₦airaland Forum

What a shocking read that was! For the sake of Nigeria's development, I really hope that it is one of the made up articles we are now used to from our press.
However, when Buhari's super confident public statements clash so completely with the very outcomes he predicted, you've got to give faith to the article.

What is portrayed here is a man who is so blissfully oblivious of the fundamental details of something as important and fundamental as a party merger that one must wonder if actually gives a toss about anything. He cuts the image of a man lost and wondering in the dark, hoping that miracles and luck will smile without a leadership effort from him.

“it was only on Wednesday that General Buhari was able to discover that those who had been holding purported talks with leaders of ACN never did so as a group. It was discovered that what the handlers had been doing not what they were mandated to do by the party.  The impression they gave to General Buhari was that everything was going on well.  In fact, at no time did the so called talks dwell on any dropping of presidential ambition”

You've got to ask, how come Buhari is not personally leading the merger talks? How come he isn't an intellectual driving force? How come he prays others will find direction for him.

The days of playing dice with Nigeria's future are over. Someone, please tell that to the aging General.

[size=14pt]Why ACN leaders are wary of CPC[/size]
Politics Jan 29, 2011 By Jide Ajani, Editor, Northern Operations

Perhaps, Muhammadu Buhari, the ever confident presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, did not have the bigger picture in sight when he was quoted as saying that the merger talks between his party and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, would be sealed during the week.

He was quoted as having said that after performing his civic duty of registering as a voter. Had Buhari known that the euphoria on which he was basking was made of clay, he wouldn’t have ventured that optimism.

Therefore, when last Wednesday, the tone of the discussions between leaders of both parties who had assembled in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, did not match the expectations of Buhari, his handlers demurred. General Buhari for the first time last Wednesday came face to face with the realities of the merger/alliance talks between his party and the leaders of the ACN, whereupon he discovered that contrary to reports he had been getting from his handlers, there was yet to be any deal on the table.


Buhari
Interestingly, after the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, began demonstrating signs of recklessness, Buhari simply bode goodbye to the party.

Initially, his tent appeared to be inside the ACN as he was always seen in the company of members and leaders of the party.

But even before the talks on the way forward could be consummated, it was a shocked Nigerian nation which was to learn that Buhari had decided to lead another party, the little known CPC. But with Buhari in the party, it did not take too long for the ranks of members to swell.

Buhari simply left the ACN leaders in the cold because it also took them by surprise. At Wednesday’s meeting, some revelations came to light.

Saturday Vanguard was made to understand that whereas General Buhari had become upbeat about the prospective success of the talks, “it was only on Wednesday that General Buhari was able to discover that those who had been holding purported talks with leaders of ACN never did so as a group. It was discovered that what the handlers had been doing not what they were mandated to do by the party. The impression they gave to General Buhari was that everything was going on well. In fact, at no time did the so called talks dwell on any dropping of presidential ambition”, Weekend Vanguard was told.

Whereas General Buhari had been made to believe that position papers were being worked on between both parties, this was not so.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that it was only on Wednesday that the position papers of each of the parties were presented and exchanged formally.

The position papers contained what preferences each of the parties would opt for in the proposed merger or alliance. It also contained what was expected to be the best options open to each of the parties in the proposed merger arrangement.

Meanwhile, as expected, each of the parties wanted its own presidential candidate to be the candidate of choice and why. It was after a brief perusal of the documents that both parties agreed to meet again next week for the final position on what would become of the talks. Interestingly, before Wednesday’s meeting in Abuja, there were reports of how the merger/alliance talks were going on and going on well.

Then came another report that the talks had finally collapsed.

Also, there are strong indications that leaders of the ACN may be experiencing frustrations from the leaders of the CPC on account of the plethora of what a source described as “surreptitious moves to individual leaders of the ACN with a view to exerting pressures for purposes of getting some concessions for General Buhari”. Meanwhile, the meeting held 48 hours ago in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, between leaders of both parties concluded by fixing another meeting for next week.

