Italy Ponders Libyan Request For Help In Curbing Migration

Italian Police check people during a blitz outside Milan’s main train station, Italy, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Authorities have detained several dozen people in response to an increasing public security issue as the city deals with a new wave of migrants.

ROME (AP, JULY 27, 2017) — Sending Italian naval units to help Libya's coast guard could prove to be a "turning point" in efforts to stop traffickers from sending hundreds of thousands of migrants toward Italy's southern shores, Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday.

With the foundering of a European Union plan to redistribute thousands of migrants rescued at sea and brought to Italy, Gentiloni said his center-left government would brief lawmakers next week about Libya's request for Italian navy vessels to patrol its Mediterranean shores.

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj, who leads a U.N.-backed unity government based in Tripoli, met in Rome with the Italian leader on Wednesday and asked for the assistance. Gentiloni said his government was working out the details of a proposed naval mission.

"The request that came to us from the Tripoli government for collaboration and assistance for the Libyan coast guard can be a turning point in handling the situation," Gentiloni said. "The fact that the Libyan authorities ask Italy to collaborate, and not to substitute, (in the role of) fighting traffickers is important."

The premier noted that Italy already has furnished Libya's coast guard with speedboats and training aimed at improving Libya's own patrols. Traffickers, exploiting widespread lawlessness in the violence-wracked, fractured north African nation, have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants in unseaworthy smuggling boats toward Italy over the last few years.

Military ships from European nations, vessels organized by aid organizations and commercial cargo frequently pick up men, women and children making the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing. Lately, most of those rescued at sea have been economic migrants from African nations unlikely to win asylum.

Italy has acknowledged the problem of might happen to migrants who are prevented from reaching Italy and returned to Libya. Rescued migrants have told Italian authorities and humanitarian organizations about torture, rape, forced labor, beatings and other atrocities they suffered in Libyan camps while awaiting their turn to be smuggled out by sea.

The Italian government's strategy foresees international organizations on the ground helping to guarantee the proper treatment of those forced to return to Libya and their eventual repatriation to their homelands. However, organizations that work with refugees have expressed doubts that Libya's deteriorated security situation would allow them to properly carry out such a humanitarian mission.

Analysts have said that some of the very militias that support Serraj and help him hold on to power in western Libya also profit from trafficking, complicating chances for the success of anti-trafficking patrols. Meanwhile, long stretches of Libya's coastline are not under the control of Serraj's supporters.

Lawmakers from Italy's far-left parties might balk at approving a naval mission to Libya. But any lack in their support could be compensated by center-right opposition lawmakers who have been demanding more vigorous efforts to stem the flow of migrants to Italy.

"I am certain of the results with the vote of Parliament," Gentiloni said. Italy's next general election is scheduled to take place in less than a year. Earlier this week, Serraj and rival Libyan leader Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the Egyptian-backed commander of Libya's self-styled national army, met in France and pledged to back a cease-fire and to work toward national elections.

French President Emmanuel Macron has appeared eager to gain influence in Libya, which is rich in oil and natural gas.

Cheers, Whoops For McCain's Return, Then Impassioned Speech

In this image from video provided by C-SPAN2, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. is embraced by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of N.Y. as he arrives of the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 25, 2017. (C-SPAN2 via AP)



WASHINGTON (AP, JULY 25, 2017) — In high drama at the Capitol, Sen. John McCain on Tuesday delivered a crucial vote in the Republican drive to dismantle the health care law, a win for President Donald Trump and GOP leaders, and then leveled a broadside at how the GOP got there.

As the 80-year-old McCain entered the chamber, Republicans and Democrats applauded and whooped, with a few hugs for the six-term Arizona lawmaker who is battling brain cancer. "Aye," he said for the GOP vote to move ahead on debate.

After he voted, McCain stood at his seat and accepted hugs and handshakes from all senators in both parties, drawing laughter from the gallery when he and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders exchanged an awkward hug.

McCain then spoke on the Senate floor, his face pale, cheek bruised and a visible red scar and stitches above his left eye where doctors had removed a blood clot. His voice strong, he offered a bit of self-deprecation before launching into an impassioned speech, saying he was "looking a little worse for wear."

He bemoaned the lack of legislative action in Congress, the GOP's secretive process in working on repealing and replacing Obamacare and a plea for Democrats and Republicans to work together. "Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio, television and Internet. To hell with them. They don't want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood," McCain said. "Let's trust each other. Let's return to regular order. We've been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle."

He reminded his colleagues: "Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the president's subordinates. We are his equal!" McCain also said he would not vote for the current GOP version of the repeal-and-replace bill.

