₦airaland Forum

kingbee90:
This Buhari's visit to France & Nigeria's recent official alliance with BRICS is not unconnected to Donald Trump's going back to the white house.
What do you think?

May be, may be not. However, I’ll hedge my bets on his visit being connected with the recent rumours especially in the North that Tinubu has allowed or is planning to allow France operate a military base on Nigerian soil; you know, Buhari is still the singular most popular & influential northern politician alive. His sphere of influence just doesn’t end in Northern Nigeria, it spreads to neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad & perhaps, even Mali; these countries’ citizens distrust France for obvious reasons but if there’s one Nigerian today who may put to rest once & for all, any controversy that may have arisen in northern Nigeria from PBAT’s visit to France, it’s Buhari.
However, this is just a hunch!

A chopper from the Presidential Air Fleet airlifted him which likely means he’s going to France on an official national assignment: AGF Lateef Fagbemi’s visit to the ex-President sometimes last week may not be unconnected with this recent visit of fPMB to France.

Penned by “Yemi Adegoke” from Ikoyi, Lagos? Lol. Mele Kyari may have introduced some reforms in the NNPC & achieved what some of his predecessors in office couldn’t achieve etc. but this entire praise singing is needless.

With his tenure expiring sometime in February, Engr. Kyari will do all that it takes to retain his seat including “hiring” writers, influencers, analysts, etc. to mould public opinion in his favor just like this purported writer from Ikoyi has done in Thisday.

NNPC under Kyari has continued to be a cesspool of corruption, inefficiency, lack of transparency and every other anomaly that has plagued it in the past; trying to absolve or paint Kyari as a sort of “Messiah” or departure from the past therefore defies logic.

Like Baba Obasanjo said about the Yoruba adage: when a farmer cultivates 100 heaps of yams 🍠 but turns around to claim he cultivated 200 heaps, when it’s time for harvest, he’ll reap 100 heaps of yams as well as 100 heaps of lies.

The same hirelings that pushed Godwin Emefiele to the sorry position he’s in today have also found a worthy victim in the NNPC GCEO; I can only wish Kyari all the best!

James 1:19

Well, till I hear from the accused party, I’ve no further comments.

Well, fowl nyash dey open on a normal day, na breeze wey no blow no make the nyash open; today’s Gov. Bala Mohammed’s turn, whose turn will it be tomorrow?

We abuse privileges so much in this country. While I don’t know the details of what transpired, what’s the need for all the “I’ll call your commandant in Abuja”?

Something that can be settled amicably within the confines of that hall, without any external intervention, the Commissioner is flexing muscles by threatening to call the Commandant-General of NSCDC as if the CG doesn’t have more pressing matters to attend to.

That’s how Rufai Oseni threatened to call Gov. Sanwo on phone after he was busted for taking “one-way”.

We too like to dey show ourselves levels for this country.

LEEMAO😂

If Gilbert Chagoury is truly backing Ahmadu Musa Kida for the position of NNPC’s GCEO, it’s as good as sealed.

Mr. Chagoury is the sole reason Kyari wasn’t fired as helmsman of NNPC when Emilokan took over as Nigeria’s President & he remains an influential figure in the corridors of power!

Chief Obasanjo is probably Africa’s last living pan-African leader; there’s no African leader living now that commands the type of honor, respect and whose voice resonates widely like the Ebora Owu.

Agba Baba Obasanjo a ka le o!

The APC as a party & its supporters need to rethink their strategy on dealing with irrational opposition figures.

For 8 years, PMB, his media aides & even the APC as a party never responded to any of the jabs then Governor Ayodele Fayose threw at President Buhari; they ignored him like he didn’t matter.

Also, at the early stages of the Tinubu admin, the only person the President’s media handlers used to respond to was Atiku; they totally ignored the 2nd runner-up & I thought that was good strategy but somewhere along the line, they (BATists, media handlers, etc) started reacting & sometimes, even going first at comparing the 3rd placed candidate with the President.

Starve fire 🔥 of oxygen & watch it die out! That’s what I expect of APC & the President’s supporters who have sort of become obsessed with the 3rd placed candidate.

Meanwhile, if you laid back & formed unlooking most of the times when majority of your own supporters elevated threats into an art form, don’t cry foul when supporters of the other side decide to give you a little dose of your own supporters’ medicines.

The question is wrong. Why, you may ask?

