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Nigeria: NUJ Kaduna Council Inaugurates Standing Committees

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NUJ Logo

By Iliya Kure

Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Kaduna State Council, has constituted and sworn-in members of several committees to support the new leadership of the Council in discharging its duties.

Speaking at the event, Chairman of the Kaduna State Council of the Union, Asma’u Yawo Halilu, said members of the Committees were selected based on their track records and commitment to the union’s activities.

Stressing on her campaign promises of transforming the Union to an enviable position, Asma’u called on Members of the Committees to be diligent in the task ahead of them and terms of reference.

Responding on behalf of the various Committees, Chairman of Welfare Committee, Shindong Bala, pledged to review the operational system of welfare to address issues of retired journalists, as well as the sick and deceased members.

“The practice of tasking members to make contributions during sickness or demise of a member seems so demeaning and obsolete. We are therefore going to review that arrangement and come up with a workable plan to address it,” he said.

He said the committees will strictly adhere to the NUJ constitution, urging all members to support the Asma’u-led administration to succeed in its mandate.

“It is my honest appeal to all members of this union including those aggrieved during the just concluded election to rally round and to support the administration of Comrade Hajiya Asma’u Yawo Halilu who has already started on sound footing to move NUJ Kaduna Council forward,” Bala said.

 

Members of Various Committees of NUJ Kaduna

Welfare Committee

1. Shindong Bala – Chairman
2. Tijjani Mohammed – Member
3. Fatima Umar – Member
4. Lola Sereki – Member
5. Benjamin Auta – Secretary

 

Press Centre Management Committee

1. Abdulwaheed Adubi – Chairman
2. Sani Abdulrahman – Member
3. Mayem Etim – Secretary

 

Advisory Committee

1. Alh Sani Malumfashi – Chairman
2. Mr Andrew Fadason – Member
3. Mall Yunusa Aliyu – Member
4. Mrs Helen Kofai – Member
5. Mrs Stella Bature – Member
6. Yusuf Zubairu – Member
7. Hajj Lami Sadiq – Secretary

 

Disciplinary Committee

1. Andrew Fadason – Chairman
2. Dorothy Abiriyi – Member
3. Fatima Aliyu – Member
4. Abduazeez Abdulkadir – Member
5. Gabriel Idibia – Secretary

 

Thrift And Cooperative Society Committee

1. Nasiru Mohammed – Chairman
2. Moses Kolo – Member
3. Lilian Silas – Secretary

 

Transition Committee

1. Joseph Edegbo – Chairman
2. Suleiman Abdullahi Rigachikun – Member
3. Abdullahi Tumburkai – Member

4. Bosan Yakusak – Member
5. Terfa Awuhe – Secretary

 

Ex- Officio
1. Gabriel Idibia
2. Zulkifilu Abdullahi Matata

 

FULL SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE CHAIRMAN WELFARE COMMITTEE OF THE NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNALISTS KADUNA STATE COUNCIL, SHINDONG BALA, DURING THE INNAUGURATION ON 6th DECEMBER 2022

I found it highly honoured to serve as the Chairman, Welfare Committee of the present executives headed by the dogged and pragmatic Chairman, Asma’u Yawo Halilu. I pledged my loyalty and allegiance to her and her team in line with the NUJ constitution.

With this being said. It is my pleasure to inform us that this committee will abide strictly by the Terms of Reference for which we are set to achieve. We are going to develop a workable operational strategy that will make our work transparent, efficient effective and acceptable.

It is not going to be business as usual, because our task is not going to end only on coming to this hall beside this table and dolling out handouts or peanuts gotten from assignments.

We will have a deliberate plan that will help see the betterment of life of our members after retirement, The practice of tasking members to make contributions during sickness or demise of a member seems so demeaning and obsolete. We are therefore going to review that arrangement and come up with a workable plan to address it.

The implication of this means that there is going to be some review of the operations of the welfare arrangement. However, whatever the plans are, they will be subject to the Exco, vis a vis congress approval.