However, upon proper interrogation of the processes leading up to Wednesday’s talks in Abuja, Saturday Vanguard found out that many of the pieces of information being churned out were being done by those an ACN leader described as “puppeteers. They were merely pulling the strings of their puppets”. When Saturday Vanguard asked the National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to comment on whether or not the talks had collapsed or not, he simply declined to comment.

Pressed further, he requested to know “whether Saturday Vanguard was in possession of any document declaring that the talks had collapsed”.

Another source made Vanguard understand that the ACN has become “a bit more wary of the talks as trust appears not to be in big supply again.

“The mere fact that leaders of CPC went round to hold talks that were discovered not to be with the proper representative of those in the top echelon of the ACN has poured cold water on the enthusiasm of leaders of the latter”. “As an insider”, a source who participated in the talks told vanguard, “I am not too sure all would be well again. But it would not be for the reasons that some people are speculating about. It would be for reasons which go far deeper than somebody stepping down for the other or not”.

For political parties expected to rout the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from power, these early false starts may never really help the parties.

This is coming at a time when the PDP itself continues to grapple with its internal contradictions as a result of its choice of candidates for the April elections, these fresh indications that the much vaunted merger talks between the ACN and the CPC, may be heading for the rocks. At some point in the talks which had reached very advanced stages between both parties appeared to favour an alliance instead of a merger.

Consequently, the much talked about possible merger of both parties was dropped. Also, the two political parties hinged the alliance arrangement then on what a source described as “areas of comparative advantage”.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that the round of talks, which were held in Abuja, late Sunday night into the early hours of Monday, the week of the PDP national convention pointed in the direction of an alliance,

A source who participated in the talks told Vanguard that “the realities on ground for both parties favour an alliance as against a merger arrangement”.

But there was a spanner.

The spanner was the collateral damage that an alliance would create.

The leaders of the parties weighed their options and were disturbed by the possible consequences of the presidential elections which would come first before other elections.

Unlike 1999 when all the other elections had been conducted before even the presidential contest of the parties, thereby providing each of the parties at that time – the PDP, APP (as ANPP was then known) and the Alliance for Democracy, AD – comparative muscle going into the presidential election, the arrangement this time favours a presidential election coming first. The real concern was that even in 1999 when it was less risky, the situation today would be such that an alliance in a presidential election would create confusion for members of the parties during the other elections.

The ACN, for instance, appears more successful than the CPC because by the resumption of the Senate in 2007, the ACN had four senators. Today it has seven as a result of defections. The CPC has only benefited from a few politicians who have defected. In the House of Representatives, the ACN, came in with 33 members in 2007. For the CPC, even with defections, it has less than 20% of that number. The ACN already has four state governors – Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State – and a para-ACN governor Rahman Mimiko of Ondo State – Mimiko is of the Labour Party, LP, but he is seen more as an ACN emphatiser.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/why-acn-leaders-are-wary-of-cpc/

Please remove the second picture. It is against Nigerian laws and societal norms.
I can safely predict that it will derail your thread by margins you can't fathom. Homo behaviour has nothing to do with arguments for or against sharia.

[size=14pt]Arewa is toeing the path of anarchy, says ACF chieftain[/size]
Saturday, 29 January 2011 03:46
Godwin Isenyo

Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed is a National Executive Council(NEC) member and the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Politics of the respected pan-Northern socio-political organization, Arewa Consultaive Forum(ACF). In this interview, with GODWIN ISENYO in Kaduna, Mohammed argued that the body is gradually toeing the path of anarchy. He also pointed out that the ACF has no power to reject the candidature of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His reasons were that since the issue was a purely a party affair, it should be handled as such. He asks the ACF to steer clear of party matters.

Only recently, the pan – Northern socio-political organization, Arewa Conultative Forum(ACF) rejected President Goodluck Jonathan’s candidacy of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the coming general election. What happened at the last meeting of the ACF?

To sustain the elements that keep Nigeria together and reduce the pressure in the political process, you will agree with me that the situation we are facing today has never been witnessed in Nigeria before. The desperation of politicians; the excesses of politicians and the sheer bravado of people who are not directly connected with the political process, who are making utterances which are likely to heat up the polity about 10 times more than we can sustain in the journey towards electing a new leader for Nigeria. Every political process must allow an opportunity for accommodation and negotiation and nobody who is a constituent of the political playfield must be forced to a position of disadvantage to make him look inadequate in a political process. I do believe that the pressure of the communiqué that just came out from our meeting in ACF was uncalled for and was unacceptable and non representative of the objective, attitude, character and aspirations of ACF members generally. When you say ACF members, you are talking about the 19 northern states. Representation is an element of goodwill. You must allow the quality of your representation to meet the expectations of the people you represent. You cannot use your representation to usurp the will, intention and desires of people to serve narrow or private agenda. So, if you talk of ACF, we expect a population of about 70 million Nigerians. But when you see the weight and the capacity and quality of contribution into political process coming from a narrow section, you will get to know it…,



We must call all the numbers and we must make sure they are right. Putting the records straight, it was an issue about reactions from different individuals who participated or observed the primaries in the parties. ACF is an umbrella body of northerners made up of members of different political parties and members who are not even in any political party. So, as an umbrella body, we have no power to regulate political activities in the north. We can only observe it and pass comment. If we can’t do that in the north where there are many political parties, you can’t regulate that of Nigeria. The affairs of party primaries, their conduct of affairs and events and participation are purely political party issues. ACF is not a political party. It is a political institution, but non partisan. So, ACF, by its constituent, cannot reject or accept any party primaries. We are not qualified to do that and we are not allowed because it is illegal. If the ACF begins to show signs of being a political party, then I think it is more honourable to understand that we must be exempted from the position we are trying to arrogate to ourselves. We are a socio-political regional group like Afenifere and Ohanaeze. Their posturing has not gone even close to the big masquerade we are trying to put on the street which we have lost control of its direction. So, what I am saying is that we are not a political party and if anybody wants to play politics with the situation in Nigeria, he should go and join a political party and not the ACF. I understand that the parties have a right as they are constituted to do what they like. If they don’t have internal democracy, the Civil Society groups can observe that and frown at it and individual members of the ACF can also do that. But that is not our communiqué. An individual can voice his opinion about what he has seen but that is not our communiqué. Everybody is free to say what he saw, but we are guided by our constitution which says we are a non partisan political institution that has no right to subordinate the political process of any party to our whims. So, what is going on at the moment is like putting severe pressure on political parties. We don’t have the credentials to do that and as observers and not regulators of the political parties, we cannot subordinate their acts and we cannot ask them to be answerable in their affairs to ACF.

I am doing this to call ACF attention to the fact that we are towing the part of anarchy. We have all witnessed hate messages from Bishops, Mallams and others on the political process. ACF should be seen to be deflating this pleasure and allow some sanity in the issue of free choice which is for democracy to prevail in Nigeria. Ohanaeze will not come and want to regulate the affairs of the PDP neither will Afenifere want to do that. It will be wrong for anybody in ACF to believe that we can accept or reject any primaries because most of these parties are made up of Nigerians and not northerners alone. For God sake, how can a northern socio-political institution want to regulate what is made up of all Nigerians? To me, it is taking things too far. ACF cannot utter a public indictment on anybody who is an organized political entity that is seeking to put in representation in the political process in order to participate actively in our national elections. We don’t have the responsibility because the affairs of political parties are the affairs of Nigerians. We need to move away from what we have already overflogged. The issue of zoning almost tore Nigeria apart. I see it as the manipulation of those people who don’t understand the political process. People who don’t even understand what representation leads to election entails. Don’t be surprised that most of the people who are involved in this desperation are people who cannot go back home to their constituency and ask to be given their own people’s representation. They are people who don’t have anything to lose in the anarchy they are trying to plant for Nigeria. When they try to corner the president and put him in a position of disadvantage running Nigeria, it smells of corruption because everybody is free to see the president. We cannot create any social noise to make him feel bad because the same ACF visited the president just before our AGM. So, I don’t see how an institution or a group will be insisting that the president has to consult them. That is political corruption which could derail the direction of our politics. I strongly believe that Afenifere and Ohanaeze don’t come out to feed Nigerians with personal opinion that their members give on the floor. We must filter what goes on there and put Nigeria first and not to break Nigeria; but to ensure that they collectively enjoy comfort and accommodation in the political journey towards 2011 presidential election. The population of ACF does not claim to have all the answer to the political process because, like I have said, the quality of representation must protect the aspiration of all individuals that make up the northern region which is the 19 northern states. There is no act that has shown that they are conscious of that leverage and they cannot put views that will embarrass the Nigeria collective. That is why I strongly believe that there is some faulty dynamics in stating the percentage of our adequacy to our northern cause. I have always thought that if we are going to overflog anything, it should be our losses and inadequacies in the north that we should be presenting to the political situation as why we are concerned. Our farms are dried, our children are not in school, we have so many beggers on the street, our infrastructures is low. Those are the things to peddle in a political process. So, we must proceed with caution to make sure that the political process and the journey does not damage the playfield as we move along.

The ACF is saying that Jonathan should respect the zoning agreement which also has a little backing in the 1999 constitution. They are also saying that Jonathan was a beneficiary of the same arrangement which he is now pushing to the foreground…

How did Jonathan benefit from this arrangement? It is good that we must not assume because if we assume, you know that everybody should know,

You and the ACF Chairman are on the other side of the divide and there are allegations making the round. What do you want from the current arrangement?

Democracy, free choice. When Awolowo was heading the Action Group, there were many northerners who wanted him to be President. He came with a helicopter in 1959 and carried out his campaigns. I know that the party’s constitution is surbordinate to Nigerian constitution. I know that being president of Nigeria is the civic franchise of Nigerians and not political party members and we are talking about the position of the president of Nigeria. We shouldn’t heat up the polity. If you were unable to educate your electorates or carry them along in the past or be able to allow the process be part of consultation with the people, if at the end of the day, people are allowing another part to present its points, I sympathise with you because you have not done your home work well. I believe that in a political process, where the actors consult with their people, maybe, we could assume that this is what the people wants. In this particular political process, nobody has been carried along. That is why we have almajirei on the streets and our farm land dried. We say that our population is large, but a hungry population does not know how to cast vote or even register to get a voter’s card. We must work hard for that because we can’t put the cart before the horse. We must relate with our people because we failed to do that in the past and now, we cannot talk with their voice and insist that is what they want. If they want a northern president, they want it for a clique of people who believe that their vote and grip on the nation is waning and they believe in inequality. I believe in equality and that the Nigeria collective belong to all of us and I believe in the Nigerian constitution which I subscribe to because I don’t belong to any political party. So, we cannot be subjected to the constitution of a political party that is less than 20 percent of the Nigerian population.

Before a communiqué is issued and accepted for circulation, it must have been read to the meeting and accepted. Was this particular communiqué read on that day before it was circulated to the press?

Part of the communiqué was read out. You know, when we hold meetings late, they ask the committee to sit down and draft something. To answer your question, I will create the basis for understanding what happens in the ACF. I have a text here. (Reads: Good morning Alhaji Abdulrahaman. Thanks for your text. You cannot be the only right person and the communiqué of seven members and the Chairman, Gen. Haruna can’t be wrong. The Chairman of the political communiqué was a member who also helped in the communiqué. The political committee is to consider the way forward for the north, including viable alternative course of action and not to go into the already known happenings in the political party primaries. You may be all knowing, all wise and hold all the truth. But in doing so, we expect some decorum because you are in a forum). So, they are not arguing about the truth. Majority can be wrong because we are in a political process where desperation has shot a lot of us; where the posturing of people has kept us wondering whether this is the same politics that we have been playing in Nigeria. If majority were right, we would have been like South Africa today. But unfortunately, we know the character and picture of the politics of the last 12 years and we know that it is not the best that we have on the line. In any case, everybody has told us about their disappointment. But then, let us work out how majority of the north can carry the vote. If you know that the people that are constituting the population of the north can get voter’s card, they are well read, they are well fed and their interest taken care of, then fall back to the possibility of their voting for you. You don’t need to carry it to the stage of confrontation because it is confrontational asking the president to definitely deal with the ACF. It is corruption and an element of a loss of direction and an inadequacy to operate within a political frame work that serve the purpose of majority of Nigerians.

