₦airaland Forum

Shania Twain- You're Still The One

This song is always relevant.

Wow! I almost don believe say you not fit do any legitimate business to be well paid in nigeria. Hmmm.

Na wa o. We are finished!

@USBCABLE, at least you show say no be everybody mumu for NL. I am surprised at the repsonse of some of our so called "literate nigerians." Wht is wrong in apologzing when something bad happen to a guest in ur tuff? Must we criticise everything and everyone at all times?

Have to say I agree that INEC should be pushing to know what happened to the Journalist.

Former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, has given a sensational account of how elections are rigged in Nigeria. Recently in Abuja, as part of renewed moves to contest for the presidency in 2011, he gave a frank and factual account of the collusion of governors, state Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and the state Police Commissioners in the malaise.

He spoke to civil society groups and politicans.

“Let me start this way. Prof. Maurice Iwu is truly an enigma; he enjoyed the limelight. He enjoyed all the attacks, thrown and meted at him. He remained undaunted. I think, he belongs to the school of thought that believes that bad publicity is better than no publicity.


“So, even though he was being attacked and scolded and all sorts of things were said about him, he didn’t shy away from even going to the United States and talking to Nigerians in the Diaspora about his work, he didn’t shy away from it. I was told he organized a rally to ensure that he will come back to do the work he was appointed to.

“Why do I call him an enigma? The truth is, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has little or no bearing on the success of elections, that’s the truth. To me, it’s actually immaterial because he is head of the administration. He takes the brunt.

“The best he can do is perhaps, draw up a blueprint, but the implementation of that blueprint is outside his control. So, if elections are rigged in say - Taraba State- we don’t do that stuff in Cross River State (laughter),

“Every one looks at Iwu and he proudly says, we did this or that. Hogwash!

Let me now take you through the process of an election. We have 120,000 booths in Nigeria . At the hierarchy, you have the Chairman of INEC, then you have the zonal commissioners, then you have the RECs and they are the heads in every state. The zone as the name implies; we have six zones in Nigeria , so you have six of them.


“Then you have the RECs and there are 36 of them, of course, and Abuja . Then for each local government, you have an electoral officer. Beyond that, you have 120,000 polling booths, headed by presiding officers. The people think that at the end of the elections, the PDP would just decide who wins, and who doesn’t announce the results. I think the process is a bit more sophisticated than that.


“This is what happens; the Resident Electoral Commissioner is usually from another state. The electoral officers, they move around. They are usually from that state, but for the conduct of elections itself, you would probably move from Cross River to Akwa Ibom or to Abia, but these musical chairs don’t mean nothing.

“When the REC comes before the elections are conducted- of course, when he comes to the state, usually, he has no accommodation; monies have not been released for the running or conduct of the elections and all that because we always start late. He pays a courtesy call on the governor. It’s usually a televised event you know, and of course he says all the right things. ‘Your Excellency, I am here to ensure that we have free and fair elections and I will require your support.’


“Now, at that courtesy call, most governors, at least I did, will invite the Commissioner of Police because he is part of the action and he sits there.

“After the courtesy call, the Resident Electoral Commissioner now moves in for a one-on-one with the governor and says, “Your Excellency, since I came, I’ve been staying in this hotel, there is no accommodation for me and even my vehicle is broken down and the last commissioner didn’t leave the vehicle, so if you could help me settle down quickly;’ and the governor says, ‘Chief of Staff, where is the Chief of Staff here?’


“And the Chief of Staff appears. Governor says: ‘Please, ensure that the REC is accommodated–put him in the Presidential Lodge, allot two cars to him, I give you seven days to get this done. Then, the relationship has started; I am going to share some of these things with you so that we don’t leave here with any illusions.

“A lot of us, folks who have gone through an election or have been elected for one thing or another, see groups like Save Nigeria Group (SNG), the CLP as woolly-eye dreamers, you have to come down to the backsides, since I am now a hybrid between both. I want to bring you both down to backsides. Let me take you down to what happens so that you can change it because if you don’t change it, we here won’t suffer but I think our children will.

“We the elite, I am one of them, we send our kids to the best schools around the world, when they come back they are misfits, they cannot fit in and so ultimately we are designing a system that would destroy us in the end”.


“Let me take our minds back to Somalia . Somalia is mono-religious, mono-ethnic; they only have clans (but) they have one tribe. What has happened there? It’s a failed state because the elite in Somalia were so disconnected from the people that once they had some money, they buy houses in England, Washington and all those places; they were not investing, putting their best foot forward and I think that was what Pastor Tunde Bakare was talking about.

“If you want to be in a contest, you put your best foot forward; at the end of the day, there was such a disconnect that even till today, they cannot bridge it. Let me tell you, the last recognized President of Somalia is buried in Lagos- Siad Barre.


“We are multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-problematic. The reason why most people worry about us is if we explode, who will contain us? Let me also say this, I know what I am saying now is an aside, I will go back to the elections. When we conducted the census in 2006 or so, the raw figures said we were over 200 million; when they went and processed the figures, it came down to 140million.


“When you look at those figures and compare to those we had in 1991 at a growth rate of 2.1 or something like that, it is really just an extrapolation, because we were too embarrassed to admit our true numbers. If we get it wrong, we will fail like Somalia; in Somalia, half of them are in Kenya, Ethiopia, and a few are in Europe here and there; who will contain us in all of West Africa and Central Africa and for that it is imperative not just for ourselves but for the rest of the continent that we get it right.


“Now, back to the elections, once that relationship has been established between the governor and the REC, if you are a governor who is ‘A Governor’, maybe two nights after you just stopped by at the Governor’s lodge and see the REC and say ah, ‘ah, REC how are you doing? Are you?’ He says, ‘ah! Your Chief of Staff has been wonderful. He has been very nice to me; he supplied me the vehicles and everything is ok.”

“A few weeks to the elections, the REC sees the governor; you probably have on the average about three thousand five hundred, four thousand depending on the polling booths in every state. So, REC goes to the governor and says, ‘Your Excellency, could you please, give us the names of about four, five thousand people so that we can hurriedly train them, we need them as Presiding Officers.’ You need experience. A good coach is one who has played and has lost matches in the past?

“The REC now goes down and says, ‘we need to conduct a training programme for the presiding officers and em, headquarters hasn’t sent us any money yet, you know.’


“And the governor is like: ‘How much would that cost?’

“REC replies: ‘N25million for the first batch, we may have about three batches.’ Governor: ‘Ok, the Chief of Staff will see you.’

Now, the Chief of Staff, you call him: ‘Make sure, that we arrange N25 million this week and in two weeks time another N25 million and N75 million in all.’

“Chief of Staff: ‘Your Excellency, how do we do it?’ Governor: ‘Put it under security vote.’


“In other words, is it cash, ok, now, cash in huge Ghana Must Go bags – some of my colleagues will shoot me- (turns to the audience) is any former governor here? (Crowd replies no!)

“Good. Cash is lodged in huge Ghana Must Go bags for the REC and of course, to be fair to them, they call their electoral officers and say the governor has been very benevolent; he has given us this and that. I say three batches because they have them in senatorial districts.

“So, you have one in Calabar, you have one in Ikom and Ogoja, those are the headquarters of the senatorial districts. Each one costs N25 million. Of course, the sums are not properly retired. I don’t know how much of this N25 million worked. But, there is a rapport this is going on.


“The governor now turns round and says: ‘Call me the party chairman.’ The party chairman appears and the governor says: ‘INEC requires 50 thousand people for conducting the elections. See to it that we meet their needs.’ The chairman goes and you hear in the evening on radio and television: There will be an urgent meeting of all chairmen and secretaries of XYZ party at the headquarters.

“They should report promptly at 10am (because) matters of urgent interest would be discussed. End of announcement. Now we have texts messages, so its easier, in no time everyone is here.


“It’s a very short meeting, please, go back and within 48 hours submit from each local government 250 names of trusted party members. So in a week, the deed is done. The names, sometimes even passport photographs if required, are sent to INEC.

“And the training programme is carried out. Let me pause a bit. This is at party level. They are usually civil servants. They may be teachers, whatever, but they are party members. The remuneration, for each of them for the elections from Abuja is 10,000 Naira for the day’s work. But the state in its benevolence gives 50 to 100,000 Naira to each of these folks right before this election.


“This is even where it gets even more interesting. So, you have each of the three or four thousand polling booths; they are manned by party stalwarts. They are usually party stalwarts. You don’t send any peripheral member. The remuneration from Abuja has not arrived but that of the state was received 48 hours prior.

“On the day of elections, each polling booth has no more than 500 ballot papers, that is standard.


“There is no a polling booth that is more than 500. So only 200 people appear here, 300 there, 100 there, 50 there, 400 hundred there, at the end of election what happens. The Presiding Officer sits down and calls a few guys and says, ‘hey, there are a few hundred papers here, let’s thumbprint. This is the real election.

“Well, this is not a PDP thing. I am not here to castigate the PDP; it’s a Nigerian thing. This process may sound comical and jovial, it happens throughout the country, whether it is Action Congress or APGA it’s the same thing. We are all the same. They start thumb-printing, some are overzealous. So at the end of the day, you find some voting more than the number of people that were registered to vote.

“Otherwise they do it, you have 95 per cent turnout. You start wondering where were the voters, I didn’t see so many people. And the election results are announced; XYZ party wins and it takes a week for this paltry N10,000 for each presiding officer to arrive.


“Listen to this before you ask your question: Who is the most important person in an election? – The Presiding Officer. And if there are 120,000 of them (booths) there are 120,000 Presiding Officers, they are the most important people in the elections, not the chairman.

“So, as long as we keep applying that same method, you will get the same results. It’s crazy to think that because you substitute Iwu for Jega all will change. In other words, Iwu is a crook, Jega is a saint. Jega is great, he has an impeccable reputation. Iwu was great, now he seems not so great. Ok, they are both professors, they have reached the peak of whatever discipline that they profess.


The point is that it is the system and the personnel and the chairman has little or no control over that.

“Where are we now. We don’t even know when the elections will be. The Constitution amendment seems to be stalling somewhere. So it’s either in January or in April. Sometimes, we behave as if we invented democracy. We always want to draw new rules.


We should know the day of elections. It should be fixed. We should know that on so and so date I think, America is the 4th of November or so and if it falls on a Sunday it doesn’t make a difference.

“The point I am making here is that date is fixed, you know; because in a democracy, election should be a norm, not an event. In our democracy, election is an event. It’s like, we are going to spring on to you with fire works, hey, we are going to have an election, we are all running around- I know most politicians are broke right now, so we are all running around the field.


“Secondly, if you have your ears to the ground, there are whispers that maybe, we need to postpone this thing. The whispers are there. In a democracy, you postpone an election? You postpone things you didn’t plan for, not things that are there in the Constitution, that says you must do this, that and that, you can’t but –you know two ways of moving forward. This is where I like what SNG and CNP are doing.

“We need a critical mass of Nigerians to get out and vote. It is important because the more ballot papers that are legitimately used on election day, the fewer available to be used to rig the vote, that’s the truth. Don’t keep to yourself and think that they will announce results. They are more sophisticated than that. And that’s why the aspirants who felt cheated and had the resources to employ forensic personnel, like those elections had the elections upturned in Edo and Ondo, because they could establish multiple voting by thumbprint.


“So, if it’s an AC state, the procedure is the same. I remember a state, that state will remain nameless. I hear the story that the then President was so determined that he must change the leadership of this state and he called the IG and said, ‘look, that Governor is a security breach. Let’s have elections and flush the governor out, and the governor knows he is under siege. A week before the elections, a new police commissioner arrives.”

http://odili.net/news/source/2010/jul/28/502.html

Electricity workers frustrate Jonathan's plans for power sector

Martin Ayankola


Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc's workers are preventing the Professor Barth Nnaji-led Presidential Task Force on Power from discharging some of its duties, our correspondent has learnt.
It was gathered on Monday that although Nnaji's committee wanted to have an office in PHCN's headquarters in Abuja, the workers prevented it from doing so, as they barred members of the committee from the headquarters.

An attempt by Nnaji's team to also inspect PHCN's facilities in Lagos on Friday was met with stiff resistance by the workers, who allegedly drove the members from the Ijora facilities.

It was also gathered that the workers had physically prevented members of the committee from entering the company's facilities at the Ikeja Distribution Zone.

"We had bought bags of sachet water, with which we would have drenched him, if he had been bold enough to show his face at the Ikeja Distribution Zone,"one of the National Union of Electricity Employees' leaders told to our correspondent on Friday.

All attempts to get Nnaji to comment on the situation proved abortive, as he told our correspondent on the telephone that he could only be available for comments on Thursday.

@tkb417, you get the point that is about economics for BBC, and not because they want to tell the "truth." Bad press sell a lot of papers. Its high time ordinary nigerians, especially at NL know this and stop helping them making money off our misfortune without commensurate attempt to shed the light on our positives.

Do you know how many people get their news from google search? a lot of the comments will become available to others on the internet. How is that helping if all we hear from the few internet savvy nigerians is how evil reigns supreme in nigeria?

I hope we can figure out away to show the world  a little bit of the goodness that ordinary Nigerians have to offer sometimes. I am not naive, I know all the evils that we live with, but we also live with grace, kindness, cultural pride, decency and a sense of responsbily. I'll like to see treads of the most beningn encounter people have had with a nigerian (s).  Because we hate our government does not mean we should celebrate our fault with the likes of BBC all the time. Our wise elders say you do  not throw away the baby along with the bath water.

I am really surprised that anyone will be rejoicing that a feeble old woman is kidnapped for money under the pretext that she should have raised her son well. How do you know she did not do her best? how do you know what made him the way he is today? I am sure your mothers raised you to rojoice at other's misfortune.

That is not about punishing Sani Lulu. This is about some criminals trying to make money by whatever means. It should be condemned. Kidnapping will destroy Nigeria if we are not careful. Not that many you care because you live far away from Nigeria.

@kech,
Lola Akinmade took those pictures for BBC because he knew what they wanted to see- the embarrasing part about Nigeria. Look, I agree with you that if that will make our leaders sit up, then its good.

But please understand that the economy does not grow on bad press alone- 419, kidnapping, armed robbery etc. It will be good to also hear many of the good things happening in Nigeria once in a while in Nigeria. If for nothing, it will help investors to know that Nigeria is not all that a bad place. It can be good for investment. That is what is going to help us in nigeria, not reliance on the Godforsaken leaders that we have.

China and India have as many poverty and vices as we do, but they have been able to convince the world that their countries are a good place for foreign investment.

You want to tell the truth? Really tell it like you see it. Talk about the good too, and you will be doing that. Geez!

I was going to say there is nothing wrong with going to school by conoe until some people brought up the safety angle. I do agree that in many things we do in Nigeria, we usually ignire safety. With children we need to look out for them, but we don't do enough.

However, many of the kids you see on that canoe are probably better in the water than many of the lifeguards you see in the west including England. Many of them practically live on water! So you see, sometimes we ignore the very experience and culture of the people we criticise. They judge us by their own standard because they don't understand ours.

Its seems the guy was just saying the messages from FB was part of the reason he changed his mind. That does not mean there weren't other reasons. Like some smart people have said he was just looking for a way to make people know that he will look for a way to listen, especially to the youths. This is an internet age, any serious minded leader should be internet savvy. GJ is demonstrating that. I am off to go add him on FB account. Nigerians! Na wa for una o!

