₦airaland Forum

From my inbox.

Stay away if you are too sensitive, otherwise raises a lot of salient issues that will bring to the fore the realities on ground in the middle east.

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The moment of truth has arrived, and it has to be said:
Israel does not want peace. The arsenal of excuses has run
out, and the chorus of Israeli rejection already rings
hollow. Until recently, it was still possible to accept
the Israeli refrain that "there is no partner" for peace
and that "the time isn't right" to deal with our enemies.
Today, the new reality before our eyes leaves no room for
doubt and the tired refrain that "Israel supports peace"
has been left shattered.

It's hard to determine when the breaking point occurred.
Was it the absolute dismissal of the Saudi initiative?
The refusal to acknowledge the Syrian initiative? Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert's annual Passover interviews? The
revulsion at the statements made by Nancy Pelosi, the
speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Damascus,
alleging that Israel was ready to renew peace talks with
Syria?

Who would have believed it? A high-ranking U.S. official
says Israel wants peace talks to resume and instantly her
president "severely" denies the veracity of her words. Is
Israel even hearing these voices? Are we digesting the
significance of these voices for peace? Seven million
apathetic Israeli citizens prove that we are not.

Entire generations grew up here weaned on self-deception
and doubt about the likelihood of achieving peace with
our neighbors. In our younger days, David Ben-Gurion told
us that if he were only able to meet with Arab leaders,
he would have brought us peace in his time. Israel has
demanded direct negotiations as a matter of principle and
Israelis have derived great pride from the fact that their
daily focus on "peace" has concealed their state's lofty
ambitions. We were told that there was no partner for
peace and that the ultimate ambition of the Arabs is to
bring about our destruction. We burned the portraits of
"the Egyptian tyrant" at our bonfires on Lag Ba'omer, and
were convinced that all blame for the lack of peace lied
with our enemies.

After that came the occupation, followed by terror, Yassir
Arafat, the failed second Camp David Summit and the rise
of Hamas to power, and we were sure, always sure, that it
was all their fault. In our wildest dreams, we wouldn't
have believed that the day would come when the entire
Arab world would extend its hand in peace and Israel would
brush away the gesture. It would have been even crazier to
imagine that this Israeli refusal would have been blamed
on not wanting to enrage domestic public opinion.

The world has been turned upside down and it is Israel that
stands at the forefront of refusal. The policy of refusal
of a select few, a vanguard of the extreme, has now become
the official policy of Jerusalem. In his Passover
interviews, Olmert will tell us that, "The Palestinians
stand at the crossroads of a historic decision," but people
stopped taking him seriously a long time ago. The historic
decision is ours, and we are fleeing from this crossroads
and from these initiatives as if from death itself.

Terror, used as the ultimate excuse for Israeli refusal,
only helps Olmert keep reciting, ad nauseum, "If they [the
Palestinians] don't change, don't fight terror and don't
adhere to any of their obligations, then they will never
extract themselves from their unending chaos." As though
the Palestinians haven't taken measures against terrorism,
as though Israel is the one to determine what their
obligations are, as though Israel isn't to blame for the
unending chaos Palestinians suffer under the occupation.

Israel makes a point of setting prerequisites and believes
it has an exclusive right to do so. But, time and time
again, Israel avoids the most basic prerequisite for any
just peace - an end to the occupation. Of all the questions
asked during his Passover interviews, no one bothered to
ask Olmert why he didn't react with excitement to the
recent Arab initiatives, without preconditions? The
answer: real estate. The real estate of the settlements.

It's not only Olmert who is dragging his feet. A leading
figure in the Labor party said last week that "it will take
five to 10 years to recover from the trauma." Peace is now
no more than a threatening wound, with no one still talking
about the massive social benefits it would bring in
development, security, freedom of movement in the region
and by establishing a more just society.

Like a little Switzerland, we are focusing more these days
on the dollar exchange rate and on the allegations of
embezzlement leveled against the Finance Ministry than on
the fateful opportunities fading away before our very eyes.

Not every day and not even in every generation do we
encounter an opportunity like this. Although it's not
for sure if the initiatives are completely solid and
believable, or if they are based on trickery, no one has
stepped up to challenge or acknowledge them. When Olmert
is an elderly grandfather, what will he tell his grand-
children? That he turned over every stone in the name
of peace? That there was no other choice? What will his
grandchildren say?

davidylan:
In what way is the state seeking to promote morality or decency? The same state wear corruption and election rigging is rife? Are all the girls in lagos morally loose or indecent since they don't all go about in scarves? Does it take veil wearing to prove decency?

