Why We Denied Campbell Visa – Envoy

Sunday, 22 May 2011 01:58 Abiodun Oluwarotimi, Washington DC

The Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC has denied allegations that it denied a former United States envoy to Nigeria, Ambassador John Campbell, a Visitor’s Visa as a result of his negative statements about the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Contrary to the feelings from some quarters, the Nigerian Embassy, through its ambassador, Prof. Adebowale Adefuye, has declared that the embassy did not give the former U.S envoy any negative treatment, stressing that the visa section of the Chancery has stipulated conditions which must be met before any visa could be granted to anybody.

The Intrusion of Sharia into American Justice, Part 2

 

I wrote the other night about the release of a ground-breaking report by the Center for Security Policy on the application of sharia law in American jurisprudence (see “Shariah Law and American State Courts” and the paper itself, Shariah Law and American State Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases [pdf]).

The Intrusion of Sharia into American Justice

The Intrusion of Sharia into American Justice

Friday, 20 May 2011 05:07 Baron Bodissey

I wrote the other night about the release of a ground-breaking report by the Center for Security Policy on the application of sharia law in American jurisprudence (see“Shariah Law and American State Courts” and the paper itself, Shariah Law and American State Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases [pdf]).

Because the document itself is more than 600 pages long, I’ll undertake a series of posts to highlight some of the more important parts of the report for our readers. Tonight’s excerpts are from the “Background” section that introduces the paper.

Most Americans would probably be surprised to discover how widespread the application of Islamic law is in this country. Yet none of this is a secret. American Muslims are not hiding their efforts to impose sharia — they are quite open about what they are doing. The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) is up-front in its acknowledgement that the sharia it intends to implement is “another system of law outside the U.S. Constitutional framework.”

Nigerians demand collaboration on the protection of intellectual property rights

caption: Chika A. Ezeanya

By Chika A. Ezeanya

The year was 2002, three years before his appointment as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). University of Bradford trained; Professor Maurice Iwu secured US Patent application number  #6,403, 576 for the extracts of five species of Nigerian plants, proven by the local population to be of medicinal value.

The US Patent application was published for Aframomum aulocacarpus, Aframomum danelli, Dracena arborea, Eupatorium odoratum, Glossocalyx brevipes and Napoleonaea imperialis.  Iwu, together with five other co -researchers claim in the application that the plant species are indicated for the treatment of fungal infections and elimination of parasites in humans and animals.   Iwu and his cohorts put up the patent for sale in the global pharmaceutical research and development market. It is not known how much money accrued to Professor Iwu from the deal; royalty payments on patents could sometimes run into several million dollars.

Southern Kaduna residents advocate national conference, military base

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By Tony Akowe, Kaduna 4 hours 10 minutes ago

Residents of southern Kaduna , Kaduna State , yesterday called for the convocation of a sovereign national conference to discuss fundamental issues concerning the coexistence of the various ethnic nationalities.
They asked for a military base in Kafanchan to protect the lives and property of the residents following last month’s post-election violence.
The southern Kaduna residents urged the creation of Gurara State to ensure peace, progress and stability of the area, noting that the source of mistrust between the residents and the Hausa/Fulani had been on political power.

South-East leaders: We accept SGF

Dr Alex Ekwueme, Chief Achike Udenwa, Dr Samuel Egwu, Senator Ben Obi and Others during an Igbo Summit in Owerri last year. Photo: Hill Ezeugwu

LAGOS — AFTER much debates, series of meetings and horse-trading, majority of leaders of the South-East geo-political zone have reached consensus on the acceptance of the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, as zoned to the area by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, hierarchy, according to Vanguard checks. Ohanaeze Ndigbo, umbrella body of Igbo socio-cultural organisations, is expected to make a pronouncement on the issue very soon.

Prominent Igbo leaders including governors; former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme; Ohanaeze and South-East PDP leaders, have been brainstorming on the issue.

Prices of beans rise in Zamfara

Gusau -  Prices of beans have increased by about 15 per cent in Gusau, Zamfara, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

A survey conducted  in grain markets in Gusau on Tuesday showed that a bag of beans, which was N8, 000 four weeks ago, now sells for between N9,000 and N9,500, depending on the quality of the grains.

Also a measure of beans, which was N250 last month, now costs between N260 and N270.

Mallam Muhammadu Kabiru, a beans dealer, told NAN that they expected the high prices to come down any moment from now.

‘’This is the right time for those who bought in bulk and hoard the beans to bring them out to the market and make profit, it has reached its peak price now,’’ he said.

Kabiru said that those hoarding the grains would bring them out now because the 2011 cropping season was near.

According to him, supply will be higher than demand very soon and “whenever that happens, we expect the prices to come down”.

He said that this year’s prices were even better because a bag of beans sold for between N10, 000 and N11, 000 during the peak period in 2010 .

“This because the neighbouring Niger Republic, which imports beans from Nigeria, recorded bumper harvest in 2010.

“This is in spite of the report of flooding which destroyed hectares of farmlands in that country last year.  So the prices will stabilise soon,” Kabiru said. (NAN)

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/prices-of-beans-rise-in-zamfara/