₦airaland Forum

Lwfms -Laugh wan finish my subsidy

Is this a soap opera sign? This scene needs a metaphysical insight for better understanding, cos the more u understand the less u know. :-(

Olodostein:
About time .

It's overdue!!

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Igbos say; if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when Nigeria rose up against us: Then they would have swallowed us up quick…Blessed be the LORD who had not given us as prey to their teeth… Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Let Igbos pray

Psalms 124 (paraphrased.)

In September 2011, an Igbo doctor who had read one of my articles on Nigeriaworld contacted me. We discussed the state of Nigeria, particularly the deplorable and worsening socio-economic and political situation in Igbo land. We lamented the prevalence of political corruption, acquisitive crimes, kidnapping, armed robbery and the fast falling school enrolment rate in Igbo land. The picture we painted was a disaster area in desperate need of help.

My new found brother demonstrated a clear understanding of the problems of Igbos and Igbo land and what the appropriate solution should be. We also reminiscenced Biafra, Ojukwu’s foresight, oratory, charisma, his love of Igbos and what a lost opportunity Biafra struggle was. Towards the end he told me about many Igbo organisations and how the squabble for leadership have resulted in fragmentations and limited what could have been achieved. Tactfully he introduced me to BILIE, Biafra Liberation in Europe and the good work they are doing to liberate Igbo land and bring true freedom to the people. We parted on a good note with a hug and I promised to think about all things we discussed.

Few weeks later, he invited me to another meeting, this time of APGA in Isle of dogs where I met a group of Igbo men and two women. The men were all quite animated about the rot in Nigeria, especially in Igbo land. They were all disappointed with the quality of its leadership and would like APGA to become the dominant political party in Igbo land as it has the right policies and leadership. However, by the end of the meeting, I have observed the fault lines in the organisation itself which has all the ingredients of everything they have condemned about Igbo leadership. I also observed that the organisation was not mindful of due process from the way and manner the meeting was conducted and decisions reached.

I aired my observation and concern about its decision making process and the need to ensure that things are done by democratic process and procedures. At the end of the meeting I was told that I would need to pay £50.00 to join. I requested for the constitution and promised to study it and revert to them. I was also told that the leadership itself was not elected by the members and that the national chairman selected them to replace the existing one because they were loyal to his opponent whom he displaced to become the chairman of the party. I was beginning to see a party not alert to democratic process and procedure, fragmented along the line of personalities without clearly defined and convincing political ideology, philosophy and strategy of how to achieve the Igbo dream. I also noted the fractious relationship of the members and the intra-party conflict.

A few weeks later, my friend invited me to a meeting of BILIE. At the meeting attended by about five people, we discussed the progress BILIE has made in suing Nigeria for reparation because of the civil war. The Igbo lawyer leading in the matter spoke about the work he has done in pursuing justice for Igbos and how difficult it has been to get Igbos to work together. I listened, even though I am not a lawyer, I could see many difficulties pursuing the case in the way he outlined, would pose, especially, the time lag, the legitimacy of the organisation which is pursuing the case, the nature of the losses and the fact that the losses occurred in a war situation. I asked him why other Igbo organisations are not involved in this matter and he said that they are not interested. In spite of my misgivings about the whole premise of the matter, I was impressed by his patriotism and commitment and contributed some money to enable him file some papers and take the case to the next stage. Since then I have attended more Igbo meetings, including the recent one called in Battersea London after the death of Ojukwu.

One thing I have observed from this belated incursion into the workings of Igbo community in the UK, from all the meetings I have attended so far, is that Ndi Igbo have a clear understanding of the nature and extent of the problems we face and what we need to do to solve them. However, what is clearly lacking is agreement on the best way, strategy and process of solving the problems. This lack of agreement on the method to solve the problems has cost Igbos a lot and continues to make it difficult to make progress. In other words we have heat but no fire, while those who we must confront are burning our farms.

Furthermore, what is particularly worrying from all these meetings is the way and manner Igbos disagree amongst themselves and how easily disagreements on principle, procedure or methods, translates into personal disagreement and animosity which often lead to fragmentations of the organisation. In fact it is as if when Igbos disagrees about methods, we completely forget that we share the same aims and objectives and hope to arrive at the same destination. This is why the present way and manner Igbos both in Nigeria and diaspora are responding to the fast changing political situation in Nigeria gives me great concern and I would like to say the following for the records.

Biafra was a choice even though we believed we were compelled.
It was not inevitable; our leaders made decisions and took positions that helped to make it unavoidable.
There were other alternative ways of seeking redress open to us after the pogrom in the north which we considered but settled for war.
Our idealised view of Biafra is quite different from those of other equally objective, educated and intelligent Nigerians who also observed the developments that precipitated the Nigeria- Biafra civil war.
While our reason for the war may be justifiable and acceptable to us, they may be unacceptable to those who opposed, and continue to oppose us.
We have failed to appreciate the extent of decadence, suffering, corruption and disunity in Igbo land. If Igbos expelled from Abia state civil services suffered the injustice from none Igbo state, we would have said that the reason is because there are Igbos.
Some of our leaders are among the most corrupt in Nigeria and have done nothing to bring real development to Igbo land while their counterpart in other ethnic regions are investing in the future of their people. They have shown no real leadership and appear to have no clue how to respond to the present development. The level of criminality at the heart of some governments in Igbo land is shocking. For some reasons, the worst of us continue to find themselves in position of power. We have to address this anomaly to make progress. No nation or people can make progress when it is led by the worst of its people.
To articulate an appropriate response to the evolving climate of terror, culture of violence and perennial killings of Igbos, and ethnic cleansing in Nigeria, we need to answer some of the following questions honestly, dispassionately and objectively.

