₦airaland Forum

"I have no fear if I have no dirty hands." Baba Jarida

A part of the judiciary that is enmeshed in fear is in that position because of the possibilty of their dark sides exposed.

Show me a crowd of corrupt judges and you will see a crowd of threatened judges.

Show me a crowd of upright judges and I will show you a community of free people - they are not threatened by the fight against corruption because they have nothing to fear.

Onix01:
Well I might not be a fan of this woman, but let's for once accord the due respect to this hardworking woman. I believe so much that her hardwork earned her the national call to serve under the Yardua's government. She did what most previous ministers of petroleum couldn't achieve by striking deals amongst both the local and international players to ensure the smooth sales of our crude and stability of refined products at a regulated price. The petrol price was so stable and available throughout her reign. Against all odds I've never been a fan of hers but i'm beginning to admire her strong character while in office and thereafter.

Hard work is not the subject matter.

Murderers, Robbers, Con men all engage in hard work. And there are many evil people out there that work harder than you can imagine, but one fact about them remains - whether they are found guilty by the courts or not...whether they are caught or not...THEY ARE CRIMINALS

Jexyme:
Copied.
ADVICE TO ND AVENGERS: Keep on keeping on.
Pls don't listen to anybody advising you against pipeline vandalization. Keep it up. Deal with Buhari(Pharaoh), APC & northern hegemony. Destroy your land so that the people of Katsina will suffer. Before you detonate the next bomb & blow up the next pipeline, think again.
The Ogoni land is getting cleaned up & soon commercial fishing will commence. Your friend in Enugu that is urging you on is going back to farm, Enugu will soon be one of the leading producers of banana & pineapple in the world in collaboration with a Mexican company.
Your friend in Lagos is urging you on to destroy ur land but he is going to Kebbi to get farmlands for rice farming. Meanwhile they have also started drilling oil in Lagos. Wait, Kebbi will soon feed the whole country & export. Tuta absoluta attacked Kano, Jigawa & some northern states & you catch cold in your Creek. Your brother in Edo will soon be supplying the whole country with tomatoes due to Igbinedion university.
Are you thinking already?
Norway want to eliminate all cars using fossil fuel by 2025.
The world is moving on my brothers. You think you are sabotaging Buhari but he is gradually settling down into govt. Boko haram has been largely decapitated & the world recognizes that. Anti corruption fight is progressing.
About 3 trillion naira was announced recently as recovered & frozen loots. That's money stolen by the love of your life. Money that could have been used to develop the Creek. Money that would have connected you with roads, bridges & other amenities.
They stole it & gave you guns to go into the Creeks. How many among the love of your life can spend a night with you where you are right now? Where are their children?
I heard your beloved PDP has zone presidency to the north for 2019 election. The same north you so much hate. The same north that is dominating you. Can't you see they are just deceiving you? You are not their concern. Their concern is the loots from the oil produced on your land.
They don't care if you destroyed the land. They have no plan to live there. How many refineries have they built for you with all the looting. They love you so much to keep you on 65k

I hope they see it and reflect on their self-destruction.

uupgrade:
see my Governor I wish I can also listen to you but please ask Government to continue that maritime Uni I have plans of working there as a staff come 2018. then maybe I fit support ur idea

So in your dump mind, you will have a job when all pipelines have been blown up?

Source: https://facebook.com/Babanewsline/

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/see-what-oby-ezekwesilis-mother-asked-her-daughter/

Splinz:
Such a shame that we could only produced the likes of Buhari as the president in a country like Nig.

No shame. Stop wailing over. The shame we had was voting looters with all their education.

Biko, We are proud of our president.

World number one Novak Djokovic is poised to become the first man to win $100 million in prize money on Monday when he targets a place in the French Open quarter-finals for the 10th time.

Djokovic, chasing a first Roland Garros title to complete a career Grand Slam, tackles Spain’s 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

The top seeded Serb has a 4-0 career lead over the 28-year-old Bautista Agut including a victory on clay in Madrid this season where the Spaniard won just three games.

Djokovic is also bidding to reach the quarter-finals for the 28th straight Grand Slam and take sole occupancy of second place ahead of Jimmy Connors for the most consecutive last-eight appearances at the majors.

With $99,673,404 banked in prize money at the start of Roland Garros, the 29-year-old Djokovic can cross the $100 million barrier by making the last-eight.

A place in the quarter-finals is worth 294,000 euros ($326,722) and that will just take the Serb into the $100,000,000 bracket.

Roger Federer is Djokovic’s closest rival in the prize money stakes on $98,011,727 but the Swiss is sitting out Roland Garros through injury.

“I know that the top four guys (himself, Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray) that have been dominating the tour and winning most of the major titles in the last ten years or so will not stay there forever,” cautioned Djokovic.

“New generations are coming up, and you can see already guys like Dominic Thiem, Borna Coric, Nick Kyrgios establishing themselves in the very top of the men’s game.

“Can definitely expect to see those faces more in the future. How quick they can actually get to the top four of the world, it’s a process. It’s not like that’s going to happen overnight or over two, three months.

“They need to play very well and consistently well and stay healthy throughout the entire year in order to challenge the top spots. Let’s see if they can do that.”

Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych and former runner-up David Ferrer, the 11th seeded Spaniard, also meet Monday.

Ferrer leads their 12-year rivalry 8-6 although Berdych won the pair’s most recent clash on clay in Madrid.

Belgian 12th seed David Goffin faces unpredictable Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a semi-finalist in 2014.

Goffin had never made the last-eight at a Grand Slam while world ranked 80 Gulbis has won six of his last seven meetings with top 20 players at the majors.

Austrian 13th seed Dominic Thiem faces Spain’s Marcel Granollers with both men trying to make the last eight of a Slam for the first time.

Granollers reached the last-16 without hitting a ball when nine-time champion Nadal pulled out of the tournament with a wrist injury.

In the women’s last-16, top seed and defending champion Serena Williams continues her bid for a record-equalling Open era 22nd Grand Slam

The 34-year-old takes on Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina who is being advised in Paris by Justine Henin, one of Williams’ former great rivals on the tour and a four-time French Open champion.

“That doesn’t really matter. It’s just really about going out there and playing your best,” said Williams, shrugging off the Henin connection.

Spanish 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro faces unseeded Yulia Putintseva also on Monday.

In-form Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, who knocked out Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the first round, faces America’s Madison Keys, the 15th seed.

Venus Williams, who was runner-up to sister Serena in 2002, faces Swiss eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky, a semi-finalist last year.

Also Monday, two fourth round ties that were suspended when heavy rain started to fall late Sunday evening will be completed.

Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska was 6-2, 3-0 up on Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova and sixth seed Simona Halep of Romania was leading Australian veteran Samantha Stosur 5-3.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/djokovic-on-verge-of-100-million-breakthrough/

The stats you need to know

1. Atletico have now contested more European Cup/Champions League finals without winning the trophy than any other club (three).
2. This was the eighth Champions League final to go to extra-time, and the seventh to go to a penalty shootout.
3. Zinedine Zidane is the second man (after Miguel Munoz) to win the European Cup/Champions League with Real Madrid as both a player and a manager.
4. Zidane is the first French manager to win the Champions League.
5. Sergio Ramos became the fifth player to score in two different Champions League finals, and the first defender to do so (also Raul, Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo).
6. Indeed, Ramos joins Messi and Eto’o as one of three players to score in his first two Champions League finals.
7. Antoine Griezmann became the first player since Arjen Robben in 2012 to miss a penalty in the Champions League final (excluding shootouts).
9. Only Marcello Lippi (three) has lost more Champions League finals as a manager than Diego Simeone (two).

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/champions-league-finals-2016-the-stats-you-need-to-know/

Qua-Iboe Primary School Idah in Kogi and LGA Mohammed Kabir Primary School Kaduna had locked horns today in the final of this year’s Season 8 of the Channels National Kids’ Cup Championship at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

The match ended 0 – 3 in favour of LGA Mohammed Kabir Primary.

The Kaduna boys are the champions of season 8 of the National kids cup.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/2016-channels-national-kids-cup-final/

President Muhammadu Buhari came to power promising Nigerians “change”. Novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani gives five examples of what has changed in Nigeria since 29 May 2015 when he was sworn in.

1. Are we safer?

Those of us who travel regularly in Nigeria’s north-east had become used to what should be a 15-minute journey turning into an hour-long ordeal.

You had to stop dozens of times at roadblocks and disembark, while heavily armed soldiers inspected your vehicle for traces of the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram.

Today, the number of checkpoints has fallen significantly – even on the road to Chibok – thanks to enhanced confidence in the security of the entire region.

The army has regained swathes of territory that the Islamist militants had occupied as part of their so-called caliphate.

Boko Haram has been considerably weakened, resigned to attacking soft targets using suicide bombers.

Thousands of women and girls kidnapped by the group have also been rescued, including one of the 219 schoolgirls from Chibok abducted in April 2014.

But while there is progress in the north-east, trouble in the Niger Delta, the country’s oil-producing region, is resurfacing.

Recent attacks on oil facilities have caused a drop in production and helped push up the global price of crude oil.

2. Where’s my money?

In the months preceding last year’s elections, the popular chant on the streets was “Sai Buhari, Sai Buhari”, which means “Only Buhari” in Hausa – the most widely-spoken language in the north where the president originates.

“Sai Buhari” became an almost magical greeting, capable of earning you a discount from the sweaty chap pushing a wheelbarrow of tiger nuts or sugar cane.

It could even elicit a smile followed by permission to move along, from the miscellaneous airport officials who usually ensure that your passage through Nigerian customs and immigration is fraught with agonising delays.

A year later, the chant has changed to “Buhariya”, which roughly translates to “Buhari’s way” or “Buhari’s time”.

The slogan is now used to explain every unpleasant evidence of Nigeria’s troubled economy and a time of austerity.

Q: “A basket of tomatoes has gone up from 3,000 naira ($15) to 18,000 naira?”

A: It’s “Buhariya!”

Q: “How come the naira is plummeting against the dollar on the black market?”

A: It’s “Buhariya!”

3. Where’s our money?

This time last year, friendship with Sambo Dasuki, the former national security adviser, could have altered your economic circumstances forever.

He would have been besieged with invitation cards to be the chief guest at various events.

When he entered a room, almost everyone would stand in respect.

Today, he sits in an Abuja jail, awaiting trial for the alleged mismanagement of billions of dollars meant for the war against Boko Haram – charges he denies.

Several other big men, previous untouchables, such as former service chiefs, top politicians and government officials, are also sitting in jail awaiting corruption trials, or out on bail.

And, if you’re looking for a second-hand luxury car to buy, now may be the time.

A number of people formerly linked to the government are desperate for cash and selling off their fleets.

It would seem as though the leaking taps that gushed dollars to be spent carelessly have stopped flowing since President Buhari came to power.

4. Where are the women?

Ensuring women’s participation at all levels in political, economic and public life is one of the targets of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs).

But only six out of Mr Buhari’s cabinet of 37 are women, a meagre 16%

The president’s wife, Aisha, is also the most silent first lady Nigeria has had in decades, barely seen or heard – except maybe when she is visiting unkempt children in a refugee camp or donating food items to victims of Boko Haram. She appears as the stereotypical good African wife.

Her invisibility is suspicious when you consider that President Buhari, during his election campaign, said he would abolish the office of the first lady – but then retracted the suggestion when challenged by feminist voters.

5. What are we wearing?

In Abuja the government in power influences the style of dress throughout the administration.

Staff of the government, friends of the government and aspiring friends of the government all aim to dress like the person at the top.

Northerners ruled Nigeria for most of the country’s first three decades after independence from the UK in 1960.

Over time, their traditional outfits, babarigas (flowing gowns) and kaftans, became firmly entrenched – even when a non-northerner was elected in 1999.

Olusegun Obasanjo is an ethnic Yoruba from the south but throughout his eight-year presidential tenure, he mostly wore babarigas.

Cartoons depicting a typical Nigerian “big man” will usually feature him dressed in the flowing robes, his potbelly distorting the layers of cloth.

All this changed in 2011, with the election of Goodluck Jonathan.

He was Nigeria’s first president from one of the country’s smaller ethnic groups, and also the first from the oil-producing Niger Delta, in the south.

Mr Jonathan preferred the long shirt and trouser outfit that is traditional among his Ijaw community.

Suddenly, the babariga was nowhere to be seen.

Government offices and hotel lobbies began to feature an inordinate number of men dressed in the presidential style of the time.

Some even went as far as the fedora hats and walking sticks that go with the outfit.

Eventually, the style gained its own special nickname – “resource control” – in reference to the fact that most people who wore it seemed to be the ones controlling Nigeria’s oil resources.

Indeed, it seemed to be the preferred outfit of many of Nigeria’s newest millionaires.

Not any more. Within a year of Mr Buhari, “resource control” outfits have almost completely vanished from view. The babariga is back.

Beyond these five areas, there are many more profound changes that Nigerians are expecting from our government, but those will take time.

The structure of corruption and mismanagement which previous governments left behind must first be dismantled before a new foundation of progress can be laid.

