Nigeria’s president, not seen since going into hospital in Saudi Arabia for heart treatment in November, has told the BBC he hopes to resume his duties.

In his first interview since then, Umaru Yar’Adua said he was recovering and hoped to make “tremendous progress” which would enable him to return home.

Nigerian opposition parties have been demanding evidence about the true state of Mr Yar’Adua’s health.

A rally has been called for Tuesday, mainly to protest over his absence.

There are three different court cases under way calling for power to be transferred to the Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr Yar’Adua is also known to have kidney problems.

‘Save Nigeria’

Speaking by telephone, Mr Yar’Adua said he was making a good recovery.

“At the moment I am undergoing treatment, and I’m getting better from the treatment. I hope that very soon there will be tremendous progress, which will allow me to get back home,” he said.

“I wish, at this stage, to thank all Nigerians for their prayers for my good health, and for their prayers for the nation.”

Rumours had been rife that he was critically ill and unable to return to the presidency.

Under the banner Enough Is Enough, an organisation called the Save Nigeria Group called people on to the streets of the capital, Abuja.

There is a perceived danger of a power vacuum in a country which only saw the back of military rule just over 10 years ago, the BBC’s Will Ross reports from the city.

The opposition plan is to march to the national assembly where senators are expected to be discussing the president’s health.

Prominent opposition politicians and lawyers, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and the Biafran secessionist leader, Chief Emeka Ojukwu, will be among the demonstrators.

It is not clear if the demonstration will be well attended, our correspondent says.

Nigerians may be worried about their absent president but whether they will take time off to demonstrate is another matter, he adds.

source; bbc

More than 50 Nigerian public figures have called on President Umaru Yar’Adua to resign, saying ill health has impaired his judgement.

Several Nigerian newspapers carried a statement asking him to step down that was signed by senior political figures and democracy activists, among others.

But ministers dismissed the statement, saying there was “no basis” for the president to leave office.

Mr Yar’Adua is currently being treated in Saudi Arabia for a heart problem.

In a statement, Information Minister Dora Akunyili said the cabinet had met and had “unanimously resolved” that the president “has not been found incapable of discharging his functions”.

She said: “Council wishes to inform all Nigerians that all organs of government are functioning and that government will continue to deliver.”

‘Leadership vacuum’

BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper says the statement issued by the group of political figures is blunt and to the point.

It says the president’s illness “has created a dangerous situation whereby no-one is in charge of the affairs of state”.

full story: bbc

Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua has a heart condition, his spokesman has said, after he flew to Saudi Arabia on Monday for medical treatment.

Mr Yar’Adua has acute pericarditis, or inflammation of the lining around the heart, his spokesman told the BBC.

He said the president, 58, was responding well to treatment. Officials earlier denied rumours that the president was seriously ill.

Mr Yar’Adua has had a chronic kidney condition for at least 10 years.

He has been unable to perform a number of official duties because of recurring health problems.

Presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi told Reuters news agency that Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan was “acting on behalf of the president” in his absence.

President Yar’Adua has twice been flown to Germany for emergency treatment and it is the second time he has visited hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

He has refused to say exactly what condition he suffers from, and has repeatedly said in interviews that his life is “in the hands of God”.

BBC health reporter Michelle Roberts says most cases of pericarditis clear up with rest and medication within a few weeks, although patients will initially need to be treated in hospital to check for complications.

Our reporter says occasionally pericarditis is triggered by cancer, which is something doctors need to check for.

Rarely patients may need surgery if the pressure around the heart becomes too great, a complication that could potentially be fatal, she adds.

Mr Adeniyi said the president felt pains after performing Friday prayers last week.

“At about 3pm Friday November 20, after he returned from the Abuja Central Mosque where he performed Muslim prayer, President Yar’Adua complained of a left-sided severe chest pain,” he said, reports Reuters.

Mr Adeniyi said the initial diagnosis was pericarditis, which has since been confirmed.

Officials had earlier been quoted as saying the president intended to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca this week.

Analysts say his continued ill-health poses a problem for Nigeria’s constitution.

If he were to step down or die, he would be replaced by Vice-President Jonathan, who is from the country’s southern Niger Delta region.