When did the killing of Igbos in north Nigeria begin?

Was it before or after the 1966 Nzogwu led coup?

What was the reason or excuse for the reprisal killing of Igbos in the north that followed the 1966 coup?

Would the massacre of Igbos have taken place if Nzogwu and co, had killed Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara?

Is it understandable (I do not mean justifiable) that the north saw the coup as Igbo coup and staged a counter coup to over throw a government which they saw as ethnic?

If today, a group of honest and patriotic Hausa-Fulani army officers stages a coup and kills Goodluck Jonathan, the secretary to the government Pius Anyim, and South East governors, and spares all prominent equally corrupt politicians from the north; and then impose a northerner as head of state: what will we think and what would be our response? If we can imagine what we would think or feel, then that is exactly what the northerners thought and felt in 1966.

We cannot avoid or wish away the antecedents to the Biafra war simply because it did not go according to our expectation and our leaders’ assessment of the variables at that time led them to conclude that war was the right response. We cannot continue to pretend that the pogrom of 1966/67 was not precipitated by the ill thought and badly executed coup that spared prominent Igbo leaders. This does not in any way justifies it.

Even though Nzogwu, Ifeajuna and co, did not set out to spare Zik and Okpara, the north saw it as deliberate and premeditated attempt by Igbos to take over Nigeria. We know that they are wrong because Igbos had no such plan, but that is what they believed and still believe in order to justify the massacre and the war that followed. The attack on innocent, law abiding Igbos who were going about their business and living their lives in the north in in 1966/67 was a premeditated, unjustifiable and irrational act that inflamed an already volatile situation and made war inevitable and attractive option. The proportionate and wise response would have been to target Igbo politicians who were part of the rot that informed the coup in the first place to even the scores.


E O Eke is qualified in medicine. At various times he has been a General medical practitioner, Medical missionary, Medical Director and senior medical officer of health in Nigeria. He specializes in child, Adolescent and adult psychiatry and lives in England with his family. His interest is in health, religion philosophy and politics. He cares for body and mind.

[color=Black]Boko Haram: It's time to discuss our unity - N/Delta leaders *S/East govs to convene stakeholders meeting
[/color]


POLITICAL and opinion leaders of the oil-rich Niger Delta region were, at the weekend, unanimous in their call for the proper re-structuring of Nigeria along lines peculiar to the various beliefs, thoughts and aspirations of the nationalities of the country.

Besides, they contended that the uprising of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has more to do with politics than religion.


Renowned professor of constitutional law, Itsey Sagay, pioneer National Secretary of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Chief Francis Williams, National Coordinator of the Niger-Delta Economic Monitoring Group (NDEMG), Comrade Joseph Evah, as well as chairman of the Ijaw Media Forum, Chief Asu Beks, both blamed the nation's structural imbalance for the Boko Haram menace, saying, time has come to discuss the very essence of Nigeria's unity.


While the duo of Evah and Beks accused a former National Security Adviser (NSA) as the unseen hand behind the spate of bombings in the country, former Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Festus Porbeni, called for caution, as the nation grapples with the insurgency of the dreaded Islamist sect.


Sagay said: "The insurgency of the Boko Haram menace has, again brought to the fore the inevitability of a national discourse that will discuss the myriad problems facing this nation; we cannot run away from this. Whether we like it or not, the group has made it clear that it wants the introduction of governments along Islamic injunctions across the nation. Fine, that is one of the cardinals of true federalism that some of us have fought for all the years but not the way they go about it, taking innocent lives. I think that is why some may rightly argue that their activities are more political than religion.


"But then, President Jonathan has a duty to help himself. He knows that the issue of Boko Haram is very much there with every possibility of political undertone; but is it not the same constituency, I mean the civil society, that made him president against all odds that he is fighting? He should help himself by being less controversial outside Boko Haram."


And Evah said: "Today, it is clear that what Boko Haram wants is beyond Islamic governments in the North; we know they are after the president who they think has taken their turn to be president. Let us not deceive ourselves in this country. Boko Haram has sponsors all over the North and they include very powerful people from the region who see political power as their birthright.


Williams said: "The issue, I think, goes beyond Boko Haram; the INC had made its predictive position clear years back that until certain fundamental issues concerning the existence of Nigeria are discussed, we will be chasing shadows in trying to solve attendant problems. We must go back to the drawing board if Nigeria must remain one indivisible entity."


Meanwhile, youth leaders of Ijaw, Igbo and those from the Middle Belt are billed to meet in Enugu next week to discuss the recurring Boko Haram crisis and other issues.


A South-South youth leader, in a telephone interview, told the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity that delegates to the two-day conference would discuss other vital issues apart from the Boko Haram insurgency.


