₦airaland Forum

Regardless of the shortcomings of the EFCC, a Nigeria with EFCC is far better than one without EFCC.

If they need to do away with one then ICPC should go since they have really not done anything serious since its creation yet they keep voting funds for the body.

Hello,

I have a friend who is supposed to go to Ogoni land (it's a UN project) but will be requiring an Ogoni man and Ogoni woman to fly to Geneva to make a presentation on Ogoni customs and culture.

Due to time factor, the 2 people that may be interested in this will have to be in UK already as waiting for people to get travel documents from Nigeria will take time.

Please, anyone that meets the criteria should send an email to nnajiafam@yahoo.com. All meaningful correspondences will be forwarded to the NGO.

It's going to be an all expense paid trip and a short one for that matter.

NB: If the message smells like scam please forgive me, I have only tried to put it as it is.

Very welcome position from the Russians.

It is funny that the West wants a nuclear free middle east when in reality it wants Israel to be the only country with nuclear weapons.

The US just developed a new design for its missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear war heads. It claims the new design is not necessarily adding to its nuclear arsenal but replacing old ones when the proper thing would be for them to destroy their stockpiles.

So, while they invest money redesigning its nuclear capable missiles they are telling Iran not to develop its nuclear technology (not nuclear weapons) while supporting Israel with nuclear weapons (not nuclear technology).

@Icon,

Rotational presidency is wrong, it is not democratic but in Nigeria today we have not gotten to that stage where regional, ethnic or tribal issues are supposed to be non issues yet.

The idea of Falae and OBJ contesting the election that brought in the 1999 administration is still part of the larger picture here, keeping Nigeria one and stable for the time being.

@Bankole01,

Thanks for even explaining my position better. It seems some people are simply clueless when it comes to reality, they keep talking as if they think with their left legs.

@Lewa,

On Utomi, I do not need to read about him because I have heard so many things from his own mouth (not on TV or radio) that makes him unsuitable for the presidency.

naomijt:
Can you make up your mind? Is it free or is it cheap?

Helep me ask him/her oooo.

lewa:
Not only presumptuous and shallow also disappointing!So because certain people see it fit that the destiny of 180 million people is theirs to do as fit must we look back arms akimbo and pray that some form of miracle would just happen to liberate us?
Perhaps some mafia of some sort may deem it that power belongs to them,but wasn't it a sage that said ?

The statement might be shallow and disappointing to you because you have failed to face reality. Are you in bondage that you need anyone to liberate you?

I do not ascribe to the idea that power belongs to a cabal.

lewa:
Utomi has the pedigree to run as president more than any other pretender to Aso Rock, and it's a pity that the so called power rotation you seem to espouse with much relish should go to the S/S OR S/E as the case may be for equity and fairplay.We all seem to forget this and if we were to have rational leaders and honest Nigerians the elect elections would be about issues not some random guy being sold to Nigerians as capable of leading us.
Utomi might not win,but the consciousness he's elicited by this run for presidency shows that negativism and pessimism which seem to be the hallmark of certain people would always be rubbished.Change starts with a single effort and as the Chinese say

What pedigree? State what makes him outstanding or most suited for the job.

I raised the same issue of rotational presidency meaning North and South as against the 6 geopolitical zones with a former presidential aspirant in my office and my take is this: Rotational presidency cannot work if you are looking at the 6 zones as you stated because it means that power can and will most likely be retained by the South or the North for a possible 24 years (2 terms each for the 3 zones in either South or North).

However, it seems that your emotions may have taken over a greater part of you so discussing this issue based on its merits and demerits may not work.

lewa:
.
One day,the gross idea that power belongs to a cabal would be confined to the waste-bins of history

Only very very few believe that power belongs to a cabal and I do not believe in so neither should such thinking make sense to begin with.

GNature:
Another example: we have a refinery built in Kaduna (the north), while the oil itself exists in the Niger Delta (the south). Hundreds of millions of dollars was spent on building the pipeline used to transport oil to the north when it could be refined in the south where it was originally extracted.

It is infact cheaper to have a refinery in Kaduna to carter for fuel needs of the states around Kaduna than to use tankers to transport refined fuel to those states on a daily basis from the South.

@Nigeria1,

It seems you are hung on the satellite picture thing, good luck but the fact is that satellite pictures do not count people.

