Mobinga:

This dude is getting desperate. Its sickening.
He's just launching attacks after attacks. Attacks that MAJORITY of NIGERIANS wouldn't take seriously.

You ignore the warnings to your detriment. That was the attitude of politicians (Second Republic) of old. They ignored, derided and poked fun at Awo of blessed memory when the patriotic fervor in him made him to call the attention of the inept Shagari-led federal govt to the economic crisis facing the nation in the mid 1982. Few weeks later, Shagari had to declare austerity measures to contain the economic crisis.
There is much similarity between the "Shagari" of that time and the "Jonathan" of today in terms of intelligence and the capability to govern. They are symmetrical in behavioural and leadership abilities.

This is a blantant lie.  Contrary to what Phillip Asiodu actually said that Buhari was responsible for killing Lagos Metro Project (he may be suffering from dementia or selective amnesia for being affiliated with Shagari as adviser) it was Shagari's government that actually killed the Metro project. They refused to provide the much needed guarantee to secure the loan for the project because it was a project of a State controlled by a rival political party UPN and the project died a natural death.  Action governor of the time Alhaji Lateef Jakande whose government mooted the Metro Project idea is still alive to shed more light on this.

GEJ dines and wine with people of shaddy deals and character; he even gave the most basest of them national honors at our last golden jubilee. He doesn't deserve our votes because he lacks the will to make the change that will benefit us.

I am not myopic and looks at issues critically. Is the statement credited to Aliyu Sani credible? Absolutely. Do I support GEJ? No. And neither I am a fan of Atiku. I don't care for the two of them. I am for any party except PDP. Shouldn't we be tired of one party rule? I think we should. We need change. Now!

I am taken aback by comments from some Nairalanders against the decision by Ribadu to join forces with others to defeat GEJ. As a presidential candidate in his own right, do these folks expect Ribadu to work for the election of GEJ or to work for his defeat? Why is he asking for our votes if he is not genuinely interested in contesting and winning. I am even suprised that people will stick their neck out to support any candidate from the PDP stable given our experience in the last 12 years. Election is supposed to be a serious business, people exercise their votes based on the conviction that the person they are supporting is capable of delivering on party manifesto and promises made during elections. PDP has had their chance and opportunity three times and they blew it. Why anyone would want to trust the same party for the fourth time is beyond reason. But heck, you make the decision and live with it for another 4 years.

Kenezi:

Mormons aren't Christians, they are Mormons, they worship Joseph Smith. Polygamy is banned in all Christianity.

You can say that from the comfort of you home in 9ija. Go to Utah and make that pronouncement and see what will happen to you.

marvix:

Why do supporters of Ribadu believe that they are the only ones called Nigerians and where did they even get the idea that all Nigerians want Ribadu to become President.

If Akinjide says he cant make Ribadu a governor he simply means he cant be a party to a campaign that will mmake Ribadu a governor, Moddibo who issued the statement is he not trying to make Ribadu president, why do they suddenly catch cold and scared when people dont endorse Ribadu.

Akinjide in his own opinion believes that GEJ is not at the same level with Ribadu and Buhari, he will be supporting GEJ, just like I would be doing, I will ensure that GEJ becomes president in 2011.

Moddibo should think of withdrawing this statement because it is an insult to the elder statesman.

No, Akinjide deserved what he got. By saying that Ribadu (who was chosen by his party as their presidential candidate) is not presidential material, Akinjide insulted the entire collection of people who voted him as their flag bearer and deserved the insult hurled at him.

Gbawe:

I am not saying that . I am suggesting that deliberately selfish actions may put Nigeria in a situation we may all regret . That is is cold reality.  What may happen because of selfish ambition may cause problems . Looking at what all the political Parties are doing shows, as I have argued , that the political establishment tacitly endorses zoning. Democracy is a Journey . absolute insistence on certain ideology , even if philosophically desirable, will not work sometime because of those we are dealing with . If zoning had held sway before perhaps opportunism that aggrieves a very clannish region(Yar Adua's death) may not be the best way to truncate it. We will no doubt be free of zoning in future because Nigeria cannot exist in a vacuum. Nonetheless , our leaders must be selfless if they want our nation to get where it needs to.

As it is many indolent misrulers have made it back as Governors and legislators because of their deal with GEJ . Are we really better off ? What Jonathan should have done to make him the father of modern Nigeria is to eschew selfishness by standing down to conduct a free and fair election. Believe me that if Jonathan is not contesting then every Party would produce a Northern presidential candidate just like in 2007. Jonathan , through free and fair elections , could ensure that , as much as possible, Nigeria gained the best leaders everywhere. that would be far more transformational , less rancourous, more peaceful, than a situation where he opportunistically induces everyone so he remains in power with the same thieves who have underdeveloped Nigeria for the past couple of years while presenting a headache for Nigeria over the possible fallout his win may cause after May. long and short? Jonathan's win may cost us plenty yet gain Nigeria very little since we are stuck with the same looting misruler Governors like Alao Akala and indolent legislators who refuse to pass any law that will move Nigeria forward.

