Nigerians in U.S. host website for Jonathan

Nigerians resident in Dallas, U.S., have hosted a website to assist President Goodluck Jonathan to win next year's elections.

The website, named onevoteforjonathan.com, is aimed at actualising electoral victory for Jonathan to continue in office as the President of Nigeria.

The Coordinator of the website, Emmanuel Nwadeyi, said, in a statement to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from Dallas on Monday, that a victory for Mr Jonathan will be a continuation of the Yar'Adua/Jonathan Presidency.

He said that although he was not speaking on behalf of all Nigerians abroad, "there is a general concensus among Nigerians abroad that the continuation of President Jonathan in office will usher in office, a new era of political thinking.

"As a Nigerian and a concerned one for that matter, one must commit to the type of nation building that supports cohesiveness and growth and in the light of this concept, we are presented in this coming election with choices between the two groups of distinct Nigerians.

"The group that has tasted power in the past, ruled the nation with decrees and still did not achieve cohesive nation building," he said.

Why Jonathan?

Mr Nwadeyi said Jonathan belonged to a group of technocrats and intellectuals who wanted to use the abundant human and material resources in the country to touch the lives of the people.

He said that pro-zoning politicians should realise that it was an in-house matter with no bearing on the nation's constitution because the office of the Vice President was created to make way for such a person to step into the Presidency in the absence of the occupier of the post.

He added that one sure thing going for Mr Jonathan was the fact that he was a simple man who grew up with vision and hope and understood the plight of ordinary Nigerians.

Mr Nwadeyi said the website was created because of his personal conviction that Nigerians deserved an intellectual technocrat who understood the plight of majority of the populace and could effect changes that will bring back foreign investment and international recognition.

He said those over-heating the polity through unguarded rhetoric, violence, car bombs, kidnapping, killings and importation of arms would surely fail in their selfish ambition and unwarranted assault on peace-loving Nigerians.

Another court restrains lawmakers from probing Fashola

A High Court in Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday gave an order restraining the Lagos State House of Assembly from further probing the state’s governor, Babatunde Fashola, over allegations of financial misappropriation.

The presiding Judge, Opeyemi Oke, said that it is unlawful for the legislators to continue with their investigation since there is a substantive suit before the Court of Appeal. In addition, the court gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant and any of its agents, officers, servants, committees, in particular the Ad Hoc Committee set up on April 15 from further investigating the governor.

A group which calls itself the ``True Face of Lagos’’ had levelled allegations of financial impropriety against the executive arm of the government.

The judge said that the Originating Summons filed by the claimant was different from the earlier issue dispensed by Justice Habib Abiru of the Ikorodu Division of the Lagos judiciary. The applicant, Richard Akinnola, had gone to the Appeal Court to contest some gray areas in the judgment of the lower court.

Justice Oke, in her judgment, noted that it was the duty of the counsel to educate their clients on the hierarchy of the courts. ``This court has an inherent duty to ensure that due regards, due respect and due honour is given to the Court of Appeal which is a superior court.

``Where a counsel fails to do this by not bringing this to the knowledge of his client, it is the duty of the honourable court to compel the party to do so through the order of the court by granting the injunctive order,’’ she said.

Justice Abiru had on March 30 declared unconstitutional, null and void, the probe instituted by the House against the governor based on an advertorial placed in a national paper by the New Face of Lagos.

Justice Abiru upheld the relief sought by the petitioner, Richard Akinola, who had asked the court to stop a six-man investigation panel set up by the legislature to investigate the executive.

Mr. Akinnola in his Originating Summons dated May 4, 2010 prayed the court to stop the probe of Mr. Fashola, saying that the action by the House was unlawful and constituted an affront on the rule of law and administration of justice.

He also asked the court to determine whether the House was right to set up an Ad hoc Committee to probe Mr. Fashola despite a pending litigation seeking to stop it.

Fela slept with me more than his other 27 wives

On the wings of the 2010 Felabration that just ended in Lagos, one of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's wives, Kevwe, speaks with CHUX OHAI and ADA ONYEMA about her life with the late Afrobeat musician. How did you meet Fela? I used to take food to an uncle of mine known as Gabriel Okpaku. He had a studio. I would take the food to him there. One day, when I got to the studio, he locked me in the dark room and walked away, leaving me in company with Fela, who was visiting him at the time. I had sex with Fela that day. Later, Fela said he wouldn't like me to live in the same house as his boys in the Mosalasi area. He took me to his first wife, Remi, who was Femi's mother. The first day I saw her, I was shocked because she was very light and her hair was as long as that of a white woman. Fela left me in her care and asked her to take care of me. I told her everything about myself and she said that if I should take her word and be like a daughter to her, there would not be any problem.

Which year was this?

