In the Grandiose Parlor…

According to news report of the new aviation measures from the United States:

“All travellers to the US will be affected and not just travellers from Nigeria and 13 other countries that were short listed by the US last January as either “sponsors of state terrorism” or “countries of interest”.

Travellers from the 14 will no longer automatically face extra security screening before they fly to the US, Reuters said yesterday.

Announcing the new measures yesterday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, said the Transportation Security Administration will begin the new enhanced security measures for all air carriers with international flights to the US.

The new terror-screening strategy is as a result of a review ordered by President Barack Obama.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, used her visit to Nigeria to highlight the core national challenges: corruption, rule of law and electoral reform. One of the significant moments during the visit was the Town Hall Meeting, where she reiterated what appears the Nigerian political class has yet to realize:

“The most immediate source of the disconnect between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty is a failure of governance at the federal, state and local level. The lack of transparency and accountability has eroded the legitimacy of the government and contributed to the rise of groups that embrace violence and reject the authority of the state.”

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Woe be tied an African — or a Nigerian, who speaks ill of his head of state. Most likely, that person wouldn’t live to see the next day as a free man. He will be sought out like a rabid dog, arrested and thrown in jail! While in jail, he/she will be tortured, and the state security agents may even seek out family members accord them “appropriate treatment under the law”.

But this scenario can only be imagined in places where freedom of speech is truly recognized, places like America, where a man can publicly confront a sitting head of state and say “he’s an abomination!”

Watch Alan Keyes take his head of state, President Obama to the toilet. Alan rants against Obama are fast attaining a legendary status, even if his utterances are as deluded as a schizophrenic. Should I add that Mr. keyes is a three time republican presidential candidate who ran against Obama on that 2004 Illinois Senatorial race, the election that launched Obama into national limelight?

The video footage speaks for itself…Watch it and tell me what you think!

On the net

I love Obama for what he stands for, and for what he has done, to get to where he is today. And I will most likely vote for him for those reasons, not because he is black, like me.

But this is not how some of my countrymen in Nigeria see him. He’s their brother; he’s black; he’ll save Africa!

One of those people is Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke, the Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Ndidi is the Chairman of the Africans for Obama 2008, a Nigeria-based pro-Obama group. Speaking in Lagos while inaugurating ‘Africans for Obama Presidency’ in June, she said, “the policies of Obama will have effect for Africa, not only the world, because he believes in Africa.”

On August 12, Ndidi and her friends held a fund raising dinner for Obama at the MUSON Center Lagos.

The price tag?

About $2,500 to 20,000USD per plate!

Their goal is to raise 100 million Naira (about 1 million USD) to mobilize the five million Africans in United States to support and vote for Obama in November.

There are many things wrong with this. Even if there are five million Africans with American voters registration cards, is it legal for a non-American pressure group to embark on political advocacy projects within America?

Was Ndidi and co aware of “The US Foreign Election Campaign Act (FECA) 1974?”

I don’t think so.

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.

One thing is clear about most Nigerians, including our dear Ndidi: An obsession for foreign ready-made products. This obsession manifests in every facet of life in Nigeria. Now some have seen Obama as a prime object for that obsession.

Did Obama get to be the first American black presidential candidate because he had people like Ndidi supporting him?

Wouldn’t it be great if the Ndidis of Nigeria (and their rich friends) re-channel their obsessive energy toward something more practical and relevant to their immediate society?

Rather that obsessing over an ‘American Obama’, how about helping to create a local system that would produce a ‘Nigerian Obama’, say within the next five years?

Related:
Lagos state legislators are Obama-psychotic

History will be made tonight about half a mile from where I work and write this piece. It’s palpable that something is in the air.

Barack Obama has been proclaimed, unofficially at this time, the democratic party nominee. And in about one hour, Obama’s rally will kick off in downtown St Paul, where he’s expected to make the announcement.

This is as good as it gets.

Obama’s supporters started arriving at the venue of today’s rally as early as 10 in this morning. See below. It will be a miracle if I can make it inside the arena given the crowd.