Here are my reasons:
1. There were 4 major candidates in the election - the man who you asked if Tinubu “stole” his mandate placed 3rd, according to the official results.
2. If Tinubu purportedly “stole” the results, it would mean he didn’t just steal from one man, he stole from 3 instead (Atiku, Obi & Kwankwaso in that order).
3. If 3 of the 4 major contenders (Tinubu, Atiku & Obi) claimed they each won the elections based on their own results that they collated from their party agents at the various polling units, it means two are liars & 1 is telling the truth; who’s now telling the truth among the 3 of them (let’s forget for a moment the man INEC declared as winner)?
4. Is it possible that two other contenders (Atiku & Obi) who claimed each to have won the polls were being economical with the truth as they hinged their election petitions instead on the purported winner’s questionable identity, a civil forfeiture case, perjury (Chicago State University graduate or not), double nomination of then running mate Kashim Shettima instead of the facts & figures of the elections?
5. The man declared by INEC as winner during the tribunal sittings through his lawyers was able to deduce that some 10,000+ (can’t recall the exact figures now but not exceeding 11,000) votes from Kano were wrongly deducted from his total votes from the state; why didn’t the other candidates, who each claimed to have won based on the data at their disposal, also tally their actual votes from the figures received from their agents for each polling unit to arrive at the exact number of their votes that was “stolen” from each state?
6. If you accused someone of stealing eggs from your poultry & when you were asked to defend your allegation in court, you started talking about how the thief had a fake ID card on him when he was arrested, their birth certificate is different from the DoB their official record or how the thief claimed to be a SSCE holder meanwhile what they’ve is a primary school certificate; the question a rational mind would ask is how do all these questions address the allegation of your eggs being stolen by the alleged thief?

So, instead of asking if the elections were stolen from the person who placed 3rd, why not ask if it was stolen from the person who placed 2nd at least, or even if it was stolen from the 2nd & 3rd placed candidates instead; or better yet, to find an indisputable contender, why not ask who is telling the truth between the person who placed 2nd & that who placed 3rd then ask if the elections were stolen by the incumbent (officially announced winner) from that person!

Ok.

obrien29:
Ugwuanyi outperformed Chimaroke Nnamani. So be factual.

I don’t really know much about ex-Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s performance while he was at the helm of affairs of Enugu State between 2015 & 2023 but one thing I am aware of is that unlike Abia, the state has been blessed with good governors at least from 1999-2015 & now 2023-2027.

Anambra and Ebonyi too have been blessed with good governors.

Now, this is some sensible talk. There are foreign celebrities who visit Nigeria, showcase the poverty & slum areas as well as give some “little charity” for the cameras & it ends there.

Then, there are those who visit all the fancy, elite & beautiful parts of Nigeria & they also showcase this other “lovely & oft ignored” side of Nigeria; in so doing, they either deliberately ignore or don’t see the millions of Nigerians on the streets who are suffering & struggling every day for survival.

Then, there’s this particular lady here, who admits that there’s a huge potential for entertainment tourism in Nigeria (read Lagos) but she couldn’t help but notice the poverty & hunger in the land; she didn’t end there, she has used her platform to call for help for these vulnerable Nigerians & this should resonate more among her celeb circles because while it’s easier to visit Lagos for “detty December” & get to soak in all the razzmatazz & night life the city has to offer, there is a glaring & palpable reality - most of the people are passing through difficult times (and this isn’t peculiar to Nigeria) & they need all the prayers & support they can get.

While it’s true that the twin policies of subsidy removal & “floating” of the Naira are necessary evils, they’ve to carry a human face! What’s the essence of policies if it plunges more people into poverty, hardship, despair & starvation? Or what’s the essence of a policy that appears to impact the citizens more than it impacts the leaders who themselves introduced these policies? Has the President or governors reduced their foreign trips or the delegation on their entourages? Have the stopped buying brand new bullet proof cars for their comfort, luxury & security? Have they stopped fueling the Presidential jets or vehicles from public coffers for their private trips while many Nigerians than ever before can’t even afford to buy used vehicles not to talk of fueling them? Have they stopped allocating billions of Naira for upgrading their residences, offices & government or guest houses while many Nigerians can’t even afford decent accommodation? Have they stopped feeding large at the expense of the people who barely afford 1 meal a day now? Or have they reduced their wardrobe allowances or put a lid on their insatiable quest for stealing from the public purse? Etc.

Until our political leaders demonstrate a genuine connection to the pulse of the people on the streets & experience what every day Nigerians experience as their reality, we’ll never truly make a headway; we’ll just keep going around in circles & deceiving ourselves we’re making progress while the people languish in abject poverty!

Speaker Tajudeen Abbas thanked Mr. President for “bringing more succor to the poor...” like seriously?