If it is even possible to enforce a certain level of decency in the way our girls dress in Lagos I wouldn't mind, our society is getting morally bankrupt by the day to the extent that even mothers basically dress half naked all in the name of fashion even to church.

These days it seems the only things we don't see when some girls dress are the nipples and the undies and it is really disgusting.

davidylan:
that was the way sharia law was smuggled into the constitution overnight!

I do not know when or how sharia was smuggled into the constitution. Maybe they needed to balance the constitution since it was originally based on Canon law which basically is christianity based in my opinion.

Julez:
Its so unbelievable that our President keeps quiet about this.
I think the people of Kano need to learn from others- even their fellow muslims of other states- to tolerate the religious inclinations of others,
Or could I be wrong about this?

There is nothing the president can do because the constitution has already made provisions for this.

I still maintain that our senators missed a golden opportunity to rememdy a lot of problems in our constitition when they threw away all the proposed amendments all in the name of stopping 3rd term.

My personal opinion though, never take webdesigners who don't have websites serious.

Well, it all depends on what you want done and how you want them done.

I can effortlessly develop a static website (up to 20 pages) under 5 hours if the materials are available or develop a fully dynamic database driven web application under 2 days if the list of deliverables, features and functionalities are clearly spelt out.

McKren:
Afam
If you think that is an excuse to legitimise this, I like to also draw your attention to section 1 of the Fedral Republic of Nigeria which talks about the supremacy of the constitution

On this note I also bring to your attention, section 10 of the same constitution

It can not be more explicit than that.

Elite politicians should show our people some respect and stop diverting attention rather than improving basic amenities. What Shekarua is doing is illegal.
Walking stark naked is in no way in the league of compelling people to wear veil no matter what they choose to call it, whether headscarfe or Hijab. If he is simply offering help in the design of school uniforms then he probably needs to be reminded that he has more serious things to do.

One thing I have learnt in this life is to limit my discussions to issues I have reasonable information on so as to avoid making apologies when it is shown that I do not understand what I may be discussing.

You only reproduced the general section and avoided the areas that specifically dealt with Sharia.

The constitution clearly makes a provision for the implementation of sharia (275).

http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm#ShariaCourtOfAppealOfAState

Gentlemen,

Is the governor mandating all female students to wear the veil or head scarf?

If veil then it is wrong since it is a religous thing.

If head scarf, it could be argued that the state seeks to promote morality or decency.

I still do not see this act as imposition of one's religion on others.

On democracy, if the majority of the people in the state wants something and it is passed into law whether you are happy or not is another matter entirely just like the US creates laws that tend to infringe on the rights of some people especially those in minority.

Again, unless the government is asking all female students regardless of their religions to wear the islamic veil I do not see anything out of the ordinary here.

You guys reside in the US, let me ask you - if you decide to walk around stark naked in the US do you imagine that the government will allow walk around like that even though you may think that you should be free to live your lives the way you like?

Anything that does not kill us only makes us stronger.

Suit yourself and continue to debate a very clear issue that religious sentiments and bias won't let you see objectively.

And your point is?

Leave out the rhetorics and focus on the crux of the matter and you will see where you are missing the point due to a mindset based on a wrong premise.

It is always very interesting reading from Nigerians that use their limited level of understanding as a yardstick to judge what is right or what is wrong.

Any reasonable human being will agree with the statement that the Nigeria law and legal system is based on the system in Britain (A christain country) and that if a moslem nation had colonized Nigeria that sharia or Islamic legal system will most likely have been put in place.

But are we all reasonable? Certainly NO.

www.afamite.com

Afamite.com is an free online platform for Nigerians for news, business, pleasure and more.

With sections like news, myview, friends, events, directory, shopping, property, photos, automobile, jobs it has a lot of tasks covered and will continually add new features and functionalities as the site is built from ground up without making use of scripts downloaded from the internet but based on experienced programming skills.

News, myview, photos sections have integrated comments zone where users are free to comment on other peoples entries.

Friends have name search, schoolmate search, workplace search and dating and relationship search

Jobs section enable users to build a resume on the fly, allow recruiters to post jobs and view resumes of those that applied for the jobs right there on the website.

An online payment solution will follow suit (in the next 2 weeks), again will be built from scratch to solve the real problem of ecommerce in Nigeria. This will be tied to the shopping section of www.afamite.com so that people can actually pay for and receive payments online and in a matter of seconds.

Will not be ready to engage in any blind arguement here.

