ilugunboy:

It's apparent that they want to remove soludo without offending the man who put him there.

i still don't believe making Shamsudeen the finance minister is a wise decision, the issue is that he will always watch his back and won't be comfortable with soludo as the CBN governor.

The guy should just pack his bag and go honourably, before they mess him up.

Yes, to those of us who are not well-versed in politics, that decision was not a wise one. When they say politics is a game, you bet it is true, but you've got to know the tricks of the game. An astute politician would have recognized that the presidency or the power brokers behind the appointment of ministers have laid a land mine ahead of him with the appointment of his deputy as the Federal Finance Minister, and he would have tread softy not to hit the mines.

Unfortunately Soludo is a scholar, a first class economist, not a career plotician or career civil servant. He was not schooled in the art of the political intrigues that goes behind the corridors of power. He trust only on his intellect and brain power, both of which are not sufficient to succeed in politics without a godfather of a sort. I think it is absolutely correct to say that OBJ was Soludo's godfather and since OBJ is no longer in power, he needs another godfather to protect him from misiles being thrust at him by those opposed to him and those interested in his job.

I read today in This Day that he holds first class in Economis, distiction in both his masters and PHD and above all he is an excellent speaker. If you have this God given talents plus a job that is the envy of all, you cannot at all times be free from arrogance and pride. And on ocassions when you are in such fits of pride and arrogance it is possible that you have stepped on the toes of some powerful people. To say that these people are now in power and are looking for ways and means to ease him out of office with this opportunity that have presented itself will not be far from truth.

And do you know if soludo himself does not belong to the club of the rich?  He was in the news a little while ago when he was charged to court by a hapless individual. The individual told the court that Soludo was treaspassing on his land.  The land was in one of the choice areas in Abuja and he wanted to forcefully eject that guy from his land using his powerful connection and influence with the powers that be at that time.  His intent was to build his Computer company on that guy's land.

dejgan:

The recent public declaration of assests led by president yar'adua is really opening up issues. Are CBN directors paid in dollars like Okonjo-Ewealla too (though we know they have a slightly different salary structure from others civil service). Let somone explain where soludo's ex-aide got assets worth over 400M naira. Did he also inherit them? I believe there are codes for the civil service, I am suprised the House of Assembly screened all these people and passed them instead of referring them for prosecution.

Why wont the likes of Oprah declare all Nigerians as corrupt. These are individuals that should appear on EFCC's TV adverts as resposible for the deplorable state of the country.

We should not take delight in casting everybody in the mould of corrupt politicians.  A little reseach can serve to educate the discerning minds.

Before you go to press to broadcast and cast aspersions on the integrity of other people, the least you can do is to  let us know the source of your information and educate folks on the make up of the assets?
Granted that there are corrupt politicians who deserved to be castigated and ridiculed but not everybody is corrupt. If you pick up the prospectus of companies going public or take a little time to peruse annual general reports of publicly quoted companies, you will be shocked to know that many Nigerians are stupenduously rich by virtue of their investment in stocks.

So if the former deputy governor of CBN says he has more than 400 million naira, what is the big deal. I know of a former director of CBN who has served and is still serving on the board of First Bank who has investment of close to 260 million shares, repeat shares and not the value of the shares. You can multiply that number by the price of one share and have a feel of his personal worth on this investment alone.

MDs of banks are worth more than the former deputy governor of the CBN is worth.  If tomorrow one of them is nominated as minister and he declares his asset running into billions, you guys will just label him as corrupt without finding out how he made his money, which is an open secret.

dejgan:


Very alarming!, how can a public officer, a civil servant claims he has 470Million naira as liquid cash. Shame on Ribadu and all of them!

Could be that the minister who is a former deputy governor of CBN has some of the weath stored up quasi-cash - like investments in stocks.   Being a deputy governor for an upward of five years or more, it is quite possible to have that amount of money.  Here is my theory - A serving MD of one of the first generation banks which has recently completed a public offer in the capital market posited that he owned prior to the offer, a whopping 5, 334, 406 in ordinary shares of the bank.  Let say the current market price is 40 naira per share, the guy has more than 200 million in investment value of the bank shares.  I am sure he has investments in other subsidiaries of the bank. So if he says he is worth more than 500 million, will you doubt him? Of course, No and the money is not gotten by fraudulent enrichment because you can trace the source of the wealth acquistion to loans he took from his bank to buy the shares.

