Elon Musk closes $44-billion Twitter deal

After six months of public and legal battle over the purchase, Elon Musk has finally completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc., according to people familiar with the situation, placing the world's richest man in charge of the faltering social network.

Twitter will run as a private firm and shareholders will receive $54.20 per share. The conclusion brings to an end a complicated process that started in January with the billionaire quietly building up a sizable investment in the business, his mounting displeasure with the way it's handled, and an eventual merger agreement that he later spent months trying to undo.

On October 4, Musk decided to move forward with the terms he had first suggested, and a Delaware Chancery Court judge granted the two parties until October 28 to complete the transaction.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, now has power over Twitter, which he frequently uses but openly criticizes and which he has promised to drastically alter. Shares of the company are not anticipated to trade on the New York Stock Exchange anymore.

One of Musk's first actions was to replace the leadership.According to those with knowledge of the situation, departures from Twitter include Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Head of Legal, Policy and Trust, Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, who joined the company in 2017, and General Counsel Sean Edgett, who has served as General Counsel since 2012.

Because many of Musk's suggestions for changing the company are incompatible with the way it has been conducted for years, the company's operations will immediately become disrupted by his ownership. He has stated that he wants to protect "free expression" on the social network, which probably entails lowering the criteria for content moderation. He also aims to reinstate certain well-known accounts that were suspended from Twitter for disobeying the rules, including the former President Trump's. More generally, Musk's activities pose a threat to reverse years of Twitter's attempts to curtail bullying and harassment on the social media site.

As the deadline drew closer, Musk started to personalize the business, tweeting a video of himself entering the office and altering his platform designation to "Chief Twit." According to those with knowledge of the situation, he scheduled meetings between Tesla engineers and Twitter product executives and planned to speak to the workforce on Friday. In an effort to ensure that nothing about the product changes prior to the deal completing, Twitter's engineers were no longer able to make code modifications as of noon on Thursday in San Francisco, the people added.

Since the merger was revealed in April, Twitter staff have been preparing for layoffs, and Musk mentioned the concept of cost reductions to banking partners when he was initially raising money for the deal. According to a person familiar with the situation this month, Musk has informed certain prospective investors that he expects Twitter's income to double within three years and that he aims to slash 75% of the company's current personnel of 7,500.

According to people familiar with the situation, Musk informed employees when he visited Twitter's headquarters on Wednesday that he does not want to fire 75% of the workforce when he takes over the firm.

A Brief History of Crypto

 

It all began in the 1990s when American Cryptographer, David Chaum, created what was considered as the first kind of online money in the Netherlands: DigiCash.

He created DigiCash as an extension of an encryption algorithm that was considered popular during those times, which was RSA. The technology he created, together with its eCash product, was able to generate a huge amount of attention from the media.

The second generation of internet money was born from the learning experiences of DigiCash. Companies from this generation came up with alternative payment solutions and money systems that were also internet-base but with small but important changes. Of these companies, the clear winner was PayPal.

The reason why PayPal trumped its competition was its ability to give users what they really wanted in the first place, which was money on the web browser platforms they were already familiar with.

Appeal Court Discharges IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu

Nnamdi Kanu

The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has discharged the embattled leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. Kanu is being prosecuted by the federal government at the Federal High Court in Abuja for 15 count charges bordering, including treasonable felony and terrorism, offences he allegedly committed in the course of his separatist campaigns.

Reports have it that a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal said the Federal High Court lacks the jurisdiction to try him in view of his abduction and extraordinary rendition to Nigeria in flagrant violation of the OAU convention and protocol on extradition.

Court has declared Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s abduction and extraordinary rendition from Kenya illegal, saying it was done in clear and egregious violation of extant international laws.

South African leader Jacob Zuma is released after serving his sentence

 

Jacob Zuma

An official government department announced on Friday that former South African President Jacob Zuma has been released from prison after serving his term for contempt of court.

Due to his refusal to cooperate with a corruption investigation, Zuma was given a 15-month term last year.

On July 7 of last year, when he turned himself in to begin his sentence, his outraged followers rushed to the streets and unleashed the worst violence South Africa had seen in years.

In a statement, Zuma said he felt relieved to be a free man and thanked his supporters.

"The... messages of support on social media and other platforms kept me strong and focused on ensuring that those who wanted to break my spirit and resolve do not succeed," he said.

Zuma was released on medical parole in September 2021. But in December, the high court set aside the parole decision and ordered him to return to jail. Zuma appealed the ruling and remained on parole pending the appeal outcome. 

His appeal had not been determined by the time his sentence expired.

"Mr Zuma complied with his conditions for medical parole as set out during his placement," the Correctional Services department said in a statement.

"All administrative processes have now been concluded and the sentence expiry date marks the end of him serving his sentence under community corrections."

Nigeria at Sixty-two

 

62^nd Birthday for a nation like Nigeria has come with celebrations amid a cacophony of terrorist bomb-blasts and sonic booms from the rattling machine guns of terrorists nationwide. May God Almighty protect Nigeria and her citizens.

There is every need for the Government to rearm and restrategise effectively our dissolute security services to overcome the hit-and-run guerilla warfare antics of the ruthless terrorists.

From the Beginning

It all began when the massed bands of the Armed Forces, conducted by the Late Major Akaahan solemnly rendered the National Anthem at midnight 1st October 1960 and the National Flag was ceremoniously unfurled at lndependence Square Lagos to usher in a new era of hope and great expectations

The entire country went into ecstatic contagious celebrations. The dazzling fireworks that followed immediately ripped through the low cascading murky clouds and brightly illuminated the city's skyline. Nigeria is endowed with multiple untapped mineral resources including gold, silver and other precious stones; the most populous nation in Africa.

This ceremony held out great promise for Africa and indeed the entire black world. With a resilient manpower, Nigeria laid a dominant role in the UN peace-keeping operations round the world.

However, the country's poignant march towards grand statehood was intermittently interrupted by several factors including military coups, malfeasances both in Government and the private sector, dissolute security services rife with incompetence, an inscrutable totally unreliable economy, and unending blood-thirsty terrorist and kidnapping activities.

As the country hobbles and wobbles dangerously towards unknown destination as the politicians gear up for the 2023 General Elections.  may God Almighty sanctify every Nigerian with the spirits of forgiveness, love and compassion as they eschew bigotry  and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with each other in grief and resolve.

Amb Denis Ukume MFR.