Warren Buffett warned the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's CEO about the 'ABCs.' The investor has flagged those threats before

CC™ BIZNEWS

Theron Mohamed

Warren Buffett told the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that the greatest threats to the philanthropic behemoth were cockiness, red tape, and self-satisfaction. The billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO, who has gifted a total of $33 billion to the foundation and resigned as its trustee in June, has warned about those forces in the past. 

Mark Suzman took charge of the Gates Foundation early last year, and promptly flew to Buffett's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska to have lunch with the investor and seek his guidance. 

"He told me then that my most important job was to guard against the 'ABC' risks of decay that all very large organizations face: arrogance, bureaucracy, and complacency," Suzman wrote in a recent email to the foundation's employees. 

Buffett pledged in 2006 to donate over 99% of his wealth to the Gates Foundation and four other foundations, and reached the halfway mark towards that goal in June. His advice to Suzman isn't surprising; he wrote in his 2014 letter to Berkshire shareholders that when he retires, a big part of his replacement's job will be warding off those exact threats.

"My successor will need one other particular strength: the ability to fight off the ABCs of business decay, which are arrogance, bureaucracy and complacency," Buffett said. "When these corporate cancers metastasize, even the strongest of companies can falter."

The Berkshire chief went on to highlight General Motors, IBM, Sears Roebuck, and US Steel as examples of corporate titans that once appeared to have unassailable grips on their industries. "The destructive behavior I deplored above eventually led each of them to fall to depths that their CEOs and directors had not long before thought impossible," he said.

Buffett noted in the letter that he structured his company to minimize red tape. Berkshire's decentralized web of autonomous subsidiaries, underpinned by a culture of trust, acts as the "ideal antidote to bureaucracy," he said. Berkshire also saves money and boosts efficiency by not having HR, PR, IR, legal, acquisitions, and other departments in its headquarters, he added.

The investor singled out the "B" in the ABCs again in his 2009 shareholder letter.

"We would rather suffer the visible costs of a few bad decisions than incur the many invisible costs that come from decisions made too slowly – or not at all – because of a stifling bureaucracy," Buffett said.

Given Buffett's clear disdain for the ABCs, it's no surprise that he told Suzman that his primary focus should be preventing the Gates Foundation from succumbing to them.

BUSINESS INSIDER

Buhari's Secret Police arrest and brutalize church members for wearing #BuhariMustGo T-shirts to popular Abuja church

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Some security guards attached to the Dunamis International Gospel Centre (Glory Dome) located along Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Road, Abuja have arrested six human rights activists for wearing #BuhariMustGo (Anti-President Muhammadu Buhari) T-Shirts to the church.

About ten activists went to the church on Sunday, July 4, 2021, to worship at church but some of them were surprisingly rounded up and arrested by the church security guards who later handed them over to the operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS.

Six of the activists were whisked away in a Hilux van and two power bikes.

The activists were manhandled and beaten by the DSS operatives on the church premises, who also seized their mobile phones.

Paul Enenche is the Senior Pastor of the church.

A source said, “Security men at Dunamis Gospel Church have arrested activists who wore #BuhariMustGo T-shirts to their church service: the church security later handed them over to DSS officials who are currently torturing them.

“I thought Pastor Dr Paul Enenche was also preaching about justice! The six activists were driven away in a DSS Hilux van and two power bikes. Shame on the house of God!

“About 10 activists decided to attend Dunamis church in their #BuhariMustGo T-shirts. The church asked all first-timers to come out for prayers. The patriotic citizens obeyed the clarion call from the altar with their fully displayed BuhariMustGo shirts.

“They were immediately apprehended by the church security on their way out of the church and subsequently handed to the DSS. Kudos to the courageous activists for this creativity. I’m certain if the activists had worn a shirt with the inscription ‘Sai Buhari’, they would have ranked as Pastor Enenche’s new best friend.”

