this arguement is an old one here. the joy of winning an arguement is key to the re-incarnation of this same arguement.
the last time i saw this arguement, i said it is a big lie but no matter what points u give here, nigerians and nairalanders believe obj is the best nigerian.
well, i don't want to repeat myself pointing to selections(election) under obj, political thugry, the killing of two communities, the assasination of bola ige, the power contracts, the roads reconstruction contracts, the security,abuse of office, the third term agenda, the radical lootings, the imposition of candidate, the moral decandence etc but a speaker once said; EVERY SUCCESS WITHOUT A SUCCESSOR IS A FAILURE.
under bush, america had too many enemies and bush was highly regarded as a bad president but history was quick to cover all that with a single reason that bush gave birth to an oposition president that hsitorically is the first black (african) american president which in totality was a product of free and fair elections but what do we have as the end product of the best president in the history of nigeria?
on the other hand, assuming the poster and his group wins this arguement as usual, obasanjo must have tried more than anyother president according to them, is it not right for him to give chance to someone else to come and try?
why is he still hanging around, indirectly controlling the affiars of this country from a hiden cave?
why is he not letting go?
why making himself the only qualified candidate for the post of chairman pdp board of trustees?
nigerians must think fast.
the mysterious emergence of goodluck jonathan has given birth to the home coming of all run-away obj boys like el -rufai and ribadu. what is really happening.
CHANGE THEY SAY IS THE ONLY CONSTANT THING IN LIFE SO WHY IS OBJ MAKING HIMSELF THE ONLY CONSTANT PERSON AND THING IN NIGERIA?

Obj can neva nd eva b considad as d best president eva.
In his democratic sojourn 4 evrything Obj gav wit d right he took double wit d left.
Take a luk @ communication, he brought in d private coys nd killed our own NItel, collected $285m each frm 3 comm coys 4 d provision of infrastructure but d money is no where 2 b found d implication is d high rate @ which we make calls nd pls let us take note dat we had no choice as a nation because d GSM technology must come it was actually spreadin @ dat time there was nothin special in MTN nd co comin 2 nigeria.
Let's luk @ d oil sector, he was minister of petroleum 4 8yrs nd openly admitted dat it wasn't compulsory dat he tuk his advisers advice, but yet crude oil sold @ d highest eva wat was d benefit 2 nigerians constant increase in d price of petroleum products afta prolonged scarcity, removin subsidy but d subsidy neva seemed 2 b completely removed, killed our refineries made the oil producin areas a hotbed damn how can anyone think of him as d best eva he shld be considad 4 d worst eva.




The biggest prob of nigeria is dat d leaders with good intentions nd will 2 correct all ills neva lasted in ofc. Take an Ironsi, if he had spent 9yrs lik Gowon dis country wld hav bin beta dan it is 2day, if Murtala had enjoyed 3yrs dat Obj enjoyed as Military ruler nigeria wld not hav children on d streets hawkin, if Buhari had been able 2 rule dis country with Idiagbon 4 8yrs instead of IBB corruption wld not be in d nigerian dictionary, we won't be thinkin of d Rawlings option here in Nigeria instead all corrupt elements would hav bin servin impossible jail terms dat wld serve as lesson 2 evryone, if Abdulsalam had continued 4 5yrs as long as Abacha ruined us d kind of democracy he wld hav bequeathed us wld hav bin beta nd our standard of livin wld hav bin beta nd if only Umaru Yaradua had good health 2 hold dis country 4 8yrs like Obj b4 him we would still hav bin able to come out of this doldrum we hav found ourselves, court judgements wld always be respected, witch hunting wld not be an issue, assasinations wld hav bin a thin of d past, high level profligacy wld hav bcom a thin of d past, Oil prices wld hav kip droppin even afta deregulation d NDelta wld enjoy so much peace nd devt.


Havin said this how can I tink of Obj as best eva he is a massive failure a collosal one @it.

^ You're a real joker, LOL . NITEL ? Dude are you kidding us ? That point alone disqualifies every other character you punched on your key board.
Please answer this question, from your own estimation, is Nigeria's telecom sector better than it was even in comparison to the rest of the world or worse of ? Do you know Nigeria has the highest number people with internet access/users in the whole of Africa ? What position were we when your "NITEL" was functioning ? Don't make me laugh please.

