₦airaland Forum

The Presidency has denied claims in the media that President Buhari has banned the importation of food into the country.

Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, gave the clarification in a statement he released on Sunday August 18th while responding to an article by Financial Times with claims that the President had banned food importation.

Recall that President Buhari on August 13th, announced that he has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop providing foreign exchange for importation of food into the country. Read here. Many took his comment to mean that Food importation has been banned.

However, in his statement released on Sunday, Garba said there was no ban on food importation. According to Garba, importers of the food items are still free to source their forex from non-government financial institutions towards meeting their importations.

The statement reads

“Your article ‘Muhammadu Buhari sparks dismay over policy shift on food imports’ (15 August) suggests the Nigerian Government is restricting the import of agricultural products into the country. This is simply incorrect. To be absolutely clear, there is no ban – or restriction – on the importation of food items whatsoever.

President Buhari has consistently worked towards strengthening Nigeria’s own industrial and agricultural base. A recent decision sees the CBN maintain its reserves to put to use helping growth of domestic industry in 41 products rather than provide forex for the import of those products from overseas.

Should importers of these items wish to source their forex from non-government financial institutions (and pay customs duty on those imports – increasing tax-take, something the FT has berated Nigeria for not achieving on many occasions) they are freely able to do so.

Diversification of forex provision towards the private sector and away from top-heavy government control, a diversification of Nigeria’s industrial base, and an increase in tax receipts – are all policies one might expect the Financial Times to support. Yet for reasons not quite clear, the author and this newspaper seem to believe the president’s administration seeks to control everything – and yet do so via policies that relinquish government control.

We look forward to the next instalment of Mr. Munshi’s bizarre and puzzling article series'' the statement read

CLICK HERE FOR MORE: https://www.mcebiscoo.com/we-have-not-banned-food-importation-presidency/

Here are the results of English Premier League games played so far today:

Arsenal 2 (Lacazette 13, Aubameyang 64) Burnley 1 (Barnes 43)
Aston Villa 1 (Douglas Luiz 71) Bournemouth 2 (King 2-pen, Wilson 12)
Brighton 1 (Trossard 65) West Ham 1 (Hernandez 61)
Everton 1 (Bernard 10) Watford 0
Norwich 3 (Pukki 32, 63, 75) Newcastle 1 (Shelvey 90+3)
Southampton 1 (Ings 83) Liverpool 2 (Mane 45+1, Firmino 71)

1630GMT kick-off

Manchester City v Tottenham

Sunday

Sheffield United v Crystal Palace (1300), Chelsea v Leicester (1530)

Monday

Wolves v Manchester United (1900)

https://www.mcebiscoo.com/english-premier-league-results/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RtTLcEIP-s

Video of the sudden demise of Ivorian superstar, Dj Arafat over the weekend has been released.

In the video, late DJ Arafat is seen riding his motorbike and performing a stunt before he unfortunately rammed into a car at a junction.

DJ Arafat was pronounced dead on Monday after he was admitted to a hospital in Abidjan, with a fractured skull after the accident on Sunday night.

Watch the CCTV footage below to see exactly how the accident occurred.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njrPi_RfWmU

https://www.mcebiscoo.com/updates-cctv-footage-of-how-dj-arafat-died-in-a-traffic-accident-emerges-online-watch-video/

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerian Muslims to avoid extremist ideas, stating that the greatest challenge to Islam was violent extremism.

The president in his Eid-El-Kabir noted that “Extremism is like cancer, which must be detected and destroyed from its early stages of growth.

In a statement issued by Garba Shehu, his senior special assistant on media and publicity, the President challenged Muslims to distance themselves from those preaching violence in the society, emphasisng on the importance of putting the virtues of the religion into practice and making justice and righteousness their guiding principles.

He also stated that “Boko Haram became a deadly force and major security scourge because Muslim societies were indifferent from the beginning to the activities of extremist preachers, who manipulate their innocent and gullible followers.”

