Chido Nwangwu writes about the lesson learnt from the Nigeria-Biafra War (1967- 1970) and the need to ensure equity and fairness among all Nigerians irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliations.

Again, this is the weekend of May 30, the date of the formal declaration of the former Republic of Biafra: the Land of the Rising Sun! It was declared in 1967.

As a geo-political entity in its war with the rest of Nigeria, it became defunct in 1970.  Agitations have continued….

This commentary reflects parts of my updated analyses of some of the major issues regarding Biafra.

Biafra holds a duality of meaning to the Igbo and other Nigerians. To millions, it was the highest point of their expression of the creative  skills and existential ingenuity of the Igbo, Annang, Ibibio, the Efik,some sections of Ijaw, Ogoni and other constituent parts of the People’s Republic of Biafra, since 1967.

 It saw the Biafrans prove that technological competence and self-reliance are possible for any community, nation, or race that perseveres.

The Igbo and their fellow Biafrans also proved during the 1967-1970 Nigeria-Biafra War, that the serial and violent acts of corruption, chocking incapacities and inability to move the needle of technological innovations in Nigeria were not in our genes, but rather environmentally induced. Especially by lack of visionary leadership. Chinua Achebe, the Prophet, and father of African literature, was right: calling the leadership critical towards achieving development.

Say what you may against the Head of State of Biafra, General Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, he mobilized and conscientized the collective sense of duty and dedication of the highest intellect to see Biafra through a path of thunder and tempest. He has a permanent place in historical consequence; in my opinion, as not only the greatest Igbo that has ever lived, but one of the most charismatic figures in history!  Hence, no matter how many times, no matter how many ways his detractors yell words of derogation or write mountains of malice and lies against him, he is etched in the hearts of an overwhelming majority of the Igbo nation.

I recall the high honor of riding with Ojukwu and Dr. Chuba Okadigbo to the launch of Ojukwu’s controversial book, Because I am Involved, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos. Okadigbo was political adviser of the then President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari until December 31, 1983, I was working for Dr Okadigbo’s publications as Assistant Editor of Africa & The World Journal and the Platform magazine from 1988 to 1990.

I was sent to Okadigbo by then founding Managing Director of The Guardian, Dr Stanley Macebuh.

I interviewed Ojukwu three times; one at his house in Lagos (with the prolific scholar and Editor of Platform, Dr. Chidi Amuta and Okadigbo). I interviewed Ojukwu twice in the U.S.

Biafra has another side. It was a crushing of the highest level of what was possible and shattered it to smithereens.

It is a metaphor that even the best of hopes are restrained on the canvas, military, and consorted opposition.

 Biafra’s duality of meaning, in my view, has come to shape, the political-economics and social tendencies of the Igbo. The impact of these events and their twists and turns have led me to the stipulations of my theory of the duality of the Igbo outlook, post-1970. Therefore, I classify into two major tendencies as permeating and defining the Igbo political and business behavior.

 First, there is the messianic Igbo.

Second, there is the transactionalist Igbo.

The messianic Igbo looks forward to salvational leadership in the mode of the great Nnamdi Azikiwe, Michael Okpara, and Ojukwu. They empower vehicles of agitation which define the Igbo interest as they best know how, such as IPOB, MASSOB, MOBIN, among others.

The messianic Igbo strongly believes that the best way forward is to optimize the resources across the southeast of Nigeria under a new Republic of Biafra.

On the other hand, the transactionalist are focused more on search of economic space and frontiers of business and enterprise from the great city which captures the pulse and unbending will of the Igbo bu Igbo, Aba (my birthplace) all the way to Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Mozambique, South Africa, the two Congos, Singapore, the north American continent, Europe and as far away as God zone: New Zealand. They do not seek restrictive borders; they create transnational corporations with operational headquarters in the city or country of their activity while their beloved homeland is crying for investments.

Some of them, I must note, have not come back home with suitcases of success but disgrace! The transactionalists are more likely to join organizations that are pan-Nigerian and pan-African.

Somehow, in unique Igbo-speak and earned ascription of concurrence, both the messianics and the transactionalists find convergence in pursuit of the core and cardinal Igbo prayers, anchored on the principles of fairness, equity and liberty. Since 1948, the Igbo, consistently ask for only one thing: a level playing field for all.

I have studied the pre-colonial and colonial Igbo history and contemporary experiences.

I have followed and read a dozen books and hundreds of articles on the Nigeria-Biafra War (1967 to 1970), I have followed the legitimate issues and concerns about the marginalization of the Igbo [1970-1978], and especially 2015 to date, May 2023— being the end of the eight years of the presidency of retired General Muhammadu Buhari, a disatrous presidency of small things, of petty grudges, af malice and bigotries!

I believe — as do millions of realistic Nigerians — that the Buhari presidency of ancient grudges, unwittingly via his lopsided appointments and assorted nepotisms, unleashed escalating demands against Nigeria’s 1914 colonial borders as imposed and implemented under The Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern regions by the British soldier of raw materials and minerals named Lord Lugard.

I hear the familiar demands approximating the historical agreement at Aburi in Ghana, as reflected in the official minutes, dated January 4-5, 1967. I hear the cries of some young men and young women whose siblings and parents were murdered in the routine killing and genocidal slaughter of the Igbo and the ethnic groups/communities who constituted Biafra. I hear a demand on all those who profit from the militarized impositions of a perpetual, non-negotiable “national unity” since the 1960s to date, circa 2024.

It seems to be a demand against domestic agents and foreign corporations whose actions have turned the once evergreen Niger Delta into a decimated, polluted environmental nightmare.

One thing is certain: the ideological children and grandchildren of Odumegwu Ojukwu, of Chinua Achebe, of General Effiong, of Christopher Okigbo, have kept a message of national identity, unapologetic zeal and unbowed resilience regarding the 1967-1970 war. Especially, those who swear “citizenship” under the golden yellow colors of the Land of the Rising Sun! Biafra.

I hear a demand for economic security and against 10 years of unemployment after graduation.

I hear, loud and clear, a stand against discrimination in admissions and employment.

I hear…

-Dr Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1993 in Houston.

@Chidö247

Chido Nwangwu recalls the role played by then United States President Donald Trump in the January 6, 2021 co-ordinated violent attack on the Congressional building at the Capitol in Washington DC.

Qualify or disqualify the man, the United States presidential election in November 2024 will be, to a large extent, about former President Donald Trump’s candidacy. There are issues facing him regarding the American Constitution’s “insurrection clause.” It is under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Trump, the most talked about politician in the country, is still contending with the roles and instigations he, allegedly, engaged in on January 6, 2021.

Significantly, the Supreme Courts of two States have ruled differently on the issues.

First, the Colorado Supreme Court on December 19, 2023, banned former Trump, a Republican, from the state’s 2024 ballot.

It ruled that ”President Trump did not merely incite the insurrection…. Even when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President [Mike] Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes. These actions constituted overt, voluntary, and direct participation in the insurrection.”

Second, the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal from a group of voters in the state who challenged allowing Trump to remain on the Republican presidential primary ballot. The primary is scheduled for February  27, 2024.

Let’s get the background to this issue.

On January 6, 2021, an evidently coordinated mob of supporters of President Donald Trump and their allied confederacy of extremists and xenophobes set upon and violently attacked the United States Capitol. That is, the congressional building in Washington, D.C.

It was a sad and disgraceful day. I watched the events unfold live on tv. It was almost too much to take in as true. But it was true.

Like many of you, I was wondering: what is this happening? Is this the great America or a Third World event superimposed on the capital of the American congressional institution?

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump’s name, Trump brand and Trump legacy were instantly reduced to the level of an insurrectionist.

The man, Trump, immediately became legislated into history as the first president of America who levied war of destruction on the institutions of democracy in America.

Americans including those who supported him all these years could not believe their eyes when the instinctively petty and chaotic Trump openly and viciously instigated his mob to walk to the Congress and “show strength”.  It was a direct and naked message for confrontation.

It was an open invitation to violate the operations of the legislative arm of the American government through his own mob! Trump has, falsely, been claiming that the election of November 2020 which he was factually and mathematically defeated by Joe Biden was ”stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats”!

Trump’s mob and their insurrection had led to the deaths of several persons, including Capitol  Police officers. 

Consequently, one of the daughters of the arch-conservative Republican Dick Cheney (former vice president), Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney will be remembered well by history for her reasons to impeach Trump as President of United States on Wednesday, January 13, 2021:

“On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic…. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not.”

She concluded, specifically: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. I will vote to impeach the President.”

And, she did!

After realizing that history and decency and patriotism had left him while he chose to be Trump’s shameless apologist and water carrier, who later became and was impeached a few months ago as U.S House Speaker (at the time he was Minority Leader) Kevin McCarthy, R-California, managed to say that Trump “bears responsibility” for the insurrection.

McCarthy returned to the position of being a footstool for Mr. Trump.

I still believe, like millions of Americans that Mr. Trump has, through a toxic combination of recklessness, lack of self-restraint, self-glorification, an over-bearing instinct to lie, and petty vindictiveness reduced his own name and legacy to the lowest levels of Presidents in American and world history of democratic governments.

Remarkably, after one year, most of those thorny issues are being sorted while some will linger.

I ask, reasonably: What next for Mr. Trump?

What next for American democracy?

Soon, time will tell.

-Dr Nwangwu established the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the Internet USAfricaonline.com.

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Chido Nwangwu writes about the celebration of Ikeji Aro festival to mark the harvest and commencement of a new yam season among the Arochukwus in South Eastern part of Nigeria.

Ikeji Aro is the special and festive event celebrating the harvest of new yam, in our ancestral home of Arochukwu and on different dates in Aro heritage communities across the entire Igbo land, parts of Nigeria, the Cameroons, and other related diasporan communities.

From Los Angeles to Dublin, from Ihiala to Ndikerionwu, from Atani to Ajatakiri, from Ajalli (Ujari) to Arondizuogu, the focus, clout and dedication of those who share in this heritage of the ancient Aro kingdom of Arochukwu are worthy and remarkable.  

Today, in September, the Ikeji Aro — amid its assortment of yam, troops of masquerades, variegated ceremonies, medley of dances and cast of cultural celebrations — still remains one of the foremost manifestations of the durability of a key tradition of the Aro civilization. 

The foundational components are, organically, rooted within our deep, regal and diverse heritage.

Consequently, the Ikeji Aro is a festival of cultural economics, social heritage as well as synergistic capacities.

Essentially, it is a worldwide festival of unity and strength for the Aro!

After all, the diaspora Aro personalities and communities have — for hundreds of years and across generations — been apostolic voices for entrepreneurship and industry.

In every community, they have remained catalysts for progress, education and fairness to all!

In every single Aro diaspora (Aro uzo) community (at least 221) across the entire south east, south south and around the Benue River and Nigeria’s Middle belt, they are productive and highly valued.