If the MD of this bank can amass this much, (and he is not alone -  you can verify the worth of Atedo Peterside of IBTC - the guy is worth more than a billion) then there is no crying wolf where there is none with the minister's worth of less than 500 million.

"This government would continue to implement the reforms of the OBJ era".  Yaradua has said that much and OBJ on a number of ocassions has drummed it into the ears of anybody who cares to listen.  OBJ can say whatever he likes,  and Yaradua can echo that statement  many times, but the fact remains Yaradua is beholden to the NORTH (emphasis mine) and he is under pressure to do away with OBJ and his so-called reforms which many have termed "in-human reforms".
Anytime I read the dailies especially the columns written by Northern editors, the concensus has been that Yaradua should gradually disengage and disentangle himself from the stranglehold of OBJ. Even Segun Adeniyi, his Senior Adviser on Communication has said it many times that Yaradua would not like to continue OBJ's reforms because when the times of reckoning comes, it is Yaradua that will be answerable to the court of public opinion just as people are now judging OBJ for what he did and did not do while in power.

That Soludo failed to read the hand-writing on the wall and the fact that he could be easily fooled by the pronouncements  of Yaradua and OBJ and still think that he wields that enormous influence he once commanded when OBJ was in power beats my imagination.  Sure everybody knows that Soludo has the ears and mind of OBJ, but definitely not those of Yaradua, the fact he was hand picked by OBJ notwithstanding.

The North would be happy to humilate Soludo because he was ruthless and anti-north in the last February currency change.   Whether he was used by OBJ or he had his own agenda in using his office to remove the arabic inscription from the currency, he was clearly motivated by partisan religious considerations in his decision.   For this reason, and for wasting scarce monetary resources in frivolous currency change, he deserve no pity and nobody should shed crocordile tears for him.

fuzek:

haba what do u mean?

it happens!!!!!!!!!!!

First, there should be no room for second guessing in a matter that has been decided by GOD, the omniscient. You can tell that the man was not even sure of himself when he "prophesised": "either Duke or Utomi will succeed OBJ". Second, Duke was not even nominated by his party and third, a political neophyte even knew that Utomi does not stand any chance in the presidential equation. You don't need to be a man of God to see that permutation clearly written on the political chess board, yet the so-called man of God was blind to this simple political calculation.

mankevo:

Hi Nairalanders,

I was realy hurt by that submission of Ahl. Lai Mo'hd, because he is one of those guys out there that I cherish so much. But I must state here that most POLITICIANS would kick against it b'because their money warehouse will be affected. YAH ! some have started stalking money in warehouse in readiness for 2011 polls and because of EFCC they will not go to Bank to safeguard the money.

So lets ask Lai Mo'hd which "somersault" he means, or I'll for him

I have read accounts of other people's reaction to the denomination policy the the CBN Governor. I think what he meant by policy sommersault is the apparent inconsistency exhibited by the CBN helmsman. About 2 years ago, he was sold the denomination idea by some economists but he simply dismissed the idea without giving it any consideration.
He demonstrated his aversion for the denomination policy when he decided to commit large amount of money to the change of the currency last year, an exercise which you will no doubt agree gulped a large amount of money to implement.
Now barely less than a year after lauching that currency change with pomp and ceremony and what have you (I think the exercise was largely meant to appease OBJ and his religious base in removing arabic inscriptions from the currency than contributing any economic significance to the value of the currency), he has decided to make a policy u-turn by announcing the denomination policy. That was the policy sommersault the AC secretary was talking about.

Dis Guy:

Interview with Soludo-Naira transition

I believe the way we will want to do this will be to go almost like a big bang approach. It will be a big bang approach because we are not going to go with what we are having in Ghana or some others who have done it where you will have to get the old and the new notes. It is all manner of confusion, we don’t have a literate population that will get on to converting the old one and the new one and we would expect prices to adjust. It is going to be a big bang within he shortest operations. The duration of that we would have to work out with the banks and operators. We will work out the infrastructure to make sure that we have a seamless transition even within the big bang. - Thisday

The big bang theory - whatever that term means - is a recipe for confusion especially with the large size of our illiterate population. How do you convince the average Nigerians that this denomination bode well for them? It is not big grammar that we need now but a lot of education and public awareness programs to convince the skeptics among us that this policy will help to firm up the economy.

And this was a prediction/vision from a man of GOD?