McCain drew a standing ovation after his remarks. He had cast his vote to take up the health care bill, delivering for his party and Trump on the issue that's defined the GOP for the past seven years.

"He's tough as a boot," said Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. "Many people understandably would be curled up in bed in the fetal position." McCain himself campaigned heavily on the "Obamacare" repeal issue last year as he won re-election to a sixth and almost certainly final Senate term. And there could be sweet revenge in defying cancer to undo the signature legislation of the man who beat him for the presidency in 2008, Barack Obama.

The Arizona senator has emerged as one of the president's most outspoken GOP critics on Capitol Hill. During last year's campaign Trump shockingly ridiculed McCain over his years as a POW during the Vietnam War.

McCain's return was eerily reminiscent of a similar scenario involving McCain's good friend, the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who returned to the Senate in July 2008 while battling brain cancer to vote on Medicare legislation, his dramatic entry in the chamber eliciting cheers and applause. Ted Kennedy died of cancer in August 2009 (the current Sen. Kennedy is no relation).

The possibility of McCain returning had been discussed around the Capitol on Monday, yet the announcement from his office late in the day came as a surprise. McCain has not been overly enthusiastic about the GOP health bill or the partisan process through which it's emerged. After an earlier version was poised to fail, he called on McConnell to reopen the process with a bipartisan approach, advice the majority leader ignored.

But McCain's best friend in the Senate Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and other colleagues who've spoken with McCain of late, say he's been itching to get back to the Senate, impatient to return to work.

"Is it surprising that he would get out of a hospital bed and go to work? No," Graham said Tuesday. "it's surprising he's been in the hospital this long."

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

Trump Message Manager Ready To Clean House To Stop Leaks

White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci speaks to members of the media at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 25, 2017.

WASHINGTON (AP, JULY 25, 2017) — President Donald Trump's new communications director says he's prepared to clean house in order to stop information leaks which have plagued the administration. Anthony Scaramucci, the Wall Street financier tapped for the role last week, said Tuesday that he was prepared to "fire everybody" to stop information leaks from the press office.

Speaking to reporters, Scaramucci said that he was "not doing an investigation. I'm just going to get the leaking to stop." He stressed that he had "the authority from the president to do that." "You're either going to stop leaking or you're going to get fired," Scaramucci said.

The Trump administration has been troubled by numerous damaging leaks amid the Russia investigation. The president has criticized the leaks and urged authorities to prosecute the alleged leakers. The new communications director would not address a report in Politico that he was planning to fire a press aide, calling it an "unfair thing for me to comment on."

Trump appointed Scaramucci to the job Friday. The hedge fund manager is a polished television commentator, but has limited experience running a communications operation. He is taking over the role crafting the president's message at a time when Trump faces dropping approval ratings and is struggling to advance his legislative agenda.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned in protest over the hire and his deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been named to replace him. Over the weekend, Scaramucci pledged on Fox News to begin "an era of a new good feeling" and said he hopes to "create a more positive mojo."

Promising 'A Better Deal,' Democrats Try To Re-brand Party

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., flanked by, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, left, and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the ranking member on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, discusses the Republican efforts to replace "Obamacare," during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats are trying to bounce back from their November election losses and rebrand themselves, rolling out a populist new agenda under the slogan “A Better Deal.”

BERRYVILLE, VA. (AP) — Promising "A Better Deal" for American workers, Democratic Party leaders rolled out a new agenda with a populist pitch on Monday aimed at winning back the working-class voters they lost to President Donald Trump in November.

Democratic congressional leaders left the Beltway for small-town Berryville, Virginia, to stake a claim to competing in rural and Republican-leaning areas. Acknowledging they failed to offer a compelling economic message during the 2016 election cycle, Democrats unveiled proposals on jobs, prescription drug prices and more that they hope will resonate in the 2018 midterm elections and beyond.

"Too many Americans don't know what we stand for," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. "Not after today." Yet the challenges confronting the Democrats' rebranding effort were immediately apparent.

As Schumer spoke alongside other House and Senate Democrats, TV news stations were instead showing Trump adviser Jared Kushner denying collusion with Russia, as Trump administration turmoil swamped Democrats' attempt to get their message out.

And the Democrats' new message was presented by some familiar old faces in Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, whose potency as a GOP foil has been on display in House special elections this year. A small group of protesters hoisted pizza boxes with photos of Pelosi and the words "Better skills, Better jobs, Better wages, Still Pelosi."

The phrase played off the full title of the Democratic platform — "A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future" — which some have mockingly compared to the Papa John's pizza slogan, "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza."