And President Buhari is no modern-day Hercules.

Cleaning Nigeria’s equivalent of the fantastically filthy Augean stables of Greek myth is certainly not a one-year job.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/buharis-first-year-five-ways-nigeria-has-changed/

New militant group, the Niger Delta Avenger, Thursday, destroyed the main pipeline supplying gas that provides electricity to the Escravos tank farm in Delta state owned by Chevron.

In a tweet sent via its Twitter handle, @Niger Delta Avengers, the armed militant group, said the latest action was carried out after Chevron ignored its May 12 warning not to fix a major crude pipeline blown up by the group early in the month.

http://www.babanewsline.com/breaking-avengers-bomb-chevrons-escravos-tank-farm-in-delta/

Pavarottii:
Any Nigerian that thinks Chiboks girls kidnap is not a scam is not a conscious rational thinker. The person is a kid and can be easily deceived.

Fantastically Corrupt Liars.

Nigerians are corrupt - Buhari; thank God he and his APC folks are all Nigerians.

Dullard.

Even Abati knows better. Read what he said about buhari and corruption. http://www.babanewsline.com/7-important-things-reuben-abati-said-about-buhari-and-corruption/

Reuben Abati is Goodluck Jonathan’s former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity. He is also a columnist for The Guardian, read 7 notable things he said about President Buhari, Cameron and corruption.

It’s a must read.

1. I know President Buhari is often criticized for condemning his own people offshore, but no one can fault his sharp honesty, certainly not in the present instance. His reply to the Cameron statement is absolutely brilliant, diplomatic and loaded with a meaningful sarcasm that is yet to be properly defined.

2. Petty corruption is encountered in ordinary places on a daily basis, grand corruption has also badly affected Nigeria as a state, country, and nation. President Buhari wants to deal with the latter, but he is overlooking the former. Right under his watch, that other sphere is thriving.

3. I commend President Buhari for his confidence. He got the message from Cameron. Old age and experience can be an advantage sometimes. And he gave it back to the Prime Minister in full measure. Rather than accuse our President of putting his own country down, Nigerians should actually applaud his understanding of the game of international intrigue.

4. I commend President Buhari for his confidence. He got the message from Cameron. Old age and experience can be an advantage sometimes. And he gave it back to the Prime Minister in full measure. Rather than accuse our President of putting his own country down, Nigerians should actually applaud his understanding of the game of international intrigue.

5. By telling Britain to return the stolen loot hidden in Britain and its tax havens, President Buhari was actually asking Cameron to shut up and walk the talk. In other words, Britain cannot organize an anti-corruption summit and spend time bad-mouthing other countries whereas it is a principal destination for stolen funds.

6. Prime Minister Cameron has all the records of our stolen wealth and all the Nigerian thieves hiding in Great Britain. Let him listen to our President and begin to show, beyond condescending gossip at the palace, and the rhetoric of talk shops, that Britain is indeed committed to the ideals of transparency, integrity and accountability.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/7-important-things-reuben-abati-said-about-buhari-and-corruption/

The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Mr Justin Welby, have commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s maturity over British Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks describing Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt”.

Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Simon Ogah, disclosed this in London yesterday at a meeting with UK-based Nigerians and the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

He said many other personalities who met with the president during his visit to London last week expressed delight at his reaction to Cameron’s remarks.

“Some people said President Buhari’s reaction aptly put Prime Minister Cameron down. From the way people are talking, we don’t need to add anything more. The president has said enough. Let them return our assets”, Ogah said.

In her remarks Dabiri-Erewa urged all Nigerians to express “your anger and worry” over the monumental stealing of Nigeria’s resources, pointing out that the war against corruption was a collective one.

“You should key-in to President Buhari’s mantra: ‘Let’s kill corruption before corruption kills us’”, she said, adding that a $300m bond for Nigerians in diaspora would soon be floated.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/camerons-remarks-prince-charles-welby-laud-buhari/

All Images - http://www.babanewsline.com/11-amazing-pictures-of-leicester-citys-parade-from-the-air/

It was an unprecedented day in Leicester’s modern history, one that is unlikely to ever be repeated.

The scale of which has left the whole area stunned with the sheer amount of people that descended onto the streets of the city on Monday evening.

Official estimates suggest there were well in excess of 240,000 people lining pavements, rooftops and gathered in Victoria Park.

Monday May 16, a day that will live long in the memory of every person living in Leicestershire, let alone fans of the Foxes.

Claudio Ranieri, his staff, players and their families travelled on four open-top buses making their way from Jubilee Square out to Victoria Park to be greeted by the masses.

From early in the day, fans gathered on streets of the city to get their place and make sure they had a good view of the parade. Some were there more than five hours in advance. That’s how desperate they were to say “I was there.”

As they arrived at the park, a sea of blue and white engulfed the wide open green spaces, the like of which had never been seen before.
As helicopters hovered to snap a glimpse of the scene below, images were captured that will go down in history as some of the most iconic ever seen in this part of the Midlands.

Leicester put on a show to the world, to welcome home their champions. To clap, to cheer and to try and take in the enormity of what their team had achieved.

For many, it may never sink in.

One thing is for sure, it’s hard to imagine another time when so many people will come from all over the world just to be in Leicester, and to see the Premier League trophy paraded before their very eyes.

European football will come, and Leicester may well go on and retain their title this time next season, but a moment like this can surely never be bettered.

Leicester has become the name on the lips of the world, and boy did it put on a show for those watching around the globe.

Soak it up, Leicester, these are the moments of your life.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/11-amazing-pictures-of-leicester-citys-parade-from-the-air/

Leicester City players drive through their club’s home city on Monday to celebrate their stunning success in becoming champions of the Premier League for the first time in their club’s 132-year history.

More than 100,000 fans lined the streets of the city to cheer on the title-winning footballers as they passed in an open-top bus.

Just a year after the team was almost relegated, Leicester were 5,000-1 outsiders to win the championship at the start of the season

See the video in link below.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/its-unbelievable-leicester-city-victory-parade-met-by-thousands-video/

Adesege:
If GEJ has done this, hell would have let loose.

Surprisingly, Nigerians ain't talking and they seem to be comfortable with the development.

Malami cited Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution as amended to justify his application to stop the strike. So why are you wailing?

Read More: http://www.babanewsline.com/fuel-price-increase-court-stops-nlc-from-going-on-strike/

elpj:
Will there ever going to be strike in Nigeria? Typical of Buhari. Military action in a Democratic setup. Its well.

Buhari has nothing to do with it...

Read https://www.nairaland.com/3110814/court-stops-nlc-going-strike

The National Industrial Court has stopped ‎the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress from embarking on strike to protest last week’s increase in fuel price by the federal Government.

