Obama, Clinton unite in New Hampshire By Chinyere Obinna

They ran the most unprecedented and controversial presidential primary  campaign in the history of American politics. They battled to the agony inducing end in a tenacious race to the finish. They found a loyal base of supporters who backed them to the very bitter finish line; and they left an indelible mark in the annals of history, one as the first black presidential front runner, and the other as the first female presidential contender. Now they have left the past behind and formed a unified front for the unification of the democratic party.

Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama and his former rival Senator Hillary Clinton united on Friday June 27th 2008 at a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, which incidentally was the same venue that divided them 50/50 during their hard fought campaign. Speaking before a cheering crowd of about 3,000 supporters in their first public appearance together since Senator Obama clinched the democratic nomination, both senators urged the party to stand together and move forward to electing their candidate to the White House. Senator Hillary Clinton urged her supporters, who were still smarting over the bruising defeat, to join her in supporting Barack Obama. "Today we are coming together for the same goal --- to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States," she told the crowd.

In his speech, Senator Obama called Clinton an inspiration to millions of women including his own two daughters. "We have gone toe-to-toe in this hard-fought primary, but today and everyday going forward we stand shoulder to shoulder for the ideals we share and the value we cherish."

Earlier this week, Senator Obama told reporters that he hoped the joint appearance in New Hampshire would signal an active role for Senator Clinton in his presidential campaign. Whether Senator Clinton will eventually run on his ticket as his running mate, a subject of debate amongst political pundits and moneymakers remains to be seen.

Mass deportation of Nigerians By Chinyere Obinna

The US immigration authority has intensified their efforts to enforce the expulsion of illegal immigrants from the country in a move that has affected Nigerians, who are on the list of those pending deportation. In what an Immigration official has described as "the first batch of aliens in what could be a routine exercise," about 100 deportees are being processed for deportation. Ramos Ramirez, an official of the USCIS (Us Citizen and Immigration Services) has noted that those affected in the deportation exercise include felons convicted of serious offenses like fraud, sexual offenses and drug related offenses, and those residing in the US without legal authorization, including expired visas. Reports have revealed that hundreds of Nigerians with questionable or non-existent legal authorization to reside in the U. S were rounded up in raids that took place in various cities including New York, Los Angeles, California, Colorado, Chicago and Denver. The USCIS official has indicated that the agency will be conducting raids on businesses and homes suspected of harboring illegal aliens. “We are not targeting any particular group of aliens. It is against the law to reside and work here without proper authorization," Mr. Ramirez has said. "We are just implementing the law.


In Germany, efforts have also intensified to remove Nigerians and other Africans residing illegally there. Officials of the Nigerian embassy in Germany have been accused of abetting in the blatant abuse of the human rights of their own people by assisting the German authorities with these deportation exercises. In exchange, for every Nigerian that is processed and subsequently deported, the Nigerian embassy receives a total of 500 Euros. A human rights organization called the Caravan of Rights for Refugees and Immigrants has organized a series of protest rallies in Munich to raise awareness about and to assist immigrants affected by the practice. They are urging immigrants with shaky immigration papers not to attend the appointments, which the German authorities schedule for them for the ostensible purpose of reviewing their papers. In actuality, once they arrive at the interviews, they are detained for a deportation hearing, while the Nigerian embassy officials serve the purpose of identifying them as Nigerians.


In Nigeria, the authorities are conducting their own clampdown by deporting thousands of illegal immigrants who flock to Nigeria from neighboring countries. Calling illegal immigrants a nuisance, the Nigerian authority has been transporting these immigrants to the border with nationals of Niger and Chad being singled out. There appears to be a greater influx of illegal immigrants from those areas, and because the people from Chad and Niger speak the Hausa language and share the same muslim religion, it is easier for them to integrate undetected into the society. The authorities have also cited this cultural affinity as the reason that they can slip through the voting system. As a result, some politicians have been accused of employing them as "ghost voters" to pad the votes. However, the official reason given for the mass deportation is that illegal immigrants constitute a public nuisance and security risk. Olu Adeniji, Nigeria's interior Minister has stated that "only vagabonds and those engaged in armed robbery and other illegal acts were being targeted in the immigration sweep. In another twist, some Nigerian Nationals have reported being erroneously deported.

Food For Thought- What do you think happened? By Chinyere Obinna

A Nigerian woman living here in New York Citybelieves that her husband is trying to kill her, although she has no concrete evidence. Here are the facts.

Ms. B has been engaged in a stormy relationship with her husband who she believes is cheating on her. She has received several calls from women who claim to be her husband's girlfriends.
Her husband Mr. B has stopped sleeping on the same bed with her. He comes home late every night and tells her that that he works late.

One day Mr. B. left the house in a big dash and called her from a pay phone not far from the house. When Mrs. B asked why he left so quickly he told her that he would be back soon, once he completed the errands he had to run. When she called him later, he told her that he was going to work overnight. Mrs. B was restless and couldn't sleep very well that night. Apart from being upset at her husband's conduct, she was also nursing a cold and couldnt breath very well. Finally at about 3:00am, she went to the kitchen cabinet for a glass of water and some night time cold medication and sleeping pills. She did not notice that all the knobs on the gas range had been turnd on at full tilt. She did not smell a thing because her nose was stuffy from her cold. She downed the pills and fell into a fitful restless slumber.

Mr. B's brother Mr. S was worried about the rift between his brother and his wife. He had acted in the past as a buffer between them when they got into their usual fights. The night before, Mrs. B had called him complaining about the way that his brother treated her and he promised to be over first thing the next morning.

At 8:00am the next day, Mr. S approached the house for his appointment with his brother's wife. He was hoping that this time around he could initiate a reconciliation between his brother and his wife.

His knocking and ringing on the doorbell were only met with silence. He wondered if his brother and the wife were home at all. He began to call them both at home and on their cell phones. Finally he went back to his car and fell asleep.

At about 10:00am Mrs. B woke up from a deep sleep and groggily sat up. She felt deep waves of dizziness overcome her and fought to maintain her equilibrium. She headed to the kitchen and reached for a match to start a pot of coffee and then remembered that her husband's brother had promised to come at 9:00am. She wondered if he forgot and picked up the phone instead.

Mr. S picked up his phone on the first ring and explained to Mrs. B that he had been waiting outside. When Mr. B let him in, he almost passed out. The heavy odor of gas was so overpowering that he rushed outside and threw up. He guided Mrs. B out of the house and ran back inside to turn off the gas and to open the window.

When the dust cleared Mr. B denied that he knew anything about the gas. He had returned to the house after calling her over and over. Mrs. B. refused to take his call since his number was showing on the caller id. His brother spoke to him and told him to come home right away.

He explained that he did not come home because his supervisor at his night job had asked him to come in and work. He also said that it was possible that his wife left the stove on since something similar had happened a couple of weeks ago. The gas had been left on while they had company and the visitor had detected the odor of gas.

Did Mrs.B accidentally turn on the stove or did her husband do it? Did he stay out overnight to ensure that she would be dead by morning and then claim innocence? Did he set up the previous gas incidence to create a pattern of forgetfulness on the part of his wife in case an investigation ensued? Did he choose a day when she was stuffed up so that she would be unable to detect the gas odor? You be the judge. Post your opinion by clicking on the comment button.