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As Chude Jideonwo, the event’s organizer stated at the rally, “Let history record that this was the day Nigerian youth came together to take charge of their country.”  Not only did the people present at the four hour rally etch themselves into the pages of history, but those of us who aren’t in the country, were able to listen in real time on the live feed, get the movement trending on the global phenom, Twitter (#EnoughIsEnough) and support the movement with Facebook statuses and well wishes.

You can read the letter the group planned to present to the National Assembly here. Check out the AP’s coverage below:

The protesters, under the umbrella of “Enough is enough”, a coalition of prominent youth leaders, young people, students and notable artistes, carried placards and chanted slogans in the federal capital Abuja.

In a protest letter which they planned to deliver to the leadership of the National Assembly, the demonstrators demanded that Yar’Adua either resume work or resign or be removed from office if he was incapacitated.

They also called for “an urgent overhaul of the security and intelligence apparatus of the country” in view of this year’s killings in Jos which claimed hundreds of lives.

The protesters also called for “a realistic and practical plan to solve perennial power problem” in Africa’s most populous nation that generates about 3,000 megawatts for a population of 150 million.

They further urged the authorities to implement the recommendations of a government-backed committee on electoral reforms.

The government has forwarded the report of the committee to the parliament for its approval.

CNN also picked up the rally and spoke more in depth with Jideonwo – check out that here.

GidiNoize also has great coverage, complete with Enough is Enough video clips and more pictures from yesterdays protest. Click here for that.

Really good stuff.  There’s much to be done in Naij and given that the majority of Nigerians (70%!) is under 35, hopefully continued movements like this will for real, positive and sustainable change.

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What do you think? Voice your opinion about the protest and the current state of Nigeria in the comments below!

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What: African Woman Day, 2010
Hosted by: Mayor Corey A. Booker, The Newark Municipal Council, The Office of Neighborhood Engagement and The African Commission
When: Friday, March 19, 2010 & Saturday, March 20
Where: City Council Chamber, Newark City Hall :: 920 Broad Street :: Newark, NJ
Specifics: The Speaker Series-Forum :: Date: Friday March 19, 2010 :: Location: City Council Chamber, City Hall ::
920 Broad Street, Newark, 07102 :: 5pm-8pm.

The Networking and Empowerment Gala :: Date: Saturday March 20, 2010 :: Location: Rutgers University-Newark
:: Paul Robeson Center :: Time: 7pm :: $20 donation to Revitalize Africa!

From the Presenters: On Friday, March 19, 2010 at 5:00 P.M., The African Commission will be holding it’s Annual African Woman’s Day Lecture Series. We are honored to have a lineup of African women who have impacted their communities on the continent of Africa and here in America. Among the speakers we have women who are influencing the world internationally and locally. We look forward to a motivational evening for women and men working to improve the lives of all Africans around the world.

Also, don’t forget to put on your best African outfit and join us on Saturday night for the First Annual African Gala. Come celebrate and enjoy being African. There will be entertainment, a fashion show, African food, and African music.
President The African Commission
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Jacqueline Oble Professor of Law and Head of Postgraduate Studies , University of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

A current candidate for President of Cote d’Ivoire, Dr. Jacqueline Oble has used her distinguished academic experience in the field of law to influence peace and collaboration in her native country and throughout continental Africa. She has served as President and Executive member on various boards, UN Commissions and academic organizations in France and West Africa. Dr. Oble is not only a gifted individual in the field of Law but a bountiful contributor to the future development of a better
Africa.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michellene Davis, Esq.

Sr. Vice President for Policy Development and Government Affairs Saint Barnabas Health Care System.

