Tag: former vice president

Nigerian presidential rivals cast ballots in delayed election

February 23, 2019

By James Macharia and Ahmed Kingimi

ABUJA/MAIDUGURI (Reuters) – President Muhammadu Buhari and his main challenger, businessman Atiku Abubakar, cast their ballots in Nigeria’s presidential election on Saturday as voting began after a week’s delay in Africa’s biggest economic power.

Analysts say the vote is too close to call, with the outcome set to hinge on which man voters most trust to revamp an economy still struggling to recover from a 2016 recession.

Buhari, a former military ruler who was later elected president, is seeking a second term in charge of Africa’s most populous nation and top crude producer. Atiku, a former vice president, has pledged to expand the role of the private sector.

The two candidates lead a field of more than 70 challengers.

Reuters witnesses observed some delays to the opening of polling stations and problems with voting systems in the early part of the ballot.

Last Saturday, the election was postponed around five hours before polling stations were due to open by electoral commission, which cited logistical factors.

Buhari, who voted in his hometown of Daura in the northern state of Katsina, said: “I will congratulate myself, I’m going to be the winner” when asked by reporters if he would congratulate his rival, should Atiku win the election.

Atiku later cast his ballot in the eastern Adamawa state.

“I look forward to a successful transition,” he told reporters shortly after voting.

Nigerians queued at polling booths around the country where voting officially began at 8:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and is due to close at 2:00 p.m.

However, several polling stations across the country were slow to open and others reported problems with machines meant to verify voters cards, Reuters witnesses said. The country has 72.8 million eligible voters.

“I’ve been to 10 polling units today. I’ve been redirected many times,” said Victor Kanoba a voter in Lagos.

John Tomaszewski, an observer with the joint U.S. National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute delegation, said delays had been somewhat expected given the logistical challenge of getting materials to the polling stations in time for opening.

“This will be something to watch throughout the day,” he said.

“Logistics weren’t properly managed despite the postponement of the polls,” said Idayat Hassan, director of Abuja-based think tank Centre for Democracy and Development, which is also observing the election.

In the capital Abuja, Chukwunwike Ogbuani, a lawyer, said he was worried by the delays.

“This polling booth they say has about 20,000 registered voters… if there is at least up to 50 to 60 percent turnout it will be difficult to finish in a day. I don’t see everybody that is here voting within the stipulated time.”

In Lagos’ business district of Victoria Island, Reginald Anthony, 45, who runs a transport business, said: “We are seeing a transparent election, everything is open for everyone to see”.

GRAPHIC – Nigeria presidential election: https://tmsnrt.rs/2E6qkDO

MAIDUGURI BLASTS

After voting in the northern Kano state, Hadisa Hayatu, a 38-year old housewife, said: “I voted for Buhari because he has assured us that he is going to build on what he has done on security and other issues.”

An Atiku supporter in Kano, stylist Laurie Isaac, 27, said: “We need change. I need more work. I need my salary to increase.”

In the country’s northeast, where insurgent groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have waged a decade-long war, blasts were heard in the city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, said Reuters witnesses. Boko Haram had warned people not to vote.

Meanwhile, residents in the village of Geidam in Yobe state, which neighbors Borno, said they fled an attack by suspected militants.

“We have along with our wives and children and hundreds of others fled. We are right now running and hiding in the bushes,” said Geidam resident Ibrahim Gobi, speaking by phone.

Colonel Sagir Musa, acting director of army public relations, said there had not been an attack on any part of Maiduguri, where activity had been part of an exercise by the military.

Musa said there was an attack on a security outpost in Geidam but there were no casualties.

Security sources told Reuters that militants had struck at parts of the city and a Reuters witness said he had heard gun shots and Nigerian air force jets were flying overhead.

(Reporting by Paul Carsten, Seun Sanni, Aaron Ross, Abraham Achirga, Adewale Kolawole, Afolabi Sotunde, Ardo Hazzad, Didi Akinyelure, Garba Muhammed, Mike Oboh, Nneka Chile, Ola Lanre, Percy Dabang, Camillus Eboh, Christian Merenini and Tife Owolabi; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Alexis Akwagyiram and Toby Chopra)

Nigeria’s Buhari promises security for delayed presidential election

February 22, 2019

By Felix Onuah and Ahmed Kingimi

ABUJA/MAIDUGURI (Reuters) – President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday urged Nigerians “to go out and vote”, promising there would be adequate security for Saturday’s postponed election that pits him in a tight race with businessman Atiku Abubakar.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a week’s delay to voting in the early hours of last Saturday, just as some of Nigeria’s 72.8 million eligible voters were preparing to go to polling stations.

