CC™ Religiosity
Friday
Judge blocks Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in classrooms
A US federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Texas law that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
District Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction barring implementation of the law, which was to take effect on September 1 and was challenged by families of diverse faiths with children in public schools.
The Texas state law, known as Senate Bill 10, is unconstitutional and “impermissibly takes sides on theological questions and officially favors Christian denominations over others,” Biery wrote in his 55-page ruling.
“The displays are likely to send an exclusionary and spiritually burdensome message to the child-Plaintiffs — who do not subscribe to the approved version of the Ten Commandments –that they ‘are outsiders who do not belong in their own school community,'” he said.
Rabbi Mara Nathan, one of the plaintiffs in the case, welcomed the ruling.
“Children’s religious beliefs should be instilled by parents and faith communities, not politicians and public schools,” Nathan said in a statement.
Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, also welcomed the decision, saying it sends a “strong and resounding message across the country that the government respects the religious freedom of every student in our public schools.”
Another federal judge blocked a Louisiana law in November that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom in the conservative southern state.
District Judge John deGravelles said the law is unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
The separation of church and state is a founding US principle and the First Amendment forbids the establishment of a national religion or the preference of one religion over another.
In a similar case in 1980, the US Supreme Court ruled that the display of the Ten Commandments in schools in Kentucky was unconstitutional.
In Oklahoma, the highest education official in the conservative state recently ordered public schools to teach the Bible, a move that is also facing legal challenges.
Wednesday
Tuesday
Your political influence waning,’ LP chieftain tells Peter Obi
By Chinagorom Ugwu
The Chairperson of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Dayo Ekong, has said the political influence of the 2023 presidential candidate of the LP, Peter Obi, has waned.
Mrs Ekong, in a post on her X handle on Tuesday, said it was time for Mr Obi to “pause and ponder” on his ambition to become Nigeria’s president in 2027.
‘Why Obi’s influence is waning’
During the 2023 general election, Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, enjoyed overwhelming support from many Nigerians, especially from the South-east and South-south.
Although the LP candidate came third in the election, his party recorded surprising victories across states, a development attributed to the former governor’s political influence.
But Mrs Ekong said Mr Obi’s “recent actions” were eroding his hitherto political influence in Nigeria.
The LP chairperson argued that the leadership crisis in the LP and Mr Obi’s alleged opposition to the Julius Abure-led faction of the party were behind Mr Obi’s waning influence.
“Peter Obi’s influence in the Nigerian polity appears to be waning, as Nigerians grow increasingly tired and wary of what some perceive as inconsistent antics and political manoeuvring.
“His (Obi’s) interventions, once seen as principled, now risk being viewed as disruptive and self-serving, alienating allies and diminishing his appeal,” she said.
Mrs Ekong further argued that the evidence of Mr Obi’s waning influence lies in recent electoral outcomes in Nigeria where his endorsement of candidates failed to deliver victories.
She stressed that the recorded election failures despite Mr Obi’s endorsements signalled a loss of the “magnetic pull” he once commanded, citing elections in Edo, Imo and Anambra States in which candidates endorsed by Mr Obi failed to win.
“The most telling blow came recently in the Anambra State by-elections, particularly in Onitsha – Peter Obi’s backyard and supposed stronghold.
“Here, we witnessed his sudden switch of allegiance, embodying the ‘Labour today, ADC tomorrow’ shenanigans that have confused supporters and diluted party loyalty,” she said.
Mrs Ekong recalled that before the Onitsha North 1 State Constituency rerun, Mr Obi “abandoned” the LP candidate in the election and endorsed Justina Azuka of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), even donning an ADC-branded cap during campaigns.
She said despite Mr Obi’s support, the ADC candidate failed to win, with the LP candidate performing even worse, while the APGA candidate won the exercise without the former governor’s backing.
“These patterns are not isolated; they point to a broader trend of waning influence. Public sentiment, as reflected in recent discussions, suggests that Nigerians are fatigued by Obi’s frequent shifts and perceived acrimony toward the Labour Party structures that once elevated him.
“A wise politician like Peter Obi, known for his prudence and vision, has suddenly lost so much appeal – even in his backyard,” she said.
“The threads of his political legacy are unravelling slowly but surely, undone by decisions that prioritise personal alliances over party cohesion.”
Mrs Ekong advised Mr Obi to step back and engage in meditation to find out more reasons for his waning political influence in Nigeria.
She said the former governor should find out why parties he aligned with in Anambra, like ADC, “faltered so badly,” while APGA triumphed without him.
The chairperson suggested that Mr Obi’s ongoing acrimony against the Labour Party’s leadership could be hindering his support from Nigerians.