Female students being mandated to cut their hairs in secondary schools and primary schools is not new neither is it strange and of course erring students are either suspended or expelled from the school.

Our laws are based on Christain principles if that is the angle you want to look at it because Britain colonized Nigeria just as we may have based our laws on Islam if Iran had colonized us.

I don't think any company manufactures solar panels in Nigeria and the production of solar cells is not something an individual embarks on one a large scale unless for experiment or educational purposes.

In Nigeria today, homes and offices are being provided with up to 24hrs or 48hrs backup using just inverters, battery banks and chargers even with the state of power supply today.

It will be very very expensive to setup a solar system that will generate enough electricity for the average home in Nigeria due to the limitation on the efficiency of solar cells.

The same way a father makes the rules for members of his family is the same way a state makes law for the citizens of that state just as the federal government makes law governing a nation.

In reality, the law that is closest to you in terms of implementation is what affects you the most not one that is distant.

I live and work in Lagos and the day Lagos state wakes up and decides to implement laws that I do not want I will either abide by the laws or relocate to another state.

If the schools in the South (read christians) ask female students to cut their hairs even in the primary and secondary schools and no one sees anything wrong in it then Kano state has the right to oblige schools to follow a particular trend it feels ok with, simple.

If the majority of the people in Kano wants Sharia then it is ok to implement it, that is all about law, majority will have their way while the minority will have their say.

People talk about freedom of this, freedom of that why do people in the US or UK get picked up all in the name of inciting violence? Why not allow everyone say what he or she wants to say or do what he or she wants to do.

Many of us that complain may actually be the main hypocrites here.

And this issue has nothing to do with gradual islamisation of Nigeria but implementation of Sharia codes where the majority of the people want Sharia as a way of life.

This is a consequence of democracy.

Freelance is not lying, combo is used to describe such combination of drives. Even the laptop I bought about 5 years ago came with a CD RW/DVD combo.

Do not call people liars simply because you do not understand what they are saying especially when they are 100% correct.

Not until you state what you want built you cannot get an appropriate response.

Building a site is the easy part but coming up with with to build is not that easy.

State what you want first.

I keep wondering why Bush and his vice are still in office today unless they are only interested in protecting the image of the office.

From my inbox, my sentiments exactly

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The Pentagon and White House continue to argue that they
are not planning a war against Iran in spite of the
continuing buildup of naval forces in the Persian Gulf,
which will peak with the arrival of a third carrier group
at the end of May. The naval aviation and missile resources
available, which are not being used to support combat
operations in neighboring Iraq, far exceed any reasonable
level required to send Iran a warning or to reassure Gulf
Arab allies. The carrier concentration has even weakened
U.S. ability to respond militarily elsewhere, most
particularly in the Western Pacific, where an unpredictable
North Korea continues to pose a genuine threat. Multiple
carrier groups in the Persian Gulf can only mean that
another preemptive war, this time against Iran, is either
about to take place or is being viewed as a serious option.

Critics of an air and naval assault on Iran have provided
many good reasons why war between Washington and Tehran
would be a disaster for U.S. global interests, ranging
from a spike in oil prices to the unleashing of worldwide
terrorism. What is not being appreciated clearly either by
the media or policy-makers is the central dilemma in war
planning with Iran, which is the apparent lack of reliable
intelligence on Iranian intentions and capabilities.
Planning for war without good information has a surreal
quality, like a blind man trying to describe something
he cannot see, with guesses and "what-ifs" replacing
certainties.

There has been a notable silence on Iran coming from the
intelligence community. Late in 2006, shortly before he
was forced to resign over his unwillingness to cook the
intelligence on Iran, Director of National Intelligence
John Negroponte responded to congressional criticism by
conceding that there were major deficiencies in what
information was being obtained about the Islamic Republic.
Since that time, a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran
has been stalled because of White House demands that the
product be more useful, i.e., demonstrative of Iranian
bad behavior and intentions. CIA analysis suggests that
it cannot be demonstrated that Tehran currently has a
nuclear weapons program, though the case either for or
against Iran rests on a paucity of information, not on a
solid understanding of what is going on inside the country
and among its leadership. On a purely practical level,
leaving moral and ethical considerations aside, until the
United States can answer key questions about Iran, includ-
ing its ability to retaliate, its terrorism resources, and
the nature and location of its nuclear program, no military
action should be contemplated.