@Mikeansy and Edoyad. Well it is good that some people see good in the man. I have always been of the opinion that Obj did well, for his level of intelligence and education. Unashamedly I backed 3rd term (I am sure I will have my opponents here), but this is why.

Nigeria is a very difficult country, make no mistake of that, and even more difficult are those who choose to keep Nigeria were they think it should be, for it benefits them so. Now some would argue that the law should be there to protect Nigerians and move things forward accordingly. The painful truth is that we are not at a stage were law and order works in Nigeria. It is still jungle and gutter pit justice in Nigeria. And you need someone who is prepared to jump into that cesspit and fight, and the truth is that only someone like Obj can do it. look at what he did to Atiku, and I have no doubt if he was still there he would have gotten some of the very diffucult decisions through. Who knows Maybe Ibb and Ibori would have been in jail long time ago, or maybe this is just wishful thinking. But what I know is that there is still a lot of unfinished business of a very tough nature and u need a real hardman to get them through.

Saying all this tho, he did do a lot of things I never approved off, but u got to take the rough with the smooth, especially in a country like Nigeria.

Listen guys, there is no need for a big fight on this issue. I think a good summation of Obj, would be that he did as best as his intelligence and wisdom could carry him. I think it would be over stretching it to suggest that he is the best, it is far too early to call ,but base on what we have had in the past, he somewhat sticks out.

Though OBJ is not the worst president nigeria has ever produced, but he remain the worst president in our generation.  He spent 8 years and we remain in in darkness for those years.  He has increased the prices of fuel more than any president did.  He gave us gsm but we should know that at a point, everycall you make on MTN, certain amount goes to OBJ (he claims he was fighting curruption)

"In 1999, Nigeria was not looking for a president that will build roads, fix power or provide water; Nigeria was looking for a president that will hold Nigerians together." - Olusegun Obasanjo

Still studying the comments

@ Ibime
!999? Really? That is your opinion and a funny one at that but even IF SO WHAT OF 2003?

"In 1999, Nigeria was not looking for a president that will build roads, fix power or provide water; Nigeria was looking for a president that will hold Nigerians together." - Olusegun Obasanjo

@ibime,
if that was what nigeria was looking for in 1999, did we get that till date? how together is nigeria looking at the niger delta militants, jos and kaduna riots, politicals killings in between the time? the wiping out of two communities by the govt of togetherness?
if the 1999 togetherness was achieved, what was nigeria looking for in 2003? assuming u have the answer, tell us also the mission of third term?
in the best administration in the history lof man, for the first time in the history of nigeria, political thugs became legally inshrined in our system as we saw in the federal govt backed actions of chris uba of anambra state and late adedibu of oyo state.
today many are still remembering the $12B oil windfall of babangida while $16b electricity project funds have been swept under the carpet.
the sins of the abachas are still fresh while all road reconstruction contracts, harlibuton scandals, federal govt's official lootings via our banks have been a thing of the past. yes we are progressing.
this best president with all the available resources could not give nigeria light so it has become an impossibility to have light because the best man cld not provide light so no one else.
if anyone sees obj as the best president of nigeria, that one is doomed and is never and will never see better things in his life. half of nigerian youths are slaves to countries far below nigeria and some other ones are serving jail terms in crime raleted offenses. very soon, we will been on ques to obtain ghana visa.
in a country rated sixth highest oil producing country in the world, a man was made president/petrolium minister for 8 uninterupted years and we are still in darkness, a high class slowpoke stood up to advertise the best president. may God punish ur mouth and may all the sufferings of the innocent and poor masses of this godforsaken country be ur portion in ur endeavour to project the best president.

marvix:

Obj can neva nd eva b considad as d best president eva.
In his democratic sojourn 4 evrything Obj gav wit d right he took double wit d left.
Take a luk @ communication, he brought in d private coys nd killed our own NItel, collected $285m each frm 3 comm coys 4 d provision of infrastructure but d money is no where 2 b found d implication is d high rate @ which we make calls nd pls let us take note dat we had no choice as a nation because d GSM technology must come it was actually spreadin @ dat time there was nothin special in MTN nd co comin 2 nigeria.
Let's luk @ d oil sector, he was minister of petroleum 4 8yrs nd openly admitted dat it wasn't compulsory dat he tuk his advisers advice, but yet crude oil sold @ d highest eva wat was d benefit 2 nigerians constant increase in d price of petroleum products afta prolonged scarcity, removin subsidy but d subsidy neva seemed 2 b completely removed, killed our refineries made the oil producin areas a hotbed damn how can anyone think of him as d best eva he shld be considad 4 d worst eva.