The sycophancy of our political leaders stink to high heavens; while it’s okay to heap praises on the President where he deserves to be praised, thanking him for impoverishing & dragging more Nigerians into poverty than ever before in our recent history is next level hypocrisy.

By the way, I liked SP Akpabio’s remarks and President Tinubu? Man knows how to say the “right” words but then governance is more action (doing the right thing for the benefit of the majority) than constant sweet talk.

AJ wants to give some people high BP with the salutations on the boxing glove he presented to the “Great Asiwaju Jagaban Borgu of Africa”.

It’s funny how state governors or governments will formulate laws or policies that are clearly anti-people but the state chapters of organized labor will not challenge it but when it comes to National, they want to sit at a round table to “help” government to formulate tax laws; like, I don’t understand.

The bills are before the National Assembly, part of the legislative process involves subjecting those bills to public hearings where contentious areas of the bill can be properly addressed or reviewed.

Anything outside these processes are self-help and over stepping boundaries.

Okay. But Obi can run as their vice na, abi?

You think if the options were to be an Atiku or Kwankwaso with Obi as running mate to either men, you think they’ll unseat the man that’s currently occupying Aso Rock?

It’s a rhetoric question oo you don’t need answer but again, the choice is yours to give the obvious response.

PulaPower:
So a former Vp should run as Obi’s vice?

None of those you mentioned can run as Obi’s vice!

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if they’re under a spell; they’ve been showing their hands quite too early.

Meanwhile the man they’re battling to unseat has kept his own cards very close to his chest that no one can say with 100% certainty what his next moves will be; personally, I have a strong suspicion he may not even seek re-election but instead back someone in his cabinet from the north (think Health Minister or NSA); the best Shettima will get is what he’s currently getting - Vice President!

However, if he decides to run, the opposition may just be repeating the blatant mistakes of 2023 if they don’t close ranks and forego personal ambitions.

casualobserver:
You are contesting against a political strategist like Tinubu, a man who has never lost an election, a man who engineered the defeat of PDP the incumbent president in 2015 a feat never engineered in our political history, a man who made an unelectable Buhari electable and in 2024 you are already revealing your strategy? Can you not see why these 3 men despite belonging to the same party and having 14.7m votes between them lost the election? They are so daft!!!!

Lol. 2027 is still about two year away but they’ve already started fighting because they can’t find a common ground.

The crux of the matter is Alh. Atiku Abubakar’s desperation; any contest in 2027 that still features an Atiku as a frontliner for the opposition is an automatic re-election for the incumbent.

Nothing stops Atiku from running as Peter Obi’s vice or Kwankwaso/El-Rufai as Peter Obi’s vice; but any contest that features Atiku or Kwankwaso or Obi running on separate tickets is automatically DOA. If the combination features Obi as vice to any northerner specifically Atiku, it may work but that’s going to be tricky.

You’re spot on, quite familiar with your history & make your solid points without resorting to mudslinging, I must commend you!

However, I like the fact that they’re not on the same page with him; if he doesn’t win, it’s an answered prayer to many Nigerians who have been impoverished by his policies.

If he does win (and that’s a big IF), however, he would’ve succeeded in creating a template for future politicians of southern extraction on how to deal with the northern political elites; these guys (northern political elite) have always held southern presidents by the jugular especially when they don’t have their way. Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Sen. Ali Ndume & co. spitting brimstone and fire in this dispensation isn’t any different from what then Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) & Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) did to Jonathan when he refused to heed their warnings not to contest for President in 2015.

Nonetheless, whichever direction their fight goes, Nigerians should be the biggest winners, I believe.

Xisnin:
He cannot win without their support.
That is impossible. What he is banking on is to divide them as much as he can.
If he can get Kwankwaso, Atiku and maybe another semi-popular Northerner to contest again, that's a good first step.

However, Tinubu's overconfidence may politically destroy him in the end because while he should making the effort
to make the entire south detest him less, he seems not to care. Yes, some groups will never vote for him but
it is better that such groups avoid the election than trooping to the opponent's side.



The issue with OBJ is that he was the president of a party he doesn't control.
He was literally imposed on the party as an outsider.
So, he has to be more careful till he secures party control and even with that he was able to eventually get his
way on every issue save the third term.
It got so bad, that members of his party made legal moves to impeach him then over his strong headedness.
Before he later took his pound of flesh and crippled the political careers of the arrowheads.

Lol. Threatening a man who has implemented unusually bold reforms (with its inherent hardships on the people) in his 1st term with “we’ll not support your re-election” is the antics of scared people.

