JUST IN! Goodluck Jonathan Testifies Before US Congress On Niger Delta, Persecution Of Christians

February 2, 2017
Kingsley Chimezie


Former President Goodluck Jonathan has met with the United States Congress House Sub-Committee on Africa to speak on the

Niger Delta issue and the challenges facing Christians in Nigeria. Ikechukwu Eze, said the meeting was part of efforts of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation to fulfill its mission to promote peace and prosperity in Nigeria and Africa.

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The statement said the former president, who was invited by the U.S. Congress subcommittee and spoke in his capacity as chairman of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation.

Dr. Jonathan, who became president in 2010 left office in 2015, said the implementation of the resolutions of the 2014 National Conference is the panacea that will prevent ethnic and religious tensions that lead to crises such as the recent Southern Kaduna killings.

He also identified impunity as a factor that contributes to the reoccurrence of such violence, noting that if those behind previous violence were not prosecuted then likeminded individuals and groups would be emboldened to repeat the same act.

Mr. Jonathan talked about his efforts to end impunity, specifically citing the case of Kabiru Sokoto, the mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing of Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger state who was arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned by his administration and was the first successful prosecution of a terrorist attack on a place of worship in Nigeria’s history.

He said: “That promise was fulfilled on the 20th of December 2013 when Kabiru Umar, aka Kabiru Sokoto, was sentenced to life imprisonment after my administration investigated that crime, identified him as the mastermind, arrested him and diligently prosecuted him and some of his associates.”

The former president also noted that his administration’s prosecution of the perpetrators of the deadly bombing of an office of the Independent National Electoral Commission also in Madalla on April 8, 2011 was the first successful prosecution of terrorists in Nigeria.

While supporting the 2014 National Conference’s recommendation for an independent Religious Equity Commission to be set up to apprehend and arrest perpetrators of ethnic and religious violence, Mr. Jonathan said that ending impunity will also mean ending these tensions.

On the Niger Delta, the former president said he fully aligned with the views of the 2014 National Conference which called for True and Fiscal Federalism as the way out of agitations in the region and in other parts of Nigeria.

He also said that interventionist agencies like the Niger Delta Development Commission tend not to be effective due to over politicization. The former President opined that the almost overnight development of a state like Akwa-Ibom proved that what the region needed was resource control not interventionist agencies.

The meeting was attended by Chairman of the U.S. House Sub-Committee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, Congressman Christopher H Smith and other influential staff of the Committee.

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Donald Trump vows to 'totally destroy' Johnson Amendment that stops churches funding political parties

Comes as apparent leaked executive order promises to enshrine conservative Christian beliefs in policy

Jon Sharman

The Independent US
President Donald Trump has announced he will "get rid of and totally destroy" a 60-year-old rule that blocks tax-exempt religious groups from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

The so-called Johnson amendment was introduced by then-Senator Lyndon B Johnson in 1954. It threatens churches and other religious institutions with the loss of their tax-exempt status should they overstep the mark.

At the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on Thursday Mr Trump said: "Jefferson asked, 'Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?' Among those freedoms is the right to worship according to our own beliefs. That is why I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution—I will do that."

Read more

Trump 'planning sweeping changes to religious freedoms'

Mr Trump also spoke about a global threat to free worship. He said: "Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it's also a right under threat all around us and the world is under serious, serious threat in so many different ways.

"I've never seen it so much and so openly. We're going to straighten it out. That's what I do, I fix things. It's time we're going to be a little bit tough."

In an apparent reference to Isis, he added: "We've seen unimaginable violence carried out in the name of religion. Acts of wanton slaughter against religious minorities. Terrorism is a fundamental threat to religious freedom."

The declaration came as an apparent leaked draft of a new executive order set out how specific religious beliefs—reflecting conservative Christian social tenets—could become enshrined as executive policy.