Why do we always like to take opposing stand on issues? I bet some of these people criticising the man actually secretly agree with him. Some people think it make them relevant and noticeable in a debate to oppose anything and everything at all times. Na sickness be dat o!

One thing I don't understand is if some people read other people's comment before commenting. I'm saying this because some people continue to argue blindly that there should have been no ban in the first place. Football administration is different from other internal Nigerian institutions, the president was powerless to make changes to the leadership of NFF because of FIFA rules. Out of fustration he had to pull this stunt.

Yes it is a stunt. But it got him what he wanted- a chance to make changes to the incompentent leadership at NFF. Ofcourse I knew he was always going to rescind the ban. He is too smart to be adamant with the ban and there is too much at stake. What else is there for Nigerians to escape from the perpetual wrangling in the PDP and all the other political parties?

[b]There are indications that the cordial relationship between the Nigerian movie industry, Nollywood and its counterpart, Ghana’s Ghollywood, has hit the rocks as authorities of the Ghanaian movie industry have said that Nigerian actors will no longer be allowed to work in their country unless they pay a fee.

In a statement sent to the Actors Guild of Nigeria [AGN] Board of Trustees, said henceforth, any Nigerian actor participating in any of their productions will be compelled to pay $1, 000 (One Thousand dollars) or risk losing the job.

This development, according to the Ghanaians, is to give ample opportunities to their local actors, and as a result, develop their movie industry to an enviable height.

They are of the opinion that their Nigerian counterparts seem to be dictating the pace in the Ghanaian movie scene, and they want to address the issue before it gets out of hand.

Confirming this information to P.M NEWS on phone yesterday morning, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria, Prince Ifeanyi Dike, said he and his executives are already addressing the issue.

He said that he was shocked when he received the information “because I never believed such decision could come from the Ghanaians. Nollywood has done a lot to improve their movie industry and what they have done now is a clear indication that they are ingrates. How could the Ghanaians insist that Nigerian actors must be paying $1, 000 before participating in their productions?

“A lot of our popular artistes have been calling me on this issue and I have assured them that we are going to make the necessary moves. It was Nollywood that made Ghanaian actors like Van Vicker, so it is absurd for them to be creating hurdles for our own actors now.”

Prince Dike, however, stated that part of the resolutions made by his board is that if at all, any Ghanaian actor must act in Nigeria, such actor will also be compelled to pay $2,000,(two thousand dollars).

Meanwhile, as the number of foreign actors plying their trade in Nigeria’s Nollywood continues to increase, the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, has called on the Nigerian Film and Video Marketers to curb the excesses of these foreign actors.

The authorities of AGN reiterated that movie marketers, producers, directors and other stakeholders should avoid giving prominence to foreign actors at the expense of their local counterparts.

Star actor and National President of AGN, Segun Arinze, said he is not opposed to the use of foreign actors in Nigerian movies, but it should not be at the expense of the local talents.

According to Arinze, Nigerian movie producers should be cautious of the influx of foreign actors, especially the Ghanaians, who seem to be getting more roles and better remuneration in Nigerian films.He however urged the producers to “embrace an 80 percent local talent and 20 percent foreign in our films.”

He said “the current situation is worrisome to AGN as our talents are left wasting away. More disturbing is the situation where our own actors are not engaged in jobs outside the country, making our efforts not reciprocal.

“AGN appreciates the contributions of our foreign colleagues to Nollywood but when the home grown talents are wasting away, we should have a re-think because we are equally talented.”[/b]

What is the IQ of Chiejele now?

Nigerian Football Federation spokesman Idah Peterside said Nigeria's key midfielder had pulled up after some 50 minutes of training in Richards Bay on Friday with severe pain.

"He had been complaining about a niggle in the ankle when we first arrived in South Africa but after training yesterday it really flared up. His knee was doing fine and you can understand he is devastated about this new problem.