Justice Babatunde Adejumo gave the restraining order after the Attorney General of the Federation, Justice Adejumo, held: “The defendants are hereby restrained from carrying out the threat contained in their communique issued on May 14th pending the hearing and determination of the ‎motion on notice filed on May 16.

“It is the order of this court that status quo be maintained as at 17th May‎.”

He also ordered that the processes in the case be served on the respondents within 24 hours and that proof of service be filed in the court

“It is the order of this court that non of the parties shall engage in any act, conduct, overtly, covertly on this matter pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice,” Justice Adejumo further held.

The judge transferred the case to another judge of the court saying that he would be engaged at the National Judicial Council and would not be able to take further proceeding on the matter.

The judge said he was busy at the National Judicial Council and would not be able to go ahead with the hearing.

Adejumo said that he preferred that the dispute be resolved amicably but that he was constrained to issue the order exparte because the respondents were not yet before him.

He also said that he granted the order to make sure that people were not subjected to avoidable hardship.

He said:”I decided to take this case this morning because it is on an issue that will affect everybody. I don’t want people to be subjected to hardship. There will be sacricity of foods, people may die, students will engage in all sorts of activities. This is why I have to grant this order.”

The order will lapse in seven days except it is renewed.

‎ Malami, while moving an exparte application said it was in the national interest to stop NLC from shutting down the nation over last week’s increase in price of fuel.

He cited Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution as amended to justify his application to stop the strike.

Malami argued that ‎no amount of damages could serve as compensation if NLC is allowed to shut down the economy.

He further argued that the balance of convenient was in favour of the government.

The minister‎ asked the court to determine:

Whether the respondents (NLC, Trade Union Congress) have complied with the laid down condition precedent for embarking on strike‎.

FURTHER DETAILS LATER

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/fuel-price-increase-court-stops-nlc-from-going-on-strike/

caleb404:


Weekly dose for the zombies. Invite Jonathan self and then we all in Niger Delta go turn Avengers. Just small Shakira wen we dance, we've crippled 50% of Nigeria oil production.

From our backyard in warri we will decide if the man in oshogbo and his family will receive their next salary . Imagine if we con dance awilo

Very Dump. Celebrating destruction and vandalism of national assets is stupid.

In the run up to the 2015 presidential election, Sheikh (Dr.) Ahmad Gumi wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and retired General Muhammadu Buhari, the then presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), advising them to sacrifice their ambitions in order to avoid a possible crisis. In spite of Gumi’s advice, the duo ran for the presidency and the rest, as they say, is history. In this interview with IBRAHEEM MUSA, the Kaduna-based Islamic cleric gives an interim assessment of Buhari’s one year in office and also speaks on the Preaching Regulatory Bill which is before the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

Last Wednesday, the Federal Government announced an increase in the pump price of fuel. What do you think the hike portends for the people?

The price increase of fuel is a natural domino effect of the economic policies of the present administration. The economic style of the government right from its inception, truly speaking, has been on the wrong footing. We know that there were a lot of financial wrongdoings in the previous government.

Yet, you cannot totally condemn their policies. Nothing is 100 per cent bad, and nothing is 100 percent good. As a medical doctor, I can tell you that even the best drug has side effects. And sometimes, poison can be used for treatment.

Bee sting can be used in curing rheumatism. So, in trying to paint a terrible picture of the previous administration, this government is trying to undo every policy of the former government, instead of just correcting what was wrong.

The prophet warned Muslims to be careful of liking or loving something too much because one day it will be your enemy. And if you have an enemy, don’t hate him so vehemently because one day he may be your best friend. What I mean is that the policies that you criticise, you may one day end up doing the same thing.

President Muhammadu Buhari criticised the removal of subsidy when he was in the opposition; now he has just done that. We have been telling them to be careful right from the word go, otherwise, the government will be engulfed in crises and contradictions. Increasing fuel prices is inevitable but what I want the government to look at are the factors that lead to the pressure to increase the prices.

First, the government imports fuel for domestic use. Second, the foreign exchange to finance this importation is dwindling. Even though the refineries are working, the supply of crude oil is being disrupted because the militants are blowing up pipelines. Why are they doing so? Because they feel alienated, that they are not part of the government. So, you can see the domino effect that I have earlier mentioned.

Are you in any way advocating that the Federal Government should negotiate with the militants?

The government should have formed a Government of National Unity right from the beginning. For example, tell the South-East to bring whoever they trust to represent them in the government. The South-West brought Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as running mate; he was not the choice of Buhari.

The same way that you did with South-West do with the South- South and South-East. This is what I mean by Government of National Unity because if the militants believe that they are represented well in the government, they will allow the oil to flow.

If the crude oil flows, our refineries will work. The President needs to listen; he can’t afford to be adamant anymore. He should listen to knowledgeable individuals and not sycophants who supported him. Nigeria is for everybody. It is not for any single political party or the President.

If I understand your analysis, are you opposed to the orders given by the President to the military to deal with the militants who blow up pipelines?

How can they deal with the militants in the first place, when they are holding the nation’s umbilical cord? You are fighting Boko Haram in the North, and you want to fight the militants in the creeks. You don’t fight on two fronts at the same time. That was one of the reasons why Adolf Hitler failed in the Second World War. The government should sit down with them and ask them the reasons for their agitation.

Don’t forget; they were embittered that their man Goodluck Jonathan was defeated. Their argument now is, ‘if you hate our man, then leave our oil.’ No section of the country has the solution of Nigeria’s problem.

So, everybody should be brought on board. Even if the South-South brings Government Tompolo as their man, we should accept him, so long as they trust him; so that we will have stability.

A military solution is not the best option in this circumstance. Former President Umaru Yar’adua could swallow his pride as president and negotiate with the militants. Jonathan also did it. But a military man cannot do it because it will hurt his ego. But if he doesn’t do it, he will kill the nation.

The Fulani herdsman has been associated with so many evils in recent times, ranging from cattle rustling, kidnapping, and armed robberies. As a Fulani man, what will you say is responsible for the recent transformation of the herdsman?

It is really unfortunate. I remember, during the Jonathan administration, a soldier came to me. He said that there was an ongoing military operation which was wiping out Fulani communities around Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State. He said that more than 10 communities had been wiped out by the soldiers. I was so agitated that I called a Fulani lieutenant. I also confronted very influential people in government, telling them of the plot to wipe out Fulanis.

The Fulani lieutenant told me that all the kidnappings and the cattle rustling that were being carried out in that community were done by Fulanis. But the Qur’an tells us that when ‘’Fitna’’ (trouble) comes, it will not affect only those who commit the sin or atrocity.

