₦airaland Forum

Hong Kong (CNN)

10. Iraq

9. South Sudan

8. Libya

7. Yemen

6. Central African Republic

5. D.R. Congo

4. Sudan

3. Afghanistan

2. Syria

1. Somalia



Growing levels of conflict, terrorism, and the toppling of regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as political violence in East Africa, are driving a rise in political instability worldwide, according to research by UK risk analysis firm, Maplecroft released on Thursday.

Since 2010, one in ten of the countries surveyed have experienced a significant increase in the level of short-term political risk.

These risks include governments asserting control over natural resources, regimes being ousted by popular uprisings and the expropriation of foreign investors' assets.

The findings form part of the latest Maplecroft Political Risk Atlas, which uses 52 indicators to help companies monitor political issues affecting the business environment in 197 countries.
Security at the Kenya/Somalia border
CNN on the ground in CAR
Doctors speak against atrocities in Syria
'Taliban is in a position to come back'

Since 2010, Syria has deteriorated the most. It now ranks second compared with a 44th place ranking in 2010. Somalia topped the rankings.

Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo also ranked in the top five.

Egypt has been downgraded to "extreme risk" for the first time as a result of violence following the ousting of former President Mohamed Morsy and an increase in terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, the report said.

Maplecroft warned that Syria, Egypt and Libya are "now so bad" that they will be "mired in exceptionally high levels of dynamic political risk for years to come."

A fall in political violence in the Philippines, India and Uganda has contributed to these countries experiencing the biggest reduction in short-term political risk over the past four years.

Improvements in the level of governance has also helped to lower risk levels in Malaysia and Israel in the same period.

Social unrest

The report said there is a higher chance for social unrest to exacerbate political instability in Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

"This is due to the erosion of democratic freedoms, increasing crackdowns on political position and the brutality by security forces towards protesters, compounded by rising food prices and worsening working conditions," Maplecroft said in a statement.

Another concern for foreign investors is that there has been a major increase in oppression by governments worldwide.

"This erosion of political freedoms is central to driving the wider risk of unrest and instability in the medium- to long term," said Charlotte Ingham, senior political risk analyst at Maplecroft.

In the short term, foreign investors face a heightened risk of becoming complicit with the actions of these oppressive regimes, which poses a threat to a company's reputation, the think tank said.

Empowered youth

Instability increases as the gap grows between political freedoms and social gains, such as education and computer literacy among young people.

In 2010, prior to the the Arab Spring, Libya, Tunisia, Iran, Syria and Egypt were among the countries with the biggest divide between political freedoms and social gains.

Maplecroft predicts that the growing imbalance between social gains and political freedoms in Bahrain, Azerbaijan and South Africa will heighten the risk of instability in those countries in 2014 and beyond.

Although China is categorized as "extreme risk" in Maplecroft's ranking of oppressive regimes, the speed of the country's governance reforms is likely to be sufficient to limit the chances of widespread social unrest that could lead to a "jasmine" revolution, according to the think tank.

But China's increased scrutiny of foreign business practices has created compliance challenges for companies operating there, the report added.

Maplecroft cautioned that Vietnam's crackdown on social media and freedom of speech amid growing opposition may undermine the stability of the government in the long term.

Poland has experienced a significant increase in the level of political freedoms over the past four years, according to Maplecroft, and now displays a "near perfect balance" between the level of political freedoms and social gains, which reduces the likelihood of protests and disputes over labor conditions.

Political violence

East African countries saw the biggest increase in the risk of political violence, including terrorism, poor governance, and regimes vulnerable to popular uprisings. Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan scored in the "extreme risk" category, while Kenya and Ethiopia are "high risk." Eritrea, Tanzania and Mozambique also saw a change in their risk category.

Three years after the Arab Spring, more than 60% of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region have seen a significant rise in political violence, demonstrating the long-term political risks associated with forced regime change, the report said.

In the West, the impact of the global financial crisis continues to be seen in high levels of unemployment and underemployment.

This, combined with austerity measures, has contributed to growing inequality and stalling or declining living standards, according to Maplecroft.

Political landscapes both in Europe and the United States have become increasingly fragmented and polarized as populist parties flourished in response to growing voter dissatisfaction with established political parties over these issues.

Obasanjo's letter to IBB in 1992

PAGE BY
TouchPH Newsdesk

12.Dec.2013


Below is the full text of a speech General Olusegun Obasanjo had wanted to read at a National Executive Council Meeting, in Abuja in 1992 in response to General Ibrahim Babangida’s whimsical transition program, meant to keep him indefinitely in power.


