Friday

Cameroon's Paul Biya, a known French asset, shakes up military in wake of revolution sweeping through Africa

CC™ Politico

By Deji Komolafe

The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, a known asset of France at the helm for over four decades, on Wednesday made major changes to the country’s ministry of defense.

The decision of Biya is coming as coups continue to spread on the African continent.

Some Presidents are taking proactive steps by reshuffling defense portfolios.

Among the posts reshuffled were the delegate to the presidency in charge of defense, air force staff, navy, and the police.

Biya came to power in a coup d'état in 1982. His early years on the saddle were marred by reports of oppression and human rights violations.

Although he subsequently allowed multiparty elections in the country, the 90-year-old has remained president since he rode to power.

Wednesday

Top 5 Inventions By Nigerians

CC™ Kaleidoscope 

By Oghenerume Progress

The people from this great African nation are also known to excel when exposed to the right environment and have made great impact in the world through art and music.

Nigerians have also made great strides in the field of innovation and inventions that have made the world a slightly better place. Here are five top inventions made by Nigerians;

1) Philip Emeagwali - Program for world's fastest computer

Dr-Philip-Emeagwali (Credit: How Africa News)

Born in Nigeria, Philip Emeagwali grew up to become a computer scientist who gained global recognition for his groundbreaking invention. Emeagwali is credited with the invention of the Connection Machine (CM).

This machine uses computational fluid dynamics for oil-reservoir modelling. It utilises 65,000 computer processors linked in parallel to form what is recognised as the fastest computer on Earth - performing 3.1 billion calculations per second, which is faster than the theoretical top speed of the Cray Supercomputer.

2) Seyi Oyesola - Hospital in a box

Seyi Oyesola (Credit: Glazia)

Seyi Oyesola is a Nigerian medical doctor who co-invented what is popularly known as “Hospital in a Box” or CompactOR.

As the name implies, Hospital in a box is a mini hospital that is a solar-powered life-saving operating room which can be transported to remote areas of Africa and set up within minutes. The renowned medical doctor gained his inspiration from shortage of power in rural places in Africa.

3) Emeka Nelson - Urine-Powered Generator

Emeka-Nelson (Credit: The Interview Nigeria)

Another Nigerian with a notable invention is Emeka Nelson who invented a urine-powered generator. This device converts urine into hydrogen gas, which is then used to produce electricity.

Nelson's invention solves two key problems - waste management and energy scarcity. This innovation showcases Nigeria's commitment to addressing environmental challenges through creative and practical means.

4) Otu Oviemo Ovadje - Emergency Blood Transfusion System

Otu Oviemo Ovadje (Credit: Innov8tiv)

After years of watching women die from internal bleeding during pregnancy, Otu Oviemo Ovadje, a medical doctor, invented the Emergency AutoTransfusion Device also called the Eatset.

This device is used to recover blood from a patient’s internal bleeding organs and then reinfuse the blood back into the patient’s blood system. Dr Ovadje's device works without electricity and forestalls blood loss, especially among pregnant women.

5) Mohammed Bah Abbah - Pot-in-pot Refrigerator

Mohammed Bah Abbah

Using knowledge from his grandmother, Mohammed Bah Abbah invented the pot-in-pot refrigerator - a refrigerating device that does not use electricity. Also known as zeer, this device allows perishable food to extend their shelf life rate. For example, meat can be stored in this device for up to two weeks instead of a few hours.

Aside from these notable Nigerians, others recognized globally for their inventions include; Arthur Zang (Cardiopad), Olu Atanda (self-lubricating layer for a data-storage device and disk), Nkiru Nwankwo (Digital drum), Brino Gilbert (Counter Collision Gadget) and Aloysius Anaebonam who holds 12 US patents for inventing different devices among others.

In all these inventions, one notable thing to note is that Nigerian inventors have consistently demonstrated their ability to address pressing global challenges through creative thinking and innovation and this cuts across different fields.


PULSE.NG

Tuesday

Coup: Gabonese citizens celebrate as soldiers remove ali Bongo from office

CC™ Editor's VideoSpective

Some citizens of Gabon have taken to the streets in the country to jubilate over the military coup in the early hours of Wednesday which ousted President Ali Bongo from office.