It is my honest appeal to all members of this union including those aggrieved during the just concluded election to rally round and to support the administration of Comrade Hajiya Asma’u Yawo Halilu who has already started on sound footing to move NUJ Kaduna Council forward.

I want to at this juncture expressed my deepest and sincere appreciation to the Chairman who deemed it worthy for us to serve at this capacity.

(Signed)

Shindong Bala

Chairman, Welfare Committee

NUJ Kaduna Council.

Rejection Of State Police In Bad Faith, By Wahab Page

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Wahab Page

The President, in the course of his special interview with Channels Television, announced the rejection of the establishment of a Police Force for the states. It is on record that the majority of the governors, present and past, had persistently called for the creation, by the Constitution, of state Police, but to no avail.

That apart, it is not within the powers or province of the President to reject the call for the establishment of state Police, as to do that would amount to a display of audacious arrogance.

It is clearly within the powers of the National Assembly to hearken to the clarion calls by the populace and proceed to do the needful.

Unfortunately, the current National Assembly is nothing but a lackey and a disgraceful appendage of the Executive arm of government.

In the past, the National Assembly had wasted so much public funds pretending to amend sections of the Constitution while avoiding those sections that actually impact positively on the lives of the governed.

If the National Assembly proceeds to treat any bill to that effect, bought before it, the President would only assent to it or reject it.

The National Assembly, being the collective representative of the People, can override the President’s veto and if the President thereafter refuses to execute such a law, he would thereby render himself to impeachment.

The totality of this is that the gains of state Police far outweigh the minuses. The issue should not be politicised. Were there state Police in place, the level of insurgency would have been drastically reduced.

There would have been no room for the creation, by some states, of unconstitutional outfits such as the Hisbah, Amotekun, ESN, Wabaizigan, and so on. The single Federal Police that is presently in place is comprised of very many corrupt and bad service personnel.

It is not capable of offering effective policing of the federation. I urge the Executive and the Legislature to give a positive consideration to the issue of state Police. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.

Israel Drops Red List – Opening Travel to US, UK, Turkey

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Parked airplanes at Ben Gurion airport, Israel, April 06, 2020. (Credit: i24News)

High domestic transmission of omicron variant make international travel restrictions obsolete

Israel ended restrictions on international travel, effective since midnight between Thursday and Friday, opening the skies to travelers from the US and other countries.

All countries were dropped from the state’s ‘red list’ of banned destinations due to the covid infection rate in Israel being so high as to make the measures obsolete.

An influx of the omicron variant spiked Israel’s R figure – the number of people infected by an individual with the virus, and an indication of the spread of infection – to 1.99.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned health officials to prepare for 4,000 patients in serious condition, although experts are anticipating 1,000 to 2,500 as a likely figure.

Health officials estimate that the number of people infected daily in Israel will climb from the current figure of 16,000 to 50,000 within a week, and then will decline due to the onset of herd immunity.

This assessment remains to be confirmed however, with some experts urging caution still.

“How long will heard immunity last? Because we see that the booster vaccines don’t last for long so also heard immunity will not last for long,” Orna Baron-Epel, a professor at Haifa University’s school of public health told i24NEWS.

The nations moved from the ‘red list’ to orange status are the US, the UK, Switzerland, the UAE, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria and Turkey.

Separately, the Israeli government also decided from Sunday to end the school ‘traffic light’ system of restrictions in an effort to ease the burden on teachers and students.

Due to the increased transmissibility, and the apparent reduction in severity of symptoms, exhibited by omicron governments globally are scrambling to adapt to the newest twist in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Curled from i24 News

Nigeria: Governor Bello of Niger State Urges Security Agents To Rescue Chinese Workers Kidnapped in the State

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Gov. Sani Bello of Niger State, Nigeria

By Sunday Elijah

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Nigeria State, central Nigeria, has urged security personnel to redouble efforts securing abducted Chinese Nationals working at the Sino-Hydro Electric Power Dam Zungeru in the state.

Gov Bello in a message, expressed concern over attack on the workers despite presence of security personnel attached to the facility, saying it would cause setbacks to the Zungeru Dam project which the Federal government has been making efforts to complete in record time.