The northern political elite sense that Tinubu may “win” 2027 re-election with/without their support & that is their greatest fear hence they’re showing their hands this early. That fear is borne from the fact that the man the thought they would pocket & remote-control is already showing in his first term that he’s his own man & isn’t afraid to go head-to-head against the northern political behemoths who have always held all Presidents of Southern extraction since 1999 (save POBJ & now PBAT) hostage. Even OBJ didn’t dare bare his fangs until he’d his re-election in the bag!

Whether the Tax Reforms Bills scale National Assembly passage or not, swords have been drawn, blood has been tasted & there’s no telling for sure who will surrender first but knowing the antecedents of the dramatis personae in this entire saga, it’s going to be a fight till the end!

May the strongest fighter win!

Didn’t bother watching the video because man is apparently running an experiment.
He suspects that most Nigerians don’t use their brain 🧠 & what better way to test that hypothesis than making this outlandish claim to check the responses.

Sadly, Rufai is right on these salient matters; just like Dr. Joe Abah posited, the journalists that interviewed the President (incl. Dr. Abati who was once a Presidential spox & has had the privilege of walking & working in the corridors of power as far as Nigeria is concerned) acted like they were in the presence of a rockstar.
They were awestruck & couldn’t ask tough questions or follow up questions even when the President claimed that his ministers are “working”; but if it’s “The Morning Show” or “Journalists Hangout”, Dr. Abati & Mr. Otitoju will be forming tough guys.
Anyways, I expect that the next Presidential Media Chat (it another ever comes up after this one) will feature folks like Rufai or Ayo of Arise, Maupe or Chamberlain of Channels & an investigative journalist such as Soyombo.

Somethings are better left unsaid; just show workings first!

How many kilometers of road have they achieved or plan to achieve on that coastal road project by 2025 & they’re already talking of starting the rail aspect of it?

Anyways, I wish them all the best.

Lol. On today’s episode of you can’t make this sh1t up!

“Hunger is not a reasonable thing”, I totally agree.
Just so painful that it’s still the “poor” that have to die for the mere reason that they’re poor; don’t think I’ve seen or heard a rich man die because they were rich!
May the souls of the dead Rest In Peace!

DeepSight:
Fair enough, but you should know that there is an extreme that hideous policies can push the poor to where it becomes almost unreasonable to ask the poor to be reasonable.

Hunger is not a reasonable thing.

Poverty on the one hand but you can’t discountenance our culture for disorderliness, greediness & anyhowness.

If we blame it entirely on abject poverty, then we shouldn’t also blame those who have taken up arms to kidnap for ransom & rob people of their valuables due to lack of job & poverty.

As far back 2013, scores of people died in a particular state as a result of stampede during sharing akara (akara ooo!); was the poverty at the time worse than what Nigerians are currently passing through under this administration? Or is it those who inspite of the known risks to their own lives & that of others, go scoop fuel from a fallen tanker? Or the employee on a farm or supermarket who steal their employers’ eggs, foodstuff, designer bags & shoes in large quantities & blame it all on poverty?

We must learn to take responsibility otherwise we’ll keep blaming poverty for every bad thing that happens in this country.

DeepSight:
So you mean you cant tell the root cause of these happenings?

If after these unfortunate hat tricks of tragedy there’s a repeat of it anywhere else in the country, it means we haven’t learnt any lessons yet & are no worse off than animals roaming in the wild.

Beyond these statements of condolences & ad hominem, the law MUST be allowed to take its course against those who jeopardize the lives of others in the name of charity or poverty alleviation.

Whether the report is verifiably true or not, no one in their right senses would politicize or give ethnic coloration to a calamity that befalls people; irrespective of their region, religion, ethnicity or who they voted for, our shared humanity should always rise above all these primordial & diabolic sentiments.

May the souls of those who have died in avoidable stampedes Rest In Peace. State Governments especially should henceforth start paying closer attention to events that attract large gatherings before it becomes a pattern.

We’re a very unstable-minded people in this country & our loyalties only lie on which part of the bed we wake up on every other day.
The same NBS releases statistics showing a gradual decline in inflation & it’s termed propaganda but when the same bureau releases stats showing how much was paid as ransom (using similar tools & yardsticks they use in measuring these things), everyone goes “hurrah!! We knew it!” It’s this same mentality we display when elections don’t go the way of our preferred candidate, we say it’s rigged or when the courts/tribunal rule in our preferred candidate’s favour we hail the judiciary as the last hope of the common man.