Alluding to Schumer and Pelosi, one local Democrat in attendance, David Borger, said: "I have a lot of respect for both of them, but I'm not sure they are the leadership we need." "There might have to be new leadership," added Borger, 62, a retired middle school science teacher, while acknowledging it was not clear who that might be.

And despite Democrats' claims of unity, and a base energized against Trump, divisions aplenty remain in a party still nursing the wounds of defeat as some of the liberals who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders still resent those who supported Hillary Clinton.

Nevertheless, as the sun beat down Monday and bugs swarmed in a local park, Democratic leaders claimed a positive agenda to take them out of their minority status. "People need to know not only what we're fighting against, they need to know what we're fighting for," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

Attempting to showcase all wings of the party, moderate Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia spoke as did liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren was mobbed afterward by supporters. The event took place in the district of one of the GOP House members Democrats hope to defeat next year, Barbara Comstock. Democrats need to flip 24 GOP-held seats to regain the majority in the House.

Yet in the Senate, the party is mostly playing defense with 10 Democrats trying to retain seats in states won by Trump, including Republican strongholds like West Virginia, Missouri and North Dakota. Party strategists say that for most Senate candidates, a national party message has little value and each candidate must fight on their own terms and issues.

On Monday Democrats unveiled three planks to their agenda: —Lowering prescription drug prices. Suggestions include a new agency that could investigate drug manufacturer price hikes and allow Medicare to negotiate directly for the best drug prices.

—Cracking down on corporate monopolies. Democrats would enact new standards to limit large mergers, and create a new consumer competition advocate. —Creating millions more jobs. The agenda includes proposals for expanding apprenticeships and providing a tax credit to employers to train and hire new workers.

We're Interested In Nigeria's Oil, Gas -- Britain

VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS (NIGERIA)

JULY 23, 2017

A Nigerian Oil Worker. Image: Getty

Britain has expressed its interest in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. It expressed its readiness to invest in pipeline infrastructure, renewable energy, gas and power of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.

British High Commissioner, Mr. Paul Arkwright, made this promise when the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, visited the Chancery of British High Commission in Abuja. 

Mr. Arkwright noted that the British Government had genuine investment interest in the Downstream, Midstream and Upstream sectors, stressing that the British Department for International Trade was ready to liaise with the Federal Government to invest in the country. 

The High Commissioner also urged the Federal Government and the NNPC to organize a road show in London to create awareness on the possible investment opportunities available in the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector. 

Mr. Arkwright said so many British investors had funds which they were willing to invest in Nigeria, stressing, however, that the process of obtaining Nigerian visa in United Kingdom was cumbersome with three different levels of visa procurement fees as well as Nigeria’s postal order system.

 NNPC’s spokesman, Mr. Ughamadu, on behalf of the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, condoled with the British Government over the recent terror attacks in the United Kingdom. 

Ughamadu, who lead the NNPC delegation, commended the High Commissioner for the Commission’s promptness in issuing visas to officials of the Corporation. He assured that NNPC would sustain the cordial relations.

Legal Deal Pulls Money To Teach Tribal Kids Native Language

A plaque at the Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix, Arizona, where the former Phoenix Indian School for Native American Children used to sit. The plot of land was traded between the federal government and a private developer who was supposed to make yearslong payments to an education fund for native children. But the developer stopped making payments in 2012, and now the government has come to an agreement with the developer that allows it to skirt much of what it owes to the education fund.


PHOENIX (AP, JULY 22, 2017) — New generations of children growing up in a tiny American Indian tribe in Arizona have lost a key way of learning to speak their native language, and it may not be coming back. A private land developer stopped making payments five years ago that funded language development in Hopi schools and helped 18 other tribes in Arizona build schools, youth camps and educational facilities. The payments were required under a massive land swap with the United States.

The federal government reached a settlement this week with Barron Collier, a Florida-based company, that will allow the developer to pay just $29 million of the roughly $66.5 million it owed. The company also had to return a lot in Phoenix to the government.

The Hopi tribe is the only one in Arizona without casinos that help fund schools, so it relies solely on federal money for education and has less of a cushion than other tribes affected by the settlement.

The money from the land swap went into an education trust that helped the Hopi tribe pay for teacher training on the language program. It was put on hold when the developer's payments stopped in 2012.

"I really think that this is a very important project for the Hopi tribe in terms of the revitalization of our language. Even though we are very strong culturally, we also know our children are no longer speaking the language fluently," said Noreen Sakiestewa, director of education and workforce development for the tribe.

