Haba please leave the Lagos landlord to lick his Edo wounds quietly now. Otherwise he will exact more pain on the long suffering Lagosians whose sweat fill up his bullion vans.
Na only God go save our children from the many wolves wey dey this generation.
If the mother had not come to her rescue, many more rounds would have been used to disfigure her destiny.
Your last paragraph suggests that you are in the same league of using many rounds to disfigure the destiny of tiny things that are the daughters of concerned mothers. Very unnecessary addition to your comment.
gaius01: Arrrrrrrh People are saying laycon is wise and mature. If he's not careful with all the adulate coming from girls they may mislead him. Cause girls, I fear the person wey no fear woman.
They have market for interested buyers. Caveat emptor- buyer beware
President Muhammadu Buhari has berated Nigerian youths for being 'uneducated' and 'not ready to work'.
President Buhari, while speaking during a panel discussion at the Commonwealth business forum in Westminster, London, expressed displeasure with youths in Nigeria because they were dependent on revenue from oil to survive.
He said the youths, who make up 60 percent of the population, were waiting to get social amenities free without doing anything.
"And then the economy. We have a very young population and our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. The 60 percent of the population is below the age of 30. A lot of them have not been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil producing country and therefore they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare and education free,"
The moderator had asked Buhari to give his final thoughts on the issues discussed. The President said he had fulfilled his campaign promises by improving on the nation’s security and the economy.
White007: This is Yusuf. He doesn't like to work. He stays in a free house, eats free meals and rides a power bike all day long. When sick, he flies a chartered or presidential plane to some of the finest hospitals to treat himself all for free. Yusuf is a #LazyNigerianYouths Don't be like Yusuf
Mayeldah: Boko Haram will end when the Fulani Politicians funding it wants it to end. The same reason buhari has refused to sack the services These same people were the ones funding Boko Haram to destabilize Jonathan's govt. I only have pity for Zulum, he is a good man but his fellow Northern polictians are terrorists BH is state funded.
Too many riddles, aswear.
Sign agreement on no more killings, I will withdraw JTF, Jonathan to Borno elders March 09, 2013
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Maiduguri, accused Borno State Elders of playing to the gallary over the activities of Boko Haram Islamic sect insurgency in the state, describing the situation as unfortunate.
Jonathan spoke during an interactive session with Borno State stakeholders at the Multi-Purpose Hall, Government House Maiduguri, in continuation of his two- day working visit to Borno and Yobe States, the epicentres of Boko Haram.
He was responding to requests by the Elders for the Federal Government to grant amnesty to the sect members as well as withdraw the military Joint Task Force, JTF from Maiduguri and other areas in the state during the second day of his working visit to Borno State..
President Jonathan lamented that none of the elders in the state had publicly condemned the killings and bombings being carried out by the sect members and advised them to put their ‘’house in order,’’ by talking to their children who had been causing havoc in the country to drop their arms against the country.
Buhari faults crackdown on Boko Haram JUNE 3, 2013
Presidential candidate for the Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 Presidential election, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has frowned on the emergency rule in parts of the North. He alleged that innocent civilians were being killed in the states.
Buhari speaking during a Liberty FM Hausa Service Programme, Guest of the Week, on Sunday in Kaduna said that Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished unlike the “special treatment” given to the Niger Delta militants by the Federal Government.
PresidentAtiku: I wonder how Buhari, Tinubu, Osinbajo, Garbage Shehu and Femi Adesina sleep. Garba coming out to talk of 600 roads..... Even if you are clueless, why not consult and seek for help as you did to the foreign firm that packaged this failure of a government and sold to Nigerians. Egg is now N50. Common egg Fa Tinubu out of his selfish ambition to rule Nigeria( In his wildest dreams) will never say a thing or occupy Nigeria. Clueless humans
Atiku was also part of the packaging crew in 2015. Why did you omit him?
Bkayyy: He spoke the mind of both average and non average Nigerians
............irrespective of tribe, except for the owners of the Fulani Republic of Naijeriya, FRN who need 02 points to enter Unity schools funded by southern oil and VAT revenue, while southerners need over 130 points to enter.
comos: The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, on Friday justified the arrest of only suspects of Yoruba extraction over the recent clash in Ile-Ife, Osun State, which resulted in the death of about 46 persons. He said crime neither has tribe nor identity.
Idris spoke with State House correspondents shortly after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari of security situations in parts of the country inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The police had been in the eye of the storm for arresting and parading 20 Yoruba persons, including a monarch, over the clash while not a single Hausa/Fulani person was detained.
The pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere; and the Oodua Peoples Congress are among groups and individuals that have been criticising the police over the development.
Idris however said the police would not hesitate to apply the law once criminal cases are established against individuals, irrespective of their tribe.
He said, “You know we are police officers. Crime has no tribe. If you are a criminal, you are a criminal.
“Crime has no face. We don’t look at crime in the identity of where you are coming from.
“As far as you are a criminal and the police find you wanting, we apply the law.”
He said investigation had revealed that the crisis started with a disagreement between two people selling food along the road.
PhockPhockMan: It was on 13 October 2000, when words went round that General Muhammadu Buhari was leading the Arewa team to the governor’s office to confront the state over alleged killings of Fulani cattle rearers in Saki, Oke Ogun Area of the state. Buhari did actually telephone the governor that he was leading a team to his office.
In less than 30 minutes after the general informed the governor of his visit, we noticed that the entire secretariat was already filled with lorry loads of our brothers from the North. This created some tension but we kept our calm. At about 2 p.m., Buhari arrived in a long convoy at the governor’s office in company of the former governor of Lagos State, General Buba Marwa, Alhaji Aliko Muhammed, Alhaji Abdulrazak and Alhaji Hassan. They all wore long faces. In fact, the anger in them was palpable as all pleasantries extended to them were ignored. “This is trouble” was the expression on the faces of all of us in the governor’s office. Shortly afterwards, the state Director of State Security Service (SSS) and Commissioner of Police arrived. But their presence did not change anything particular on the fears that had already gripped majority of us. The two security chiefs did not come with any operatives, they came almost alone.
The meeting was called to order after Lam walked into the Executive Chambers. Introductions over, Buhari spoke on their mission to the governor’s office. Emitting fire, the general accused Lam and the government of Oyo State of complicity in the killing of over 68 Fulani people in Oke Ogun area and perversion of justice. His words: “Your Excellency, our visit here is to discuss with you and your government our displeasure about the incident of clashes between two peoples… the Fulani cattle rearers and merchants are today being harassed , attacked and killed like in Saki. In the month of May, 2000, 68 bodies of Fulani cattle rearers were recovered and buried under the supervision and protection from a team of Mobile Police from Oyo State Command. “ That some arrests were made by Oyo State Police Command in the massacre with their immediate release without court trial. This was said to have been ordered by Oyo State authorities and they were so released to their amazement. The release of the arrested suspects gave the clear impression that the authorities are backing and protecting them to continue the unjust and illegal killings of Fulani cattle rearers…” According to the general, they therefore wanted immediate stoppage of the killings, justice and compensation to the Fulanis.
As weighty and indicting as Buhari’s allegations were, Lam remained unperturbed. He fired back with his own well coordinated arsenals. Lam identified all the points raised by Buhari and simply asked the heads of the organizations directly involved to respond to the allegations. First to speak was the Commissioner of Police who debunked all the claims. Instead of the allegation that the natives were killing Fulanis, the commissioner said pointedly that the opposite was the case. “ The killing of the natives by the Fulanis was duly reported to the police and, of course, we can’t make arrest because, as soon as they kill, they migrate to other areas. Who are you going to arrest? That is the problem”. On the killing of Fulanis, which he said was as result of “piled up anger”, the commissioner disclosed that arrests had been made and the suspects were in police custody. Next was the Director of SSS, who equally debuked the allegations by Buhari. “The natives don’t have problem with the Fulanis who are resident but those who are coming in, they don’t care about anybody. They just go ahead and when they graze the natives farms, whoever cares to challenge them runs into trouble. You said 68 people were killed , and people driven away. I am not saying there were no killings but they cannot be more than five. The petition is on the harsh side, there is nothing like that.” Not done yet, Lam called in his Deputy, Barrister Iyiola Oladokun; his SSG, Chief Michael Koleoso, both from Oke Ogun, and the chairman of one of the affected local government areas, Mr Ademola Alalade. They stated the true position of things, corroborating the submissions of the security chiefs. At this point, all the tensions and apprehensions evaporated.
Trust Lam any day, he must rub it in. He spoke for about 20 minutes and the generals were at the edge of their seats for the entire period. They were like chicken that had just been thoroughly beaten by the rain. Lam said: “ Before I thank you for this visit, you have come to tell me something. I also want to tell you something and that something is to make an appeal. General Buhari has been a former Head of State, Brigadier Marwa has governed Lagos for some time and with credibility… so you are national leaders of this country. Even though, by accident of birth, you are from the North, you can be born anywhere; may be next time when I am coming to the world, I will be born in the North or the South-South. “My appeal will be that effort must be made to unite this country and that will be ïn the best interest of all Nigerians. I am appealing to the Arewa Consultative Forum, under which auspices our distinguished Nigerians are here; in recent times, they have been sending wrong signals to a number of us who believe in the unity and peace of Nigeria; you have been too critical of the efforts of the Federal Government. I am saying this because Nigeria, at this point, cannot afford to break and the words you northern leaders utter are very weighty, at the South here, we normally analyze them critically”.
On all the allegations, he said: “From what they have written in the petition, this government is completely blameless because we don’t interfere either with the judiciary or with the police functions. I always preach peaceful co-existence in Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole. We are all Nigerians and that is what we have been preaching all along and we shall continue to be Nigerians , no matter the present or immediate problems which will be solved by the grace of Allah. “I want to say also that we really have to appeal to our people, the itinerant Bororo people, that they should observe less aggression. It is not good , it is not right just coming from somewhere then you just pass through farm lands cultivated may be with the person’s life savings and then over night everything is gone. That is not right, even Allah does not approve of that.
We even wonder when they talk about this people carrying dangerous weapons, I say do they really believe in Allah? When you just take life like that and go away! Are we not forbidden not to take human life? So I think General Buhari, General Marwa, you have to be educating them… It is my pleasure to inform you that at the Presidential Lodge, we have made some arrangements for refreshments so that before you go we can refresh together”.
Buhari and his team did not wait for any refreshments. They came in angry and left bewildered.
cucumbae: Why do most people think Nigeria has to fight a war in other to break up?Let conduct a referendum. Not those political kind of referendum where one political party will rig election.
Very valid point you have made sir. The owners of the Fulani Republic of Naijeriya, FRN can try but if the Igbos and Yorubas are united in their resolve with others in the South South and the Middle Belt, then it is game over.
1. Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (1989) 2. Détente: Cooperation between Superpowers - During the Cold War President Nixon and Brezhnez conducted SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) conferences and signed a treaty limiting the number of missiles each country can have.
3. USSR and Afghanistan Cooperation/Détente Ends • 1979-1988 • USSR backed the Afghan government; the US backed the Mujahedeen rebels • US boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow • 14,000 Soviet dead; 1+million Afghans –Over 5 million Afghans fled (more than 1/3 of the population) –10-15 million land mines still in Afghanistan –Soviets withdrawal defeated 4. - Soviet economic collapse - Nationalism in Warsaw Pact countries - Tearing down of Berlin Wall - Breakup of the Soviet Union Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
5. Nationalism in Warsaw Pact Countries 1. Gorbachev’s pullout from Afghanistan and his policy of Non-Intervention gave rise and momentum to Warsaw Pact nationalism movements. 2. Soviet/Warsaw Pact countries resented Soviet control and wanted to direct their own governments. 6. Tearing Down the Berlin Wall 1. East Germany elected a more moderate Communist government, but many not satisfied; allowed people to leave East Germany 2. November 9, 1989 – the Brandenburg Gate opened and people began tearing down the wall 3. Tearing down Berlin Wall symbolized and helped lead to fall of Communism in Eastern Europe; East Germany & Czechoslovakia 4. Gorbachev and President Reagan given credit for being most responsible for the end of the Cold War
7. Ronald Reagan: U.S. President 1980-88 “Tear down this wall” 8. Brandenburg Gate Fall of the wall news broadcast 9. Soviet Economic Collapse 1. Over-spending on arms race weakened government & economy 2.Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform the USSR economy in two plans a. perestroika – restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system - Weakened Russian economy in short-term b.glasnost – “Openness” freed public access to information after decades of heavy government censorship 3. Gorbachev encouraged reform in other 15 Soviet Socialist Republics: new countries 4. Hard-line communists attempted a coup against Gorbachev – failed 5. U.S.S.R. crumbles; Gorbachev = the last leader of the USSR 6.Boris Yeltsin, with support of many who wanted continued reforms, becomes President of Russia Mikhail Gorbachev U.S.S.R. Boris Yeltsin Russia
10. Break Up of Soviet Union 1. Soviet Republics, one-by-one, broke away from Moscow and declared independence. 2. 1989-90: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R) was dead.
SeriouslySense: When they want to confuse people, they use things like this, then people keep quiet, while they continue killing people and taking their lands, do you think, it will not reach you eventually, or you are just among the people that spread propaganda
Do you think that the SGF is confused or just telling the usual changing lies and propaganda of the Association of Past/Present Criminals, APC
Racoon: SGF: There’re obvious cracks… Nigeria may break up
Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), has warned that Nigeria risks breaking up if its current challenges are not addressed.
The SGF gave the warning while speaking at an interdenominational church service to commemorate Nigeria’s 60th independence anniversary in Abuja, on Sunday.
Mustapha, who represented Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the event, likened the nation’s challenges to the biblical story of Nehemiah who prayed to God when he faced some challenges in trying to return to Jerusalem.
He said Nigeria currently has cracks in its walls which he said “signifies the essence of the state of the nation”.
“The story should be a challenge to every Christian in Nigeria. It’s only that kind of Nehemiah’s love that will make us, as Nigerians, to rebuild the cracks we have in our walls today,” he said.
“For us in Nigeria, Nehemiah should be taken as a metaphor for those Nigerians who either reside in Nigeria or outside, to cry to God to use the abandoned opportunities in Nigeria to address our challenges of nation building.
“Fortunately for us, our walls are not yet broken but there are obvious cracks that could lead to a break if not properly addressed.
“Nehemiah started with fervent prayers, seeking the face of God and pleaded with his king to allow him return to Jerusalem to rebuild the broken walls because wall signifies peace, security, contentment and prosperity.”
aaaaabbbbbccccc: You’re demented fool. What’s shameful about disposing an old gadget one no longer use. How many thread of phone sales did you see? foolish man
Karlovich: Before his phulani masters dealt with him like they are dealing with monsieur bullion van at the moment.
Please what was Barawo Bubu doing while Abiola was being dealt with by the owners of the Fulani Republic of Naijeriya, FRN? Was he collaborating with Abacha in the senseless looting of our country, as his Petroleum Trust Fraud, PTF Chairman?
It is not known to this column how close Brigadier Sani Abacha was to Major General Muhammadu Buhari by December 1983. It was Abacha who announced at the end of a few minutes of martial music on new year’s eve that the government of President Shehu Shagari had been thrown into the dust bin of history. Buhari became the fulcrum of that history as Nigeria’s head of state. On August 27, 1985, there was another game, the Revolving Doors’ game. Buhari was out, thrown out, while Ibrahim Babangida, was in, thrown into the pinnacle of political power in Nigeria. Babangida clamped Buhari into the dungeon for some months where he cooled his feet, while his colleagues were bestriding the Nigerian political and military firmament like they owned the world. Babangida left or was forced to leave the throne after eight years of dangerous foot work. He called Chief Ernest Shonekan, a successful private sector entrepreneur, to come and take the baton of leadership.
He took it and as he was trying to hold it in his hand firmly, Abacha who had been eyeing the coveted prize greedily grabbed it in 1994. He immediately increased the price of petroleum products. The public rolled out a series of protests. As an appeasement measure, he set up the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) as an intervention development agency to bring succor to the people especially in the rural areas. He made Buhari the executive chairman of the Fund which he ran for five years (1994-1999).
Why did Abacha appoint Buhari the Executive Chairman of PTF? Was it as an atonement for the sin of standing by while he was overthrown by the Babangida Boys? Or was he just sympathetic seeing that the man had been left in the cold by Babangida since his ouster on August 27, 1985? Or was Abacha simply looking for a fabled disciplinarian who didn’t love money too much or the dirty part of it? Buhari needed that rehabilitation, physical, financial and reputational. He was eager to come in from the biting cold and be seen as a man who, despite the overthrow and detention, had kept his dignity and integrity such that Abacha who was Babangida’s man, could trust him with the big-wallet job.
The Petroleum Trust Fund was to intervene in such areas as roads and waterways, supply of educational materials, rehabilitation of educational infrastructure, food supply, health, water supply, etc. Buhari set up a capricious management structure and appointed Afri-Project Consortium (APC) led by a 42 year old man, Salihijo Ahmad. This Consortium was the sole manager of the PTF projects. Ahmad had admitted to Newswatch in an interview published by the magazine in its April 19, 1999 issue that it was APC that wrote the proposal which defined the mandate of the PTF. It suggested the criteria, procedure for selection and appointment of contractors, consultants and suppliers. It also worked out the monitoring mechanism adopted by the PTF. The APC had some 620 consulting firms reporting to it. It was the sole management consultants to the PTF. Most Nigerians had no idea how the PTF was run. It was when President Olusegun Obasanjo took over in 1999 and set up an interim management committee (IMC) headed by Dr Haroun Adamu to wind down the PTF that the worms crawled out of the can. That Interim Management Committee appointed three technical consultants to investigate various aspects of the PTF management. Their findings conducted independently were damning. When I read President Buhari’s remarks a few weeks ago in which he crowed about the achievements of the PTF under his leadership, I decided to do a facts-check since I knew that Newswatch had done a cover story titled “How Buhari ran PTF” which was published in its March 13, 2000 issue. This story was the product of a thorough investigation into the mammoth fraud as discovered by the technical consultants hired by the IMC. Details of the IMC report are distilled for you here. The findings: N144.51 billion had been given to PTF by the Federal Government during its lifetime; A residential estate was to be built at Wuse, Abuja, for N703 million but the technical consultants hired by IMC put the realistic valuation at about N328 million; Between July 1994 and July 1999, about N25 billion was either stolen or improperly expended; Extension of PTF headquarters was to gulp N650 million; Expired HIV/Aids drugs and kits worth N28 billion was supplied to several hospitals nationwide. This was confirmed by the Nigerian Guild of Medical Directors whose Secretary, Mr. Rowland Ogbonna, asked the Federal Government to withdraw the drugs immediately from all hospitals in the country. Many projects were abandoned while the completion rate of other projects was put at 30%; the sum of N500 million that the PTF deposited in a bank disappeared as soon as the IMC was announced. The bank agreed to pay the money after President Obasanjo read the Riot Act to the bank officials. On taking over, IMC discovered that there were no contract documents, drawings or specifications relating to projects. The APC could and did award contracts and vary the pricing without any reference to the PTF. Mr. Ahmad had asked the IMC officials to come and collect some documents in connection with all the transactions. On the day of the appointment he collapsed and died. The other members of the APC team claimed that they were not in a position to supply the documents.
There were more sordid revelations. The Afenifere did an analysis of the siting of the projects. The consumption of petroleum products by the South was 70% while that of the North was 30%. However, the distribution of the PTF projects was a reversal of the consumption pattern: 70% to the north and 30% to the south. All southern states had 4,440.43 kilometres of roads rehabilitated (24%) while states in the north had 13,870.47 kilometres rehabilitated (76%). Teaching Hospitals’ rehabilitation: South 38%, North 62%; Specialist hospitals: South 29%, North 71%; Food supply: South 17%, North 83%; National Health and Educational Rehabilitation Programme (NHERP): South 0% and North 100%; Vocational Programme: South 3%, North 97%; Primary School rehabilitation: South 12%, North 88%. Haroun Adamu acknowledged the gross imbalances in the sharing of the projects but regretted that his committee could not do much to remedy the situation since by the IMC mandate they could not embark on new projects.
From the findings there was massive fraud in PTF, fraudulently masquerading as achievements. The institution was a government intervention agency but run without the regulatory checks and balances that undergird the implementation of government projects. The Afri-Projects Consortium was just on its own, a loose canon with no authority to check it. Buhari was the Executive Chairman but he was absent-minded and had capriciously surrendered the operational powers of the PTF to APC without diligent supervision. The boys looted the place dry and there was no evidence that Buhari had an inkling of the huge corruption under his feet. Sometime before the IMC takeover, a newsmagazine, TheWeek, had interviewed him about the swirling corruption allegations. He said allegations of corruption against him were false. “My integrity is intact.” His friends said so too and even insinuated that Dr. Adamu was going after Buhari because the former dictator had detained him in 1994. Adamu told Newswatch: “I am not here to probe Buhari, No, that is not our mandate. Whatever happened when he was head of state is long forgotten. He is my friend.”
Buhari’s personal integrity was not soiled by the Petroleum Trust Fraud but he displayed supreme incompetence as a manager. As an Executive Chairman the buck stopped at his desk and no matter how you want to slice it he takes vicarious responsibility for the humongous fraud that took place in that institution. Secondly, the grossly lopsided distribution of the PTF projects between North and South is an awful testimonial for a man of his national standing to whom the nation through the coup makers had given the highest position in the land. His lopsided appointments today constitute a déjà vu.
When I read what he said about Abacha I was sorry for him. He said to a delegation, Buhari Support Group led by Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali. “I don’t care about the opinion you have on Abacha but I agreed to work with him and we constructed roads from Abuja to Port Harcourt, Benin, Onitsha and so on. We also touched education and health. One of the former Heads of State was bragging that he spent $16 billion on power in Nigeria. Where is the power?” The emerging confrontation between the two former dictators, former friends and former allies and now fierce foes, Obasanjo and Buhari, will receive the attention of this column in due course. For now, I think President Buhari’s open veneration of the kleptocratic and autocratic Abacha is a cause for nausea. At the 10th anniversary of Abacha’s death Buhari had given the fantastically corrupt Abacha a clean bill of integrity. Even at that time, Nigeria was running all over the world trying to retrieve the billions Abacha had scattered in several banks in several countries and several continents. The horrifying stories of the elimination of prominent politicians and businessmen by Abacha constitute a notorious portion of our national narrative. No matter how hard Buhari tries, no matter what he thinks of the despicable, despotic Abacha, no matter why he thinks the man was a saint he will never succeed in winning Nigerians to his side. He will only wake up with fleas since he chooses to be in bed with dogs.
hakeem4: This Governor is quite hilarious. Why would people not import basic things. When the factories and industries are not running fully. With our epileptic power supply coupled with our bad roads.
Once you fix these things, people would produce for the Nigerian populace and even have time to export to other nations
Hilarious hypocrite is what he and others we allow to lead loot us are. How many of the things in his pictures are not imported? The failure does not know that leadership and change is by example.
Very abusive by this Niger state governor and his fellow northerners/Fulanis who successfully scam southerners to keep us in political bondage of never-happening restructuring.
El-Rufai - It's Time to Restructure Nation 10 AUGUST 2010
For Nigeria to move to the next level, the issue of true federalism must be addressed, according to former FCT Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai. He shares his thoughts with Imam Imam.
Apprehension about the composition and workability of the Nigerian nation-state will subside if the country tilts towards true federalism, according to former FCT Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai. He said the present situation of things where all the component units get monthly allocations from the Federal Government only makes the states lazy and unproductive, adding that lack of foresight, financial discipline and lackadaisical approach to governance has played huge roles in limiting the country's march to greatness.
Many Of Those Calling For Restructuring Are Opportunists, Irresponsible – El-Rufai
The Kaduna State Governor, El-Rufai has described recent calls for the restructuring of Nigeria as political opportunism and irresponsibility.
El-Rufai, while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily said President Buhari’s administration has done far more in practical terms than past administrations and that many of those calling for a restructuring rather see it as a means of opportunism.
He stated that some of the practical steps taken towards restructuring included the fact that state governors are now more than ever, involved in economic policy making at the national level.
According to him, things that have always been hidden from state governments are now much more open as they are now more involved in investigations of finances of the excess crude account, among other things.
“We meet every month under the auspice of the National Economic Council and working together with the Federal Government we chart directions of economic policy and that is part of shifting the federal- state balance.
“A lot of the talk about political restructuring is political opportunism and irresponsibility in my opinion
“It is popular and people that have presidential aspirations think there is a platform upon which they will exploit this. As I said, if you look at the APC manifesto, all the elements to divulge power to the state to change the balance in the federation are there and we are committed to that as a party.
“The National Chairman of our party will restate that commitment and we are discussing it and as I said President Buhari and Osinbajo’s government has taken very concrete steps rather than rhetoric to actually move in that direction and we are going to move in that direction but we do not believe that the basis for it is rhetoric and opportunism, we do not believe that the 2014 CONFAB report is a sensible basis to even begin.
“We all know the circumstances in which the so-called CONFAB was put together, we all know the composition, how lopsided it was, how important stakeholders were not taken to account, how even the composition and numbers do not reflect the demographics and the diversity of this country and we took a position as a party not to participate but to encourage our state governors to be there at the table.”
THE controversy trailing the aborted establishment of RUGA settlements for Fulani herders in parts of the country may be far from over.
Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, on Friday said that the apprehension being expressed over the plan by the Federal Government to create Fulani settlements for herders under the acronym name of RUGA was misplaced.
He told reporters in Abuja that he established a successful RUGA settlement in Abia State when he was governor of the state in 2001.
The controversial cattle market, he said, is located in Lokpanta, Umunneochi Local Government Area, along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
Jostoman: All in the name of stopping oduduwa protest tomorrow, Tinubu boy boy governor.
Nothing must disturb the flow of Ogun people's money flowing into the bullion vans of the Bourdillon godfather who has wrecked Lagos state for smart Lagosians who bear the burden of his looting and stealing since 1999. Family wey never scatter na because the bastardd never grow up finish.
Babasessy: Awo Family Without An Awo By Sam Omatseye (The Offensive Article)
The Awolowo rebirth in the Southwest has inspired gongs, songs and rhetoric of sorts. But they have missed one point.
It occurred to me in Abeokuta last week amidst the big crowds and euphoria of the swearing-in of Senator Ibikunle Amosun as governor. In all the states from Lagos to Edo, where Awo has witnessed ideological resurgence, hardly a single family member has played a role.
So we have an Awo family without an Awo. That is an irony. But history overwhelms us with this sort of twist. Obafemi Awolowo toiled for his reputation. His roots were lowly, he toiled to school both home and abroad, launched into careers in law, business, journalism and eventually politics. He carved a niche for himself, and became the first methodical and charismatic leftist in our history. Other leftists abounded but they did not inspire comparable drama and following.
He faced tribulations, went to jail, failed in elections, won a few, but he imprinted his ideas and legacy in the country, and no single mortal has beaten him in the history of this country. His greatest achievement was in the area of ideas, and that was how he fashioned a family. Most families are born of biology but his issued from ideology. That family suffered with him.
In a spoof of Jesus Christ, these were the men who followed him in his teachings, and endured with him in his temptations. So he formed a kingdom for them in the Southwest, in the old Western Region, presiding over his projects, his legacies and people.
In all of these, the family he had was not his flesh and blood. In another spoof of Christ, who were his family anyway? Those who were with him must be counted as his family. So, I combed in the ambience of Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), and I found none. I went to Ogun, I frisked the crowd under Amosun’s bower, hardly any. Around Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in Osun, I could not lay a finger. With Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti, where are the forbears of Awo? Yet, I can hear the chants of Awo. Hardly in any of the inaugural speeches or any of their other public intervention would you miss the philtre and filter of Awo from these gentlemen. To parody Novelist Joseph Conrad, they are the sparks from Awo’s sacred fire, the messengers of the might within the man.
Already all of them are pursuing the legacy ideas of Awo: free education, free health services, infrastructural development, urban renewal and economic engineering.
Lagos has posted itself as the John the Baptist. The others are putting up valiant efforts, and the world of course is watching to see how well they will perform. It will call for great work, resourcefulness and cooperation. They are the real Awoists, and Awo was a man of rigour and vigour.
The Awo son that many expected to take after the father was Olusegun, who unfortunately died in a car crash. We shall never know if he could have pulled it off. But the others have not shown much of the paterfamilias’ brio and depth. In the past decade, under this republic, they have blended with the wrong crowd. Even H.I.D, hobnobbed with Alao-Akala, who brought illiteracy to governance; with Oyinlola who turned the grace of office into a hell-hole of despots; with Daniel who could not arrest his quick fall into megalomania.
I wrote once that this woman whom Awo once described as the jewel of inestimable value has lost value to his cause. If he came back to life, he would have committed the extraordinary act of divorce after death. Even his newspaper, The Tribune, has so stumbled and fallen that it swims in Awo’s vomit.
Groucho Max, one of the funniest satirists in American history, said of a man that he got his looks from his father. Then he quipped, “He was a plastic surgeon.” That means the son is not his real son, or he did not inherit his natural looks. Ideologically, when we talk of Awo’s family, the chief inheritor is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the leader of all the others. He was the one who stuck his neck out. He could have lost his life or ended his career in politics. The so-called real Awolowos who bear his surname cannot come up for mention. They are Awolowos but not Awoists. They stabbed their father in the back. They have committed ideological parricide.
The only person that made a real try was Awolowo-Dosunmu in the early 1990s and she lost roundly. She was accused of trying to ride her father’s coattail. Political families are good for democracies. They can exemplify the high ideals of diligence, dignity, ideas, character. We have seen these in such families as the Kennedys, the Adamses, the Roosevelts, the Ghandis. They just don’t claim family. They appeal to the high ideals that endeared the families to their societies.
It’s also an irony that these families are falling into twilight. Some of them have vanished. Enoch Powell, a British MP, once gave us the famous line: “All political lives, unless they are cut off midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure because that is the nature of politics and human affairs.”