Similarly, in April, violent youths descended on two middle-aged protesters– Larry Emmanuel and Anene Victor Udoka–who were pasting Buhari-Must-Go posters in Lokoja, the Kogi to State capital.

The irate mob flogged the two youths, filmed them, and brutalized them before they were later handed over to the police.

It was gathered that the police thereafter quizzed the two protesters and detained them when they insisted on seeing their lawyer before making a statement.

In some viral videos, the protesters were seen being molested and questioned by the mob before they were flogged as the youths forced them to clean their painting of “Buhari Must Go”.

The court, last Thursday, resumed trial of the two activists after being granted bail after spending 78 days in detention.

SAHARA REPORTERS

#DSS   #DUNAMIS CHURCH   #BUHARIMUSTGO   #MUHAMMADU BUHARI

Gunmen kill 7 people in attacks in Northern Nigeria while Buhari administration focuses on peaceful agitators for self-determination in the South

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Gunmen suspected to be Northern Fulani and Islamic bandits attacked areas of Kaduna killing civilians, mostly women and children.

At least seven persons were killed in separate gunmen attacks on communities in northwestern Nigeria’s Kaduna state, an official said on Saturday. 

Gunmen suspected to be bandits have attacked Chikun, Kajuru and Giwa areas of Kaduna since Friday, killing civilians, said Samuel Aruwan, the state’s commissioner for internal security and home affairs.

“We have lost about seven citizens,” Aruwan told reporters in the Kajuru area during a visit to affected communities on Saturday.

Among the victims were four persons who were kidnapped and shot to death by the gunmen in the Chikun area on Friday, he said, adding that another person was killed in the Giwa area on the same day. 

Aruwan said the state government got a distress call in the early hours of Saturday from a community in the Kajuru area where two persons were killed by gunmen.

Security agencies are investigating the attacks, he said. There have been a series of gunmen attacks in Nigeria in recent months, leading to deaths and kidnappings.

#Northern Bandits  #Fulani Herdsmen  #Sheikh Gumi  #ISWAP  #Boko Haram

FLASHBACK: U.S. Congressman writes Kerry, accuses Buhari of autocratic and genocidal tendencies.

Muhammadu Buhari - The Butcher of Daura

CC™ Memory Log

Editor's Preface: This piece from half-a-decade ago is a chilling reminder of why Muhammadu Buhari should never have been allowed anywhere near the Presidency of the Republic of Nigeria. He is an unrepentant bigot whose dossier is littered with a maniacal propensity for autocracy and ethnophilia (an abnormal obsession with ethnicity and race). This letter in the article speaks to the fears of the U.S. House Member representing Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District at the time, Thomas Anthony Marino. He served 4 terms as a House Member and his letter to the then U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, should have been a warning to the international community regarding the genocidal and autocratic tendencies of Muhammadu Buhari.  

A member of the United States Congress, Tom Marino, has written a letter to Secretary of State, John Kerry, asking the US government to withhold security assistance to Nigeria until President Muhammadu Buhari demonstrates a “commitment to inclusive government and the most basic tenets of democracy: freedom to assemble and freedom of speech”.

He also asked the State Department to refrain from selling warplanes and other military equipment to Nigeria until President Buhari establishes a track record of working towards inclusion. In a two-page letter dated September 1, 2016 and addressed to Kerry, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by THISDAY yesterday, Marino, a Republican from Pennsylvania who assumed office on January 3, 2011, said there were a number of warning signs emerging in the Buhari administration that signal “the man who once led Nigeria as a military dictator might be sliding towards former autocratic tendencies”.

The Congressman, who is a member of the Committees on the Judiciary, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs, and the Chairman, Sub- committee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, said Nigerian government must “hold accountable those members of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Military complicit in extra-judicial killings and war crimes”.

In the six-paragraph letter to Kerry, Marino also expressed concern over Nigeria’s anti-corruption war, saying “of additional concern is President Buhari’s selective anti-corruption drive, which has focused almost exclusively on members of the opposition party, over-looking corruption amongst some of Buhari’s closest advisors. Politicizing his anti-corruption efforts has only reinforced hostility among southerners”.