@doyin13
Your alias should be Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo IRUNMALE not iranmale.

What is wrong in this? It shows humility on the part of the man in accepting this position and a testimony of the fact that he did not steal as a former governor.  Former governors are been hounded by EFCC for embezzlement of public funds and we are all astonished about their level of greed and corruption. 

The posting by the originator of this thread confirms the saying in some quarters that it is the influence of society and family members that encourages people to steal from the commonwealth.   They praise and worship the looters and made the thrifty and trustwothy the object of their scorn.

There is nothing wrong in accepting the position of a special adviser if he feels he can use the position to contribute to the  upliftment of the country.

Murtala Muhammad was a charismatic leader who was well loved by majority of Nigerians. Those who belong to the school of thought that says he was a bad leader can be categorised into two. First, the easterners and their grudge against him is understandable; as one of the fearerless Nigerian war commanders that helped decimate their ambition to secede from the rest of the country, we do not expect them to sing his praises.

Second, the civil servants, who were indicted for their bad work ethics and yet were compensated by the Gowon regime with fantastic arrears of salaries and bonuses - nicknamed Udoji award. His reform of the civil service was meant to trim the work-force, remove corrupt and bad eggs and make the civil service more virile and responsive to their duties to the nation.

Indeed he committed some attrocities during the civil war, but that was during the war, and soldiers are not known to be gentlemanly in war campaigns.  Ever heard of the scorch-earth policy used by one of the US war commanders during the civil war campaign in the US? Nevertheless, he apologised to the nation for all attrocites he committed during the war wnen he became head of state.

During his brief but eventful stay as head of state, he warmed himself to the heart of Nigerians with his people-oriented policies; there was job security as well as security of life, food was in abundance and economy was buoyant. His short reign was a blessing and majority appreciated it. When he passed, Nigerians mourned his death and he remain till today in the sub-conscious of those of us who was alive and valued service to humanity.

To live in the mind of those who love us is not to die.

I recieve this message at work and I thought I should share the information with fellow Nairalanders since it is a rare
event of a lifetime.

"Planet Mars will be brightest in the sky starting in August. It will lokk as large as the full moon to the naked eyes late in the month. This will culminate on August 27, when Mars comes within 34.65Mmilies of earth. Be sure to watch the sky on August 27th at 12.30AM. It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Share this with your friend as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will eversee it again!"

Pretty cool, isn't it?

denex:

@Abeem

when quoting somebody, you're actually supposed to say EXACTLY that they said. So please in the name of all that is sacred, quote what Obama said.

What are you trying to suggest? Are you saying that Obama did not utter the statement I credited to him? Did you listen to NPR radio or BBC World news? I listened to him on the air and that was what he said. If you doubt it, go to Npr.org or check BBC World Service Website for full account of his reckless statement.

Seun:

If Obama doesn't win, then we might be able to settle for Hillary Clinton. Not people like Guilianni!

I like Hillary Clinton and I will vote for her. But the right wing conspiracy being orchestrated by radio talk shows are unashamedly partisan and vitriolic in their attack of Hilary's personality.  They will stop at nothing to stop her. These people have an ally in the conservative Christian groups who only needed to be reminded of how the presidency was diminished during the presidency of her husband.
Other people are also saying they are tired of the Bush /Clinton dynasty - between the two families, they would have held office for a record 20 years counting from 1988 to 2008; to these people, it is time to break from the rulership of the two powerful families.

Seun,
Obama recent utterances might put his chances in jeopardy. Because he was criticized by fellow aspirants as highly inexperienced and unfit for the job, he said and I qoute, "I am willing to invade other countries and even use nuclear bomb if necessary if intelligent report point to a high value target in a country even if the country is an ally to the US." He made this speech last week when reporters asked him about what he would do to Pakistan in the on-going war on terror.

TayoD:

@topic,

As much as i wouldn't want a Buhari presidency, I must confess he appears to be one of very few principled Nigerians on the scene. In that regard, we need more people like him.

It is encouraging that for once you did not allow religious sentiment to becloud your sense of reasoning.  This is a sign of good things to come.  And by the way, glad to know that you are not affected by the disaster that plaqued your state.

US politicians are merely looking for scape goat in OPEC to blame for problems caused by the greedy Oil Companies.   American people are paying record high prices of gasoline at the pump and the politicians know that 2008 is around the corner when they have to face the electorate for their votes in November.  So they have to show the public that they are working assiduosly to arrest the north-bound high prices of gasoline.