We may not agree with their politics and everything the party stands for, but the truth remains PDP holds the ace, at least for now, in Nigerian politics. We can rightly say that when PDP sneezes, the other parties catches cold. Which is the reason why the other parties fixes their primaries right after PDP has concluded theirs. The rush to adopt Northern candidates as their flag bearer in the presidential election is not because other parties tacitly endorse zoning but I think it has to do with political expediency. And now that PDP has jetissoned zoning, it presents other parties the opportunity on a platter of gold to wrestle power from the PDP especially because of the flood of protest votes that are likely to swing to other parties from the North.

asha 80:


so because of the fear that the large no of illiterate northern may unleash mayhem on the country if a jonathan wins the other parts of the country should soji now?

by the way with the emergence of ribadu,shekarau and buhari wouldn't the votes in the north be split?

The politicians are not docile; they have committees that are brainstoming on scenarios that will give them victory. That is why they have been talking about alliances and if it works, they stand a better chance of snatching victory from PDP.

The fear of BUHARI is the beginning of wisdom. You can demonize him as much as you like, but you can never silence the nemesis of corrupt politicians, GEJ included.

ilawyer's hatred for Muslims and Islam has closed his sense of reasoning that he couldn't relate that polygamy is native to Africa and also, perhaps due to limited knowledge, he doesn't know that there are Christian sects who preaches and practice polygamy. One example is the Mormon, the Latter Day Saints (LDS) which originates from the United States and predominates the US state of Utah.

Southern Nigeria is light years ahead of Southern Sudan in terms of all indices of human development - education, social, political, economic and infrastructual developments. There is no basis for comparison.

johnie:

Can someone remind me of the surname of the chap wearing a blue shirt and face cap? His first name is gbenga and was one of the rabble rousers in the national assembly between 1999 and 2003.

Must be Gbenga Aluko, I am right?

RoadStar:

This smirks of a smear campaign. It is not out of place to lie on your CV and neither is it a crime.

But Nigeria is a country full og unnecessary noise.

This is how you legitimatize mediocrity by sacrificing excellence at the alta of nepotism. On account of tribal affiliations, you close your mind and eyes to the evil that is inherent in allowing a fraud to serve at the highest level of the decision making body in the nations capital market. This is very very sad.

This ttit-for-tat game has its origin in the irational immigration policy of Ghana in 1969 and has continue since then. See this----

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-511430.0.html

And this ----  http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/ghana/090909/ghana-nigeria-stop-bashing

Then this ---  http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/blogs/blog.article.php?blog=1770&ID=1000005190 (the reference to Alhaji Buhari is not correct. In contrast, Alhaji Shagari, as the President, sign the immigration act)

KnowAll:

[b]I am not holding court for the Presidency here, by promising the Governors a second- term TICKET is more or less guranteeing them PDP tickets. He cannot promise them a win in the General Elections. The General elections is a different cup of tea, even OBJ the chief propenent of "do or die" poltics could not salvage Bauchi and Kano State in the last dispensation.

Where the President has a leverage are constitenecy where there is no clear cut party in charge of the state. WHERE the electorates are divided like in Delta State. Let us see Mr President give Lagos State to PDP.[/b]

I am skeptic about the genuine intentions of GEJ regarding the forthcoming elections. If his antecedents regarding his party's internal democracies are a precursor or predictor of what to expect in the national elections, I will conclude that he doesn't mean what he preaches. The dawn is the precursor of what the day will bring, so we need to remain cautious and not swallow whatever politicians say hook line and sinker believing them to be the gospel truth. In GEJ, I saw a politician who is desperate to use every arsenal at his disposal to whip the opposition to submission. We have gone through this route before, and this man GEJ is not from the planet Mars or somewhere in the land of the Angels that we can safely conclude that he meant well.

violent:

When you have a kid and a wife at home, or an exciting future to look forward to, i doubt you'd want to be the camera man in the orange suit when the thugs come calling!----I wouldn't want to be one!

As long as people keep getting away with stealing ballot boxes, there's absolutely nothing you can do to mitigate against it!

I also deduced from your post that you assumed that the government will be interested in a free and fair election. . . if this was your assumption, then you are far from being ignorant!

Didn't the President promise state governors a second term ticket? you didn't actually assume he meant to buy those at an Argos store, did you?