A spokeswoman for Barron Collier declined to comment. The company created an education trust following a 1988 land trade with the government, the country's largest at the time. The U.S. swapped a plot of land that used to house the Phoenix Indian School for Native American Children for about 100,000 acres of Florida Everglades swampland that officials wanted to preserve.

The Florida land was valued below the plot in Phoenix, so Barron Collier agreed to pay $34.9 million, plus interest, to two Native American education trusts that would be distributed among 19 of Arizona's tribes.

The company started making payments in 1997, but it stopped in 2012, blaming a drop in the land's value, according to a letter the company sent in January 2013 to the U.S. Department of Interior, which owned the land. The agency referred questions to the Justice Department, which also said it was not commenting.

Another victim of the settlement is a community garden in Phoenix that had to close this year when the Interior Department got back the land. Refugees and community members tended to the garden in the middle of concrete buildings and condo high-rises.

Officials at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona say they are relieved the trust will recover some of the money Barron Collier owes, although a significant shortfall remains. "The default did cause a burden for tribes in Arizona," said Maria Dadgar, executive director of the organization that has distributed funds from the trust.

She said the money once paid for a new multipurpose educational facility, a tribal youth camp, a high school and a home for foster children for various tribes. The organization hopes the government will sell the land it got back near downtown Phoenix to help pay for tribal education. It's also now considering starting a new inter-tribal education fund.

"That would be huge, and that would be something that we're looking at in the future to help ensure the legacy and the continuation of funds being available for Indian education in the state of Arizona," Dadgar said.

Trump Administration Pulls Health Law Help In 18 Cities

BY CARLA K. JOHNSON

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JULY 20, 2017

Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace navigator Leticia Chaw, right, helps gather information for Jennifer Sanchez to re-enroll in a health insurance plan in Houston. Shoppers will have fewer places to turn for help signing up for coverage on the ACA's insurance exchanges with the announcement in July 2017 that President Donald Trump's administration ended contracts that brought assistance into libraries, businesses and urban neighborhoods in 18 cities.

CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration has ended Affordable Care Act contracts that brought assistance into libraries, businesses and urban neighborhoods in 18 cities, meaning shoppers on the insurance exchanges will have fewer places to turn for help signing up for coverage.

Community groups say the move, announced to them by contractors last week, will make it even more difficult to enroll the uninsured and help people already covered re-enroll or shop for a new policy. That's already a concern because of consumer confusion stemming from the political wrangling in Washington and a shorter enrollment period. People will have 45 days to shop for 2018 coverage, starting Nov. 1 and ending Dec. 15. In previous years, they had twice that much time.

Some see it as another attempt to undermine the health law's marketplaces by a president who has suggested he should let "Obamacare" fail. The administration, earlier this year, pulled paid advertising for the sign-up website HealthCare.gov, prompting an inquiry by a federal inspector general into that decision and whether it hurt sign-ups.

Now insurers and advocates are concerned that the administration could further destabilize the marketplaces where people shop for coverage by not promoting them or not enforcing the mandate compelling people to get coverage. The administration has already threatened to withhold payments to insurers to help people afford care, which would prompt insurers to sharply increase prices.

"There's a clear pattern of the administration trying to undermine and sabotage the Affordable Care Act," said Elizabeth Hagan, associate director of coverage initiatives for the liberal advocacy group Families USA. "It's not letting the law fail, it's making the law fail."

Two companies — McLean, Virginia-based Cognosante LLC and Falls Church, Virginia-based CSRA Inc. — will no longer help with the sign-ups following a decision by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials not to renew a final option year of the vendors' contracts. The contracts, awarded in 2013, were never meant to be long term, said CMS spokeswoman Jane Norris in an email.

"These contracts were intended to help CMS provide temporary, in-person enrollment support during the early years" of the exchanges, Norris said. Other federally funded help with enrollment will continue, she said, including a year-round call center and grant-funded navigator programs. The existing program is "robust" and "we have the on-the-ground resources necessary" in key cities, Norris said.

But community advocates expected the vendors' help for at least another year. "It has our heads spinning about how to meet the needs in communities," said Inna Rubin of United Way of Metro Chicago, who helps run an Illinois health access coalition.

CSRA's current $12.8 million contract expires Aug. 29. Cognosante's $9.6 million contract expires the same date. Together, they assisted 14,500 enrollments, far less than 1 percent of the 9.2 million people who signed up through HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace serving most states. But some advocates said the groups focused on the healthy, young adults needed to keep the insurance markets stable and prices down.