“Peter Obi has surrounded himself with those who he feels have his best interest at heart, but time will surely tell.
“We all openly admonished (Nyesom) Wike for his PDP/APC antics but turned a blind eye to Peter Obi’s LP/ADC antics. The electorate is watching all these and slowly making up their minds against 2027,” she added
The LP has been battling an intense leadership crisis for a while now which has split the party into two factions.
While the disputed National Chairperson of the party, Mr Abure, leads one of the factions, Peter Obi and Mr Otti, belong to another faction of the LP.
The LP’s National Executive Committee had sacked the Abure-led executive in September last year and appointed Ms Usman, a former minister of finance and ex-senator representing Kaduna South, to lead a 29-member caretaker committee and facilitate the election of a new party leadership within 90 days.
But weeks later, the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognised Mr Abure as the national chairperson of the LP.
However, the Supreme Court, on Friday, 4 April, set aside the judgement of the lower court.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously held that the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to have affirmed Mr Abure as chairperson of the LP since the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
It held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.
The court upheld the appeal filed against the judgement by Mrs Usman.
The Supreme Court held that Ms Usman’s appeal was meritorious, as it also dismissed the cross-appeal filed by the Mr Abure-led faction of the LP for lacking merit.
But the Abure-led faction of the LP argued the Supreme Court did not sack Mr Abure and other executives of the party.
The National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, claimed that the Supreme Court’s position was that the matter was purely an internal affair of the party, insisting that the court did not set aside the Court of Appeal judgement of 13 November 2024, which affirmed Mr Abure as the national chairperson of the party.
Meanwhile, in the heat of the leadership crisis in the LP, Mr Obi and other politicians from various political parties in the country formed the National Opposition Coalition Group to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
The group, in July, adopted ADC as its platform for the 2027 general election.
Mr Obi later argued that his joining the opposition coalition under the ADC platform does not amount to anti-party activity because the coalition was for the 2027 election which had not come yet.
Premium Times
Monday
THE RUEFUL FATE OF THE PDP!
By Yahaya Balogun
“Ohun tí a bá fi ara ?í?e fún, ní m´p?´ l?´w?´ ?ni." - Yoruba Proverb.
Translation:
"Wealth that is earned through hard work lasts longer and comes with blessings" - Yoruba Proverbs.
A structure built on false foundations is bound to collapse quickly. The People's Democratic Party (PDP) was born from a lineage of military rulers. These rulers operated under oppressive regimes, systematically dismantling the very best of Nigeria and forcing those who survived into self-imposed exile for greener pastures.
A thoughtful observer recognizes that the PDP was always fated to fall victim to the storm of retribution and missteps. General Olusegun Obasanjo and his corrupt military generals co-piloted and ravaged the country through their ineffective military control of the government. When a façade of democracy emerged under General Olusegun Obasanjo, after he escaped Abacha's gulag, Nigerians breathed a sigh of relief from those mourning the loss of the legitimate 1993 presidential election of the late Chief MKO Abiola. Unfortunately, President Obasanjo squandered the chance to reshape Nigeria for the better.
Meanwhile, President Olusegun Obasanjo manipulated the political landscape, disregarded the Nigerian constitution, and ruled with impunity, resembling an unrestrained ex-convict determined to extend his ill-gotten power and antisocial relationship with the Nigerian public. Who remembers the Odi village massacre in Bayelsa State? The Odi massacre under President Olusegun Obasanjo was an attack carried out on November 20, 1999, by the Nigerian Armed Forces against the predominantly Ijaw town of Odi in Bayelsa State. Who remembers President Olusegun Obasanjo's third-term agenda, foiled by Sahara Reporters?
The current political struggles and fragmentation experienced by the PDP are not mere coincidences; they are the inevitable fallout from their reckless conduct regarding the Nigerian populace. The coalition of liars and their serial political contestants, who recently crossed to the orphanage party, will soon disintegrate through a power struggle.
The PDP, along with any coalition of self-serving interests that overlook the dreams and labor of the Nigerian people, will ultimately face the harsh consequences of their actions. The careless individuals responsible for Nigeria's stagnation are headed for a historical reckoning. A power struggle is brewing within the PDP ranks. Will the stakeholders of the PDP in this tumultuous time be rewarded by history? Yes! The reckoning days are here for the PDP as the party, with delusion, is giddy for political extinction.
Friday
Wednesday
European powers tell UN they are ready to reimpose Iran sanctions
By Staff
Britain, France and Germany have told the United Nations they are ready to reimpose UN-mandated sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program if no diplomatic solution is found by the end of August, according to a communique obtained by CC™
The letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council says the three European powers are “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon” unless Tehran meets the deadline.