In a televised morning address on the eve of the vote, Buhari asked Nigerians to “cast aside doubt and have faith that INEC will rise to the occasion” on Saturday.

“Do not be afraid of rumors of violence and unrest. Our security agencies have worked diligently to ensure that adequate security measures are in place,” he said.

Buhari’s rival Atiku, a former vice president who is representing the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), made a similar appeal to voters through his Twitter feed on Thursday night.

“This Saturday, a vote for PDP is a vote to get Nigeria working again. Come out, vote and #DefendYourVote,” Atiku said in a tweet accompanied by a video of his rallies.

Buhari, a former military ruler who was later elected president in 2015, faces a close contest against Atiku to lead a country that has Africa’s largest economy and is its top oil producer, but is plagued by corruption and insecurity.

The Boko Haram militant insurgent group and its offshoot, Islamic State in West Africa Province, have carried out deadly sporadic raids in the northeast’s Borno state. Boko Haram has warned people not to vote.

Witnesses and security officials told Reuters an attack in Borno on a governor’s convoy on route to an election rally on Feb. 12 was deadlier than the government had said.

More than 1,000 soldiers from neighboring Chad, belonging to a multinational joint force comprised of troops from the region, crossed the border into Nigeria on Friday to help with the fight against Islamists, according to two Chadian military sources.

Police patrol vehicles were seen moving around Borno’s capital, Maiduguri, on Friday. Electoral commission vehicles were also seen ferrying election material under heavy police guard.

“I think everybody has to be concerned about the security … it is something that worries people,” James Jatto, a pastor in Maiduguri said.

Ali Gwarfa, an internally displaced person in Bakassi camp in Maiduguri, said he was preparing to cast his vote in a nearby center despite the insecurity.

“We must go and vote for the candidates of our choice,” Gwarfa said.

Acting Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu said police would ensure security at the polls.

In President Buhari’s hometown of Daura in northern Nigeria, an election official, Saeed Ahmed, said electoral materials were being transferred to polling stations.

“I am very optimistic that tomorrow’s election will be credible, free and fair,” he said.

ELECTION DAY

In Lagos, Cheta Nwanze, head of research at SBM Intel, a Lagos based intelligence firm, said the postponement of the election would favor the opposition.

“I think it is important to say that, it cast the APC ruling party in bad light and it builds popular anger towards them,” Nwanze said, referring to Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party.

However, Bukola Saraki, director general of Atiku’s campaign, told Reuters the delay “disadvantages us”.

Members of Buhari’s APC party and those of Atiku’s PDP have accused each other of being behind the delay and colluding with the electoral commission, but neither party has publicly provided evidence to back up their allegations.

The electoral commission’s chairman Mahmood Yakubu has insisted the vote will go ahead on Saturday. He blamed logistical reasons for the postponement, and said there had been no external pressure.

“Tomorrow is election day,” Yakubu told a briefing.

(Additional reporting by Madjiasra Nako in N’Djamena; writing by James Macharia; editing by Alexis Akwagyiram, Toby Chopra and Chris Reese)

The Women’s March You Won’t Hear About

Hysterical leftists condemn a women’s group, which organized one of the recent women’s marches on New York City, for demanding rights for women of all races. Here’s more about the organization working for the advancement of all women—regardless of race, religion, creed, or party affiliation.

By Tilton Adler

On Jan. 19, neither frigid winds nor freezing temperatures could prevent 200,000 activists from gathering near Central Park West for the third annual Women’s March Alliance (WMA) rally in New York City. Demonstrating for the advancement of all women—regardless of race, religion, creed, or party affiliation—this particular women’s march was a welcome alternative to the women’s demonstrations organized by the far left that news cycles would lead you to believe are the only scene in town.

Ironically, elsewhere in the city—scheduled intentionally to compete with the WMA rally—Women’s March Inc. (WMI) gathered to present to the media the image of radical, shrieking women that so many in America have grown accustomed to seeing.

What this meant was that two different marches were held by two very different organizations—yet they were presented to the viewing public as being one event. It’s no wonder there is rampant confusion surrounding today’s women’s rights movement.

