Obama Once Again Skips Nigeria In His Visit To Africa.

United States president Barack Obama will not be visiting Nigeria as recently speculated in the media. Obama and his wife Michelle will only visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania between June 26 and July 3.

A statement by the Office of the Press Secretary in the White House stated this yesterday while clarifying Obama’s visit to Africa.

A copy of the statement entitled “Statement by the Press Secretary on the President’s Travel to Africa” was made available to LEADERSHIP.

The statement reads in part, “President Obama and the First Lady look forward to traveling to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 - July 3. The President will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders.

“The President will meet with a wide array of leaders from government, business, and civil society, including youth, to discuss our strategic partnerships on bilateral and global issues. The trip will underscore the President’s commitment to broadening and deepening cooperation between the United States and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance regional and global peace and prosperity.”

This is the second time that Obama is skipping Nigeria from his visit to Africa as the US president had excluded Nigeria during his first visit to Ghana on July 11, 2009.

The US president had alluded his inability to visit Nigeria during the trip to Ghana on the grounds of poor democratic credential and corruption. But the situation is now worse as the aforementioned issues have now assumed a frightening dimension.

On why he decided to visit Ghana then, Obama had said, “Ghana’s history is rich, the ties between our two countries are strong, and I am proud that this is my first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as President of the United States.

“And I have come here, to Ghana, for a simple reason: the 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra as well.

“This is the simple truth of a time when the boundaries between people are overwhelmed by our connections. Your prosperity can expand America’s. Your health and security can contribute to the world’s. And the strength of your democracy can help advance human rights for people everywhere”.

Obama To Visit Nigeria May 28

At last the President of the United States, Barack Obama, would visit Nigeria on 28 May, 2013, as part of a three-nation tour of Africa, ending speculation of the Obama scorn with the flawed elections in 2007 that brought Umaru Yar’Adua to the Presidency.

Seen as long overdue but coming at a time when security is the number one item on the country’s agenda, the 44th President of the United States is expected to parley with President Jonathan on how to tackle the niggling problems of insecurity, the economy and trade relations between both nations. President Obama would be interested in hearing President’s Jonathan’s plan to control the Boko Haram insurgents who he plans to offered amnesty, even as the sect continues to slay hundreds in their quest to end western education in the country apart from kidnapping foreigners for ransom.

The growing bases of Al Quaeda, a long term enemy of America and its allies, along the Lake Chad region resulting from their recent dislodgement from Mali may find space on their agenda.

Both men are likely to contemplate the resurgence of Niger Delta militancy, which had simmered with the granting of amnesty by former President Yar’Adua. On the political side, they may weigh the propriety of a Jonathan candidacy in 2015 and the implications for democracy not only for Nigeria, but also for the African continent as well as the implication of good governance as exemplified by Nigeria for the stability of the sub-region. It is speculated that both presidents would broach issues on economic co-operation not least the upbeat forecasts of the emergence of Nigeria as an economic force, what with the country’s latitude for growth.

America would be interested in a partnership that would engender a favourable outcome for both countries whose bilateral trade hit $5 trillion in the first quarter of 2012.

It would be an opportunity for President Jonathan to engage Obama on the US exploitation of Shale gas projected to cut a quarter US imports of Nigeria’s oil by the end of the year. They could discuss how Nigeria can benefit from alternative energy programme of the United States. It would give President Jonathan a chance to see how the AGOA programme can be improved to favour Nigeria’s businesses, especially the SMEs.

Obama’s planned session with businessmen while in the country assures that there is yet scope for improving business and trade relations between both countries. Obama’s visit is believed to be five years late given that he was billed to have visited the country in his first term in office, especially when he visited other African countries, including Ghana, which is only 30 minutes away from Nigeria by flight.

Of that snob, Nobel Literature Prize winner, Professor Wole Soyinka, said, “If Obama decides to grace Nigeria with his presence, I will stone him. The message he is sending by going to Ghana is so obvious, is so brilliant that he must not render it flawed by coming to Nigeria any time soon.”

Kirk Leigh

Obama Threatens “Family Tattoo” If Daughters Get Their Own.

If they were thinking about getting tattoos, the Obama daughters may want to reconsider.

Speaking on NBC’s “Today” show in a segment originally filmed before the Boston Marathon bombings, President Barack Obama revealed the strategy he and First Lady Michelle Obama have been using to keep their daughters away from tattoos.

“What we’ve said to the girls is, ‘If you guys ever decide you’re going to get a tattoo, then mommy and me will get the exact same tattoo, in the same place, and we’ll go on YouTube and show it off as a family tattoo,’” Obama said.

“Our thinking is that might dissuade them from thinking that somehow that’s a good way to rebel.”

During the segment, the president also said he understood his wife’s “slip of the tongue” when she called herself a “single mother” in early April, noting that they were often apart for a week at a time when he was campaigning for the Senate and presidency.

“I tend to cut my wife or anybody some slack when it comes to just slips of the tongue,” he said.

“But there’s no doubt that there have been times where Michelle probably felt like asingle mom … She definitely, I think, understands the burdens that women in particular tend to feel if they’re both responsible for child rearing and they’re responsible for working at the same time,” he added.

People Want Obama Dead?

A letter addressed to President Obama that field-tested positive for the poison ricin was received at the remote White House mail screening facility Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials. 

The facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery.

The separate Senate mail-handling facility also Tuesday received a suspicious letter potentially laced with ricin addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, postmarked from Memphis.

Testing on the first letter, addressed to Republican Wicker, is incomplete but expected to be finished this afternoon.

The Secret Service's White House mail-screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, that all White House mail goes through.

The Secret Service is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in this investigation.

"The investigation into these letters remains ongoing, and more letters may still be received," the FBI said in a statement this morning. "There is no indication of a connection to the attack in Boston."

The bureau added: "It is important to note that operations at the White House have not been affected as a result of the investigation.

"Additionally, filters at a second government mail screening facility preliminarily tested positive for ricin this morning. Mail from that facility is being tested."

FBI sources say anytime suspicious powder is located in a mail facility, field tests are conducted. The field and other preliminary tests in this instance produced inconsistent results. The material has been sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis.

Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin. Those tests are in the process of being conducted and generally take from 24 to 48 hours.

Field tests are often unreliable, and a false positive for ricin occurs at least once each year, a homeland security official said.

Source: ABC News