But will she listen?

[Gemini]

I'm left to wonder just how insensitive the DG-NSE is.  But what is the money supposed to be for?  If it is for a purpose that might be illegal in the US, what is the legal position of those raising the money?

Ayo

 

Iroche cautions on Obama
By Clifford Ndujihe

FORMER national chairmanship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Sonny Iroche, has called on the Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke-led Africans for Obama'08, to cancel the dinner/concert they are organising today for the United States Democratic Party presidential candidate, Senator Barrack Obama.

The politician said that given the huge sums of money fixed by the organisers as ticket fee that the event could be used by Obama's opponents to scuttle his chances at the polls.

Scheduled for the Shell Hall, MUSON, the organisers are charging N325,000 for a Platinum ticket and N275,000 for a Gold ticket.

Obama recently rejected foreign donations towards his campaign, saying that he had the financial war chest to successfully prosecute his campaigns.

Since legally, the African and Nigerian supporters cannot make donations to Obama, Iroche wondered what purpose the dinner/concert would serve.

"While one appreciates the Obamamania sweeping through the whole world and Africa in particular, one wonders the purpose of such a concert. Is it a fund-raiser or awareness for Obama? Already, the McCain campaign is accusing Obama of being more popular overseas than at home.

"Let us not give the opportunity to use this concert being organised by some Nigerians as a further campaign against Obama. He could also be accused of raising funds illegally from Nigeria. This is politics and anything can be taken out of context by an opponent to score cheap political points.

"The best any Nigerian Obama campaigner can do for his campaign is to encourage their relatives based in the U.S and who are eligible to donate and vote, to do so en mass," he said.

"I will advise the organisers of the concert to cancel it immediately. As the Director General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Okereke-Onyiuke should eschew both local and international politics and focus on the job of stabilising the Nigerian stock market, especially at this turbulent time, when investors are bleeding and there is blood on the street.

"Let Okereke-Onyiuke and her co-travellers not ruin the victory that Obama is cruising to," he added.

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

I never thought that a PDP politician would be as clear-headed as Mr. Iroche is on this matter. Ayo, I know you're wired in Nigerian elite circles--or so I assume. If this is true, could you please pull a few levers to directly warn the DG-NSE and her cohort of the potential damage their effort could do to Obama (if it makes its way into the American news cycle). It wouldn't hurt to also remind them that their effort is an illegality wrapped in a brewing fraud

--- On Mon, 8/11/08, Gemini <so...@multilinks.com> wrote:

[IYANDA, O. (PROF.)]

How can Ayo ask the question "But what is the money supposed to be for?"
Surely, he cannot be a stranger to Nigerian politics. In Nigeria, money
is everything and all things. It ingratiates; it immunises. It buys
privileges and rights, national honours and merits, positions and power.
And they think it does in the US as well!
One would have thought that Ndidi, given her exposure, would know what
damage foreign support and interference could do to a political
candidate in the US, more so for a political candidate who does not look
like the past presidents. Just recall the reaction to Obama's warm
reception in Berlin.
I hope someone would be able to stop them before they do inadvertent
damage to the cause they meant to aid.

Olukunle Iyanda
University of Botswana