HCC spotlights creativity with Center of Excellence grand opening

Spotlight on success. Houston Community College celebrates the grand opening of the HCC Media Arts and Technology Center of Excellence at the Alief-Hayes Campus.

Nathan Hale spent 20 years balking at the thought of going to college. The former retail manager always wanted to make films for a living, but eventually realized that he needed an education.

“I started looking at Houston Community College and got really excited about what I saw,” said Hale, who recently graduated with a degree in Digital Simulation/3-D Animation. “HCC is there to facilitate dreams and opportunities and I am thankful for that.”

Hale is now a full-time videographer/producer/editor at HCC Television. He shared his compelling story with an audience of fellow students, community and industry partners, along with HCC administrators, faculty, and staff at the grand opening of the HCC Media Arts and Technology Center of Excellence. Housed at the HCC Alief-Hayes Campus, the Media Arts and Technology Center of Excellence offers courses in Digital Communication, Filmmaking, Audio Recording, and Music Business.

“Our students have unprecedented access to industry-standard facilities and equipment that will help prepare them for successful careers, whether in film and video production, audio recording and live sound, entertainment and music business, or any of the specializations of digital communication,” said HCC Northwest President Dr. Zachary Hodges.

That access includes a 3,200 square foot sound stage with a 20’x 20’x12’ green screen, Foley studio, film editing booths, a screening theater, and other state-of-the-art tools and software to train students to work with well-known business and community leaders.

“The mission of this Center of Excellence is to provide students exposure to innovative workforce programs that create career pathways to meet the wide-ranging needs of businesses and the community,” said Dr. Jimmy Adams, director.

HCC graduates have gone on to work at Sugarhill Recording Studios, Lakewood Church, and House of Blues, as well as organizations such as Houston Cinema Arts Society — led by Executive Director Trish Rigdon, a former student who is proud to give back to HCC.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with Houston Community College as you take your film program to the next level,” said Rigdon. “I am looking forward to seeing the names of HCC students among the credits on films made in Houston and screened at our annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival. With partners like Houston Community College, the future of media arts and technology in Houston is limitless.”

Another HCC partner, The Red Cat Jazz Preservation Society, recently gave the HCC Foundation $5,000 to support students in the Music Business program.

“Texas has been working on creating a foothold in the filmmaking industry, legislature has offered initiatives and incentives for companies to come here and do filmmaking,” said Dr. Cesar Maldonado, HCC chancellor. “It is still a young industry for Texas but it is growing and we are going to be right in the center of it here in Houston and at Houston Community College.”

Houston Community College (HCC) is composed of 13 Centers of Excellence and numerous satellite centers that serve the diverse communities in the Greater Houston area by preparing individuals to live and work in an increasingly international and technological society. HCC is one of the country’s largest singly-accredited, open-admission, community colleges offering associate degrees, certificates, workforce training, and lifelong learning opportunities. To learn more, visit http://www.hccs.edu/

Mayor Turner Seeks State Funds to Fight Zika

Houston, Thursday June 9 - Photo by Michael Ciaglo, of the Houston Chronicle shows Texas senator Sylvia Garcia stands next to mayor Sylvester Turner at a press conference to urge the governor to declare a disaster in order to help the city remove breeding grounds for mosquitos that could carry the zika virus. — Houston, Thursday June 9 – Photo by Michael Ciaglo, of the *Houston Chronicle* shows Texas senator Sylvia Garcia stands next to mayor Sylvester Turner at a press conference to urge the governor to declare a disaster in order to help the city remove breeding grounds for mosquitos that could carry the zika virus.

With members of the local legislative delegation at his side and an illegal tire dump as the backdrop, Mayor Sylvester Turner called on the state of Texas to declare the Zika virus a public health emergency and dedicate funds toward local efforts to fight it.

“Local governments are in a position to do the door-to-door, neighborhood-by-neighborhood hard work necessary to mitigate Zika,” said Mayor Turner. “There is a critical need for help in paying for this massive effort. We have programs already underway and would welcome state help in funding them. Let’s work together to eradicate this threat.”

