era is going into a new phase. In another generation, there would not be any African alive who could remember when European powers once governed Africa. That emerging generation is creating new challenges for the African order left behind by the colonial powers.

    My generation is managing that challenge with the hope of leaving behind nation states that are less prone to crisis. We cannot continue to pretend that conflicts that emerged as a result of our colonial heritage have been resolved. Across our continent, they are still there. In some cases, bad governance is exacerbating these conflict points. Here are some of the things we are doing to make sure that we bequeath to the upcoming generations of Africans a continent that is healthy, wealthy and well grounded in law and order. We are close to enshrining in the African Union’s creed the fundamental principle of democracy, which says that a credible people’s mandate should determine who governs any nation across Africa. We are taking it a step further by pushing to make that mandate limited. We believe that Africa has numerous talents and no man or woman should be in the leadership saddle for an inordinate time. We are also working hard to expand the African market and open it up for our people to benefit from the free flow of goods,

    That emerging generation is creating new challenges for the African order left behind by the colonial powers. My generation is managing that challenge with the hope of leaving behind nation states that are less prone to crisis. We cannot continue to pretend that conflicts that emerged as a result of our colonial heritage have been resolved. Across our continent, they are still there. In some cases, bad governance is exacerbating these conflict points. Here are some of the things we are doing to make sure that we bequeath to the upcoming generations of Africans a continent that is healthy, wealthy and well grounded in law and order. We are close to enshrining in the African Union’s creed the fundamental principle of democracy, which says that a credible people’s mandate should determine who governs any nation across Africa. We are taking it a step further by pushing to make that mandate limited. We believe that Africa has numerous talents and no man or woman should be in the leadership saddle for an inordinate time. We are also working hard to expand the African market and open it up for our people to benefit from the free flow of goods,

    We are close to enshrining in the African Union’s creed the fundamental principle of democracy, which says that a credible people’s mandate should determine who governs any nation across Africa. We are taking it a step further by pushing to make that mandate limited. We believe that Africa has numerous talents and no man or woman should be in the leadership saddle for an inordinate time. We are also working hard to expand the African market and open it up for our people to benefit from the free flow of goods,

    We are also working hard to expand the African market and open it up for our people to benefit from the free flow of goods, services and knowledge across the continent. It is the only path to prosperity for over one billion people in Africa yearning for opportunities to show the world the potentials they have. As Africans, we will continue to build partnerships across the world. As we stretch our hands out for friendship, we do so with the expectation that our hands would be met not with pity and charity but with respect and dignity. Africans have a lot to offer the world, not just its minerals and human potentials. We are committed to resetting that old perception with a new one that proclaims Africa as a land ready for business. Those who have taken the steps to invest in Africa can attest to the mutual benefit that comes with it. In areas of infrastructural developments, research and security, we urgently need a respectable and mutually beneficial partnership with the world. Integration of the continent and expansion of prosperity can only come when there are good roads, constant electricity, clean water and

    Those who have taken the steps to invest in Africa can attest to the mutual benefit that comes with it. In areas of infrastructural developments, research and security, we urgently need a respectable and mutually beneficial partnership with the world. Integration of the continent and expansion of prosperity can only come when there are good roads, constant electricity, clean water and descent healthcare for our people. The United States government, The European Union, private investors and non-governmental organizations are getting involved in these ventures. Africa will continue to welcome the world in every enterprise that will uplift our people. It is only when we add value and build capital that we will reduce the grim statistics of Africa’s child mortality rate from preventable deaths. It is only then that we can reduce deaths on the Mediterranean Sea of African youths running away from conflicts and poverty. The challenge is ours. We accept the responsibility. As in the past, we know that we do well when we share skills and expertise. That was how we were able to work together with partners around the world to reduce the AIDS epidemic. That was how, in the last two decades, we were able to defeat diseases like polio, tuberculosis and ringworm in several parts of Africa. Africans have always been appreciative of the assistance we receive. We have also paid back to the international community with our involvement in Peace Keeping missions across the world. Mr. President, on matters of security, there is no gainsaying that when one part of the globe is insecure, all parts of the globe become potential victims of that insecurity. The activities of several extreme groups jeopardize not just the nation where they emanated but everyone far and in-between. The free movement of fighters and weapons has all but made the issue of security a global problem. As we have learned in Nigeria, you compromise the security of the whole when components of the sum are not fully valued, appreciated and integrated with the whole. We in Africa have been partners in the quest for a secure world. We will continue to be committed to the mission until all threats to peace across the world are eliminated. In Nigeria, we have degraded the capability of the Boko Haram terrorist group. We are on the path to eliminating the last of their safe heavens. We have also secured the release of some of our abducted Chibok Girls. We are working hard to secure the release of the rest and to finish the job of closing the Boko Haram chapter and get the North East of Nigeria back to a peaceful region that it used to be. Along this line, Mr. President, we at the United Nations need to do more to bring about a more equitable world where a large group of people does not feel suppressed, undervalued and alienated. Last year, I talked about the need for Palestinians to have their own state. Progress has not been made on that matter in the past one year. It is one of those problems that we must not punt to another generation. Any glaring unfairness, like the Palestinian case, diminishes our moral authority to preach and lecture the world on other cases. As we have learned in Nigeria, our stubborn self-righteousness blocks our ears from hearing the cry of those that we left on the fringe of society and blocks our eyes from seeing and reading the handwriting on the wall. In the urgent matter of the nuclear

