Legendary Nigerian Musician, Majek Fashek Dies

After battling a long time illness, Nigerian music legend and reggae king Majekodunmi Fasheke, popularly called Majek Fashek, is dead.

Majek Fashek was born on March 7, 1963 in Benin City to an Edo mother and a Yoruba father but identifies with his Benin root.

Fashek was married to Rita Fashek who inspired the song Without You; the couple had four children but has since divorced.

Some of his musical works include Prisoner of Conscience that featured multiple award-winning tracks Send Down The Rain (1988), Little Patience, Spirit of Love, I & I Experience, So long too long, Rainmaker, Weep Not Children and Rasta Ganstar.

Here are few things to know about Majek the Rainmaker:

1. Majek Fashek various translations of his name Fasheke (Ifa-Kii-she-eke) include “high priest who does not lie”, “powers of miracles” and “(system or medium of) divination does not lie”.

2. After Majek’s parents separated, Fashek remained in Benin City with his mother and joined the choir in his local Aladura Church and learned to play the trumpet and guitar whilst composing songs for the choir.

3. In the early eighties Fashek, who at the time went by the stage name Rajesh Kanal, joined the group Jastix with McRoy Gregg, and was lead singer for Black Rice. They were best known as the in-house band on the show Music Panorama on NTA Benin City.4. In 1988, shortly after Jastix disbanded Fashek, he began a solo career by releasing the album Prisoner of Conscience and became Nigeria’s top reggae artist after the song Send Down The Rain became the most popular song of the year.

5. In 1989, he won six PMAN awards, which included Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Reggae Artist of the Year.6. After leaving Tabansi Records, he was signed to CBS Nigeria in the early 1990s and released So Long Too Long. In 1990 he was signed to Interscope Records and released the critically acclaimed album Spirit Of Love, produced by “Little Steven” Van Zandt.

7. Fashek played a supporting role in the 2000 Nollywood movie Mark of the Beast and starred in a commercial for non-alcoholic beverage Diamant.

8. In 2016, he performed in a comedy show (with more than ten thousand audiences in attendance) in Lagos, Nigeria, with a roundly power-filled and soul-lifting performance.

9. In December 2016 Fashek contributed the song “We Are Not Afraid” to a video featuring 200 celebrities to raise funds for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).

10. During the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians, he was unhappy about the Nigeria-South Africa crisis. He recalled that he did a song Free Mandela and it helped back then.

Source: Wikipedia

The Nation

Joe Biden Calls For an End To Violence

The former vice president, Joe Biden, has called for an end to the violent riots and looting, which were sparked by major demonstrations throughout the United States over the death of George Floyd, in an emotional new statement.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee posted a lengthy message to his Medium page during the weekend titled “We are a nation furious at injustice”.

In it, Mr Biden suggested he supported protests against the death of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man who died after a white police officer in Minneapolis restrained him for more than eight minutes by kneeling on his neck as he pleaded for air, according to charging documents.

However, the former vice president noted that “burning down communities and needless destruction” was not a “necessary” form of protest.

“These last few days have laid bare that we are a nation furious at injustice,” Mr Biden began. “Every person of conscience can understand the rawness of the trauma people of colour experience in this country, from the daily indignities to the extreme violence, like the horrific killing of George Floyd.”

Tinubu Admonishes Party Leaders To safeguard Primaries

There may be no going back on transparent and democratic primaries for the choice of governorship candidates by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo and Ondo states, it was learnt yesterday.

At a meeting with nine APC governors, National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said democratic primary as a core element of internal democracy should not be jettisoned.

A source at the meeting held at the State House, Marina, Lagos, said Tinubu,  a former governor of Lagos, emphasised the importance of primary to democracy, admonishing party leaders to safeguard it in the preparation for the choice of standard bearers.

The Progressives Governors’s Forum, led by Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu, unfolded plans last week to mount pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to support their push for right of first refusal to two of their colleagues, Ondo State Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and   Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, for the governorship.

The polls will hold in Edo in September and Ondo in October. No fewer than 10 chieftains are competing for the ticket in Ondo APC with Akeredolu, who is seeking a second term.

In Edo, other contenders have stepped down for Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who is challenging Obaseki at the shadow poll. The Edo governor is also seeking re-election.

Last week, National Working Committee (NWC) announced that direct primary will be adopted for the Edo APC shadow poll.

At yesterday’s two-hour parley, the following nine governors were in attendance.

The Nation

Oshiomhole insists on direct primary in Edo

National Chairman of All Progressives Congress(APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has insisted on direct primary to pick Edo Governorship candidate on June 22.

He stated this after a meeting with members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and Governors elected under on the platform of the party.The Chairman disclosed this after the meeting, which lasted for over three hours at the National Secretariat in Abuja.

The Nation

Buhari Pushes COVID 19 Battle To States

THE Federal Government has pushed the battle to contain Coronavirus to states and communities, Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the pandemic, Mr. Boss Mustapha, said on Sunday.

According to him, the Federal Government will henceforth only provide supervision and coordination.

Mustapha, the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), spoke on Sunday at the State House after members of the PTF briefed President Muhammadu Buhari and discussed their recommendations on the next phase of the battle.

With him at the briefing were Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire; National Coordinator of the PTF Dr. Sani Aliyu; Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Dr. Chikwe Ihekwaezu, and Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola.

Mustapha said: “The ownership of the next stage will be the responsibility of the states  because we have gone into community transmission.

Tha Nation

Ekiti State Governor Relaxes Lockdown

EKITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has relaxed the state’s lockdown to allow residents to pursue their businesses from Mondays through Fridays from 6am to 8pm.

Fayemi, who stated this in a broadcast yesterday evening, added that public officers on Grade Level 8 and above are to resume for duty. Those on Grade Level 7 and below are to remain at home till further notice.

The governor stated that the new directives take effect from today, adding that consultations are underway to reopen religious worship centres, schools and big markets in the state.

The Coronavirus Is Disappearing In Italy

The coronavirus is disappearing in Italy, with some Italian doctors suggesting the virus is losing its potency.

Alberto Zangrillo, who heads Milan's San Raffaele Hospital in the badly hit northern region of Lombardy, told Italian TV on Sunday that "in reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy," Reuters reported.

"The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago," Zangrillo added.

Zangrillo urged Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's government to continue lifting lockdown measures, saying that warnings of a second wave of the virus were creating unnecessary fear in Italy.

"We've got to get back to being a normal country," he said. "Someone has to take responsibility for terrorizing the country."

Matteo Bassetti, the head of San Martino Hospital's infectious-diseases clinic in Genoa, in northwestern Italy, agreed with Zangrillo that the coronavirus was not as lethal as it used to be.

"The strength the virus had two months ago is not the same strength it has today," Bassetti told an Italian news agency, adding that "it is clear that today the COVID-19 disease is different."

Yahoonews/Reuters