During the most recent open enrollment period, they operated in the Texas cities of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, McAllen and El Paso; the Florida cities of Miami, Tampa and Orlando; Atlanta; northern New Jersey; Phoenix; Philadelphia; Indianapolis; New Orleans; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cleveland and Chicago.

The insurance exchanges, accessed by customers through the federal HealthCare.gov or state-run sites, are a way for people to compare and shop for insurance coverage. The health law included grant money for community organizations to train people to help consumers apply for coverage, answer questions and explain differences between the insurance policies offered.

In Illinois, CSRA hired about a dozen enrollment workers to supplement a small enrollment workforce already in the state, Rubin said. The company operated a storefront enrollment center in a Chicago neighborhood from November through April.

"It was a large room in a retail strip mall near public transit with stations set up where people could come in and sit down" with an enrollment worker, Rubin said. CSRA spokesman Tom Doheny in an email said the company "is proud of the work we have accomplished under this contract." He referred other questions to federal officials.

Cognosante worked on enrollment in nine cities in seven states, according to a June 6 post on the company's website. The work included helping "more than 15,000 Texas consumers" and staffing locations "such as public libraries and local business offices." A Cognosante spokeswoman referred questions to federal officials.

The health care debate in Congress has many consumers questioning whether "Obamacare" still exists, community advocates said. "What is the goal of the Trump administration here? Is it to help people? Or to undermine the Affordable Care Act?" said Rob Restuccia, executive director of Boston-based Community Catalyst, a group trying to preserve the health care law.

Follow AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson on Twitter: @CarlaKJohnson

Nigerian Court Orders Seizure Of Former Oil Minister's $37.5 Million Property

Diezani Alison Madueke

LAGOS, JULY 20, 2017 (REUTERS) - A Nigerian court has ordered the temporary seizure of a $37.5 million property owned by a former oil minister, the state news agency said, the latest move related to graft allegations against a lynchpin of the last administration.

Diezani Alison-Madueke, a key figure in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan who served as petroleum minister in the OPEC member country from 2010 to 2015, has been dogged by corruption allegations over the last year.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a civil complaint last Friday aimed at recovering about $144 million in assets allegedly obtained through bribes to the former minister.

A lawyer representing the former minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Alison-Madueke's whereabouts are unclear, but she was last known to be in Britain.

In April, she was charged in absentia with money laundering by Nigeria's financial crimes agency.

In October 2015, she was briefly arrested in London for questioning about allegations related to missing public funds but no charges were brought against her. Prior to her arrest she had denied to Reuters any wrongdoing when asked about missing public funds and corruption allegations.

On Wednesday the Federal High Court in the commercial capital Lagos issued the order over Alison-Madueke's property in the city's upmarket Banana Island area which she bought in 2013, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said.

The property is an apartment block situated in a heavily guarded gated community where some of the richest people in the country have properties worth millions of dollars. The area is also popular with expat oil executives.

The court also ordered a temporary freeze on sums of $2.74 million and 84.54 million naira ($269,000) that were said to be part of the rent collected on the property.

The temporary seizure orders were made following an application to the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Anselem Ozioko, the barrister representing EFCC, told the court that the financial crimes agency suspected the property was acquired with the proceeds of alleged illegal activities.

In Spite Of Everything, Nigerians Have A Weird Attraction To Donald Trump

BY MATHEW T. PAGE

OUARTZ AFRICA

JULY 20, 2017

Donald Trump meets two Chibok schoolgirls from Nigeria (Official White House Photo/Shealah Craighead)


Even as his domestic approval ratings hit an all-time low, US president Donald Trump can take comfort in his growing popularity in some parts of Africa’s most populous nation.

Though his xenophobic, white nationalist views have no doubt alienated many Nigerians, his nativist and Islamophobic rhetoric has energized others. Indeed some see Trump as a political icon. Even though Trump has said little to nothing about Nigeria, these groups see in him a powerful figure sympathetic to their aims.

It goes without saying that Nigerians’ reaction to Trump’s 2016 election victory was muted compared to their response to president Barack Obama’s historic 2008 win. Over the course of his presidency, however, Nigerian goodwill toward Obama faded, hurt by his decision not to visit Nigeria, his support for gay marriage, and perceived unwillingness to supply arms to the Nigerian military. Former president Goodluck Jonathan even accused the Obama Administration of clandestinely supporting president Muhammadu Buhari’s candidacy, claiming U.S. actions during Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election amounted to interference.

Despite these irritants, 69% of Nigerians still view the United States favorably, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center poll. This reservoir of goodwill—combined with Trump’s robust social media following and his ambivalence about contentious issues like human rights—suggests Trump might receive a warm welcome if he decided to visit Nigeria. A U.S. presidential visit is long overdue: the last was by George W. Bush in July 2003.