I was counted during the last census excercise by the way by NPC and the Lagos state government.

As regards who sabi book you have already displayed all your skills on this forum so we know how intelligent you are, enjoy.

Icon:
Well, those who understand Nigeria well are those who understand how to chop Nigeria's money and cover their tracks by putting in candidates who'll be like them. Is that what we want? It won't happen again.

Understanding Nigeria here has nothing to do with corruption, it is about the issue of power shift, rotational presidency but ofcourse when people don't understand the issues the surest route to follow is make ridiculous accusations that are baseless.

For the interest of a stable Nigeria power needs to rotate between the South and the North until we are able to sit down and sort out all grey areas if we must remain one nation.

That someone is oblivous of this serious issue and is talking about presidency is enough to know that the person will be a disaster because it seems the issue now is personal or selfish as againt National.

What won't happen again? Vote a Northerner this time or what?

Mark it down, no Southerner will win the presidential election in April even in a free and fair election so stop day dreaming and face reality.

Nuruoye:
To be candid, it is very dificult to say who precisely among those that are parading themselves as Presidential hopefuls in Nigeria really worth it! As the case stand however, I guess Pat Utomi stand a better chance of being a good President based on his antecedent!

Can you please state one or two things he has done in the past that makes you think he stands a better chance?

To begin with, any southerner that is vying for the presidency today is merely wasting time, no wonder all the major political parties practically zoned the presidency to the North.

So, for an Utomi that does not even understand the power equation in Nigeria today, wanting to become president, it shows that he does not even understand Nigeria well.

It seems that the only guarantee he has to stay out of jail is to remain a top politician with the attendant immunity.

Don't be surprise if he decides to contest for the Senate if he feels he is going to fail or disqualified for the presidency.

Immunity for me is the main reason, take away immunity and he will be singing a different song today.

@Nigeria1,

Satellite pictures don't count people.

As for foreigners doing business in Nigeria, those that want to take advantage of the market are already doing so.

It is hard to point out a sector that foreigners are not getting involved in as far as Nigeria is concerned. Even as Iraq boils today, young americans are getting jobs as body guards inspite of the risks and Harliburton is doing all it can to make money there.

Why should you be ashamed of being a Nigerian? Do you believe that the average american is more intelligent than you are or more opportuned?

Excellent letter. I have stated it before that it is very easy for any reasonable person to see through the lies and inconsistencies in Jeff's report.

First he contacted the MEND letter through email, got a boat and headed into the creeks and guns here, guns there, after all said and done he went back only to find another email from the MEND leader that it was not his group that kidnapped the Filipinos, what utter rubbish.

He should join hollywood and make movies instead of lying and deceiving people with his money making business.

Criticisms based on reality and facts are good but those based on lies and misinformation are bad.

Generally speaking though, a lot of Nigerians like to criticize the government because it is easier to criticize than to make any impact even if within our own immediate environment.

Let us also not forget the criminals, fraudsters and corrupt Nigerians that have been displaced by some of the governments policies that see nothing good about the government.

Tornadoz:
The US is the most armed nation on earth, hence it prevents others from arming themselves (to preserve the status quo).

And the world is better off without the lopsided status quo that is being used to intimidate, maim and kill anyone that disagrees with them.

@Face,

Thanks for the comments. The truth of the matter is that the man 4play is always arguing blindly (not the best choice of words but in reality that is what he does), bringing in unnecessary bias, sentiments and subjectivity into otherwise clear issues and yet believes he is making sense and those that disagree are missing the point.

4 Play:
If my neighbour has a gun,that does not legitimise my acquiring one .No one can break the law and claim he can do so simply because his neighbour is breaking the law.

If it does not legitimize your having one then what happens to the gun already acquired by your neighbour?

It seems its a case of "let's maintain the status quo as long as I am ok". The world doesn't work that way and its good a lot of countries are waking up to that reality.

Your analysis does not in any way justify the erronous statement that Idiagbon was the person in charge for the simple reason that the No 2 man only gets to do what the No1 assigns to him.

On Bako, yes, he died from what we refer to as friendly fire but he was not the leader of the coup neither was he supposed to be the head of state (referencing your point that Buhari became head of state due to the fact that Bako was taken out of the picture).