His letter to Kerry reads: “Dear Secretary Kerry, I am encouraged by the personal interest you have taken in aiding Nigeria and its administration as it takes on endemic corruption, multiple insurgent movements, and a faltering economy. However, I believe there are a number of warning signs emerging in the Buhari administration that signal “the man who once led Nigeria as a military dictator might be sliding towards former autocratic tendencies.”

“I would urge the U.S. to withhold its security assistance to the nation until President Buhari demonstrates a commitment to inclusive government and the most basic tenets of democracy: freedom to assemble and freedom of speech.

“A logical start towards this commitment is for the Nigerian government to hold accountable those members of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Military complicit in extra-judicial killings and war crimes”.

“Human rights groups like Amnesty International have widely documented torture, inhumane treatment, and extra-judicial killings of defenseless Nigerians since President Buhari took office.”

Quoting Amnesty International Report, he wrote, “in the last six months, Nigeria’s military has unlawfully killed at least 350 people and allowed more than 168 people, including babies and children, to die in military detention.”

He further wrote: “The Secretary to the Government of Kaduna State even admitted to burying 347 of those killed in a mass grave. And while President Buhari promised swift condemnation, his words rang empty. Instead of swift reforms, Buhari chose to reinstate Major General Ahmadu Mohammed, who Amnesty International revealed was in charge of the Nigerian military unit that executed more than 640 unarmed, former detainees.

“Also, in separate incidents concerning the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Nigerian Army has killed at least 36 – the real number is likely higher – people since December 2015 in an attempt to silence opposition and quell attempts by the group to gather publicly.”

Describing President Buhari as a former military dictator whose reign (as military head of state) was cut short by a coup, he stated that the President has continually shunned inclusivity in favor of surrounding himself with advisors and ministers from the north of the country and the region he considers home. “Of President Buhari’s 122 appointees, 77 are from the north and control many of the key ministries and positions of power.

Distrust is already high in Nigeria and favoring Northerners for key appointments has only antagonized the issue. These appointments are also primarily Muslim in the north and Christian in the south, adding a religious aspect to long-held regional biases. “Of additional concern is President Buhari’s selective anti-corruption drive, which has focused almost exclusively on members of the opposition party, over-looking corruption amongst some of Buhari’s closest advisors.

Politicizing his anti- corruption efforts has only reinforced hostility among southerners,” he claimed in the letter. He said the Obama Administration would advance justice by urging the Buhari Administration to act decisively to hold accountable members of the police and military.

The congressman said, “This is a logical first step in making a demonstrable, sustained commitment to inclusive democracy, with distributed power in Nigeria. Until President Buhari establishes a track record of working towards inclusion, we ask the State Department to refrain from selling warplanes and other military equipment to the country.

“The State Department should urge President Buhari to form a government that represents the diversity of its citizens and allows dissenting voices to be heard. Democracy can thrive only if people are free to assemble, to express their beliefs, and voice their concerns.”

Stiffer-in-chief: In typical fashion, Donald Trump cuts off Rudy Giuliani for asking to be paid for election fraud work, book says

CC™ Politico

Bill Bostock

Donald Trump's family has cut off Rudy Giuliani, and the former president has been irked that the lawyer asked to be paid for his work challenging Trump's loss in the 2020 election, a new book says.

On Sunday, The Times of London published an excerpt from "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency," the coming book on the Trump presidency from the author Michael Wolff.

In the extract, Wolff delves into Trump's post-presidential life at his Mar-a-Lago resort and describes Trump as frustrated by the lack of progress in his quest to overturn the 2020 election result.

Giuliani, a longtime ally and personal lawyer of the president, started leading the Trump campaign's efforts to overturn the election on November 4 but departed sometime in February after a series of setbacks.

