Katsina, Daura Emirate Councils, pray for Buhari (Read full details)

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President Muhammadu Buhari. PHOTO: LUCY LADIDI ELUKPO.

Katsina State Government in collaboration with Katsina and Daura Emirate Councils, on Sunday, offered special prayer for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The prayer was conducted at the frontage of Emir of Katsina’s palace with thousands of people from different parts of the state in attendance.

The Chief Imam of Katsina Central Mosque, Sheikh Lawal Imam, and other Islamic scholars from Izalah and Tariqah Islamic sects offered the special prayer.

Alhaji Mustapha Inuwa, Secretary to Katsina State Government, who was also the Chairman of organising Committee of the prayer session, said that the state government directed prominent Islamic Scholars to invite clerics from all parts of the state to attend the session.

Inuwa also said that the clerics were directed to pray for the quick recovery of the President and the nation.

Speaking at the occasion, a former Grand Khadi of the state, Alhaji Isah Dodo, said that offering prayer for leaders was important in any society to enable them offer good leadership and governance to the people.

He said that abusing leaders would not auger well for the society, adding that such behaviour could it make them heartless and ruthless.

Contributing, one of the Islamic scholars in the area, Sheikh Yakubu Musa, called on the citizens to always support their leaders with prayers, day and night.

He said that such effort would enable the leaders to concentrate on the task of offering quality services for the people.

Musa also urged Nigerians to continue to pray for the President, other leaders and the nation in general.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Governor of the state, Alhaji Aminu Masari, has directed all citizens to offer prayer for the quick recovery of the President after five daily prayers.

Highlight at the occasion was the recitation of Quran by the scholars to secure Allah’s pleasure to accept the prayer session.

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Trump calls China ‘grand champions’ of currency manipulation…Read full details

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 An employee counting 100-yuan (15 USD) banknotes at a bank in Lianyungang in eastern China's Jiangsu province. China said on December 29, 2016 it would almost double the number of foreign currencies it uses to determine the official value of the yuan, thereby diluting the role of the dollar. STR / AFP

President Donald Trump declared China the “grand champions” of currency manipulation, just hours after his new Treasury secretary pledged a more methodical approach to analyzing Beijing’s foreign exchange practices.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Trump said he has not “held back” in his assessment that China manipulates its yuan currency, inspite of not acting on a campaign promise to declare it a currency manipulator on his first day in office.

“Well they, I think they’re grand champions at manipulation of currency. So I haven’t held back,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens.”

During his presidential campaign Trump frequently accused China of keeping its currency artificially low against the dollar to make Chinese exports cheaper, “stealing” American manufacturing jobs.

But Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday he was not ready to pass judgment on China’s currency practices.

Asked if the U.S. Treasury was planning to name China a currency manipulator any time soon, Mnuchin said he would follow its normal process of analyzing the currency practices of major U.S. trading partners.

The Treasury is required to publish a report on these practices on April 15 and Oct. 15 each year.

“We have a process within Treasury where we go through and look at currency manipulation across the board. We’ll go through that process.

“We’ll do that as we have in the past,” Mnuchin said in his first televised interview since formally taking over the department last week.

“We’re not making any judgments until we go continue that process.”

A formal declaration that China or any other country manipulates its currency requires the U.S. Treasury to seek negotiations to resolve the situation, a process that could end in punitive tariffs on the offender’s goods.

The U.S. Treasury designated Taiwan and South Korea as currency manipulators in 1988, the year that Congress enacted the currency review law.

China was the last country to get the designation, in 1994.

The current situation is complicated because China’s central bank has spent billions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves in the past year to prop up the yuan to counter capital outflows.

The International Monetary Fund in 2016 said that the yuan’s value was broadly in line with its economic fundamentals.

The U.S. Treasury also said in its last currency report in October that its view of China’s external imbalances had improved somewhat.