The fact remains however, that US politicians does not have the courage to call the bluff of the Oil companies which have been embarking on cosolidation in recent years.  According to experts, "In 1993, the five biggest refiners in the US. controlled 35% of the market. By 2004, they controlled 56%. In some regions of the country, a few refineries have an oligopoly on the market. In fact, a Senate report in 2002 reported "tight oligopolies" operating in 28 states."

With this type of market structure, each individual refinery can limit capacity and drive up prices.  And this is what the refineries have been doing: deliberately limiting capacity to shore up prices. 
It is not that the US does not have a law in place to guard against this unwholesome malpractice in the market palce. There is the Anti-trust law which prohibits this type of activity but the present administration, which has an unholy alliance with businesses cannot be trusted to move against the industries to sanitise the market.

The last time one of the big players in the industry  -  Exxon Mobil went public with its annual returns, it declared a whopping $36 billion profit after tax.  This happened at a time when the pubilc is reeling under a heavy financial constraint due to the amount of their disposable income being paid for gasoline at the pump.  And it was also a revelation when its Chairman was given a severance package of $400 million on retirement last year.

Surely, US politicians know that OPEC is not the problem but corporate greed, coupled with the lack of political will to go after the companies is the root cause of the matter.  Good enough analysts have predicted this law will die a natural death as was the case with similar ones enacted in the past.

THE United States (U.S.) House of Representatives last month passed a bill titled "No Oil Production and Exporting Cartels Act 2007 (NOPEC)". The bill, as the full title and acronym gratingly blare, takes on frontally the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) whose activities it seeks to outlaw. The bill has now moved to the U.S. Senate for consideration and adoption. The fact that the bill was passed unanimously by the House and reports that it is receiving serious attention in the Senate make it necessary for Nigeria as a member of OPEC not to simply dismiss what is playing out in the U.S. Congress as being against international law and unenforceable

Guardian Newspapers Editorial Comment of July 23, 2007. Just a side attraction and a food for thought.

There is something sinister about the game this VP is playing with his declaration of assets. Last time the AC secretary joined the chorus in asking him to declare his asset publicly like his boss did, he asked his press secretary to provide a reply calling the AC a party of terrorist with three of their members already charged to court. He insinuated that they got his house burnt. He did not stop there, he went further to ask whether the AC secretary's principals (referring to Atiku and Tinubu) had declared their assets or something of such. What has all these got to do with a simple moral question to wit: Declare your assets publicly, Mr VP? If one might ask.
His arm-twisting tactics and name calling reminds one of the dirty politics employed by OBJ's media warlords a la Femi Fami Kayode, Uba Sanni and Jide Oshutokun. And it all adds up to one fact: that the VP is a very treacherous, deceptive, sneaky personality, one lacking in moral rectitude and probity. Yaradua must be wary of him.

It is very saddening that this "Ms know-all" can utter this sweeping statement. I think we should register our displeasure to her for making this generalization through letters of protest.

Read more from Duro Onabule on "Adeboye's unkind cut for Obasanjo"

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/columnists/onabule/home.htm

GNature:

@abeem

Dem no teach you how to summarize for school ? Oga, this your essay kindaa long.

You must be intellectually lazy. The taste of the pudding is in the eating. Read the essay and capture the essence of the article. It is not compulsory that you must read it; other will if you won't.

I agree that OBJ"s tenure is a complete failure. Here is why:

To me one thing is clear, the PDP government under Obasanjo has been in sum total a failure. True the government has made some significant achievements in the eight years. But, the failures have wiped out the benefits of the progress made to the extent that given the amount of funds available in the eight years - about N8 trillion - which represents more money than Nigerian governments since 1914 have had to spend, the result has been disappointing. Paradoxically enough, the calamity can be attributed, principally, to the corruption which the president proclaimed from the first day that he would be fighting but which had become a bigger monster under the PDP government. Below are twenty selected reasons why it would amount to self-imposed national suicide for us to again vote in the PDP.

There is no attempt here to arrange the reasons in a chronological or alphabetical order. There is, however, a conscious attempt to provide a zonal focus to the failures we all experience nationwide. I have as much as possible placed, side by side, promises made with the actual performance which can be verified. Since Obasanjo in 2007 during the presidential campaigns of the PDP had assumed the role of the campaigner instead of allowing Yar’Adua to speak for himself, he had made his own credibility as a leader the acid test for the acceptability of the party. This might not be fair to Yar’Adua, but the fault is his and that of his party for allowing a flawed president to speak on his behalf.