“It really saddened my heart to hear about this attack. It is even more worrisome to know that lives of the labourers were involved. This action might negatively affect the completion of the Zungeru Dam which is of great significance to the country.

“My heart goes out to the family of the labourers that were killed and those that are injured, I pray that Allah will grant them quick recovery.

While reiterating the need for the security agents to go all out to bring the criminal activities in some parts of the state to the lowest level particularly now that the perpetrators have recently been declared as terrorists by the federal government, he commended the efforts of the security personnel who engaged the terrorists.

Reports say terrorists in their numbers attacked some workers, including Chinese Nationals working on a transmission line tower along Gussase village of the state.

The Police attached to the facility were said to have engaged the terrorists in a gun duel, which led to the killing of three labourers, while two others sustained bullet wounds.

Four of the workers were secured, but three among the Chinese Nationals were kidnapped.

Please Leave: Open Letter To Mallam Danladi Maishanu Maiyamba, Gombe Nigeria

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Map of Gombe State.

 

I pray that this letter will serve to break the inertia and propel you to do the needful. So many things have been said over the predicament you currently facing in life and history of Tangale.

As a prince of Tangale Chiefdom, I am sure you know deep within you that the circumstances you have found yourself today are avoidable. It is the desire of almost all princes worldwide to ascend the throne of their forefathers, more so, the throne of Mai Tangle. I am informed that this last attempt was not your first at making effort to ascend the
throne. I will therefore be correct to state that, you, more than any of your well-wishers, are
conversant with the Tradition and Culture of the Tangale people, especially as it relates to
ascension to the throne of Mai Tangle. I believe strongly that deep within you, you are aware that you have not met the Traditional/Cultural criteria to give you the legitimacy to ascend the throne of your forefathers. People who do not wish you well are quick to say that the Governor of Gombe State has the power to appoint anyone to the throne. My brother, I call you so because we are all brothers as Tangale people, the legitimacy of the
stool of Mai Tangle is derived from the TANGALE PEOPLE ONLY. Whatever support the
Government of the day may give you, you know deep within you, when you lie down alone, that you are not the legitimate Mai Tangle. Molli, I sincerely sympathize with you because you are currently neither a happy nor a fulfilled man.

The land your forefathers contributed in preserving is flowing with blood. There is no peace in the land. You may know what needs to be done to bring peace, being a prince, but you are helpless because you do not have the right. The right to ascend the throne is given by the Tangale people only, and you have not been given. I see you as a lonely prince. Even those who for reasons best known to them forced you on your people may not go with you
all the way.

Molli, as a true grandson of Mai Yamba, follow the path of honor, come back to your kith and kin, support your nephew (son) whom the Tangale people have given the right to rule over them and wait on God for another opportunity to contest. ”Lau tolo buttam?” Please do not bring the wrath of your ancestors on yourself. The beat of the drum you should
dance to be that of your people not that of outsiders.

PLEASE MOLLI, ACT AS THE TANGALE MAN THAT YOU ARE, ACCEPT THE REALITY OF WHAT
YOU ALREADY KNOW. WAIT FOR SOME OTHER TIME IF GOD DESIRES THAT YOU BE ELECTED AS MAI TANGLE. PLEASE LEAVE. I write to you in love and believe that someone who loves you, and love Tangale land, will bring this letter to your notice.

May posterity judge us fairly.
Dr. Danlami Arabs RUKUJEI
(Zannan Tangale).

Cc
1. Governor, Gombe State.
2. Deputy Governor, Gombe State.
3. SSG, Gombe State.
4. HRH, Emir of Gombe, Chairman Gombe State council of Emirs and Chiefs.
5. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
6. Commissioner for Local Government and chieftaincy Affairs.
7. Chairman, Billiri Government.
8. All councilors, Billiri Local Government.
9. King makers, Tangale Chiefdom.
10. Commissioner of Police, Gombe State Command.
11. The State Director, State Security Services, Gombe State Command.