Therefore, to understand the rise of the Aro imperium, the growth of the Aro Confederacy, the dominance and the consolidation of the economic, cultural, spiritual and  political juggernaut of the Aro nation by its core leadership who were mainly in their ancestral home (Aro ulo), you will have to know that it was the product of the sensible confluence of the administrative/organizational efficiency, deployment of —where necessary — coercive power by the “Aro Uzo”, the Aro in diaspora. And of course, the cognizance and concert of the ancient kingdom’s long reach from Arochukwu.

Along the trajectories of time and clime, the unifying Aro identity and purposes have been held high, aloft in  joyful affirmations and authenticity. That is, despite the challenges at home and abroad — including the United States which I named ‘Aro America’.

We have to encourage ourselves and our families and friends to read such books as ‘Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885: an introduction to the economic and political history of Nigeria’, by the foundational scholar of African history, Prof. Kenneth Onwuka Dike. It was published in 1956.

Prof. Adiele Afigbo’s books and contributions to academic journals are richly expository and authoritative.

Prof. Okoro Ijoma’s seminal work, titled ‘Igbo Origins and Migrations’, in 2010. Mazi O.P Kanu book titled, ‘The Pre-British Aro of Arochukwu: Notes & Reflections on a Vanishing Civilization’, which I had the privilege of serving as editorial publisher in December 2001, through USAfricaBooks.com

There is Rev. Prince Joshua Kanu Oji’s ‘The Kingdom of Arochukwu.’ He is one of the sons of legendary Eze Aro, late Mazi Kanu Oji.

The elder statesman and Owerri’s first town clerk, Mazi EAC Orji, has a vital book, ‘Owere in the 20th century.’ He highlighted aspects of the Aro influence and reach.

Also, worthy of note are ‘Eze Chima: An Ancient Aro Epic’ by Chike Nwaka; and a valuable book ‘Perspectives On Aro History & Civilization: The Splendour of a Great Past’ by Mazi Azubike Okoro and Mazi Ben Ezumah

Mazi O.P Kanu characterized the diaspora Aro as “those ebullient Aro who settled permanently in new homes outside Arochukwu.  In pre-British times, they lived in some 200 Aro settlements (sometimes called colonies) which were founded between AD 1650 and 1900 in south-eastern Nigeria.”

I believe that in the next 100 years (2123), the Aro (at home and abroad) will embody and continue to manifest in the history of the world. We need more Alvan Ikokus.

We have to, proactively, empower new sets of young visionaries and algorithms scientists  whose works on AI (Artificial Intelligence) will get our Aro Civilization and Aro Identity to stand for substantial achievements beyond Prof. Afigbo’s circumscribing  description of its 18th and 19th centuries roles as being a “slaving oligarchy”.

 Also, there is this ‘beauty’ from the warm but racially patronizing 1905 written notes by Frank Hives, the British Colonial Resident in the Owerri Province of Eastern Nigeria who, stated that: “The Aros were quite a distinct racial type from the indigenous inhabitants of the Ibo country …. People who came in contact with this section of the Ibo people found them so superior in intelligence and diplomacy that only European origin could account for such traits”.

“The Aros were quite a distinct racial type from the indigenous inhabitants of the Ibo country …. People who came in contact with this section of the Ibo people found them so superior in intelligence and diplomacy that only European origin could account for such traits”.

On this global issue of identity, I’ll give the world’s foremost hip hop mogul, artiste and poet, Beyonce’s husband Jay Z, the last words: “Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.” Who knows? May be, he’s an Aro.

Finally, to optimize and utilize our identity, we must challenge ourselves (inside the ancient kingdom or across the Aro diaspora communities) to the reality that we are the custodians, champions and facilitators of those worthy Aro civilization in a changing, transforming world!

Aro oke Igbo, nma nma nu o!

-Dr Nwangwu is the Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

@Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about recent probe of former United States President, Donald Trump, which has culminated in his facing federal charges over alleged criminal indictments while in office.

“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED”, the former President of the  United States, Donald Trump, wrote on his poorly-rated social media network, Truth Social. Thursday— as in yesterday, August 24, 2023. Prior to his appearance, his bond was set at $200,000.  

He says it as loud and as often as the opportunities come that he is facing a persecution by his partisan opponents! 

He belittles and insults the U.S Justice Department and State officials who are taking him on at the law courts.

Hence, it was not surprising, however reckless it will seem that the consistently controversial Trump minimized the four criminal indictments against him as “trivia, nonsense, bulls***” during an interview with the equally controversial conservative commentator Tucker Carlson who worked for Fox News, until recently when he was fired…. Trump, obviously snubbed Republican primaries voters and sought to divert the attention from the Fox News Republican primary debate on Wednesday, August 23, 2023.

He justified in his mind his decision to skip the day’s Republican National Committee’s presidential debate in Milwaukee, by arguing “the public knows who I am.”

A reflection of Carlson’s over-the-top style was on display when he wondered to Trump “Don’t they have to kill you now?…. They could indict you 20 times and you’re not going to lose the Republican primary because of it.” Trump played the inncoent choir boy, as he stated :  “It’s horrible when you look at what they’re doing.”

Though subject to a bond condition that restricts him from threatening those involved in the case, Trump kept up his criticism of District Attorney Fani Willis and her indictment naming him and 18 other defendants.

Carlson repeatedly pushed Trump to answer whether he thought Democrats were ramping up political and legal attacks against him, asking the former president what he thought his political opponents would do to keep him from winning the presidential election in 2024. 

Trump’s surrender to Fulton County authorities in Georgia on Thursday, and his release from custody was handled under an agreed-upon set of conditions, ordered by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. Trump is prohibited from any action or anything a judge could consider as an effort to intimidate co-defendants or witnesses or “otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.”

Accordingly, too, Trump “shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature” against any co-defendant, witness or victim, the community or property in the community.

“The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media,” reads the bond order.

In the history of the United States, it is the first time a sitting or former Commander-in-Chief has faced federal charges as revealed in the unsealed and detailed reports.

Trump has turned 77 years old; he was born on June 14, 1946. He served as the 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

Some people believe former President Trump should be a different, more measured and sober person after this latest experience. 

Permit me to reiterate one of the key points I made about these extraordinary period of American history and government: 

Without any doubt, these are risky, perilous and slippery times for Trump. There’s no anarchy in the land or warfare across the United States of America, because the unusual events of the indictment of this immediate former President or any Governor. The issues are challenged and tried through the courts of the land. 

The big lesson for many countries in the world, especially in Nigeria and African continent, is that regardless of its evident imperfections, the rule of law is important and primary, no matter who you are! President or pauper! 

Although there are institutional disadvantages weighing down on the capacities of African-Americans, minorities and financially challenged communities regarding the justice system and court processes. 

I still believe that America’s real strength rests on the prudent balance of the constitutional assignment of roles and the moral clarity and courage to execute obligations with a certain sense of fairness and principles.  

-Dr Nwangwu is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the strange find of cocaine in the West Wing of the Oval Office in the White House, Washington DC which is currently being investigated by the Secret Service of the United States.

It sounds more like a tale from the unexpected. Media and people are asking how did this cocaine stuff get into the White House?

Some people have been wondering: who are the consumers of cocaine in the White House?

The man who is always in the news especially for the wrong reasons, former President Donald J. Trump, has chimed in with his own bizarre spin: “Does anybody really believe that the COCAINE found in the West Wing of the White House, very close to the Oval Office, is for the use of anyone other than Hunter (Biden) & Joe Biden.”

For Mr. Trump to write such scatological nonsense shows how desperate his company has become. It also exposes his lack of decorum and standards on how far one should go with strong language of disagreement and attacks on your opponents.

Essentially, Trump called the President of the United States, Joe Biden, a drug user — as he alleged on his low count social media site,  Truth Social.

I just thought of the discomfort that even many right wing members of the Republican party have regarding his latest quest to come back as president, again.

One of the favorite and winning topics for Trump has remained the strong and toxic attacks against the liberal media which he calls “the Fake News Media.”

Mocking those, Trump is predicting that the media will “soon start saying it wasn’t really COCAINE, but rather common ground up Aspirin, & the story will vanish.”

There is a restrained answer from the White House: “Where this was discovered is a heavily-traveled area where many White House – West Wing, I should be even more specific, West Wing visitors come through this particular area, I just don’t have anything more to share,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to reporters Wednesday,  July 5, 2023

Still on the question of who would have brought in and kept the cocaine in the vicinity of the most powerful presidential address in the world, investigators are mainly from the Secret Service.

Many in the Republican party’s grassroots base believe the boisterous Trump.

He has labeled Special Counsel Jack Smith, saying to the delight of his audience that Smith “looks like a crackhead to me!”

The truth is that, facially, the man has a menacing look and it doesn’t make him a crackhead!

If I were Smith, I would return the favor and call Trump a duckhead or something that’s spelled like it! 

-Dr Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the indecent comments made by embattled former United States President Donald  Trump, about his daughter, Ivanka Trump’s curves and looks as contained in an upcoming book titled ‘Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump’, written by Miles Taylor.

Almost a dozen bestsellers books have been written about the Trump presidency and his growing up Donald J. Trump. Some of those books are focused mainly on policy and personnel clashes. Those are some of the main drivers of interesting books in and around the city of poltics and power.

Even out of office, the trail of controversies and vociferous partisanship continue to grow. Let me put it this way, controversies follow Trump or he will generate one, and some more….

As in most things these days of the social media and hyper-ventilating 247 television shows, the range of issues and topics have spread from the formal and sublime to the salacious and pornographic.

An explosive but somewhat familiar claim has been made in an upcoming book titled ‘Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump.’ It is written by Miles Taylor, who was Chief of Staff to Homeland Security Secretary of the United States

Kirstjen Nielsen during the presidency of the extraordinarily controversial and divisive Mr. Trump. The full title of the book shows the sense of self-appointed duty by Mr. Taylor to steer Americans away from another Trump.

The only other Trump who, in my view, when compared to her siblings potential to become president of the United States is Ivanka.

But I think it would be easier for Ivanka to be nominated and secure a tough victory in New York as a Democrat than as a Republican. But, even that is no longer possible, given the nature of the politics of the country, these days.

To go straight to the point, we all know that Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka has the good looks, the swag and smile of a supermodel! She is savvy, streetsmart, ambitious around the centers of power and influence in Washington DC, New York and in many arenas of corporate America.

Understandably, some of the legions of political and business enemies of her father can’t stand her! Some really detest her drive and use of opportunities to extend her ambitions. She has, therefore, inherited lots of the acidic criticisms of  her temperamental, aggressive and abrasive real estate mogul father.  They think she’s an opportunist like her father. That’s what politicians are, if nothing else.

She’s also very close to her father who speaks most times without restraint.

Hence, in a few days and weeks, people will be wrestling with the claim made in this new book, that former President Trump talked about his daughter Ivanka’s “breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her.”