Trump’s pronouncements about the yuan could also complicate matters for Mnuchin as he prepares for his first meeting next month with his Group of 20 finance minister counterparts in Baden Baden, Germany.

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The Biography Of 9ice [Age, Life Profile & Net Worth]

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Alexander Abolore Adegbola Adigun Alapomeji Ajifolajifaola (born January 17, 1980) popularly known by his stage name 9ice, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He is a south-westerner from Ogbomoso in Oyo State but he grew up in the district of Bariga in Lagos.

9ice won the award for Best Hip Hop Artist at the MTV Africa Music Awards in 2008. At the third edition of the Hip Hop World Awards held in Nigeria, he won the Revelation of the Year award and Best Male Vocal Performer. A month later at the first SoundCity Music Video Awards, he was nominated in the category of Best New Artist. 9ice’s biggest single is titled “Gongo Aso”. He is the founder of Alapomeji Records.

In 2014, 9ice revealed that he was going to contest for a political office in his native Ogbomosho in Oyo state. He joined the All Progressive Congress (APC) and declared his interest to contest for a seat at the Federal House of Representatives. He lost out during the primaries. 9ice was named as a Special Adviser to the Oyo state Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

9ice attended Abule Okuta Primary School and CMS Grammar School, and dropped out from his law course at the Lagos State University to concentrate on music. He grew up in a polygamous home of five wives and nine children. His parents found about his singing career a year after it started around 2000. Before then, 9ice wrote his own songs, beginning at age 14. As a big fan of Pasuma Wonder, he kick-started his singing career with Fuji music. He derives his inspiration from his environment, and music from the likes of Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Adé, Tatalo Alamu, the late Alhaji Ayinla Omowura, and the late Alhaji Haruna Ishola.

After recording his first demo, 9ice joined the group Mysterious Boys, with whom he did a couple of tracks before going on to form his own, now defunct, group, Abinibi. Having recorded his first demo, titled Risi De Alagbaja, in 1996, and his first solo song, “Little Money” in 2000, 9ice had to wait until 2005 before gaining recognition in the Nigerian music market.

The first major break for 9ice came from his first single, “Little Money”. Soon after this, he did collaborations with different Nigerian artists that prompted the release of another hit single, ” Ganja Man”.

Id. Cabasa produced this single, which was released with other songs in March 2006.

The reggae tone and playful style of the song made it an instant hit. 9ice later founded his own record company and released all other albums under that label, Alapomeji Records.

9ice’s first album did well, and included the songs “Little Money”, “Ganja Man”, “Make Dem Talk” and “Music Daddy”.

Gongo Aso, his second album, included songs covering success, originality, partying and women, as well as themes on the institution of marriage and gratitude.

Since late 2007 9ice has featured prominently across Nigerian campuses in the Soundcity/MTN Campus Blast tours; Lets Go There Tour With Ariya Entertainment in NY, LA, Chicago, Houston, Maryland in 2008; Star Mega Jam in 2007-2010; and London Troxy in 2008 and 2010. 9ice performed at the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute concert (singing “Gongo Aso”) in London on 27 June 2008. All these shows and concerts were sold-out events. He also headlined sold-out shows in the Netherlands and Malaysia in October 2010 to mark his country’s 50-year anniversary of independence. In 2010, 9ice embarked on a European tour through parts of Italy, Spain and Switzerland. He also performed live in Cyprus at Lions Garden, where many Nigerian students were in attendance.

9ice is known for his use of the Yoruba language in his music, and he sometimes mixes Yoruba proverbs with English, broken English, Hausa and Igbo. 9ice compares himself to Youssou N’Dour, who has won a couple of Grammy awards with music recorded in his mother tongue, and Yvonne Chaka-Chaka, whose music has also embraced her language.

9ice has been quoted as saying, “English language has been imposed on us but God graciously gave Yoruba language to us.”

9ice’s net worth is estimated $1.7 million (net worth estimated in 2017).

• An Uzomedia Biography

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