Mayor Turner is requesting assistance from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Solid Waste Disposal Fees Account, which currently has a balance of $130 million. Under changes made by the legislature in 2007, the fund may be used for an immediate response to or remediation of an emergency that involves solid waste.

Since February, the City of Houston Solid Waste Department has been cleaning up illegal dump sites to help reduce mosquito breeding sites and combat the spread of Zika. They have already hauled 3,000 tons of debris and 19,000 tires away. The effort is expected to cost $3.6 million this year. With additional funding, the City of Houston could purchase new equipment to increase collection frequency beyond the weekends, develop and distribute educational materials informing residents of proper and free disposal options and establish three additional heavy trash drop-off locations.

Zika is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is found in Houston and southeast Texas. Infection during pregnancy causes microcephaly and other brain malformations in some babies. Infections in adults have been linked to Guillain–Barré syndrome.

The city has launched a multi-pronged approach to fighting the Zika virus. In addition to the neighborhood trash sweeps, there are also educational announcements at the airports, on public transit, in city water bills and on local TV. The health department is going door-to-door to distribute insect repellent in underserved neighborhoods, and the City’s regional public health laboratory is supporting local hospitals and clinics with Zika infection testing.

Now that mosquito season is here, residents need to be vigilant about protecting themselves from being bitten. Follow the three Ds of mosquito defense: drain, dress, DEET! Drain standing water on your property and keep hedges trimmed. Dress in long pants and long sleeves, keep windows and screens repaired and use air conditioning. When outside, spray exposed skin with mosquito repellant containing DEET, reapply as necessary and use netting to protect babies in strollers or car seats.

Keshi Legacy: The Ultimate Inspiration

Goal.com – By the time the final of the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations came around, Stephen Keshi had been with the national team 13 years. Injury had robbed him of a spot in the squad in 1980 that won Nigeria ‘s first-ever continental trophy inside the Mainbowl of the National Stadium, and he had been part of twin final losses to arch-rivals Cameroon, in 1984 and 1988.

Yet, when he felt a twinge a few days to the title match against Zambia, there was no hesitation. Asked by Clemens Westerhof why he was opting out, Keshi shrugged, “Look, I’d love to play, but this [is] a final.”

It was an expression of deep humility, but also one of trust in the team he had captained for so long. In an interview with Complete Sports’ Mumini Alao, the Big Boss recalled the listlessness of the Super Eagles in his absence during a World Cup qualifier against Ivory Coast in Lagos.

“I decided, from then on, that I would manage the knee [injury] until we qualified,” he said.

“I was playing every game with three or four [pain-killing] injections, just to calm the pain. And we made Nigerians proud, they had suffered enough. It was time.”

To go from this to willingly sitting out a final was a huge turnaround, and displayed aptly one of Keshi’s greatest strengths, both as a player and coach: the ability to gauge the mood and maturity of his team.

When, for instance, a second-place finish in Group C saw his young, mostly workmanlike team paired against perennial Cup of Nations favourites Ivory Coast in Rustenburg in 2013, he recognized instead the easing of expectation on the Super Eagles. They produced one of the all-time great performances by a Nigerian national team in a tournament setting, winning 2-1.

Austin Eguavoen would captain the 1994 side to glory that day in Tunis, and while he deferred to his captain when it came time to lift the old Unity Cup, there must have been something of a vacuum unfilled in the Big Boss.

The theme was repeated at the World Cup in USA, Nigeria’s first. Keshi would start only once, injuries again playing a part, and was cut from the team on the eve of the historic clash with eventual finalists Italy in the Second Round. With all these caveats to his time as captain, it was almost amusing to hear him admit he had never intended to remain in football after his playing career ended. As though destiny would have allowed such a thing.

