MOROCCAN KING MUHAMMAD VI SNUBS PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHANS' REQUEST FOR TELEPHONE CONVERSATION.

The Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI, has rejected a request from President Goodluck Jonathan for a telephone conversation, saying it was an “inappropriate” move by the Nigerian leader to curry electoral favour just weeks before a crucial poll. Mohammed VI snubbed Mr Jonathan’s request last week, saying it was more of an attempt to seek electoral favour than a genuine diplomatic act, the country’s foreign ministry said Friday. “The request by Nigerian authorities for a phone conversation between His Marjesty King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President was refused by the Monarch who deemed it inappropriate on grounds of the upcoming elections in Nigeria,” the Moroccan Foreign Affairs ministry said in a statement. The statement explained that the monarch rejected the request for a phone chat and the sending of a Nigerian envoy to the country because Mohammed VI viewed the overture as an attempt by Mr Jonathan to take advantage of Morocco’s influence to secure Muslim votes in the forthcoming election. Confronted by an increasingly popular opposition, in perhaps the closest election in Nigerian history, Mr Jonathan is frantically exploring unusual avenues for support, particularly from the largely Muslim northern region of the country. Mr Jonathan’s closest rival, Muhammadu Buhari, comes from Northern Nigeria and has a cult following in the region. A move to patch the diplomatic relation with the influential Moroccan monarch is seen as a potentially impressive step that may endear the president to some Muslims. Relations between Nigeria and Morocco have been anything but cordial for years, largely over Nigeria’s decision to support the independence of the Western Sahara region of Morocco. Nigeria recognises the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic declared by the separatist group, the Polisario Front. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front has led an armed insurrection against the Moroccan government for decades. Western Sahara is a largely desert region but rich in petroleum and phosphate deposits. Nigeria has lobbied the United Nation to set up human rights monitoring group to investigate right abuses by Moroccan forces in the area, a position the Moroccan monarchy frowns at. The Moroccan foreign ministry made it clear in its statement that King Mohammed VI refused to speak to Mr Jonathan partly because of “Nigeria’s positions regarding the sacred national, Arab and Islamic causes”. The Moroccan monarch is one of the two surviving sovereign monarchs on the continent. While the monarch’s decision appears popular in the North African country, some Moroccans have also questioned the judgement of the King in apparently discarding a fresh opportunity to normalise relations with Nigeria, and win over a strong ally. “If the Palace’s foreign affairs’ advisers recognize the role Morocco can play in Nigerian politics, why haven’t they use it to persuade the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan to change his hostile positions on the Western Sahara?” asked Hassan Masiky, a Washington-based Moroccan blogger. “Notwithstanding the fact that Abuja is strong supporter of Algerian positions, in reaching out to King Mohammed VI at the height of a close presidential election, Nigerian officials show how much they value the role the Monarch could play in their country,” Mr. Masiky wrote in an article published by the MoroccanWorld News. “Moroccan diplomats give the impression that they don’t have a plan on how to use the Kingdom’s religious clout to advance ethnic and religious reconciliation in Nigeria. If Rabat takes the initiative once the political uncertainty ends, it will certainly offset Algeria’s plan in the region and create an opening for a smoother relations with Nigeria’s next president,” he added. Mr. Masiky also criticised the Moroccan authorities for not offering “aggressive and vocal religious advice and assistance to the Nigerian authorities in the fight against the extremists of Boko Haram”.

I'M BACK TO DEFEAT JONATHAN - GEN BUHARI.

I’M BACK TO DEFEAT JONATHAN/PDP ON MARCH 28 – GEN BUHARI. Presidential hopeful and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), retired Major General Mohammadu Buhari returned to the country earlier today, saying that he is physically and mentally fit to launch the last leg of his campaign to dislodge the Goodluck Jonathan led PDP government in the March 28 elections. Speaking to newsmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, shortly after returning to Nigeria from the United Kingdom aboard a British Airways flight at about 5:40am local time, Buhari dismissed insinuations that he was ill saying he had no problem with his health . He had left the country on Thursday, February 19, 2015 for London where he addressed the international community at the Royal Institute of International Affairs popularly called Chatham House, London on Thursday, February 26, on his plans for the country. However the trip was given different interpretation with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claiming that he was in London for medical reason .Clad in a black flowing gown , Buhari was full of smiles and waved to the crowd of supporters who were at the airport to welcome him. Responding to a question on whether he went abroad to seek medical attention, the APC candidate simply said “I just went off for a couple of weeks to rest. That’s all I did.” Asked if he ever visited any hospital while in UK, he said “What is wrong for me to go to hospital? Am I not here now? Aren’t you seeing me? Are you seeing a sick man? On his engagements in London, he said “I went to Chatham House. I read an address and there was a question and answer session. That’s all.” The APC candidate who was flanked by the Deputy Director General of his Campaign, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora and other chieftains of the party said he is back to focus on the coming election.