But according to the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s own formula for sharing power among the country’s regions, the president must be a northerner.

Fela who? On Broadway?

Those are basic questions that “Fela!” faces when it opens on Monday. The show has moved from a widely praised Off Broadway production, last year at 37 Arts, to the larger and more mainstream realm of the Broadway musical — from 299 seats to 1,050. Amid theaters filled with more recognizable fare — movie adaptations, revivals, jukebox musicals — “Fela!” seems downright quixotic. Although the music that Fela invented, Afrobeat, and the central events of “Fela!” are familiar to Africans, in the United States Fela (as Kuti is usually called) is largely unknown except by African-music devotees and fans of political music.

“We have an uphill battle,” said Stephen Hendel, the producer who started the project, “because we don’t have a recognized star, and Fela is an international artist and musician who’s outside the mainstream of American culture.”

The goal “Fela!” has set for itself is to be true to his music and his impact while reaching a Broadway musical audience. It is, inevitably, a translation, but one governed more by respect and ambition than by show-business routine. “Fela!” juggles the conflicting demands of Mr. Jones’s own artistic leanings — in a celebrated career that has often pondered history, race and sexuality — and the commercial imperatives of Broadway, where theatergoers’ idea of African music might begin and end with “The Lion King.”

There’s also the legacy of Fela himself, well documented in recordings and films from the 1970s until his death in 1997, that is cherished by fans for whom he was already a musical and cultural hero. “There are people who, when they heard we were going to make a musical about him, were very upset,” Mr. Jones recalled. “Because Fela’s underground, and Broadway’s mainstream.”

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A Spanish doctor has been sentenced to a year in prison, for his role in the death of the former first-lady of Nigeria, Stella Obasanjo.

The wife of Olusegun Obasanjo had visited a clinic in Marbella in October 2005 to undergo cosmetic surgery.

She underwent liposuction to reduce the size of her abdomen, but left the operating theatre with fatal injuries.

The judges said the surgeon had shown carelessness and neglect.

Mrs Obasanjo, 59, came to Spain in October 2005, checking in at the Molding Clinic - a discreet and luxury facility, specialising in cosmetic surgery.

The court heard that a tube used for removing fat had been placed by mistake into the patient’s abdominal cavity - puncturing her colon and lacerating her liver.

Mrs Obasanjo became seriously ill the following day.

But prosecutors said the surgeon initially failed to answer his mobile phone, and then waited more than four hours before driving the patient in his own car to an intensive care unit, where she died an hour later.

The doctor - identified in court documents only by the initials AM - was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for causing homicide through negligence.

He was disqualified from practising medicine for three years, and ordered to pay $176,000 (£108,000) in compensation to Mrs Obasanjo’s son.

The court said simple blood tests or an ultrasound procedure would have detected the internal injuries - which, with more time, could have been treated.

Nigeria airline carrier formally called  Virgin Nigeria have ended the 5 years technical agreement between him and Virgin Atlantic airline, the agreement which lead to the name Virgin Nigeria have seizes to existence. The national carrier have rebrand to a new name called Nigerian Eagle Airline. The adoption of the new name, was unveiled at a world press conference by the chief executive officer of the airline, Captain Dapo Olumide and his management team.

The chief executive officer of the airline, while making the announcement for new name, took time off to explain what it took his management team to come up with the new idea. The announcement of the new brand name, coupled with the technical partnership the national carrier entered into with Ethiopian Airlines a month ago, finally brought to an end the romance it had with the British carrier as its core technical partner of the airline.

Captain Olumide said the management chose the new name based on the airline’s determination to make the airline true African airline. Despite the new brand, the airline chief, however, said “the status quo remains as it affects the airline shares with the former British airline core technical partner (Sir Richard Branson) , Virgin Atlantic, still retaining its 49 per cent shares while the remaining 51 per cent still belongs to the Nigerian investors.” he also said that Virgin Atlantic is free to do whatever it want with its shares in the airline, the genuine agreement the airline have under the former name with the federal government through the former technical partner remains.
Captain Olumide who tagged the adoption of the new name as ‘The Birth of an airline said:” He who dares wins. We are trying to create a brand not just to change name, airlines around the world have their names and logo and it is reasonable to be African. From today, the name of Virgin Nigeria seizes as we now have Nigerian Eagle Airline. We are creating a brand that has never been done.” Captain Olumide however attributed the dropping of the airline’s former name and logo to the need for it to stand on its own and start carrying the Nigeria flag and logo. It will be recalled that the adoption of the airline’s former name and composition of its shareholders generated serious criticisms on the excuse that it did not represent a true Nigerian carrier.