It took 20 years, but redemption came

First, his unfancied Super Eagles grew in stature and boldness en route to claiming a third Afcon crown in South Africa in 2013, and then he matched Westerhof’s finish at the World Cup, the grandest stage of all. The best part: he lived every minute of it. His celebration after the final whistle in the final in Johannesburg, arms splayed out at an obtuse angle, rather than the impassioned reaction of a man who had just presided over a first Afcon triumph as coach, was understated, almost in acknowledgement of the inevitability of it all. Of course it was a script, and of course this was how it was intended.

Passing on so young, aged just 54, it is nevertheless undeniable that the Big Boss fulfilled his potential in all respects, and arguable that he is the finest Nigerian footballer of all time. As with most larger-than-life characters, some areas of their personality go a bit under the radar. His influence on Nigerian football was absolute; as a long-standing captain, he was a bridge from the past into the present era of player-power – albeit mostly positive – and an inspiration to younger players coming into the team. Would Westerhof, at heart confrontational and abrasive, have been as successful with that team as he was? It is hard to tell, but one wonders now.

Yet, to look at Keshi in this way distracts somewhat from his ability as a footballer. There is a temptation consider him some sort of amiable father figure, whose duties were mostly ambassadorial. Nothing, however, could be more misguided; if a fine club career in France and Belgium does not convince as to his footballing merits, then consider his winner against the hosts at the 1992 Afcon in Senegal. It was an isolated moment, but that run forward, the presence of mind to call for the pass from Mutiu Adepoju, and the emphatic finish with his weaker foot were a brilliant demonstration of what Keshi was about.

He possessed a brilliant range of passing as well from the back, often sweeping diagonals out to the flank, sometimes with the outside of his foot, almost in casual acknowledgement of his own majesty. His partnership with Uche Okechukwu, who would captain the team after him, remains to this day the finest Nigeria has ever produced.

Passing on so young, aged just 54, it is nevertheless undeniable that the Big Boss fulfilled his potential in all respects, and arguable that he is the finest Nigerian footballer of all time.

Rather more curiously, his coaching career also gets somewhat lost in the shuffle. Inspiring an unremarkable, quotidian group to continental glory in 2013 was truly amazing, but undoubtedly his greatest achievement in the dugout came in 2005. It is perhaps lost on many just how big an achievement it was to qualify Togo, a tiny nation of under 10 million people, sandwiched eel-like between Benin and Ghana, for the World Cup.

Much of the attention went to former Arsenal and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who top-scored, but throughout the series, Keshi wrung consistent, decisive performances from the likes of Cherif Mammam Toure and Mohamed Kader Coubadja. Following an opening loss to Zambia, that Togo team went nine games without defeat, culminating in a 3-2 away win in Congo after going behind twice.

The in-fighting that followed left a bitter aftertaste, but there can be no forgetting just what Keshi’s coaching career was about, both with Super Eagles and with the Hawks: alchemy. It is safe to say that, having given over and above what was necessary over a glittering playing career with the national team, the Big Boss knew a thing or two about extracting maximum value, even from the basest metals.

His legacy is hard to put in words, but he inspired absolutely. In 1994, Emmanuel Amuneke, having failed to start a game up until that point, struck twice in the final to deliver the Afcon title. In 2013, an unknown, unheralded left-footer named Sunday Mba decided the final. His career never took off after that, but under Keshi’s tutelage and trust, he looked genuinely world-class for a brief period.

This, more than anything else, is the measure of the man.

Court fines Nigeria $3.25 million in extrajudicial killings

The court case, brought by a nonprofit representing the victims, is the latest blow against Nigeria’s security forces. Amnesty International has accused the army of being responsible for the deaths of some 8,000 civilian detainees in its fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The West African court on Wednesday ordered Nigeria to pay $3.25 million in compensation to families and victims for the extrajudicial killings of eight civilians and the wounding of 11 others shot by soldiers and secret service agents in the capital, Abuja.

The court of the Economic Community of West African States said there is no evidence to back the stance of the Nigerian army and Department of Security Services that troops fired in self-defense on an alleged group of Boko Haram extremists the night of Sept. 20, 2013.