President Buhari admonished Muslims to be the mirror “through which others see the virtues of our faith. Islam is a religion of peace and we should avoid violent extremist ideas that give Islam a wrong name because our conducts will leave more lasting positive impressions than what we say by word of mouth.”

“Violent extremism is the greatest challenge facing Islam today and the only way we can neutralise its evil influence is to distance ourselves from the activities and teachings of those who preach indiscriminate violence against innocent people.

“This flies in the face of the teachings of Islam.”

He advised parents to protect their children from the deadly exposure to violent extremists who, he said, manipulated and exploited children for their own evil agenda.

“Boko Haram became a deadly force and major security scourge because Muslim societies were indifferent from the beginning to the activities of extremist preachers, who manipulate their innocent and gullible followers,” he said.

“Extremism is like cancer which must be detected and destroyed from its early stages of growth.”

He, however, assured Nigerians that Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping and other forms of banditry would be dealt with “uncompromisingly until we see the back of these evils plaguing our country”.

https://www.mcebiscoo.com/buhari-blames-muslims-for-the-rise-of-boko-haram/

Patrick Crusius, the man who carried out last weekend’s deadly mass shooting at a Walmart in the Texas border city of El Paso has confessed to officers that he had been targeting Mexicans.

Crusius, 21, emerged with his hands up from a vehicle that was stopped at an intersection shortly after the attack and told officers, “I’m the shooter,” Detective Adrian Garcia said in an arrest warrant affidavit.

He also spoke with detectives, telling them he entered the store with an AK-47 assault rifle and multiple magazines, and that he was targeting Mexicans.

Twenty-two people were killed and about two dozens were injured. Most of the dead had Hispanic last names and eight were Mexican nationals.

Authorities say Crusius drove more than 10 hours from his hometown near Dallas to carry out the shooting in the largely Latino border city of El Paso. An attorney for the Crusius family, Chris Ayres, told The Associated Press that the rest of the family never heard Patrick Crusius use the kind of racist and anti-immigrant language that was posted in the online screed. Crusius has been charged with capital murder and is being held without bond. Federal prosecutors have said they are also considering hate-crime charges.

https://www.mcebiscoo.com/el-paso-shooter-confesses-that-mexicans-were-his-targets/

Frank Donga listed some mindsets he thinks is destroying Nigeria and it cuts across morality, tribalism and religion.

The 10 mindsets Frank listed on Twitter are as follows;

10 mindsets destroying Nigeria:

-E nor consign me

-what’s in it for me?

-He’s not from my tribe

-Do you know who I am?

-Your boys are loyal

-That’s how Christians/Muslims do

-Nobody is perfect

-everybody is doing it

-we’ve set up a committee

-let us pray,only God can save us

See More Here: https://www.mcebiscoo.com/frank-donga-lists-10-mindsets-destroying-nigeria/

MCEBISCOO.COM

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the Anambra Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Awka, to nullify the election of the winner of state assembly election for Idemili South constituency, Mr Chukwuka Ezenwune of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)

Ezenwune was declared winner of the March 9 state assembly election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He polled 10,710 votes against second-placed Frank Okigbo of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 4,071, while Orakwe emerged third with 3,210 votes.

In a petition by the APC candidate in the election, Mr Bona Orakwe, marked EPT/AN/SHA/35/2019, he observed that the APGA candidate did not score the highest number of lawful votes to be declared winner.

The petitioner contended that the APGA candidate did not score lawful majority votes cast in the election and therefore should not have been returned as winner

Orakwe said the election was marred with irregularities and substantial non-compliance to the Electoral Act, which affected the result declared by INEC.

He insisted that he scored the highest number of lawful votes cast and should be declared the winners or in the alternative nullify the election and order for fresh poll.

Joined as respondents in the case were APGA, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and Returning Officer for the local government area.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/11/apc-demands-nullification-of-anambra-south-assembly-election/

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has advised the executive and the leadership of Nigerian political parties to always allow the lawmakers to choose their leaders both in the Senate and House of Representatives.