That was in 1972. He had just recorded the popular album, Shakara.

Did you eventually marry Fela officially?

Yes, I did. I was one of the 27 women Fela married in one day. His friend took us to his house first before we were taken to a high court for the wedding. The people at the court said we were underage and that Fela should be arrested for even thinking of luring us into marriage. Eventually, they threw us out and we went to his friend's office and from there to the late Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti's residence. By that time, Fela's house had been burned down. So he rented a hotel where 12 herbalists were invited to conduct the wedding ceremony.

Which one of Fela's house was burnt? Was it the one in Mosalasi?

Yes.

Were you living with Fela then?

Yes.

Can you describe what happened?

I was an eyewitness. What happened was this: Femi was learning to drive a car. On his way back, the police arrested him for one reason or the other. The policemen who made the arrest argued with Fela's boys, who appeared to be drunk at the time. A fight ensued and one of the policemen fell to the ground. The others ran to nearby Abalti Army Barracks and reported the matter to some soldiers. Before the soldiers arrived, the boys had already gone into hiding inside Fela's compound. The police came in and told Fela that they wanted to arrest his boys. But Fela said he was not going to allow that and they threatened to bring in the army. By this time, Fela had fortified his residence, which was walled, with a live electric wire and anybody that touched the wire would be electrocuted to death. When this was going on, he told his mother that he wanted to activate the wire; but she said he should let the police go into the compound as long as they had a search warrant. Also, she said if they didn't come with one, he should be ready to wage a total war with them. Of course, it turned out that the policemen did not come with a search warrant and they came in company with many soldiers. All of them surrounded Fela's compound at once. He had no choice other than to turn on the electricity, thereby activating the wire on the fence. In the process, some soldiers were electrocuted. That was why their colleagues came back forcefully and threw fire into the generator that supplied the electricity and the generator burned out. Having destroyed the power generator, the soldiers were able to gain entry into Fela's home. When they got in, they shot five girls to death instantly. I still remember their names. They were Patience, Kemi, Kehinde and Taiwo, alongside two white men, who were standing at the front gate of the compound. I didn't remember anything else until I woke up to see myself in Abalti barracks.

Was it on the same day that Fela's mother was killed?

Yes, the soldiers killed his mother on that day. They came in with arms and were prepared to kill everybody in sight. Immediately they started shooting, I went to hide in the toilet. But they found me and beat the hell out of me. I saw them go upstairs to Fela's mother and carry her. At that point, I was in pains and half-conscious. But I knew they threw her downstairs. They were really determined to kill.

After you got married to Fela, what happened?

After the marriage ceremony, we went to Ghana for the honeymoon.

All the 27 wives?

Yes, all the 27 wives with Alex Conde, the one that married the late Chief Okotie Eboh's daughter. He took us to Ghana for the honeymoon and from there Fela brought other girls. The other wives were always jealous because Fela paid a lot of attention to me. Fela used to tell us to smoke marijuana or he would not accept us as his own people.

Were you smoking marijuana before you married him?

No. He introduced me to smoking. Whenever I refused to smoke, he would get angry and disgrace me in public.

Kidnapping will soon be over, says Jonathan

ABUJA – PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has declared that in the nearest future, Nigerians would celebrate the end of the  menace of  kidnapping in the country.

The President who expressed optimism that kidnapping in Nigeria has reduced significantly, said  very shortly it will be wiped out from the country.

Speaking at an interactive session with Nigerians resident in Chad Republic, President Jonathan described kidnapping as a receding nightmare.

In response to a question on how kidnapping had prevented some Ibos from visiting their homes in Nigeria, the President assured that government has put in place elaborate measures to counter the menace and restore  peace.

President Jonathan further assured Nigerians in Chad Republic that their complaints of constant harassment of Nigerian fishermen and others on legitimate businesses by Chadian security agencies would be addressed with the host authorities.

President Jonathan also promised to look into the issue of building a permanent office and residence for the Nigerian Ambassador, to secure the country’s pride of place in Chad.

He thanked all the speakers at the event who wished him success at next year’s polls, stressing that he and the Vice President Namadi Sambo “are totally committed and will do our best.”

Those who spoke during the meeting included representatives of various Nigerian ethnic groups resident in Chad Republic as well as the Chairman of the Nigeria-Chad Association, Stephen Osagie.

Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State, the Minister of Water Resources, Obadiah Ando and the Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Salamatu Suleiman were among top Nigerian government officials at the interactive gathering.

N7.6bn Nigerian funds withheld in Chad

THE Nigerian government is making frantic attempts to ensure the payment of over N7.65 billion belonging to Nigerian businessmen who had some transactions with their counterparts in neighbouring Chad Republic but have been unable to obtain payment.