The three-judge panel led by Judge Friday Chijioke Nwoke found the Nigerian state liable for the “barbaric, illegal and unconstitutional” deaths and injuries. It ordered the government to pay $200,000 to the families of each man killed and $150,000 to each of those wounded.

Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission investigated the shootings and also ordered the government to pay victims compensation, which never has been paid. The government frequently ignores court orders to pay compensation.

The victims in the Apo suburb of Abuja were squatting in an unfinished building. At the time, the military did not respond to media reports suggesting the raid was requested by a retired army officer who owned the building and wanted the squatters out.

The court case, brought by a nonprofit representing the victims, is the latest blow against Nigeria’s security forces. Amnesty International has accused the army of being responsible for the deaths of some 8,000 civilian detainees in its fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.

In December, the military gunned down hundreds of Shiites over three days in the northern town of Zaria, and this year it has been accused of killing an unknown number of civilians in a crackdown on militants operating in the oil-producing south.

Nigeria’s Buhari Branded ‘National Shame’ for Seeking Medical Treatment in U.K.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, pictured arriving in London for an anti-corruption summit on May 12, has been slammed for seeking medical treatment abroad rather than in Nigeria. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, pictured arriving in London for an anti-corruption summit on May 12, has been slammed for seeking medical treatment abroad rather than in Nigeria.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Newsweek – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has broken his promise to end medical tourism by seeking treatment for an ear infection in the U.K., according to a senior doctor.

Dr Osahon Enabulele, a former president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said in an open letter to the president that about $1 billion was spent funding foreign medical trips in 2013, mostly for Nigerian public officials.

Buhari traveled to London on Monday for a 10-day holiday, during which he will see an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist for treatment of a persistent ear infection. The president has canceled several high-profile engagements in recent months, including a planned trip to the restive Niger Delta region to launch a clean-up operation in Ogoniland, a community affected by multiple oil spills in recent years.

The 73-year-old leader, who was elected in March 2015 on an anti-corruption ticket, said in a speech to the NMA in April that the government would cut back spending on sending public officials abroad for treatment when there was evidence of expertize in Nigeria. The office of the Nigerian presidency said Buhari traveled to London after being evaluated by his personal physician and an ENT specialist in the capital Abuja.

Enabulele, who is also the vice-president of the Commonwealth Medical Association, said it was a “national shame” that Buhari was seeking treatment in London, despite the presence of more than 250 ENT specialists in Nigeria and a National Ear Center in Kaduna state, northern Nigeria. Enabulele stated that the U.K. had some 3,000 Nigerian-trained doctors, most of whom had emigrated due to the Nigerian government’s failure to address problems in the West African country’s health service.

Enabulele even stated that he himself had received treatment from an ENT specialist in Nigeria in April “in line with my patriotic commitment to the Nigerian dream” and said he believed that Nigerian physicians “are skilled enough, and with the right equipment in place can handle any complicated ENT problem in Nigeria

Their mom is jailed in West Africa, and they are desperate to bring her home to the U.S.

Ebrima Jawara, a mechanic at Ourisman Honda in Bethesda, and his daughters Sarah Jawara, 12, left, and Aminata Jawara protest outside the White House. Their mother has been held for almost two months in a prison in Gambia. (Family Photo)

By Petula Dvorak Columnist, The Washington Post

The Jawara girls were getting anxious for their mother to return from visiting relatives in West Africa — the prom was looming, school award ceremonies would be held soon and they needed a break from their dad’s cooking. But the day before her flight back to the United States in April, they received a disturbing call that upended their lives in suburban Maryland.

Their mother, Fanta Darboe Jawara, they learned, was being held in Gambia’s notorious Mile 2 Central Prison. And they have no idea when — or if — she’ll be released.

“On [June] 16th, it’ll be two months,” said Sarah Jawara, 12, who is counting the days without her mom. “I really miss her.”

Jawara, 45, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had returned to her homeland for the first time in 11 years for a family reunion. Just as she was getting ready to head back to her husband and girls in Frederick, Md., she was caught in a sweep of arrests at a government protest in Banjul, Gambia’s capital. Although her family has connections to Gambia’s opposition party, Jawara maintains that she was simply a bystander before she was beaten and locked up.

