"Investigate how the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC and Ebony TV organized the Buhari Town Hall meeting"

The invitation to this program that was titled "A Meet & Greet with President Muhammadu Buhari in Washington, DC" was put online by the Ebony TV, the main organizer of this program for all the interested Nigerians to sign up online to attend. Many Nigerians that are living in America and Canada signed up online and got their confirmed invitation letters to this program by email. These Nigerians then made all the necessary preparations, such as, booking their hotel accommodation, arranging their transportation, taking leave from their work place to attend this program.

At about 6 PM EST on July 21, 2015, the Ebony TV started sending out cancellation emails to those invitees without given them any official explanation for what has suddenly happened. Many Nigerians who got these cancellation emails called the customer service representative of the Ebony TV that was listed on their invitation letters to find out why their invitations were cancelled. The customer service representative of the Ebony TV responded to these Nigerians that the original plan was never to put the invitation for this program online in the first instance and that the number of interested Nigerians that signed up online for this program prevented those "special selected Nigerians" by the Nigerian Embassy from getting their own invitation letters to this program that was planned for only 160 Nigerians. The action of the Ebony TV is fishy, shady, questionable and cloudy in nature. The invitation to this meeting was then replaced with the special invitation letter from the Nigerian Embassy that was made available to those specially selected Nigerians who have special connections or relationship with the Nigerian Embassy officials.

Furthermore, the other Washington based organizations, such as, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Corporate Council of Africa and the American Chamber of Commerce where President Muhammadu Buhari was invited as the main guest made their own invitations open and public to any interested Nigerians or members of the American public online and on first come and first serve basis and with transparency. 

At the moment, there are estimated one million Nigerians in America today. A survey that was done by Houston Chronicle few years ago identified Nigerians as the most educated group in America. When the Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi visited United States in 2014. A similar program was organized by the Indian Embassy for the visiting Prime Minister to meet the members of the Indian community in America. The venue of the meeting was not in a small hall of the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, The meeting was held at the Madison Square Garden in New York and with over 18,000 Indians in attendance. Indians from all over United States and Canada graced this special occasion.

It is an international embarrassment that Nigeria, the giant of Africa failed Nigerians in America with the organization of this program by Ebony TV and the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC. I am appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari as a Nigerian that lives in America and on behalf of those affected Nigerians in America and Canada to immediately investigate why the Nigerian Embassy distributed the invitation to this program in a shady manner and then prevented many Nigerians from seeing their President that they love, cherish, admire, supported and voted for on March 28, 2015. 

President Muhammadu Buhari and President Barack Obama at the White House

"BERNIE SANDERS AND DONALD TRUMP :TWO INSURGENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES"

Socialist Bernie Sanders and Billionaire Donald Trump

Donald Trump has sucked out all the oxygen in the room and he is politically suffocating the other GOP presidential candidates from the race. He has taken all the media attention from his rivals. He has enough money to run his election without using the donors' money. Donald Trump is now leading in all the polls. Donald Trump is beyond the control of the GOP's leadership who cannot cage him, tame him or sanction him for his racist, unguarded and divisive comments. He has now launched public and untold verbal attacks on the other presidential candidates writing them off as failed politicians, beggars and political nonentities. Donald Trump has the political option of derailing the GOP's hope of capturing the White House in 2016, and if he does not get the GOP nomination at the end of the day. Donald Trump plans to run as an independent and a third-party candidate that will take away significant votes from the GOP in 2016.

On the other hand, the socialist Bernie Sanders is the center of attraction in the democratic party today and among the party's presidential candidates for the White House in 2016. He has the media attention following him around. He is pulling the largest crowds to all his campaign rallies in this ongoing election circle and in both the blue and red states. Bernie Sanders has also dominated the Facebook and Twitter with his populist message. He is rising in the polls faster than expected. He has the largest donation-base of over 250,000 donors that are more than each candidate from both parties. He has raised enough more that can make him competitive across America.

The populist ideologies (breaking up the Wall Street banks, taxing the billionaires and corporations at the higher tax rates, free tuition in public colleges, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanding the social security benefits and social services, advocating for immigration reform, combating the climate change, police brutality and mass incarceration of minorities by the American justice system) that Bernie Sanders promote are selling like the hot cakes across the length and breadth of America in 2015. Bernie's presence in the race is the biggest political headache or stumbling block to the anointed and yet to-be-coronation of Hillary Clinton, the candidate of the Wall Street banks, corporations, mainstream media and democratic establishment politicians.

So far, Bernie Sanders has pulled the largest crowds in both the blue andthe red states in this 2016 presidential campaign circle across both political parties' presidential candidates. Bernie Sanders pulled 5,500 in Burlington, Vermont, 8,000 in Portland, Maine, 5,000 in Denver, Colorado, 10,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, 2,500 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, 11,000 in Phoenix, Arizona, 8,000 in Dallas, Texas and 9,000 in Houston, Texas. If Bernie Sanders does not win the democratic nomination, he has the option of running as an independent candidate the way he has run for all his elections to date in his political career that spans over 40 years as an independent and democratic socialist politician. This development has the potential to prevent the democrats from continue in the White House as its official occupant beyond 2016 through Hillary Clinton. ‪#‎FeelTheBern‬

"Not All Southerners Fly the Confederate Flag" - Charisma News

The Confederate Flag of the Southern States

I am a son of the South. I was born in Louisiana, spent my childhood in Alabama and attended high school in the suburbs of Atlanta. I grew up eating grits, drinking sweet iced tea and attending big family reunions where the old people sat on wide porches and fanned themselves while the kids ran barefoot in the Georgia red clay.