Above for your information and possible counsel.

(Signed)

Dr. Danlami Arabs Rukujei.
(Zannan Tangale)

NLC: Nigerians Rely on You at this Tough Time: By Auwal A. Ibrahim (Goronyo)

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Ayuba Waba
National President of Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba

 

 

The past year was hard like other past years and Nigerians really stood upright and defeated the woes of the time, though in the aspect of insecurity many did not make it over the obstacles and the cold hands of death snatched them to their early graves.

In the aspect of insecurity, Nigerians tested the bitter side of life and many were consumed by the nagging call of death. In 2021 many students were kidnapped and that caused rough and tough times for parents and the nation. Things were very devastated but by hook and crook the light of the days shined to 2022.

Thanks so much to our gallant soldiers and security agents for risking their selves and given their lives for all of us to live and witnessed this year. It was not easy to approach a naked death just for others to live to smile and grow.

And our governments played their cards at their best to make sure they do the right things for all of us to smile and be happy but we should not forget that to err is man and to forgive is God and that was why in our ways we stumble to many problems.

On the side of life and the nation economy. Nigerians were tested with a horrible situation of poverty that escalated to all economic ramifications. Poverty is visible in almost every place and fear is on every face and life has less value in the hands of terrorists and bandits. The human roast in Sokoto state, the Goronyo and Goran-Namaye in Zamfara state were some of the places that merciless activities took place by bandits in the year 2021.

Inflation keeps inflating almost day by day and one thing that keeps inflating cost of life in Nigeria can be attributed to the absence of functional Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and like all time that is why Nigeria keeps plunging into economic tsunami because we don’t control our economy and our only dependable revenue product.

If we have functional refineries, the talks and the noise of subsidy of petroleum products will be dead and this will give Nigeria a lucrative chance of growing its potentials in less fee that the life will not hold any nightmare for the innocents.

Nigeria is blessed with almost everything God can give a nation to prosper but making ways for our development continue to be a big problem that we can’t manage alone.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Nigerians have had enough of increment in different quarters of life. While the government of President Muhammadu Buhari promised in 2015 before it clinched power that it would renovate and inject life into our refineries but yet the promise remained a lullaby.

For many times since 2016 the NLC had threatened to go on strike over increment. In May 2016 the NLC threatened to embark on strike on removal of subsidy payment. In September 7, 2020 NLC dared the federal government over increment of electric tariff and fuel increment but suspended the strike due to circumstances of benefit of doubt.

The intended strike by the NLC coming up on January 27, February 1 may be a good way to show Nigerian government how Nigerians are suffering and finding life unbearable. The inflation rate is swallowing everything that people have and Nigerians should support this agenda at this time.

If President Muhammadu Buhari as the Minister of Petroleum would have fixed our refineries as promised, fuel prize might not even reach the amount to what Nigerians are paying and the NLC has provided some recommendations for Nigerian government to tailor a way to alleviate the scorch of poverty that is ravaging the country.

The Nigerian Labor Congress vehemently for the third time of Buhari’s government rejected another economic trauma of removing the unending fuel prize. In a Press Release, the NLC gave some good advises to the government to utilize and set a good path for Nigerian’s development and turned down the offer of N5000 to Nigerians which calculated exceeded the figures of the subsidy fee that the country said it can afford.

On the announcement of the Federal Government to increase Pump Prize in 2022 Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the NLC President appealed to the Federal government to find a better solution to Nigerian economic woes not to add hardship on Nigerians.

“We wish to reiterate our persuasion that the only benefit of deregulation based on import driven model is that Nigerian consumers will infinitely continue to pay high prices for refined petroleum products.

“This situation will definitely be compounded by the astronomical devaluation of the naira which currently goes for N560 to one US dollar in the parallel market, The NLC President said.

The NLC revealed the future that the fuel prize increase will only add more insecurity problems in the country and for such the government should not look at the pump prize increment as the final solution to get more money in its account.

