Clinton vs. Trump: Hillary Clinton Wants To Carry Forward Obama’s Legacy, Woos Black Voters
Obama, who was Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential race, has endorsed her candidature for the 2016 elections. Both attended the Black Caucus gala but did not appear together on stage.
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Saturday that her Republican rival Donald Trump was truly unfit to succeed President Barack Obama, linking herself to the two-time president’s legacy.
“We need ideas, not insults. Real plans to help struggling Americans in communities that have been left out and left behind — not prejudice and paranoia,” the former secretary of state said at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation gala in Washington, D.C. “We can’t let Barack Obama’s legacy fall into the hands of someone who doesn’t understand that.”
At the dinner, Clinton was also given the foundation’s Trailblazer Award for becoming the first female presidential candidate for a major political party.
In the weeks before the November elections, Clinton is hoping to gain the confidence of the youth and minorities to secure a lead over Trump. The gala was the latest in the line of events that the former first lady has attended as a part of this attempt. Clinton attended a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute event in Washington on Thursday and spoke to the Black Women’s Agenda Symposium on Friday — where she said that her Democratic nomination was possible only because of the support she received from African-American voters, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Obama, who was Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential race, has endorsed her candidature for the 2016 elections. Both attended the Black Caucus gala but did not appear together on stage.
“After we have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community, I will consider it a personal insult — an insult to my legacy — if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election,” Obama said at the gala. “You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote.”
On a lighter note, the president also addressed Trump’s final acceptance of the fact that Obama was born in the United States. “There’s an extra spring in my step tonight. I don’t know about you guys, but I am so relieved that the whole ‘birther’ thing is over,” Obama said.
“I mean: ISIL, North Korea, poverty, climate change — none of those things weighed on my mind like the validity of my birth certificate. And to think: that with just a 124 days to go, under the wire, we got that resolved,” CNN quoted Obama as saying.
Clinton, meanwhile, reiterated the point that has been the basis of her campaign, “Let’s send a clear message once and for all that we are stronger together. And no matter what remember this, love trumps hate.”
Biafra: State Has No Witnesses to Bring Against Nnamdi Kanu, Says Defense
A supporter of pro-Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu holds a photograph of Kanu at a rally in Abuja, Nigeria on December 1, 2015. Kanu has been in detention since October 2015 and his trial has been pushed back until June.
The lawyer of pro-Biafra activist Nnamdi Kanu has told Newsweek that the Nigerian government has no witnesses to bring against his client as Kanu’s counsel seeks to overturn a ruling that witnesses in the trial could be anonymized.
Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is facing six counts of treasonable felony — that carries a maximum life sentence in Nigeria — but denies the charges. A British-Nigerian dual national, Kanu, who is also the director of underground station Radio Biafra, was arrested in Lagos in October 2015 and has been held in detention since then.
The Federal High Court in the Nigerian capital Abuja ruled on March 7 that witnesses in the case, which has garnered significant attention in Nigeria, should be allowed to testify from behind a screen in order to protect their identities. The decision came despite a previous ruling by Judge John Tsoho on February 19 that witnesses could not wear masks while testifying.
On April 20 the same court rejected an application by Kanu’s counsel to have proceedings stayed while an appeal against the March 7 decision was processed by the Nigerian Court of Appeal. Tsoho ruled that Kanu’s application did not follow due process and that he would continue to hear the case until a higher court — such as the appeals court — ordered a stay of proceedings, according to Nigeria’s Channels TV.
The trial has been adjourned until June 20 and Kanu is due to appear in court for a bail hearing on May 5.
Speaking to Newsweek after the ruling, one of Kanu’s lawyers, barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, says that the defense team will now escalate their application for a stay in proceedings to the Court of Appeal and would also ask for the case to be transferred to another judge as they had lost confidence in Tsoho.
Ejiofor adds that allowing witnesses to testify anonymously could allow the prosecution to unfairly prejudice the trial. “If you give them that, they will bring anybody they want,” says Ejiofor. “You cannot accuse somebody in public and try him in secret…They [the witnesses] have to come to the public and testify in public. Let us see them in open court.”
“The point is that they have nobody to come and testify against our client. That’s the simple truth,” says Ejiofor.
Kanu’s arrest led to a wave of protests across Nigeria and has reignited secessionist sentiment among supporters of Biafra, which existed as a federal republic between 1967 and 1970.
The declaration of Biafran independence in 1967 by Nigerian military officer Odumegwu Ojukwu sparked a three-year civil war between Biafran forces and the Nigerian military. The war claimed more than a million lives, with many Biafrans dying of starvation after a blockade was enforced around the borders of the region that lies in modern southeast Nigeria.
South Africa’s Guptas hit back in Zuma finance minister row
The wealthy South African family accused of wielding undue influence through its links to President Jacob Zuma says it has been the victim of “xenophobic and hate speech”.
The family took out two pages in a newspaper it owns to deny the allegations and respond to criticism.
President Zuma’s son (right) works for a company owned by the Gupta family
Deputy Finance Minister Mcebesi Jonas has said that he was offered the top job by a member of the Gupta family.
This has led to increasing pressure on President Zuma.
“As the global economic slowdown began to bite, the family became the scapegoat for every calamity and misfortune that South Africa has faced,” the Guptas said in a statement, carried in the local New Age newspaper.
The office of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, known as the Public Protector, has said it is considering whether to investigate the involvement of the Gupta family in state affairs.
Questioned by the opposition in parliament on Thursday about Mr Jonas’ allegation, Mr Zuma said: “I’m in charge of the government. There is no minister who was ever appointed by the Guptas.”