They include "the belief that marriage is or should be recognised as the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are properly reserved for such a marriage, male and female and their equivalents refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy, physiology, or genetics at or before birth, and that human life begins at conception and merits protection at all stages of life".

The draft order seeks to protect the tax-exempt status of organisations that propound those beliefs, as well as to block "adverse action" against groups that discriminate, on religious grounds, in the provision of adoption and fostering services. White House spokesman Sean Spicer did not comment on the specifics of the leak.
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His address to the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event organised by The Fellowship Foundation, a Christian group, and attended by the President of the day, was not the first time Mr Trump had set out his plan for the Johnson amendment.

Last September he tried to woo evangelical voters with a promise that the US' "Christian heritage will be cherished, protected, defended like you have never seen before". His repeal of the amendment would "give our churches their voice back", he said.

The repeal was one of his 282 campaign promises.

On Thursday Mr Trump added: "Our republic was formed on the basis that freedom is not a gift from government, but that freedom is a gift from God. We are all united by our faith, in our creator, in our firm knowledge that we are all equal in his eyes. We are not just flesh and bone and blood. We are human beings with souls."

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EXPLOSIVE: Illuminati Members Protest Against President Donald Trump [VIDEO]

Following the waves of protests that have been rocking the United States of America, since the advent of Donald Trump, a video has emerged online, one which many cannot stop sharing and talking about.

The video shows Satanists protesting against the ideologies pushed by Donald Trump, a development which many social media users have come to see as that moment when Satan himself affirms that Trump is a greater evil - than many have thought of Satan.

Below is the video...

President Trump Nominates Neil Gorsuch As Supreme Court Justice

US President Donald Trump has nominated Neil Gorsuch as the a Supreme Court Judge of the United States.

49 year old Gorsuch is the youngest Supreme Court nominee in 25 years. Gorsuch was named as a replacement for late Antonin Scalia who was one of the nine judges of the SCOTUS, until his death in 2016.

If confirmed by the senate, Gorsuch will restore the court to the conservative tilt it held with Scalia on the bench.

Wednesday, February 01, 2017
Enough Is Enough! I Will Join Anti-Government Protest In February - Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose on Tuesday night announced that he'll join the anti-government protest in February.

''To organisers of Feb. 5 "Enough is Enough" National Protest, you have my total support and I will be part of the protest.'' Fayose tweeted.

BOMBSHELL: President Trump Refuses To Allow His Officials Appear On CNN, Says It's 'FAKE NEWS' Network


President Trump refuses to allow his officials or surrogates to appear on what he called FAKE NEWS networks, so they’ll no longer be allowed on CNN.

Politico reports"

The White House has refused to send its spokespeople or surrogates onto CNN shows, effectively icing out the network from on-air administration voices.

“We’re sending surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda,” said a White House official, acknowledging that CNN is not such a place, but adding that the ban is not permanent.


A CNN reporter, speaking on background, was more blunt: The White House is trying to punish the network and force down its ratings.

“They’re trying cull CNN from the herd,” the reporter said.

Administration officials are still answering questions from CNN reporters. But administration officials including White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway haven’t appeared on the network’s programming in recent weeks.

Spicer, speaking at an event at the George Washington University on Monday, denied that CNN was being frozen out, pointing out that he’s answered CNN’s questions in the regular daily briefings.

But, he added “I’m not going to sit around and engage with people who have no desire to actually get something right.”

The last time an administration official was on CNN’s Sunday public affairs show “State of the Union” was Conway on January 8. She also appeared on CNN the following Wednesday with Anderson Cooper, the same day as then President-elect Trump’s press conference where he derided CNN for publicizing an unsubstantiated dossier claiming the Russians had salacious information about him. At the press conference, the president-elect refused to take a question from CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who shouted out to him.

After his inauguration, Trump has continued blasting CNN as “fake news.”

Since then, Conway, Spicer, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and even Vice President Mike Pence have made the rounds on the major Sunday shows but, notably, CNN’s “State of the Union” has been cut out. READ MORE