We are in the grip of a grave national crisis. There are very many dimensions to this crisis. The aspect that has been the talking point lately is the crisis of succession that has arisen from the botched presidential primaries and the lackluster effort to manage it. Then there is the economic crisis, which has received little or no attention in recent times and has been growing steadily worse. In the social sphere the story is the same: social services and infrastructures are crumbling and the human condition, the quality of life is deteriorating. Nigeria is on the verge of total paralysis.
Most of those who can with some respect and credibility speak out against the ills of the present have become victims of the practice that has come to be called “settlement”.

Choosing a moment when they are most vulnerable, the government steps in with generous assistance, to fly them or their dependants abroad for life-saving medical treatment or favors of lifting oil or supplying fertilizer-patrimonial governance. From that point, their silence is assured. With the nation’s health care delivery system on the brink of collapse, only very few would not yield to such blandishments. But can such blandishments be offered to the retired schoolteacher, the retired railway worker, and the retired postal clerk? Or to the farmer, the peasant or the Nigerian market women who constitute the majority of our people? Are they too not citizens, entitled as of right to all the good things that their nation can provide? Won’t the high and the low be better of, if we improve the national health care delivery system?

The silence and acquiescence of those who have been co-opted into the system is thus assured. Many of them have acquired wealth beyond their wildest dreams, and will not now threaten it by principled dissent. For all such people, engagement with power has been a kiss of intellectual death, an abandonment of independent thought.

All the values we hold dear are under assault. The nation is wracked by tension and despair. Hope has become a scare commodity, and fear a constant compassion.
I believe that the immediate context in which this meeting of the National Council of States has been convened is the crisis of succession arising from the unsuccessful presidential primaries. But this meeting cannot resolve anything, for the council itself is of dubious constitutional validity. Under the constitution, the Council should be presided over by an elected president of the Federal Republic, and should include the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the National Assembly. A president can of course invite people to advise him or by law set up an Advisor or Consultative Council, but that Council cannot have the status of the National Council of States prescribed by the Constitution. As far as I am concerned, this is not a meeting of the National Council of States. I chose to attend primarily because of the opportunity it will afford me to put my views across on the number of fundamental national issues. Mr. President, I have on few occasions in recent times sought this opportunity to meet you privately and discuss these issues. But the chance never came. So, despite my strong doubts about the constitutional validity of this forum, I intend to speak for the record as an invited adviser. I shall be blunt, Mr. President.
For the crisis we face requires blunt, forthright talk, not empty platitudes.

The primary elections for the presidency, it now seems in retrospect, were designed to fail. As it became clearer and clearer that they would fail, many in Nigeria and Abroad were expressing doubts about the credibility of the transition program and about the good faith of the administration in the entire process. Though believing that the law and the process were being manipulated and that the result could only be a deformed baby, I nevertheless held that men and women of goodwill in Nigeria would have to come together in a spirit of community to nurture the deformed baby to normality. Little did I know that we have on our hands not even a stillborn baby but a permanent pregnancy, an abnormal situation fraught with great danger for both mother and child with agonizing state of anxiety for the father and the family?

The crisis was preventable. All that was required was honesty of purpose, and diligent implementation of the transition schedule in a manner that would not raise questions about the integrity of the managers of the transition. What we have had instead is manipulation on a scale almost beyond belief, and rationalization of the most absurd kind. In the name of political engineering, the country has been converted to a political laboratory for trying out all kinds of silly experiments and gimmicks. Principle has been abandoned for expediency. All kinds of booby-traps were instituted into the transition process. The result is the crisis we now face.

There is a growing feeling that some (not all, I must add) Executive governors have forgotten that they are the products of the transitional process and have been elected to further foster it until full civilian democratic rule has become a reality in Nigeria. They have not been elected to subvert the process. Anyone of them, individually or collectively, who advises you (for whatever personal benefits) to extend the life of your administration even by one day betrays the trust of his people and is therefore a traitor to the country’s democratic process.

In any case, the alleged electoral malpractice’s that are now the subject of concern and shock have not been absent from both local and state elections (including gubernatorial elections). Only the scope and magnitude of the manipulations are bigger and larger. Our
Executive Governors who participated fully in the process should not give the impressions that they are saints. This will impress neither one nor Nigerians. They must not destroy the very ladder, which they have climbed to where they are now.