The impending intelligence failure on Iran is very similar
to that which took place regarding Iraq, and for many of
the same reasons. From a practical point of view, it is
very difficult to spy on a country if you do not have an
embassy in its capital and also have an embargo or
sanctions in place that prohibit business relations. It
is even more difficult when that country has a very small
group of decision-makers that control all information care-
fully. Spy fiction notwithstanding, most effective agents
are volunteers who offer to provide their services,
whether for money or for idealism. Oleg Penkovsky, the
Russian who was the most important Western spy of the 20th
century, was an idealistic volunteer who had to make
several attempts to contact the British and American
embassies in Moscow before he finally succeeded. Put
simply, when the volunteer cannot reach you, you don't have
any spies. It is reasonable to assume that America has very
few real spies inside Iran.

Politicians who are ignorant of the Middle East frequently
confuse advocacy with intelligence and allow the former to
become the basis for policy formulation, sometimes by
default. Lacking good intelligence resources, much so-
called information that is reaching policy-makers in
Washington comes from émigré groups and lobbyists with an
agenda - again very much like what happened in the lead-up
to the Iraq war. These groups are all interested in
emphasizing the threat from Iran, not in objective analysis
that might exonerate the mullahs.

The leading Iranian émigré group is the National Council of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which pretends to have a network
of independent sources within Iran but actually is largely
dependent on information from Israeli intelligence. The
"critical analysis" of events in Iran that reaches policy-
makers in Washington frequently comes from it and other
lobbying and advocacy groups such as the American Enterprise
Institute, the Hudson Institute, the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, and the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC), all of which share an "Iran
agenda" that calls for regime change. AIPAC is known to be
the source of a position paper on Iran that most congress-
men rely on to shape their own views. Israel's advocates,
including peripatetic politicians such as ex-Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, make frequent visits to the United
States, where they have good access to the media and
potential supporters, to reinforce the case that Iran must
be dealt with forcefully.

There is also a tactical problem caused by poor
intelligence. Without good information, Iran's nuclear
program becomes hard to target in a military sense, and
a massive air and sea attack might not even solve the
alleged problem. There are hundreds of known nuclear-
related targets in Iran, with many others still undiscover-
ed and hidden. Many of the sites are located in cities,
meaning that an attempt to take them out would result in
numerous civilian casualties. Iran has been preparing for
an American attack for some years, and there are reports
that many of the sites are deep underground and hardened
with layers of concrete, meaning that a genuine attempt
to completely destroy them could require tactical nuclear
weapons. The unilateral use of nuclear weapons by the U.S.
would change the world, and not for the better, as it would
let the genie out of the bottle and create the worst
possible precedent for other nuclear powers like India,
Pakistan, and Israel.

Poor intelligence also means that Iran's capacity for
retaliation is unclear. If one of the purposes of war is
to inflict more damage on the enemy than the enemy inflicts
on you, it is essential to know your foe's capabilities.
One possible retaliatory scenario considered to be likely
and currently being war-gamed by the Pentagon and the
intelligence agencies involves Iran's stirring-up of its
Shi'ite co-religionists in neighboring Iraq against
American forces, cutting supply lines and making every
Iraqi neighborhood a safe haven for insurgents. Today's
chaos in Baghdad would look positively benign in comparison
to the national uprising that would ensue.

Iran could also use its missiles and biological and
chemical weapons to strike against other U.S. forces in the
region, in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. It could effectively
attack regional U.S. friends and allies such as the
Emirates, Kuwait, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. It might, for
example, call on the Shi'ite majority in Bahrain to rebel
and overthrow the Sunni emir, leading to an immediate loss
of the base for the U.S. Sixth Fleet. It almost certainly
would use Silkworm missiles and suicide boats to close the
narrow Straits of Hormuz, cutting off petroleum from the
entire Gulf region and driving oil up to $400 per barrel.
If it were really lucky, it could sink an American aircraft
carrier.

Worldwide, Iran could have Hezbollah terrorist cells
believed to be underground in the United States and Europe
stage terrorist attacks. It could destabilize all of Asia
by assassinating Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and
Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, possibly resulting in an
Islamic Republic in Pakistan that would be armed both with
nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. Attacking
Iran for the wrong reasons and with the same poor
intelligence that produced the Iraq catastrophe would cause
American influence and power to collapse throughout the
Middle East and central Asia, an extremely high price to
pay for ignorance.

Since Yar'adua defeated his candidates (Atiku and/or Buhari) he has declared war on the innocent man for no good reasons.

Now, it is a crime for a governor to save money for the state instead of looting the treasury abi?

Nigerians, what do we really want? Decent people in government or crooks?

