Mediaboss Marketing

press release

Senator Bukola Saraki, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria's main opposition party, has today announced the suspension of his bid for the presidency in 2015.

Even though his Presidential interest has sparked widespread excitement across the country, and has received major supports from key stakeholders and youth groups based on his leadership profile characterized by infrastructural development, economic growth and striving social wellbeing; Senator Saraki says he is deciding to step down his ambition because, according to him,

Nigeria's political outlook for 2015 is very complicated and "this is the time for every patriotic politician to situate his personal ambition in the context of the country's overall interest," he says.

According to him, party primaries in any healthy democracy would always leave several contenders disappointed and, sometimes bitter, as there would be only one winner. The party would then invest so much energy and time afterwards managing and reconciling various interests.

"I don't think our party can afford too much internal rancour going into next year's election. I therefore think some of us need to make the sacrifice and be part of the solution rather than part of the problem of the party," says the Senator who is regarded as one of the masterminds of a major breakaway from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) earlier in the year.

Senator Saraki recounted how he, along with other progressives in the PDP, decided to leave the party to join the APC when it was clear that PDP, especially at the national level, had become too invested in the personal ambition of one man at the overall detriment of the country and its democracy.

"I have always maintained that I did not leave the ruling party to join the opposition because of any personal interest. Anyone who understands Nigeria's politics would know that it takes courage and self-sacrifice to do that. Therefore, whether it is on the issue of the party or all other issues that I have been pushing in my position as a Senator of the Federal Republic, I have been driven primarily by my desire to see a better and more purposely governed country."

According to him, Nigeria desperately needs change. "We need to change the way the country is run, we need change in our security and the values we place on human life, we need to change the current disgraceful situation in security and corruption. And I believe only the APC can bring about this change and give our country the leadership it deserves."

He notes, however, that APC can only live up to the aspirations of Nigerians for change if it is not derailed by too much acrimony from its primaries which is coming so close to the general elections. "This is why some of us felt that we must make the necessary sacrifice and contribute to building a strong and united party that provides the only real alternative to the floundering Government that has become so constipated on power and lost touch with the realities that ordinary Nigerians grapple with everyday."

Go here to read the rest:
Nigeria: Saraki Suspends 2015 Presidential Bid

The Chairman of the Enugu State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, Dr. Ben Nwoye, has promised that the party will field credible candidates for all elective offices in its bid to wrest power from the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015.

Speaking with journalists after a meeting of the partys state National Working Committee, Nwoye said the APC would resist any form of rigging during the election.

According to him, the APC taking its time to produce credible candidates that will wrest power from the PDP in 2015 at all levels of government.

Nwoye disclosed that, ahead of the polls, several aspirants have expressed interest in contesting different elective positions in Enugu State, such as the 24 constituencies of the state house of assembly, the federal house of representatives, senate and governorship elections.

Specifically, he said two members of the party in the state, namely Dr. Okey Ezeah, and Dr. Ifeanyi Asogwa, have expressed their intention to contest the governorship election, while others are also ready to pick the nomination forms.

The Enugu State APC chairman added that the party has set November 8, 15, 24 and 29 for the house of assembly, governorship, house of representatives and senate primaries, respectively.

Nwoye stressed that there would be no imposition of candidates in the party, even as he admitted that the APC constitution allows for adoption of consensus candidates.

Our constitution allows for consensus candidates but not imposition an imposition is where one or two persons decide that this or that person will be the candidate, he explained.

He further explained that before any aspirant could emerge as a consensus candidate, he will have to tell party members why he wants to vie for whatever position he is running for, in order to win the confidence of the stakeholders.

Nwoye in the same vein restated his earlier assertion that the party is not a dumping ground for disgruntled politicians from other parties, especially from the PDP, who fail to actualize their political aspiration aspiration during the 2015 elections.

Read the original:
2015: APC to present credible candidates

Yves here. Its good to see Gaius Publius, a regular fixture at AmericaBlog, now writing at Down with Tyranny, Howie Kleins blog. Among other things, Howie helped raise funds for a 2010 MMT conference. As Lambert says, Hes one of the good guys.

Theres one small sour note in this otherwise fine piece, that of calling Elizabeth Warren a progressive. The fact that Gaius feels compelled to include her speaks to the dearth of individuals who can be accurately described as progressive in roles of any prominence in the Democratic party.