Mr. Taylor has claimed that he’s not the only person who has heard about the pornographic intimations and unusual comments. He stated that the alleged comments made female members of the Trump staff uncomfortable, as revealed in a portion of the book excerpted by Newsweek magazine:

“Aides said he talked about Ivanka’s breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that once led [former White House Chief of Staff] John Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter…. Afterward, Kelly retold that story to me in visible disgust. Trump, he said, was ‘a very, very evil man.’”

Taylor added in his book that “When we were with him, Kirstjen did her best to ignore the president’s inappropriate behavior…. He called her ‘sweetie’ and ‘honey,’ and critiqued her makeup and outfits.”

She served from 2017 to 2019.

It has remained an American journalism tradition to publish books about the dynamics of public policy and power-play drawing from inside information and sometimes extravagant claims about an incumbent and/or an immediate past president. The two of the best known journalists in this tradition are Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, famously of the Watergate expositions of the disgraced former President Richard Nixon.

Among the bestsellers on Trump is Michael Wolff who wrote ‘Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency.’ His first book on Trump in 2018 was the scorching “Fire and Fury,” where he presented a catalog of surreal, out of control and disorganized presidency.

Taylor’s assessment of Trump who is facing a 37-count federal indictment is evident and blunt in a tweet where he referred to him as “a very sick man [and] unfit for any office.”

Millions of Trump Republicans will not believe Mr. Taylor but would likely insist that he’s the one who is “sick”.

Time will tell!

-DrNwangwu is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the ongoing trial of former President of the United States, Donald J Trump and wondered if other countries can try their ex-Presidents for unlawful and criminal acts.

it was Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967), winner of three Pulitzer Prizes, poet, journalist and author of the highly-acclaimed biography of Abraham Lincoln who famously wrote that: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.”

At this point, until the trial, testimonies and relevant sets of evidence go through the standards of the court and the laws of the United States of America, we may not know enough, in order to conclude who the facts are for or against.

Regardless, the immediate former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, may have heard about Carl Sandburg; no wonder he has been using the late Sandburg’s recommended second option as his initial, preliminary tactical position: “pound the table and yell like hell.”  

A few days before Mr. Trump made a “not guilty” plea, at the federal court in Miami, Florida, the man practically yelled in a speech at the Georgia Republican state convention: “They took one charge, and they made it 36 different times. And we have a thug who is in charge. This is a political hit job, Republicans are treated far differently at the Justice Department than Democrats.”

Trump is facing a 37-count federal indictment, including charges of willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements and improper handling of national security information.

The indictment lists his failing to return such classified documents with plans for a U.S retaliatory attack on an unnamed foreign power, defense and weapon capabilities of the U.S., secret details of the U.S. nuclear program, among other charges. 

In the history of the United States, it is the first time a sitting or former Commander-in-Chief has faced federal charges as revealed in the unsealed and detailed reports of June 9, 2023.

Trump turned 77 years old this week; he was born on June 14, 1946. He served as the 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

In terms of consequence, or should I say potential consequences,  Prof. Jonathan Turley, a highly respected constitutional scholar who usually holds conservative views, has made a note of caution via FoxNews to Mr. Trump, specifically:

“All the government has to do is stick the landing on one count and he could have a terminal sentence. You’re talking about crimes that have a 10 or 20-year period as a maximum. The evidence here is quite strong and we haven’t heard their other side. Generally, these indictments are a lot stronger on the day they’re issued than the next day. So they may be able to knock down some of these issues, but some of this evidence is coming from his former counsel. And these are very damaging statements made against him. It may be hard to move those. The fact is both things may be true. Yes, the Department of Justice may have been out to get him, but he made it easy.

I mean, if you look at what is being described in this indictment, confronted with someone that he felt was trying to get him, he couldn’t have made it more easy for them to do so.”

Similarly, the very experienced lawyer that former President Trump appointed as Attorney General Bill Barr has a grim reading of the situation of things regarding Trump’s indictment:  “If even half of [the indictment] is true then he’s toast. It’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning.”

Barr who you may recall resigned as Trumps Attorney General of the United States during the final year of the Trump presidency seems offended by Trump’s strategy of victimhood:

“This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here–the victim of a witch hunt–is ridiculous. Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. Yes his adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims, and I’ve been at his side defending him when he is a victim, but this is much different. He’s not a victim here.”

Barr concluded without mincing words, that: “He (Trump) was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets the country has.”

Without any doubt, these are risky, perilous and slippery times for Trump. There’s no anarchy in the land or warfare across these United States of America, because the unusual events of the indictment of this immediate former President or any other President or Governor.

The issues are challenged and tried through the courts of the land. The big lesson for many countries in the world, especially in Nigeria and African continent, is that regardless of its evident imperfections, the rule of law is important and primary, no matter who you are! President or pauper! Although there are institutional disadvantages weighing down on the capacities of African-Americans and order financially challenged communities regarding the justice system and court processes.

In fact, one of the greatest Presidents of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), underscored it with these timeless words:  “Americanism is a question of principle, of purpose, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent.”

I still believe that America’s real strength rests on the prudent balance of the constitutional assignment of roles and the moral clarity and courage to execute obligations with a certain sense of fairness and principles. 

One question: Can your country take its ex-President to trial for unlawful, criminal acts?

-Dr Nwangwu is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes that there are many interest groups and individuals within The Republican Party who are opposed to the presidential ambition of controversial Donald Trump in the United States.

The immediate past former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence has decided to take on his controversial ex-boss Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Over the past three years, especially Mr. Pence has shown that he is a man capable of controlling his emotions, even where the affirmation Trump jeopardized his life when the Republican and right wing activists set up on congressional building at the Capitol.

He has shown self-restraint. But it seems he has had enough hence his decision to formally make his announcement speech on Wednesday laced with direct attacks and suggestive digs at the famously controversial Mr. Trump.

After several months and years of dilly-dallying or add best tiptoeing around the big elephant in the room by Mr. Pence, he decided a few days ago to state clearly that Trump deserves blame for the unconstitutional and unlawful efforts which sought to overturn the 2020 election during the January 6 insurrection.

Pence whose major base and active supporters draw from Conservatives and evangelical christians, pointedly said of the embattled Trump: “Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.”  Specifically, on January 6, 2021, rebuffed Trump’s schemes and pressure to stop the counting of the electoral votes, necessary, to certify the results of the election of Joe Biden.

The evidently Trump-inspired mob of insurrectionists who were aware that Pence was in  the U.S. Capitol to complete the constitutional duties of his office were very violent and chanted “Hang Mike Pence.”

Pence, a former Governor of Indiana and ex-member of the United States Congress, claimed during his comments a few days ago: “I know we can beat Joe Biden.”  Significantly, he said in Iowa where the Republicans/GOP is characterized as the first-in-the-nation caucuses: “But we must resist the politics of personality and the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative principles.”

In a spectacular double-speak, Pence, a former Indiana congressman and governor, who turned 64 on Wednesday January 7, 2023, artfully added that he will “always be grateful for what President Trump did for this country” and  proudly stood by former President Trump as his VicePresident “every single day when we made America great again.” 

Politicians, prevarications and the art of being on the two sides of an issue. They have good company with economists who are famous for their omnibus  qualifier: “on one hand, and on the other hand….”

Depending on who you ask, it is part of the beauty and dynamism of politics strategies where there are no permanent enemies, but permanent interests.

Broadly, I underscore the fact that his main positions questioned the ideological truthfulness and reliability of Mr. Trump to conservative positions and ideals.

Also, he raised issues regarding the former president’s efforts and statements, which basically offer some defense of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Trump did  those even before and after Mr. Putin’s invasion, escalated  subjugation, destruction and daily commital of War Crimes in the sovereign country of Ukraine. Putin is still seen and rated by some government officials as the biggest foe of the United States.

Trump benefits in a field of too many aspirants, If he is still able to contest in 2024 — although he has since declared he is running for President.  

Considerably at this time, the most serious threat to him capturing the ticket as flagbearer of the Republican Party for the next election of President of the United States will be, I’ll say: first, the disposition and outcome, of any substantial, potentially criminal outcome of the court cases and litigations he has around the country — especially those from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington DC. That’s outside the Rpublican Party. 

However, inside the Republican Party, the racially polarizing political hustler, diversity insensitive and anti-historical facts dude who’s otherwise titlrd as the  Governor  Florida, Ron DeSantis, ignorantly dismissed Russia’s decimation and War Crimes in Ukraine as a “territorial dispute.”

This governor, who I’ll characterize as a mini Trump, reflects the state of the Republican Party in its headlong collapse into the pits of toxic ignorance, and destruction of some of its abandoned Lincolnesque values as a previously, credible counterweight to the other extreme liberalisms across the country.

One of Trump’s former allies, former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, is in the presidential contest, and has a message to the party members and Americans: “Tonight is the beginning of the case against Donald Trump.”

It’s easier said than done. Not so fast.

The divisive and cantankerous former President of the United States Donald Trump since Tuesday November 15, 2022 “officially launched” his third campaign for the White House.“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States…. America’s comeback starts right now.”

The issue is not merely declaring opposition to the cunning Trump.  It is organizing and securing your team. He’s proven to be a cat with nine lives!  Time will tell, soon.

-Dr Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. 

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes that President Muhammadu Buhari failed to deliver on all the promises that brought him to power eight years ago

In terms of legacy, I believe that most Nigerians will remember Buhari for the rampant insecurity across the country he has led for eight years — especially his inability to uproot and/or substantially degrade the jihadists and footsoldiers of death and destruction who have since invaded the borders and occupy certain sections of Nigeria!

Nigerians generally held on to some expectation that President MuhammaduBuhari, the former Major-General of the Nigerian Army who enrolled in 1962 — at the age of 19  — into the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) was going to move the country onto the path of infrastructural development, security of lives, financial accountability, and fairness to all.

How wrong and far off reality have those become! 

Indigenous peoples and communities have been uprooted and bombed and maimed and butchered with such gory, wickedly passion that all persons of true faith demand(ed) that Buhari stepped up to protect all Nigerian citizens from the AK-47 carrying jihadists and their (sometimes dueling) fellow travelers from Niger, Mali, Senegal, Libya, and a number of neighboring countries.

Unfortunately, those squads of terrorism— in some collaboration with their domestic allies have seized ancestral forests, farmlands and homesteads. Their actions have not only imperiled Nigeria’s national security architecture, they have turned many parts of the federal republic of Nigeria into killing fields and wastelands of insecurity and medieval mayhem!

Consequently, the Buhari years have been, for millions of Nigerians, the longest eight years of any elected President of Nigeria. Initially, it started with substantial goodwill and hopefulness in the possibilities of a country severely undermined and battered by the continued, corrosive and overwhelming impact of corruption in high places and at smaller positions and local zones of influence.

Buhari, a former military dictator, was sworn in eight years ago, on May 29, 2015  and promised to work towards a better economy, more secure, less corrupt and peaceful country. The man was reelected in February 2019, to serve another four years that will end on May 29, 2023.