The transition was aimed originally to terminate in 1990. For reasons that were never convincing, it was shifted to 1992. It was claimed that the transition that led to the Second Republic was “rushed”, and that that was why the Second Republic came to grief. By stretching out the transition this time around, it was said, the outcome would be stable and durable. I am sure those who made this claim know better. The public is certainly wiser about their motivations. As I pointed out then, a transition can be made to occupy whatever space anyone choose. What counts is the result. If the outcome of the transition over which I had the honor to preside with your support did not endure, it certainly cannot be because it was “rushed’.
The government decreed two parties into existence, claiming that the five parties of the Second Republic did not make for national cohesion. Yet the said truth is that, even with two parties, the nation is more polarized, more deeply divided, than it was during the Second Republic. The situation was different for that matter during the First Republic when regional, largely ethnically based parties, held sway. In both periods, persons whose authority was recognised and accepted by the rank and file led the political parties. You could speak to the leader or leaders of the party and be sure that you had spoken to the entire party membership. Not anymore.

Those who call the government-created parties parastatals are even being generous.
Parastatals at least have effective and accountable chief executives, who can enforce order and discipline. The same cannot be said about the government-created parties. And yet they are the vehicles through which it is hoped that a stable democracy will be built and nurtured.
We delude ourselves.
The good manipulation we have witnessed these past years are all the more disturbing because they do not even go to the heart of the matter, which is to institute an enduring democratic order in Nigeria. The concern has been with the rules and methods of selection, not with the building and sustenance of democratic institutions and traditions. The managers of the transition are furiously refining the means, long after they have forgotten the end. Our country deserves much better.

Last March, at the University of Ibadan, I gave a lecture reviewing the Nigerian situation. The interesting thing, Mr. President, is those three months after that lecture at Ibadan I was stopped by armed robbers and my car stolen. If I had been killed in that encounter, many Nigerians would have found it difficult to exculpate the authorities from responsibility in the matter. I was grateful to you for your prompt action in visiting me and helping with security vehicles. I had to bear testimony that it was the act of pure criminals who could not even recognize me. I state this to underline the deep-rooted suspicion and unbelief of Nigerians and the credibility gulf between the government and the general public. That is why the fragmentation of power and authority that now characterizes your administration is dangerous.

So also is the existence of all kinds of shadowy, government-funded associations, which make it their business to speak authoritatively for the government, attack decent citizens in the most uncouth language, set individuals against individuals, community against community, religion against religion, soldiers against civilian, Muslim against Christian, and government against citizen. In the process, they have almost destroyed the sense of community without which this country cannot move forward. In the last seven years, the labors of our heroes past have been steadily undermined. Not even that armed forces, which we have always held out as the bedrock of Nigerian unity has been spared this steady devaluation, clearly we cannot continue along this path of destruction.
Prolongation of military rule cannot be the answer under the present circumstances. The honor and integrity of the armed forces in whose name you have governed this country these past seven years are at great risk. The handing over of power to an elected civilian government on January 23, 1993, must proceed apace. There lies the honour of the military, which must not be destroyed. All that needs to be done between now and then can be done if there is seriousness and honesty of purpose, and if the system is allowed to work without manipulation.

We have a voters’ register, we have a national electoral commission in position, with all the support system, for what they are worth, we have two parties. Let the caretakers’ organized party conventions with the assistance of NEC to elect the party flag bearer to contest the presidential elections on the basis open-secret system. Let the ballot papers which can be printed in one week – we did that in 1979 – be printed with the photographs of the two presidential candidates against which the choice of a voter can be indicated. Mr. President, it is a matter for great concern bordering on shame to Nigeria that Angola with more inadequate infrastructures than Nigeria, being engaged in civil population could organize a decent, world-acclaimed, free and affair election within a space of one year with open secret ballot. Of course, where there is will, good intention, determination and integrity, there will be way.

Any prolongation of military rule in the form of diarchy or any other arrangement will not only bring the armed forces into utter disrepute, it will amount to a declaration of war against the sovereign rights of the people of Nigeria to choose their own leaders and conduct their affairs in accordance with the constitution. Enough is enough. Asking NEC or governors to advise AFRC on such issues as timing and period of transition with a view to passing the buck is a big joke and no serious mind is amused or deceived by it. The responsibility is squarely yours.