The biggest prob of nigeria is dat d leaders with good intentions nd will 2 correct all ills neva lasted in ofc. Take an Ironsi, if he had spent 9yrs lik Gowon dis country wld hav bin beta dan it is 2day, if Murtala had enjoyed 3yrs dat Obj enjoyed as Military ruler nigeria wld not hav children on d streets hawkin, if Buhari had been able 2 rule dis country with Idiagbon 4 8yrs instead of IBB corruption wld not be in d nigerian dictionary, we won't be thinkin of d Rawlings option here in Nigeria instead all corrupt elements would hav bin servin impossible jail terms dat wld serve as lesson 2 evryone, if Abdulsalam had continued 4 5yrs as long as Abacha ruined us d kind of democracy he wld hav bequeathed us wld hav bin beta nd our standard of livin wld hav bin beta nd if only Umaru Yaradua had good health 2 hold dis country 4 8yrs like Obj b4 him we would still hav bin able to come out of this doldrum we hav found ourselves, court judgements wld always be respected, witch hunting wld not be an issue, assasinations wld hav bin a thin of d past, high level profligacy wld hav bcom a thin of d past, Oil prices wld hav kip droppin even afta deregulation d NDelta wld enjoy so much peace nd devt.


Havin said this how can I tink of Obj as best eva he is a massive failure a collosal one @it.

you seem to prefer an angel you dont to a devil you know.your credence to the govt of murtala,buhari,ironsi and abdul salam in your own thinking is that these people would have been better if they had stayed longer as head of states.what gave you that assertion.for your information,ibb was accepted by most nigerians in the first few days of taking over than any of his fellow colleagues;promising to handover and set up a democratic govt.what later happened,he changed and became a terror in power.the achievements that is being publicised as his accomplishment came as a cushion effect of the structural Adjustment programme and they all died off before he left office.
buhari was no better,he was a ruthless leader who didnt believe in democracy talkless of handing over to one.civil groups,student unions,Nigeria medical association were proscribed during his regime.there was no freedom of speech nor criticism of his government at that time.
abdul salam handed over because of US pressure on him and he was not seeking to stay in office.
murtala was better.he ran a welfarist govt and that is all even though people didnt appreciate nor accept him when he was in power.
the bottomline is that they all got power through the barrel but despite that obj was outstanding among them.obasanjo's choice of privatizing nitel borne out from his numerous reforms and i can tell you that nigeria became a better place where you can see the middle-class level in 1999.thanks to obj for opening everything!!!.you can ask civil servants and the police for more clarification

^ abi o , let them even add the military to that list, go and ask them. See the rubbish that almajiri chidicris is posting, OBJ brought unemployment to Nigeria and caused mass exodus of Nigerians can you believe the billy goat ? Nigerians have been emigrating for twenty years now if you don't know. I remember one Ad when i was little where Andrew was entreated to remain in Nigeria and not travel out. During Abacha's time i remember the persistent fuel scarcity that raged on for years while oil bunkery was going on with Abacha and his cronies making billions from Nigerians blood. Was it in OBj's regime that we started experiencing endemic power outages and water shortage ?
Some people are just too stu.pid to remember yesterday.

I thought we have dealt with this topic again and again on NL here.
What was the primary intention of OBJ giving us Yaradead as his successor?
To deceive narrow minded people like the poster and other Nigerians out there. OBJ want Nigerians to see him as the best, that was why he forced Yaradead on us knowing he was gonna be a failure. And i bet it that Nigeria will never see any progress under PDP as long as OBJ still remain alive. That is why there is need to vote out PDP come 2011 if they will give us free and fair election, which i doubt the possibility.