The protest unfolded that day — April 16 — as Jawara was waiting for a taxi after going to the bank.

“I was stopped by gentleman in plainclothes who asked me to give him my phone. I asked him why I should give him my phone,” Jawara said in her sworn statement from the Gambian central prison in Banjul.

He was a police intervention unit officer who was there to stop a protest by the United Democratic Party (UDP), a longtime critic of President Yahya Jammeh.

Jammeh has been the leader of the tiny West African country since his bloodless military coup in 1994. He has been criticized internationally for human rights abuses, especially for his stance on homosexuality.

“We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively,” he said in 2014. He also claimed to have come up with an HIV/AIDS cure made of herbs and bananas. The United States has officially condemned his statements.

Jawara and her family deny that she was participating in the protest.

“The [police] officers started dragging me and slapping me, they were beating me from the time I was arrested up to the time we arrived at the [police intervention unit] camp,” she said in her statement.

Jawara is charged with unlawful assembly, rioting, inciting violence, riotously interfering with traffic, holding a procession without a license, disobeying an order to disperse from an unlawful procession and conspiracy to commit a felony.

The prison where she is being held was recently the target of a U.N. report after inspectors were denied access to the facility. Freed prisoners reported sleeping on concrete floors and being fed cornmeal mixed with dirt.

This is not the Gambia that Jawara’s daughters know.

“I visited last year, and we went to all the touristy places,” said Aminata Jawara, 17, who is finishing up her junior year at Frederick High School and is about to receive an award in her nursing program.

But instead of all the end-of-the-school-year picnics and events she thought she’d be going to with her mom, she helped organize a protest outside the White House last weekend. She and her sister and her father, Ebrima Jawara, wore T-shirts bearing her mother’s face and waved banners calling for her release.

The girls say their mom is loud and funny, the one who chaperons every school field trip, never misses Muffins and Moms events. Their dad works as an auto mechanic at Ourisman Honda in Bethesda.

The Jawaras have lived in Frederick for more than 20 years. Both parents come from prominent Gambian families. Ebrima Jawara is the grandson of the president who was deposed in 1994. Fanta Darboe Jawara has family members who are leaders in the opposition party.

But they wanted to escape their small country’s politics and start over here.

“We both came here in 1990. I went to school at Frederick Community College,” Ebrima Jawara said. “And we did well. We bought a single-family house.”

Now he’s pushing government leaders to help free his wife. She is the subject of a Change.org petition, declarations by Amnesty International, State Department news briefings, online postings, tributes and that protest in front of the White House.

Ebrima Jawara contacted his local congressman, his senators and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who runs a foundation helping free Americans in trouble around the globe.

“I think this is a case of egregious conduct against a person who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Richardson told me Sunday. “This is an American citizen who has obviously been treated unfairly and maligned.”

Jawara and the others arrested in the protest are being represented by Gambian lawyers, who are demanding that the Gambian government drop all charges against her, said Erin Pelton, a senior advisor on prisoners and hostage recovery for the Richardson Center for Global Engagement.

The State Department has met with Jawara five times, been to all her court hearings and condemned the Gambian government’s “severe response to recent protests,” spokesman John Kirby said this month. But he had little information about Jawara’s condition or the state of her case.

Sarah, whose friends at school really don’t know what she’s going through, is also having a hard time understanding the arrests for something she sees every day, something she considers a fundamental human right.

“They should release them, even if they were protesting,” she said. “It was peaceful, they shouldn’t arrest people for a protest.”

Her American self can’t see it any other way.

Clinton frames her historic win as a victory for women’s rights

Supporters for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spell the word “history” during a presidential primary election night rally, June 7, 2016, in New York. (photo: Julie Jacobson/ap)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Hillary Clinton cemented her status as the first woman to become presumptive presidential nominee of a major American political party on Tuesday night, when the Associated Press projected her the winner in New Jersey’s Democratic primary.