Since then, reports have detailed how Giuliani and his allies have sought to get paid for the legal work, but to no avail, falling foul of the president in the process.

"Trump is annoyed that he tried to get paid for his election challenge work," Wolff wrote, per The Times.

The excerpt said Giuliani had "gotten only the cold shoulder" while seeking payment from Trump amid the prospect of expensive legal battles of his own.

Trump's family has "cast out, cut off" Giuliani, the excerpt said, without specifying which members of the clan.

Giuliani is the subject of a Justice Department investigation into whether he broke foreign lobbying laws while working as Trump's lawyer. Giuliani has not been charged with a crime.

According to Wolff, Trump has also taken to asking visitors to his Mar-a-Lago resort "if they know any good" lawyers to help him continue his plan to overturn the election via the US courts.

Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

The amount owed to Giuliani by Trump is not known, but at one point Maria Ryan, an aide and rumored girlfriend of Giuliani, told the Trump campaign that his rate for working on the election challenge was $20,000 a day, The New York Times reported.

In mid-January, both The Washington Post and The New York Times cited sources saying that Trump had instructed his aides not to pay Giuliani his legal fees following Trump's second impeachment.

The New York Times said at the time that White House officials also started blocking Giuliani's calls to Trump.

An excerpt from another book about Trump - "Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost" by the Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender - published by the Daily Mail indicates that Trump regularly insulted Giuliani while they worked together.

In one instance, Bender wrote, Trump mocked Giuliani for falling asleep in a meeting.

Read the original article on Business Insider

#Donald Trump   #Election Fraud   #The Big Lie   #2020 Elections   #Rudi Giuliani

Nigeria Police kill14-yr-old Girl when they open fire at peaceful demonstrators gathered for Yoruba Nation Rally

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Lagos State Police Command denies responsibility for the murder of 14 year old girl at Yoruba Nation rally

Nigeria under the Buhari administration has become a police state

CC™ Global News

By Titilope Joseph

The Lagos State Police Command has debunked the news making rounds that a 14-year-old girl was hit and killed by a police bullet at the venue of the Oodua Republic Mega Rally in Ojota, Lagos, on Saturday.

The Command, in its reaction through a statement signed by its Spokesperson, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, debunked the rumor and stated categorically that the rumor was a calculated attempt to create confusion and fear in the minds of the good people of Lagos State and the country at large.

“The Command did not fire a single live bullet at Ojota rally today. The said corpse was found wrapped and abandoned at a distance, far from the Ojota venue of the rally, behind MRS Filling Station, inward Maryland, on the other side of the venue, with dried blood stains suggesting that the corpse is not fresh. After a close look at the corpse, a wound suspected to have been sustained from a sharp object was seen on it.

“The news is false and mischievous. The Command, therefore, urges the general public to disregard the news and go about their lawful normal daily activities while investigation to unravel the incident will commence immediately.”

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, therefore commiserates with the family of the found deceased and assures that a thorough investigation will be carried out.

The Command also warned against the spread or peddling of fake and unconfirmed stories as such could be dangerous and counterproductive.

INDEPENDENT

Nigeria's Secret Police confirms illegal raid on residence of Yoruba liberation movement leader Sunday Igboho

Trail of blood and destruction left by Buhari's Secret Police at Igboho's house

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…confirms extra-judicial killing of at least two of his aides while planting own weapons at scene

Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Service (SSS) has confirmed that its operatives stormed the home of a leader of the Yoruba separatist group, Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a. Sunday Igboho, in Ibadan in a bid to effect his arrest.

Addressing journalists at the headquarters of the SSS on Thursday, Peter Afunanya, the service spokesperson, said 13 suspects, including a female and 12 males, were arrested.

According to reports, gunmen, some of whom allegedly spoke French, invaded Mr. Igboho’s house, located in Soka, Ibadan, capital of Oyo State around 1:00 a.m. on Thursday.

His vehicles, including his G-wagon, Prado Jeep, and some valuable properties including furniture, and windows were reportedly destroyed.