Number one: “My priorities will be eradication of poverty. A situation in which 70 per cent of Nigerians live on less than $1 a day is unacceptable. The second is to eradicate corruption which has become a cankerworm which has eaten deep into the social fabric”— President-elect Obasanjo during his interview with CNN after his victory was announced, April 1999. To demonstrate his determination to eradicate poverty, Obasanjo released N10 billion, without legislative approval to Chief Tony Anenih, who was appointed the chairman of the poverty alleviation agency. Till today, no account has been given in respect of the expenditure. First, anticipatory approval is illegal; lack of accountability is even more immoral. Until the N10 billion is publicly accounted for it must be assumed to have been “misappropriated” or “misapplied” to use their terms.

Anenih is chairman of the Board of Trustees of PDP and Obasanjo is the president. Can a party parading two such top leaders be trusted again with the national treasury. Number two:“Blackout will be a thing of the past by December” said late Chief Bola Ige, then minister for power and steel, June 1999. When Ige made that proclamation, nobody disputed it in government. Today, with over N1.3 trillion spent on NEPA, the nation is experiencing worse power failure than we did under Abacha. Power provides the basis for economic growth and development. No nation which is great today has failed to guarantee power supply. If the PDP government failed so woefully in eight years and after spending so much money, what right has it to ask for another term? By the way, to whom were the N1.3 trillion contracts awarded? You bet they were top party members of the PDP.

Promises on roads can serve proxy for other promises made on other sectors. So here they are. Number three: “The Onitsha-Owerri road, I dualise am”, said Obasanjo in 2003 at Onitsha during his re-election campaign. Even a blind person travelling on that road today can testify to the fact that less than ten kilometres of the road had been dualised four years after. The minster of information at the time, Professor Jerry Gana, claimed that N50 billion had been set aside for the road. What happened to the N50 billion? Where is the road? To call this an unkept campaign promise would amount to the greatest under-statement. It was a blatant lie and it remains one. Nobody in his/her right senses whose home town or village lies along the 130 kilometres or who must ply the road regularly can possibly be persuaded to vote for PDP again. Also related is the second Niger Bridge which was promised eight years ago. Till today, there is no bridge.

Number four: “The Warri-Patani-Port Harcourt Road will be dualised”. Obasanjo during his presidential campaign in 1999. Today, the Warri-Patani-Port Harcourt road remains a death trap. Eight years after, the promise remains unfulfilled. Yet, this part of the country provided the largest percentage of votes to PDP in 1999 and 2003. For how long must the people allow themselves to be fooled by their selfish leaders who sell them to the Federal Government which has demonstrated over again that it does not care for them. Number five: “The Ibadan-Ilorin expressway will be completed very soon after we take control” said Obasanjo during his presidential campaign in 1999 at Ibadan. Till today, the road remains uncompleted. Interestingly enough, Obasanjo as military head of state had promised to dualise that road in 1977 and again during his farewell tour in 1979 - that was 28 years ago. For how long will the people of Oyo and Kwara, as well as Niger who had been promised roads (Ilorin to Jebba and Mokwa) again accept these meaningless assurances?

Let me at this point summarise on roads very quickly to enable us focus on other aspects of this government’s failure. Major roads such as Port Harcourt-Aba-Enugu Express, Sagamu-Ore-Benin, Ife-Akure-Ifon-Oluku, Bauchi-Gombe-Numan-Yola (or Jalingo), Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto, Katsina-Jibiya-Kaura Namoda-Gusau, Bauchi-Kari-Potiskum-Damaturu-Maiduguru, Aba-Ikot Ekpene-Calabar, Calabar-Ugep-Ikom-Katsina Ala, Enugu-Otukpo-Makurdi, etc, etc have remained largely as they were eight years ago or have deteriorated further. I need not list seriatim all the federal roads that have taken a turn for the worse under Obasanjo. The question is: why should people in these areas, covering all the zones of Nigeria vote for the PDP? On account of road accidents alone Nigerians have lost nothing less than N2 trillion in properties in the eight years and over 500,000 lives. Is this what government was voted to do?