In her professional career, Ms. Davis has held positions in litigation, administration, operations and personnel management. As former Governor Corzine’s Chief Policy Counsel during the past year, Ms Davis provided oversight of the development and implementation of his policy initiatives. In previous years she has held various important public
positions from Chief of Staff and Deputy State Treasurer of the New Jersey Department of the Treasury. A resident of West Orange, NJ and community servant, Ms Davis has received numerous awards and honors including Young Lawyer of the Year, New Jersey Association of Black Women Lawyers, 2008.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sis. Empress Phile’ Chionesu
President General, Million Woman Universal Movements

Empress Chi is an educator, strategist, and independent researcher. She is the founder of the historical Million Woman March. She is also a Sage Scriber (poetry, music, and literary), freelance writer and wearable arts designer among many other things. She instructs many levels of natural and alternative health awareness with a focus on African Diasporic Womanhood Development. Empress Chi has received numerous
awards for her courageous work in the community including the Chair’s Award from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award from the Whartong School of Business.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barbara King
Newark Public Schools Advisory Board Member

A Newark Native, Barbara King is a long time Community Activist in the greater Newark community. She began her political career over 30 years ago as a young activist with the Committee for Unified Newark and the Congress of African People. As an organizer she was a delegate in the Black & Puerto Rican Political convention, which led to the election of the first African American Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Kenneth A. Gibson. Over the years not only has Mrs. King’s activism had an impact locally
but also internationally. She is co-founder and chairperson of Africa-Newark International (ANI). Mrs. King has organized and sponsored the African-Newark Arts and Street Festival for over 20 years. Because of her efforts in establishing ties between African Americans and the Republic of Ghana, the Republic of Guinea and Senegal, she has been enstoolded as Queen Morther, Nana Hemaa Obiribea the 2nd in the village
of Anun Apapam of Ghana, West Africa.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mandisa Monakali,
Executive Director, Litha Labantu, Republic of South Africa

Mandisa Monakali has been an activist for women rights since the age of 16. At the height of apartheid, she started a program to educate women and ran it out of her own home. Mandisa was arrested and spent 18 months in jail for organizing women to protest apartheid. Upon her release she lived underground for a year before it was safe for her to be reunited with her family. Her organization is still going strong assisting women and children survivors of domestic violence. She offers support and education around violence against women and children. Her grassroots group now has 8 offices in various areas in South Africa and employs 20 counselors. Her group is credited with finally having women hired as police officers. The female officers are now involved with special units that deal with victims of rape and abuse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Representing the Leaders of Tomorrow

Yetunde A. Odugbesan, President of Student Association of Global Affairs, Rutgers University

Yolanda Mercurius, Vice President of Service, Phi Theta Kappa, Essex
County College

***************

For more info, contact: Yetunde A. Odugbesan at yetunde.ao@gmail.com
862-218-3051
201-952-2586
973-355-4835

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Source

A view along the Avenue Habib Bourguiba, at midnight:

Source

Tunis, during the day:

Source

For more excellant photos of Tunis, Tunisia, click here.

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What do you think? Ready to pack your bags?  Leave your comments below!

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Highlights: on leadership

“We have a very rich continent yet we are the poorest people on earth. After 50 years, I do not think we can blame the colonists for our woes. We are responsible for the mess that we found ourselves and cannot blame anybody.”

“There is nothing wrong with our people, but it is our leaders who have made us poor. What the people bother about is the deliverables. We do not care about the politics.”

on economic integration:

“If we do not take steps to integrate our economies we will continue to wallow in poverty. Economic integration is a must. The Europeans did not like one another yet they were able to form a very successful European Union (EU).”

on climate change:

Africans are the most threatened people on earth and we did not put the carbon out there, but we are suffering for the carelessness of other people.”

Click here for the entire article.

*The Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership. The prize is awarded to a democratically elected former African Executive Head of State or Government who has served their term in office within the limits set by the country’s constitution and has left office in the last three years. For more info, click here.

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What’s your take on Dr. Ibrahim’s points? Leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below!

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For more info about Sauce Kid, check out his myspace page here, or the interview he did for NE here.

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So, what did you think? Hott or Hmm?Voice your opinion in the comments section below!