It is unacceptable for the Fulani communities in the bush, to allow their brothers to go out and commit all these crimes and keep quite. Even those that do not engage in them will one day become victims of the reactions of these atrocities. I am calling on the Fulani associations like Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association to sensitise their members on an almost one-on-one basis.

The association should tell them to stop killing and kidnapping people and rustling the cattle of fellow Fulanis. There is no need denying it.

Fulanis are involved in armed robbery and all these crimes that I have mentioned. But the question is, why did the Fulanis start engaging in these crimes? But what do you expect of a population that has been left in the bush without education or social amenities and without government’s assistance of any kind? The so-called Nomadic Education is just on paper. Even religious organisations do not go to preach to them. So, what do you expect from this kind of population?

It has been a time bomb all the while. The government and Miyetti Allah should intervene so that the crisis will not escalate like Boko Haram.

An FM Radio station should be dedicated specifically to addressing the Fulanis because they listen to radio. They should also be given incentives. That is the only way to avert the disaster. But to deny that these atrocities are not being committed by Fulanis is the wrong way to approach the issue. My brother was kidnapped some few months back. When we secured his release, he told us that the kidnappers were asking him to beg Allah for them so that they will be reformed.

Now, they have discovered that kidnapping is a gold mine. Before they used to rustle cattle, and it was so difficult to sell the cows. So, they resorted to the easier crime of kidnapping. Truly, the Fulanis are involved, and it is very unfortunate.

The All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government will be one year in office in about two weeks from now. What is your assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari in office, a man whom you had earlier opposed?

Actually, I was not opposing a particular person. What I feared was a scary scenario. I wasn’t opposing Buhari or Jonathan. I never hated them at all. If anything, I pity them because much as they wanted to correct things, they couldn’t.

What the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, is doing is evil but he believed in what he is doing, and he has given his life to it. Out of all these leaders, nobody is ready to give his life like him but what he is doing is wrong, and he is evil.

So, it is not enough to sacrifice, but you have to do the right thing. So, there must be pragmatism in governance. Interests and alliances should be based on pragmatism. So, I’m not opposed to any politician at all, but I’m concerned about how Nigeria can get out of this problem. I’m very passionate about that. I have children, and I don’t want them to be messed up by someone’s vision of how to run Nigeria, which I know will not work.

It will just bring more hardship to them. To be honest, I want to progress and peace for everybody, and I’m truly concerned about it. I believe that the only way to cure Nigeria is to open a new page completely if not we will continue to be having problems.

We are divided along North/ South lines and along Muslim/Christian lines. There is also the class division between the rich and the poor. We also have tribal differences. It is until when every segment is substantially carried along, that you can have peace and harmony in the country. So long as a big segment of Nigeria feels that it is marginalised, Nigeria will never see peace.

So, in the run-up to the last election, I wrote a letter to President Jonathan not to contest because the North will reject him. I asked him to allow anybody to be the PDP flag bearer but not him because the north will reject him because somehow, he was linked with Boko Haram. I also wrote another letter to Buhari, advising him to rest his ambition because if he runs, Nigeria will be polarised. What Nigeria needed at that time were people who will mend fences.

Buhari’s coming into politics has accentuated the class struggle in Nigeria. The antagonism between the rich and poor can sometimes be more dangerous that religious differences. I saw this class struggle coming because the masses will always rush to Buhari because they believe that he will bring justice and food on the table for them. They want him to emasculate the rich for them; he either does it, or they will categorise him as a failure.

So, once you put a leader in that kind of situation, then you are already introducing a class struggle into the already compounded problem. In addition to our tribal problems, our religious differences, and the North/South divide, there is now a class problem because the talakawa just want to see the rich imprisoned. And if they are tasking the president to do that, and if he does not do it he is a failure, then he will definitely fail because he cannot do it.

So, the kind of leader that we needed at that time was one who will pacify the rich and still have the confidence of the poor. By so doing, the rich will help in building the economy by setting up companies that will generate employment.

That is why the Prophet (SAW) said that you can get with leniency what you can never get by force. He said that when leniency enters anything, it decorates it. And strictness, violence blemishes and destroys the beauty of whatever they enter.

So, what you get with diplomacy, you cannot get with violence. If you want to deal with corruption in Nigeria, you have to deal with it in a diplomatic way. No one should be afraid of returning the money that they have looted. But when the poor is always rating your administration by the number of people you have caught, then you are in trouble because you cannot catch the big ones.

Because if you do so, you will destroy your government and if you don’t catch them, the poor will say that you have changed. The president is even fighting the war on corruption the wrong way. When you fight corruption, it will naturally fight back. Corruption has become an international institution. You will hear foreign leaders condemning corruption, but they are engaging in it because their countries benefit from it.

So, the President needs to tread carefully in fighting corruption with the way things are now because it will frighten the upper class of the society. It will put them on pause, and this is not healthy for a developing economy like our own.

You need the rich to infuse money into the system and fund projects. For example, I went to a fundraiser for an Islamic school. Big men came, but not a single one donated a Kobo, not even a pledge because they may be asked where they got the money from.

So, there is fright, and this is hurtful to the economy. The war on corruption should purely be a law and order issue. Right now, if EFCC invites someone, the next day it is in the newspapers. The damage this kind of thing causes to people’s reputation is very severe, especially if they are found to be innocent.

In an interview with a news magazine recently, you described the Preaching Regulation Bill, which is before the Kaduna State House of Assembly as unconstitutional. Why did you say that?

The law was enacted during the military regime. What the present government of Kaduna State wants to do is to modify it, especially the sanctions aspects of the bill which are unconstitutional are the ones that will trample on freedom of expression, freedom of thoughts and religion and freedom of gathering for such purposes. If a law says that you cannot preach until you are given a license, then this is unconstitutional.

But you spent over a decade in Saudi Arabia. Can anyone just wake up and start preaching there?

This is where we need to expatiate on this issue. It is one of two things; you either control religion, or you don’t control it. But if you should control it, then you have to impose the particular interpretation of the religion that you are controlling.

In Saudi Arabia, they impose the interpretation of the religion which is the Sunni-Hanbali Mazab. In Iran, they control the preaching of the Shii-Imamiyya. You cannot go to Iran and start preaching Sunnah. Likewise, you cannot go to Saudi Arabia and start preaching Schism.

So, these are examples of states controlling religion. In the United States, you can preach anything so long as you don’t attack anybody. So, it is an open market for everybody to preach. It is good for the state to control religion if those that are in control are truly religious. That means that they know the religion and they truly practise it. This is the best, but we can’t get it in Nigeria.

So, since you don’t have a government that knows the religion, and it is practising the religion, if you attempt to control it, you are more likely to suppress the truth than to curb the extremism that you are trying to fight.

I say this because extremists, wherever they are, they don’t need your license because they don’t even recognise you as a government. Without government license and with all the restrictions to air their views on radio, they propagate their creed one-on-one in the villages. They reach out to the vulnerable in the society.

This was how Boko Haram started. Boko Haram didn’t have any programme on any radio station, but they are not only strong but are fighting the state. The Shiites in Nigeria are like that too. They are almost forming a state within a state.

So, when the government says that it is going to curtail preaching, it is only going to curtail the moderate preachers. Instead of wasting so much time and resources on laws that will regulate preaching, the government should do the right thing by supporting the moderates in every religion. Because if you leave vulnerable people without allowing moderates to tell them what their religion is, others will indoctrinate them.

For example, if you leave Muslims and say that government will not spend its money on propagating the religion, another extreme sect will come and preach to them using the same Qur’an and Hadith. Since they come behind the Qur’an and Hadith, people will accept their interpretation of the religion.

So, what stops the government from using the Qur’an and Hadith, for example, to preach the truth about their religion? Also, use the Bible to preach to Christians about their religion.

That way, there will be peaceful coexistence. So, the government cannot eat its cake and have it by saying that Nigeria is a secular state when it comes to supporting religion, but when it comes to fighting extremism, it will now try to regulate religion. There is a contradiction. So, the government should allow freedom of religion and freedom of thought.

Let everybody says what he wants to say, so long as it does not infringe on the right of others. Whenever someone says something that infringes on others rights, there are existing laws that can deal with the issue. So, nobody should be given the authority to give preaching license.

Are you saying that the proposed preaching law is not feasible because Nigeria is not a theocracy? Saudi Arabia and Iran can regulate preaching because they run Islamic governments?

My point of disagreement is government’s desire to give people license to preach. Before you are given a medical license to practise in Nigeria, it is the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria that will certify you fit to become a practising doctor. It is not the Federal Government that issues the license; the Medical and Dental Council does so because it consists of professionals. Now, if you say Jamatu Nasir Islam should give license to Muslim preachers, Jamaatu is headed by emirs, some of who don’t even know Islam.

So, they are more likely to give license to preachers who support their understanding of traditional Islam.

That of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is even better because it is an organisation of clergymen. Most of them are Reverend fathers, pastors and what have you. Christians opposed the bill because they have denominational and sectarian differences.

So, they cannot trust an umbrella organisation to give the license. What I am saying is that given the circumstances that we are, the problems confronting us and the nature of our government, the best way is to allow everyone to say what he wants to say.

So long as it doesn’t infringe on anybody’s rights and if it does, the laws of the land should apply. The question of the state government giving license is unconstitutional, and it will promote the extremism that it seeks to curb.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/sheikh-gumi-an-interim-assessment-of-buharis-one-year-in-office-and-other-issues/

Femi Makinde, Osogbo

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission may have started investigation into the allegation of diversion of local government funds levelled against the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State.

The EFCC’s Zonal Head, Ibadan, Akaninyene Ezima, said this in a letter of invitation sent to the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State.

According to the EFCC’s letter of invitation made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Sunday by the Chairman of CSCEOS, Mr. Sulaiman Adeniyi, the anti-corruption agency invited the group to come and clarify some areas in the petition against the governor.

The EFCC’s letter, dated May 13, 2016, with reference No: CR: 3000/EFCC/IB/T.B/VOL.1/79 was titled, “Investigation Activities: Acknowledgement/Invitation letter.”

The invitation letter read, “This is to acknowledge the receipt of your petition dated April 4, 2016, captioned Report of Illegal Diversion of 30 Local Governments’ monthly allocations by the Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola.

“Why Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State is calling for investigation and stoppage of Releasing of Local Government monthly allocations to Osun State through Mr. Rauf Aregbesola and to inform you that investigation has commenced.

“In view of the above, you are hereby requested to report to the EFCC Zonal Office at No.16 Revd. Oyebode Crescent, Iyaganku, G.R.A., Ibadan, for an interview with the undersigned through the Head, Team B, on May 17, 2016, at 10am prompt.”

The governor and some of his aides were accused of diverting LG allocations by the human rights group in a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The group had claimed that the governor suspended democratic structure in the councils and had mismanaged funds allocated to them.

The CSCEOS’s petition read in part, “To affirm this illegality and unconstitutionality, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola suspended the democratic system in the constitutionally recognised 30 Local Government Areas of Osun State by appointing the grade level 14 local government staff as ‘council managers’ to man the council areas of the state instead of ‘democratically-elected chairmen and councilors’ as stipulated in Section 7(1) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in order to give Aregbesola a leeway in the criminal diversion of local government funds.

“That the Federal Government, the National Assembly and its anti-graft agencies should investigate the acclaimed road projects embarked upon by Mr. Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola on behalf of the local government areas of the state without following the due process of the Public Procurement Act.

“The violation of all due process in managing the public finances of Osun State by Mr. Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola has been seriously impacting negatively on the lives of the state masses including the state and local government local workers with their retirees alike.”

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/were-probing-aregbesola-over-alleged-lg-funds-diversion-efcc/

AFRICA’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has enjoined old and existing investors on the continent to stop painting a gloomy picture of doing business in Africa. He made the call in an address at the ongoing World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda.

Dangote said that in order to attract more investors into the continent, “We have to get rid of perception risks. The fragility of perception drives away investors. We need to change the mindset because good things are happening in Africa. “Sometimes the old and existing investors paint a gloomy picture of doing business in Africa to avoid competition and scare away potential investors. You have to act big and bold.”

He disclosed that the Cement segment of his Group’s businesses has invested over 4 billion dollars in the continent and that the returns are quite good. “We are bullish about investing in Nigeria, devaluation or no devaluation.”

In response to how African entrepreneurs can have wider access to finance, Dangote advised that there should be a robust policy that encourages bank especially locally owned ones to finance local entrepreneurs. He pointed out that 90 per cent of Nigerian banks are owned locally and that perhaps correlates with why Nigeria has the highest number of entrepreneurs in Africa.

According to him, one of the biggest challenges to investing in Africa is lack of credible data to work on.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/business-stop-portraying-africa-as-gloomy-dangote-tells-investors/

The symptoms of type 2 diabetes usually appear in subtle ways. In fact, it’s typical for people in the early stages of the disease not to realize there’s something wrong for about 5 years before they are diagnosed.

Diabetes can wreak havoc on your health, especially if it goes undiagnosed for too long, that is why it is important to know the signs and symptoms before it goes too far. Many of us know the most common symptoms—frequent urination, increased thirst and unusual weight loss, just to name a few; but there are plenty of other less obvious signs that something is not quite right. Here are some of the most surprising symptoms of diabetes:

1. Snoring

Is your snoring keeping your spouse up at night? Excessive nighttime noise is one symptom of diabetes, and has actually been shown to be a risk factor for developing the disease. One major sleep disorder associated with snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, is nine times more common in diabetics than in the general population.

2. Feeling cold

People with diabetes often feel unusually cold, especially in their hands and feet. This is due to diabetic neuropathy and kidney damage is the result of diabetes which causes poor circulation, and thus makes it difficult for your hands and feet to stay warm.

3. Irritability

Diabetes isn’t just a disease of the body, it’s also a disease of the mind. The low glucose levels that are a hallmark of diabetes can cause all sorts of mental issues—including anxiety, apathy, moodiness, impaired judgement and, yes, irritability.

4. Bed wetting

Most of us haven’t wet the bed since we were little—but people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are more prone to this embarrassing nighttime leakage. Frequent urination is a common symptom of diabetes and peeing in your sleep isn’t necessarily an exception.

5. Improved vision

Poor vision and blindness are often associated with diabetes, but the opposite can also be true — some people with diabetes actually see their vision suddenly improve, at least temporarily. If you’ve worn glasses for decades and, all of a sudden, you can see clearly without them, talk to your doctor

6. Urinary tract infection

Though many women, diabetic or not, develop a urinary tract infection at some point in their lives, women with diabetes are particularly susceptible to this painful infection.

7. Weird-looking foot

Has your foot changed shape? As weird as it sounds, it’s one of the classic symptoms of diabetes. Nerve damage brought on by diabetes can change the shape of the muscles and bones in your feet. Your toes can curl, your arch can fall and the skin on your feet can get harder

8. Skin issues

From ulcers to acne, nail infections to styes, people with diabetes are particularly prone to skin woes. Both bacterial infections, like styes and boils, and fungal infections, like candida, are common among people with diabetes.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/8-surprising-symptoms-of-diabetes/

Only 70m Nigerians aware of status – AHF

AIDS Health Care Foundation, AHF, has claimed that Nigeria has the second highest burden of HIV, after South Africa.

A release issued on Friday by Kemi Gbadamosi, AHF Senior Manager, also claims that only about 45 percent (about 70 million) of Nigerians are aware of their HIV status.

The release quoted Dr Adetayo Towolawi, the Country Programme Manager of AHF Nigeria, as saying that 45 percent was quite low judging by Nigeria’s population size.

Already, Towolawi said that 3.4 million people were living with the virus in the country, and further observed that achieving an AIDS-free generation was possible if more people knew their status and those found positive placed on treatment.


He disclosed that as part of the AHF’s contribution to Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS response that his organisation had flagged off a testing campaign aimed at reaching 15,000 Nigerians with free HIV test.

Towolawi said the campaign would be held in partnership with state and local government authorities with the target of realising the UNAIDS/AHF global goals on HIV/AIDS.
“ The HIV testing campaign is part of the organisation’s robust prevention activities for the year and a strategic tool in ensuring that more Nigerians know their HIV status.
“ As part of AHF Nigeria’s testing scale up plan, the testing campaign will target Abuja, Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Kogi and Nasarawa States.


“In addition to HIV testing, individuals will also have an opportunity to check their blood pressure, receive health and wellness talks among other services.
“In the country, relevant stakeholders and partners are scaling up testing uptake and AHF Nigeria is taking measures to consolidate these efforts and champion community-driven testing outreaches,’’ Towolawi stated.

The statement also quoted Elizabeth Duile, the Prevention Programme Manager of AHF, as saying that the foundation was committed to ensuring the availability of HIV testing services in the country.

Duile said the campaign would provide a platform to educate individuals and communities.
“Ending AIDS starts with a commitment to act and everyone has a responsibility in stopping the spread of the virus.
“ People are often reluctant to test for fear of the result and stigma; today there are mechanisms in place to check stigma and discrimination.
“This will ensure that people living with HIV have access to treatment, care and support,’’ she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS organisation in the world and provides health care to more than 600,000 patients in 36 countries.

AHF Nigeria has been operating in the country since 2011 and has presence in six states.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/nigeria-second-highest-hiv-infected-country-in-africa-ahf/

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/buharis-visit-read-what-the-arcbishop-of-canterbury-justin-portal-welby-wrote/

It was a great honour to welcome the President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari to Lambeth Palace in London this morning.

It’s a rare day at Lambeth Palace when we do not pray for Nigeria, the largest country in Africa, which has a very large Anglican Church. We pray for President Buhari and for all those both in government and in opposition.

We pray for the poor in Nigeria and for those who have suffered over the last number of years from the violence that has plagued the country, which President Buhari has been tackling so determinedly since he first took office.

Nigeria is a country which has more promise, more opportunity, more potential than anywhere else that I know in many continents, not just in Africa. Its people are so intelligent, so full of energy, so full of commitment, that when Nigerians work together, the world – not just Africa – is affected by that beneficially.

So we continue to pray for the potential and future of this land to be a place that has a profound effect for good on our world, and demonstrates what is possible to be achieved.

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/buharis-visit-read-what-the-arcbishop-of-canterbury-justin-portal-welby-wrote/

At every given point in time, the Nigerian news cycle is certain to relay a particular tiding whose apparent purpose is to remind you that you are more of a participant in a comical experiment than the citizen of a proper country.

That reminder is the very element that makes the day’s domestic news complete. It serves to succinctly explain the context in which other headlines developed. It encapsulates the grand existential lie that Nigeria purports not to be.

And contemplating that reminder is guaranteed to leave you at the half-and-half place where you simultaneously laugh at and mourn the theater of the absurd that continues to con itself, at inestimable expense, that it is a real nation –a very big one at that!

Dino Melaye pretending to give a speech at Anti-Corruption Summit in the UK. He was not invited to speak. Sahara Reporters Media

The latest of those reminders is a joke you cannot but digest with sadness. Here is it: The person who ‘represented’ the Nigerian senate at the Anti-corruption Summit convened by British PM David Cameron, in London, is that transparently corrupt and certifiably insane ‘senator’: Dino Melaye!

It was Melaye, the narcissist and public attention addict himself, who reported that he was in London to ‘represent’ the Nigerian Senate at the summit. He published the news with pride and joy. Pride for having the honor. And joy, that his stock has grown: He is now welcome to global talkshops.