Growing Social Media Footprint

So how big is Trump’s Nigerian fan base? In the absence of public polling, one quantifiable metric of Nigerian interest in Trump is the number of people following him on Twitter. Over 700,000 Nigerians tune in to Trump’s tweets: over 2% of his 32 million followers, according to TweepsMap.com. His Nigeria-based Facebook is another useful metric of his popularity: between October and June it more than quadrupled, says analytics firm SocialBakers.com.

Nigeria has the 5th highest share of Trump followers on Twitter

Country% of Twitter followersTwitter followers (millions)Facebook Fans (millions)US 58.70% 19.1 11.7
UK 4.60% 1.5 0.25
India 3.20% 1.0 0.99
Canada 3.10% 1.0 0.25
Nigeria 2.20% 0.7 0.43

Approximate totals as of 20 June. Source: TweepsMap.com, SocialBakers.com. Note that Twitter analytics service TwitterAudit.com assesses that roughly one-third of all of Trump’s followers are fake (bots, paid followers, etc.)

(Some) Nigerians love Trump

Trump’s social media popularity among Nigerians belies the fact that he didn’t mention Nigeria during his campaign and has said little about it since becoming president, though he had a phone conversation with president Buhari in February. Trump has also approved the sale of fighter jets to Nigeria to help in its fight against Boko Haram.

Nevertheless, his generically nativist and Islamophobic messaging resonates with many particularly among some members of two ethno-political constituencies: Christian, self-described “indigenes” in the middle belt’s Plateau State and Igbo nationalists across the southeast.

Six weeks before Trump’s election victory, on a cool evening outside Jos—Plateau State’s at times volatile capital—a friend who is an up-and-coming local politico explained to me why he and other ‘like-minded indigenes’ are attracted to the US president: “Trump’s boldness and guts represent hope for the defenseless”, he said. “Obama was a disgrace and weak compared to the likes of Trump and Putin. He speaks in favor of Islam which is the root cause of terrorism.”

When I suggest Nigerians should be concerned by Trump’s anti-immigrant stance and white supremacist sympathies, my friend acknowledged that these probably would influence his feelings toward Trump if he was a Nigerian-American living in the United States, but as a non-resident, it did not.

Like my friend, some self-described ‘Biafrans’ (modern-day Igbo nationalists) have also emerged as vocal Trump supporters. Biafra was the name adopted by Nigeria’s then-Eastern Region when rebel leaders attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1967. Following a two-and-a-half year long civil war that left over 2 million people dead, Nigeria defeated the rebels.

Unbeknownst to him, Trump is being hailed as a patron of this controversial movement even though he lacks any connection—direct or indirect—to it. According to journalist Atane Ofiaja, Biafran affinity for Trump is rooted in his statements on political self-determination and radical Islam, while deliberately overlooking his racist, anti-immigrant policies.

These “statements” refer to a tweet Trump made in June 2016 in support of the British electorate’s decision to leave the European Union (“Brexit”):

Self-determination is the sacred right of all free people's, and the people of the UK have exercised that right for all the world to see.

Trump’s Islamophobic pronouncements have also appeared to resonate with Biafra activists, who sometimes blame Nigeria’s northern Muslim leadership for oppressing their people over the decades.

After Trump’s election victory, one spokesman proclaimed: “Since Mr Trump is our choice, who will say no to Muslim colonization. It was the prayers of the Biafrans that stopped Hillary Clinton from winning the presidential election.” Pro-Biafra activists on social media are amplifying this and other anti-Islamic narratives, merging them with pro-Trump and anti-Buhari messages.

Though extreme and at times unhinged, this rhetoric reflects the perception among some Nigerians that the Obama administration was unduly close to president Buhari and that it somehow facilitated his 2015 election victory. Six months into Trump’s term, however, Biafran activists are beginning to express some disappointment that Trump has yet to acknowledge their plight and has instead cultivated a cordial relationship with their perceived archenemy: president Buhari.

As Trump enters his seventh month in the Oval Office, his administration’s policy toward Nigeria—or toward Africa writ large—hasn’t coalesced. Trump has yet to appoint the two people who will heavily shape his approach to Nigeria: the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and the Senior Director for Africa on the National Security Council. Even more telling, Washington insiders have little sense of when he will name them or who they will be.

In the meantime, US policy toward Nigeria will largely be steered by US Ambassador to Nigeria W. Stuart Symington, an affable career diplomat and former ambassador to Rwanda. Since arriving in Abuja last year, Symington has worked hard to cultivate relationships across the federal and many state governments.