By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and contributing editor at AmericaBlog. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius and Facebook. Cross posted from AmericaBlog

As documented frequently by Howie Klein and others, Steve Israel, the DCCC, and to a lesser extent the DSCC, have been disasters for the Democratic Party, if success means taking or keeping control of Congress and disaster means failing to try to do that. These Democratic train wrecks have been well document on these pages for example, here and here. But click any link tagged Steve Israel or DSCC to get the gist.

You also know that corporate-aligned Democrats, including most party leaders and many who work with them, are more than eager to excoriate any progressives who dare to consider forcing neoliberal Dems out of office, especially if hurting neoliberals also hurts party chances in elections. Attacking the party from the left and attacking neoliberal rule of the party are cardinal sins, almost hanging offenses. The venom goes very deep.

The magic phrase, the one you hear the most, is Ralph Nadar! but excoriation comes in other flavors. Like: Do you really want Romney to be president?! Or: The one thing that would make me vote for Hillary Clinton Jeb Bush! Or these days: OMG, it will be your fault if we lose the Senate! Always with the exclamation point. Always with the scorn, the flecks of virtual spittle, the virtual hair on fire.

The main idea if theres one bridge too far, its risking the party to gain an intra-party advantage. Its intolerable, according to party leaders, to use Tea Party tactics against corporate Democrats. Which leads to the question in the title: Are Democratic Party leaders already Tea Partying progressives?

An Exercise In Taxonomy

Consider this an exercise in taxonomy, in naming and classifying things. In other words, is one thing like another? Not: Is this thing good or bad? Just: Are these two things alike?

1. We know what it means to Tea Party Republicans, what the term means. It means that one party faction, in this case Koch-funded Tea Party candidates, mounts a campaign to remove its party rivals from power even at the cost of party success as measured by winning elections and controlling institutions like Congress.

Read more from the original source:
Gaius Publius: Are Democratic Leaders Already Tea Partying The Progressives?

A former Governor of Kwara State and chief of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bukola Saraki, has suspended his 2015 presidential ambition.

According to a statement by his media aide, Bamikole Omisore, made available to journalists in Ilorin on Sunday, Saraki said he decided to suspend the ambition in the interest of the nation and that because the political outlook for 2015, according to him, is complicated.

He stated that party primaries in any healthy democracy would always leave several contenders disappointed and, sometimes bitter, as there would be only one winner.

According to him, the party will then invest so much energy and time afterwards managing and reconciling various interests.

He said, Even though his Presidential interest has sparked widespread excitement across the country, and has received major support from key stakeholders and youth groups, based on his leadership profile, characterised by infrastructural development, economic growth and striving social well being; Senator Saraki says he is deciding to step down his ambition because Nigerias political outlook for 2015 is very complicated and this is the time for every patriotic politician to situate his personal ambition in the context of the countrys overall interest.

I dont think our party can afford too much internal rancour going into next years election. I therefore think some of us need to make the sacrifice and be part of the solution rather than part of the problem of the party.

I have always maintained that I did not leave the ruling party to join the opposition because of any personal interest. Anyone who understands Nigerias politics would know that it takes courage and self-sacrifice to do that.

Therefore, whether it is on the issue of the party or all other issues that I have been pushing in my position as a Senator of the Federal Republic, I have been driven primarily by my desire to see a better and more purposely governed country.

See more here:
Saraki suspends 2015 presidential bid

Bill Mahers recent monologue on Real Timeexcoriating self-professed liberals for going soft on Islam hotly debated again last Friday with Ben Affleck and Sam Harris, and expounded on in this exclusive Salon interview might well serve as a credo for atheist progressives the world over. He began by introducing a photo, originally posted on a social media site, showing a teenager in Pennsylvania mounting a statue of Jesus Christ in such a way as to create the impression that Jesus was fellating him. Noting that it may not be in good taste, Maher declared that theres no picture that makes my heart swell with patriotism quite like this one.

Why? He explained that in the United States, with separation of church and state enshrined in the Constitution, the youth, on account of his sacrilegious prank, would not do jail time or face violence because liberal Western culture is not just different, its better. . . . rule of law isnt just different than theocracy, its better. If you dont see that, then youre either a religious fanatic or a masochist, but one thing you are certainly notis a liberal.