    As in the past, we know that we do well when we share skills and expertise. That was how we were able to work together with partners around the world to reduce the AIDS epidemic. That was how, in the last two decades, we were able to defeat diseases like polio, tuberculosis and ringworm in several parts of Africa. Africans have always been appreciative of the assistance we receive. We have also paid back to the international community with our involvement in Peace Keeping missions across the world. Mr. President, on matters of security, there is no gainsaying that when one part of the globe is insecure, all parts of the globe become potential victims of that insecurity. The activities of several extreme groups jeopardize not just the nation where they emanated but everyone far and in-between. The free movement of fighters and weapons has all but made the issue of security a global problem. As we have learned in Nigeria, you compromise the security of the whole when components of the sum are not fully valued, appreciated and integrated with the whole.

    We in Africa have been partners in the quest for a secure world. We will continue to be committed to the mission until all threats to peace across the world are eliminated. In Nigeria, we have degraded the capability of the Boko Haram terrorist group. We are on the path to eliminating the last of their safe heavens. We have also secured the release of some of our abducted Chibok Girls. We are working hard to secure the release of the rest and to finish the job of closing the Boko Haram chapter and get the North East of Nigeria back to a peaceful region that it used to be.

    Along this line, Mr. President, we at the United Nations need to do more to bring about a more equitable world where a large group of people does not feel suppressed, undervalued and alienated. Last year, I talked about the need for Palestinians to have their own state. Progress has not been made on that matter in the past one year. It is one of those problems that we must not punt to another generation. Any glaring unfairness, like the Palestinian case, diminishes our moral authority to preach and lecture the world on other cases. As we have learned in Nigeria, our stubborn self-righteousness blocks our ears from hearing the cry of those that we left on the fringe of society and blocks our eyes from seeing and reading the handwriting on the wall. In the urgent matter of the nuclear

    We are working hard to secure the release of the rest and to finish the job of closing the Boko Haram chapter and get the North East of Nigeria back to a peaceful region that it used to be. Along this line, Mr. President, we at the United Nations need to do more to bring about a more equitable world where a large group of people does not feel suppressed, undervalued and alienated. Last year, I talked about the need for Palestinians to have their own state. Progress has not been made on that matter in the past one year. It is one of those problems that we must not punt to another generation. Any glaring unfairness, like the Palestinian case, diminishes our moral authority to preach and lecture the world on other cases. As we have learned in Nigeria, our stubborn self-righteousness blocks our ears from hearing the cry of those that we left on the fringe of society and blocks our eyes from seeing and reading the handwriting on the wall. In the urgent matter of the nuclear stand off with North Korea, we hope that calm heads prevail.

    And as our ancestors say, that the disobedient fowl does not wait to be put into a pot of soup before it obeys. We in Africa hope that North Korea and, indeed, all the nations with nuclear weapons will hasten to eliminate them all. We don’t aspire to have nuclear weapons in the continent of Africa, the cradle of mankind. We will preserve Africa in case the nuclear-armed nations of the world decide to destroy themselves in their so-called mutual assured destruction. Should that happen, be assured that there will be a place in Africa for those of you who will be lucky enough to survive your self-inflicted annihilation.

    While we do not wish for that, we have this saying in Nigeria that, “na when soldier slap you, you go sabi say police na your friend.” Mr. President, Nigeria is always willing to work with the United Nations and other international organizations to advance human progress. May the United Nations continue on its challenging task of being an instrument for peace, and may the goals that this General Assembly “for peace and a decent life for all on a sustainable planet” be accomplished in our time. Thank you all for listening. Muhammadu Buhari, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria