₦airaland Forum

Pls, i'm not a jew but an IGBOTIC man. Calling ourselves Jews reeks of inferiority complex. Why can't the jews be called IGBOS.

okpara ugo: I agree with you. PH is a mega city like lagos and PH. Its obvious with the way major businesses are sited nationally. The only difference being that FG has expended more in developing Lagos and Abuja more than PH.

Most comments here show the shallowness of its commentators. People just comment to show the cities they admire or have visited. They tend to spite knowledge and embrace mediocrity. Smh

Topmost Nigerian cities are :

Lagos, Abuja, Portharcourt, Kano, Ibadan and Enugu...

A knock for the boys who mention agbor, calabar, uyo, benin city, gombe. You need to grow up or leave home...

The bolded is very true and that is why Port-hacourt is the least planned of the 3 major cities. PH grew due to the oil and gas industry in that city and did not witness any deliberate attempt of development from the federal government like Lagos and especially Abuja.

take dat: I have nothing to prove because it is public knowledge. Even if you do not believe me, at least OBJ who acknowledged that fact would have seen his hidden hand in those elections. Have you asked why PDP was quick to congratulate the winners in those elections even when their candidates rejected the results? A case study is the Anambra election where the party's flagbearer was disenfranchised, yet the PDP was quick to tell Nigerians that the election was free and fair. A party is 'morally' binding to support its candidates till the end.

On Tinubu influencing the SW votes for GEJ. Its an allegation made by OBJ and also from other quarters, yet Tinubu and GEJ have not come out to dispel such allegation.

So, because OBJ acknowledged it, it's the truth. The problem with some of you Nigerians is that it's difficult to please you folks. So, because Jonathan congratulated the opponents of his party after an election, it means he's fraternizing with them. Would you have preferred that he cancelled the election so that you guys will see an opportunity to label him him a dictator.

take dat: Yes, he was elected by Nigerians and also qualified to contest for a second term! If you are in doubt of his lust for power, why did he engage in anti-party activities and secretly supported the candidates of other parties in the governorship elections held in Edo, Anambra and Ondo states and even OBJ made mention of how he entered into a pact with Tinubu for him to win the votes from SW? You can argue that those he supported were the popular candidates but for the fact that he was willing to throw his party members under the bus to gain the support of those not in his party speaks volume.



Nothing in this world happens by chance. Did he by chance become a deputy Governor? Did he not play along with OBJ to impeach Alams for him to become the Governor? Wasn't he compensated with the Vice presidential slot because he was loyal and supported OBJ's third term agenda? GEJ is a good schemer and your conventional Nigerian politician.

I think you have to first prove to the house how JOnathan supported candidates of other parties in Edo, Anambra and Ondo states. Also show us proof that he had a pact with Tinubu to win votes from the SW I also want to know how Tinubu influenced my vote in the SW.

@Omo_Tier1
If you don't understand the premise upon which this thread was created then i can't help you. I'm not here to argue about what Jonathan has done in sectors of the economy but to focus on the political implication of Jonathan being Nigeria's president. The problem with us is that we're always in a hurry to start reaping the dividends of democracy without first considering the behemoth political challenges. These challenges are the bane of economic development. Not until we get the politics right before every other thing will fall into place.

take dat: Did he from 'Nowhere' rise to become the president? No. Does he belong to the political elite? Yes. Is he not also holding the nation to ransom with his unbridled lust for power?

Did IBB not have problems with OBJ during the latter's reign as civilian president? Yet both are members of the cabal and 'insiders'. In Nigeria, Politics is a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles, so you the bickering in the political arena shouldn't come as a surprise to you.

Can you pls explain the bolded. Was he not elected by Nigerians and does the constitution not allow for two terms? it's not like he's asking for 3rd term.

Like i said earlier, Jonathan became the governor of Bayelsa by chance and also became Nigeria's president by chance. He's not your typical Nigerian politician. If all things were equall, then Jonathan would have probably being a local government chairman. Whichever way you look at it, he's a break from the norm politically.

I think Jonathan is ready to face humiliation. I think he likes being humiliated.

eGuerrilla: First off, let me thank you for this write-up. Just so you know, what attracted me here was your thought-provoking title.

While I agree that Jonathan's reign provides the perfect catalyst for change, I beg to differ with your conclusion about a preordained 'paradigm shift'. To be clear, in both body-language and deed, what Jonathan appears committed to is nothing more than a restructure of the polity, which replaces certain vested interests with new oligarchies.