WMA represents conservative women and men who feel that liberals and the WMI have gone way too far to the left. Perhaps an unintended consequence of the #MeToo movement, many supporters are increasingly frustrated with fringe progressives and in-your-face radical liberals who have largely characterized the women’s movement to end sexual harassment, among other issues. Instead of demonizing long-accepted gender definitions and painting all men as evil, WMA’s goal is to represent those who feel their voices have been drowned out by the radical left.

Protesters’ signs ranged from “Why I March: Corruption-Racism-Climate Change-Human Rights” to “No One Is Free When Others Are Oppressed.”

Think the IRS Never Loses Cases? Think again!

The organization is being spearheaded by Katherine Siemionko, who was raised in a conservative Christian household, which voted for Trump. She is university educated and has 15 years of experience in corporate America as a former vice president with Goldman Sachs.

In 2017, Siemionko organized the first Women’s March on New York City and shortly thereafter left behind the oppressive corporate glass ceiling to form the non-profit WMA.

Yet, despite her experience and fervent work advocating for all women’s rights, she has faced heavy criticism from the activist left for being a white woman and has even been accused of not standing for “real” women, as she “can’t understand their strife.”

Siemionko responds to this false assertion in a video interview with news and commentary website “Vice News”: “We have to stop looking at each other as skin colors. . . . I see that as a copout, the moment you say, ‘You’re white; therefore, you’re racist.’ . . . It’s overly politically correct. Your speech is inhibited by this concept that any words you say may offend somebody. If we continue to nitpick, we will never advance as a society. The left has to stop eating itself.”

This hasn’t stopped the radical leftist WMI from continuing to attack WMA. In what has become a “she said/she said” social media battle, the women’s movement in general has been accused of petering out, of becoming distracted, and of losing focus.

WMA refutes this accusation and notes the mainstream media is doing more harm than good by reporting only on the hysterical, far-left organizers as if they represent all women.

The future remains uncertain for the WMA, but Siemionko says she will likely organize the 2020 march to coincide with International Women’s Day and hopes to end the political partisanship that has been associated with the movement.

Siemionko believes there is room for conservatives and liberals in this movement with no strings attached.

Tilton Adler is a freelance author based in Florida.

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from True Pundit: He was spotted running away from a reporter who questioned the former vice president on whether he still gropes children. Hey Joe, if you’re going to run for President, you might want to address this type of question. Instead of running away. Reporter to Joe Biden: “Mr. Biden, are you still groping children […]

The post WATCH: Joe Biden Flees After Reporter Asks if He ‘Still Gropes Children’ appeared first on SGT Report.

Dr. Ron Paul: Haspel is Not the Problem. The CIA is the Problem.

(RPI) As a general rule, when Dick Cheney favors a foreign policy position it’s best to be on the opposite side if you value liberty over war and authoritarianism. The former vice president’s enthusiastic endorsement of not only Gina Haspel as CIA director but of the torture program she oversaw should tell us all we need to know about Haspel.

Saying that Haspel would make a great CIA director, Cheney dismissed concerns over the CIA’s torture program. Asked in a television interview last week about the program, Cheney said, “if it were my call, I’d do it again.”

Sadly, the majority of the US Senate agreed with Cheney that putting a torturer in charge of the CIA was a good idea. Only two Republicans – Senators Paul and Flake – voted against Haspel. And just to confirm that there really is only one political party in Washington, it was the “yes” vote of crossover Democrats that provided the margin of victory. Americans should really be ashamed of those sent to Washington to represent us.

Just this month, the New York Times featured an article written by a woman who was kidnapped and send to the secret CIA facility in Thailand that Haspel was said to have overseen. The woman was pregnant at the time and she recounted in the article how her CIA torturers would repeatedly punch her in the stomach. She was not convicted or even accused of a crime. She was innocent. But she was tortured on Haspel’s watch.

Is this really what we are as a country? Do we really want to elevate such people to the highest levels of government where they can do more damage to the United States at home and overseas?

Watch Related:
https://youtu.be/cQPazZ1FxkQ

As the news comes out that Obama holdovers in the FBI and CIA infiltrated the Trump campaign to try and elect Hillary Clinton, President Trump’s seeming lack of understanding of how the deep state operates is truly bewildering. The US increasingly looks like a banana republic, where the permanent state and not the people get to decide who’s in charge.

But instead of condemning the CIA’s role in an attempted coup against his own administration, Trump condemned former CIA director John Brennan for “undermining confidence” in the CIA. Well, the CIA didn’t need John Brennan to undermine our confidence in the CIA. The Agency itself long ago undermined the confidence of any patriotic American. Not only has the CIA been involved in torture, it has manipulated at least 100 elections overseas since its founding after WWII.