I'm not apologizing for my upbringing, or for my Southern drawl. There are so many things I love about Southern culture: the warm hospitality, the fact that strangers say, "Hey!" to each other on the street, the way little kids politely say, "Yes, Ma'am" and "No, Sir" to their elders, and of course the fried chicken, cornbread, biscuits, gravy, barbecue, slow-cooked collard greens and sweet potato pie—foods that were invented in the South and made famous at big church dinners.

But I want to make something clear to all my friends who might be tempted to stereotype: In all my years I never saw a Confederate flag in my house, never saw a Confederate decal on my dad's car and never once heard anyone in my family defend slavery, segregation or racism. Even though I had a great-great-great-great grandfather who died in the Civil War—in the Battle of Kennesaw—no one in my family ever told me I should honor that legacy.

For me, the Confederate flag is an ugly reminder of the South's biggest mistake. It is nothing to be proud of. The Confederate flag is something that should be put in a museum to warn us that people sometimes collectively practice injustice.

To a black person, the Confederate flag is a threat. It says: "We don't want you here." It has no business flying on any government property. And if you put it on your lawn or on the back of your truck, you are sending a message of hate.

I am sure the reason no one in my family flew a Confederate flag or defended a "Southern heritage" viewpoint was because we were Christians, and we knew that Christianity and racism are polar opposites. Some of my ancestors were Methodist preachers who advocated for the abolishment of slavery long before the Civil War.

I grew up knowing that it was a sin to say the N-word, and I never heard my parents say it, not even once. When schools were desegregated when I was a teenager, I made black friends, discovered black music and tried to learn every dance I saw onSoul Train on Saturday afternoons. I was never afraid of black culture; I embraced it.

And after I was filled with the Holy Spirit at age 18 (on Southern Baptist property, mind you), I began to visit black churches and discovered the richness of the black Pentecostal experience. Today I feel more at home in some black churches than I do in some white ones. Some of my closest friends are black (both Northerners and Southerners) and they helped me celebrate when my oldest daughter adopted a baby from Africa two years ago.

Today, my black grandson (who bears my name) lives in South Carolina—only a few hours from Charleston, where nine brave black Christians were shot and killed on June 17 while they were having a Bible study at Emanuel A.M.E. Church. The gunman, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, is a troubled white kid who apparently got his inspiration from white supremacist teachings.

Roof recently posted a photo of himself on his web site waving a Confederate flag—prompting protesters and South Carolina legislators to call for the removal of the flag from state capitol property. When I heard Gov. Nikki Haley call for the flag to come down this week, I joined a chorus of Southerners who said, in unison, "Why hasn't it already been mothballed?"

Some people may protest, saying, "It's only a flag," or "It only represents our heritage." I disagree. The Confederate flag is an idol. It represents the evil force of racial hatred that has torn this country apart for more than a century and is still wreaking havoc on our cities today. If this symbol has the power to inspire a young man to blow away nine people with a 45-caliber Glock handgun, it may inspire others to commit even worse acts of terror.

Take the flag down. Put it in a museum and remind everyone who sees it that the South lost the Civil War because God is on the side of those who fight for justice.

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter @leegrady. He is the author of The Truth Sets Women Free and other books. You can learn more about his ministry, The Mordecai Project, at themordecaiproject.org.

"THE CHANGE THAT NIGERIANS VOTED FOR IS UNDER SERIOUS ASSAULT"

Nigerians from all the walks of life voted for a change of government, a new vision and direction for their beloved country of Nigeria on March 28, 2015. Muhammadu Buhari was elected by the majority of the Nigerian voters because of his track record and for his promise to end Boko Haram insurgency, national insecurity as well as the menace of the official corruption and the state resource mismanagement in the governance of Nigeria that have now resulted in the worst economic crisis that Nigerians last saw in the 1980s under the then President Shehu Shagari.

The opposition party, the APC that won the presidential election was made up of the conventional opposition politicians that have fought the PDP since the beginning of this political dispensation in 1999 and the disgruntled politicians that left the PDP for the APC. These politicians with different political agendas, goals and visions for Nigeria worked together and against the PDP, their common enemy at that time. Now that the common enemy was defeated, there is nothing again that these politicians have in common today except the ongoing internal fight to control the legislative arm of the government between the agents of change and the anti-change agents.

The battle for the control of the leadership of the two chambers of the national assembly will eventually determine the outcome of this change agenda that Nigerians voted for and the legacies of the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. A divided house will not stand. Political change and progress can never happen in the midst of conflict and power tussle within the leadership of the same governing political party. The APC as it stands today is not driven by any political ideologies, but by personalities, politics of ethnicity, geopolitical zone and self-interest.