WORLD BOOK DAY: GUANTANAMO BAY RESTRICTED LIBRARY. Today's World Book Day celebrates and encourages reading. What will you pick up today? Some Shakespeare, a classic fairy tale such as Puss in Boots perhaps, or something weightier like Dostoyevsky’s Crime & Punishment? For Guantánamo detainees, however, none of these books are options; they are banned from reading them. The reading material requested by detainees is vetted and some books fail to make it through. To say the decisions are curious would be an understatement. Russell Brand’s Booky Wook 2 is forbidden. Franz Kafka’s The Trial is permitted. The protagonist in The Trial, Josef K, is arrested and prosecuted without ever learning of the charges brought against him. If any book were deemed too close to the bone, surely it would be The Trial. The incendiary, inappropriate material in banned stories such as Cinderella and Jack and The Beanstalk is obvious. Other books appear to have been vetoed for their titles alone, regardless of the content – Crime and Punishment, John Grisham’s The Innocent Man, and Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent, for example. The ban on The Innocent Man was lifted after Grisham wrote an article in the New York Times about Nabil Hadjarab, the man who had requested the book. Tom Bingham’s The Rule of Law is prohibited. In this book, published towards the end of his life, the former Lord Chief Justice discusses law as the basis of a just society and the potential erosion of a fair legal system under the threat of terrorism. Shaker Aamer’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, has suggested that prisoners have been denied access to materials that might help them learn English. This stretches as far as banning the New Dinkum Aussie Dictionary. Just as communication seems to be frowned on by the US military, so does creativity. A poetry collection, Poems from Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak, was published in 2007 despite suspicion and opposition from the Guantánamo staff. A restricted library is one of the lesser human rights violations experienced by Guantánamo’s detainees. Nonetheless, the arbitrary, sub rosa process of book censorship follows a pattern of decision-making that began when the GTMO military prison was set up in 2002.

I will not support any interim government & their will be no election annulment says Obasanjo. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says he will not be a part of any plans to constitute an interim government that may be formed after the general elections. He said this while addressing a group of Concerned Nigerians who had come to allay their fears about the upcoming general elections at his home in Abeokuta, Ogun state this morning. He also said that there is no possibility of the election being annulled "You need not to worry about anything. There can never be any June 12 annulment again. Buhari is not Abiola, he is a trained and highly intelligent soldier. Oyegun is not Anenih, Osinbajo is not Kingibe. Jega is not Nwosu, Jonathan is not IBB and this time around, Obasanjo will not support any interim government. Obasanjo will rather support a free, fair and credible election.”he said.

THE KEY WITNESS IN ABDULAZIZ MURTALA NYAKO; SON OF IMPEACHED GOV OF ADAMAWA STATE, MURTALA HAMMA-YERO NYAKO CASE IS DEAD. The key witness in the suit against Abdul-Aziz Nyako, son of the impeached governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, is dead. He is Maadai Dan-Tsoho. The family and political sources reported that Mr. Dan-Tsoho died of asthma attack on Tuesday in Yola, the Adamawa State capital. Mr. Dan-Tsoho took over as the regional manager of Zenith Bank, North Eastern operations. Kashim Shetima, the current Governor of Borno State . He was suspended from his job when he agreed to testify in this suit. He was noted for his aggressive investments and had major stakes in the new Azman Airlines, Azman petroleum and a chain of real estate holdings in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. He was also the owner of Dan Tsoho hotel, a high brow Hotel in Malamre District in Jimeta, the state capital. His death is expected to introduce hiccups in the prosecution of the younger Nyako, who was taken to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The EFCC through its Head, Media and Publicity Wilson Uwujaren, said that the organization did not have information on the death of their principal witness. “I don’t have this information right now,” he said and added that he needed to get in touch with those involved in the case for more details. The younger Nyako was declared wanted by the EFCC after they instituted a case of stealing, abuse of office and money laundering against him recently. He is currently being interrogated over alleged illicit funds traced to companies in which he has interest. The younger Nyako have been asked by the commission to explain how over N15 billion belonging to Adamawa State was allegedly laundered into the accounts of five companies – Blue Opal Nigeria Limited, Crust Energy Nigeria Limited, Blue Ribbon Multilinks Limited, Tower Assets Management Limited and Blue Ribbon Bureau De Change – said to be owned by him.