The Zumas and the Guptas – the ‘Zuptas’
Bongi Ngema-Zuma, one of the president’s wives, used to work for the Gupta-controlled JIC Mining Services as a communications officer.
Duduzile Zuma, his daughter, was a director at Sahara Computers.
Duduzane Zuma, a son, is a director in some Gupta-owned companies.
Mr Zuma’s presidency has been marred by allegations of corruption, cronyism and incompetence, amid a worsening economic situation.
Last year, South Africa was hit by a wave of xenophobic violence against African migrants.
A senior governing party official warned on Thursday that the country risked turning into a “mafia state”.
Gwede Mantashe is the third most powerful person in the governing African National Congress (ANC), and his remarks suggest Mr Zuma may be losing the confidence of influential members of the party as well, correspondents say.
Senior ANC officials are meeting this weekend and they may examine Mr Zuma’s relationship with the Guptas.
The Guptas, who arrived in South Africa from India in 1993, have huge interests in computers, air travel, energy, and technology.
In 2013, there was an outcry after a private jet carrying guests to the wedding of a Gupta family member was allowed to land at a South African military air force base in Pretoria.
Forget Super Tuesday, It’s Africa’s Super Sunday of Six Polls
Supporters of Guy Brice Parfait, who leads a party in support of Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, attend a rally in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, March 17. Republic of Congo is one of six countries and territories in Africa holding votes on Sunday.
Move over Super Tuesday. On March 20, the continent of Africa has its very own Super Sunday, with five countries and one semi-autonomous archipelago holding polls over a single day that promises color, drama and possibly violence.
People will go to the polls in Republic of Congo to elect their president, while run-off polls between the two leading candidates in both Niger and Benin will also take place. A controversial election rerun is taking place on the holiday destination of Zanzibar, just off Tanzania’s east coast, while Senegalese voters will decide whether to reduce the length of presidential terms. Finally, the tiny islands of Cape Verde are holding parliamentary elections.
1. Republic of Congo
Almost half of the 4.2 million people in the country, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, live in poverty despite its petroleum wealth: Republic of Congo is Africa’s eighth-biggest oil producer and 36th in the world, pumping out 259,000 barrels of oil per day in 2014. The country’s current president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, is considered the runaway favorite to secure another term in office after 92 percent of voters backed an October 2015 referendum to allow him to run for a third consecutive term in office. Sunday’s poll is likely to be marked by tension, however, as at least four protesters were killed in October while demonstrating against the referendum. Nguesso was installed by the military in 1979 but was voted out in the first multi-party elections in 1992, before returning to power in 1997 following a bloody civil war. He faces eight opponents in the first round of polling, each of whom has pledged to support the opposition candidate in the case of a run-off vote.
2. Niger
In the West African state affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, incumbent Mahamadou Issoufou and opposition leader Hamad Amadou lock horns in a presidential run-off vote. The two candidates are not exactly on an equal footing, however, as Amadou has been imprisoned on baby-trafficking charges (which he denies) since November 2015 and had to campaign from behind bars. Amadou was flown to France earlier in March to receive medical treatment and there are doubts as to whether he will boycott Sunday’s vote. In any case, Issoufou is the favorite to gain re-election after polling 48 percent in the first round to Amadou’s 17 percent. While Issoufou claims to have boosted infrastructure and improved Niger’s international standing, living standards remain dire—Niger came last in the U.N.’s 2015 Human Development Index, meaning it has the ignominious honor of having the worst living conditions in the world.
3. Benin
Beninese President Thomas Boni Yayi proved to be somewhat of a rarity among African heads of state by honoring his country’s constitution and agreeing to step down at the end of his second term. Current Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou came top of the polls on March 6 with 28 percent, narrowly ahead of businessman Patrice Talon on 25 percent. Benin was the first sub-Saharan African country to adopt multi-party elections in 1990 and, despite a delay to the elections due to problems distributing polling cards, the vote was carried out peacefully, meaning that Benin may well be the least controversial of all the polls taking place across the continent on Sunday.
4. Zanzibar
A paradisiacal archipelago popular with European tourists, Zanzibar is also a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania with a troubled political history, with violence marring previous votes on Zanzibar in 1995, 2000 and 2005. Zanzibar’s result was controversially annulled following nationwide elections in Tanzania in October 2015, when the electoral commission claimed that the poll had been jeopardized by irregularities. The opposition Civic United Front (CUF) cried foul and has called for a boycott of Sunday’s rerun, which has also been criticized by a smattering of international representatives to Tanzania, including the U.S. Ambassador and British High Commissioner to the East African country. If the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) is again accused of rigging the polls on Sunday, there is the potential for another flare-up on the so-called Spice Islands.
5. Senegal
Senegalese President Macky Sall wants to reduce his time in power. Sall has become the first sitting African president to call a referendum aimed at reducing presidential terms—in his case, from seven to five years—and the vote is taking place on Sunday in the West African country. The president pledged to reduce term limits prior to his election in 2012 and has previously said that doing so would set a good example to other African leaders. Indeed, should Sall succeed, he would be bucking a trend which has seen heads of state in other countries—including Paul Kagame in Rwanda, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi—amending or ignoring their constitutions in order to stay in power.
6. Cape Verde
In the archipelago that lies some 570 kilometers (350 miles) west of Senegal in the Atlantic Ocean, Cape Verdeans will on Sunday vote for their 72 parliamentary representatives in the National Assembly. Cape Verde, which has a population of around 500,000 and is currently subject to a travel warning due to an outbreak of the Zika virus, is holding presidential elections later in 2016 and so Sunday’s vote should highlight which of the two dominant parties—the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) or the Movement for Democracy (MpD)—is in the better position.