Number six: “We will improve the health service delivery in our hospitals and upgrade teaching hospitals to research centres so that our people will not have to go abroad for treatment any more”, said candidate Obasanjo in 1999. Last month, in rapid succession, Governor Yar’Adua, the PDP’s presidential candidate and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who for seven and half years was the PDP vice president, were flown out of the country for treatment. Again right in front of our eyes, victims of airplane disasters have been flown abroad for treatment because even the best of our government hospitals are still not good enough. Lest we forget, the late wife of the president died in a hospital abroad for undisclosed reasons. Surely, no healthy person goes to a hospital abroad to die? If the high and mighty in government find our hospitals unacceptable, one can only imagine what would have been the experience of the masses.

Now we turn to corruption, which, Obasanjo promised to fight to a standstill in 1999. How has the battle been waged? What has been achieved? What has been left undone? Surprisingly, there has been more cover-up of corruption than exposure of it. To those who still refuse to accept that this government has condoned corruption as much as Abacha’s government, the following should be convincing enough. For the rest of us, they should constitute the next set of reasons why the PDP candidate must be rejected.

Number seven, Dr Makanjuola, a permanent secretary in the Federal Government was indicted for “misapplying” N400 million shortly after Obasanjo took over. First he was removed from office; then Obasanjo publicly ordered that he should be prosecuted. Everyone thought that was the beginning of the new anti-corruption drive. But, soon things took a different turn when it became clear that the man is an in-law. Today nobody knows how the case ended. Very quietly, the government has buried it.

Before I go today, let me tell you in advance the main reason why we must push this government out. The accounts of the NNPC as well as the Ministries of Petroleum, Communications, Steel, Finance and Transport among others have not been audited since 1999. Together these agencies of government have generated close to N8 trillion which have not been fully accounted for by this government. The PTDF scam is child’s play compared to the real scandal which another PDP government will certainly cover up if it is elected. If you want Nigeria to be great again, elect a government that will recover our money. Any party but PDP will do for now. Let’s stop feeling the lash from the follies of the political “masters” who imposed Obasanjo on us by refusing his own imposition of Yar’Ardua for his selfish purposes.
Courtesy of Frankly Speaking - Idowu Shobowale of Vanguard Newspapers

Add all of the above to the mess that is going on in the name of election, and you cannot but agree that OBJ is failure personified.

If we must be free as a people we have to stand up for our rights.  Someone with a warp sense of history was trying to draw a parallel between the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 in USA and our ongoing elections saying there was no riot even though the elections were disputed especially the infamous 2000 elections.  

But the guy probably did not study American history even though he lives in the US and is probably not aware that America did not become great overnight; their great great grandfathers have fought the battle for their emancipation and freedom and have made the supreme sacrifice which the present generations of Americans are now savouring. Actually they have been reaping the reward as far back as 1776 when they earned their independence from the British.

It will suffice to remind the person and to make it known to those who are not aware that the Americans took their destiny in their own hand more than 300 years ago when they resisted the British with their might.  
There was mass popular protest by American colonists in 1773 to resist the Tea Act in 1773.  This led to the sinking of the British ships carrying tea by the Americans - The Boston Tea Party.
There was the revolutionary war fought with the British as well as the resistance by the Americans against the imposition of taxes on them by the British.

In the most recent past, in the 60's the black people in America, through the leadership of Rev. Martin Luther King fought against the establishment to eradicate the institutionalized segregation system against the blacks.  The bold move led to a sweeping changes in the way America treats the black folks and it led to the passage of many civil right acts.  This is why most of us are able to reside in the country today without incident.

Bottom line we have to stand up for our rights peacefully and we will succeed against the tyrany of oppression that we face.

It is true that violence never solve any problem.  But there has to be a way for us the electorates to free ourselves from the stranglehold of these PDP vagabonds.  
People power was not a tested option until the people of Philippines decided to confront the brutal dictator, Ferdinand Marcos and oust him from power in 1986. (for those interested in the story of how people power toppled the regime of Marcos, click on this link: http://www.fragmentsweb.org/TXT2/philiptx.html )
People power has also been tested in other countries and worked to their advantage: In Ukraine, in 2004 people defied the harsh winter colds by staging mass demonstration christened Orange Revolution which forced the government to rescind the fraud ridden presidential election earlier held in November of that year That election was rigged in favour of the government candidate but the people knew whom they voted for and resisted the imposition of the wrong candidate on them.
To borrow a line from the editorial of the Boston Globe on the Ukraine episode, "the defining moment in the birth of a nation, is when the people stand up to fight and free themselves from the yoke of oppression, corruption, deceit, fraud, nepotism and all the cankerworm that have plaque  a nation which have contributed to its underdevelopment."
When the people realize they have the power to expose the deceit underlying a government prone to repression, it is the beginning of that regime's end, and it is the time for a new dawn for the nation.  We need to retake the control of our nation from these leeches and leppers who have cause our nation's growth to be stunted.