(In fact, Maher proved too sanguine about the supposedly religion-free workings of the U.S. justice system. As punishment for the irreverent post, a court ordered the teen to do community service, observe a curfew, and stay off social media for six months. Hardly comparable to facing a fatwa for drawing a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad, but indicative nonetheless of the worrisome pro-faith bias infecting at least courts of law in our supposedly secular republic.)

Maher included Barack Obama among those unwilling to talk straight about Islam, and rebutted the presidents repeated statements that ISIS is not Islamic by pointing out that vast numbers of Muslims across the world believe . . . that humans deserve to die for merely holding a different idea, or drawing a cartoon, or writing a book. This means, said Maher, that not only does the Muslim world have something in common with ISIS, it has too much in common with ISIS.

Mahers is no offhand opinion, but a blunt statement of fact. A wide-ranging 2013 Pew Research Center poll, conducted between 2008 and 2012 in 39 countries, offered a deeply disturbing, unequivocal overview of the faith-based intolerance prevalent across much of the Muslim world. Among other things, majorities of Muslims varying somewhat according to region favor putting to death apostates and adulterers, condemn homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia as immoral, and believe that a wife must obey her husband. Large minorities condone honor killings. It should be noted that for practical reasons, the Pew Center could not survey Muslims in the repressive, highly conservative Gulf States (including Saudi Arabia, the homeland of Wahhabism), so, if anything, these numbers provide an excessively moderate summary of Muslim positions on issues progressives hold dear.

There can be no doubt about the wellspring of these nevertheless profoundly illiberal results. Texts in the Koran and the Hadith (the sayings and teachings traditionally attributed to the prophet Muhammad) back every one of the retrograde, even repulsive, positions the Pew Center catalogued. There are also passages in these writings that appear more tolerant, but the point is, Muslims looking to back up hardline interpretations of Islam do not lack for scriptural support.

Maher did not cite polls on his show he is, after all, a comedian but had he done so, he would have given doubters a way to verify the veracity of his monologue. That left room for interpretation and dispute, or at least for what passes for such on cable news channels. To decode Mahers pronouncements about Islam, CNN Tonights hosts Don Lemon and Alisyn Camerota called on Reza Aslan, the author of No God But God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.

To start the discussion, Lemon asked Aslan what he thought of Mahers performance. Jumpy and defensive from the start, Aslan quickly steered the discussion away from the gist of Mahers monologue that Islam does have a violence problem Western liberals need to be frank about and toward Mahers outrage at Female Genital Mutilation. FGM, was not an Islamic problem, its an African problem . . . a Central African problem, Aslan asserted. Nowhere else in the Muslim, Muslim-majority states is [FMG] an issue.

This is flat-out wrong. Though the barbaric practice predates Islam, FMG occurs, as far as is known, in at least twenty-nine countries (among them Egypt, Kurdistan, and Yemen) across a wide swath of Africa and the Middle East, and beyond. Muslims even exported the savage custom to Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is a growing problem. Those working locally to eradicate FGM have, understandably, a good deal of trouble making it an issue, given the lack on openness in discussing sex-related topics in the countries involved, so the situation may in fact be worse than is now recognized. And if it wasnt originally Islamic, it has so been for fourteen centuries. The Prophet Muhammad, in the Hadith, condoned it, even encouraged it (calling it an honorable quality for women) and ordaining only that it not be performed severely.

Aslans erroneous dismissal of FGM as a central African problem will help none of the tens of millions of girls and women who have suffered mutilation across the Islamic world, but it will give comfort to those who hope to continue butchering their victims without scrutiny from abroad. Neither CNNs hosts nor Aslan mentioned Mahers call to liberals to stop ignoring the practice, nor did they bring up his pointed words about Yales craven, abrupt cancelation, earlier this year, of the invitation to speak sent to one of FMGs most prominent victims, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the brave, Somali-born anti-Islam activist and writer. Maher blames a misguided attempt at evenhandedness by the schools atheist organization for the disinvitation, but surprise! it was actually the Muslim Students Association that first asked for her event to be called off.

More:
Bill Mahers atheist values: Why progressives must defend enlightenment, critique religious extremism