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Fast Facts:

Age: 37
Born: In London (East End) to Ghanian mother & Sierra Leonean father.
Where you’ve seen him: American Gangster, Daddy’s Little Girls, Obsessed & HBO’a The Wire

Interview Excerpts:

You fostered a love for performance, even earning a grant to attend hte National Youth Music Theatre. How did that passion grow out of such a rough environment?

At the end of the day, everyone’s got talent. Do you nurther that talent or do you put it in a backsaeat and aim to just have a decent life? I was a risk taker. I was like fuck it. I am musical. I can act, dance. I’m atheletic. So shit, let’s go for that. It’s a lot more fun, less stressful, and a lot less monotonous than the other option: Hold down a good juob, take a wage home, get a car, get a flat, get a kid, get a dog, play football on Sunday.

Your contemporary soul EP High Class Problems, Volume 1 comes out in the United States later this year under your music moniker, Driis.  What do you want the songs to convey?

There’s a lot of celebration of songs. Secular music now is all about, “Let me fuck you, take you to the crib, do this and do that.” I deejay so I have to play [that music] sometimes, but when I write my songs, they’re more about a connection.

What role does music play in your life?

It’s a form of expression for me, honestly, I take it very seriously. They music is the first seed in Idris making his own move. It’s self-funded; no one else tells him what to do. It’s all from my brain. If people love it or hate it, it doesn’t matter because it came from the source.

For the entire interview and more pictures, check it out at UptownLife.net here.

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African Development Bank in Tunis, Tunisia

A fabulous view of Tunis

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From meetingpoints.org:

Although markedly distinct from the western canon of hip-hop, H-Kayne has emerged on the contemporary music scene as “hip hop made in Morocco”. Adil (Sif Elssan), Azzedine (Ter Hor), Hatim (HB2) and Othman, the MCs of H-Kayne, are four boys who grew up on the same street in Meknès and found inspiration in rap, scratching, and dee-jaying. They began to mix Oriental grooves with strong rhythms, scratching, and popular texts, spoken in darija (local vernacular), producing an original, contemporary, punchy street sound, against prevailing trends of gangsta-rap. Their first album, entirely self-produced, ‘Un Son de Bled’Art’ earned them attention and acclaim, and the second, ‘HK 1426’, established them on the scene. Their playing with “darija” is a hallmark of their virtuosity; they draw inspiration from the tradition of ‘Meknassi jazal’, or traditional dialectical, rhymed spoken word poetry from Meknès.

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‘Tis the question of the day. And while no one knows exactly what is going to happen, according to some, a potential power struggle is looming.  After President Yar’Adua’s nearly three month absence, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was granted executive authority by the National Assembly two weeks ago.  Upon the return of the president,  Information Minister Dora Akunyili reportedly said,  ”[Jonathan] cannot go back to Vice President until the National Assembly reverses their resolution that made him Acting President, which was even supported by the Federal Executive Council and more importantly by most Nigerians.”

Acting Pres. Goodluck Jonathan, after receiving executive authority Feb 10, 2010

President Umaru Yar'adua, in healthier times.

It will be interesting to see how everything pans out and the course Nigerian politics at the national level has to take, but something I found interesting about all this was the way in which the President returned, well articulated on Akin’s blog:

The sad part of the news is nuanced in the fact that he was transported rather than a traveller, he was carried rather than walking, he arrived unseen, unwelcomed, unheralded, un-ushered and absent from press coverage under the cloak of darkness.

Unwelcomed, unheralded, un-ushered and absent from press.  Understandably, he’s very ill. But any type of communication from him or his handlers would have been nice, no?  President Obama can go to the local convenience store and back in the States and people will be reacting; whether jeers or cheers, applause or boos, you will definitely hear something.  Doesn’t seem to be the case in Naija. Why?

What’s your take on the situation? Drop a line in the comments below.

Source, Source, Source & Source

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