Except mentioning it in passing, I do not intend to dwell on the issue of destroying the base of the Armed Forces through the ill-advised reported proposal of moving Army Headquarters to Minna, Air Force headquarters to Kano and Navy headquarters to Lagos. The capital of almost every nation I know is also the seat of he headquarters of the Armed Forces. I have it on strong authority that some others have advised you against such precipitate action. But as one has come to know you a little bit better now that you are in power and with power, you could toy with anything believing that Nigerians will shout only for a while and you either silence them with chocking largess, intimidation, hack letters or that time will silence them. You have acted and voiced this tendency in the past. But Mr. President, every word, work and act of yours goes into history. Nobody is immune from the verdict of history.

As someone who was in the battlefield during the Nigerian Civil War and who unexpectedly but providentially assumed the mantle of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and the leadership of the government, I beg you in the name of Allah not to mistake the silence of our people for acquiescence or weakness and the sycophancy of the greedy and opportunistic people who parade the corridors of power as representative of the true feelings of our people. Nigeria needs peace and stability. It is too fragile to face another commotion. In God’s good name drag it not into one. This is the time for you to have some honorable exit.
May God help you and help our country.
November 1992

TouchPH Newsdesk

This piece itself is as lengthy as the said 18page letter.

rooftech: he has stolen 50billion oil money and must go period.

50Billion Dollars translates into about 8Trillion Naira. This is about Nigeria's budget for two whole years. In your very clear senses, do you think Jonathan, Dieziani, Okonjo-Iweala could have possibly embezzled such an amount of cash between January 2012 and July 2013 and the yet the budget and the economy is still walking on its foot? You think Public Sector Accounting is like is like Pythagora's theorem? Well, anything to make the demon out of our enemy is right.
For your info, the CBN gov had asked for detailed and comprehensive clarification and documentation of the movements of the cash and never alleged that someone has misappropriated the fund. Why can't we allow those concerned to come up with their own side of the transaction? After all the both the CBN gov and the Fin min are members of the NEMT.

We all heard Tambuwal talking about body language and supporting corruption just recently. I hope he remembers that Nigerians are aware that this 40.2B naira renovation budget was proposed, presented and approved by the sanctimonious NASS where he holds sway. And they want us to believe their own body language. Anyways, anything that demonizes our enemy is okay.

Well, liked that idea of laboratory for testing of petroleum products. Think Nigeria's moving forward in spite of the daunting challenges.

Nigerians are really funny.

take dat: Congrats to DAM and Nigeria. This slot belongs to Nigeria and not the minister. If GEJ reshuffles his cabinet and appoint a new minister of petroleum, the new minister automatically becomes the Alternate President.

She cannot use her position to increase Nigeria's voting right, and she does not have a vote in her individual capacity as the President. The 'Conference' which is the supreme authority and consists of delegations headed by Petroleum Ministers operate on a principle of 'Unanimity and One Member State, One Vote. Nigeria is also not one of the founding members, so we do not have 'Concurring Vote' when the organization wants to admit a new member.

This isn't our first time also, Nigeria/Rilwan Lukman served as OPEC President for 8 consecutive terms(from 1986-1994), before he was elected as OPEC's Secretary General. All Member States have all had their turns as President of OPEC(election is just mere formality).

What more can I say but thank you for this very erudite exposee. Thank you.

MajeMedia: Forbes person of the year - Agriculture
IMF second runner up for IMF Presidency - Finance
Central Banker Manager of the Year (world wide) - Central Bank
Alternate President of OPEC - Petroleum


i'm smiling

The Nigeria Finance minister came 2nd in the IMF election and therefore she's the 1st runner-up and not 2nd runner-up. Thanks.

MidasT: Kudos to the GEJ administration. No man can deny solid proof of performance. Though a strong supporter of The GEJ administration, the criticism the president is attracting is due to his romance with corruption. I dont see any reason why Stella Oduah should still be a minister after she stepped out of line and purchased those bullet proof cars. If she cannot honourably resign, then she should be fired honourably. Though she is performing, no body is indispensible. Mr. President, take a tough stand on corruption. The pix is for APC

It goes without saying that Jonathan's administration is favoured with well over 80% of very high performing members. Most of the ministers and Directors seem to be holding their track tight.
Talking about Stella that you just brought up, I think she's not sacked for a few reason among others:
1) There's no prove that she "forced" the NCAA to buy those cars as alleged;
2) The siad cars were contained in the budgett as evidence from the documents we've seen. It's not my fault that the HoR didn't see where it was squeezed in after it had early been rejected. But the report had said it wasn't captured in the budget of the agency for 2013:
3) The report had alleged that the cars were bought for her whereas the cars were registered in the name of the agency. Amaechi sold the Rivers state gov't jet to the gov't of Cross River and bought a private jet. And refued to register it in the name of RSG (today he's enjoying e-applause on NL--not that this justifies corruption if Stella was complicit);
4) The political side of this whole saga. If she's sacked then the noisy and noosy opposition and their whistle-blower have won. This, too, isn't a good reason to retain a corrupt official. But it does appear that our Yoruba bothers took that case too personal and frontal.
Enough of Stella. We're talking about Dieziani, the second best thing that has happened to the oil sector since after the discovery of palm kernel oil...lol

Tolexander: will it increase the amount of crude oil produced per day in nigeria or decrease the pump price?