He said that members of the National Assembly have always resisted the imposition of leaders on them by the executive arm of government and their political parties.

Dogara stated this yesterday in Abuja at the ongoing orientation programme for members of the 9th National Assembly, which he chaired.

In an interaction with journalists, Dogara said: “I will advise members to actually look out for those who have thrown themselves into the race to see who will aggregate their aspirations better and then will be able to surpass the record of this Assembly,”

To the political parties, he said: “Well, I am not here to dictate to them, the parties have their manifestoes, the way to do their businesses but one thing I have said and if you followed the business during this induction, it is always better to allow the leadership to emerge from the people.

“Where leadership has been forced upon the people, the history in the National Assembly, and in fact, in Nigeria’s history, it has never endured. The least we could afford in the National Assembly is a crisis on account of the leadership selection process.

“So, whoever a party is sponsoring and supporting, they should make sure they have the backing of the legislature so that they (legislators) accept it because they own the process and the leadership.

“That way, it will be good but in a situation it is forced, literally driven down the throat, in most cases, it doesn’t augur well. Even in the Senate, it doesn’t augur well. In the House of Representatives too, it doesn’t augur well.”

During the session, Dogara said that the Nigerian president is the most powerful in the world because the legislature and judiciary are not up and doing.

He regretted that Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) makes it impossible for the parliament to impeach the president or the vice president.

According to him, “efforts to amend the section some time ago, to make the procedure for the impeachment of the president and the vice president less stringent, failed.

“The point was made long ago, even before 2015 when the current president was elected. It has always been said that Nigeria’s president is most powerful in the world. It is because of the fact that we as parliamentarians and even the judiciary have been unable to stand up to our responsibilities.

“When they are talking about a powerful president, they are talking about a weak legislature and a weak judiciary. Section 143 was very controversial. The ruling government (then) believed we were targeting the president. And those who were coming believed that we want to relax the law so that anybody they elect can easily be impeached.

“But the point is that we are trying to strengthen democracy to ensure the checks on account of removing the president or vice president for violation of the constitution is made more probable.

“As it is, Section 143 can never be successfully activated by any parliament; it will never work by the design of that provision. So, when people talk about impeachment I just laugh. You cannot successfully activate Section 143 (of the constitution). But in the United States (US) it is very real. A president can be removed,” Dogara said.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/09/nass-members-will-always-resist-imposition-of-leadership-dogara/

Veteran Nollywood actress, Maureen Solomon is pregnant again .The mother of two is expecting her third child after 12 years .

She took to Instagram to announce the good news, revealing she and her husband are shocked.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/08/actress-maureen-solomon-pregnant-after-12-year-break/

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday expressed worry over alleged plans to invalidate the outcome of the March 9 governorship election in Rivers State which was won by its candidate and incumbent governor, Nyesom Wike.

The national publicity secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, who raised the alarm at a press conference, alleged that pressure is being mounted on the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Mohammed, to reverse the February 12, 2019 final judgment of the Supreme Court which excluded the APC from participating in the National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly Elections in Rivers State.

Ologbondiyan added that the target of the reversal was to cause for fresh elections to hold in Rivers State which will include the APC.

The PDP spokesman identified a minister from the state and another minister overseeing the judiciary as being behind the plot to reverse the Supreme Court judgment.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had removed APC from the ballot of all elections in Rivers, following the Apex Court judgment which upheld the verdict of the trial court that lawfully excluded the APC from polls.

But Ologbondiyan yesterday said, “The PDP has been informed of how these desperate APC figures and their agents have been mounting pressure on the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Mohammed, to reverse the February 12, 2019 final judgment of the Supreme Court, which upheld the verdict of the trial court that lawfully excluded the APC from participating in the National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly Elections in Rivers State, having nullified the party’s flawed primaries in the state.

He added that PDP has information of how the minister has been going around in Rivers State, “giving assurances that he has the ears of the Supreme Court under the leadership of Acting CJN, Justice Tanko Mohammed, and that the Supreme Court will reverse its final judgment on APC Primaries and create the way for fresh elections in Rivers State, in which the APC will be allowed to participate.