Evidently, he has been failing on all the major reasons and the promises he made to all Nigerians. He had significant support, despite allegations of rigging and videos of underage voters especially the third time he contested for president, in the 2015 general election. He edged out then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. Dr. Jonathan still seems very uncomfortable with the fundamentals of the rough and tumble of Nigeria’s politics.

It’s quite telling that the greater the evidences and videos of ghastly scenes of murderous attacks across every section of Nigeria, the louder Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Buhari’s Information Minister) and GarbaShehu exclaimed that Nigerians are impatient and know that things are getting much better than what they are seeing!

I wonder how anyone could argue on national and international platforms that the combustion, commotion, clashes, killings which the eyes and lives of the individual Nigerian witness and experience, daily — from Sokoto to Nembe, Aba to Zaria, Ibadan to Itigidi, Sambisa to Ujari— do not “really” reflect what we “think” we saw.

Which calls in the great words of the philosopher Groucho Marx who famously said: Should I believe you or should I believe my lying eyes? Uncle Lai, no pun intended, our eyes are not lying!

The bitter truth remains that despite the propaganda, Nigerians have endured eight long and difficult years of insecurities, religious and ethnic conflicts, banking fiasco and truck loads of palaver.

It’s been for a majority of Nigerians, Eight years of bitter and bloody encounters across Nigeria’s hijacked, deadly highways and trains. It’s been eight years of Nigeria’s pandemic of fear and nightmare of violent death lurking nearby!

It’s been eight years of painful, brutal slaughter of the natives and indigenous peoples and communities, particularly in Nigeria’s Middle-belt of Benue and Plateau states. Many of them have been uprooted and bombed and maimed and butchered with gory, demented, wickedly passion.

That’s why all persons of true faith demand(ed) that the Buhari regime stepped up to protect Nigeria and Nigerian citizens from the AK-47 carrying jihadists and their fellow travelers from Niger, Mali, Senegal, Libya and a number of other neighboring countries who are knocking down the borders of Nigeria.

It has been eight years whereby Borno and parts of the North East of the country with major Muslim populations have faced untimely deaths in the hands of other Muslim fighters and “bandits”. They have occupied and seized ancestral forests, farmlands and homesteads. I understand that those jihadists and their sponsoring allies are transforming those real estate into camps and planning bases for their attacks.

At a related level, they create some wastelands of insecurity, increasing instability, demographics disruption, poverty and constipation and convulsions across all sections of life in most of Nigeria.

The outgoing president failed Nigerians in the area of security.

The legacy challenge and the problem remain the facts that Nigerians gave Buhari their trust, their sacred votes and their last drip of hope. He disappointed them with a poorly conducted, flawed and currently disputed presidential election.

Under the Buhari presidency and the economy, the Naira has lost so much value, exponentially to date, that it exchanges in the market at almost N800 to $1 (one dollar)!  Hence, in one of his moments of candour, Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said during his February2023 campaign rally in Calabar, Cross River State, for the nomination of Buhari-led party (All Progressives Congress):  “Today, they moved the exchange rate from N200 to N800. If they had repaired it, if they had arrested this, we won’t be where we are today, we will be greater. They don’t know the way, they don’t know how to think, they don’t know how to do.”

Buhari, who  ruled Nigeria with an iron fist from December 31, 1983 to August 27, 1985, said at his APC party’s campaign event in February 2023:  “Please in the name of God, be patient with us and forgive us. Tell your friends, brothers, sisters and children to continue to vote for APC, Tinubu will continue from where we stop….”

The truth remains that Nigerians have realistic concerns regarding corruption, last-minute, eye-popping supplementary budgets, banking fiasco and several other problems during this last year of the Buhari  presidency.

Goodbye, to the Buhari presidency  — a presidency of small things, of petty malice and ancient grudges, of crass nepotism and clannishness, of moral corruption and assorted inequities, of impunity  inca

-DrNwangwu,  is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

 Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the explosive e-mail authored by Tucker Carlson which appears to question America’s unity in diversity.

Only a couple of days ago on May 2, 2023, The New York Times revealed an explosive email written by the U.S FoxNews’ sacked conservative/far-right wing #1 opinion/talk show host and propagandist, Tucker Carlson.

This racially incendiary email by Carlson, I believe was written around January 7, 2021.

Here are Mr. Carson’s shocking words:

“A couple of weeks ago, I was watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington. A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living shit out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it.

Then somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be. The Antifa creep is a human being. Much as I despise what he says and does, much as I’m sure I’d hate him personally if I knew him, I shouldn’t gloat over his suffering. I should be bothered by it. I should remember that somewhere somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed. If I don’t care about those things, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?”

Simply, a deeply astonishing circumstance and self-propelled declaration by the host of what was until April 2023, America’s number one show on cable and the traditional networks wishing for the physical beating to death of a “kid”, apparently a non-white very young fellow by several White men… 

For no reason other than the assumption that he had different views regarding the political and social issues facing the country!

It’s so nauseating that alongside other evidences seen by the lawyers and owners of controversial channel had to make quick and critical decisions. Especially, Rupert Murfock’s attention was needed since the management and company lawyers preferred to settle the recent and ongoing lawsuits of defamation against the channel.

One of which it settled and agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a whooping $787.5 million!

It is the largest publicly disclosed settlement for a defamation lawsuit in US history, as at Tuesday, April 18, 2023.

Back to Tucker Carlson and the politics of race and subjugation.

The email revealed the violent bias and racial bigotry of one of those who define and spin what millions of people take as “fair and balanced”!

Thankfully, he expressed and exposed his own personal feelings in a manner that lends credence to what millions of other Americans have been complaining about his mangled and twisted views about the country and its diversity.

Carlson will be 54 years in a few days; he was born on May 16, 1969.

His cancelled Monday to Friday tv show of weekly distortions and falsehoods was very good business for FoxNews and the Murdocks.

Tucker Carlson’s show was too much of one viewpoint. There was yelling and screeching with I felt was an annoying, almost constipated vocal stretch to his delivery made. I found him tedious to watch.

It also reminded me of these words by the late American writer Mark Twain that “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Hopefully, the Murdocks, Carlsons, FoxNews and others will appreciate and respect the reality of diversity of America!

-Dr Nwangwu is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the whopping $787.5m the megaphone of the Republican Party in the United States, Fox News Channel, recently agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems  for defamatory broadcasts and distortion of facts.

For the consequence of its gross distortion of events and defamatory broadcasts against a corporate organization, the Republicans’ favorite and most influential megaphone, Fox News channel, settled the law suit and agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a whooping $787.5 million!

It is the largest publicly disclosed settlement for a defamation lawsuit in US history.

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Dominion Voting Systems’ lead attorney, Justin Nelson, said the settlement represents vindication for Dominion and accountability for Fox News.

“People across the political spectrum can and should disagree on issues even of the most profound importance…. For our democracy to endure for another 250 years and hopefully much longer, we must share a commitment to facts.”

The fact is that while Fox News has expanded the coverage of events, it has also done some of the worst distortions of events and mangling of facts in the contemporary TV and political history of the United States.

No doubt, it has given opportunities to several minority and Black-themed shows and made millions from those shows.

Regardless, it’s also the tv news/opinion home to the some of the most racially polarizing broadcasts of toxic opinion and fear-mongering features in the United States. The mix of right wing and conservative audiences and groups who consume its brew of intoxicating propaganda  and swear by it. The Republican activists and viewers insist that Fox News “the much needed balance” — especially with the number of staunchly pro-liberal, Democratic party leaning media corporations and internet platforms across America!

Fox News was created and launched on October 7, 1996, by the equally controversial Australian-American media mogul, Rupert Murdoch.

Fox News grew rapidly, knew how to speak and spin the language of partisan debates. All combined to make it the most influential and most watched cable news network in America.

Dominion CEO, John Poulos amplified the settlement by stating that “Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my company, our employees, and the customers that we serve. Nothing can ever make up for that.”

Very revealing and telling about the water they drink at, Fox News, their reaction to a settlement which characterizes them as willful and irresponsible liars said it was “pleased to have reached a settlement…. This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards….”

The unrepentant spin ideologues did not and will never show remorse until more serious action and sanctions are taken by the courts.

It is adjudicated by a judge rather than an agency of the ruling party and government such as in Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

After Dominion’s case, Fox News has to contend with a lawsuit filed by Smartmatic which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages.

Here’s the strategy, according to Smartmatic attorney J. Erik Connolly: “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest…. Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy.”

Fox News channel’s foxtrot and combustible propaganda and lies contributed to the destruction and attacks of January 6, 2021 on the United States Capitol.

As I wrote on USAfricaonline.com, a few days after the attack, January 6, 2021 has become the Donald Trump mob day of infamy. 

It is the day that the United States and the world witnessed the explosion of the megalomanaical and selfish impulses of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump.

On that day, Trump and his supporters diminished the collective dignity of America as a beacon of democracy. The mob invasion and thrashing of the U.S Capitol building, location of the Senate and House of Representatives, left millions wondering: is this really happening in America?

Why should Trump’s personal, naked ambition violently assault the temples of American Democracy?

-Dr. Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes that Nigerian government and people need to learn from the lesson of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and ensure that the  polity is not unnecessarily heated up by utterances of politicians aides who participated in the recently concluded 2023 general elections in the country.

We have all noticed the hateful inclination and deadly disposition of some  desperate political charlatans who claim and parade as leaders across our communities, countries and International environments.

For many of them, they revel in the fact that one of the easiest ways to get to power or keep power is to demonize, attack and minimize other groups, especially racial demographics, ethnic groups and relatively small nationalities as less than worthy to lead. Or they will say that they are too dangerous to share or provide leadership for  the governance of the country. 

It has been witnessed in many parts of the African continent, including Rwanda, Sudan, South Africa, the Congo, Nigeria, the United States, across the Asian continent and parts of Europe.

The most recent brutal show of this level of depravity and hate was during the April, 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, and led primarily by the Hutu paramilitary group known as the Interahamwe. More than one million Rwandans were hacked to death or killed by any means! Sadly, it was a genocidal slaughter the last day that lasted for 100 days. It was bloody and hellish on the soil and air of Rwanda!

I must note that, significantly, Rwandan President Paul Kagame warned, again, on Friday, April 7, 2023, at the Gisozi Genocide Memorial center for more 250,000 genocide victims:

“We cannot ignore things like violence and hate speech that persist not so far from here…. You can also see the same indifference today as we saw in 1994.”

On Wednesday, April 7, 2004, Rwandan President Paul Kagame specifically named Belgium, Britain and the United States for withdrawing their forces when Rwandans needed them, asserting that: “Injustice of powerful nations should be stopped. Rwanda should be a good example to learn a lesson.”

The first, key lesson of the Rwanda genocide is that moral and courageous leadership serve our collective and singular moral interests.

Kagame’s view dovetails with the words of the civil rights icon, Martin Luther King Jr. in his  ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) arguing that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Also, later the holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, in his book ‘Un die welt hot geshvign (And the World Kept Silent)’ later updated as ‘Night’, wrote: “Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must- at that moment- become the center of the universe.”

Biafra. Rwanda. Darfur, and other geopolitical zones of killings and human tragedy are reminders of past and continuing centers of the universe.

Reflecting on the crises of 1994, Gen. Romeo Dallaire, the UN commander whose call for reinforcements was ignored said recently: “The international community didn’t give one damn for Rwandans because Rwanda was a country of no strategic importance.” Bill Clinton was the president of the United States at the time.

On April 7, 2023, in a difficult but frank reflection, Rwanda’s Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, Jean Damascene Bizimana, noted that  “April 21st was a dark time for Rwanda. We lost almost 250,000 people in various places as the killers moved into the areas where they hid and hacked many…. Forgiving the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide is proof of our unity and resilience. Today, we remember with happiness and appreciation what Rwanda has achieved. Those who still have the genocide ideology, we ask them to stop, learn from us and respect life.”

Truth must be told that there are especially the hired hands and “spokespersons” for many politicial leaders in Nigeria who are spinning mills for hate speech and potentially genocidal incitements. They talk, yell  and fulminate without public or personal decorum, without any sense of responsibility and consequence since the elections in Nigeria in February and March, 2023.

They should learn from Rwanda and other places where words became tools for the decimation of ethnic groups, religious identies and nationalities.

One of the biggest lessons of the Rwanda Hutu-imposed genocide is that we have all seen the face of evil; sometimes, they reside among us. The Rwanda genocide is still fresh as the zone where next door neighbors and teenagers used knives and machettes and dane guns and assault rifles to kill those they played soccer with and fetched water from the same stream only a few hours earlier. Hutus set Tutsi houses on fire to destroy the lives of those who sang and played at the churches and village squares.

The slaughter of women and children and all moving objects with any and all available weapons marked a new low in the depravity of malice and prejudice.

The world is watching, as Nigeria’s government does nothing to restrain the people who bring the sword of incitement and violent bigotry!

-Dr Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has faulted the recent treason allegation levelled against him by Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed.

It’s truly a shameful chapter and turn for the government of Nigeria led by its former dictator and retired General, Muhammadu Buhari, to attack presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 poll, Mr Peter Obi, for allegedly being involved in “treason”.

Buhari’s hyperbolic and incredible Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, attacked Obi in Washington DC, a few days ago in April, 2023.

USAfrica has learned that to the astonishment of the American editors he travelled to to talk to in Washington DC., Lai Mohammed continued  claiming the factually incorrect and discredited line that the February 25, 2023 “general elections in Nigeria is the fairest, most transparent and authentic in the history of Nigeria.”

Obi’s crime is that he has the “balls” to go to court and the designated election tribunal to seek an accurate verification of the votes and with simple evidence challenge the qualifications of Buhari and Lai’s candidate for their APC political party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu!

These rulers believe that any questions and criticisms of their actions and deeds and evidences of serial failures simply undermine the State, the country and its purposes. 

It’s a familiar strategy of discredited despots.

In the recent history of leadership and control of several countries across the African, Arab, Asian, European, and South American continents, the world have witnessed the hijack and personal appropriation of the powers and authority of the State and government.

The basic principles and responsibilities of constitutional order are swept aside to the primitive order of ruling.

Whatever remained as the public purse and commonwealth for the service of the citizens are smashed as consequence of the corrupt practices of the leaders.

Most things, almost everything that was important and reflective of the collective aspirations of the ruled are voraciously consumed psychotic appetite and whimsical desires, quixotic swings and criminal activities of the dictators and incompetent charlatans who believe that they are State.

They have no room or tolerance for criticism and alternative viewpoints towards improving and improving the country.

But it’s not only from ancient history that the world has witnessed these actions.

Republican strategist, Rick Wilson said recently a few years ago that “For Donald Trump, any opposition, either personal, ideological, or political is treason. Anyone who stands in his path betrays the Great Leader. Anyone who fails to take the knee is a traitor.”

Obi, the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s Labour Party in the February 2023 election, has dismissed the allegations of treason and incitement of insurrection made by Mohammed. He accused Obi and his deputy, Senator Baba Datti-Ahmed, of treason and inciting Nigerians to oppose INEC’s declaration of former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-elect.

Obi has also asked “how opting for the tribunal by myself and my Deputy amounts to treason…. Minister Lai accusing me of stoking the fire of insurrection is totally fictitious and malicious. I have never advocated or encouraged anyone to undermine the Nigerian State….”

Obi, a very frugal businessman, condemned Mohammed’s trip as a waste of Nigeria’s resources and is laughable since “most of those countries sent their people to monitor the election and have all received reports from the monitors, as well as from their embassies…. Between Lai Mohammed and their monitors/embassies, who would these countries believe. The billions spent on those meaningless trips would be enough to fix several dilapidated schools in the country.“

The treason allegation seems to be a form of intimidation and threat against those seeking the legal road of litigation of rigging issues, violence against targetted voters and ethnicities!

-Dr Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the recurring incidents of killing of school children in the United States and President Joe Biden’s renewed call on the Congress to pass the Bill on assault weapons ban.

In a manner of speaking, it will be appropriate to say that a majority of Americans and millions of other people around the world have been heartbroken by the latest violence unleashed on Monday, March 27, 2023 at The Covenant School, a Christian, privately-owned school in Nashville, Tennessee. Three 9-year-old students were killed by the shooter who also murdered the head of the grade school, a custodian and a substitute teacher. 

The shooter who left a trail of blood, pain and agony was identified as 28 year-old Audrey Hale, a former student at the school. Audrey was killed, too.

As usual in America, when events like these happen, the escalation of the debate between those who advocate some form of gun control and those who insist that the rights to buy and keep extraordinarily powerful guns should not be restricted by anyone!

This rise in the harshness of the debate was witnessed on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 in the broadcast by some media organizations and outlets where two Congressmen  Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, and Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, were engaged in a “shouting match” on the same contentious and passionate issues regarding gun control.

Without any doubt, it was rekindled following the 2023 Nashville shooting.

It has brought America back to the familiar dispositions and fights, largely drawn along partisanship showdown.

In his description of the position of his Republican congressional counterparts,  Rep. Bowman told reporters “They’re all cowards! They won’t do anything to save the lives of our children. Cowards…. They’re gutless.”

Immediately, Rep. Massie, countered him arguing ”You know, there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry” (guns).

Bowman accused Republicans and congressman Massie of “carrying the water for the gun lobby.”

 When set along political party lines, the Democrats make the case for gun control while the Republicans oppose gun control legislations.

President Joe Biden has, again, called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

Biden said the shooting was “sick” and “heartbreaking.”

He added “we have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart. Ripping at the very soul of this nation, and we have to do more to protect our schools and they aren’t turned into prisons…. I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban. It’s about time that we begin to make some more progress.”

The US President pointed out as seen on video that the shooter at Nashville was armed with two assault weapons, AK-47s, and a pistol.

Beyond their yelling debate inside and outside the US Congress, I think it is important to note that the younger post-1990s Americans tend to be, relatively and comparatively more than their parents and grand-parents, in favor of some level of gun control.

Significantly, I’ll like to add, Biden said the victims of the Nashville shooting, “those children should all still be with us…. I never thought when I started my public life that guns would be the number one killer of children in America.”

I agree that schools and places of learning for little children, for teenagers or adults should not be turned into killing fields!

-Dr Nwangwu, is founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes that the recent comments attributed to Nigerian music sensation, Burna Boy, on the historical background of African-Americans, has been condemned by some individuals in the US.

Nigerian superstar musician/artiste Burna Boy has been hit with a barrage of criticisms for his comments about African-Americans, arguing for them to return to the African continent heritage.

He said during an interview with entrepreneur and activist Chaka Bars “Let’s use America…. The Chinese American has a base; he knows he’s from China. Italian Americas know where their grandparents came from in Italy. They know the first person from their family to come to America and start that line. Same goes to everyone else except the African Americans.”

Many of his critics said he does not know what he is talking about.

One tweet by @MrIntrospect222 noted that most Black Americans today are the descendants of chattel slavery as distinct and different from the immigrant cultures he mentioned: “He skipped the whole history of African involvement in the slave trade and what that has meant for us. You can’t have a conversation with us without addressing that. So no he didn’t tell the truth he told the lord that you all have accepted as truth.”

Amid the backlash, Burna Boy sought to clarify his remarks in a lengthy statement. 

“It’s sad to see that in 2023 there are still such black people who would prefer we stay divided and conquered.”

He said his critics misunderstood him. 

“Maybe it’s my accent or something but I never said you are African and not Americans. I also did not say Africa is part of Heaven. You deserve all the Land and reparations you want from America and I’m 100% in support of that.”

He added that “I believe coming together as brothers and sisters is the only way forward to US black people worldwide.” 

I believe he means it when he calls for unity of purpose and togetherness for people of African heritage.

Burna Boy’s authenticity drives his Afrobeats music. And, yes, the world took notice two years ago when his music and provocative videos broke through — from Aba to Zurich, from Boston to Benin! His album ‘Twice As Tall’ won for the 31-years old Burna Boy (real name Damini Ogulu) the Best Global Music Album award at the 63rd Grammy Awards, on Sunday, March 14, 2021.

Being true to his roots as a Pan-Africanist activist and thinker, he had proclaimed to the world that “Africa is in the house, men! Africa, we are in the house! You get me? This is a big win for Africans of my generation all over the world and this should be a lesson for every African out there. No matter where you are, no matter what you plan to do, you can achieve it. No matter where you are from because you are a king. Look at me: Grammy award-winning Burna Boy.”

Overall, I think he has stacked substantial funds, significant achievements and successes in the music industry. But the young man still needs continuing, historical education. He is knowledgeable.  He needs to be more careful before any critical, crippling error happens…..

Chido Nwangwu writes that the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, possesses the pedigree that makes him the best choice during the March 11, 2023 election.

Exactly 12 years ago, on March 1, 2011, Dr. Alex Otti, one of Nigeria’s top bankers and technocrats was appointed Group Managing Director/CEO of (then) Diamond Bank Plc. He moved from his influential, strategic clout and position as Executive Director in First Bank Nigeria Plc (Head of Commercial Banking and Head of the Regional Businesses in the South-Southern and South-Eastern business and geo-political zones).

He led Diamond Bank to a robust, optimized multi-billion balance sheet thereby making the bank more profitable and attractive. It has since merged with Access.
On November 21, 2022, in Abuja, Otti, Mutiu Sunmonu and a few others launched Signature Bank, a tech-friendly commercial institution.
Why, you may ask, am I raising these credentials?

I believe it’s important to have some business besides the business of politics.
Secondly, it is useful to know how to productively, properly and seriously run an organization before you jump into the arena of politics to lead a State or a country. Especially, the South-Eastern Abia State — which includes the commercial metroplex of Aba. Abia is about business!
Third, on March 11, 2023, the residents of Abia will be at the polling places to cast their votes to elect a new Governor. But the hard truth is that they are not looking to merely elect “a new” Governor, they seek and deserve someone who has what it takes, potentially, to serve and lead as a better Governor.
Fourth, again and again and again, in Abia, like in many parts of Nigeria on February 25, 2023 and across the African continent, remains this battle of the past versus the future. So will it for Abia on March 11, 2023.