Congrats woman!

I've learned from experience that when a human being is desperate for a thing they can become either so aggressive or so humble but as soon as they get what they want and the pain of the want wanes they seem to forget too soon. Ember months used to be the period that records the highest cases of domestic fire incidents in this country. That used to be due to people buying and storing petrol around their homes for use during the yuletide festivities as the commodity was harder than a goldmine. Today is Dec. 9th no rumour of impending fuel scarcity (artificial or real) and you walk or drive into a filling station and you collect what you want without any stress whatsoever. In fact, most of the stations are running promos this Christmas season. I tell you solemnly, Nigeria may never have an administration like this again in its history if it doesn't take time.

wesley80: Mennn, this is bad news o! Someone in GEJ's govt just made progress and APC's e-rats wont be liking it. How are some folks going to sleep this night considering how they hate this woman?

Love Dieziani or hate her, she's one of the best things that have happened to the Nigerian oil and gas industry, and by extension, the Nigerian economy. I've learned not to listen too much to a loud mouth and a faster talker. The noise some oil thieves made since early last year up to this moment were only meant to demonize a woman who sacrifices her many night sleeps and the laughter in a family dinner just to exorcise the nation of the greed of a few. I followed the debates and consultations building up to the removal of oil subsidy, and one thing was common almost every participant. They all agreed that oil subsidy was killing the poor and enriching a few rich. But the problem was, how would it go? Those who sponsored the protest and those mal-informed youths who participated in it claimed they were fighting for the poor and I wonder how they've not closed down Nigeria because of the high cost of Kerosine (a commodity used by the real poor). Even the govs who endorsed the subsidy removal could not face the heat when it came. But this brave lioness stood!

The minister of Petroluem in Nigeria, Mrs Deziani Allison-Madueke has been elected an Alternate President of the Organization of Petroluem Exporting Countries OPEC. Leaders of the two main oil and gas unions in Nigeria, NUPENG and PENGSSAN have hailed the development, describing it a good omen for the nation's economy. They were happy that her position will increase the voting right of Nigeria at the OPEC.

Sourced from Raypower fm

Nigeria as a nation was the singular most helpful country to SA during its apartheid days in all ways including financial and material and morale supplies. That earned Nigeria the Big Brother title. (Zik) Nigeria defended the cause of SA in all domestic and int'l discourses. President Jonathan had earlier this year brilliantly reminded the South African gov't and people of all how Nigeria had carried the SA on its shoulders during SA's very bad days when he (Jonathan) addressed the SA parliament. Painfully, it appears like SA feels it has arrived at the destination of development, civillization and fulfillment and now acting a little very irrascible to Nigeria and other African countries now.

We don't need an Eze muo to tell us that the Abuja protest was a cranky display of crassness. But I think the op should have (for sanity sake) kept the topic as extracted from the newspaper website. I opened the thread because I wondered how Obi would use such a strong stench of foul words!

Former Finance Minister, Adamu Ciroma and his colleagues said worse things in 2010 and after the elections they managed to kill some innocent corps members (and others) whose blood is still costing the entire north a huge toll up to this moment and the end isn't even still in sight.

The governor has a constitutional protection to defect to a party of his choice but has no right whatsoever to move the property of his former party to his new party. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

sbaks: At least one good thing they are trying to do. People will no longer waste their money and burn their heads unnecessarily. That's a good one.
i only hope more institutions are established.

I honestly wonder if the UTME is still relevant in these times at all. They (JAMB) should just busy themselves with admissions regulations.

Olugbenger: The policy, not the information.

Okay, Boss

Olugbenger: thrash

What part of the information is thrash?

wirinet: Anarchy. Each year over 1.5 million students take jamb, meanwhile our universities can admit at most 150,000. so how do you hope to aggregate students from 3 seperate years. How will the universities set their cut off marks? The problem is not JAMB but highly limited space in our universities for the huge demand.