A country can never grow bigger laying on others. Nigeria must stand to carter for itself and the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari is for Nigeria to be on its own and be a producer of its needs. The agitation of Buhari government is not reflecting on our refineries but it is a testimony that many farmers had died on their farms and many paid huge amount of money to be allowed to harvest on their farms and less is only done to improve our oil refining companies and this is the question NLC is asking the Federal Government to answer.

When we have our refineries working, we will generate more revenue and also sell our products even outside to the world at affordable and convenient prizes but the actualization of this dream of this government has clocked seven years lingering on thin air.

In a new year message, the NLC president stated that the Federal Government is not relenting on its decision of the fuel prize increment that will only push the citizens on a sting poverty.

“In a 9-page statement, NLC among others, said Still, the government is not relenting in its determination to push through further increases in the pump price of petrol and which as usual had been dubbed as “removal of petrol subsidy”.

Well, Organized Labour has made its position clear on this matter. We have told the government in very clear terms that Nigerians have suffered enough and will not endure more punishment by way of further petrol and electricity price increases.

The NLC stated its own position on the matter of government to increase the pump prize.

“Our position in this regard is predicated on four major grounds. First is our concern on the deceit and duplicity associated with the politics of “petrol price increase” by successive Nigerian governments. The truth is that the perennial increase by the government in the pump price of petrol is actually a transfer of government failure and inability to effectively govern the poor masses of our country.

We are talking of the failure of government to manage Nigeria’s four oil refineries and inability to build new ones more than thirty years after the last petrochemical refinery in Port Harcourt was commissioned; the failure to rein in smuggling; and the failure to determine empirically the quantity of petrol consumed in Nigeria, ” and Nigeria is the only OPEC member that has no functional refinery.

Truly, Nigerians are suffering in a hitting poverty while the responsibility of every government is to find a better way for its people and fuel prize increment is never the way forward for Nigerian government and Nigerians because there is no reason to impound one’s fault on another and only NLC can save Nigerians at this trial time.

 

Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim (Goronyo) writes from Kaduna and can be reached on auwalgoronyo@gmail.com

Nigeria: Be More United, Stop Destroying Yourselves – Wike Tells Ogoni People

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By Joseph Edegbo :

Rivers State Nigeria: Be More United, Stop Destroying Yourselves – Wike Tells Ogoni People, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has berated the leaders and people of Ogoni ethnic nationality for promoting disunity among themselves while blaming the backwardness of their area on others.

Governor Wike made the accusation at the 30th celebration of Ogoni Day with the theme, “Leaving no one behind”, that held at the Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori town, in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State on Tuesday.

Specifically, Governor Wike queried how many Ogoni leaders can truly defend the interest of Ogoni land, and genuinely pursue issues of environmental degradation and resource control with the same zest demonstrated by their forebears like late Ken Saro-Wiwa, without selling out.

“People like Ken Saro-Wiwa and all of the people you’re celebrating on Ogoni Day, how many of you can today stand for what Ken (Saro-Wiwa) stood for; how many can today stand for the great Ogoni men who died for your struggle.”

He noted with regret how some Ogoni people have now debased the struggle and have rather used it to collect money from those who do not want the goals of the struggle achieved. According to the governor, such monetary largess they make can best be described as blood money and wondered with what conscience that they gather each year to celebrate a struggle that they have betrayed.

“You use Ogoni Day to make money. God will never forgive you. I will never be a party to make blood money. All of you0, you’re here today for Ogoni Day, are you standing firm for Ogoni people? Are you standing firm for the spirit of those who died for you? Go and check your conscience. Ogoni people check your conscience.”

The governor asserted that he had never betrayed Rivers’ interest but defended it with courage including pursuing the OML 11 law suit at the Supreme Court. He observed that the case may not be concluded before his tenure will end, but it may secure the most needed ownership right of such resources to the people.

“You people are talking about OML 11. Today, I’m in Supreme Court to challenge the federal government and NNPC. I will not be governor forever, I’m leaving next year, but God in heaven will bear me witness, I have protected, defended the interest of the state and interest of Ogoni land.”