"He is not sure how it happened. It wasn't a tackle with another player or anything like that," Peterside said.

"It was been very emotional for him and for the other players too. The team has been trying to consol him. He's been to the Olympics but this was to be his first World Cup."

I agree with all those who understands the posters predicament and provide useful advice. For all others who think the fear of going home after 8yrs is not justified, you are either in denial or you are completely ignorant of the propaganda of fear about Nigeria that is going on abroad. Almost everyone is afraid of Nigerians starting from Benin republic, ghana, to USA. You hear of kidnapping everyday or people being killed when they come home.

This is what I will tell the poster. Nigeria is your home, you can never run away forever. What if you don't have a choice, wont you go home? Yes there are bad things happening in Nigeria, but that is the case everywhere. Nigeria, and partucularly Benin is a very hospitable place. I don't know your relationship with your family, so I cant comment on that. As somene has said be sensible and be yourself.

I went home from canada from the first time after 6yrs last year, I was going everywhere by myself. When I discovered that people could tell the difference in accent, I satrted communicating in pidgin english even when I go to banks. I was fine and planning to go again this year.

I am sorry I acn't provide an aswer to you enquiry, but try and not see the opportunity as the only there will ever be. You speak like someone who believe in God. It it is the will of God, you will get. If not, there will always be more opportunities. You have done the hard part of obatining the degree.

People accusing the poster of of bloated self-esteem should probably check their own level of self-confidence. You can discuss pay with prospective employer provided it is handled professionally. Ask what they usually pay for such a position, and not what they will pay you. Sometimes your timidity may even cost you the job.

I don't understand why people are trying to make the poster look back just because he wants to know how much the company pays before he starts engaging the thir tedious employment process. In fact, I hate companies that do not include pay package in their job post. Its exploitative. If I see a job like that and feels itssomething I really like to do, I'll look for their relevant contact and ask politely what their average pay for such a position is.

I have gone through a process of getting a Job like that in toronto only to find out that what they will pay me is way below my qualification and whar I currently earn. ofcourse, I had to reject the offer.  Ever since I have made it a point of principle to obtain an idea of what will be paid before continuing the time consuming part of the employment process.

It does not make sense to travel for job test site without a general idea of what you expect to be paid. And just to add that sometimes it doesn't really matter whether you hold Bachelors degree or a masters degree, if you both qualify for the position you probably will get paid the same amout of money because the company already have proposed budjet for that position before seeking to fill it. But the guy with a a masters degree may progress fast in the company if he works hard.

I think everyone here has a valid point- The argument that cost is an issue is as valid as the argument that we should first get electricity first befre worrying about cost. With all these argument, people forget to remember the importance of the econimies of scale.

As for me, I think we should get power first, if at all its possible, before we start worrying about cost. Because there is not much you really can do about cost at the initial stage. But as more people and businesses connect to the grids the overall cost of production will reduce and that will (should) reduce the cost of consumption. But I do agree that that modalities have to be put in place to make this work.

I'm not as disappointed in WOS and co as I am in some commentators whose hatred for any IBB prevents them from seeing what the rally is all about. Not that I think Oshiomwole is the messiah that people think he is, but if you are going to castigate the man, look for a credible way to do it.

The one man One Vote rally, as have been rightly mentioned here, cuts across political parties. Therefore, Oshiomhole is not under any special obligation to inform WOS and co who will be there. When invited to such a rally, any sane person should anticipates and prepare for the attendance of people whose political beliefs are different from theirs. If they were so eager in avoiding IBB, perhaps, they should have asked if IBB was going to be present. WOS should stop taking orders from Tinubu. Whether we like it or not, IBB is an important part of our history. The man has the right to know how people feel about him. I am glad many Nigerian were courageous to tell him exactly how majority of us feel instead of running to hide from him.

It is ok to criticise anyone, but do it with facts obtained from understanding of the context.

