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Peter Obi: The Labor Presidential Party Candidate is Energizing the Nigerians Youth

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A wealthy businessman with a reputation for being frugal, Peter Obi has emerged as a powerful force ahead of Nigeria’s presidential election next February, energising voters with messages of prudence and accountability that are amplified by an army of social media users.

In a country that seems to always be on the lookout for a messiah to solve its myriad problems, young social media-savvy supporters have elevated Mr Obi to sainthood and are backing his largely unknown Labour Party against two septuagenarian political heavyweights.

His name is often trending on social media on the back of numerous conversations sparked by his supporters, instantly recognisable from their display picture of his image or the white, red and green logo of his party.

These are mostly urban under-30s who refer to themselves as the “Coconut-head generation”, because they are strong-willed, independent-minded and contemptuous of older politicians who, they say, have done little for them.

Many of them, like Dayo Ekundayo from the eastern city of Owerri, were involved in the EndSars protests that forced the disbandment of a notorious police department two years ago and also morphed into calls for better government.

Now, they are deploying the same strategies that mobilized hundreds of thousands of young Nigerians and raised millions of naira within weeks for the 60-year-old who they consider an alternative to the two parties that have dominated politics since the end of military rule in 1999.

“Which Nigerian politician has ever held office and has his integrity intact? I do not see any other logical option for young people in Nigeria,” said Mr Ekundayo.

He has already been involved in a march for Mr Obi, and is providing logistics and mobilising students for the campaign as he did during the EndSars protests.

But opponents say Mr Obi is a political impostor, one of many who spring up at election time with delusions of being a third force that will wrestle power from the traditional parties.

Many supporters of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and neutral observers agree he is head and shoulders above the other candidates, but say he lacks the nationwide popularity to win the election and have warned his supporters that they risk wasting their votes.

They believe he is a distraction from the common goal of removing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from office, and could split the opposition vote.

A devout Catholic from eastern Nigeria, they point to his lack of popularity in the Muslim-dominated north, whose votes are considered critical in winning presidential elections.

And his critics question whether he truly represents a break from the corruption he routinely lambasts, pointing out that his name popped up in the leaked Pandora Papers which exposed the hidden wealth of the rich and powerful in 2021.

While he was not accused of stealing money, he failed to declare offshore accounts and assets held by family members, citing ignorance.

He was also accused of investing state funds, as governor, into a company he had dealings with. He denied any wrongdoing and points out that the value of the investment has since grown.

Mr Obi repeatedly says he is not desperate to be president, which is ironic for a man who has changed parties four times since 2002.

He dumped the PDP just days before its presidential primary in June and the party went on to choose the 75-year-old former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential flagbearer.

Mr Obi was Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election which the PDP lost to the ruling APC

Critics say he pulled out of the contest because he knew his chances of winning were slim but he cited wrangling within the PDP, where he was a vice-presidential candidate in 2019, for deciding to cross over to the Labour Party.

His supporters are also convinced that he was pushed out of the PDP because he refused to bribe delegates at the party primary and have coined the phrase: “We don’t give shishi (money)” as a buzzword for his famed frugality and his prudence in managing government funds in a country with a history of wasteful expenditure by public officers.

They regard him as an unconventional politician prepared to take on the APC and PDP behemoths seen as different sides of the same coin, who they accuse of dipping their fingers into the public purse.

There is also a religious and ethnic twist to his candidacy.

In a country where roughly half the population is Christian, his supporters hope that this will bolster his chances of winning, as after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari they would not want another Muslim – the APC’s Bola Tinubu, 70, or the PDP’s Mr Abubakar – to take office.

The OBIdients

Some also support Mr Obi because of his ethnic background. Igbos make up the country’s third largest ethnic group, but Nigeria has had only one Igbo leader, largely ceremonial, since it freed itself from British colonial rule in 1960.

Many Igbos accuse successive Nigerian governments of marginalising them and hope that Mr Obi will rise to power so that the south-east, where most of them live, would see greater development and so counter the pull of secession groups like the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob).

A philosophy graduate, he worked in his family’s retail businesses before going on to make his own money, importing everything from salad cream to beauty products, and baked beans to champagne, while also owning a brewery and holding major shares in three commercial banks.

You can normally recognise a Nigerian billionaire from a mile off but Mr Obi is thrifty and wears it as a mark of pride.