A video that has gone viral on the internet shows citizens of the country in the streets of the country celebrating the removal of Bongo.

As earlier reported, Gabon on Wednesday, became the latest African country in recent times where the military has executed a coup to remove the democratic government from power.

The Gabonese President, Ali Bongo, was deposed by the military on Wednesday 30th August 2023, days after winning the presidential election in the country.

Soldiers were said to have appeared on Gabonese national television in Gabon to announce that they had taken power.

The coupists also announced the annulment of Saturday’s election and the dissolution of the democratic institutions in the country.

Speaking on Gabon 1 and Gabon 24, the spokesman of the coupists said he was speaking on behalf of the “Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.”

Following the development, some citizens were seen on the streets of the country jubilating and celebrating in apparent support of the military takeover.

Before Ali Bongo came into power, his father, Omar Bongo had ruled Gabon for 42 years. In total, the Bongo family had been in power for 56 years.

Monday

Niger Coup leaders cut off electricity, water supply to French Embassy

CC™ Global News

By Enioluwa Adeniyi

Niger Republic military leaders have stopped electricity and water going to the French Embassy in Niamey.

No food is getting in either, according to Turkish news source Anadolu.

The same actions are happening at French consulates in other cities like Zinder and Dosso.

Elh Issa Hassoumi Boureima, head of a national support committee, has asked partners of French bases in Niger to halt supplies of water, electricity, and food.

He was quoted to have said, “We ask Nigelec and SPEN (SEEN)) to cut off water and electricity in the French Embassy, in the French consulates of Zinder and Niamey.”

In addition, the military coup leaders in Niger have warned that helping France with supplies will make you an “enemy of the sovereign people.”

The decision of the coup leaders comes after a 48-hour deadline for the French ambassador to leave Niger ended on Sunday.

Diplomatic ties have been shaky between Niger, some Western countries, and the West African group, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) since the July 26 coup.

France on Friday evening refused to follow the order against its ambassador, saying it doesn’t recognize the military’s authority.

The coup on July 26 threw Niger into chaos when Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

NAIJA NEWS

Saturday

China’s Military Has Surpassed the U.S. in Ships, Missiles and Air Defense, Department of Defense report finds......

CC™ Defense Watch - By Richard Sisk

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has already surpassed the U.S. in missile development and its number of warships and air defense systems under the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to achieve dominance by 2049, the Defense Department said in a sobering report.

The ultimate goal of the People’s Republic of China, or PRC, is to “develop a military by mid-Century that is equal to — or in some cases superior to — the U.S. military, or that of any other great power that the PRC views as a threat,” the DoD’s annual report to Congress said.

To that end, the PRC has “marshalled the resources, technology, and political will over the past two decades to strengthen and modernize the PLA in nearly every respect,” the report said.

Under the national strategy pressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the result has been that “China is already ahead of the United States in certain areas” essential to its overall aim of progressing from homeland and periphery defense to global power projection, the report said.

“The PRC has the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines, including over 130 major surface combatants,” the report said.

That’s compared to the U.S. Navy’s current battle force of 295 ships.

In addition, “the PRC has more than 1,250 ground-launched ballistic missiles (GLBMs) and ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs) with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers,” while the U.S. currently fields one type of conventional GLBM with a range of 70 to 300 kilometers and no GLCMs, the report said.

In some respects, China is also ahead on integrated air defense systems with a mix of Russian-built and homegrown systems, the report said.

“The PRC has one of the world’s largest forces of advanced long-range surface-to-air systems” — including Russian-built S-400, S-300, and domestically-produced anti-air systems — making up “part of its robust and redundant integrated air defense system,” the report said.

Despite the advances, the PLA “remains in a position of inferiority” to the U.S. in overall military strength, said Chad Sbragia, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for China.

The 173-page DoD report “does not claim that China’s military is 10 feet tall,” but the Chinese Communist Party wants it to be, and has the plan and resources to reach that goal, Sbragia, a retired Marine officer, said at an American Enterprise Institute forum on China’s military.

