Jonathan politicizing Boko Haram, Chibok girls’ abduction — Senator March 6, 2015Muhammad Ahmad

The Senator representing Nasarawa West senatorial district, Abdullahi Adamu, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of playing politics with the lives of over 300 Chibok school girls abducted by Boko Haram nearly a year ago.

Speaking inn Keffi local government area of Nasarawa State, Mr. Adamu said that the federal government should put more effort at ensuring the release of the Chibok girls alive rather than dramatize the arrest of the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, for the purpose of the 2015 general elections.

Mr. Adamu said the federal government’s effort to divert the issue of the whereabouts of the Chibok girls has always hit the bricks because Nigerians refused to let it go.

“The issue of Chibok girls is just diversionary; they are taking the issue of Chibok girls as another thing Nigerians will forget. They think Nigerians will just forget, I am happy this is one thing they will not be able to bury because any attempt to bury it, it re -surfaces we want Chibok girls alive,” the lawmaker said.​

“The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is taking Nigerians for granted too much. The same federal government and the service chiefs whom Jonathan is the commander-in-chief told us not once or twice that Shekau has been killed”.
“Nobody has come back to tell us Shekau is alive, but from nowhere now they want Shekau alive”.

Mr. Adamu claimed that the purported ploy to get Mr. Shekau alive by federal government is a diversionary plan to manufacture a fake Mr. Shekau that will be assembled by the Peoples Democratic Party led federal government to score a cheap popularity and try to associate him with the All Progressives Congress and its leaders.

“You see all along they have been trying to associate the APC leadership with Shekau and Boko Haram even though Boko Haram started in 2003 while the APC came into being in 2013. They are not ashamed to associate the APC, a completely new party for a new Nigeria with Shekau and Boko Haram just to give a dog a bad in other to hang it, this one two will also not fly”.

He said that federal government has been economical with the truth over the military operations in the fight against Boko Haram.
“The issue of bringing Shekau alive is only one of the many deceptive activities of the ruling party PDP”.

“Shekau is one person but we are talking of over 300 girls that were captured at different times because life is a valuable asset, my life, your life is the same and the only one greater, is the one that fears God.

lord i pray for nigeria

Nigerian Troops Chase Boko Haram From Mafa, Borno State

The Nigeria Defence Headquarters made this known via its Twitter handle @DefenceInfoNG.

Meanwhile, Nigerian troops have been recording successes in recent operations against the Islamic sect.

The Nigerian army has freed several towns that had been captured by Boko Haram, notably Baga, a fishing communi

ty in Borno where as many as 2000 people may have been killed by the terrorist group.

The military recently also carried out air raids on Sambisa Forest and Gwoza, alleged strongholds of the Boko Haram militants, killing, scattering and capturing many of the sect members in the process.

However, following the improvement in the operation against the Islamist, and the renewed commitment of the military hierarchy in ensuring that the soldiers morale continues to soar, Nigerians will be expecting to hear good news about the 234 female students that were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state by Boko Haram members in April 2014.

READ ALSO: Shettima Sad After Boko Haram Attacks Maiduguri

The expectation for such good news was introduced by President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday when he revealed that the girls were still alive and will be rescued soon despite spending approximately 11 months in captivity.

Recall that in a bid to win the war against Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, Jonathan on Monday, January 26, 2015, expressed optimism that there will be a delivery of new weapons to the Nigerian military which will propel the halting of the insurgency in the northeastern part of the country.

Also, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, on Thursday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Defence for the 2015 budget defence told the lawmakers that the Air Force has destroyed the organisational structure of Boko Haram.

Fani - Kayode suffering from "substance abuse" - APC - Premium Times Nigeria

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has
said contrary to the information being
peddled by the spokesman of the
Jonathan Campaign Organization, Femi
Fani-Kayode, the party does not wish
him any ill health, even though it is
seriously concerned about his mental
state.
“No, we have never and will never
wish anyone any ill health. However,
we are seriously concerned that Mr.
Fani-Kayode may have unhinged,
perhaps as a result of a relapse into an
unhealthy lifestyle of substance
abuse,” the party said in a statement
issued in Dubai on Monday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Lai
Mohammed.
“Our concern stems from the series of
incoherent statements, outlandish
claims and inconsistent behaviours
exhibited by Mr. Fani-Kayode in recent
times, which call into question his
state of mental health.
“We wish Mr. Fani-Kayode well and
call on him to tell Nigerians that he
remains clean, despite the massive
pressure of work, and that he will not
do anything that will see him needing
a prolonged reformation in a foreign
land,” it said.
APC said it is only an unstable mind
and someone who is teetering on the
brink that will conjure up the kind of
improbable scenarios that have been
put out there in quick succession by
Mr. Fani-Kayode, and still believe
strongly that he is doing the right
thing.
The party said the APC does not
harbour the kind of disturbed
personalities who abound in the PDP,
and who will not hesitate to publicly
wish fellow Nigerians ill or dead, as
long as they believe such ill-will would
endear them to their masters and
guarantee their political survival.

APC raises fears over Fani-Kayode’s mental health

Abuja -The All Progressives Congress (APC) has
said it is seriously concerned about the mental state
of the spokesman of the Jonathan Campaign
Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, reports Leadership.
The party said Fani- Kayode’s incoherent
statements and inconsistent behaviours call into
question his state of mental health.
Lai Mohammed, APC’s National Publicity Secretary
in statement on Monday, said Fani Kayode's lifestyle
raises concerns about his sanity.
Also read:
He noted that it is only an unstable mind that will
conjure up the kind of improbable scenarios that
have been put out there in quick succession by Fani-
Kayode.
Read more at Leadership.
Read more on 2015 elections

Does Immigration Harm Working Americans?