He is quick to point out that he owns just two pairs of black shoes from midmarket British chain Marks and Spencer, prefers a $200 suit from Stein Mart to a $4,000 Tom Ford suit, and always insists on carrying his own luggage, rather than paying someone else to do it for him.

Even his children are not spared his frugality. His 30-year-old son was denied a car, he said, while his other child is a happy primary school teacher – a rarity in a country where a politician’s name often opens doors to more lucrative jobs.

Despite the financial controversy, his tenure as governor of Anambra state has become a reference point for his presidential campaign.

His supporters point out that he invested heavily in education and paid salaries on time – the simple things that most Nigerian state governors tend to neglect.

He also left huge savings in state coffers at the end of his two four-year tenures, another rarity.

Most of those supporting Mr Obi were involved in anti-police brutality protests in 2020

But Frances Ogbonnaya, a university student in Anambra state when Mr Obi was governor, is surprised by the praises being sung in his name, describing his tenure as unremarkable.

“Who saves money in the face of hunger? Who saves money in the face of a lack of facilities?” she asked rhetorically.

But it is his reputation for frugality and sound management that has attracted a horde of supporters, known as OBIdients.

Some have been accused of cyberbullying and labelling anyone who does not vote for him in next year’s election an enemy of the state.

He responded with a tweet calling on his supporters to “imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship”, but it has done little to calm them down.

They are quick to show anyone who tells them that elections aren’t won on Twitter, the crowds at offices of Nigeria’s electoral body where they have been flooding to register as first-time voters.

But this is not the same as actually turning out to vote on election day.

With months to the election, there is no denying the momentum building behind Mr Obi but cynics also point to the lack of a nationwide party structure to support the view that, while possible, an Obi presidency remains highly improbable.

He retorts that his structure is “the 100 million Nigerians that live in poverty [and] the 35 million Nigerians who don’t know where their next meal will come from”.

If half of those turn out to vote him on election day, it might very well be all that he needs.

Culled from the BBC News

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Africa

Trump’s sudden suspension of foreign aid puts millions of lives in Africa at risk

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  • The United States government funds HIV prevention, treatment and research programmes across the world but especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

  • US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on 20 January that halts foreign aid for 90 days.

  • The order, which is not clearly worded, has left in doubt the future of many life-saving HIV programmes in Africa.

The sudden decision by United States President Donald Trump to halt and review all foreign aid for 90 days could be devastating for HIV programmes in African countries. After Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, he signed numerous executive orders. One of these suspends aid to “foreign countries and implementing non-governmental organisations, international organisations, and contractors” pending review for whether it aligns with “American interests and … values”.

The order said, “no further [US] foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States”.

Foreign aid includes the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR. PEPFAR has saved millions of lives since it was launched by former president George W. Bush in 2003.

PEPFAR statistics show that at the end of 2024, it was providing life-saving antiretroviral treatment to nearly 21-million people across 55 countries, many of them in sub-Saharan Africa. PEPFAR is also delivering pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) — which stops people from contracting HIV — to about 2.5 million people. In 2024, PEPFAR provided HIV testing to about 84-million people. It funds HIV treatment and intervention in Uganda, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and many others.

South Africa has about 5.6-million people on antiretroviral treatment. The medicines themselves are paid for by the South African government, but PEPFAR funds some of the staff at some ARV programmes. It also funds much of the prevention and information effort, including ARV user clubs, medical circumcision and public messaging.

South Africa does leading research on HIV and TB. Much of this is funded by the US National Institutes of Health. It’s unclear what the future status of this funding is.

It’s also unclear what the status is of money that has been committed. For example, some programmes get monthly tranches based on contracts that have already been signed. At least one project manager we spoke to said he wasn’t sure if commitments for February onwards would be arriving, and US government representatives who he deals with are themselves unsure.

This uncertainty is due to this phrase in the executive order, “shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements”. It’s unclear if already-committed disbursements are affected.

Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, an infectious disease scientist at the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at UCT, said that it’s unclear whether the PEPFAR funding will be reduced or stopped but that the outcome in African countries could be “disastrous”.

Bekker said that HIV treatment “doesn’t stand still” and that treatment, PrEP, and quality healthcare have to keep on getting to people.

Bekker also said that other countries in Africa are far more dependent on PEPFAR funding than South Africa. For example, Malawi, which has a minimal health budget.