The airline had sought the assistance of the most profitable airline in Africa-Ethiopian Airlines, after Virgin Atlantic Airways stopped technical assistance to the airline. The agreement will allow Ethiopian Airline to service Boeing aircraft in the fleet of the Nigerian carrier, training of pilots, cabin crew and aircraft engineers, with a training network and capabilities.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Sunday said for Nigeria to be successfully rebranded, every Nigerian has a role to play by applying the right principles and processes that will make the society a worthy one.

Governor Fashola, who spoke at the Eko FM Open Field Radio House, Ikeja venue of the 5th Justice Muri Okunola Memorial Ramadan Lecture, said rebranding is a collective responsibility in which men, women, young and old must participate to achieve success.

“There is nothing esoteric about rebranding. It is a collective responsibility; a collective resolve to follow due process and change”, the Governor said, adding that the whole thing has to do with attitude change.

Governor Fashola who attributed some of the ills of the society to the long period of Military rule in the country, “My generation can only relate with the last ten years of democracy. What I remember is coups, horsewhips and so on. That was how I grew up”, adding that changing that attitude of arbitrariness to enforcement with fairness is a task for everyone.

“It is easy to cast the stones and say the public servant is highhanded, but in what ways have we contributed to it? Are we ready to take our turns when we have something to do with public officials or are we surreptitiously asking them, ‘please I can’t wait, have this?”, the Governor asked.

Calling on parents to monitor the activities of their children, Governor Fashola said, “People, in the name of politics, incite young men and women to engage in violence. This is where we as parents must take our responsibilities as guardians even more seriously”, adding that parents must engage their children in acts that will mold their character positively.

“Tell your children that whenever they ask them to go and lead violence, they should tell the people to go and bring their own children. Let them ask the people where their own children are”, the Governor advised.

He said the State Government has provided a choice for the children by providing leadership and character-molding clubs like Boys Scout, Boys Brigade, Girls Guide, Sheriff Guide among other such uniform voluntary organizations to help build the children up.

Exhorting parents to follow up on this choice, the Governor queried, “Are you as parents enforcing and ensuring that your children participate in it? We have started recreational activities to engage their youthful energies, are you ensuring that your children participate?”

“It takes the whole of us to build this nation. Everybody must participate. We have roles to play”, Governor Fashola further urged adding that we must look inward to discover the things that unite us as a nation.

He said Nigerians have interrelated with each other, especially, by way of inter-tribal marriages, that it is not easy to divide the nation. He admonished, “Let us not allow them to divide us. We have co-existed as a people, we have inter-married, Where do you want to start? If you look deep you may, probably, see that your daughter has married in a Muslim family with Christian roots”.

Wishing all Muslims a rewarding Ramadan period, Governor Fashola who noted that Nigerians are closer than they think prayed that all Muslims will benefit “enormously from this great month that Allah has given us”.

Earlier in his lecture titled, “Re-branding The Nation – Islamic Perspectives”, Professor Hameed Sanni of the Lagos State University, Ojo, called on the mass media in the country to help project a positive image of Nigeria to the outside world as their own contribution to the re-branding project.

According to Professor Sanni, “The Mass Media must continuously say what is good about Nigeria if truly we are going to re-brand Nigeria”, adding that scholars must also bring their knowledge into the governance of the country “because if it is impacted, it will definitely move the nation forward”.

Professor Sanni who spoke on poverty, internet scam and unemployment as negative attributes that would hinder the re-branding of the country, said if these problems could be tackled and solved successfully, the project would record a huge success.

Also in her lecture, Hajia Ganiyat Adebanjo said rebranding of the nation must begin from the various households that make up Nigeria, pointing out that if there is a proper coordination within the households, it would have a good impact on the environment, the State and the nation.