Well, since you know how he talks, what do you have to say about the many claims that God told him he was going to be president of the federal republic of Nigeria on two occassions?

The statement is at best misleading and we need people that can communicate properly to Nigerians.

Literally or otherwise he could have done without such fanciful or elegant statement.

Pain:
This struggle is now my life
By Pat Utomi

When about a year ago I gave up all income, stepped down from boards and committed to seeking votes for the presidency many thought it was a three month quest to prove a point. It turned out to be a grueling venture that involved at least three near death experiences, thousands of miles of road and air travel and a discovery of a country I thought I knew well.

Did he really give up all income? If yes, how does he maintain himself and his family?

Is he living on charity or what?

Nigerians need to be communicated to in very clear and truthful terms especially when these people seek to lead us.

2015 will be more like it. We cannot rule out 8 years for the incoming administration.

Publicity stunts don pay am sha.

Cool post.

Why don't you setup a website where people can visit at their own time instead on making expensive calls or emails.

As an IT consultant in the area of web design you do not have any reason not to own a website.

Thinking aloud here.

Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks or months www.afamite.com will be a one stop site for Nigerians to complete tasks online including property listing with picture (at no cost), automobile (with picture), events, friends etc.

Even though the site isn't completed yet, you are free to use it now.

www.afamite.com/automobile

www.afamite.com/automobile/spotlight.php

Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks or months www.afamite.com will be a one stop site for Nigerians to complete tasks online including property listing with picture (at no cost), automobile, events, friends etc.

Even though the site isn't completed yet, you are free to use it now.

An online payment gateway will be developed in the next one month to provide a Naira based real time online payment gateway for Nigerians to pay for goods and services online,

I am happy a lot of people are seeing beyond the lies of this man but unfortunately the average church goer in Nigeria believes the Pastor more than the word of God and they would go to any lenght to defend rubbish, lies and bad deeds of the so called pastors.

The Almighty God that I serve does not lie and can never lie, he may need to tell us the god he serves, certainly not mine.

buchio7:
As for Okotie he has his opinion about his source of inspiration to be President and again it is nt for anyone to question it because it is between him and his God.

If it is between himself and God then he should stop informing Nigerians of such personal messages as he is basically insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians.

So, any Nigerian reserves the full right to question his claim that has thus far been 100% on 2 occassions without any retraction, correction or even apologies.

donan (m)
Where else? I dey naija n am proud abt that
Posts: 52

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Re: The Next Senate President!
« #22 on: Yesterday at 09:57:17 PM »

Guys d geopolitcal region thing dey work for this senate president selection wow. Afam said Obasanjo and Ken are from d south but he has forgotten about one office called the office of the vice president which is from d north. d senate president can either come from southwest most likely, north central or probably northeast.

Nigerians!!! How can one claim that someone forgot the post of vice president just to make a point that may be pointless afterall.

When people fail to understand a statement they should try to do so instead of wasting space and time arguing over nothing.

My post clearly shows that it is very possible that the senate president can come from the North because our present scenario supports such arrangement.

panalyst:
@tafari.
The north have the presidency so its not possible for them to head both the executive and the legislative. Thats how this is. It is definetely going to the South West. Whether Iyabo gets it or not is another story entirely.

OBJ and Nnamani are from the South so having the North control both the executive and the legislature is very likely.

Self study may take a longer time but if you have the passion and the willingness to learn it could be your best option as you won't be learning under a rigid time frame.

Some professional software writers today do not even have any computer related certificates yet they are writing great codes out there.

It all begins with the passion.

I have constantly resisted the urge to comment on this particular thread due to the fact that it is disturbing to read or hear some people write or talk as if they now understand everything about software development.

If someone understands something so well then the person should go ahead and implement or build that killer application that will put Nigeria's name on the global map.

Applications are built to solve problems or offer convenient alternatives to certain tasks.

Youtube was setup by just two people (while working as employees at paypal), no one needs a mega company to come up with an application before Nigerians can see or use a good web application.

I developed from scratch in my spare time a web application I hope will make sense to Nigerians and every single feature or functionality that people want to see on that site will be implemented.

The only major thing I have not setup (but will do so before the end of next week) is the online payment system that will offer the simplicity, security and convenience that card holders of Mastercard, Visa etc currently enjoy and this will be built from scratch.

We have people that have money to spend but do not understand the technicalities involved in running web applications.

If anyone feels too strongly about the state of software application in Nigeria and the person is good enough let the person develop one and we shall make use of the application.