“There is no doubt our own national governments need to step up. We know there needs to be more self-reliance,” she said, but added that the sudden stop of donor funding can be “disastrous”.

study from 2024 looking at the rate of mortality amongst South African adults who experienced interruption in antiretroviral treatment, shows that interrupting antiretroviral treatment leads to much greater risk of death.

Over the years, Bekker says, PEPFAR funding has also gradually transitioned from where there was an emergency situation, at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the early 2000s, to helping countries’ health systems cope.

PEPFAR allocations in Malawi for 2024 and 2025 are $180-million and $178-million respectively. It is one of two of the biggest funders of HIV interventions in Malawi, along with the Global Fund, according to the National Aids Commission (NAC) of Malawi. In a recent strategic plan, the NAC noted that, “There is an urgent need to sustain and accelerate the national response between 2020 and 2025 in order to put Malawi on the path towards ending AIDS as a public health threat in Malawi by 2030.”

It is unclear how Trump’s order to pause and review foreign aid will affect PEPFAR in the future. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) media office did not respond to questions by the time of publication.

Trump also issued an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organisation (WHO). According to Reuters there is a 12-month notice period for the US, the WHO’s largest funder, to leave the organisation and stop all financial contributions to its work.

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Trump Administration to Address Non-Citizen Immigrants as ‘Aliens’

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The Trump administration has decided to officially refer to non-citizen immigrants as “aliens.” Caleb Vitello, the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), issued an internal memo directing the use of the term “alien” instead of “non-citizen.”

From now on, “non-citizen” will be replaced with “alien,” “non-citizenship” with “alienage,” “undocumented non-citizen” with “undocumented alien,” and “non-citizen children” with “alien children.” Before the Biden administration, the term “alien” was commonly used to refer to non-citizens.

“This memorandum supersedes and rescinds the April 19, 2021, Updated Terminology for Communications and Materials memorandum from Acting Director Tae Johnson. Moving forward, for all communications materials and internal and external communications, ICE employees are directed to use the lexicon consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act and the language historically used by the agency. Specifically, ICE will revert to its prior lexicon,” the memo sent to ICE leadership by Acting Director Caleb Vitello reads.

On April 19, 2021, the Biden administration changed these terminologies. Since then, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had stopped referring to immigrants as “aliens” or “illegal aliens.” The Biden administration had instructed U.S. immigration enforcement agencies not to use terms like “alien” or “illegal alien” when referring to immigrants. However, under the previous Trump administration, such terms were widely used.

ICE and CBP are the primary federal agencies responsible for enforcing immigration laws in the U.S. The Biden administration had changed these terms as part of its efforts to make the immigration system more humane.

Under the changes, the term “alien” was replaced with “non-citizen” or “migrant,” and “illegal” was replaced with “undocumented.” ICE’s then-Acting Director, Tae Johnson, had emphasized the use of more inclusive language.

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Over 10,000 Black Women Come Together to Thank Kamala Harris

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Over 10,000 Black women, led by the Black Women’s Leadership Collective and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., have united to express their gratitude to Kamala Harris in an open letter celebrating her legacy of service, leadership, and inspiration.

The heartfelt letter highlights Harris’s historic role as the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as Vice President of the United States and acknowledges her tireless dedication to advancing justice, equity, and representation for marginalized communities.

“As the first Black woman to hold the office of Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris leaves behind an incredible legacy of strength, resilience, grace, and determination,” said Dr. Stacie NC Grant, President and CEO of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

She reflected on the historic moment Harris addressed the sorority’s Grand Boule in Indianapolis in July 2024, her first public appearance as the sitting Vice President and presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee.

Although the 2024 presidential election did not result in a victory, the letter acknowledges Harris’s profound impact on millions, particularly Black women and girls. Her presidential campaign symbolized hope and progress, inspiring her supporters to continue fighting for justice and equity.

The letter, signed by prominent Black women leaders such as Donna Brazile, LaTosha Brown, Symone Sanders Townsend, and Secretary Marcia Fudge, praises Harris’s work on key issues such as voting rights, economic justice, and healthcare. It also acknowledges the sacrifices and resilience she displayed while breaking barriers in U.S. politics.

“Your work does not go unnoticed, and it inspires generations of women and girls to dream bigger and fight harder for the future they deserve,” the letter states.

The initiative underscores the vital role Black women have played in Harris’s political journey. From her historic election as Vice President in 2020 to her unprecedented presidential campaign in 2024, Black women have mobilized to support her vision of dismantling barriers and amplifying marginalized voices.

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