The argument is sound. But I think there are more private and state government-owned universities coming on stream these days. If the already existing universities recieve the kind of funds they're demanding from the gov't now I think they should be able to absorb more students--this however cannot guarantee that they can take in even up to half. We need more higher and vocational institutions in this country. It's also an opportunity for investment. If only a state can take it up to roll out a tertiary institution free trade zone and give tax rebates and other sundry incentives to prospective investors to woo them I believe that one state can begin to talk about housing over 30 higher institutions on its soils. States like Imo, Osun, Ekiti, Anambra, Kaduna, Kwara, etc have comparative advantage.

Aspetta: I hope they mean it. It will go a long way if and when they pass the law.

The Steve Orasanya committee on the Rationalization of Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies and Parastatals had recently presented a recommendation that JAMB UTME should be discontinued and that the Board should only oversee admission processing without bothering itself with exams. With this news, one wonders if that recommendation has been jettisoned.

Abagworo: The Eze Duruiheoma man is a nonsense man. He's one of those that depended on Imo allocation during Ohakim era and will definitely play to a gallery. He cannot stand on his own as a principled man or oppose the views of the President when it disagrees with his stance. I admire upright men. Someone like Nnamani could have done better.

Nnamani is appointed by Jonathan for a certain agency I can't remember again. Talking about Eze Duruiheoma's mercurial lifestyle, I think the NPC is a different shade of politics and haven seen the fate suffered by the man he replaced, he'd learn to deliver a sound headcount. Am sorry for sounding this way, but most people from Mbano who have held public offices haven't proven themselves on the scale of integrity. Check out Maurice Iwu, Ikedi Ohakim, Senator Ararume (reputed for the highest number of absenteeism during his time in senate).

Sourced from the FRCN

The Federal House of Representatives have concluded arrangements to enact a law aimed at making the results of the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board, JAMB's Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination UTME valid for three consecutive years. When this bill proposal is passed into Law, candidates who write the examination can use the result to seek admission into higher institutions in the country for three years after the sitting. The result is currently valid for seeking admission only for one year.

[quote author=sagytarius™]Some hearts must have been broken. They must have thought that Festus would be replaced by someone from the SW or the North itself. They should just GO AND DIE. [/quote]Experience has shown us that after you stand with your hands tucked in your trousers and you say GO AND DIE you'll soon grovel with hands clasped together and you'll beg COME AND DINE

[quote author=99/100]Nice 1 by the president.
Ah! We need an Igboman there o else we will have little or no confidence in d excercise come 2016.
We believe we Igbos are d majority ethnic group in this country if there is credible cencus.[b]







If Igbos don't accept the census results just on the basis that it was conducted by a non-Igbo how then do you except other tribes to accept the result if it's conducted by an Igboman? What our people should insist on is a transparent, credible and electronic census and not where the Chief Executive Officer of the umpire comes from. I also believe that the south is more populous than the north.[/quote]

idumuose: I hope he keeps his game plan secret unlike Odimegwu who was too
talkative

If his game plan is not to give Nigeria and Nigerians a credible headcount, then that game plan is an evil plan.

kayzat: Let's wait and see. Another round of civil war between the North and some flatty over census result in the offing.

If only it's a credible headcount there shall be no war.

HappyJoe: APC should fix its perception issues. The fact that all South Western APC governors take direct orders from Bourdillon (Tinubu) doesn't help the image of the party in Anambra State. Igbos are the last people who want their governors to be controlled by Tinubu - & the fact that there is NOT one single independent APC governor in the South West doesn't help matters.

During APC campaigns in Anambra State, how many people from the North came? It was just Tinubu and his group. Do you think Ndigbo want to join that group that has zero internal democracy. If their governor joins APC nko? Will his voice be heard when issues that really matter are discussed.

You people really need to do a few things.

1. UNDERSTAND why Ndigbo are not yet sold on APC. Merely shouting "bigot" at every turn isn't going to help anyone.
2. DEMONSTRATE that internal democracy works in APC first. Look, if I was a Yoruba person, I'd jump on the APC bandwagon - but if you were Igbo, would you want to join a party with as little internal democracy as APC?

Now some people will insult me, but the smart folks will think about what I just wrote.

If I was in Anambra, and if I had franchise in that election I'd probably not vote Ngige, maybe not because of his APC party but because of the politicing that went on in his camp: the Osun criminals that came to rig for him; the campaign of calumny; the overt desperation of his party; etc. But judging from Ngige's past governance there's been no arguments that he worked hard even under very uncomfortable situation.