Clinton’s victory in the Garden State ensures she will have more pledged delegates, unbound superdelegates and overall voters than her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. She declared victory at a New York City rally in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“Thanks to you, we’ve reached a milestone: the first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee,” Clinton told her supporters. “Tonight’s victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible.”

The former first lady, senator and secretary of state technically earned her status on Monday, after the AP and multiple other media outlets projected that she earned firm commitments from enough Democratic superdelegates to secure the nomination at the party’s convention next month. However, the AP call was criticized as a “rush to judgment” by the Sanders campaign. Even Clinton’s own team argued that the real “milestone” would come after she secured a majority of the pledged delegates and primary voters.

In addition to New Jersey and North Dakota, voters also headed to the polls in California, New Mexico, Montana, and South Dakota on Tuesday. The AP projected Clinton the winner in New Mexico, but the other states results have not yet been declared. However, even a Sanders sweep would not affect the overall outcome of the race.

Clinton’s victory came just three days after the 97th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote the following year in 1920. Clinton said in her speech that her mother was born on the same day as the amendment’s passage. It was also eight years to the day after Clinton conceded the 2008 Democratic presidential primary to Barack Obama, with a speech in which she famously declared that her supporters helped her put “18 million cracks” in the “glass ceiling.” She referenced that speech Tuesday evening.

“It may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now. But don’t worry, we’re not smashing this one,” Clinton quipped.

Hillary Clinton acknowledges celebratory cheers during a primary night event at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, June 7, 2016.

Clinton also invoked another key moment in feminist history. She noted the first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, also took place in New York in 1948.

Earlier in the evening, her team released the video that played as an introduction to her remarks. It included footage from the women’s suffrage movement, interspersed with footage of female politicians and Clinton supporters. It concluded with a call to “keep making history.”

Sanders is also scheduled to speak on Tuesday evening at an event in California, where polls showed a tight race between him and Clinton. Though it was clear before any results were announced on Tuesday that it would be almost impossible for Sanders to earn more delegates than Clinton, he has pointed to national polls that show he would perform better against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Sanders urged superdelegates who support Clinton to switch sides before the Democratic National Convention next month.

At a news conference Monday, Sanders said he would continue campaigning in the District of Columbia primary, which will be held on June 14. But Clinton is clearly ready to move on.

“I want to congratulate Sen. Sanders for the extraordinary campaign he has run,” she said, praising their primary battle as “very good for the Democratic Party and for America.”

Inside Clinton’s event, her supporters were excited by the significance of her win. Samson Ogunloye, a 70-year-old researcher at Columbia University, described it as a “historic night.”

“I really love it,” Ogunloye said. “After over 200 years, it’s about time.”

Brooklynite Karen Kietzman, 58, described Clinton’s pioneering role as “very important,” though she added, “That’s not the only thing I would vote on.”

Nicolas Santacruz, a nanny who was near the back of the packed crowd, said he was frustrated with the media for projecting Clinton’s victory the day before Tuesday’s election night.

“It’s extremely cool, although it’s annoying that the news took it away from us yesterday,” Santacruz said.

Many of Clinton’s supporters also expressed frustration with Sanders for remaining in the race. A large screen hanging over the crowd showed news broadcasts and audience members booed when NBC News projected Sanders the winner in North Dakota. Some members of the audience at Clinton’s event said they hoped Sanders would begin to get behind Clinton and help her win over the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

“I think he should try and express his platform and continue to express support for more liberal views, but I think it’s time for him to start working with her,” explained Kietzman. “And I think he will because I think she’s going to win big tonight.”

Andrea Zuniga pointed out Clinton quickly endorsed President Obama after she conceded the 2008 Democratic primary to him. Zuniga suggested that Sanders should “take a page from her book” and “work for party unity.”

Ogunloye, the researcher, has a slightly different perspective on Sanders. “What about him? Let him go away. He’s of no use,” he said.

The Clinton campaign certainly seems to be pivoting away from the primary fight against Sanders. Next week, Clinton is scheduled to campaign in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two major swing states in the general election. Clinton campaign aide Lily Adams offered a blunt response when Yahoo News asked if the trip represents a pivot towards the general election.