Hence, the crucial question: What type of new leader does Abia need? Another stooge of scanty professional capacity, a transactional, anything goes politician or a first-rate technocrat who has managed and continues to add value to financial balance sheets and what I call definable outcomes?

Fifth, in terms of existential realities of daily living, the Abia Pharaohs and the overlords of Abia Babylon have held Aba, Abia’s most important city and the region’s economic engine, in criminal neglect, and sheer abandonment. Aba, our Aba. Their serial failures and inadequate infrastructural development of Aba changed Abia’s politics because every Abia community has someone in Aba! No wonder Alex made Aba, strategically, his candidacy’s spiritual home. The Past, the Present and the Future were all set in Aba.

Sixth, the theology of the failed past is the worship of clay-footed, incompetent gods of cronyism, godfatherism and hideous nepotism and handpicked “successors” versus Otti’s sound roadmap/manifesto/plans for creating a greater Abia.
Seventh, it is an existential fight for millions of Abia youths and across Nigeria who reject the tokenisms, fake and false promises, punctuated by fruitless cajoling, undermined by lack of transformative industrial projects and the pathetic, serio-comedy which have reduced even the most solemn official events to laughable but sad theaters of farcical drivel.

Eight, the battle lines have since been drawn between the old-guard (the Past) and the Future of Abia (youths) on the painful situation and deprivations of the retirees and government workers of Abia State. They are in the fights of their lives and livelihood; many of them are owed their paltry salaries for more than six months with families to feed, with children to cater for in schools.

Ninth, as someone who started out under modest circumstances but has through scholastic distinctions and hard work secured several achievements and reached the pinnacle of banking, Alex Otti embodies a unique story of inspiration, grit, determination, discipline and countless blessings.
Especially, the power of education. The early indicators of the stellar brilliance of the young man were evident in his primary and high school records in Ngwa land where he was born and raised. He’s also an Aro, and proudly so!

He would go on to etch his name on the honors rolls when he graduated from the University of Port Harcourt with a First Class Honors Degree in Economics in 1988. He was awarded best graduating student in the Department of Economics, best graduating student in the Faculty of Social Science where he won the Dean’s Prize, and the overall Best Graduating Student for the Year and emerged as the Valedictorian. He got an MBA from the University of Lagos in 1994.
On March 11, 2023, I think there’s a conducive convergence of historical and current circumstances, providence and determination in Abia to vote for its greater, better Future, as embodied in the agenda of Alex Chioma Otti.

Chido Nwangwu writes that the major task before the next President of Nigeria is to, as a matter of urgency, tackle electricity and power problem facing the citizenry.

Although complicated by the god-fathers of corruption in Africa’s largest economy, one of the key issues of concern for millions of Nigerians, at home and abroad, is the unresolved, hydra-headed challenges of electric power and energy supply.

No matter who wins the presidential election on Saturday, February 25, 2023, the operational limitations imposed by very poor electric power and energy supply will impact their lofty ambitions and attractive articulation of their fanciful manifesto and agenda.
Consequently, access to valuable electricity, and any other alternative energy generation have remained negative factors in planning and implementing anything in Nigeria and most of the developing economies of the African continent.

Will Nigerians who cheer for those who stole their country’s resources and wealth and electricity options, continue to vote for the same people?
There are reports which show that a lot of the funds have been squandered and are still being peeled in serial financial shenanigans in the murky power/electricity/energy sectors of Nigeria.

I put it this way: in Nigeria’s league of criminality and wanton rampage over public funds, the Nigerian squandermaniac has, literally, an elephantine appetite. Hence, they squander(ed) without mercy; they squander without decorum and without the fear of God!
Nigeria, what a country!!

The equation of the deprivation of access to electricity and alternative energy is simple. Destroy(ed) the capacity of the defunct National Electric Power Authority to do its basic assignment, privatized the national resources of NEPA and propagandized it to the Nigerians and the world as a monument for incompetence and fraud!

I remember my younger days growing up in Nigeria — especially between 1970s to 1980s — that when you compared the NEPA of that time (which was also branded by the spin-doctors and influential advocates for the importers and sellers of fuel-gas-guzzling generators to mean Never Expect Power Always)!
Sadly, the electric power generation, supply and distribution have since become worse! How do you compare a total disruption time of 12 to 20 hours a week of electric power to 13 months of darkness and no power!

Will it be different this February 25th, when Nigerians and many who reside in it vote in the presidential and national assembly elections scheduled to hold in all 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja)? The States’ governorship elections are set for March 11, 2023.
Nigerians are hoping and believing that the power supply infrastructure and data equipment deployed by the elections body INEC, and allied security agencies, to allow and facilitate the timely and accurate delivery of election results.

No matter that across the entire country, conservatively estimated, more than 95% of the voting public have no viable access (more realistically stated) they have no access to steady supply of light?
Will Nigerians interrogate those who sentenced our children in many of the public schools, tertiary colleges and universities where there are no light or illumination to read after hours or turn on electric power for their science lab classes?

What you deny these kids and youth whose schools are more shut down than opened; what is deprived these talented fellows who stay at home without any electricity to charge their versatile mobile phones in order to read and listen to the news!

Oh; did I forget? I know that their main and sometimes the only illumination at night is the flashlight or torchlight built into virtually all the phones!
The mid-March 2022 Nigeria’s nationwide collapse of the Electricity grid at ALL the e-DISCOs (Electric Distribution Companies), dramatically, revealed for the 100th time, the shameless and painful indifference to the suffering majority, economic crimes of corruption, malicious and wilful incompetence of the past, recent and the incumbent leaders and its business elite.

Is it too much to ask, President Muhamadu Buhari, whatever happened to the “Change” you promised Nigerians in the areas of electricity and power supply?
Respectfully, Mr. President, as a reminder, you have been Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum for eight years! You’re the Minister of NNPC and NNPCL!!
Permit me a follow-up question: What “Level” is Nigeria’s electric meter operating and reading, these days? The biggest drivers of the generators — ‘gens’, as they are fancifully called — are fuel, diesel and some special derivatives of petroleum.

It is even more so when we consider this is after trillions of Naira, billions of dollars and assorted cheddars have been budgeted, spent, and very marginal results achieved.

When you assess the level of disregard which Nigeria’s elite, military rulers and civilian leaders hold Nigerians, you will be embarrassed by the unreadiness and unseriousness of these fellows to deal with the reality that an expanded power generation and effective distribution are fundamental to national development.
It can not be only through basic electricity. It must include natural gas, solar energy and some of the latest processes of generating reliable and scalable power.
As Nigerians and the world await the results of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential elections, I can only hope that Nigerians will unleash with their votes the effort to bring to an irreversible end 63 years of catastrophic incompetence and brutal disregard for the well-being of those who wake and toil for this country and their families, every day!
What a peculiar mess!

-Dr Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com
Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu compares the recent State of the Union address of US President Joe Biden with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s on going campaign for APC’s presidential flag bearer, Bola Tinubu, saying the Buhari administration has not really performed to expectation

On Tuesday, February 7, 2023, the 46th president of the United States,  Joe Biden, delivered with admirable erudition and vitality, his message about the State of the Union.

He addressed the joint session of senators and congressmen inside the historic chamber of the United States Congress. Like his predecessors had done.

The core message from the man who served as Vice President to Barack Obama (the first African-American President of the United States, is that the State of the Union of the United States) is very well and in good standing despite the massive, institutional disruptions and uncertainties and economic problems and setbacks imposed by the pandemic specifically COVID-19. Many jobs are back. More folks are creating new opportunities in their quest for the American Dream! 

He presented to Americans the facts of the socio-economic and human capacity turnaround. He made the factual documentation and credible presentation that America is on its way back, as the most powerful and resourceful country in the world.

Remarkably, Biden said: “The story of America is a story of progress and resilience… We are the only country that has emerged from every crisis stronger than when we entered it. That is what we are doing again. Two years ago our economy was reeling. As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs – more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years. Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, COVID no longer controls our lives. And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”

On the other hand, several hours before Biden’s speech, Nigeria’s President, retired army general  Muhammadu Buhari, was asking Nigerians to “forgive us” for what has been, evidently, a frying-pan-to-fire story….

Buhari, in an unusual approach seemed and sounded remorseful. The man who had ruled Nigeria as a military dictator from December 31, 1983 to  August 27, 1985, uncharateristically, said at his party’s campaign event, early this February 2023:  “Please in the name of God, be patient with us and forgive us. Tell your friends, brothers, sisters and children to continue to vote for APC, Tinubu will continue from where we stop…. We will not be deterred by security threats to our people. We will deal with the terrorists. They are evil and we will defeat them and they will not win. Whether they derive joy and satisfaction from their wicked acts we are stronger and better than them. Only Allah can heal our pains, the children, widows and the bereaved shall be catered for. Also, men in uniform who paid the supreme price shall not be forgotten.”

Nigerians are tired of unfullfilled promises. 

Nigerians gave Buhari their trust, their sacred votes and their last drip of hope but he has disappointed them. The bitter truth remains that despite the Goebbelian propaganda, Nigerians have endured eight long and difficult years of insecurities, conflicts and the latest banking fiasco and palaver.

Some of these challenges are complicated by the seemingly endless incompetence of the Buhari presidency — a presidency of small things, of petty malice and ancient grudges, of crass nepotism and clannishness, of moral corruption and assorted inequities, of impunity and incapacity!

Sadly and curiously, Buhari is still asking Nigerians to reward his political party of the incompetents with another presidential opportunity.

Interestingly, his party goes by the countervailing name: All Progressives Congress!

Buhari is now asking Nigerians to entrust the ship of state of Africa’s largest economy to the hands of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT), a man whose educational background, factual records of his business and transactional entanglements remain opaque.

To date, many aspects of Tinubu remain very unclear to millions of Nigerians.

Some current personnel and retired members of the American security and diplomatic establishment could be wondering but not surprised by the twists and awkward kabuki dances of Buhari and Tinubu regarding the battle for Nigeria’s next President, all things being equal, scheduled for February 25, 2023.

Before the elections, respectfully, let me remind President Buhari of the words of the embattled Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in October 2022, specifically: “The integrity of a local legal tender, the efficiency of its supply, as well as its efficacy in the conduct of monetary policy are some of the hallmarks of a great central bank.”

Where’s my money?

-Dr Nwangwu is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Chido Nwangwu in this piece pays tribute to the President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Prof George Obiozor, a former diplomat and academic, who died recently aged 80

George Achulike Obiozor (1942-2022), lived an accomplished life as an individual and among his community, lineage and heritage.

Professor, diplomat, author, traditionalist, modernist, strategist on politics, state power and influence, lived most of his post-academic life with several distinguished engagements in his special area of training: international relations and global affairs.