For Melaye, the car aficionado who medicates his low self esteem with a string of new cars, the summit was a huge thing. While it lasts, he was going to draw a sense of significance from the reflected glory of other presences in the environment. He would take selfies and file the event in his memory as one proof that… he matters in this world!

Nigerians mocked the anti-corruption pilgrim. They told him he was morally unqualified to be found within 1 kilometer radius of the venue of an anti-corruption summit. Wasn’t he ashamed to announce that he accepted to pollute that assembly with his presence?

Evidently, Dino was nominated to ‘represent’ the Nigerian senate by the career thief he had publicly sworn eternal fealty to, his ‘’friend and brother’’, ‘Senate President’ Bukola Saraki.

Melaye did not have the first call because he was a genius in the cerebration business. He was not the most promising participant that the Nigerian senate could have sent under the circumstances: Melaye is as manifestly incapable of bringing any positive to any consequential social discourse as he is in taking any home.

Nonetheless, the puny mind was made a delegate because he was Saraki’s number one cheerleader. Melaye was sent to ‘represent’ the Nigerian senate so he would collect a generous estacode, embark on a whirlwind shopping, and treat himself to one a full day of indulgence in car voyeurism!

The bribe was meant to fortify his loyalty. The trip, which should rank as the most important event in his life, was supposed to make his ‘support’ rise a notch higher. He had vowed to die for Saraki. After the trip, he would have audacity to warn that he can kill for Saraki!

A person who has the misfortune of meeting Melaye at the summit is likely form the mistaken opinion that this ‘senator’ is one of the best specimens out of Nigeria.

The person would be forgiven the presumption because senators, as a rule, are presidential materials. If you cast a lot in a country’s senate, you should get an individual who has the character, judgment, and vision to govern the whole nation.

‘Senator’ Melaye doesn’t have enough discipline to govern his own self. He has the acumen of an ineducable spoiled child. He exemplifies, like many of his other nihilist colleagues in the senate, the level of decadence all people of good breeding curse.

Given half a chance, President Melaye would convert the entire Nigerian landscape into his car park. He would endeavor to make history as the owner of the largest collection of exotic cars in the world!

On the face of it, Dino Melaye is an incongruent presence in that anti-corruption summit. He is one of the most successful self-advertising products of the corrupt Nigerian system. He is a vain, debouched hedonist. He fights, more often than not, on the side of corruption. He has been beaten and stripped naked in those fights. He is Nigeria’s one and only corruption porn star!

But Melaye’s ‘representation’ speaks to the broader irony of the domination of the Nigerian state by sediments of the Nigerian underworld.

Our version of representative democracy is a bastardization of the idea of a select few sacrificially tending the rest of the society. We have an arrangement whereby con artists, criminals and clowns make a full time job out of preying on taxpayers.

In Nigeria, to ‘represent’ the people is to misrepresent them. It is to desecrate the intangibles of their ethos and etiquette. It is to pour scorn on their moral infrastructure. It is to take pride in being the lickspittle of a robber when your community custom stigmatizes the thief.

In Nigeria, to represent the people is not to be sold on their struggle. It is not to be passionate about breaking the cycle of the people’s generational poverty, or reducing the number of the children lost to cholera every year.

In Nigeria, to ‘represent’ the people is to lie against who they are and how they live. It is to conflate their rounded story with the number of your cars. It is to cast them as folks whose only worldly care are cars and cars more abundantly.

Still from London came the leaked video tape in which British PM, Cameron, characterized Nigeria and Pakistan as ‘’fantastically corrupt’’, while chatting about the upcoming anti-corruption summit with Queen Elizabeth II, the Archbishop of the Canterbury, and the Speaker of the British Parliament.

That tape provoked a storm of nationalistic hysteria in Nigerian cyberspace. At least half of that frenzy leaned towards anger. Some Nigerians felt insulted by the otherness of the plagiarism. They took exception to a patronizing foreigner declaiming against Nigeria in the very terms the Nigerian chattering class discusses the reality of their own country.

Others, however, didn’t bristle at the neo-colonial infringement of their putative monopoly. Nor did they claim that Cameron’s ridicule of Nigeria was a violation of the canon of diplomatic decorum. They queried the correctness of his postulation and demanded that he furnish the authenticated statistics upon which he had premised his hypothesis.

Melaye also jumped into the column of the defenders of the inviolate integrity of Nigeria.

Melaye tweeted, ’’David Cameron is wrong in categorizing my beloved country as fantastically corrupt, what are his indices, yardsticks and criteria.’’

As it turned out, Downing Street did not need to reply Melaye. His own ‘followers’ volunteered to help his curiosity. They told the ostentatious car peddler that he need not look for external evidence that Nigeria was ‘’fantastically corrupt’’. They told him that if he looked in the mirror, he would come face-to-face with the embodiment of all the ‘’indices, yardsticks and criteria.’’

Note that Melaye used a term of endearment in describing his Nigeria. He called Nigeria, ‘’my beloved country.’’ That connotes the instinctive jealousy a man is wont to show when his lover is slighted.

His pretentious affection for Nigeria is consistent with the pattern of Nigerian history. Since time immemorial, the plunderers of Nigeria have raped the country while professing to love it. They call their crime a patriot’s duty. They count it the highest form of service!

Nigeria is essentially the story of the ravages of an interminable succession of thieves affecting love for the country.

Nigeria is Melaye’s ‘’ beloved country’’ because Nigeria is just about the only country in the world where a person who wears corruption as a laurel ‘represents’ the country.

Nigeria is his ”beloved country” because since he took up the hobby of showing off his cars, no policeman or taxman has detained him and interrogated his source of livelihood. He loves Nigeria because Nigeria is the only place where he can freely parade cars he can’t afford.

Nigeria is Melaye’s ”beloved country” because this is the only place where he can plead the fifth when doorstepped. This is the only place where he can evade the question of the name of the magic tree he plucks money from by asserting that ‘’I am a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic.’’

Nigeria is his ”beloved country” because this is the only place where a layabout like him earns more than the President of the United States; with clothes, furniture and the newest SUV as the icing on the cake.

Nigeria is Melaye’s ‘’beloved country’’ because this is a country whose senate is peopled by ‘’like minds’’ like Abdullahi Adamu, Geroge Akume, T.A Orji, Stella Oduah. Thief and pedophile Sani Yerima. love-vendor and money launderer Andy Uba. Joshua Dariye, the thief who purchased a single pen for 7,000 pounds with Plateau people’s money.

This is that incredible country where Buruji Kashamu, the fugitive drug baron, can introduce himself to you as the ‘ distinguished senator representing’ Wole Soyinka!

Source: http://www.babanewsline.com/when-dino-melaye-represents-you-by-emmanuel-ugwu/