Trumpism Set To Upset The World

 By Owei Lakemfa

Unto us, a man-child is again born by the United States, US, electorate. Donald Trump is actually a reincarnation sent to upset the world.

*Trump

Friends like the European Union and neigbouring Canada are jittery for he is unpredictable and, foes like China are girding their loins. Trump is the weird one the incompetent and visionless Biden administration has given a smooth ride back to the White House.

Buhari: Hater Of Women, President From The Dark Ages!

By Femi Fani-Kayode

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me"- Psalm 23. 

I recited this scripture three times and waited on the Lord quietly and calmly when I heard that my wife and son had been unlawfully apprehended and detained in a bank in far away Ado Ekiti on the orders of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) whilst I was in Lagos. 

 Somebody should tell President Muhammadu Buhari to stop sending his goons to abduct other peoples’ wives and eight month old infant babies and to stop trying to traumatise them, lock them up and destroy their lives simply because they are married to or fathered by opposition politicians and those he hates. 

He should leave my wife Precious Chikwendu, my eight month old son, Aragorn, and other members of my family alone, face me directly and be a man. Even in war the wives and children of the enemy are out of bounds. 

The truth is that Buhari is nothing more than a coward and a bully and he will suffer the consequences of his actions because God will punish him. 

I give thanks to the Living God, the fearless lion that is known as Governor Ayo Fayose and the good people of Ado Ekiti for saving the lives of my loved ones and protecting them from the barbaric and illegal actions and tyranny of the fascists of the EFCC. 

I have nothing but contempt for these people. They are the scum of the earth and by the time this is all over they will know that I serve a mighty God.

Despite the threats, persecution, violence and intimidation that my family and I have been subjected to over the last one year my opposition to the Buhari government remains implacable and unrelenting and I refuse to be silenced.

I said that Buhari was an evil man right from the outset and that he would prove to be an incompetent and disastrous President if elected into office and I have been proved right. 

If he and his security forces are not killing Shiite Muslims, marginalising Christians, silencing and intimidating critics, locking up members of the opposition, storming the homes of judges or threatening bloggers and journalists they are sponsoring Fulani militants and herdsmen to commit acts of barbarity and terror against their fellow Nigerians. 

If they are not impoverishing Nigerians, decimating the economy or freezing the bank accounts of innocent men and women and their family members they are tormenting, abducting and locking up the wives, infants and babies of opposition figures. 

If they are not intimidating and charging leaders of the Senate and other senior legislators to court on trumped up charges, murdering IPOB youths, butchering Niger Deltans, humiliating and cheating their own party leaders or discrediting and jailing dissenters they are denigrating women and confining them to the kitchen and bedroom. 

Buhari has divided our country along ethnic, religious and regional lines as never before and he has subjected the Nigerian people to levels of starvation, deprivation, poverty and suffering that were hitherto unknown. 

And it is not just southerners and Christians that are feeling the pinch and suffering the pain and affliction. Millions of northern Muslims are feeling it as well. If anyone doubts that I challenge Buhari to walk the streets of Kano today and see what happens.

One wonders how things got so bad? One wonders what engendered this terrible affliction and what attracted this deep-rooted curse of a government? 

Somaliland: The Strains Of Success

Somaliland’s hybrid system of tri-party democracy and traditional clan-based governance has enabled the consolidation of state-like authority, social and economic recovery and, above all, relative peace and security but now needs reform. Success has brought greater resources, including a special funding status with donors – especially the UK, Denmark and the European Union (EU) – as well as investment from and diplomatic ties with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), though not international recognition. It is increasingly part of the regional system; ties are especially strong with Ethiopia and Djibouti. Given the continued fragility of the Somalia Federal Government (SFG), which still rejects its former northern region’s independence claims, and civil war across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen, Somaliland’s continued stability is vital. This in turn requires political reforms aimed at greater inclusion, respect for mediating institutions (especially the professional judiciary and parliament) and a regional and wider internationally backed framework for external cooperation and engagement.
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Is Autumn Finally Here For Robert Mugabe?

Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Robert Mugabe, the 91-year old president of Zimbabwe – that beautiful but horribly impoverished country tucked away in the Southern part of Africa – has always managed to emerge colourful in his endless battle of wits with the West. He has over the years been able to retain the admiration and support of a sizable percentage of his people (despite the biting economic hardship in his country) and remained the toast of quite a number of African intellectuals.

**President Mugabe and wife, Grace 

Even his worst enemies would admit that he is very intelligent, well-informed and articulate. At 91, he is yet to show any convincing signs that age is eating into his well-cultivated intellect and psychological bearing. Always impeccably turned out in well-tailored suits, Mugabe remains many people’s pleasant idea of ageing gracefully and a delight to watch at press conferences or interviews.

Although, the recent decision of the European Union (EU) to relax sanctions on Mugabe’s country might represent a grudging admission by the West that, perhaps, it is gradually losing the argument over Zimbabwe , it remains a glaring fact that Mugabe presides over a very sick country. The United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) said two weeks ago that 16% of Zimbabwe ’s population “are projected to be food insecure at the peak of the 2015-16 lean season, the period following harvest when food is especially scarce.” According to the WFP, this situation “represents a 164% increase in food insecurity compared to the previous season.”

The Zimbabwean dollar is long dead and dressed for burial – brutally murdered by hyperinflation that hit an unprecedented 500 billion per cent in 2008 according to several reports (mostly in the Western media) and 231,000,000% according to the official account. A couple of years ago, a Zambian friend showed me a 40 billion Zimbabwean dollar bill which he said could not buy a loaf of bread. Looking back now, one can even refer to that period as the finest hour for the Zimbabwean currency. In January 2009, Zimbabwe introduced a One Trillion Dollar (Z$1000 tr) note whose worth was placed at about US$30 (£20). Since then, the currency has received even more devastating battering and living in Zimbabwe , according to reports, has been one bit of a hell, with the hapless citizens being regularly referred to as poor, starving billionaires.

In June this year (2015), the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (the country’s Central Bank) intent on formally removing the worthless Zimbabwean dollars from the banking system asked the citizens to start exchanging the billions, trillions and quadrillions of the local currency in their bank accounts or hoarded at home for just a few US dollars or cents, as the case may be. In a statement in Harare , the Reserve Bank governor, John Mangudya, advised the “banking public [to] visit their banks to establish the balances which were in their accounts.” He explained that officials of the apex bank “have interacted with the banks and they still have all the information, which we as the Reserve Bank also authenticated," so, they were not envisaging any difficulties in the exchange process.   

Why Nigeria Does Not Need Renewable Energy For Main Power Generation

By Idowu Oyebanjo

Recently, there has been an increase in the agitation for the deployment of alternative sources of energy for the generation of electricity in Nigeria especially when the problem of providing stable electricity seems to be intractable. But to be frank, this is not how to solve the problem. The inclusion of alternative energy sources as part of the total mix of generation portfolio is recommended but this must remain as "back up" to electricity generation from conventional sources of energy.

*President Buhari

There is a general tendency to follow the crowd by copying the trend in developed economies and most times this yields positive results. However, this will only be the case after a careful consideration of local circumstances. The Western world is persuading Nigeria to embrace their much needed market for Renewable Energy System not because they want to help, but because of the trade and economic benefits it will bring them in terms of the gains from the delivery of goods and services that this will bring, huge financial gains from the cost of expatriates they will export to us just like in the oil industry now taken over by their own mostly less educated professionals compared to locals, economy of raw materials in the industry they really need in their own environment, making Nigeria a dumping ground for their products among other reasons. If any country is serious about assisting Nigeria, they should provide funds and expertise to build, operate, maintain and transfer ownership of thermal plants (OCGT and CCGTs) in Nigeria within the shortest time frame possible.

There is no doubt that the capacity credit (I use a technical term here) of most of the renewable electricity systems is low compared to that of conventional generation which in simple terms means they cannot be relied upon for grid operations exactly as electricity generated from conventional energy sources such as oil, gas, coal etc. Power System is difficult to explain to non-power engineers especially those who hear about what takes place in other countries and believe Nigeria should copy them hook line and sinker without looking at local circumstances.