Alternatively, if the camera appeared to be the only solution, organizations such as Save Nigeria Group could get their members at each polling booths to put on spy pens such the one in the picture below, however, i still fail to understand how this will STOP militants/thugs from carting away people's vote

The pen camera that can be used surreptitiously to record is a great idea. But, in a crooked society like Nigeria where the urge to get rich quick is ever present, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a few moles disguising as genuine compatriots among the members of the NGO to be used for the project. The problem is the effectiveness of the NGO in monitoring the activities of the multitude of its members, so that no one can sell out to the politicians.
Recorded activity at a polling station will be deployed during tribunal hearing as a credible evidence of thuggery, voters intimidation, ballot snatching, police harrassment of the supporters of one party to the advantage of another and other criminal activities at the polling station. It cannot deter millitants/thugs unless the legislators have enacted a law that makes such acts illegal and punishable by imprisonment if found guilty.

No, the idea of official camera men is not a worthwhile venture as it will likely put the lives of innocent peoples in danger. As an alternative, the camera can be mounted at strategic locations at the polling stations and recording sent to a remote location for monitoring and storage. If the recording is tampered with by acts of brigandage or thuggery by vested interests, the result from that polling station should not count. The downside to this is that unscrupulous politicians will deliberately tamper with the camera/recording or set fire to the storage/backup location if they knew they will not do well in a particular polling station. I think the best approach is to make the INEC trully independent, go back to Option A4 and we are on the road to a free and fair election. But in an election regime that is characterised by a winner-takes-all politicking and do-or-die mentality, our selfish politicians are really not genuinely invested in a credible election, because of the fear of losing to the best candidate and party.

@ Omooba77 get this straight - Sowore is more patriotic than those elites calling the shot at Aso Rock and elsewhere where politicians controls the lever of government in NIgeria. He is greatly invested in social, economic and political development of the country. He is using the platform of his news org - Sahara Reporters on the Web to promote good governance. I do not think you can say this for those you are siding and you knows this for a fact unless you are being hypocritical.

Mr. Sam Eyoboka, who is fooling who? How can a journalist who is worth his salt call pieces of advice (that is what the message seems to me) given by the Pastor to his followers as predictions. There is nothing in what you have reported as the message from the Pastor that passed the test for a prediction. These are general statements - Pray against killer disease? What disease, if we may ask? Pray against massive storms and extreme temperatures! Where have you been all these years when scientists have been drawing attention to global warming and changes in global temperature. I live in the US and only this last weekend, it felt like spring when we are supposed to be at the peak of record breaking cold temperatures. And this is mid-West US!
What you call cheery news on the International scene is no news or prediction as you call it. Automotive companies must constantly seek innovative ways and cutting edge technologies to help them stay ahead of the competition. That is Management 101. It is also the reason why they invest heavily in Research and Development (R & D). If they are not innovative, they will be consumed by the competition and drowned in what a business management author called Red Ocean invested with sharks.
I think we have taken religion to the extreme level in Nigeria and we can no longer think right. We need to be careful otherwise we will continue to found ourselves trailing other serious nations in terms of development.

Adeboye predicts rosy 2011- Vanguard

By Sam Eyoboka
DESPITE the tense atmosphere in the nation occasioned by a series of violent attacks in different parts of the country, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, has predicted a rosy year for the nation.

In his New Year predictions for the country, Pastor Adeboye urged Nigerians not to despair but to remain steadfast in their prayers to God, who has promised to still all troubled seas.

He said: “There is no need to panic; all will be well,. He urged Nigerians to pray for long life for prominent Nigerians. He added that for those who will be totally committed to God this year, it will be a year of mighty testimonies.

The GO said: “There will be big celebrations in many homes/families this year,” adding that there will be massive restorations of losses of the previous years.

He, however, used the occasion to urge every Nigerian to pray against killer diseases, particularly amongst children.

For the international community, Pastor Adeboye expressed some concern, saying that serious prayers should be offered for the international scene this year against massive storms and extreme temperatures.

He said: “Pray against major disasters, especially by fire. Pray that God will speak peace to a convulsing earth. Pray against civil wars and civil unrest.”

There is, however, some cheery news on the international scene, as Adeboye foresees major discoveries in the automotive and aviation industry.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/adeboye-predicts-rosy-2011/

Weak leadership or corrupt leadership or both ---
He just presided over $1 billion sharing booty as the chair of the National Economic Council between the 3 tiers of govt

The three tiers of government got a huge end-of-year package as the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) on Friday shared $1billion from the Excess Crude Account.

The emergency meeting between the federal, states and local governments to share the money lasted about 30 minutes and was intended to be without the knowledge of the press.
After Friday’s disbursement from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), what is left in the account is only $3 million

Read the whole article here: http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/23401.html

There are some people who will not believe or will simply refuse to believe because of hatred implanted in their hearts when faced with hard facts. The hatred is ingrained in their sub-conscious and cannot be erased unless they work on it. I have a remedy for them (authored by Ms Florence Shinn) if only they recognize they have a problem and they would like to work on it. It is a mere repetition of these words:
I cast the burden of resentment on the super-conscious mind, and I go free, to loving, harmonius and happy.