We always have a way of explaining things to suit our purposes even if those explanations don't add up and its a huge problem in Nigeria.

We cannot be applying the same rules differently based on who is involved.

Abeem:
Your assessment of Buhari is borne out of hate and prejudice for him. Or probably it was borne out of ignorance for the way the military government of that time operated. Buhari was de-facto head of state, but Idiagbon by virtue of his position as the Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Council (SMC) was saddled with executing the decisions reached by the SMC. Hence Idiagbon was perceived to wield enormous political power over the Head of State, but in truth he was only carrying out his executive functions and in reality he was subordinate to Buhari as Head of State.

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.

Fighting corrpution will ensure that money meant for the power sector will be used in the sector to replace, maintain or buy new equipment as against the present style of awarding phoney contracts and siphoning the much needed funds into private pockets without anyone asking questions.

If corruption is greatly reduced today, basically every aspect of our lives will improve because the major problem we have today is corruption which encourages less than 2% of the population to keep what belongs to everyone.

The power sector is deregulated.

If the tarrifs are too high now, they will certianly get worse when private hands get into the mainstream just as we are paying way too much for calls today.

Fighting corruption and making things work is a far better approach than allowing private hands to determine what we will pay for power.

How much?

No response/feedback yet.

I guess I may have to allow for 1 week before I get worried.

It is a bad thing to allow private hands to handle very critical areas of our lives as profit will be the utmost concern and not service.

The cost of electricity will triple or worse if private hands are given the freewill to do what they want just like the GSM is making a lot of people spend over half their incomes on calls.

That the government has mismanaged the power sector due to corruption does not mean that they should handsoff completely.

Fighting corruption is a good way to reverse the frauds of the past.

Power distribution is not the major problem but power generation that is where a lot of areas are place on shifts. You cannot distribute when you have not generated.

@Tornadoz,

See, the issues are very clear and very straight forward but a lot of people prefer seeing things they way they like regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

It is like my neighbour buying a gun even when he is not a police man and asking me not to buy one for my own security, insisting that he can be trusted with his own gn but I cannot be trusted with mine, what rubbish!!!

If Iraq had developed nuclear weapons the US would never have thought about invading the country just as it did not contemplate invading North Korea.

Unfortunately, the world is full of people that ask for justice and equity while promoting injustice and double standards at will without even realizing it.

It is like an arrested armed robber instead of defending his crime calling for the government to probe the police commissioner.

@Face,

Excellent response. The problem is that some people believe that the correct position is the position that they agree with and every other view is missing the point.

We clamour for objectivity yet our posts are full of subjectivity, bias, sentiments and blind support.

On Iran and nuclear weapons, if countries like Israel, US, Pakistan, India, France can own them then any country including Iran reserves to right to develop them.

But in reality today, there is no single proof that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, developing nuclear technology to solve energy needs is what the IAEA is sure about but for countries like Israel and the US the right of Iran will be subject to their own feelings and thoughts.

@Nigeria1,

And who is Ekaterina Rassudin that contacting him/her as regards NASA pictures that are even irrelevant seems to be a big deal?

This is a big plus to the OBJ administration.

On privatization, it will be disastrous if we allow private hands to run the most critical aspects of our lives like power as they will be priced outside the reach of the common man because the primary focus will be profit, profit and profit.

Today while we appreciate the gains of the GSM gradually the average Nigerian is spending a whole lot to communicate.

shutmouth:
God forbid, I am not OBJ's boy and will never be.

Crude Oil and Afam

It's nice to see you guys on our side: anti-ATIKU and of course anti-OBJ

I dislike these two men.

And what has Afam got to do with this thread?

Stop pasting my name on threads I never even posted anything on.

EFCC, GSM, Support for lawlessness (Chris Uba and Adedidu), debt relief

OBJ did not kill 500 Nigerians in pipeline disasters, they died out of greed and crminal scooping of fuel.

@naomijt,

Have done so. Waiting for the feedback.

When the immunity for Kalu expires we shall know whether he will be the one declaring his assets or Ribadu declaring his.

Someone is accused of corruption and the best defence he can give is to ask Ribadu (the person saying that he is corrupt) to declare his assets.

No wahala, e no pass 5 months. We go know who go go self exile or get better corner for prison for this Naija.