Columnist Ambassador Dapo Fafowora adverted to this idea in a recent outing, and I debated it with him afterwards. I don’t believe that a political life should be judged by how it ends but what it means. The quote is often missed by many who mistake “careers” for “lives.” A political life should be judged by its legacies. If we judged Awo by how he ended, we would look at him only as the loser to Shagari. That is why I see an intrinsic mischief in Enoch’s quote. But I would agree that political families end also in failure if you judge how they peter out and not the legacy.
Awo’s legacy is alive and well. Members of other families in flesh and blood can carry on. Immediate families tend to suffer from what an author, Noemie Emery, describes as dynastic curse. The children tend to be intimidated by the standards set by the fathers. So they just don’t want to try. They feel they cannot match them or come even close. The problem probably comes from the fathers themselves. The Adams, who produced important presidents, later gave birth to moral vagrants and drunks. The Bush daughters showed themselves as party girls when their father was contesting the political battle of his life.
But Joe Kennedy groomed his sons assiduously, and they excelled in politics. They also had a fair share of tragedies. Ted Kennedy regained his sobriety and voice in America after a season of debauchery. In Nigeria, we are seeing the Sarakis fade. A Saraki – Bukola - is wiping out the Sarakis from politics. It is a classic case of oedipal tragedy, something I predicted earlier this year on this page.
It is not late though for the flesh-and-blood Awolowos to join their father’s fold. But they must be genuine. Awo was the most important Yoruba personage in history after Oduduwa. They had stellar men like Oranmiyan, Balogun Latosa, Lisabi, Sodeke, et al. None of them had the unifying vision and organisational acumen that Awolowo gave the race. The wife, children and grandchildren should not watch others glow in his jewel without them.
fuzek: THE General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly and running mate of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) during the April 16 presidential election, Pastor Tunde Bakare, declared that it would be fool-hardy for “any bastard and the son of a concubine” to assume the leadership mantle of the Yoruba.
While preaching in his church in Lagos on the topic: “It is time to speak”, the fiery cleric said: “Look at the madness going on in Yoruba land. slowpoke, nincompoop, people without family background causing problem because of money, ill gotten wealth. If a town or settlement is at peace, the bastard there is yet to grow up.
“If you are a bastard, there is nothing you can do to cover up with money. Where is your father’s compound? A bastard pretending to be a patriot. We are proud of our heritage because we have goodly heritage. There are those who call themselves nobles who are under the influence of Jezebel. Until they drink kainkain, they cannot function. They pretend to be larger than life,” he added.
He likened the person angling to take over the leadership of the Yoruba to the Biblical Abimelech who forcefully took over a kingdom that did not belong to him and was eventually destroyed.
IntersexSherry: Money good oh. Don't know why people too dey jealous.
Jealous about policemen doing boy boy service for a yeyebrity, instead of doing serious work for intelligence gathering, preemptive security sweeps to give you and your folks better security from kidnappers, ritualists, thieves etc? Do you know what this is about? Don't we deserve our hellhole of a country?
SmartProf: Nengi will take this statement from laycon more seriously now cos it is backed up with at least 30million naira. Laycon's love for that ass might make him attempt to buy shares there as an investor.
gowonmaharajah: yes, thank you. but we should all stop this narrative of tagging Nigerian youths as 'being lazy'.those I know and flock with aren't. we are making it look as though as na dem be the roots cause of naija problems
Thereby giving the older folks, who have a mentoring responsibility for the youths, a free pass. Thanks for putting it so well.
Patriotic9ja: Value of time as early as 14. Hence, by God's grace all my targets with age are all being met. Working, married, through with having kids, built houses, bought cars, giving back to the society and training a whole lot of youths in schools/skills acquisition. Already set up a company since 2016. By God's grace, the target for the Company next year is to be one of the leading brands in 9ja. And many more. I'm still couple of years less than 40.
According to Bishop Oyedepo in one of his Leadership lectures.... Leadership is the effective management of Self, Time, Task, and Resources.
If youths can understand the depth of the above, the sky will not even be their Limit. Unfortunately, many yoots of Nigeria are carried away with things that dont add value to their lives. They dont read neither do they listen to messages or lectures that will build their capacity. They waste too much of time on 0-value activities..... I hope you can learn something from this.
Why spoil your comment with a leadership quote from Oyedepo? Do you need a pastor for leadership lessons that you can obtain elsewhere without being conned into paying un-Biblical tithe and other scams?
Politics › Re: Governor Seyi Makinde Walks 1.8km On Independence Day (photos) by anonimi: 4:41pm On Oct 01, 2020
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