OBJ can never be the best president until Nigerians are being giving the opportunity to chose their leader themselves. Only when the one we have chosen failed us we can then see obj as the best. We cannot see OBJ as the best among the worst he has forced on us. This is jst like a one eye man always surrounding himself with blind men jst to maintain his superiority over them. Best my foot.

princekevo:

I thought we have dealt with this topic again and again on NL here.
What was the primary intention of OBJ giving us Yaradead as his successor?
To deceive narrow minded people like the poster and other Nigerians out there. OBJ want Nigerians to see him as the best, that was why he forced Yaradead on us knowing he was gonna be a failure. And i bet it that Nigeria will never see any progress under PDP as long as OBJ still remain alive. That is why there is need to vote out PDP come 2011 if they will give us free and fair election, which i doubt the possibility.

OBJ can never be the best president until Nigerians are being giving the opportunity to chose their leader themselves. Only when the one we have chosen failed us we can then see obj as the best. We cannot see OBJ as the best among the worst he has forced on us. This is jst like a one eye man always surrounding himself with blind men jst to maintain his superiority over them. Best my foot.

marwa,ibb,atiku are the leading contenders for the presidential seat in 2007.in your understanding who would you have preferred for the post.you can't rule out the fact that pdp is stronger than all those opposition parties.save for his illness,yaradua was better than all the asirants and you know that.

~Bluetooth:

marwa,ibb,atiku are the leading contenders for the presidential seat in 2007.in your understanding who would you have preferred for the post.you can't rule out the fact that pdp is stronger than all those opposition parties.save for his illness,yaradua was better than all the asirants and you know that.

With your political experience and knowledge in Nigeria please tell me Yaradau was the best PDP could produce from the north?

2. Please tell me Yaradau ever nursed the ambition of contesting for the presidency until someone convinced him to do so.

3. Oh we are now blaming his illness, when did Yaradua's illness become obvious, his term as the president or when he was the governor? I don't wanna go into his achievements within 2years he was in the office


4. What makes you think Atiku wouldn't have been a better successor, more experienced, mpre vibrant to a position/office he viced for 8years?

5. finally why would one man decided for 150million people who should be their best? Why didn't OBj conduct a free and fair election let the mass chose for themselves. Your single voice and OBJ is not the voice of the nation. Your opinion abt the 3 people you mention above and you own best candidate might not be the opinion of others. If we unanimously chose yaradua which finally failed we can then see OBJ as the best, but not seeing him as the best among the once he forced on us.

marwa,ibb,atiku are the leading contenders for the presidential seat in 2007.in your understanding who would you have preferred for the post.you can't rule out the fact that pdp is stronger than all those opposition parties.save for his illness,yaradua was better than all the asirants and you know that.

@Bluetooth,
if this is where ur ability to reason lands u, it means we are not supposed to be on the same forum.
whatever happens to our rights to vote and be voted for? do u know that ur vote is worth more than a million dollars? do u know that ur single vote can change this country.
do u know what it means denying u ur voting right? do u know that been denied of the right to vote or be voted for, someone is calling u a lunatic or ex-convict?
why did clinto give americans chance to choose bush and why did bush allow americans to choose the first african-american president or are u saying ur wise obasanjo is wiser than such great men or are nigerians more democratic than the americans.
do u know it was one of the most stupid things nigerians have done in dropping the constitution of the federal republic of nigeria for that of an indidual?
now that we followed ur wiseman, we are we 3 years on?
it does not matter who becomes the president, what is more important is the supremacy of our constitution as stipulated by the democratic rules and regulations.
mandela was a very charished man/president in south africa but he understood the meaning of change. clinton is believed to be among the best america has seen in presidents yet he did not ask or fought for third term or work to impose a candidate. stop supporting the evil that is destroying nigeria.
we are the only country in the world without electricity both the poor and the rich - why?
why are we praising an ape who had the opportunity to rule nigeria as a president and petrolium minister for uninterupted 8 yrs and could not give us the power he promised?
obj promised us steady power supply on two different occassions but never did upon all the funds he spoent on that, what name do u call such man? a liar, a deciet and a cheat.

Edoyad.

How can OBJ be the best president in Nigeria when lawlessly was legalised during his regime?