To engender the type of groundswell change you envisage, Nigerians would need to engage the system frontally to ensure that real dividends are delivered by the planned confab. Question is; are we even in tune with that development?

You may be right to an extent but i still think that's a good news. Any replacement that means that the old political guns like OBJ, IBB et al being made politically irrelevant is good news in my opinion. These are the few people who have held us by the jugular and exterminating them from poltical relevance will portend a paradigm shift will be consolidated by future president. Whichever way you look at it, it's still a step in the right direction.

take dat: What do you mean by 'the first common man to take the exalted seat of governance'? Jonathan is not a common man, he has always been a member of the wicked political elite. Did he from nowhere rise to become a President?

He has not always been. Infact the likes of Amaechi, Odilli etc had more political clout than him before became president. He may not be a common man in the truest sense of the world but he's not part of the caucus that has held this nation to ransom. He comes across as an outsider to me else the likes of OBJ, IBB etc won't have a problem with him.

djon78: Afam may God bless u, GEj is the first comon man to take the exalted seat of governance. For the past 40 years, Nigeria was ran by the sons of belial, abominable, wicked and devilish men. Nigeria has sold more than a trillion $ worth of oil, but nothing to show 4 it. Infact the position GEj dey in as Nija president is not something I will wish on my enemies. All I owe him is to continous pray for him, likewise all of us cos uneasy lies the head that wear the crown.

You really understand the issues and the bolded captures it.

Abagworo: Afam you should understand that the real civil right activists and the masses have no interest in who is in power but on changing Nigeria. If APC wins in 2015 and continues with corruption, tribalism and religious intolerance the civil society and masses will still turn against them. Jonathan should remove his interest from power and build a legacy of changing Nigeria for good. Let there be real credible elections. Let anyone caught involved in corruption and tribalism be given an accelerated trial and jailed or killed. That's just all I want and I'm not seeing it.

Most governors are doing well in terms of infrastructure because Nigeria is earning more from oil and not because they are better managers than those who ruled when oil was $9. We need accountability and respect for human rights.

How can the people who have been ruling Nigerian for eons suddenly change. There won't be change except there a paradigm shift. What we need in Nigeria is a political change before every other things can fall into place. I'm not expecting much from Jonathan as afar as the economy etc are concerned. I'm happy that he has constituted a panel to look into the efficacy of constituting a National conference. Isn't that what a lot of Nigerians have been asking for? Would it have been possible if we had the same old politicians in power? The only reason he's giving us the National conference is because he represents a break from the status quo.

I'm also wary of the APC and that's because they're gradually becoming the new PDP imo. A paradigm shift is supposed to involve a change in personnel and not just party because most if not all parties were created with the same sick ideologies and by people whose sole aim is to seize power before anything else. What is the guarantee that voting APC will not be a reflection of the PDP years considering the fact that the same characters we have always clamored against are finding themselves to the APC. Let's learn to tell ourselves the truth.

Fashola should not use his religious orientation and interactiveness to judge others. Fashola has a Christian wife, so he may not see a big deal in it but Aregbesola comes to me as a more Islamic person.

Abagworo: My reason for considering him a failure is exactly what you wrote above. People thought he would end corruption, tribalism and change Nigeria but his regime has turned out the worst in that. We expected a sincere SNC and not an SNC to discuss 2015 elections. Right now the country is more polarized than ever.

Yes he might bring about a bloody revolution sooner. Than expected because we are almost at the threshold. Obasanjo has exonerated himself from the wrath of the masses by repenting and writing a sensitive letter.

He couldn't have changed Nigeria the way you want cos he didn't have a precedence of doing something similar. He's not a Fashola or a Donald Duke. The only thing i see him doing is to change the political landscape so that the political scallywags who have held this nation to ransom will not get anywhere near power again.

payless: You admitted Jonathan hasn't done any meaningful thing, yet you think he should continue in office. If you were a professor and one of your students hasn't performed as expected, would you allow the student to go ahead to a higher class?

We all know Obasanjo is a very bad man but when Obasanjo was fighting those who vied against Jonathan in 2011, none of you had problem with Obasanjo.

People do different things for different reasons. Obasanjo supported Jonathan because he saw Jonathan as someone he could pocket but he was wrong. Do you think Obasanjo would have written that letter if Jonathan was still saying "Yes Sir" to him? I doubt that very much.