Only a few scholars had the skills of interpreting and speaking rather clearly on a multitude of global issues and situating the most practical implications and connections.

Prof. Obiozor had those remarkable capacities of elucidation on, searching for, situating and effectively communicating Nigeria’s “national interests” in the perennially competitive arena of diplomacy.

He served, notably, as former Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States (2004-2008), when I interviewed him for USAfrica magazine and USAfricaonline.com at the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington DC. He was Ambassador to Israel and High Commissioner to Cyprus (1999-2003).

Also, Prof. Obiozor led as Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs and served as Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria, on International Affairs.

I was introduced to him in 1988 by my uncle, Chidi Ofong, while Obiozor was Special Adviser to then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, Ike Nwachukwu (now, retired General).

I have maintained the friendship with the Obiozors.

Since, 1988, I have listened and watched this uniquely gifted man substantiate his intellectual sagacity delivered in his local accent and scholarly diction.

As a student and analyst of international affairs, power and politics, I have followed his analyses of a forest of issues.

He wrote the book, ‘Nigeria and the World: Managing the Politics of Diplomatic Ambivalence in a Changing World’, among others.

He was born in August 1942, and grew up in Awo-Omamma, in the recently dangerous and embattled Oru-East Local Government Area of Imo State. Only a few months ago, his precious library and country home were burnt….

Before his death on December 26, 2022, he maintained and spoke to the necessity of a Nigeria that will be more inclusive of its component units – especially his lineage ethnic nation of the Igbo. One of his persuasive eruditions on the cross-ethnic and national quest to elect in February 2023 an Igbo as President of Nigeria has returned viral across the social media.

But unlike some of his kinsmen, he knew how to engage other sections of the country – without any apologies for the quests for the Igbo with the competence, character and capacity to lead Nigeria!  

In a note sent to me by Prof. Obiozor, titled “Why I want to serve as President-General Ohanaeze”, he wrote “my decision to contest for the office of President general of Ohaneze ndi Igbo is based on my personal capacity, professional experience, proven dedication and commitment to the overall interests of the Igbo nation….. The fact is for almost 50 years of professional and personal activities… by my career history and age, I have the antecedents and record of knowing how to manage and navigate our interest amid a number of existential threats.”

He continued that this is “a critical time for us in Nigeria’s history. Especially, taking cognizance of the realities of Nigeria. Indeed not only has governance become both difficult and complex, there are dangerous and challenging circumstances that require the deft skills and experience of a hard nosed and experienced diplomat and respected person in the power equation in Nigeria such as myself. It requires a careful advancement of the relationships between ndi Igbo and other nationalities and power elites.”

 On January 9, 2021, he was elected President General of the Igbo topmost social, civic and cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

More than 55 years ago, he attended the Institute of African Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, Albert Schweitzer College in Vaud and earned his degree in Political Science from the University of Puget Sound in 1969. He moved to New York’s Columbia University where he earned his PhD. He returned to Nigeria in 1979 and remained engaged in public service.

Thank you for the decades of striving towards a better and more equitable society and world. Personally, I thank you for your direct mentoring and your boundless sense of humor! Rest in peace, Ambassador Extraordinaire!

-Dr Nwangwu, is Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. @Chidö247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the difficult times Nigerians are going through as President Muhammadu Buhari celebrates his last Christmas in office

“It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid.

At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade.

And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy”

Those are the opening lyrics of the 1984 globally acclaimed charity song written |by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money to benefit Ethiopia during the 1983 to 1985 famine crisis in the African country. It was performed under the banner of a congregation of artists called Band Aid.

In many ways, I believe that the inspirational words of those opening lyrics speak to the reality of millions/billions of citizens of different countries around the world. 

For those, some of whom we’re familiar, these are scary times! Instead of the colorful cadences, joyful gathering of families and merriment in celebration of the birth of Christ, it’s become turned into a season of thunder and deaths and scarcity. Scarcity of hope. Scarcity of salt and foods.

Scarcity of fuel and gas and kerosene, in the land where these exist and could be better, optimally extracted and refined to benefit its millions of hapless and traumatized citizens.

From Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, to Venezuela, the experiences are largely same— unless you have the funds for the escalated prices.

For millions of Nigerians and visitors to the perennially traumatized and patient-no-more fellows, these past fews weeks, months and recent years of The Buhari Christmas have become a very dangerous season of insecurity and kidnapping — especially this 2022 season.

There’s fire on the mountain, burning into the early hours of 2023.… Few leaders and some incompetent personifications of the vulgarity of corrupt hijacking of public mechanisms for its and incapable masquerades seeking to “rule” as President of Nigerians seem to care.

Governors and civic leaders, defenseless women and children, unarmed men and political aspirants have since become targets of the new “kill and go” battallions and  “unknown gunmen”   

In Nigeria, millions of citizens are going through The Final Buhari Christmas season without seeing “a light”, and a “smile of joy.”

Despite all of his promises and sanctimonious posturing, President Buhari  has, in the practical realities of Nigerians and all sensate persons, failed to provide light/power/energy! 

Without near adequate power generation for the whole of Nigeria (which is far less than what  Houston, one city in Texas, uses in 21 days only!).

From all the reports on the prices of Garri, yam, chicken, difficult times yeah speakable level of poverty as you’re moving to 2023 is astonishing and crushing.

From physical abuses, states-sponsored terrorism and violence against some ethnic and religious /faith groups, and other forms of crimes, their Christmas is merely an apparition of  hell on earth!

I know several dozens of Nigerian diasporans who did not want to risk being kidnapped and possibly be killed during The Final Buhari Christmas.

Several of those in the south east battlegrounds — especially within the acidic geography of five miles radius to or from the hometown/village of the embattled Imo Governor Hope Uzodinma.

So many are not travelling home for The Final Buhari Christmas due to cautionary reasons and lawless impunity of the “unknown gunmen”, Fulani herdsmen and other bandits on freelance killings.

-Dr. Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the expectations of President Muhammadu Buhari from the three-day US-African leaders summit which ended Thursday in Washington DC

The White House-led U,S-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC. from December 13-15, 2022, had top leaders of the two continents in attendance. Among the key dignitaries were President Biden, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Félix Tshisekedi and several others.

U.S Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, a retired army General, and his counterparts, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Samantha Power, administrator of USAID co-hosted the forum on Peace, Security and Governance.

“The African Leader Summit comes at a very important time for U.S.-African relations. The United States has recognized the enormous potential and promise in Africa, and this is something that we definitely want to lean in on”, said a senior defense official quoted in a briefing advisory seen by USAfricaonline.com.

The official added “Together, the Department of Defense, State and USAID will share perspectives on the importance of our ‘3D’ approach to Africa and share the stage with our African partners to hear their perspectives on security and the challenges in their countries.”

Secretary Blinken also met with Tshisekedi to discuss the critical security and  catastrophic humanitarian situation from severe flooding in eastern DRC.

Buhari, a retired army General, whose tenure of two terms (eight years) will end in May 2023 appealed that “Nigeria too seeks support from the US to be included in the G7’s Climate Partnerships List for the co-creation of a Just Energy Transition Partnership.”

Buhari told U.S and African government officials that the Nigeria government has “approved the plan earlier this year and adopted it as a national policy…. to completely eliminate the use of petrol/diesel generators by 2060 and therefore need to deploy renewables, particularly solar, at an unprecedented scale. For instance, the Energy Transition Plan requires that 5.3 GW of Solar be deployed annually until 2060 to achieve our targets.”

Buhari added that “as part of the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy, we set the vision 30:30:30 which aims at achieving 30GW of electricity by 2030 with renewable energy contributing 30 per cent of the energy mix. Last year, Nigeria became the first African country to develop a detailed Energy Transition Plan to tackle both energy poverty and climate change, and deliver SDG7 by 2030 and net-zero by 2060.”

He stated that Nigeria’s government “aggressive power sector reforms have resulted in cost-reflective tariffs in the power sector for the first time since privatization. Under the Nigeria Electrification Project, over four million people have been impacted through solar mini-grids and solar stand-alone systems. With respect to hydro, the Zungeru hydropower project is nearing completion and will add 700MW in capacity to the grid.”

Buhari said “our analysis shows that delivering the Energy Transition Plan requires $1.9 trillion in spending up to 2060, including $410 billion above business-as-usual spending. This additional financing requirement translates to a $10 billion investment needed per annum. Between 2000 and 2020, just $3 billion per year was invested in renewable energy in the whole of Africa. Consequently, the $10 billion per year target of our Energy Transition Plan represents a significant scaling of current investment flows and we need support from the U.S. to mobilize the needed resources…. For our clean energy market to scale, Nigeria and more broadly Africa needs concessional, low-interest capital-led investments.”

Did the U.S government led by Joe Biden believe the picture and numbers Buhari painted in Washongton DC? It’s a necessary context as it is important to note that Buhari is facing local and international criticisms for ineffective management of Nigeria’s economy and infrastructure. He is also getting very low grade on the widespread insecurity and violence in most parts of Nigeria. The summit did not allay the critical concerns of the American government.

-Dr Nwangwu, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu reports that former United States President Donald Trump has oiled his political machinery with his recent declaration to run again for US Presidency in 2024

In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States…. America’s comeback starts right now,” he exclaimed. 

Thus, the divisive and cantankerous former President of the United States Donald Trump on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 “officially launched” his third campaign for the White House.

Typical of Trump’s projects, there is already conflict and division within the Republican party.

Meanwhile, one of his daughters, Ivanka, released a statement stating that: “While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.”

Evidently and very clearly, the politics of Trump has taken a major toll on his family.  If Trump wins the election in 2024, he will become the second U.S President in history to serve two non-consecutive terms, following in the path of Grover Cleveland’s wins in 1884 and 1892.

However, long before the 2024 elections, there are several hurdles, which Trump will have to scale over.

One of those is the latest decision by the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, against Trump’s unrelenting and frantic efforts to block any access to his taxes. Therefore, it removed any obstacle for Trump’s much guarded taxes to be released to the U.S. Congress. The next day he attacked the court  lashing out at the court in a series of posts on his social media platform called Truth Social.

Trump, the very controversial and twice impeached former President allleged that “The Supreme Court has lost its honor, prestige, and standing, & has become nothing more than a political body, with our Country paying the price.”

He also claimed that the same court with a conservative majority and where he appointed three Justices were ruling out of being “petrified” of the Democrats,  “politically correct” as opposed to what he characterized as “doing what is BEST for the USA.”

Trump continued: “Why would anybody be surprised that the Supreme Court has ruled against me, they always do! It is unprecedented to be handing over Tax Returns, & it creates a terrible precedent for future Presidents.”

The man scheduled his announcement far ahead of the 2024 elections, deliberately, only a few hours after the 2022 midterm elections.

Trump believed, and hoped that his Republican party would do much better in that early November elections. The political and voting reality turned out to be that  most of those he backed lost their elections,  such as Dr. Oz in the Pennsylvania senatorial battle.