Wiping out of 2 communities Odi and Zaki Biam.

Political killings- Can you count the number of such? Bola Ige, Harry Marshall, Dikibo, Funsho Williams and non of the killers was apprehended.

Shariah implementation and subsequent riots

The worst elections in the history of humanity

Using $16b to buy darkness.

Can you tell me the number of times pump prices was increased under OBJ and compare it to the sickly YarAdua.

Can anything be worse than OBJ?

dayokanu:

Edoyad.

How can OBJ be the best president in Nigeria when lawlessly was legalised during his regime?

Wiping out of 2 communities Odi and Zaki Biam.

Political killings- Can you count the number of such? Bola Ige, Harry Marshall, Dikibo, Funsho Williams and non of the killers was apprehended.

Shariah implementation and subsequent riots

The worst elections in the history of humanity

Using $16b to buy darkness.

Can you tell me the number of times pump prices was increased under OBJ and compare it to the sickly YarAdua.

Can anything be worse than OBJ?

GBAM. . . . OBJ's comment alone about "Nigerians never wanted light, water and good roads" is an indictment of his tenure. Legalised lawlessness epitomised OBJ tenure with no better example than the way he gave Adedibu free rein to terrorise Oyo State.

still looking for opportunity to beat him

maybe you should ask ASUU and NANS what they feel about OBJ

the man who will allow lecturers go on strike forever can never be the best President

OBJ, ill slap him b4 he dies

^ And in return he'll do his favorite thing with your young wife also.

strangleyo:

It's interesting this thread, I see most posters have no clue what they are talking about.

Electricity, crime, corruption, and so on have all gotten worse not because the president made it worse, but because of uncontrolled population growth without any investment in infrastructure to accommodate that growth. The truth is, we don't know how to.

A few people mentioned that Obj was a decent president, but his own ego sometimes got in the way of his job. That is correct.


Most of Nigeria's problems are beyond the grasp of one man's control. Ibb, Abacha, Obj, Shagari, we can name them all day, none of them could alone stop the rot. Its comes within the depths of our own past and the nature of our psyche.


Take something as simple as civil service; administrative duties such as property tax collection, and the re-allocation of resources at the municipal level for public works projects such as sewers, roads, health clinics, street lamps, local schools and then their maintenance. How many people at the civil service level know how the process works? How many Nigerians know how this process works?

Did IBB not try and reign in on civil service ineptitude? Was he successful? Absolutely not? Why? Because we do not have, and never have had the proper framework for nationhood. We are 4 nations. No. 4 major Ethnic groups lumped together, and none of us, I mean, none, can make this thing actually work.

Nigeria is a shambolic geographic location. I will refrain from even calling it a country.

Obasanjo did what he could, as did Yar'Adua, and the countless before them, but the system is simply non-existent and the framework of nationhood is not something the average Nigerian has any interest in.

Anything short of wholesale Soviet or China style restructuring of our system from both the top down and bottom up will fail and making this thing work.

Truthfully I've become despondent about our prospects for the future, perhaps slaughtering all of our leaders like Russia, China, France and countless other 'success' stories is the only option we may have at restructuring the system. When I say leaders I don't mean politicians, I mean our "real" leaders, the ones that sold our brothers to the Portuguese for gold nuggets and mirrors, the elders, the preachers, the tribal kings, that's where half of our problems lie.

You know where the other half are,

And its not in the presidential villa.

Good post, us Nigerians are the least patriotic people ever, especially when it comes to nation building.  We are the architects of our own misfortune. EOS

oh yeah, OBJ is the least worst President.

@ Ibime
Though I rarely agreed with your views on many topics on this forum, but I must confess that you were right when you said that in 1999, Nigerians were not looking for a president to fix our many dilapidated infrastructures. Most Nigerians on this form may not remeber Nigeria's situation in 1999, or they may ve forgotten, how time flies? I could remeber that the consensus that made Nigeria to produced two presidential candidates from south-West despite the fact that an Igbo man won the ANPP ticket, yet the man stepped down to allow the major political parties that have prospect of winning the presidential election to allow two Yoruba men to contest, so that either way, a Yoruba will emerge the president. Then disintegration, parting of ways were the common languages among most Nigerians. Not only that, Nigeira image was so much battered that we became a pariah state. But today, nobody is talking about that again or atleast such discussion has been relegated to the background.

