Beaf's characterisation of Ribadu as a bigot has campaign for Jonathan written all over it.

Ribadu should not have said what he said. But it is what it is A GAFFE

Ribadu is never a Bigot.

PhysicsQED:

I don't really see the appeal of Ribadu. The guy seems like a bit of a simpleton. He blindly attacked OBJ's opponents without also going after crooks that OBJ was shielding and supporting and now is even backtracking on the need to verify the sources of money that might flow into his campaign. Jonathan, apart from having a Ph.D, seems quietly clever, and mostly politically competent, barring that gaffe about MEND and the abuja bombing.

appeal of ribadu- he is a muslim number 1, he is hausa-fulani number 2 and he is young different from ibb buhari gasau number 3

thats all thats needed to get votes in the north.

mikeansy:

Beaf's characterisation of Ribadu as a bigot has campaign for Jonathan written all over it.

Ribadu should not have said what he said. But it is what it is A GAFFE

Ribadu is never a Bigot.

It isn't campaign season yet. However, I am from ethnic minorities from both parents, depending on how open and sensitive you are, I might see things very differently from you.

Ribadu is a bigot.

Beaf:

It isn't campaign season yet. However, I am from ethnic minorities from both parents, depending on how open and sensitive you are, I might see things very differently from you.

Ribadu is a bigot.

Ribadu is a member of a wandering tribe. He is a gypsy glorified in Nigeria as Fulani. At least you can claim to be aboriginal to where you come from.

So Ribadu is not head and shoulders above you.

His comment was simply misguided.

amingafar:

appeal of ribadu- he is a muslim number 1, he is hausa-fulani number 2 and he is young different from ibb buhari gasau number 3

thats all thats needed to get votes in the north.

Can anybody win elections in Nigeria with Muslim votes alone?
Can anybody win elections in Nigeria with Hausa Fulani votes alone?

I think some of you are exagerating the importance of one ethnic group in Nigeria's political space.

mikeansy:

Ribadu is a member of a wandering tribe. He is a gypsy glorified in Nigeria as Fulani. At least you can claim to be aboriginal to where you come from.

So Ribadu is not head and shoulders above you.

His comment was simply misguided.

Is he a baby at 50?

It really doesn't matter if his ethnic group is nomadic (by the way he is of royal stock that never roamed). The fact is that, he is from a majority ethnic group and his words mark him out as a bigot; they are off an incredibly serious nature and will yeild and equally serious impact; its as simple as that. 40% of Nigerians who are minorities have been directly insulted and a very large percentage of those from ethnic majorities feel violated.

Ribadu is a bigot who has no place in govt at any level; he is headed for the bin.

mikeansy:

Can anybody win elections in Nigeria with Muslim votes alone?
Can anybody win elections in Nigeria with Hausa Fulani votes alone?

I think some of you are exagerating the importance of one ethnic group in Nigeria's political space.

I didnt say that the muslim or hausa-fulani vote is needed to win in Nigeria cause it isnt, I said ribadu appeals to the north because of his religion and ethncity without being a muslim majority of the north will not even pay a christian candidate attention. with out being you cannot gain more than half of the norths votes

amingafar:

I didnt say that the muslim or hausa-fulani vote is needed to win in Nigeria cause it isnt, I said ribadu appeals to the north because of his religion and ethncity without being a muslim majority of the north will not even pay a christian candidate attention. with out being you cannot gain more than half of the norths votes

right whats the implication of that?

will the next President be chosen only by the North?

Beaf you can say what you like but Bigot or tribalist tag will not stick on Ribadu because the man did not come into public life today.

He has been in public life since 2003 and Nigerians know what he is all about.

One line of misguided statement will not erase 7years of public service.

mikeansy:

Beaf you can say what you like but Bigot or tribalist tag will not stick on Ribadu because the man did not come into public life today.

He has been in public life since 2003 and Nigerians know what he is all about.

One line of misguided statement will not erase 7years of public service.

Dude, thats your cup to carry.
7 years of carefully guarded falsehood have toppled in a day. Thats why they say, everyday for the thief, one day for the owner of the house.

Ribadu is an ethnic bigot.

I don't have any cup to carry cos Ribadu is not my candidate. I am only defending civility and common sense.

BTW if making one silly comment qualifies you a bigot then Jonathan is Ribadu's elder brother in the village of bigots.

All we ask for is for all public servants to be held up to the same standards.

Goodnight and have a good weekend.

mikeansy:

Beaf you can say  what you like but Bigot or tribalist tag will not stick on Ribadu because the man did not come into public life today.

He has been in public life since 2003 and Nigerians know what he is all about.

One line of misguided statement will not erase 7years of public service.