“Yeah, they’re battleground states,” Adams said.

Ruptured ear drum, hearing loss: President Buhari rushes off to London over deteriorating health

In the past week, the President had cancelled major engagements, including a proposed state visit to Lagos, the launch of UNEP clean-up of Ogoni land, and the ECOWAS summit in Senegal. — In the past week, President Buhari had cancelled major engagements, including a proposed state visit to Lagos, the launch of UNEP clean-up of Ogoni land, and the ECOWAS summit in Senegal.

International Guardian – Houston, TX – Serious and undisclosed health issues grounding Nigeria’s President Buhari for about 10 days now have taken a turn for the worst. The President will be rushed out to London in a few hours for an emergency treatment, International Guardian reliably gathered. Unable to attend major official duties, the President had been stranded with possibly, a ruptured ear drum, and hearing loss.

Friday Night, an International Guardian informant in Abuja reported concerns regarding Buhari’s health, but officials of the government were totally unresponsive with clarification. Strict confidentiality of personal matters of the President has been a standing order in Aso Rock.

In the past week, the President had cancelled major engagements, including a proposed state visit to Lagos, the launch of UNEP clean-up of Ogoni land, and the ECOWAS summit in Senegal.

To suppress speculations of President Buhari’s deteriorating health, the media adviser, Femi Adesina had swayed the national media with assurance that the President was in good health. The Nation was however, shocked when hours later, the news of Buhari’s worsening health broke out. To cover-up his deceit, Adesina quickly issued a release that President Buhari will leave for London Monday for a ten-day break, to attend to his health issues.

The Presidency claimed that President Buhari would see a specialist in London for a persistent ear infection, but did not elaborate the scope of his initial evaluation. International Guardian medical analysist, Dr. Kingsley said mild ear infections usually clear up without intervention, but they may recur. “For the President to be referred to London for further evaluation, it must be something a little severe.”

Anatomy of the ear - Serious ear infection could cause meningitis or a ruptured ear drum. Meningitis is a bacterial infection of the membranes which covers the brain and spinal cord. — *Anatomy of the ear – Serious ear infection could cause meningitis or a ruptured ear drum. Meningitis is a bacterial infection of the membranes which covers the brain and spinal cord.*

Texas-based Infection specialist, Dr. Jenny Jones elaborated on what might be expected in a protracted ear infection. “I would not comment on a patient I have not physically evaluated, but protracted ear infection cold invoke rare but serious complications, such as hearing loss, speech issues, and infection of the mastoid bone in the skull. Now I could go further, but I don’t want to be sounding all negative. The truth is also that very serious ear infection could cause meningitis or a ruptured ear drum.” Meningitis is a bacterial infection of the membranes which covers the brain and spinal cord.

A source very close to the Presidency told International Guardian last week that that the President is “wearing down” and may need to take some time out. His proposed health emergency trip to London just a few hours away may be his timeout to sort out his unsolved medical diagnosis.

Also, noted Dr. Jones, “it could be minor, but also we should be looking at the very worst scenarios. For example, more than 50 million people in the United States currently, suffer from some degree of tinnitus. This is some kind of ear infection caused by High or low blood pressure, damage to the nerve endings in the inner ear, tumor, diabetes, and so on.”

Tinnitus is bizarre buzzing, roaring, buzzing, hissing, or clicking sound that occurs inside the head. According to the American Tinnitus Association, at least 2 million experience it so severely that it interferes with their daily activities.

In the past month or so, Nigerians have verbally expressed concerns about President Buhari’s appearances. His weakening health was conspicuous and could be observed in his speeches and body language. In his appearance and speech at signing of 2016 Budget, early May, President Buhari battled with composure, and in most cases found it difficult to pronounce his words; he read his scripts inaudibly, setting up controversy in the social media about his physical fitness.