Poverty dey plenty

Afam:


PDP is a strong party, infact it will be difficult for any politician to say no to PDP if he/she is sure of becoming the party's flag bearer in any elective position including Ojukwu of APGA, maybe this simple fact is too simple for you to understan
I am not a politician and your cheap shots do not mean anything. You are hung on OBJ and that is why anything that happens must have an OBJ hand in it.

PDP may be a strong party, but their strength does not lie in providing the populace with good standards of living but in their ability to rob Nigerians of their wealth as is characterized by the large scale corruption that is being perpetrated at the Presidency and the 28 states they control.

I recalled when OBJ was busy in his treacherous activities in scuttling the ambition of presidential candidates in his party and was bent on imposing a candidate of his wish on the party, he mutted the idea of inviting Buhari to the party to run on the platform of PDP, a greek gift which was flatly declined.

Baba Otu Mohammed (Racca Rovers of Kano)
Aloysius Atuegbu (Rangers International)
Haruna Ilerika (Stationery Stores
Finidi George (Finito) (remember the massacre of Somalia at the National Stadium Surulere 1991).

Both the ruling party and the opposition are playing a game of CYA (cover your ass). OBJ is scheming for his stoogie Yaradua to win to shield him from prosecution; the opposition are working towards postponing the election to strengthen their immunity. It is a cat and mouse game and God willing they will all lose out.

Afam:

Was Gowon's deputy more powerful than Gowon?

Was Murtala's deputy more powerful than Murtala?

Was OBJ's deputy more powerful than OBJ?

What of IBB, Abacha and Abubarkar?

I fail to see how one can explain the Idigbon/Buhari issue.

"Perception" and "reality" are two distinct concepts. "Perception" is the way we think about something and our idea of what it is like. On the other hand "reality" is what the situation actually holds out to be, in truth. Thus the public perception of the Buhari/Idiagbon regime was that Idiagbon was the de-facto head of state by virtue of the fact that between the duo, Idiagbon was more frequently seen and heard in the mass media than his Head of State. As Head of State, we all know that the buck stop at his desk, that is why he is more vilified today for his regime's misadventure into governance.
But having said that, let me quickly add that Buhari became Head of State by accident, on account of the death of the arrow head of the coup that ousted Shagari's government. His name was Brigadier Ibrahim Bako, who unfortunately was the only casualty of the coup.
In trying to solve the riddles of your poser, you need to understand the power equation of the country (the North and South divide) and the religious dynamics of the geo-politics of the country. Once you understand these two concepts, then your riddle is solved.
If the North produces the Head of State, the No. 2 person must come from the South. And that person that is appointed as No. 2 is usually someone that cannot threaten or undermine the authority and political interest of the North. You see, the North always think (and I am sorry to say this) that theirs is the birthright to rule the country. (Well, it is not their fault, the evil British Empire made it so before they gave us independence).
So it goes without saying that Vice Admiral Akinwale Wey or whoever it was No. 2 to Gowon cannot be powerful as Gowon. Murtala settled for OBJ, who was known to be subservient to the North and is still beholden to them. (If you don't believe me think of Shagari of the 2nd republic, and think of Yar'adua under the new political dispensation).
OBJ first time as Head of State has Yar'adua senior as deputy but he (OBJ) had a lot of Northern officers to contend with, hence he made sure to protect their interest and he was able to finish the term of his boss.
Now to our man Buhari and his deputy Idiagbon. Both are Muslims, and both are from the North, the fact that Idiagbon is from Kwara notwithstanding. So the interest of Northerners were not under any threat and Buhari can afford to go into hibernation without any problem.
My analysis will become clearer to you when you think of IBB regime and Ukiwe. The powerplay that ensued between IBB and Ukiwe led to the appointment of a yes-man in person of Aikhome. Same thing can be said of Abacha and Diya and later Akhigbe.