My guy, the tribalist tag don gum Ribadu like super glue. He is finished.Leaving his prejudice aside, somebody who could be so easily bamboozled by Tinubu can not be our president.

Ribadu has already stated that he will not probe anybody nor question the source of their money which means corruption will in fact prosper.

Did he espouse any ideology or policy for the development of Nigeria?

No.

mikeansy:

I don't have any cup to carry cos Ribadu is not my candidate. I am only defending civility and common sense.

BTW if making one silly comment qualifies you a bigot then Jonathan is Ribadu's elder brother in the village of bigots.

All we ask for is for all public servants to be held up to the same standards.

Goodnight and have a good weekend.

You come across as someone with a hot temper. But that does not change the fact that to me (and all decent people), Ribadu is a bigot.

SapeleGuy:

My guy, the tribalist tag don gum Ribadu like super glue. He is finished.Leaving his prejudice aside, somebody who could be so easily bamboozled by Tinubu can not be our president.

Ribadu has already stated that he will not probe anybody nor question the source of their money which means corruption will in fact prosper.

Did he espouse any ideology or policy for the development of Nigeria?

No.

Don't mind mikeansy. I really wonder at the strange and funny arguments he's been making.
Ribadu is going in the bin. I can easily see Tinubu using and milking him for a few more weeks before living his empty husk on the garbage heap.

I really shocked that Ribadu could make such a statement. . .DAMN IT!

I don't know why, but as a minority I wasn't even all that offended by that or even shocked. I kind of expected it almost. I'm only disappointed in seeing Ribadu fall into the "stereotypical" Hausa-Fulani Northern hegemonic mindset. He might have said "sadly" but by ending with Jonathan being "unacceptable and not "electable" he showed that he conceded to that mindset, to that "born to rule" mentality and had no interest in challenging it or reforming his people's political outlook.

That "born to rule" mentality  of Northerners is a major source of problems for Nigeria, from 1967 to the present. And by that "born to rule" mentality let me say exactly what I mean: When Ribadu says that Jonathan is not acceptable to the North, it is not actually the simple chauvinism that people are assuming it is, in my opinion, and he is not merely saying that Northerners feel that some member of some tiny group cannot be "ruling" them (actually, what problem did Northerners have with Gowon (Angas), IBB (Gwari) and Abacha (Kanuri)?) especially as they've accepted such rule before.

Really what he is conveying is that Jonathan, an Ijaw, is unacceptable because there is no justification for some tiny Southern ethnic group being granted a position that would otherwise belong to a Northerner. The basic mentality which Ribadu has revealed he acquiesces to, and maybe even condones, is that a Northerner must rule Nigeria by default, and that in between this Northern rule the presidency is to be granted to a Yoruba or an Igbo  by the North on account of the large population of those groups, to keep up appearances and make things seem fair, but for it to be given to a group of people with no political muscle (a minority) is a travesty.

The presidency, he is implying, is loaned to Igbo and Yoruba by the North but for it to go a tiny group to which the North has no obligations, and is small enough that it should normally be able to ignore them, unlike the Yoruba or Igbo, annoys Northerners who feel that they only ever would give up the presidency to Igbo or Yoruba because they have to, and are now giving up something valuable and which supposedly is their birthright when they don't have to. A few Northern politicians, we know, are fine with handing over power to an Igbo in 2015 (with the exception of Buhari, who doesn't oppose it, but hasn't made any commitments), even though most of the people making the Igbo-2015 promises are PDP and PDP had originally slated 2015 for some (presumably non-Igbo) Niger-Deltan. However those same Northerners who are fine with giving it away to an Igbo quite soon would probably be equally annoyed, and also view as unacceptable having to give away the presidency to an Efik or Annang at some point in the future after that Igbo presidency if a credible candidate from one of those groups (Donald Duke?) could possibly clinch the presidency- also because those two groups should be "ignorable". The sad thing is, if Nigeria practiced real democracy, all this crap about background wouldn't matter. Hausa-Fulani-  about 25 percent of the population, Yoruba- 25 percent of the population, Igbo- 25 percent of the population, Others- 25 percent of the population. Some of those others are Northerners and some are Southerners and we have to ask, why would the North get uptight when a southern part of that other 25% happened to emerge and get into a position of leadership, especially considering their chances of getting it again would be rather small? Because it's in their mindset that they own the political affairs of Nigeria. This is what Ribadu tacitly agrees with.

This is just my theory, and it might not make sense to some people so I'm not asking everybody see it my way but  this is just what I see. I think what that statement revealed about Ribadu was far deeper than simple "his group is too small for him to rule the large North" bigotry. Rather, I think it revealed he is no where near as "progressive" or "young and different" as people assume considering that he still has the mentality of a supporter of Northern hegemony over the political affairs of this country.