A source very close to the Presidency told International Guardian last week that that the President is “wearing down” and may need to take some time out. His proposed health emergency trip to London just a few hours away may be his timeout to sort out his unsolved medical diagnosis.

Angola Leader Secures Economic Grip Naming Daughter as Oil Boss

Isabel dos Santos, 43,is Africa’s wealthiest woman who’s worth $3.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos tightened his family’s grip on sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest economy two years before he has indicated he’ll leave office by naming his billionaire daughter Isabel as chairwoman of the state oil company.

The appointment “shows that President dos Santos doesn’t trust anyone else and moreover that he’s looking to have a dynastic succession,” Markus Weimer, an analyst for Horizon Client Access Inc., an energy investment advisory group, said Friday by phone from London. “It’s a very strong indication that Isabel will also be considered a possible leader when he retires in 2018.”

The Russian-educated dos Santos, Africa’s second-longest serving president, has said he will quit “active politics” in 2018 after leading the country since 1979. His son Jose Filomeno dos Santos already runs Angola’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund. — The Russian-educated dos Santos, Africa’s second-longest serving president, has said he will quit “active politics” in 2018 after leading the country since 1979.

Angola ranked 163 out of 167 countries in Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index and had the world’s highest rate of child mortality under the age of 5, the United Nations Children’s Fund said last year.

The decision to fire Sonangol’s entire board is part of a restructuring plan that will create two new entities — one that will award concessions and serve as a regulator, and another, under the president’s direct authority, that will run its business interests. The company now owns dozens of stakes in oil blocks in Angola as well as an airline, real estate, multi-billion dollar housing projects, industrial zones, and shares in a bank in Portugal.

Isabel dos Santos, 43, is one of her father’s most trusted advisers and has been leading talks about a shakeup at Sonangol, according to David Thomson, an analyst for Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Africa’s wealthiest woman who’s worth $3.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index, she controls Angola’s largest mobile-phone operator, Unitel, and owns stakes in a range of companies in Angola and Portugal.

‘Intimate Knowledge’

“She has been at the helm of the efforts to restructure Sonangol over the past year or so and as such will have an intimate knowledge of the company,” Thomson said in e-mailed comments. “She has good business experience and is respected within the oil industry.”

The new team aims to make Sonangol more competitive internationally by reducing costs, Isabel dos Santos said in an e-mailed statement. The company will seek to improve profitability and the dividends it pays to the state, she said. Angola vies with Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil producer.

Isabel dos Santos started her career with the opening of a club called Miami Beach in the capital, Luanda, after obtaining an engineering degree at King’s College London in the early 1990s, said Filipe Fernandes, author of a book entitled Isabel dos Santos — Secrets and The Power of Money.

“She has used her strong business position in Angola, where many Portuguese companies are present, as a springboard for bigger deals,” he said.

Political Implications

The reforms at Sonangol will have considerable political implications, according to Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based intelligence consultancy.

“The proposed overhaul is intended to break down the potential blocks of power forming within Sonangol and place the company squarely under dos Santos’s control,” Stratfor said in a June 1 report. “By splitting up the company, the president hopes to safeguard the interests of his family.”

Foreign advisers including the World Bank recommended for more than a decade that Angola reduce the size and scope of the company.

“Isabel’s appointment demonstrates the strategic importance of these reforms for the presidency and that the president wanted someone he fully trusted to lead the reforms,” Alex Vines, head of the Africa Program at the Chatham House research group in London, said in e-mailed comments.

The 54 percent decline in the price of Brent crude in the past two years has put Angola under pressure to reduce its dependence on oil, which accounts for more than 90 percent of its exports. Economic growth will probably slow to 2.5 percent this year from an estimated 3 percent last year and 6.8 percent in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund, which is in talks with Angola to provide financial assistance.

“It’s just how the Angolan government tends to operate when it comes to base issues like strategic oil and the sovereign wealth fund,” Gary van Staden, an analyst at NKC African Economics in Paarl, near Cape Town, said by phone. “President dos Santos tends to make sure that the people in charge of those are very close to him.”

‘Intimate Knowledge’

Political Implications

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