Some of his party leaders blamed him and said critically that he is not the way forward or the future of the Republican party!

I think it’s important to note that those losses made it possible for  Democrats to keep the Senate while the Republicans went home with only a very slim majority in the House of Representatives. 

Trump evidently believes he will take on in 2024 President Joe Biden in a rematch. He has accused the Democrats and Mr. Biden of presiding over failed and in his extravagant words “blood-soaked streets” and “cesspool cities.”

He has looked all over the country and has reached one conclusion: “We are a nation in decline.”

President Biden does not agree with him. 2024 is faraway. Let’s see what happens between now and then.

I believe in the realistic, geopolitical possibilities that the United States and the rest of the world might change, substantially, before November 2024! Only time will tell…. 

-Nwangwu, Founder of USAfrica, founded the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the Internet USAfricaonline.com. Follow @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the active participation of Diapora Nigerians in the United States politics which culminated in the recent mid-term election of eight Nigerian-Americans into  Parliament.

Gradually but successfully the movement towards the mainstream of American politics remains an interest of many diasporan communities here in the United States. This is evident in the younger generation, Nigerian Americans and recent immigrant Africans.

Consequently, the successful campaigns and victories of eight Nigerian-Americans in the November 8, 2022 mid-term elections in the United States have  attracted encouraging comments from Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement signed by his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari noted that “in Georgia State, Segun Adeyina, Gabe Okoye, Solomon Adesanya, Tish Naghise, and Phil Olaleye won their legislative seats as State Representatives in their Districts.

He also mentioned the fact that Carol Kazeem won the Pennsylvania State Representative in District 159, Esther Agbaje was re-elected as Minnesota State Representative in District 59B, while Dr. Oye Owolewa was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (Shadow Representative) in Washington D.C.

President Buhari has promised “his unflinching support for every Nigerian excelling at home and abroad” and “believes that compatriots who succeed in good causes are assets to the nation and the continent, noting that their contributions will always be remembered and celebrated.”

Okoye, licensed civil engineer, told USAfricaonline.com that “preparation, persistence and refusing to give up are the keys to the victory. Also, we attened schools/colleges here in the U.S and we pay taxes here, we have to stay involved.”

Adeyina, a community development activist, has a passion for public service.

Recall that these efforts gained significant momentum during the elections of Tuesday, November 3, 2020. when substantial number of eligible Americans went to the polls to vote for the presidential, congressional and local elections. The majesty of the American electoral system is that this has gone on every four years — since 1789, at the time of the founding of this country, the greatest country known to human civilization.

I also wrote at the time in a piece titled ‘Why I voted for America’ that this tradition has been sustained —no matter the weather conditions, no matter the state of the economy and no matter the political contentions of the day! It is not left to the whim, convenience or caprice of any American leader or the most competent president to pick and choose what day he prefers. No.

There are no exceptions not even for the self-styled “stable genius”, and irreverent divider-in-chief Donald J Trump, the 45th President of the United States.

I am among the 56 million who voted early, almost two weeks ahead.

I did. Yes, with a sense of civic responsibility and faith in the future and promise of a better day for these United States, I voted for America!

Part of the beauty of America is that it is a nation of laws.

In some of the developing countries of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic would’ve been a good excuse for any of popular or unpopular ruler to postpone national elections in order to entrench himself or herself.

Consequently thankfully, after all the partisan fulmination and divisive, diversionary tactics, the schedule and consistent majesty of the ballot box in America continued….

The presidential elections and congressional competition are important. They are important because what happens in Washington DC generally affects most of the world.    

For me and for millions of other recent immigrants, it was a choice of realistic, productive and equitable engagement with the President who will offer opportunities to all without regard to race, religion and pre-existing conditions.

In fact, one of the greatest Presidents of these United States, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), underscored it with these timeless words:  “Americanism is a question of principle, of purpose, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent.”

An overwhelming majority of the members of the African Diaspora community especially across the United States of America, share the same concerns and hopes for a competitive access to opportunities as opposed to handouts. I know because since 1993, I have been to all the major cities in the United States and have spoken to many community organizations. I interviewed hundreds of African professionals.

Their message and practical agenda are consistent, progressive and predominantly similar; some people will say fundamentally the same.

I count among the binary demographics of recent immigrants known as Nigerian Americans. It is the same set of immigrants famously ranked at the top by the research on Academic qualifications by the respected Rice University, located in Houston, Texas.

I voted for America! — the world’s most diverse, most creative and competitive market. Regardless of your adversity, ethnicity, race, religion, gender or orientation, it offers immigrants endless opportunities; almost.

Yes; almost.  Almost, because the existential realties of America’s “original sin” of slavery in the 17th century are seen, oppressively, in police brutality, financial red-lining and assorted but subtle institutionalization of racism.

Almost, because the coarse apostles of the swine gospel of White supremacy and the inheritors of the  fruits of the inhumane labor and brutal exploitation and bloody sacrifices made by the enslaved Africans in America, are still demanding all the advantages taken by their slave-owning families!

Beyond all of its material successes, America’s real strength rests on the prudent balance of the constitutional assignment of roles and the moral clarity to execute your obligations with a certain sense of fairness and decency. All, elements of character. 

-Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

Chido Nwangwu pays tribute to first Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, who died earlier this week at the age of 93

Earlier on November 1, 2022, I was informed of the death of one of the architects of Nigeria, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi. He’s one of the distinguished frontline nationalists in Nigeria, an iconic figure and leader.

He turned 93, on the 16th of June, 2022.

This nationalist, popularly known as “The boy is good”, spoke truth to power! He was a brilliant activist, strategist, and development advocate.

On July 3, 2020, I had my first interview with him.

Unusual for many Nigerian politicians, he was polite, patient, punctual and globally informed about ancient matters and contemporary events.

I know that I’ve benefited a lot of knowledge from seeking his front row seat location and profound insights to the political history and the nationalists anti-colonial movements in Nigeria, and West Africa. He spent time in Ghana, as a Zikist.

He was a pioneer Zikist movement member — under the inspired leadership of the foremost, nationalist, and first ceremonial president of Nigeria, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of the NCNC. Zik of Africa. Amaechi was a junior minister in the post colonial Government of the time.

I interviewed him about Nelson Mandela; for my forthcoming 2023 book titled Power, Leadership & Identity: MLK, Mandela & Achebe. MLKMandelaAchebe.com

Mandela stayed with Amaechi in Yaba in Lagos in the 1960s during the ANC’s fight against apartheid in South Africa. The two men visited and spent some time together in Chief Amaechi’s village of Ukpor and parts of the Igbo heartland in the Eastern region of Nigeria. 

Chief Amaechi was truly a great man!

Without any doubt, Mbazulike Amaechi championed and made very huge sacrifices for a greater and better Nigeria.  

Which led me to ask another question: are the recent, ghastly, relentless terrorism assaults on the sovereign borders and across Nigeria by jihadists, gunmen, bandits, gross nepotism, discriminations and grinding poverty what they fought for?

I do know that for Amaechi and many of his generation, Nigeria of yesterday and today remain an uninspiring effort.

Nigeria seems to have become an intractable arena of ineptitude and colossal waste!

Literally, it has become a waste land. Nigeria has become the trending tag for incendiary weekly mayhem and daily savagery. It has become the devil’s playground with chronicles of serial catastrophic experiences, punctuated by corruption!

Many before Amaechi died, heartbroken. Waiting for Nigeria to awaken is like Waiting for Godot!

I recall some months ago, Amaechi, some priests and leaders visited and offered Buhari options to defuse and tackle the Nnamdi Kanu tangled palaver. He rejected it. 

Regardless, he was hopeful that Nigeria’s  President Muhammadu Buhari (retired army General and former dictator) with the leadership of the country would halt the sweeping drift and involve all Nigerians fairly, equitably and appropriately to restructure and rebuild a severely damaged country and heal its brutalized citizens.

Otherwise….

-Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him on Twitter @Chido247

Chido Nwangwu writes about the furore generated by the law suit instituted by New York Attorney General, Letitia James, against former US President, Donald Trump, over allegations of fraud

It was Carl von Clausewitz, the famous German military theorist, who brought forward his remarkable definition of war as “the continuation of politics by other means.”

At a press conference, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, the New York Attorney General Letitia James, metaphorically, dropped bombs on former president Donald J Trump, Trump Organization and three of Trump’s children.

James and Trump have been fighting this war for a while. This time it was brought probably closer to the attention of Americans and the global business community. It was a press conference for a lawsuit, with more than 200 instances of fraud covering 10 years, and showing investigations and evidences, as claimed.

James’ office details what it says are Trump’s efforts to inflate his personal net worth to attract favorable loan agreements and alleges

claim to have many evidences of wrongdoing by Mr. Trump and his cohorts! In a short sentence, it seems, we’re witnessing “the continuation of politics by other means.”

James counts among the most influential public officials in the United States, currently. She does not minimize or hide her ideological banner as an activist liberal.

James, an African-American woman, has become Donald Trump’s lost nightmare! Interestingly whenever she speaks about Donald Trump’s business methods and politics, you can tell she has a severe disdain for almost anything Trump! She is also a politician who goes through election fights.

She insists she’s just following the law and track of investigations into Mr. Trump’s businesses and alleged shenanigans. New York like fighters! Letitia James I have noticed for a number of years has shown that she’s a fighter. Especially for the progressive wing of the Democratic party in New York and parts the United States.

It is basic political positioning and strategy that if you can defeat a major social fugure and political juggernaut such as the bombastic Trump, be it in New York, Saskatchewan or Burundi, it’s a big deal!

Moreso, if she proves her case against the former President of the United States and consequently take down Mr. Trump, in the realistic but twisted ways, a lot of political advantages will come her way.

She’s suing Trump & Co and charging them for large-scale business fraud, including inflated values of its properties in order to use same to seek bank loans or deflated them to pay less in taxes.

James cites, for example, Mar-a-Lago, the suit  alleges was valued at $739m. James’ office said it should have been around $75m, and is sending a criminal referral to the IRS and U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan.

She alleged “With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system.”

Trump has also attacked the New York AG-led investigation as a politicized “witch hunt…. She is a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!”

I bombed the key claims of the lawsuits against Donald Trump is that he allegedly “repeatedly and persistently manipulated the value of assets to induce banks to lend money… on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company.”

 Like I stated here, not long ago, it was the incisive American journalist, the late Ambrose Bierce who defined politics as “A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.” I note, as a matter of claim, that Trump has alleged same against Letitia James! He has gone as far as painting the investigation and allocations against him as self-serving for James! Trump has also called James a “racist.”

New York AG James stated that: “For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them. Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples. Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal but today that conduct ends.” But I must say that Trump is a cat with nine lives!

The billion dollar question is whether the master of blustery language, the giddy, former face of New York bring his tattered but artful bag of legal technicalities to outwit New York’s Attorney General.

Or has Trump, finally, come up against a rock, a hardplace and a very tough Black woman? It will be quite ironic and interesting if….

-Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

Follow him @Chido247