The party stated that the jubilation across the country that trailed its February 12 final judgment is a testament of justice and a reinforcement of the confidence Nigerians have in the Supreme Court, which must not be destroyed by the APC.



The PDP, however, urged the Acting CJN not to allow his office to be used by desperate power mongers in the APC to cause anarchy and perpetrate more violence in Rivers state.



“The people of Rivers state have experienced so much crisis, bloodletting, harassment and intimidations from the APC in its desperation to forcefully take over the state.



“The people have spoken loudly on their choice of PDP and all its candidates. They should be allowed to move ahead with their leaders and no institution of government should lend itself as an instrument in the hands of oppressive forces seeking to undermine our democracy and subjugate our citizenry,” the national spokesman of PDP added.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/08/pdp-alleges-plot-to-invalidate-rivers-govship-poll/

The Joint Military Task Force (JTF) code-named “Operation Delta Safe” says it has destroyed and dislodged major militant camps in the Niger Delta, thereby boosting security in the region.

Military helicopters Rear Admiral Apochi Suleiman, the outgoing JTF Commander, said this on Sunday in Yenagoa, at the handing over ceremony of the mantle of leadership to the new Commander, Rear Admiral Akingide Akinrinade.

Suleiman added that the crude oil production index of the country had also increased remarkably since 2016 when he assumed office as commander.

According to him, the increase is due to the serious check against oil pipeline vandalism in the region. “When I came here in 2016, there were issues of militancy all over my joint operation area, but diligently, we have taken out the major militant camps in the Niger Delta region. “We have dislodged militant camps at Karawei in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

“The Bakassi strike force in Cross River, Lobia 1, 2 and 3 in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and Lowasiri camps in Bayelsa were strong bases of militants and kidnappers. “We have also dislodged militants in Etim Ekpo/Ukanafun Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom and restored peace to the areas.

“The Asuzuama set of militants in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Baylesa were all dislodged. “We tracked down Don Wayne eventually, because of the pressure of our operational activities; he ran into the hands of another security group that eventually took him out. File: Militants handout “As at today, that camp at Amoputu is closed,” he stated. Suleiman, who has been posted to Defence Headquarters, Abuja, as Chief of Defence Administration, tasked JTF personnel to support the new commander to ensure security of the region.

He welcomed the new JTF boss and urged him to work harder to sustain and improve on the achievements so far made in the region. Earlier, the new commander said he was posted to add more value to what was on ground in safeguarding oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta.

Akinrinade called for more cooperation among the officers and pledged a level playing ground to ensure that criminality in the region was drastically reduced.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/07/just-in-military-destroys-major-militant-camps-in-n-delta/

Actress Anita Joseph and her friend Bobrisky rocked matching hairstyles on set of a new movie .

The duo are currently shooting a movie in Enugu state .

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/07/anita-joseph-and-bobrisky-are-twinning/

Award-winning author Chimamanda Adichie is the cover star for the latest issue of Marie Claire Brazil.

Adichie, who shared a photo of the cover on her IG page wrote alongside;

‘Delighted to be on the cover of Marie Claire Brazil. And to highlight the work of talented designers: Brazilian @renatabuzzo.veglab and Nigerians @kikikamanu and @the_ladymaker.’

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/06/chimamanda-adichie-lands-marie-claire-cover/

A 45-year-old man, ldris Aliyu, has been arrested for hacking his younger brother, Aliyu Aliyu, to death over a N100,000 debt in Daka’agi, Niger State. .

Trouble allegedly started when the suspect borrowed N100,000 from his friend and gave it to his late brother to renovate his house, with a promise of refunding the money after harvesting their farm produce. .

Late Aliyu, who was expecting a new baby soon with his wife, however, reneged on the agreement. “I was angered, knowing fully well that he had the money and I was left with no option than to kill him as I pulled out my machete and hacked him.