At an earlier Pentagon briefing on the report, Sbragia said Beijing’s military strategy was driven by the view that the U.S. has decided upon a long period of confrontation to counter the global spread of China’s influence.

He said that China “increasingly views the United States as more willing to confront Beijing on matters where the U.S. and PRC interests are inimical.”

“The CCP leaders view the United States’ security alliances and partnerships — especially those in the Indo-Pacific region — as destabilizing and irreconcilable with China’s interests,” Sbragia said.

The DoD report, titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” comes on the heels of China's increasing political and military influence in the world and the South China sea respectively.

The 23rd annual report on China by DoD noted the “staggering” improvements in China’s ability to build, coordinate and project power since the first report was issued.

“DoD’s first annual report to Congress in 2000 assessed the PRC’s armed forces at that time to be a sizable but mostly archaic military that was poorly suited to the CCP’s long-term ambitions,” the report said.

In 2000, “the PLA lacked the capabilities, organization, and readiness for modern warfare,” the report said. But the CCP, it added, recognized the shortcomings and set about with determination to “strengthen and transform its armed forces in a manner commensurate with its aspirations to strengthen and transform China.”

“More striking than the PLA’s staggering amounts of new military hardware are the recent sweeping efforts taken by CCP leaders that include completely restructuring the PLA into a force better suited for joint operations” and for “expanding the PRC’s overseas military footprint.”

The PLA has already established its first overseas military base in Djibouti, about a mile from U.S. Africa Command’s main base on the Horn of Africa.

In its commentary on the DoD assessment, the American Enterprise Institute noted that the report also stressed that “The PRC has likely considered locations for PLA military logistics facilities in Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, and Tajikistan.”

Despite the progress made by China’s military over the past two decades, “major gaps and shortcomings remain” in readiness and operational capability, the report said, but China’s leaders are acutely aware of the problems and have detailed plans to overcome them.

“Of course, the CCP does not intend for the PLA to be merely a showpiece of China’s modernity or to keep it focused solely on regional threats,” the report said.

“As this report shows, the CCP desires the PLA to become a practical instrument of its statecraft with an active role in advancing the PRC’s foreign policy, particularly with respect to the PRC’s increasingly global interests and its aims to revise aspects of the international order,” it added.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Military.com

Friday

Flashback: Nobel laureate: Coronavirus man made?

CC™ Opinionscope - By Amritha Mohan

statement allegedly made by Professor Tasuku Honjo, Japan’s Nobel prize winning Professor of Medicine, that Coronavirus is not natural has gone viral on social media.

But did Honjo say so?

Honjo, co-winner of Nobel Medicine Prize in 2018, was quoted as saying: “If it is natural, it wouldn’t have adversely affected the entire world like this. Because, as per nature, temperature is different in different countries. If it is natural, it would adversely affect only those countries having the same temperature as China.

“Instead, it is spreading in a country like Switzerland, in the same way it is spreading in the desert areas. Whereas if it were natural, it would have spread in cold places, but died in hot places.

“I have done 40 years of research on animals and viruses. It is not natural. It is manufactured and the virus is completely artificial. I have worked for 4 years in the Wuhan laboratory in China.

“I am fully acquainted with all the staff of that laboratory. I have been phoning them all, after the Coronavirus surfaced. But all their phones are dead for the last 3 months. It is now understood that all these lab technicians have died.

“Based on all my knowledge and research till date, I can say this with 100% confidence – That the Coronavirus is not natural. It did not come from bats. China manufactured it.

“If what I am saying today is proved false now or even after my death, the government can withdraw my Nobel Prize. China is lying and this truth will one day be revealed to everyone.” The post was first made on Facebook by Mir Monaz Haque late on Friday.

Haque is a Bangladeshi based in Germany. Facebook has already flagged the post as fake.

However, when NewsMeter reached out to the professor, he refuted all the claims. In an e-mail, a Ph.D student working under the professor, gave out this statement in behalf of the professor:

“Prof. Honjo never gave any such statement. Each and every sentence of this post is completely false and has no connection with truth. Prof. Honjo never worked in Wuhan laboratory. He never called there. He did not work on virus origin and functions and other related issues. All the contents are just concocted and nothing else.”