As President Trump watched Gina Haspel being sworn in as CIA director, he praised her: “You live the CIA. You breathe the CIA. And now you will lead the CIA,” he said. Yes, Mr. president, we understand that. But that’s the problem!

The problem is not Haspel, it’s not John Brennan, it’s not our lack of confidence. The problem is the CIA itself. If the president really cared about our peace, prosperity, and security, he would take steps to end this national disgrace. It’s time to abolish the CIA!

The post Dr. Ron Paul: Haspel is Not the Problem. The CIA is the Problem. appeared first on Ben Swann’s Truth In Media.

Dr. Ron Paul: Haspel is Not the Problem. The CIA is the Problem.

(RPI) As a general rule, when Dick Cheney favors a foreign policy position it’s best to be on the opposite side if you value liberty over war and authoritarianism. The former vice president’s enthusiastic endorsement of not only Gina Haspel as CIA director but of the torture program she oversaw should tell us all we need to know about Haspel.

Saying that Haspel would make a great CIA director, Cheney dismissed concerns over the CIA’s torture program. Asked in a television interview last week about the program, Cheney said, “if it were my call, I’d do it again.”

Sadly, the majority of the US Senate agreed with Cheney that putting a torturer in charge of the CIA was a good idea. Only two Republicans – Senators Paul and Flake – voted against Haspel. And just to confirm that there really is only one political party in Washington, it was the “yes” vote of crossover Democrats that provided the margin of victory. Americans should really be ashamed of those sent to Washington to represent us.

Just this month, the New York Times featured an article written by a woman who was kidnapped and send to the secret CIA facility in Thailand that Haspel was said to have overseen. The woman was pregnant at the time and she recounted in the article how her CIA torturers would repeatedly punch her in the stomach. She was not convicted or even accused of a crime. She was innocent. But she was tortured on Haspel’s watch.

Is this really what we are as a country? Do we really want to elevate such people to the highest levels of government where they can do more damage to the United States at home and overseas?

Watch Related:
https://youtu.be/cQPazZ1FxkQ

As the news comes out that Obama holdovers in the FBI and CIA infiltrated the Trump campaign to try and elect Hillary Clinton, President Trump’s seeming lack of understanding of how the deep state operates is truly bewildering. The US increasingly looks like a banana republic, where the permanent state and not the people get to decide who’s in charge.

But instead of condemning the CIA’s role in an attempted coup against his own administration, Trump condemned former CIA director John Brennan for “undermining confidence” in the CIA. Well, the CIA didn’t need John Brennan to undermine our confidence in the CIA. The Agency itself long ago undermined the confidence of any patriotic American. Not only has the CIA been involved in torture, it has manipulated at least 100 elections overseas since its founding after WWII.

As President Trump watched Gina Haspel being sworn in as CIA director, he praised her: “You live the CIA. You breathe the CIA. And now you will lead the CIA,” he said. Yes, Mr. president, we understand that. But that’s the problem!

The problem is not Haspel, it’s not John Brennan, it’s not our lack of confidence. The problem is the CIA itself. If the president really cared about our peace, prosperity, and security, he would take steps to end this national disgrace. It’s time to abolish the CIA!

The post Dr. Ron Paul: Haspel is Not the Problem. The CIA is the Problem. appeared first on Ben Swann’s Truth In Media.

California Moves to Take Away Citizens Right to Board Cows, Goats

by Kimberly Hartke

Michael Hulme is a 67 year old former Vice President of Business Development for a semiconductor firm. He lost his position as a result of our nation’s economic downturn. Because there were no jobs to be had in California, he and his wife decided to make their love of animals into an enterprise.
guernsey-goat

With his wife’s help, Mike started PetsTouch.com in 2005, a San Jose based pet services exchange and petting zoo. They found their way to goat breeding quite by accident. They volunteered to care for 13 rescue goats. The goats eventually moved on to a new home, but they enjoyed them so much they went and got some Nubian goats.The couple then learned of an endangered goat breed from a friend.

“It was a cause we really believed in,” exclaims Mike. They became one of 18 goat breeders in the U.S. dedicated to bringing back the threatened heritage breed of goats, the Guernsey. This golden long hair breed originated on the British isle of Guernsey and today in the U.K. there are less than 500 that remain.

Full Article

Why Hulme can’t pay – SF Chronicle
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