Unless Trump—via a tweet or unscripted public musing—disrupts the US Nigeria policy consensus that guides diplomats like Symington, his Nigerian fan base may become increasingly disillusioned with a man they hoped would rally to their cause.

U.S. Hunt For Nigeria Fraud Cash May Come Second To A Small Bank

BY FRANZ WILD AND DONAL GRIFFIN

BLOOMBERG, JULY 20, 2017

Banque Havilland lines up first for N.Y. condominium proceeds
Aluko signed One57 mortgage as U.K. investigated his wealth

One57 building in New York. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

U.S. prosecutors trying to recover proceeds from an alleged $1.5 billion Nigerian fraud may have to wait their turn.

A plum penthouse condominium in one of Manhattan’s most expensive buildings is among the cash, real estate and luxury yacht the U.S. moved last week to seize from Nigerian tycoon Kolawole Akanni Aluko, whom it accuses of laundering money and bribing a foreign official. That’s where it gets complicated.

The apartment in the One57 building was scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction on July 19. The sale was delayed at the last minute after a new creditor claimed Aluko owes it about $83 million for gasoline and jet fuel.

Yet as things stand now, the first and likely largest chunk of the proceeds from any condo sale won’t go to the Justice Department’s effort to claw back the allegedly illicit funds. It would be bound instead for Banque Havilland SA, a small Luxembourg bank that wrote a mortgage against the property shortly before public disclosures emerged that international law enforcement agencies were investigating the owner and his associates.

Aluko wired about $49 million for the apartment and registered it in 2014 in the name of a shell company he controlled, according to court documents. If that ownership structure had stayed in place, the U.S. could have sought to claim the property outright. But in September 2015, Aluko’s shell company took out a $35.3 million mortgage from Banque Havilland, guaranteed by the condominium, in exchange for a 25 million euro ($28 million) loan, according to the mortgage document. What Aluko did with the money he borrowed remains unclear.

Tokunbo Jaiye-Agoro, who has represented Aluko in the Nigerian court case, didn’t respond to multiple messages left with his secretary at his office in Lagos.
Spoils of Oil

The U.S. has accused Aluko of laundering the spoils from bribes paid for Nigerian oil contracts, notably by buying assets such as apartments in New York and a superyacht. Aluko hasn’t responded in the U.S. court proceeding.

“It seems likely that the assets won’t be Aluko’s for much longer, what is less clear is who gets what after that," Daniel Hall, an expert in financial crime investigations and a director at Burford Capital, which provides litigation financing, wrote in an email. Burford isn’t involved in this case. "The U.S. authorities will want to scrutinize the diligence conducted by these creditors before they contracted with Aluko."

The full payment of the loan was due a year after the mortgage was written, foreclosure filings in New York State Supreme Court show. The payment wasn’t made, according to the documents. Banque Havilland started a foreclosure action in January, which Aluko’s shell company didn’t oppose, and got a New York Supreme Court judgment allowing the action in May. The U.S. is seeking only funds left over after the bank is paid off, along with any taxes or other assessments owed on the condominium, according to the filing in district court in Houston.

The U.S. hasn’t accused Banque Havilland of any wrongdoing. Officials at the bank didn’t respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment.
Asking for Help

Shortly after Aluko’s mortgage was filed, the U.K. asked Switzerland, where Aluko had his residence, to help their investigation into the Nigerian. In October 2015, British police arrested and then released on bail Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former Nigerian oil minister Aluko is alleged by the U.S. to have bribed, on suspicion of bribery and money laundering, a spokesman for the Nigerian government said at the time. In April, Alison-Madueke was charged in a separate case in a Nigerian court with violating anti-money laundering laws. She was described in the charge as being "still at large."

Alison-Madueke’s lawyer, Oscar Onwudiwe, didn’t return calls to his mobile phone seeking comment.

The U.S. may choose to take a closer look at the timing of the mortgage, said Howard Sharp, the former solicitor general of Jersey. “One issue for investigators to carefully consider is whether these events constitute money laundering intended to frustrate an anticipated confiscation order or civil asset recovery proceedings in the USA," he said, referring to Aluko.
Banque Havilland


Banque Havilland is controlled by the family of U.K. Conservative party donor and businessman David Rowland, its website and annual report show. A fund controlled by Rowland started the bank in 2009, when the governments of Luxembourg and Belgium lent him 320 million euros to keep part of Iceland’s failing Kaupthing Bank going, according to a European Union statement from the time. Rowland’s fund also invested 50 million euros in capital.