Some of the monies owed the businessmen dated back to as far back as 1982 and it includes about $6million lump sum paid by a new generation bank, which obtained a licence to open a branch in the country’s capital but could not proceed with the plan because of the banking reforms in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Chad Republic, Abdulahi Omaki, who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen in his office, said the Nigerian government was worried because even though the Chadian government had agreed to pay in instalments, not much progress had been made.

According to him, “The aspect that worries the embassy is the fact that a few of Nigerian business people have been receiving bad treatment in terms of getting full value for the level of cooperation if they have contractual agreement with some companies or they have done some businesses together with some of the Chadian companies.

“We have some cases that have been pending since 1982 when Nigerian companies did some supplies for the Chadian government. Payment has not been made up till today.

Facebook Says User Data Sold To Broker

Facebook Inc. said that a data broker has been paying application developers for identifying user information, and that it had placed some developers on a six-month suspension from its site because of the practice.

The announcement, which Facebook made on its developers' blog Friday, follows an investigation by Facebook into a privacy breach that The Wall Street Journal reported in October.

Under the agreement, Rap Leaf agreed to delete all Facebook user IDs in its possession, and also agreed "not to conduct any activities on the Facebook Platform" in the future, according to Facebook.

In its post, Facebook said it has a "zero tolerance" policy for data brokers "because they undermine the value that users have come to expect from Facebook." While the apps weren't selling or granting data brokers access to data that users had set to be private, "this violation of our policy is something we take seriously," Facebook said.

Facebook didn't specify which app developers it had suspended, but said it affects fewer than a dozen, mostly small ones. Facebook also said it was adding a mechanism so app developers that need to share a unique identifier with outside parties, such as content partners, can do so in an anonymous fashion. This new function will be released next week, and will be required of all apps by Jan. 1, 2011.

The Journal investigation also found that MySpace and some of its popular apps were transmitting identifying information to outside advertising companies. Asked whether MySpace had found any app developers were selling user IDs, a MySpace spokesman said the company was "taking appropriate action" against developers that break its privacy rules.

Facebook to introduce technology to limit sharing of user ids

A recent Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that the 10 most popular Facebook applications compromised user identities even when they set strictest privacy settings.

It held popular applications such as the FarmVille, the Causes, the Mafia Wars, the Quiz Planet and Phrases, guilty of transmitting unique ids of users (WSJ: “identifiable information”) to third parties — mostly advertising and Internet tracking companies that profile Internet users,” often for targeted marketing.

Not only did this violate the United States laws but Facebook's privacy policy as well. Soon as the breach was brought to its notice, Facebook suspended several of the offending applications. It also sought to reassure its 500 million active users worldwide that none of the ids was used to glean personal information nor was any information misused.

The company said new technical systems would be introduced that would “dramatically limit” the sharing of user ids. In saying so, it, however, did not rule out further breaches.

“As part of our work to provide people with control over their information, we've learned that the design and operation of the Internet doesn't always provide the greatest control that is technically possible,” explained Kirthiga Reddy, Director, Online Operations and Head of Office Facebook India, in an email interview with this newspaper.

After all, policing an approximate 5,50,000 applications, which 70 per cent users access each month, is an uphill task. More than one million developers and entrepreneurs from over 180 countries work on Facebook's platforms.

Early May 2010, several social networking sites, including Facebook, were found to be (inadvertently) sharing user ids with advertisers each time they clicked on an ad. Facebook took remedial steps immediately after the infringement was brought to its notice.

Surprisingly, in both the cases, the compromised information was transmitted via ‘URL referrers.' Referrers communicate the address (URL) of the previous page whenever a user clicks a link. This helps third parties gather information on a particular user.

“This is an even more complicated technical challenge than the similar issue we successfully addressed last Spring, but one that we are committed to addressing,” Ms. Reddy stressed.

Facebook, according to her, has incorporated numerous defences to ensure a safer browsing experience for its users. Its arsenal includes complex automated systems that work behind the scenes to detect and flag Facebook accounts that show signs of anomalous activity.

These could include, for example, accounts that send out an abnormal number of messages in a short period of time, or those that propagate malicious links.

“Once we detect a phoney message, we delete all instances of that message across the site. We also block malicious links from being shared and work with third parties to get phishing and malware sites added to browser blacklists or taken down completely,” Ms. Reddy explained.

She, however, swore by the key rules of thumb: using up-to-date browsers, unique logins and passwords for every website, verifying the authenticity of the legitimate Facebook page from its URL and being wary of any message, post, or link that looks suspicious or requires an additional login. It would help users follow the ‘Facebook Security' page.

The company, which has grown “very quickly” in India with more than 15 million active users, is presently working on translating Marathi through its translation application. It is currently available in more than 70 languages.