Meanwhile, disturbed by the incessant bombings, especially in the northern part of the country, the five South-East governors are set to convene a meeting of stakeholders from the zone in order to take a firm stand on the matter.


Arising from a meeting held at the Enugu Government House, which lasted for about three hours, the governors in the zone said within the next one week the leaders in the zone would meet and make their position known to the public.


Addressing journalists after the meeting, which was attended by Governors Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, Theodore Orji of Abia State, Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Martins Elechi of Ebonyi State. The chairman of the forum, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, said the governors were concerned about the security situation and were ready to take a definite step on the matter.


'We deliberated on only one thing: the security situation in the country and as it affects us in this zone and we have decided to call a meeting of the Igbo political leaders to discuss the issue, and at that time our position will be made known to the public," Obi said.


It was, however, gathered that the meeting was not unconnected with the call by the Kano State chapter of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, which has asked the South-East governors to begin the immediate evacuation of the Ndigbo from the troubled states.


http://odili.net/news/source/2012/jan/23/617.html

muhsin:
This is a blatant lie! Some are even trooping in. I have had contacts with many, interacted with many more in offices, markets and other places. I swear with Almighty God! Please stop spreading unconfirmed stories. It'll do you no good. Thanks

You are pathetic!!!

"Think it's time for Wenger to get a job upstairs in some honorary position. Perhaps giving out the biscuits."

Ox going off? Game changer. For United!!!"

"Two Parks on the park at the Emirates tonight."

^^^^
You are on Point Bros.

OP-- I know some guys like that but oh yes girls are horrible about it--- I have a rule, dont even look at your phone or we are done--- mean? maybe but you'll learn manners around me. . . . >:

Report reaching me has it that More than 20 explosion in Kano. This BH guys are getting more daring.

[color=Black]Free agbo (herbal brew) for protesters at the Ajala Bus Stop end of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway [What kind of Nigerian would drink concoction from strangers in this age of mysterious disappearances?][/color]




Protesters at the Ajala Bus Stop end of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway had a field day on Tuesday as they were treated to a free cup of agbo (herbal brew).

The brew was brought a few minutes past 12pm by a woman, who declined to be identified. She said the agbo was good for malaria fever and pile.


According to her, the gesture is her way of backing the protest and making sure that the protesters did not fall ill as a result of the rigour involved.

She said, “Too much walking in the sun usually causes fever and if you remain standing for a long time, you will get pile. That is why I decided to make this herbal brew because it is effective and will help in preventing the diseases. This protest must not fail. The protesters must not fall ill.”

Expectedly, the protesters became excited and started falling over one another to have a taste of the agbo. Within minutes, the two buckets of herbal brew were finished with protesters calling for more.

One of them, identified simply as Kolade, described the action as 'thoughtful.'

He said, “We rushed to have a taste of the agbo not because we cannot afford to buy, but because we appreciate the woman's thoughtfulness. This will tell you that the people are really determined to force Jonathan to revert the price of fuel to N65, 000.”

http://odili.net/news/source/2012/jan/11/823.html

When Bishop Olabayo started his yearly predictions some 30 years ago or more, the humble mathematician-turned General Overseer Enoch Adejare Adeboye from Ifewara had not found his voice and swagger as the spiritual equivalent of the Pope to the Evangelicals in Nigeria but more so to his Redeem Christian Church of God, the fastest growing Church in the whole world the last time I checked. The man was still struggling to make ends meet as a Lecturer at the University of Lagos like his other colleague in the same University, General Overseer Olukoya of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry in Nigeria. Multi-millionaire clerics like General Overseers Kumuyi and David Oyedepo and other prominent preachers like T.M. Joshua, of the Synagogue, music idol Chris Okotie and others too many to recount in this article have not begun to make their mark as a force to reckon with in the evangelical movement which has now posed a major threat to the older denominations like the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Methodist, the Baptist, and the CAC to mention a few.

By any way you slice it, pastoral ministry as advertised and projected by the Evangelicals in Nigeria has now become one of the most lucrative business or career in Nigeria arguably next in line to Politics as number one and the Entertainment Industry as the number two. There are many more pastors in Nigeria today than any other vocation and it is so for obvious reasons. You would have thought that development should have made Nigeria a better country with so many born-again Christians showing up in every nook and corners of Nigeria from Port Harcourt to Sokoto and from Ifite Oraifite to Potiskum. The exact opposite is unfortunately the case as observed by the great Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu by faith when he told Christians “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians because your Christians are so unlike Christ”

The proliferation and the spread of Churches in Nigeria has started forcing the Muslims to rethink their strategy on how best to respond to the Christian challenge using Islamic fundamentalist movement like Boko Haram and elements of Al Qaeda to put the Christians in check much to Nigeria’s peril. The Evangelicals have risen to quick prominence and influence in Nigeria as traditional worship, paganism and voodoo worship are fast becoming a major embarrassment to their few remaining devotees across the country. The idol worshippers are fast losing their members to the Evangelicals just like the older Churches are also struggling to find some ways to counter the wind of change blowing thru their Churches as their members decamp in huge numbers to the new Churches looking for instant gratification, predictions and Professor Peller kind of illusion and miracles. The observation is so intense and true that you no longer know who to believe.

. The pastors are quick to tell their members not to worry about anything because they are busy interceding with God on their behalf and their prayers and that their fasting would take care of everything they would ever need. But the truth is that the pastors are laughing all the way to the Bank and buying jets and driving the most expensive cars in town while their rank and file of their congregation wallow in penury They tell Nigerians God has revealed to them that second to the State of Israel, Nigeria is now next in line as the chosen nation and the elect of God. All our political leaders who daily seek refuge in the redemption camp are told by their pastors is just hold fast to God and it shall be well with them regardless of the mountain of problems facing the country.

The preachers tell our political leaders to not pay attention to CIA’s predictions and other political pundits and prophets of doom predicting that Nigeria may unravel by the year 2015. They forget to tell them that communist countries like Big China, the Russia Republic, India, North Korea, Japan, and most of the Islamic countries around the world including the State of Israel the birth place of Jesus who have all refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah or believe in the Holy Trinity doctrine are as prosperous and blessed if not more so than many of the Christian countries around the world. If you don’t believe me go to Dubai or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. Our foolish leaders believe all of that crap and that is one more reason the whole country is in a big mess today.

What differentiates these Nigerian pastors from the rest of their fellow countrymen is the fact that they make you believe that they have a special relationship with God who reveals to them not just what would happen in Nigeria but elsewhere around the world including Papua Guinea, even though many of these pastors cannot tell its location on the map, talk less of having been there at any time. They only go there in spirit and they make their predictions based on that. These preachers with the possible exception of Dr. Adeboye and a few of them have probably never heard anything before about Probability theory in Statistics or any data or record keeping that should help them in accurately formulating their predictions. Their predictions are based on the fact that they fast longer than any members of their Church and that they regularly have encounter with Jesus and they speak in tongues “A ri ba ba ba, Shinke tere, de robo, Mimo , Jehova, Alleluyah……,

The language is neither Greek nor Roman nor English nor French nor Hispanic. Those who speak in tongues would quite often tell you they themselves cannot interpret it. The role to interpret belongs to some other preachers and members of the Church with the anointing to do that. It is an exercise in foolhardiness and self- deceit that is sold to members as prophesies.

What qualifies them to make those predictions is just their special relationship with God which is very questionable if you examine the quality and the precisions of those predictions which are neither here nor there if you see what I see. I have just finished reading two of those predictions from General Overseers Adeboye and Olukoya as representative sampling. Those revelations are framed in a way that if they do not come to pass, you cannot, strictly speaking, hold the pastors to their words. They occasionally tell you some important politicians or traditional rulers would die in the New Year without assigning names. Tell me about it. Why would a few traditional rulers not die in any given year in a country so riddled with problems, disease, poverty, squalor, stressors galore and depravation like Nigeria where every village or hamlet now boasts of a traditional ruler of her own? All of them are ranked by their people as very important regardless of the size of their domains.

In Akure town alone the Ondo State capital we have three such crowned rulers. It is the same thing with politicians. Every Nigerian is a politician. The middle class has been totally wiped out in Nigeria leaving the filthy rich and the very poor. You only talk of the filthy rich millionaires who steal the nation’s resources and the poorest of the poor who have to kowtow to them. Their predictions tell Nigerians to expect some problems in the New Year but their bottom line is that Nigeria and those who believe in God would laugh last and laugh best regardless. It doesn’t take a Rocket scientist or any special relationship with God Or Jesus to come up with such a bland long-winded statements which often sound more like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing.

I am a frequent visitor to Channel 5 every Sunday at 9 AM. I go there to listen to Rev. Joel Osteen, one of the best preachers in the business. The huge difference between Joel and the Nigerian preachers is that Joel does not indulge in making predictions based on any special relationship with God. You never hear the Bishop of Canterbury or the Pope himself making such predictions. You never see them doing what preachers in Nigeria do do on television cameras like Pastor Oyedepo’s recent slapping of a young member of his Congregation for having the effrontery to disagree with his Lordship by claiming to be a “Witch for Christ”

Pastor Oyedepo could not control his own impulse or anger. He not only gave the poor girl a dirty slap in the front of everybody he pronounced her as cut down and condemned to Hell because he considered it a heresy for the young girl to stand her ground. I would have thought that the Bishop was in need of deliverance himself, given his inability to control his rage and impulses in the public and taking in out on the poor girl from Imo. You would have thought the man was God or Jesus himself, considering his gloating about his power and the abrasive manner he had made placed a “Fatwa” on the innocent girl. Mahatma Gandhi was right again to have totally described many Christians as being totally different from Christ. It was amazing. Only in Nigeria could such physical abuse of a church member have been tolerated just like that.

I must end this write-up the way I started it by asking again the rhetorical question. Who must we believe? Is it the well informed pundits or the Nigerian pastors who thrive and profit by making false predictions seven days a week, 24 hours a day and 352 days in a year. Your guess is as good as mine.

I rest my case.

Dr. Wumi Akintide Wumione@AOL.com
New York, NY, USA

[color=Black]“PREDICTION ON NIGERIA”, WHO SHOULD WE BELIEVE? THE CIA OR THE NIGERIAN PASTORS?[/color]


I don’t know about you. I think we all now have a compelling reason to be raising this type of questions about Nigeria, given the current state of affairs in our country and the country’s very negative track record in more than 50 years as a sovereign state. Nigerians are clearly worse off today than we were at Independence with all its promise. We have never been more despondent, and rightly so, about the prospect of Nigeria staying together as one country than now.


Boko Haram is making the country ungovernable like they promised they would because they are bent on pulling back the hand of the clock because they are bent on “Islamizing” Nigeria and they hated western education and civilization, and the astronomical spread of Christianity which they now see as a threat and a counter force to Islam in the nook and corners of the Muslim North and they are scared to death about that. The Boko Haram insurrection runs far deeper than our naive President Jonathan and his Government and their security establishment are willing to admit. The Niger Delta militants are reacting to years of neglect and suffering as the parrot that lays the golden egg that has kept the country going for so long. Egbesu is holding sway in the eastern part of the country. Oodua’s People Congress is doing the same in the southwest. Poverty, Starvation, Crimes and Violence and double digit inflation, Unemployment and instability are ravaging the nation and nothing seems to be working. So much illegal arms have been imported to the country and it is only a question of time before the country collapses under its own weight.

To add more insult to an injury President Jonathan could not think of a better time to embark on his pet project to end the so-called subsidy than right now. You have to wonder what the go along to get along President was smoking to come to such a bizarre decision when he knew the CIA has been projecting the year 2015 as the potential end of the road for the geographical expression called Nigeria, and if he truly feels the pains of millions of Nigerians who voted for him and not his do-nothing PDP which is really absurd in my opinion because Jonathan is PDP and PDP is Jonathan Period. Why, for goodness sake, would President Jonathan and his Government do something that stupid is a legitimate question to ask? Providing some answers to that question is what my first article this year is all about. It is a clear case of those who the Gods would destroy. I leave you to complete the statement

Nigeria has gone near the precipice and has had many a close call so many times in our history. Nigeria still exists today only because she has been lucky and naive at the same time. I would not even credit that luck to God per see as some of you are likely to do. I would rather give much of the credit to a few of our leaders who have persuaded us to endure the inequities in our country by encouraging us to persevere because they strongly believe that our tomorrow would be better than our yesterday and our today and we believed them, sad to say.

Ogbuefi Nnamdi Azikiwe fondly called “Aisiki Iwe” by the Yorubas because he was as intellectually gifted as they come, in his prime, and he was a powerful and fearless journalist of the colonial era by giving hell to the British Imperialists who held Nigeria in bondage since 1914 by amalgamating the Northern and the southern protectorates, two odd couples who should have been allowed to go their separate ways from the “get go” if the British had not put their own interest before our own. The other leader is Obafemi Awolowo, the best President Nigeria never had, who was seen as the closest to a Messiah or an Osagyefo by the Yorubas and across section of Nigerians but was far less trusted by the power brokers in the North and the East. The Igbos called him “Alibaba”. The North saw him as a big threat and a stumbling block to their plan to permanently dominate Nigeria and they openly conspired to frustrate him out of public office and out of life because they claimed he was moving too fast for the country and taking them out of their comfort zone.

Then came the Ikemba, Odumegwu Ojukwu who actually challenged the whole country to a civil war he could easily have won, if the North and the West and their international collaborators had not conspired to defeat him and to run him out of town. I said it before and I would say it again that Ojukwu was right in 1967 and the rest of us were decidedly wrong because the avoidable disintegration Nigeria is facing today could easily have been nipped in the bud in 1967 if Nigeria has listened to the voice of reason. Ojukwu saw it coming and he courageously decided to do something about it while Azikiwe, who had become the unrepentant appeaser and compromiser who wrote the Biafran national anthem but was also the first to betray Biafra as beautifully summarized by Okoko Ndem in his powerful broadcast on the war we used to pick on the radio at the time.

The Biafran attempt failed for many more reasons than that. Obafemi Awolowo as Commissioner for Finance and Deputy Chairman of the Nigerian Executive Council at the time added the coup de grace with the stroke of his pen when he suggested to Gowon the immediate creation of 12 States which polarized Biafra and made it that much harder for the area now called South/South or the Calabar Ogoja River Axis as defined by Awolowo to remain committed to the Biafran war effort with their oil and natural gas and when the same Awo challenged the wisdom of making it easy for Biafra to get food and weapons to continue fighting the war.

Awolowo wanted the war to end because he eloquently argued it was only benefiting the war commanders and the Generals while holding the rest of Nigeria to ransom. It was a smart move that crippled Biafra and forced her to surrender while Ojukwu quickly disappeared into exile leaving the whole place in ruins.

The Biafran war ended 42 years ago but the inequities that informed that war are still very much with us today, believe it or not You can even argue it has multiplied tenfold and yet our leaders and our people are conflicted on who to believe on the predictions on Nigeria. I recall Awolowo once telling the Nigerians that the country’s economy was bound to unravel under the Shagari-led NPN unless some remedial action was taken to salvage it. He was immediately labeled a prophet of doom by the NPN but what he predicted came to pass because his prediction was based on empirical research and very powerful data and statistics that anyone with any basic knowledge of probability theory could not ignore or dismiss with the wave of the hand.