Strong leaders don't invoke religious sentiments all the time. That does not make them less religious; it just means that they are able to separate religion from politics at least in the spirit of our constitution. They identify problems, device strategies to solve the problems and look for able lieutenants to execute their strategies. Prayer is not a management tool for managerial decision making. It is a personal tool for an individual’s success and I am not dismissing the efficacy of prayers.  
When a president spends too much time at the altar kneeling down in front of pastors for prayer, it might be harmful to his persona as a leader. Whilst the picture creates the impression of him as a humble person with the effect of bolstering his support among his religious supporters, it also creates a negative perception in the mind of the not-so religious as a sign of weakness.  
We deserve a strong leader who is not afraid to take strong decisions when the situation (at time like this) calls for it. The job of a president is to provide solutions to the problem facing the people and to give assurance by actions that he is on top of the situation. We have had too much prayer and our problems have not abated; we are drifting around in concentric circles with no solution to our problems.

Stock your attack on persons, focus on facts. Character assasination is not going to help your candidate win.

This is a welcome development if it will translate to good governance.

If his prophecies have proven to hold water then he should be taken seriously. But of course our politicians obviously have 'better' things to worry about.

And they will not heed the warning owing to their greed and selfish nature. It will lead them to be consumed in the conflagration they have caused. Prophets are meant to sound the warning when there is danger but the politician's recalcitrant attitudes would not allow them to let reason and wise counsel prevail. It is like the proverbial hunter that will be lost due to the excitement and fun of the hunting expedition he is having with the hunter; because he is destined to get lost or be consumed in the conflagration, he will not heed the call of the hunter. But who cares if they die?

There are a lot of people in the house who will always question the truth even when it manifests itself. Is that not why someone is nicknamed "doubting Thomas" in the Bible? Many doubting Thomases abound today and they will come to know when the prophesies are fulfilled. Example - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-545467.0.html

Precision is at the heart of it all. Don't belittle the spiritual gift of the man of God.

http://tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/features/2913-2011-what-the-prophets-sayjonathan-should-pray-against-sudden-death-presidential-plane-crash-imminent.html

HIGHLIGHTS
1. President Goodluck Jonathan should pray against sudden death, including an imminent aircrash involving a presidential aircraft.
2. God revealed to him that it was His will for Nigeria to be dismembered so that there could be peace, it should not be through war and shedding of blood.
3. Jonathan’s administration would face turbulence, because he would take some steps that would anger the people and court more hatred for himself, prayers should be held for him
4. More political tension in the land preceeding the elections. There would be more assassinations, kidnappings, violence, harassments and maiming of political opponents
5. 2011 elections is foreseen to becoming the worst in the history of this nation because it would be marred by irregularities which would polarise this nation along ethnic lines. The sham called elections will threaten the stability of the government to be formed
6. PDP to disintegrate into 2 factions
7. Obasanjo is playing the last lap of his politics. The Enugu State governor must pray to avert health failure , read more
http://tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/features/2913-2011-what-the-prophets-sayjonathan-should-pray-against-sudden-death-presidential-plane-crash-imminent.html

He got it right.

I can tell you already that IBB will not contest under PDP. All the same, Jonathan will disappoint Nigeria if he eventually wins in 2011

. And he has a new prediction for the coming year- http://tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/features/2913-2011-what-the-prophets-sayjonathan-should-pray-against-sudden-death-presidential-plane-crash-imminent.html

Sounds incredible, but it is the truth. Now can we demand that if he is given the money and he fails to deliver on his promise of a free and free election, he should be hanged? Someone should make him sign the undertaking before the money is released to him.

Nsiman:

I ask, this reliable source sahara reporters always use, do they not have names to prove the genuineness of their report? The statement ", reduction in opposition camp", what does it mean, atiku and gej has different delegates from different party or each contestant has his 'carry come delegates?

The function of Sahara Reporters as a media outlet is playing out the role of the press as the "fourth estate" of the realm in the true sense of the word. They provides the platform for the public to expose corrupt dealings by the executive, legislative and judiciary (the first, second and third estates) in order to make governing more transparent and responsive to the needs of the people. We know the orthodox press in Nigeria have soiled their hands, they have dined with the devil and have compromised on their professional ethics. As a result they are armstrung in carrying out the duties cut out for them in the constitution.
This is the void that Sahara Reporters try to fill and they have been performing excellently well. I am not sure why you want the source to be disclosed? Do you want to put the informant in harms way? They are not obliged to disclose the source of their information so the identity of the information provider is protected. I am sure it will be a breach of their responsibility and carelessness on their part if the identity is provided to a corrupt government whose security apparatus will stop at nothing in dealing ruthlessly with the source if revealed.