The bank has grown under Rowland and it now has offices in Monaco, Liechtenstein, Dubai, Geneva, Zurich, the Bahamas, London and Moscow, according to its website. It shares a name with his mansion in Guernsey. Multiple attempts to reach members of the Rowland family through the bank received no response.

The U.S. prosecutors may yet recover much of the amount they identified. Apart from three Manhattan apartments, including the One57 property, they said they would go after the 65-meter Galactica Star yacht, two properties in Santa Barbara county and all rights held by a another company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Why It's So Hard To Stop The World's Looming Famines

BY COURTNEY COLUMBUS

NPR, JULY 18, 2017

A World Food Programme worker stands next to aid parcels that will be distributed to South Sudanese refugees at the airport in Sudan's North Kordofan state. Image: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty

It's the famine that not enough people have heard about.

An estimated 20 million people in four countries — Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen — are at risk of famine and starvation. And the word isn't getting out, says Justin Forsyth, a deputy executive director of UNICEF.

Speaking with NPR's Audie Cornish on All Things Considered, he explained that politics and donor fatigue are two of the main causes.

"Politicians around the world are very focused domestically on politics at home, not on international issues," Forsyth says. "In addition, some of the public fear that their aid money hasn't really made a difference when they've provided it before."

The severity of the famine has prompted an unprecedented response from the aid community. Agencies usually raise funds on their own. But this week, eight international aid organizations — including Oxfam, the International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps — banded together to form the Hunger Relief Fund

Forsyth spoke to NPR about what the U.N. is calling the worst humanitarian crisis since 1945. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you explain what's happening right now?

In these four countries of Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and northern Nigeria, we've got a combo of [not only] drought but conflict, too, which has really tipped some of these countries, or regions of these countries, over the edge. And this is a very severe situation. In these countries, 1.4 million children face death because they're severely malnourished — which means a small thing, an infection, diarrhea, would tip them over the edge and allow them to die. So we're racing against time to help save these children that are in this very difficult situation.

Let's begin with Yemen, because it has the largest number of people in need. UNICEF says 400,000 children are severely malnourished. And that's not the only problem in Yemen.

There's a terrible war that's been going on many years in Yemen. It's led to the destruction of the whole health system, a lot of the water and sanitation system. So not only do we have a nutrition crisis, with many children starving, we also now have a cholera crisis with many children facing very severe consequences of either what we call acute watery diarrhea or cholera, and both of them kill young children. Many of the health workers, doctors, nurses aren't even being paid. [The children] don't get the right support, and they die very quickly.

In Nigeria, the famine is somewhat regional — the northeast region of the country affected by fighting, by Boko Haram. Somalia is facing political fighting but also drought.

These are terrible humanitarian situations, or looming famines. In a very remote part of South Sudan I went to a UNICEF-supported health clinic and they'd been completely looted. There were children lying on the floor. Even the beds had been taken. We're fighting for the lives of children, but at the same time, we're trying to do it in these very difficult situations. The different warring factions [are] producing big obstacles to us being able to save children's lives.

What happens when your teams try to address this?

In the very, very difficult situations, we're basically just trying to keep people alive. In South Sudan at the moment, or in Yemen, we're doing surge teams out into remote areas where there's fighting and we're doing emergency work, often with other U.N. agencies like the World Food Programme or the World Health Organization and other nongovernment organizations like Save The Children. We're working with them on the ground. Literally, we're providing things like Plumpy'Nut [an enriched peanut paste], which is this emergency food we give to children. It's very high in nutrients. It's really lifesaving work to pull children back from the brink. In these very extreme situations, we're really doing sticking-plaster jobs of keeping children alive.

Is this something that can harm a generation in a region?

Individual children's lives can be ruined forever. From having not enough quality food with nutrients for those first few years of a child's life it stunts them not only physically but also mentally, so they never really have a chance to recover in later life and to fulfill their potential.

Just last month there was an announcement that South Sudan was no longer facing famine conditions. How did that happen, and is there danger it could slip back?

So there was famine declared in two parts of one state in South Sudan. I've been there, and I've seen it firsthand. And there was a very intense response which allowed that area to pull back from famine conditions. So we might have actually stopped famine in those two counties in that one state. But the number of children in South Sudan who are still severely malnourished has actually gone up dramatically.

We've managed to do a lot on the ground in South Sudan, but also Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia. Not just UNICEF, but other organizations, too. We've acted early, we've gone to scale, but the crisis is so big that we have to redouble our efforts in the coming months if we're going to get on top of it.

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