It is the same kind of research that has led the CIA to openly predict that Nigeria as we know it may not survive beyond 2015. It is the same CIA that has predicted revolutions in other places including the fall and the dismemberment of the Soviet Union with amazing accuracy. They did it with the Iranian Revolution under Shah Palavi and it came to pass. They did with the Arab Spring and it also came to pass with precision. They did it with South Africa and it came to pass with the release of Nelson Mandela and the fall of the Apartheid Regime. They did with Iraq, they did it with Egypt and now with Libya and Syria and they have all come to pass because they always did their homework. If the CIA got it right with Uganda under Idi Amin, with Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Waza Banga and so on and so forth why is Nigeria going to be different is a legitimate question to ask? The answer to that is probably because our leaders trust more their pastors than they do the CIA and all the political pundits and experts making predictions on Nigeria.

Bishop Olabayo of the Taborah fame in Ilorin and almost a stack illiterate used to publish every year his predictions on what would happen in Nigeria in particular and the world at large to prove his closeness to God and to get the attention of gullible Nigerians. He became famous for those revelations and his Church membership grew by leaps and bounds and he became a national figure at one point holding crusades and revivals all over the country as I recall. I am not exactly sure if he is still doing it today, or if he has beaten a retreat following some scandals in his Church.

The story goes on and on of Nigerians including our political leaders and even President and Governors holding night vigil in State Houses and putting all their hopes on every word uttered by their pastors before they make any policy decisions. They trust their pastors more than they trust their advisers and political pundits who are paid to advise them. Even though Dr. Jonathan belongs to the Anglican denomination, you see pictures of him kneeling down to receive blessings and seeking guidance at the monthly Holy Ghost night along Ibadan Express.

There is therefore no way in the world President Jonathan could have gone ahead to make his move on the flammable subsidy removal debate without a word of advice from one or two of his trusted pastors in Nigeria. I say so because I strongly believe the President committed an unforgivable blunder of his political life by taking such a dumb initiative in the current political climate of Nigeria. The apocalyptic eruption following his decision may well be the defining moment of his presidency and precipitate a chain reaction nobody is able to predict to borrow a cliche from the late Anthony Enahoro.

Continue Reading Article below,

Hurray!!!!! The coaster buses Goodluck Jonathan ordered have arrived. Guess what? He imported 1600 coaster buses for urban mass transit in 2012. How come we have a backward government bereft of their senses. If half of the Nigerian population has not traveled out of Nigeria to see how urban mass transit works, at least the BRT buses in Lagos are an example of minimum standard for the future. What happened to the same set of coaster urban mass transit buses in the last 30 years, go around Lagos you will find out. How will a coaster bus with 35 to 50 passenger capacity with one door be used for urban mass transit. I also hope the president is planning to import good roads as well as hospitals plus schools for the masses. The gods must really be crazy!!! #OccupyNigeria

All Nairalanders!

May the Christmas season, fill ur homes with joy your hearts with love & your life' with laughter.

Merry Xmas and a prosperous New Year!!!

Nigerian international, Taiwo, has failed to live up to billings in the colour of AC Milan and he is contemplating a loan move.
FORMER Italian national team captain, Paolo Maldini, says the hierarchy at AC Milan is to blame for scouting a player of Taye Taiwo's calibre for the team.



However, Maldini, who was AC Milan captain, says the Nigerian should not have been signed on by the team in the first place.


''It says a lot when a player is a Nigerian, they are very talented and technical,'' Maldini told Il Corriere dello Sport when reminiscing on the encounter he had with Super Eagles at USA '94 World Cup when the Nigerian team almost sent Italy packing at the second round.


''He was also wanted by Real Madrid, so we thought we were landing the man we need. But I don't think Taiwo was watched over and over again. Milan did not do their homework well on him, he is not a worthy successor to me. He should have been better evaluated before taking him.''


Maldini who spent 24 years at San Siro, playing 647 appearances, charged AC Milan to cast its net wider for a suitable left back .


"Most left-backs now are converted midfielders, much more likely to attack."


"The rule is: if you cannot get back, you must not go forward. The current best specialist is Marcelo, who gets it right in both areas.


Maldini retired two years ago and since then, AC Milan has yet to find a suitable replacement for him at the left back position.


http://odili.net/news/source/2011/dec/18/613.html

And why was Oyedepo asking the poor girl where she was from?  What does that got to do with the deliverance?

@OP- As par GEJ , Wetin you wan make I tell you? Did you not know of his history in Bayelsa? Do you think he would change overnight? Nigerians were the ones that were deceiving and disappointing themselves, hoping to squeeze water from a rock. Now they are paying for their actions and 'tribalism' and they still don't want to take responsibility.

[color=Black]• Ex-VP, MILAD, Governors buy up choice properties[/color]


[color=Black]• The billions they spend on helicopter cruise, Amani Club[/color]

Corrupt Nigerian leaders have found a safe haven in Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE), for stashing away their loot. The spendthrifts among them have also devised ways to satisfy their celebratory appetite at the drop of a hat. Sunday Sun investigation during a recent visit revealed that with tightening of the noose on slush funds in the Western world, some smart Nigerian leaders turned their focus to the delectable tourism city and business hub.

It was gathered that a former military administrator, who became an ambassador, owns a 35-storey tower named after him in the city. The structure is worth several millions of dollars.

A former Nigerian vice president also has a state-of-the-art building in the upscale Jumeirah district, close to the Atlantis Hotel, which is one of the most expensive and luxurious hotels in the world.

Among others said to own exotic structures in the Arab city are a former Lagos State governor, who is gradually emerging as a political Sheikh in Nigeria as well as a former radical Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister from the North. Both property are in the Deira axis of the emirate. Harried former Delta State governor, James Ibori - currently facing corrupt enrichment charges before a Crown Court in London - was equally said to have eye-popping investments there.

Our source revealed that during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua ill-health saga, the cabal, made up of his loyalists and some northern governors, usually congregated at Ibori’s home to plot their strategy before going to Saudi Arabia, where the late Nigerian leader was hospitalised.

“When Yar’Adua was in hospital in Saudi Arabia, most of those loyal to him used to meet with Ibori here. They call him (Ibori) chairman and he usually hosted them in one of his houses. It is from here they left for Saudi Arabia,” the source disclosed, adding that, “there is hardly a governor in Nigeria that does not own property in Dubai, especially the northern states governors.

“Nigerians are well respected here and they have the highest number of visa applications on a daily basis. The Dubai authorities grant not less than 95 per cent of these applications.”

Worried by the dwindling revenue from oil, Dubai relaxed its economic and trade policies to woo investors. Today, the largest chunk of the emirate’s income is earned from hotel and tourism, real estate and financial services, similar to that of Western countries. All this is buoyed by the tight security in place and almost non-existent violent crime. There is hardly any fear about moving around at any time of the day. A young Nigerian, Chimaroke Nwaozuzu, who is a legal resident, told Sunday Sun that Nigerians prefer to invest and do business in Dubai because of the beauty of the city and the adequate security in place.

“Besides, it is safe for the corrupt leaders to hide their stolen wealth because they would not be exposed unlike in America or Europe. Here, Nigerian leaders buy estates and pay cash even though most of the property consultants and firms operate flexible payment terms. The firms agree to spread the payment period over five to eight years. But these leaders prefer to develop the Dubai economy and, unfortunately, it is with the money they have stolen,” he lamented.

Other features however make the emirate attractive, such as its loosely regulated free trade zones, thriving ports, freewheeling property sector and permissive business environment. These combine to make Dubai very attractive for money launderers.

According to an international crime threat assessment prepared for the United States government by the Federation of American Scientists in 2002, “money-laundering activity in the UAE total $1 billion annually” after Dubai’s property sector was opened up to foreign buyers. But the authorities do not agree as they play down the extent of money laundering, saying there were laws to fight it.

[color=Black]Profligacy at Burj Al Arab Hotel[/color]

Sunday Sun further learnt of governors that do not own property in Dubai but live large and revel in the splendour of the Burj Al Arab Hotel.

Described as ‘seven-star’, it is the most luxurious hotel in the world where the rate of a suite ranges between $1,000 (N160,000) and $28,000 (N4.5 million) per night. The iconic 60-floor structure, designed like the sail of a boat (actually built to resemble the sail of a Dhow, a type of Arabian vessel), stands 321 metres (1,053 feet) on an artificial island about 280 metres (919 feet) from the Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge.

It was the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel until it was toppled by another in the city, Rose Rayhaan, in December 2009. At every time of the day, tourists from all over the world mill around to catch a glimpse and take photographs from the point allowed by the hotel security. “Whenever they (governors) visit, they always go for the best, including the most expensive suites at the hotel. You can imagine how they spend our money,” the source further disclosed. Sunday Sun’s observation inside the hotel was that its interior is a statement in creativity. Decked all over with gold and other Oriental ornaments, guests are given a royal treat typical of the Arab Sheikhs.

Helicopter cruise

The latest fad for some of the leaders is to celebrate the wedding and birthday of their children in Dubai. Guests are flown from Nigeria. According to our source, the celebrants and guests go on helicopter cruise instead of the usual boat cruise, after which a lavish reception is held at the Amani Club atop the Burj Khalifa. “The Burj Khalifa is a 150-storey tower and it is the tallest building in the world. Entry fee into the Amani Club is $1,500 (N240,000) per person,” the source added.

There are different types of helicopter tour services around Dubai offered by travel and tour firms. For instance, there is the Bell Helicopter 206 Series and the 212 Series offered by the Travel & Culture Services. The 206 Series carries four – five persons while the 212 Series carries six – eight persons.

The fascination for those who embrace this service is that it offers an opportunity to watch the picturesque Dubai skyline from the air in your ‘own helicopter’, according to the tour firm.