This is the era of talk and openness, and not that of bigotry and hate. The youths of this country should especially see beyond the rigid ideological stands of many of our current leaders, and learn to embraze dialogue and civility.

Hey Rhymz calm down, we are only talking about the issue as two concerned Nigerians, even though we may have different opinions. No need for profanities.
As if he was in Yaradua's condition he wont do thesame,
Well we will never know becasue he was never in Yar'dua's condition. I hate hypotheticals. May be he would have behave like Yar'dua, or may be not. But everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. He wasn't sickly. That is how a president should be.

Oh pls spare me the BULLCRAP!Thesame OBJ that had the chance to change history but sacrificed it on the altar of avarice and heavy tribal policking.

I'm not sure I follow the tribalism in a yoruba man backing an hausa man for politics. Don't tell me you too believe in all this grand conspiracy about him wishing yar'dua dead so that a southerner will take over. if so, there is no point even wasting my time engaging you on this. That is the most naive assumption I have ever heard. The guy had a kidney transplant. It happens all the time. OBJ is not a doctor neither is he God. I don't get the cynicism.

That vindictive !diot knew very well that Yaradua was a walking corpse,even with an obvious sign during their campaign yet he made sure they rigged him in,now he wants to come out and throw his fast fading voice.When the !diot was going gaga with his 3rd term madness why did he not listen and do the honourable,now he wants to tell another person thesame,$tupid foøl with no sense of shame,let him go and drink cyanide we are tired of seeing his ugly face!!Scheew!

Regarding the third term, I was one of those who protested against it because it was unnigerian not because it was unheard off. He was trying to do it constitutionally, and the people resisted, he failed and he gave up. That is the path of honor looking back.
Just to clarify, I am not saying that OBJ is perfect, I am jsut saying he had done good compared to waht we have now. I wasn't a big fan of his because like you said he could have done better, but is not yar'dua. Hope that is simple enough.

A true leader is rarely appreciated in his own land. Only history accords them their special place. With OBJ, time will tell. OBJ made a lot of mistakes, but that is expected in the experimentation that was going on in Nigeria. He is not perfect, but he is not Yar- adua

Sometimes I don't understand Nigerians. It doesn't matter how wrong you think Obasanjo have been in the past or how much you hate him, when someone does sothing right, admit it. Obasanjo has done the right thing for saying what he said. I don't want to get into the debate whether he was a good president or not because that won't do any good. The only thing I will say is that we were moving the right direction when he was president. Nigeria is a difficult state to govern. You can even see that from some of the comments on NL.

Every government needs continuity in policy. Many of Obasanjo's policies have been discontinued by this sickler president. Even Jonathan admitted that the discintinuation of obasanjos's program on power is the reason they could not achieve the 6000 mw. Let's call a spade a spade. For all I care, third term for obasanjo would'nt be worse than this trap we are now.

I think is better if we meet Zambia at this stage of the competion. Each game the SE plays allow them to build their team work. You have to realize that the biggest issue we have is that when you pull together team from players in four corners of the world its hard to build cohesion. We will meet the bigger teams, but first lets beat Zambia first. No team is a pushover anymore.

In your face! all those who say Nigerians are cowards. I hope this is sustained. All we need is just that bit of patriotism.

I believe the best step in the right direction is for Muslims to stand up and fight against extremist who are determined to label the religion with a bad name. . . extremism should be preached against in all Mosques and Islamic school throughout the country.
Muslims should form active groups that preach against Extremism.

I'm glad to see a constructive contribution from you on this issue. You've stated the most salient point. You will be surprised how many people are learning from these kind of forum.

1. All religious schools (Islamic schools and bible schools) should be duly registered and monitored to make sure there are no extreme teachings in any of them. A law should be set up to make such a punishable offence

2. All shrines in Nigeria should be closed with immediate effect

etc

I couldn't have said it better. Today it is the moslim terrorists. Tomorrow it might just be the followers of babalowos. We know there have ben terrorism attributd to christan fundermentalits(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism). Evil is evil. It only breeds more evil. We must try to nip it at the bud.