As claimed in the viral message, Professor Tasuku Honjo, has not worked in any laboratory in Wuhan, China, for the past four years.

His biography, accessed from Kyoto University’s official website, showed that the professor has been teaching full-time in Japan’s Kyoto University, from 1984 to 2005.

Currently, he is a professor at the Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine, Kyoto University. Secondly, a Google search on media reports after April 22 (the date of the message) regarding the statement ‘coronavirus is not natural’ did not yield any results leading to Professor Tasuku Honjo.

In fact, the professor gave an interview to Nikkei Asian Review, a news portal based in Japan, published on April 10, 2020.

The professor said in the interview that “the illness originated in China, but the country will be the first to recover from it, too. I can’t say whether this will boost Chinese influence or whether the world will shun China, but there’s a possibility that the global order will shift after the outbreak.”

The professor did not mention anything regarding COVID-19 being a man-made virus.

Amrith Mohan first published this piece in newsmeter.in

Wednesday

African Union suspends Niger Republic over military coup


CC™ Politico

By AFP Staff

The African Union said Tuesday it had suspended Niger until civilian rule in the country is restored and would assess the implications of any armed intervention in the troubled Sahel nation.

The Peace and Security Council “requests the AU Commission to undertake an assessment of the economic, social and security implications of deploying a standby force in Niger and report back to Council,” the bloc said, following strong differences on the matter.

Army officers toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, prompting the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to threaten to use force to reinstate him.

ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States — agreed to activate a “standby force” as a last resort to restore democracy in Niger.

It has said it is ready to act, even as it continues to pursue hopes for a diplomatic solution.

The AU last week held a meeting on the crisis against a backdrop of divergent views within the bloc over any military intervention.

The coup has heightened international worries over the Sahel, which faces growing jihadist insurgencies linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Niger is the fourth nation in West Africa since 2020 to suffer a coup, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.

The juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali have said that any military intervention in their neighbour would be considered a “declaration of war” against their countries.

The coup is the fifth in Niger’s history since the impoverished landlocked state gained independence from France in 1960.

Bazoum’s election in 2021 was a landmark, opening the way to the country’s first peaceful transition of power.

He has been held with his family at the president’s official residence since the coup, with growing international concern over his conditions in detention.

AFP NEWS

Tuesday

Reorientation: A need for a new educational agenda for Africans

Professor Omoh T. Ojior, Ph.D.

The news that the former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has enrolled at Nigeria's National Open University is pleasing because there is no end to learning. However, the report, on the other hand is disturbing because of one of the reasons the former Nigeria leader opted to go back to school to study for an MA and a Ph.D. degrees at this time in his life.

The report states that Chief Obasanjo has registered to study Christian Theology in the School of Arts and Social Sciences. Further, the report reveals that Chief Obasanjo at 77, states that his primary reason is "to acquire knowledge, particularly in Christian Theology, not because I want to be a pastor but rather, to know God more and to be able to serve Him better." In other words, Retired General Olusegun Obasanjo is going back to school to study Christian religious theology to allow him to know God more in order to serve "Him/Her" (God) better.

To begin with, most of the Christian Theology is taken from the Bible. One is aware that the Bible, to most Nigerians is the word of God hence our former President want to study Christian Theology to know God more to help him serve God better. From historical records, we are able to state that the Bible is "Apart from its being a book of great historical and biographical interest, the Bible is, from Genesis to Revelation, in its inner or spiritual meaning, a record of the experiences and the development of the human soul and of the whole being of humankind; also it is a treatise on humanity's relation to God, the Creator and Father." (Read Charles Fillmore's Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, 1931, and Joseph Wheless' Is It God's Word?). 

So, the historical experiences as contained in the Bible will assist our Chief to know God more. Fine.

