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African press review 14 February 2014

Jonathan reshuffles ahead of election. Nigeria searches for missing oil money. Satanism spreads in Joburg. And what are Alomo Bitters?

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Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s dumping of four cabinet ministers continues to dominate comments in the press. The four include Aviation Minister Princess Stella Oduah, Godsday Orubebe, from the Niger Delta portfolio and Caleb Olubolade, Minister of Police Affairs.

The Sun notes that the fired ministers all hail from south-western Nigeria, describing the sackings as a trade-off and the clearest signal that Jonathan has entered into his reelection project.

The Nation reports unease in Jonathan’s camp following the disclosure by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that he promised to spend only one term in office.

According to the paper, there are fears that Obasanjo’s comments may be a pointer to a major coalition against Jonathan’s second-term bid. This is as the ruling PDP is weakened by mass defections - including Atiku Abubakar, the country's vice-president under Obasanjo - to the opposition All Progressives Congress.

Daily Times says a federal high court in Kaduna has fixed 17 March 2014 for judgement on a case challenging Jonathan's eligibility to contest the presidential election in 2015.

This Day for its part highlights remarks by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu  Thursday about the agitation by politicians ahead of the 2015 elections. According to the paper, Ekweremadu warns that Nigeria now sits on a keg of gunpowder that could explode with the slightest ignition.

Vanguard takes up plans by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo Eweala to hire forensic auditors to help trace 20 billion dollars of missing oil money. The shortfall in crude sales was revealed by the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi during a public hearing in the Senate.

Punch points to lessons Nigeria should learn from last week’s EU report that a staggering 120 billion euros is lost annually to corrupt practices.

According to the paper, a clutch of sensational bribery cases involving foreign countries and Nigerian public officials some years ago confirms the globalising character of the spread of corruption.

And for Punch Nigeria cannot afford to wallow in its current image as the sick man of Africa, adding that the time has come for a moral turnaround.

In South Africa the Star is preoccupied by news that satanic groups reaching out to vulnerable young people are becoming “rampant” in certain communities in Johannesburg.

A senior psychiatrist at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital said on Wednesday that she had documented a dramatic increase in suicides by teen patients who admitted contacts with these groups.

Today is Valentine’s Day and, as millions around the world contemplate their plans to celebrate love, Nigeria’s National Agency for the Control of Aids, Naca, is calling for caution. He warns that the high rate of indiscriminate sexual and other negative activities by adolescents is becoming a cause for concern.

In South Africa theMail and Guardian warns about the downside of popular sex enhancers. The paper is most concerned by a Ghanaian alcoholic herbal product made from tropical plant known as Alomo Bitters, which is very popular in west Africa.

It recalls a warning put up by online sex workers in Lagos's notorious Sanusi Fafunwa Street. Clients who use Alomo Bitters or "any high-power drugs like that" will either be denied service or made to pay double," they declared.

M and G says the workers complained of exceptionally powerful men who look deceptively weak but, "when they climb on top, they just begin to work like a bulldozer".

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