Governor Wike admonished Ogoni leaders and the people to stop being used as agents of discord by the Federal Government and its agencies to pull down their own and betray the Ogoni interest.

He pointed to how Ogonis are contributing to frustrate the political career of one of their bright brains, Senator Magnus Abe, and Ledum Mitee’s long fight to become a Senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

The governor also noted that the same lack of unity seen in Ogoniland is prevalent in the entire Niger Delta because governors in the region, lawmakers and other levels of leaders are hardly working together in unison. According to him, the people of Niger Delta are the ones marginalising themselves because each tribe thinks herself as more Niger Deltan than the other

Chairman of the occasion and President, Ijaw National Congress, Professor Benjamin Okaba said the fundamental problem of the country is the refusal of the Nigerian State to restore the derivation principle that was abrogated by Decree NO.34 of May 1966 by Aguiyi Ironsi, the subsequent promulgation of Petroleum Decree 1966, and General Olusegun Obasanjo’s 1978 Land Use Act considered widely as the most obnoxious, draconian and unjust piece of legislation on land and resource ownership.

“The Petroleum Industry Act 2021, that is laced with several contentious and discriminating clauses against the people of the Niger Delta is yet another dimension of institutional injustice against the oil and gas host communities of the Niger Delta.

“Chief Obasanjo who is unarguably widely travelled, if excused from the paranoid of hypocrisy and hatred for the Niger Delta, will admit that in the United States of America which presidential system Nigeria borrowed from, it is the states where oil is found that own them and not the Federal Government of America.

“It’s the reason states like Texas is very rich, from proceeds of oil and gas. Same goes for Canada. In every federation, the undiluted application of the fundamentals of federalism (including fiscal federalism) are the minimum prerequisites for sustainable unity, peace and coexistence. Where else among the nations that practice federalism that permits the federal government to hijack the resources from the various federating units and communities, siphon them to the Centre on the Emperor’s laps, and shares same as booties in the manner we have in Nigeria?”

The former President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ledum Mitee, in his remark recalled how he and other Ogoni leaders gathered at the same venue 30 years ago to commence the Ogoni struggle that has since been recognised globally.

He appealed to the Nigerian state to extend rail line to Ogoni which has contributed immensely to the development of the country’s economic growth.

Senator Barry Mpigi commended Governor Wike for gracing the occasion and identifying with the Ogoni people and their struggle.

 

 

Malian Delegation In Sierra Leone, Discusses Constitutional Rule and Peace in Mali

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By Joseph Edegbo :

A high-level delegation from the Republic of Mali has concluded a one-day working visit to the country to engage President Julius Maada Bio on the return to constitutional democracy and peace in the West African nation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who led the delegation, His Excellency Abdoulaye Diop, conveyed greetings from the Interim President of Mali, Colonel Assimi Goïta, to President Bio, whom they addressed as his colleague and brother.

They also shared their government’s experience on how to return Mali to constitutional rule and maintain peace.

“I am here as a special envoy from the interim President of Mali, Colonel Assimi Goïta, to seek the guidance and expertise of Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio to be an engine of peace, security and stability in the subregion. And to also assure the leadership of ECOWAS about his willingness to return Mali to constitutional order.

Mali is presently facing many difficult challenges. We are ready to work in a collaborative fashion of peace and security,” he said.

He maintained that they wanted to tap into the experience and expertise as well as the role of President Julius Maada Bio in returning Sierra Leone to constitutional rule and transfer of power from a military to a democratic civilian rule.

In a brief statement, President Bio thanked the special envoy, the Malian delegation and the Interim President of Mali, Colonel Assimi Goïta, for their trust in his continued support to help facilitate the return to a peaceful democratic rule in Mali and the subregion.

He added that just as in the days of the civil war in Sierra Leone, when Mali came to help the country, his government was also willing now to give technical assistance and also make available their expertise to help the process of restoring peace and security to Mali.

It could be recalled that in May last year President Bio called for consultations and communications with stakeholders at the ECOWAS Extraordinary Session on the political situation in Mali in Accra, Ghana.

 

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