The purpose of this article is to show Nigerians that there is a serious need for an educational agenda that focuses on a new orientation of the minds of our people about what was before now. This is with a view to assisting in the development of new African perspectives of life as it relates to the type of Christianity that was brought to our land, Nigeria. Our effort here is not a criticism of any religion, rather the effort should be seen as trying to allow our people to see why our African ideas and ideals including our products and endeavors as a people should be respected.

You see, there is nothing wrong about one's desire to know God more with a view to relating and appreciating Him more. The problem one is having with Chief Obasanjo's choice is where he is channeling his focus to know more about the Divine nature of the Diffused Energies; the I Am that I Am; the Olorun Olodumare, and the Oluwa of the Yorubas; the Osinegba, Oghena, and the Omholua no ma mha kpo, of the Etsako people; the Chineke of the Igbos; the Ghanaians call Him/Her, Mau; of course, the Egyptians call Him/Her, Ra; the Chinese have their own name, the Jews call Jehovah or Yahweh, and the Indians have theirs. 

I am sure the Russians have their own name for the Phenomenon which only the Europeans and Americans call, God. They popularized their name which now makes it look as if their own name for Him/Her is the only One true God. One is aware that anyone should be able decide on where to find and interact with the One God of humanity, but it is not the high caliber of Chief Obasanjo's personality who should be telling Nigerians, young and old that he was going back to school to understudy the Christian Theology to allow him know God more.

Chief Obasanjo's reason, as he explained is not helpful to the young ones who are at this point in time, trying very hard to escape the harsh hardship and unpleasant conditions of life in the country, partly inflicted on the population through the dogmas taught by the Christian Church. At the level Chief Obasanjo has served Nigeria as its former Head of State and President, and with his maturity and dynamism, he had exhibited, he should have said or done something else to motivate the youths and people generally in the country; at least give a sense of direction.

When our rulers run away from what they are (our culture), what do we expect from the ordinary citizens? It is the same Chief Obasanjo who should have allowed the world to know that it was never a sin to have more than one wife when he was President. But he did not. Nigerians knew that the Chief was a true "Odape" a wealthy family man known in Etsako as Odape. 

The Moslems are able to marry four wives because they say that their Holy Book, the Quran decrees it. The Quran and the Holy Book of the Christians, the Bible came from the same source; one is a replica of the other. France is Christendom. The French and their leaders marry one wife but have many mistresses or concubines known to everyone else; and it is not an offence or sin against God and humanity in France. 

If this be the case, why should Nigerian rulers, some of who are Christians like Obasanjo continue to shy away from the truth, an apparent deception to destroy the Holistic cultural system of our African sub-region of the World? One man and many wives, as one can maintain is not a crime or sin, and it shouldn't be in Nigeria and Africa.

The Christian Church today in Nigeria could be said to be a curse. How else do we explain away the deceits, frauds, colluding with wrong dowers at the helm of affairs in the country, including the reported adulterous life of many of them? Some of the Church pastors ride about in private jets made of Gold. 

The former President Olusegun Obasanjo has earned my praises and confidence over the years; he still earns my praise and confidence because in his time he attempted to bring Nigeria out of the doldrums it has been in; hence one is trying to advise him and those like him in the country through this medium. He is also, in our time, the first to recognize the need and worth of the Nigerians abroad, and the impact they could have on the Nigerian economy. 

Another behavior one admires about Obasanjo is the fact that he remains as one of the Nigerian heads of state that have never put on a foreign dress such as English suite apart from when he wears his Military uniforms, in my opinion. He is always on our admirable native dresses outside his home. He deserves our advise like many other Nigerians on this type matters.

However, most of the Christian theological studies at any of our institutions, low and high, will be nothing more than the dogmas with which Africans have been deceived and held down over the years. This is not to say that there is no divinity in the Christianity. The facts are that the elements constituting the Divine nature of our Almighty Father, the I Am that I Am of us all, are omitted in the teachings of most of our Christian Churches who's many members and adherents of the religion, constitute a greater part of the servants of instructions in all of the esoteric or mundane institutions of ours. 

Our institutions and Theology are not where to learn to know God more.