The foreign ministers from the so-called E3 group threaten to use a “snapback mechanism” that was part of a 2015 international deal with Iran that eased UN Security Council sanctions.
Under the deal, which terminates in October, any party to the accord can restore the sanctions.
All three have stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
That came after Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June, partly seeking to destroy its nuclear capability. The United States staged its own bombing raid during the war.
“We have made clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,” foreign ministers Jean-Noel Barrot of France, David Lammy of Britain and Johann Wadephul of Germany said in the letter.
All three countries were signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the United States, China and Russia that offered the carrot and stick deal for Iran to slow its enrichment of uranium needed for a nuclear weapon.
President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018 during his first term and ordered new sanctions.
The European countries said they would stick to the accord. But their letter sets out engagements that the ministers say Iran has breached, including building up a uranium stock more than 40 times the permitted level under the 2015 deal.
“The E3 remain fully committed to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis caused by Iran’s nuclear program and will continue to engage with a view to reaching a negotiated solution.
“We are equally ready, and have unambiguous legal grounds, to notify the significant non-performance of JCPOA commitments by Iran … thereby triggering the snapback mechanism, should no satisfactory solution be reached by the end of August 2025,” the ministers wrote in the letter first reported by the Financial Times.
The United States had already started contacts with Iran, which denies seeking a weapon, over its nuclear activities.
But these were halted by the Israeli strikes in June on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Even before the strikes, the international powers had raised concerns about the lack of access given to IAEA inspectors.
Iran halted all cooperation with the IAEA after the strikes, but it announced that the agency’s deputy chief was expected in Teheran for talks on a new cooperation deal.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the UN last month saying that the European countries did not have the legal right to restore sanctions.
The European ministers called this allegation “unfounded”.
They insisted that as JCPOA signatories, they would be “clearly and unambiguously legally justified in using relevant provisions” of UN resolutions “to trigger UN snapback to reinstate UNSC resolutions against Iran which would prohibit enrichment and re-impose UN sanctions.”
Tuesday
South Africa denounces ‘deeply flawed’ US human rights report
By Staff
South Africa has denounced a “deeply flawed” US report highlighting its “deteriorating” human rights situation, days after Donald Trump’s administration slapped 30 percent tariffs on many of the country’s exports.
In its annual human rights report released Tuesday, the US State Department accused South Africa of taking “a substantially worrying step towards land expropriation of so-called Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities”.
Hit with the highest US tariffs of any sub-Saharan country, South Africa has been a regular target of Trump, who has criticised land and employment laws meant to redress lingering racial inequalities.
Pretoria’s foreign ministry responded Tuesday by expressing “profound disappointment” in the US report.
“We find the report to be an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of our constitutional democracy,” it said.
A law signed this year by President Cyril Ramaphosa and denounced by Trump allows for the expropriation of land without compensation in rare circumstances.
Land ownership remains a contentious issue in South Africa, with most farmland still owned by white settlers, a full three decades after the end of apartheid.
Pretoria still hopes to strike a deal with Washington, its third-largest trading partner, to save tens of thousands of jobs in the agricultural, automotive and textiles sectors that are highly dependent on the US market.
Monday
Saturday
Mexico rejects reported U.S. military plan to target drug cartels
By Staff
Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum has dismissed the possibility of U.S. troops operating on Mexican soil, following reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had authorized the Pentagon to prepare for military action against Latin American drug cartels.
“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military,” Sheinbaum told reporters. “We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion. That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out.”
Her comments came after The New York Times reported that Trump had secretly signed a directive granting the Pentagon authority to conduct direct military operations against drug cartels abroad.
The reported order follows Trump’s earlier executive designation of eight cartels as terrorist organizations, six of which are based in Mexico.
While the White House did not confirm the directive, it reiterated in a statement to the BBC that the president’s “top priority is protecting the homeland.”
Sheinbaum said her government was informed in advance that new measures targeting cartels were planned but stressed they involved no U.S. military deployment in Mexico.
“It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said ‘No’,” she added.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said Thursday, that the terrorist designation would allow Washington to use intelligence and defense resources against cartels.
“We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug-dealing organizations,” Rubio said.
Despite the tensions, Mexico and the U.S. have recently intensified cooperation on border security and anti-narcotics efforts.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows June recorded the lowest number of illegal border crossings on record, while fentanyl seizures dropped by more than half compared to earlier this year.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson praised the joint efforts on X, writing that cooperation between Sheinbaum and Trump had left cartels “going bankrupt” and both countries “safer because of it.”
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