The attack occurred barely 72 hours to the planned rally in Lagos by Mr. Igboho and others to further canvas a Yoruba nation.

Mr. Igboho had in April raised a similar alarm that his building was under siege. He claimed then that soldiers invaded his residence in the midnight. The army denied this at the time.

But confirming the early Thursday morning raid, Mr. Afunaya said a total of seven AK 47 rifles were recovered, alongside pump action guns and 5,000 rounds of ammunition including other weapons.

He said security operatives recovered the weapons after a so-called "gun battle" between them and Igboho’s guards.

He said two of Igboho’s men were killed in the process while a security agent was shot on the right hand and is currently responding to treatment. 

He added that aside the rifles, other items recovered at Mr. Igboho’s residence include 30 AK 47 magazines, 5,000 rounds of ammunition, three locally made bullet proof jacket and a German resident permit, amongst others.

He urged Mr. Igboho to surrender himself to relevant authorities to face justice.

In the meantime, the same administration that addresses the peaceful demands of Southern agitators with such overt high-handedness is seemingly found wanting and impotent in the face of the brute force of Islamic extremists and terrorist Fulani Herdsmen, the latter of course belonging to President Buhari's ethnic delineation. 

It is however worth noting that this same overt high-handedness was what gave rise to Boko Haram and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). 

Nigeria Twitter Ban: Why Jack Dorsey is unfazed

CC™ ViewPoint

By Prince Osuagwu

Five days after the federal government banned Twitter activities in the country, the microblogging platform is still unfazed and carries on as if nothing has happened. It has neither issued an official statement nor allowed its officials to entertain discussions around the ban.

The ban which the Minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said was necessary because of the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence, has attracted hue and cry from prominent Nigerians who feel the action was an attack on free speech.

Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, Babajide Sanwo Olu of Lagos, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Paradigm Initiatives of Nigeria, PIN, and SERAP are among notable people and organizations that have condemned the ban.

Flashback

Background of the issue was set at a town hall meeting convened by INEC with relevant stakeholders, to examine the likely effects of the activities of arsonists who have targeted several offices, facilities and equipment of INEC, particularly in the South East. President Buhari, had in response to the agitations for Biafra by IPOB activists, said: "Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian civil war. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”

The video of the statement circulated round with many people giving it different interpretations, mostly pointing to a veiled reference to the civil war that claimed millions of lives particularly in that part of the country.

Apparently relying on its safety rule which states: “Violence: You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence,” Twitter on June 2, deleted the post on its site.

In what many have described as retaliation, the federal government on May 4, suspended Twitter operations in Nigeria.

Since that action, the country’s economy, according to Netblocks.org has lost over N10 billion.

The platform said it relied on booking institution methods which relied on development indicators, approximated digital economy extent of 0.05 and classic free app GDP impact technique to arrive at its conclusion.

Being an artificial intelligent, AI- based study, Netblocks is popular and its statistics are almost perfect at all times.

Also, several small scale businesses, social media influencers whose services are heavily reliant on twitter, have continued to groan under the weight of economic meltdown.

However, Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, is yet to say a word. His disposition to the ban is predictable going by twitter’s statistics in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Twitter users are estimated at 40 million. Considering the size of the country, at 200 million people, twitter users constitute less than a quarter of the country. Again, in the social media Market Share, Twitter is not the biggest shareholder in Nigeria. In fact, it plays second fiddle to Facebook.

As at May 2021 Twitter has a market share of 25.52 percent in Nigeria as against Facebook’s 56.46 percent. It only managed to get ahead of Pinterest at 7.83 percent, Instagram at 5.25 percent YouTube at 3.41 percent and LinkedIn at 0.86 percent.

In a sharp contrast, former president of United States of America, USA, Donald Trump has over 88.9 million twitter followers, towering above Nigeria’s numbers by over 48 million.