The Nigeria Christian Church dogmas are not near the quality and potency of the African cultures, spiritually speaking. If Chief Obasanjo had opted for the studies on African cultures in any of our universities, it would have created some inspirations that bring about some attention to the need to streamline our cultural elements in our lives. Awareness and the importance of our culture would have been assisted thereby. It would have become something to emulate by many Nigerians including many of the youths who are roaming about in the country unable to obtain employment.

Having not been equipped with the psychological tools of self value and confidence which is a case against our social institutions and the foreign religious dogmas fed to their psyche.

Authentic African history informs us that the original Christianity came out of Africa from the traditions, but came back refurbished into Africa, (read "The Destruction of Black Civilization, 1987" by Chancellor Williams). Christianity as was imported back into Africa by the colonial overlords which is largely practiced today is nothing like the original one. The Christianity of today in Africa is a European culture refurbished from Africa's cultural doctrines or traditions. 

To acquire a wider knowledge of the world educationally is different from going to study Europeanized Christian doctrines that do not help an African to understand the world around him or her. This is because Christian beliefs and doctrines are opium that tranquilizes the adherents. Nigerian rulers do not need to promote such teachings or evangelism.

A conscious person, who wants to know God more, should be in-tune with the precepts of his or her own culture and traditions. If there are any of the cultural precepts that are no longer in tuned with the time they should be revised within the culture to meet the dictates of the time. It is not to be replaced with foreign culture, traditions, and dogmas. Take for an example, The Christian religious dogmas instruct Africans that the Ten Commandments in Christianity was handed to Moses by God atop Mountain Sinai. 

This is definitely not correct as a fact and it is the kind of what exactly Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, our former President will be taught in Christian theological studies in our universities. According to Chancellor Williams, "The great Lawgiver, Moses, was not only born in Africa but he was also married to the daughter of an African priest,"…. and "The religious belief in sacrifice for the remission of sins was an African belief and practice at least 2,000 years before Abraham." 

Chancellor Williams concluded further that "Practically all of the Ten Commandments were embedded in the African Constitution ages before Moses went up Mt. Sinai in Africa in 1491 B.C., a rather late date in African history," page 135.

 In his own historical account, Gerald Massey states that "the Mosaic commandments were borrowed from the wisdom of Egypt," (see Egypt: The Light of the World, Vol. II) Also, Maulana Karenga asserts that of the Ten Commandments, (9) were strictly African. 

This is because in my own opinion, the tenth of the Commandments was the one which says that "Thou shall not have another God before me." Africans could not have authored the injunction of "Thou shall not have another God before me." This cannot be in doubt because early in ancient time, Egypt like in any other African Kingdom or Empire was known as the land of the Gods as it was the practice at the time that every household has their own Shrine, Deity or God which they adored and worshiped. 

This being the case, such an injunction could not be made part of the Egyptian Laws.

Also, the condemnation of ancient African many Gods, as devils by the then new Christian Church have been proved to be wrong. We read "Instead of the plurality of Gods of the "pagan" religions it adopted the One God Yahweh as finally evolved from old Hebrew mythology, into Three-One-Christian Godhead. 

The other Pagan Gods became, in effect, the 'saints' of the new cult; or as quoted in the Catholic Encyclopedia: 'the saints are the successors to the Gods' (Vol. xv, 710)." (see Joseph Wheless' Is It God's Word? Or Jeremiah VIII, 8 Rev. Ver.) Is it impossible that these historical facts are not known to our educators, therefore will not be taught to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo? The answer will be YES.

Our leaders or rulers must become conscious enough to know that they need to be symbols for our emulation in our societies. They need to know that to know God and serve Him better is to serve man and woman better in our societies. When one serves man or woman, he or she is serving the One Supreme Being of the universe. Man know Thyself is a spiritual mandate. Man is the Microcosm of the Macrocosm. 

Our rulers should know this and if not, then they were not preparing to serve the people. The inadequate preparation and the dogmas imbibed by those who should have serve the people better, is the result of some of the inhumanity to man that pervade our environment. 

A reorientation to understand who we are as a distinct people is a greater prerequisite to solution sought by those Africans who have the need to expand their educational knowledge and human affairs. There is a need for a new educational agenda in Africa.