The title of this thread will come as a rude shock to a lot of people considering the fact that i'm neither a sycophant nor a paid agent of Jonathan and what i'm about to say here is not necessarily related to developmental strides of Jonathan which is not obvious to a lot of us.

I won't join the bandwagon of those folks who keep telling us how Jonathan has changed Nigeria in his short stay as president. Jonathan is not a saint and has not lived up to the expectations of majority of Nigerians but neither did our past leaders including Obasanjo. But if there's one reason why i will want Jonathan to continue as our president, it's due to the fact that him being a president presents us with a new political dimension from what we've had for decades now.

Ordinarily, someone of Jonathan's caliber would not have mounted the exalted seat of the presidency if not for the fate that befell his former boss, Yaradua. When Yaradua was presented to Nigerians, those that chose him wanted a vice president for him and they wanted someone that would be seen but not heard. They needed someone who would do their bidding without asking questions. They had the opportunity of presenting the likes of Donal Duke, Peter Odilli who were more more popular as far as that region was concerned but instead they went for a Jonathan who was the governor of a Bayelsa state and who didn't exactly have the political clout as he got to that seat due to what befell his oga at that time.

So, we were presented with Jonathan and many of us top he would remain a figure head under Yaradua but as fate could have it, Yaradua died and Jonathan had to fill that void. I'm not sure this is what the political heavyweights or the cabals who put him there were expecting. They had a game plan and Jonathan becoming Nigeria's president couldn't have been part of the plan. The political atmosphere was boiling as at when Yaradua died and those in power were hesitating to give Jonathan the full powers to take up from where Yaradua stopped and that was because Jonathan did not belong to that caucus of political leaders who had held the nation to ransom and they knew Jonathan could squash their plans.

When they eventually gave Jonathan the power to become a substantive president, a lot of people were expecting him to cause a political revolution and this was what necessitated the protests by civil society groups for him to be made the substantive president. Some months after Jonathan was made the president, a lot of people were disappointed cos it seemed Jonathan was going the way of his predecessors and a lot of people called him a weak and ball-less president cos he was very slow at making decisions and they felt he was receiving order from God knows where. Over the years, i have watched Jonathan grow in confidence and it can be seen even in his boldness when being interviewed on TV.

Today, Jonathan has become more bold by the day and it seems to be that he has started making decisions independent of those cabals that put him there. I think this is the first step of moving away from the status quo. We have seen the ramblings in the letter that OBJ wrote Jonathan. We have also heard the likes of IBB, Atiku and other elder statesmen calling for the head of Jonathan. We have also seen people who we thought inherited PDP from their father moving over to the opposition party. I think this calls for celebration because when Satan criticizes someone then that person must be doing something right.

Jonathan may not be the best leader we can have. Far from it. But i think he represents a paradigm shift from the status quo that has been molded by the cabals who have held this nation to ransome since 1970.

Theben: That was in the nineties. Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos have taken over.

You even quoted the post and couldn't see "West Africa". Btw, how does a city seize to remain the biggest?

9jadelta: yeah me too a akure is more meaningful than Abeokuta

Can you expatiate? I've also seen more positive reviews on Akure than Abeokuta. Infact, ABK is rarely talked about.

chelseabmw: I PITY ARSENAL...........I WEEP FOR THEM

When are you changing your moniker to EnyimbaToyota?

phantom: the ogbias seem to relate more with obua/ahoada people.they should have been in rivers state

The Ahoada people are not Ijoid. They're Igboid.

django1: Bro, how do you expect the LG to take care of the financial responsiblity that comes with a Unversity as big as LAUTECH?

That's how it's supposed to be in an ideal setting where local governments are allowed to generate their own funds using their god given resources. It's because our local governments have become lazy that you'll see them undertaking a project as big as LAUTECH as a behemoth responsibility.

django1: I think I support this statement. Osun already have their own university now they should free lautech for oyo state.

I thonk so too but it's really not easy. That's why you see Governors citing important projects where they come from incase of any eventuality. I think something has to be done and the best thing is to decentralize government further whereby schools like Lautech should be owned by Local governments.

Is this interview for real, especially the bleach part. It sounds so surreal. How would someone ask a politician if he bleaches.

It causes cancer.

Orlando Owoh: Moderators, talk to your fellow moderators in the education sector. I got a ban there from spanbot, which made me unable, to not just being unable to post on that section, but also others. I was later freed in all other sections but still can't comment in the education section. The worse part of it is the ban which was supposed to be lifted today has been extended to the 15th.

Chillax a sec.