The job news is increasingly good: 321,000 jobs
created in November. Yet the national economic
mood remains grimly bleak.
Many Americans feel a sharp distinction between
what’s said about “the” economy and what they
experience in “their” economy. At the top of the
income distribution, wages are rising. In the middle
and bottom, wages stagnate. Jobs are created, yes—
but native-born Americans are not hired for them.
Last month, the Center for Immigration Studies
released its latest jobs study . CIS, a research
organization that tends to favor tight immigration
policies, found that even now, almost seven years
after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, 1.5 million
fewer native-born Americans are working than in
November 2007, the peak of the prior economic cycle.
Balancing the 1.5 million fewer native-born
Americans at work, there are 2 million more
immigrants—legal and illegal—working in the United
States today than in November 2007. All the net new
jobs created since November 2007 have gone to
immigrants. Meanwhile, millions of native-born
Americans, especially men, have abandoned the job
market altogether. The percentage of men aged 25 to
54 who are working or looking for work has dropped
to the lowest point in recorded history.
Labor Force Participation Rate Among Men
Aged 25 to 54, 2004-2014
Bureau of Labor Statistics
It's said again and again that immigrants do not take
jobs from natives. Here’s National Journal, reporting
just last year, under the headline "Left and Right
Agree: Immigrants Don't Take American Jobs":
That immigrants take the jobs of American-
born citizens is “something that virtually no
learned person believes in,” Alex Nowrasteh,
an immigration expert at the libertarian Cato
Institute, said at a Thursday panel. “It’s sort
of a silly thing.”
Most economists don’t find immigrants
driving down wages or jobs, the Brookings
Institution’s Michael Greenstone and Adam
Looney wrote in May. In fact, “on average,
immigrant workers increase the opportunities
and incomes of Americans,” they write.
Foreign-born workers don’t affect the
employment rate positively or negatively,
according to a 2011 analysis from the
conservative American Enterprise Institute.
And a study released Wednesday by the
liberal Center for American Progress suggests
that granting legal status to undocumented
workers might even create jobs.
So there you have it. Experts say it’s impossible.
Can’t be happening. And if actual observed data
from the real economy seem to suggest that the
impossible is happening—well, Albert Einstein
himself answered that one. If the material universe
doesn’t support the theory: “Then I’d feel sorry for
the good Lord. The theory is correct."

YouTube Music Awards 2015: Beyonce, Tori Kelly, Pentatonix Among Winners

YouTube announced its 2015 Music Award winners on
Monday with a quick video and blog post.
The platform noted that the winners were "chosen by the
fans" as they "showed the biggest growth in views,
subscribers and engagement over the last six months on
YouTube." Collectively, the winners — including Beyonce,
Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Sam Smith,
Sia, Pentatonix, Pharrell Williams, Brad Paisley, Tori Kelly
and Katy Perry — have over 146 million subscribers and
44 billion lifetime views.
To celebrate the winners, the Kia-presented 2015
ceremony  on March 23 will comprise of premiering a
slew of new Vice-produced music videos by Charli XCX,
Ed Sheeran, Martin Garrix, Cahoots, Max Schneider,
Migos, Megan Nicole, Nicky Jam and Shamir, among
others. The platform promises more to come around
SXSW.

NYC’s Last Classical Sheet Music Store to Close

Frank Music Company has supplied classical sheet
music to generations of instrumentalists, singers and
composers.
On Friday, the retail store will close its doors for good,
succumbing to dwindling sales.
Frank Music has been struggling for years, as music
became readily available online, said Heidi Rogers, the
shop’s owner.
“We went from seeing 15 to 20 people per day to
seeing two or three,” Ms. Rogers said on Monday. “I
went from feeling like I was at the center of the world
to feeling invisible.”
The store, on West 54th Street between Broadway and
Eighth Avenue, opened in 1937 and provided the city’s
musicians scores from the standard— Bach, Beethoven
—to the arcane. Ms. Rogers bought it in 1978.
Frank Music is the last store in the city dedicated to
selling classical sheet music, Ms. Rogers said, although
other places such as the Juilliard School’s bookstore at
Lincoln Center have it on their shelves.
Frank Music’s stock, which Ms. Rogers counts as
hundreds of thousands of scores, was purchased by an
anonymous donor as a gift for the Colburn School, a
music conservatory in Los Angeles.
The school and Ms. Rogers declined to comment on
financial details.
Colburn School’s president and chief executive, Sel
Kardan, called Frank Music’s scores “an invaluable
resource for our students and faculty for years to
come.”

To the 63-year-old Ms. Rogers, nothing is more
important than the arts.
“The idea that classical music is irrelevant is
ridiculous,” she said, bemoaning the comparative
salaries of tubists and stockbrokers. “People should be
paid in terms of what they contribute to people’s well
being.”
The store’s celebrity clients over the years have
included pianists Emanuel Ax and Jeremy Denk,
violinist Pamela Frank and cellist David Finckel.
One of Ms. Rogers’s favorite memories is a telephone
call from the violinist Itzhak Perlman , asking for
Kreisler scores.
The composer Bruce Adolphe, who is resident lecturer
at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center,
described the store as a musical meeting ground.
“Frank’s Music was not just a store but a crucible,” he
said, “a nexus where musicians from Suzuki beginners
and their parents, to Joshua Bell, or the Brentano’s
Mark Steinberg, would meet by chance.