Well, I can go on and on, but I must say that Obj did his best, infact he did so many thing that many uninformed commentators on Nigerians politics may not understand. It is much more eaier to criticize, but the rot and decay in Nigeria's system is monumental, there is need for a sustained efforts from successive leaders, the problem did not arrived in one day, so people should not expect a miracle overnight, if not , why is it that all the goosd intention of Yar Adua has not provided us electricity? The rot is very deep. it take sustained efforts by succesive leaders to overcome.

^^ You mean did his best by wiping out two communities?

He did his best by having the highest numbers of political killing

By conducting the worst election?

What exactly was his best?

There is no question about that, the International community respects him

What Rubbish is this?

IBB HAS BEEN THE BEST PRESIDENT EVER EVER IN NIGERIA!

NSNA:

There is no question about that, the International community respects him

International community respects any democratic president.
If IBB, Abacha and Buhari had ruled as democratic presidents, they will earn the respect of the world powers.

OBJ is a useless, pest-natured SOB.
The worst Nigeria ever had - It's a shame some Nigerians have had wool pulled over their eyes.

I think we should change our constitution so OBJ can contest 2011 polls and finish his good work

Seconded, OBJ by far the best President Nigeria ever hard. Despite his shortcomings, he took his responsibilities very seriously.

princekevo:

With your political experience and knowledge in Nigeria please tell me Yaradau was the best PDP could produce from the north?

2. Please tell me Yaradau ever nursed the ambition of contesting for the presidency until someone convinced him to do so.

3. Oh we are now blaming his illness, when did Yaradua's illness become obvious, his term as the president or when he was the governor? I don't wanna go into his achievements within 2years he was in the office


4. What makes you think Atiku wouldn't have been a better successor, more experienced, mpre vibrant to a position/office he viced for 8years?

5. finally why would one man decided for 150million people who should be their best? Why didn't OBj conduct a free and fair election let the mass chose for themselves. Your single voice and OBJ is not the voice of the nation. Your opinion abt the 3 people you mention above and you own best candidate might not be the opinion of others. If we unanimously chose yaradua which finally failed we can then see OBJ as the best, but not seeing him as the best among the once he forced on us.

the power tussle between atiku,gusau,marwa,ibb and a couple of other northerners could not allow for a consensus among them coupled with the pressure from niger deltans governors like odili,victor attah and donald duke to contest for the presidency.
what do you expect obj to do in that situation when the north couldnt agree among themselves and mind you,odili was ready to spend all his state treasury to get the ticket.Atiku,ibb and buhari were putting pressure on him to choose one of them by consensus.
Atiku is a corrupt and over-ambitious dude,so is ibb who shouldnt ever be trusted with power again.buhari would have been better but his records as a former head of state is inhuman and undemocratic.
yaradua has credibilty than any of the aspirants and that was why obj made him an option.

what makes a president good or bad? wat are the criteria for good or bad judgement? i believe anyone that does not live up to people's expectation is a failure because there are minimum acceptable standards in any society

I want to join the discuss but from a more rational angle. Obj had his successes as well as his failures. Like a few have said, a country like Nigeria is difficult to govern, no matter how good intentioned your project is, there will be people around trying their best to scuttle it. The lives of civil servants improved from 1999,I can attest to this.GSM which had been on the drawing board since the early to mid-nineties became a reality.We started to have the mindset of patriotism, putting in our best, due process and ethics in government and business during his era.
Downsides : many. Failure to bring the IPPs to fruition.I find it unacceptable that so much money was approved under him and he did not PERSONALLY see to it that the projects were carried out diligently. Obj had too much respect for his friends: which is why many are walking free despite not completing projects for which they received payments.He paid too much attention to rewarding past alliances and friendships which is why we had Umaru, the Imokes, etc in govt.
I can continue to enumerate on both sides, but the wish and prayer is that we will learn from our past and make the future better. Please God give us someone like BRF on the national level.

nigeria is so bad to the extend that people cant reason to differentiate between good and bad anymore,, you can prefer to lick your nose instead of your a.ss just because it smell better?, shame.