Donald Trump’s presence on social media attracted attention worldwide since he joined Twitter in May 2009. He frequently tweeted during the 2016 election campaign and as president he popularized Twitter’s status.

From the creation of his account in 2009 until December 2020 Trump tweeted around 57,000 times, including more than 25,000 times during his presidency.

In fact, Trump’s tweets were considered “official statements made by the President of the United States.”

Trump’s tweets deleted

Incidentally, in January 2021, Twitter deleted some of his tweets viewed to have violated its rules, and also went ahead to suspend him from the platform indefinitely.

If Trump with such huge following could be removed from twitter, and the company’s revenues still stand strong, there is little wonder why Jack Dorsey appears unperturbed with the development in Nigeria.

More-so, other key statistics to the growth of twitter do not also appear to show that Nigeria is a force to reckon with.

Although the minority of Nigerians using Twitter, still form part of the most vocal and politically active segment of the population, it does not translate to much revenue to Twitter. Many young people have used Twitter and other social media recently to organize anti-government protests. And, Nigeria has been among the best-performing African countries in attracting investments for technology start-up business, but from market share statistics, twitter is not much of s beneficiary.

In terms of advert revenue, Twitter does depend more on companies outside Africa. The US alone generates revenue for the company more than the rest countries of the world put together.

The world vs US on twitter

In 2018 Twitter made $1.6 billion from the US as against the $1.4 billion it made from the rest of the world. In 2019 the US alone dropped $1.9 billion into its coffers, when the rest of the world added $1.5 billion to its wealth.

In 2020 the US market made Twitter richer with $2 billion when the rest of the world brought in $1.6 billion.

With this statistics, Twitter would be more concerned if the American government threatens its corporate existence than when Nigeria does. Twitter has 186 million daily active users and 38 million users are from the United States alone.

Twitter’s Yearly Revenue

Twitter generated $0.3 billion 2012, $0.6 billion in 2013, $1.4 billion in 2014, $2.2 billion in 2015, $2.5 billion in 2016, $2.4 billion in 2017, $3 billion in 2018, $3.4 billion in 2019 and $3.7 billion in 2020It enjoys an 8.8 percent increase year-on-year and 86 percent of its revenue came from advertising.

Case of the criminal accusing its victim as 75 so-called Northern groups place N100m bounty on Nnamdi Kanu

The ESN was set up by Nnamdi Kanu in response to the terrorist Fulani Herdsmen from the North

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A coalition of 75 Northern groups, on the platform of Northern Consensus Movement, has announced a reward of N100 million for persons who can produce the supreme leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, for the continuation of his trial for alleged treason.

The groups, which disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Thursday evening, accused Kanu and the Eastern Security Network (IPOB’s militia wing) of masterminding the recent spate of attacks on Northern communities in the Southeast via what they called ‘hate speech’.

Dr. Awwal Abdullahi Aliyu, who spoke on behalf of the Coalition, urged the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the European Union to facilitate Nnamdi Kanu’s repatriation to Nigeria to face the charges against him.

Aliyu said, “The Northern Consensus Movement, an amalgamation of more than 75 civil society groups of Northern extraction, has taken it upon ourselves, as active citizens of this country, Nigeria, to state in unequivocal terms that:

“We are declaring Nnamdi Kanu wanted for crimes against humanity and for instigating the killing of innocent Northerners in the southeast via his hate speech.

“We want him to answer for the killing and destruction of Northerners residing and undertaking lawful businesses in the southeastern part of Nigeria.

“So, we are placing a bounty of N100m as an offer to anyone who can produce him alive, hale, hearty, and uninjured to us for onward delivery to the security agencies for the continuation of his prosecution.

“We call on both the US, the UK, and the EU, a champions of democracy, rule of law, and freedoms of speech and expression to kindly and humble respect Nigeria’s sovereignty and facilitate the repatriation of Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria.

“This is so he can face his treason, and possibly fresh terrorism and genocide charges against innocent citizens of Nigeria.”

VANGUARD