I and my brother had been living and farming together since we were young. After the harvest, I told him about the need to settle the debt, but he refused to listen to me and insisted that we were not going sell any farm produce to that effect. .

I lost my temper, pulled my machete and inflicted deep cut on his neck which resulted in his death. I killed my brother due to the pressure from the person I borrowed the money from,” he said.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/06/45-year-old-man-ldris-aliyu-kills-his-only-brother-over-n100000-debt-in-niger-photo/

The lessons of Nigeria’s Elections 2019 to which I refer here are not abstract lessons-in-general or lessons-for-all-time, but concrete lessons that emerged for the use of political forces on the Nigerian Left that see the urgent need of re-dedication to the great cause and arduous task of building people’s power, popular democracy, People’s national unity and socialism in Nigeria. For all tendencies and segments of the Nigerian Left, this four-point platform should be integral, that is, inseparable into its components. And for Marxists, this unbreakable non-linear chain should be a conscious ideological and political choice.

I consider the exercise of drawing strong and usable lessons both necessary and urgent after the tragic, depressing and demoralising events of February and March 2019 – events that we called general elections. But whatever name the events are officially given in the nation’s political history, Elections 2019 was a massive demonstration of decadence, philistinism and neofascism on the part of Nigeria’s ruling class as a ruling class. Beyond this, and of greater importance, Elections 2019 was a call on the Nigerian Left to be more creative and audacious in mobilising truly progressive forces to save the Nigerian masses from the current vicious circle – trajectory which Nigeria’s ruling class has imposed on the nation. There is simply no other political force in Nigeria that can reprieve Nigeria as a united country.

Aspects of Nigeria’s Elections 2019 from which significant lessons ought to be drawn by the Nigerian Left would include: critical numbers and figures released over the last couple of months – before, during and after the elections themselves – by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); current quality of electoral politics and elections in Nigeria; the array of political forces in the electoral combat; “power of incumbency;” platforms and strategies of the dominant political parties, coalitions and candidates; contradictions between segments of the dominant political parties and the central leaderships and candidates of the parties; the new ethnic or “identity” politics; variants of political mobilisation (from popular-democratic, to populist, to neofascist); and reports and conclusions of election observers.

This list is, of course, not exhaustive. The elements are overlapping and have not been listed in any strict logical order. Since each of these elements deserves at least one full essay, what I can do in the remaining part of this particular piece is to continue the introduction to the entire subject.

According to the United Nations and Nigeria’s National Population Council, the population of Nigeria is now about 200 million. The national median age, that is, the age which divides this population into two equal parts – one half above the age, and the other half below it – is about 18 years. This, coincidentally, is the minimum voting age. The implication is that about 100 million Nigerians are of voting age. Of this number, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) told us that about 84 million originally registered for Elections 2019. We were also told that 72.8 million of this number collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), while 11.2 million did not. Finally, only about 35 per cent of those that collected their PVCs actually voted in the Presidential and National Assembly elections of February 23, 2019. This was reported to be one of the lowest voter-turnouts in contemporary Africa! The voter turnout was even lower in the Governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections of March 9 and 23.

The two leading ruling class parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – dominated all levels of the elections, including the presidential contest. And not less than 65 registered political parties participated in the election, including the presidential contest. President Muhammadu Buhari of APC won the presidential contest with 15.11 million votes while Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of PDP, had 11.07 million votes. All the other presidential contestants had relatively insignificant numbers of votes. But this result was by no means a definitive statement on these other candidates or the qualities of their political formations. Whatever their individual weaknesses, as political formations and as candidates, the capitalist social order and the political system adopted by the current set of rulers had cynically, but essentially, excluded them from the electoral competition ab initio. While the electoral system and regulations endorsed this exclusion, the contest as a whole was a confirmation that no serious mistake was made.