She lamented that civilization has impacted negatively on the nation’s image pointing out that it has brought corruption and other social ills that now plague the nation including unfaithfulness to the will of the Almighty Allah.

Enjoining parents to bring up their children in with the fear of God so that they will not be liabilities to their parents, the lecturer urged the Muslim brother and sisters not to look for short cuts to achieving their ambition adding, “They must wait for their turns. Both husband and wife must be prayerful because prayers will help them to move the family and therefore the nation forward”.

Also present at the occasion were Alhaji Ademola Fashola (father of the Governor), Alhaji Lateef Okunnu, the Iyaloja of Nigeria, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, Alhaji Fashinro, Alhaja Ramdat Fehintola Okunola, (widow of Justice Okunola) Rashed Muri-Okunola, Personal Assistant to the Governor, Hakeem Muri-Okunola of the the Lands Bureau and the entire Okunola Family, among other eminent Muslim dignitaries.

According to a new report on BBC West Africa is struggling to access the internet because of a cable fault, full story follows:
Large parts of West Africa are struggling to get back online following damage to an undersea cable.

The fault has caused severe problems in Benin, Togo, Niger and Nigeria.

The blackout is thought to have been caused by damage to the SAT-3 cable which runs from Portugal and Spain to South Africa, via West Africa.

Around 70% of Nigeria’s bandwidth was cut, causing severe problems for its banking sector, government and mobile phone networks.

“SAT-3 is currently the only fibre optic cable serving West Africa,” explained Ladi Okuneye, chief marketing officer of Suburban Telecoms, which provides the majority of Nigeria’s bandwidth.

“So all West African countries have to use it.”

Companies were being forced to use alternatives - such as using satellite links - to maintain connections to the rest of the world, he said.

Telkom South Africa, one of the shareholders of SAT-3, has not said what caused the problems but said it was aware of “a cable fault on the Benin branch that is being investigated”.

The 15,000km (9,300mile) SAT-3 cable lands in eight West African countries as it winds its way between Europe and South Africa.

“The rest of the system is unaffected by this fault,” a Telkom South Africa representative said.

Nigeria has been badly hit because around 70% of its bandwidth is routed through neighbouring Benin.

The network, run by Suburban Telecom, was set up to bypass Nigeria’s principal telecoms operator Nitel which runs the SAT-3 branch cable which lands in Nigeria.

The SAT-3 consortium is in the process of sending a ship from Cape Town in South Africa to the area to investigate the fault.

Mr Okuneye said that by the time the relevant paperwork was done, it was likely to be “two weeks” before the ship arrived off the coast.

Meanwhile, Benin has been able to reroute its net traffic through neighbouring countries to get back online.

Mr Okuneye said his company was hoping to do the same but said the process would be slower because its bandwidth requirements were so much larger than those of the small republic.

Togo and Niger, which are not part of the SAT-3 consortium, remain offline.

A curfew has been imposed in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Bauchi, after violence on Sunday in which at least 39 people were killed.

A Red Cross official told the BBC the whole city was silent. He said no-one knew the exact number of dead, as the mortuary was being guarded by the army.

Officials said clashes erupted when 60 Islamist militants armed with guns and explosives attacked a police station.

They said security forces repelled the attack and arrested around 170 people.

Authorities said the militants belonged to Boko Haram, a group that wants Sharia law imposed across Nigeria.

Islamic law has been in effect in the state of Bauchi since 2001.

Military clampdown

One report put the death toll from Sunday’s attack as high as 50, but there were conflicting reports of the number of casualties.

“The security took control of the corpses and started to transport them to the mortuary,” Red Cross official Adamu Abubakarr told the BBC’s Network Africa from Bauchi.

“Right now the… mortuary is well guarded by security so no one can tell exactly the number of corpses apart from them,” he added.

The BBC’s Caroline Duffield in Nigeria says the military is controlling all roads leading into the area.

The governor of Bauchi state, Isa Yuguda, told AFP the curfew would be in place “for as long as required to restore lasting peace” in the city.

Bauchi was the scene of clashes between Muslim and Christian communities in February that left four people dead.

Nigeria’s 140 million people are split almost equally between Muslims and Christians and the two groups generally live peacefully side by side.