Many of the shrines that have been found to engage in ritual killings have not been spared in the past. So if any of the moslim schools should not be spared if they are found to incite people terrorism . but we must always strive for fairness at all times.

Maybe they will put God on their "Blacklist" too

Lol. Oh they did that a long time ago.

Osap: you raised important point. But I still think we should not generalize so that we do not become unfair to muslims like your friend who condemned the incieful teaching.

Many of the Islamic doctrines are inflamatory and can incite violence. I'm sure there are parts of the q'uaran that also encourage love and peace. Like many religions there is always the presence of contradictory messages, therefore many followers embrace part of the religion that supports whatever ideology they want to uphold. And believe me there is something for everyone. The biggest threat we have in the world today is use of certain teaching of Islam to unleash terror on innocent people just to make a point. This is pure evil and should be confronted by all means neccessary. But my fear is that if we are not careful and continue to categorize all moslems are terrorist, we might end up radicalizing the progressive ones, no matter how few we think there are. The moslem population in the world is roughly one fifth i.e about 1.3 to 1.5 billion people. If some of the claims on this thread are right that they are all terrorists and ready to blow up themselves to kill a few others, then no one has a chance to exist. The truth is even though it seems easy to get radicalized listening to many Imams, there are lot of moslems that are different and wish differently about what is happening but won't give up their religion for the extremists.  But every time we condemn and generalize all moslems as terrorist, the extemists win more converts. Every time you throw someone in jail and harrass them just becasue they moslmes, the extemists have a chance of getting a new recruit. There are no easy solutions to this problem, but may be we can start by being smart and not blacklist a country like nigeria becasue of the stupidity of an overzealous and a spoilt brat.

While we fight this evil, we must also show love and empathy for the many moslems whose faith has been hijacked by the terrorist. And for the progessive moslems, no matter how difficult it may be, they must continue to challenge extremists among them in more stronger way. If it is possible, I support closing some of the radical islamic school not becasue the US wants us to do it but becasue it is the reponsibility of the government of nIgeria to ensure that people are not indoctinated in these places , and that children are not allowed to be brainwashed into monsters in a place that is suppose to help in teaching morals and the ideals of coexistence.

Violent:
As your pseudonym suggests, you are brainless. So I won't justify any of your idiocy with a response.

davidylan:
1. I dont disagree with you as that would imply you had a credible point in the first place. Merely making sure misinformation from the likes of you dont remain unchallenged.

How are you diffrerent from the muslim extremist yourself when everyone contrary opinion to your view is not credible and everyother idea you don't like is misinformation.

2. Its nonsensical to tell us "It doesn't matter what constituted the injustice and in what context it was executed" . . . as that itself is germane to the issues at hand. Why do muslims ALONE respond to alleged injustice with terrorism? Why does a Nigerian respond to the crisis in pakistan by blowing up US jetliners? Is he more concerned about Afghan babies than the almajiris at his father's gate here in katsina?

Obviously your hatred for moslems has not allowed you to see that not only muslim respond with terrorism. The terror war is based on ideology and not nationality. You are too dumb to understand that anyways.  Instead of implying  all muslims are terrorists maybe you should step back from your ignorance and listen to the millions of moslems that condemn terrorism.

3. Good chrsitians do not engage in insults . . . but they dont hesitate to put trolls in their place either.

Extremism is not only present in Islam, it present in christianity, and you have just demostrated that.

I have realized that you are frustrated and angry at the world. I advice you to go hang yourself and save the world of your hatred. I doubt you still have minutes left in your fifty naira ticket that you bought in cybercafe. Go borrow some more money and come spill more of your stupidity.

Or you can go to hell!!!!

Only airheads start insulting people they disagree with.  It doesn't matter what constituted the injustice and in what context it was executed. The point is that other groups have responded with terrorism. And good christians do not engage in insults. God bless you.