The official results of the contests showed that while President Buhari of APC was stronger in Northwestern, Northeastern, Northcentral and Southwestern geopolitical zones, Alhaji Atiku of the PDP was stronger in the South-South and South-East as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. This distribution of electoral strength across the country was roughly repeated at the other levels of the general elections: Senate, House of Representatives, state Governors, state Houses of Assembly and FCT Municipal Government. It is, however, crucial to remember that almost all the results decided and announced by INEC are not only in political dispute but also in legal contestation. Beyond that, it can be safely said that Elections 2019 does not enjoy even a minimum level of public credibility – as a free and fair exercise.

Nigeria’s Elections 2019 cannot just be described, metaphorically, as a “war by some other means.” It was a war literally. However, unlike in modern wars where there are international “rules of engagement” which are binding, enforceable and sanctionable, Elections 2019 was a historical “throwback” in the manner weapons of death and destruction were openly and freely deployed by private political thugs on the one hand and armed agents of the state on the other. In some instances, it was possible to distinguish between the two armed formations – by what they wore: armed agents of the state wore uniforms while thugs were in “mufti.” But in other instances, it was simply impossible to make such distinctions since thugs often wore military uniforms in “battles of deception” while armed agents of the state, for the same reasons of concealment and deception, went to battle in “mufti.” To further confuse the situation, it would appear that in Elections 2019 the power to deploy armed agents of the state was decentralised and devolved not only to lower levels of authority in the armed institutions but also to senior politicians.

Now, let us adopt and re-define the concept of “minimum electoral democracy” or “low-intensity electoral democracy” as follows: We begin by completely ignoring the material conditions of the people (that is, how the masses live and reproduce their material lives). We next allow that any type of campaign message, including outright lies, but short of “hate speeches,” can be delivered to the people without hindrance. Let us furthermore ignore the national literacy level; and finally let us ignore the voter turnout, that is, the fraction of the electorate that comes out to vote. HOWEVER, let us ensure that voters or intending voters are not obstructed or coerced or intimidated at any point in the voting process; that votes are not bought at the polling centres, but can be bought at “safe” distances; that every vote counts and there is no “rigging” at any point in the voting process; and finally that the simple Euclidean rules of arithmetic are obeyed in the examination, counting and collation of votes. THEN it can be said that we have attained “minimum electoral democracy” or “low-intensity electoral democracy.”

The things that are excluded in this descriptive definition are actually among the indices that the political Left, including the Nigerian Left, attaches much weight in the appreciation of electoral democracy. But we can see that even with this exclusion, Elections 2019 shows that Nigeria is far away from electoral democracy of the lowest level.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/04/lessons-of-nigerias-elections-2019-by-edwin-madunagu/

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Taraba State University chapter, on Wednesday resumed indefinite strike to press home its demands.

The union had embarked on a strike in 2018 but suspended it when the Taraba government promised to meet its demands which included the payment of earned academic allowances from 2014 till date, and the provision of required infrastructure to enhance teaching and learning.

Dr Samuel Shikaa, the branch Chairman, and Dr Atando Agbu, the Secretary, in a statement shortly after the Executive Council Meeting with national officials in Jalingo, said that the teachers would remain at home until the demands were met.

The union said that the law establishing the university, which specified adequate funding for the institution, had been abandoned by the state government.

“Law no 4 of 2008 specified that five per cent of the state allocation, five per cent of the Local Government allocation and two per cent of all contracts will be used in funding the university, but all of these have been neglected.

“If you go round the university, you will discover that a part from the library and senate building which are still under construction, every other buildings you will see are constructed and furnished by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

“If you refer to this university as TET Fund University, you will not be wrong because the few infrastructures here are provided by the fund,” he said.

In a reaction, Mr Ande Boyi, President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NASS), Taraba State University chapter, appealed to Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba to meet the union’s demands to enable students continue with their studies.

“Now that the strike has been declared, the student body is appealing to Ishaku to immediately meet the demands of ASUU to ensure that students don’t stay at home for long,” he said.

He lamented that students had just resumed from the nationwide strike only to be confronted by another round of strike.

http://mcebiscoo.com/2019/04/03/breaking-ASUU-resumes-indefinite-strike/