Sunday Sun could not however get the exact fee per tour but it was gathered that it does not come cheap and not every Emirati can afford it. Besides, the fee is determined by the routes and number of minutes the helicopter is airborne, which is between 15 and 60 minutes.

http://odili.net/news/source/2011/dec/11/520.html

Nigeria is a Nation of hypocrites and challatans. The Nations problem is not that we can not find a leader of Mandela or Ghandi quality , it is that we recognize the good quality in our leaders only when they're dead . For the records , here's what Ojukwu said when Chief Obafemi Awolowo died, quote him [color=Black]" We've lost a president we never had "[/color] Anyone who was alive during the political life of Awolowo should look back at what his State , the Western region of Nigeria was among the rest of 2 other Regions . That was the only state that run like a Nation with a view and a dream . When he could not be allowed to give the Nation his dream for Nigeria.

The West was the only Region that had absolute [color=Black]FREE EDUCATION UP TO THIRD YEAR HIGH SCHOOL, UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG THE POPULATION WHICH INCLUDED THE THEN WESTERN REGION. FARMING POLICY THAT KEPT FOOD PRODUCTION AT OPTIMUM TO FEED THE GROWING POPULATION,AWOLOWO GAVE THE POPULATION OF HIS REGION MASS MEDIA WHICH INCLUDED INTALLATION OF REDIFUSION IN MARKET SHEDS FREE.[/color] Even the Northern Region which had always been the sick child of Nigeria and the Country's parasite, could not match the quality of leadership in Awolowo's Region .

They all saw it , they all knew it was doable but instead they , including Nnamdi Azikwe did not give Obafemi the chance to give Nigeria the chance that big take off. Ojukwu saw the quality in Awolowo's leadership only when he died as tribalism was played to the point it became the reductionist cloak to shield corruption and mediocrity in a nation with everything nature had endowed.

It is in the same spirit that Buhari now sees Ojukwu's reason to take Ibos out of Nigeria and in the civil war that almost decemented that group in a pogrom that excluded Camera and view of from the world community. Unfrtunately , the very reason and cause of the civil war is now too obvious to all Nigerians and the world to see .

[color=Black]Nuclear weapons are no longer a deterrent . In the past they stopped wars & made others think twice about invading. Today every one has some type of nuclear arsenal from HEU/LEU ( High & Low Enriched Uranium). Till this day many military analyst world wide still don't know the where about of hundreds of U236-U237: AKA suit case size plutonium arsenals that where stolen or missing,sold from Russia and other locations. That is not including the hundreds Iran,Russia,China,North Korea,Pakistan have made since than, The only way to avoid a major conflict that has ZERO winners in today's world of nuclear strategic security is countering a TRUST DEFICIENCY among nations that will ultimately lead to a one "World Order". The other option is NUCLEAR WAR. This option only defeats the primary objective of any nation. . . And its called EXISTENCE!![/color]

[b]

This is a topic very dear to my heart because the Yoruba race is yet to recover from the huge assault dealt on it by the combined forces of transatlantic and transcontinental slave trade, the British colonisation, the invasion of Islam and Christianity, the mental colonisation of our cherished world view, the forced amalgamation and the dysfuntionality of the Nigerian contraption.


We also have as a quick fall-out of the above, the serious encroachment of our rich traditions, cultures and cultural values, the loss of our history, the near-loss of our language, the obvious loss of our identity, the aping of eccentric values of the United State of America, arrant inferiority complex, and loss of both our political and hitherto buoyant economic structures.

But let us begin by exploring what in fact constitutes a people's culture. This will be the first leg of our discourse today. Thereafter, we shall examine our identity and follow it up with the role culture and identity play in a society's emancipation. We will then cap it up with the erosion of cherished values which the Yoruba have suffered as a race and a clarion call to awaken ourselves and reposition for survival, emancipation and permanent preservation. In all of these, I am going to quote profusely from scholars and leading authorities whose researches, thoughts and opinions have guided our own efforts in this submission.

Continue Reading article here. . . . http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2011/nov/091.html

[/b]






[color=Black][b]REFERENCES AND NOTES

N.A. Fadipe, The Sociology of the Yoruba, Ibadan University Press. 1970
W. Bascom, The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1969
The largely disputed Nigerian National Census 1963. The population now according to World Bank sources is over 40 million.
H.Clapperton and D. Denham, Narrative of travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa John Murray, London, 1826
B. Idowu, The religion of the Yoruba, Gangan, 1977 pp4-7
R.Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, Methuen, London, 1969
J.A, Adedeji, The Alarinjo Theatre: The study of Yoruba theatrical art form, PhD Thesis, Ibadan, 1969
M.Crowder, The Story of Nigeria, Longmans, London, 1966
C.L. Adeoye, Igbagbo ati Esin Yoruba
Adetola Adeniyi, The Untapped Potentials of Nigerian Women, Owerri Lecture 1991
Adetola Adeniyi: Theatre On Wheels: The Yoruba Theatre; Its Origins, Structure and Organization. MA Thesis, 1978, Published by Impact Communications, Canada, 1997
Adetola Adeniyi, United Yoruba Kingdom, pamphlet, Canada 1997[/b][/color]

[color=Black]TO ALL LADIES:[/color]
The next time he falls asleep;
Do not look through his phone-
To see who he has been texting/
calling.
Do not look through his wallet
looking for evidence.
Go to the mirror and ask yourself
why you are in this relationship»
Because once you find yourself
doing those things, the
relationship is DONE.
End of story!

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Presidential retreat