President Muhammadu Buhari

Alhaji Bola Tinubu

Dr Bukola Saraki (Senate President)

Alhaji Abubakar Atiku

"PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN IS NOT THE HERO OF THE NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY"

The defeated President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.

The revisionist historians of Nigeria have attempted since Tuesday of this week to rewrite the true account of the recent history of the Nigerian democracy since General Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election by calling the outgoing Nigerian  President Goodluck Jonathan, the true hero of the Nigerian democracy.

President Goodluck Jonathan is not, will not, cannot and will never be the real hero of the Nigerian democracy for the following reasons. Firstly, the Ekitigate scandal that was directly engineered and supported with the federal might from the Aso Rock villa was an electoral fraud by this federal government of Nigeria against the constitutional rights of the voters of Ekiti State of Nigeria. This development cannot make Goodluck Jonathan, the hero of our democracy in Nigeria.Secondly, the invasion of the All Progressives Congress (APC) office in Lagos by the federal government through the DSS violated the constitution of Nigeria. Thirdly, the bribing of the Yoruba Obas, Afenifere elders and Gani Adams of the militant OPC with the Nigerian tax payers money and contract by this President cannot be a democratic practice in all reality.

Fourthly, the use of the Nigerian military to intimidate opposition politicians across Nigeria during presidential campaigns and in Imo and Rivers States of Nigeria in violation of the recent court order that banned the use of the Nigerian military to conduct the elections in Nigeria was an anti-democratic act in all ramifications and the violation of the rule of law. The highly divisive utterances that came out of the mouths of Mama Peace, Asari Dokubo and many supporters of this President that were allowed to go on unchecked by this President can never make him the real hero of the Nigerian democracy, Fifthly, the use of the military and security agents to rig the presidential election in the South-South and South-East regions of Nigeria by preventing the APC supporters from voting and by manipulating the votes to reflect 100% voting turnout and pattern for this President will never be make him the true hero of democracy in Nigeria today, tomorrow and in the future.

"Nigeria's Buhari builds unassailable lead in historic vote" - Reuters

(Reuters) - Muhammadu Buhari, an ex-general who first seized power in Nigeria three decades ago in a military coup, closed in on a historic election win on Tuesday which would mark the first time an incumbent has been ousted via the ballot box in Africa's most populous nation.

According to a Reuters tally from 34 of Nigeria's 36 states, the 72-year-old Buhari had 14.6 million votes, testament to the faith Nigerians have put in him as a born-again democrat intent on cleaning up the country's notoriously corrupt politics.

That support compared to 11.3 million for President Goodluck Jonathan, whose five years at the helm in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer have been plagued by corruption scandals and a Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.

One of Jonathan's redoubts in the oil-producing Niger Delta is yet to report but the gap is so large it is hard to see the leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which has run Nigeria since the end of military rule in 1999, closing it.

Buhari took power in a coup in December 1983 but was ousted in another military takeover led by General Ibrahim Babangida in August 1985. He has since run in several elections and declared himself a convert to democracy.

Bar some technical glitches and the killing of more than a dozen voters by Boko Haram militants in the northeast, the election has been the smoothest and most orderly in recent history - a factor that appears to have played in the outcome.

"There are probably lots of reasons why the PDP might have lost, but I think the key one is that the elections just haven't been rigged," said Antony Goldman, a business consultant with high-level contacts in Nigeria.

"THIS IS HOW PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN OF NIGERIA WILL BE REMEMBERED BY HISTORY"

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria

The Nigerian history will remember President Jonathan Goodluck of Nigeria as the President that publicly supported, promoted and defended official corruption, corrupt state officials and resource mismanagement in the governance of Nigeria. The Nigerian history will remember this President as a lawless leader that has no respect for the due process and the rule of law in the governance of Nigeria. This President tried and attempted to destroy the Nigerian democracy through his personal ambition and openly engineered by supporting vote rigging and anti-democracy practices in Nigeria like the Ekitigate scandal.

This President will be remembered as a sectional leader and a religious bigot that used the Nigerian tribal militant groups (Niger-Delta and OPC) and their leaders as well as the Christian groups and the popular Nigerian pastors to do his dirty job for him in the governance of Nigeria under his presidency. This President will be remembered as the President that left Nigeria economically worse in 2015 than the Nigeria that was handed over to him in 2011. The Nigerian Naira under this President is at its worst level today in its decades of existence as the Nigerian national currency.

The President will be remembered as the President who depleted the Nigerian foreign reserves and excess crude oil accounts in the midst of the years of the highest global oil boom in the history of Nigeria and under the direct watch of his administration. This President will be remembered for creating more foreign debt for Nigeria despite the huge oil boom and revenue. This President will be remembered as the leader that refused to protect Nigerians in the North-East region from the daily menace of the Boko Haram terrorist group that led to the death of over 15,000 Nigerians and also displaced another 2 million other Nigerians internally. These are the legacies that this President will be leaving for Nigeria and Nigerians for many decades to come.