What in essence are you saying?

What I am saying is that the communiqué was put up by seven people and it was not read on the floor. You know, as a meeting progresses, many things come up and they always say let us come up with some points that reflects what has been discussed. The communiqué did not say that they wanted to remove IBM Haruna and what highly respected Nigerians were saying there that I had to put them in their shoes.

But it rejected the primaries of the PDP.

Somebody got up to say so; but we have free speech. Somebody said that ACF should reject it and most of us said no. That somebody said it is not in contention. But is it everything that was said there by everybody that formed the communiqué? It should not have been in the communiqué because it was not designed to be there because we are not a political party. You must understand that all actions of ACF must be held up to as what we are about to do. Individuals cannot just come with mandate from a few people. The communiqué did not actually reflect the views of some of us. Rejecting the primaries was the view of one person. It is not everything that was said on the floor that is meant for a communiqué and they should not now use the communiqué to promote their personal views or agenda. ACF is not a vehicle for that and we will not let the ACF go down the drain. We must protect the ACF and have a body that can stand with other regional groupings. We cannot say that everybody should be in the same party. We must toe the line of being able to sit on a round table with other Nigerians. My concern is to allow everybody participate in the process. PDP issues are PDP issues and when Nigerians are going to vote in an election, it is Nigerians.

Are you putting the blame now on Atiku?

No. I am saying that the ACF has allowed itself to be used and they should not be seen as attacking Jonathan because it is a PDP affair and Jonathan is not PDP. He is only a candidate of the PDP. Facing Jonathan directly is like putting their legs on both sides of the fence and they must be able to identify their aspirations and their representations and they must address it properly and not face the president to say what others are equally opportune to say.

Are you disowning the communiqué?

It is not an issue of disowning. They are not in a position to do what they did. If some individuals can arrange themselves and come up with the things we are saying, they should know that others will be able to do theirs. It is a free world. When you intervene in public issues, understand that the public is not subservient to you. We are a social club that is spending public money because 99 percent of the money of ACF were donated by state governors.

http://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74182:arewa-is-toeing-the-path-of-anarchy-says-acf-chieftain&catid=38:life-a-style&Itemid=689

vedaxcool:

SAI BUKHARI? BUKHARI Go become MR. President against all odds, the looters of Nigeria go book una flight before it is too late, hope beaf dey hear?

Your hamlet might be using the name, "Nigeria," so Buhari can rule your four huts, ten goats and alkali court. As for the country called Nigeria, we are now kicking all sort of bigots into the rusty bin; fat bigots, short bigots, small bigots, ugly bigots, thin bigots, tall bigots, Southern bigots, Northern bigots, Christian bigots, Islamic bigots, sharia bigots. . . Dude, all sorts of bigots and terrorists like Buhari are getting dumped in the big trash can!

We have a brand new, modern country that has little time for recycled, extemist spittle and political cadavars. No one is looking back like Lot's wife.

Did someone just fart?

Gbawe:
The problem is that you are being exposed , daily , as an insincere chap with how you think other must answer your question while you are free to ignore issues raised . You initially asked "If that excuse can work for Ribadu why can't it work for Jonathan". I then showed , to your discombobulation, that Jonathan is in a much stronger position to take a principled stand against a sitting President , because he is VP, than an EFCC boss who can be hired and fired by the President at will. It makes sense , if you understand conversational give-and-take , that , minimally , in the spirit of continuing debate earnestly, you address why Jonathan , even if protected by law (better than Ribadu was) could only act on his instincts after Yar Adua was no longer on the scene as a basis for further discussions .

This is why I dislike talking to you and many GEJ fans , You folks are very poor at defending your corner . You only push feebly that others don't respond to issues you raise . When folks respond adequately and 'flip the pancake' you guys are always lost . Again , tell me why Jonathan should get credit for doing anything as President , against his former boss , he could not agitate for as VP ?

Just answer the damn question you were asked. Whats all the dodging?

Mobinga:
You and Ribadu are on the straight-thinking/due process train. Nigerian politics is on a different train, the dirty, vile, evil train. Thats what works in Nigeria, that's why OBJ is still on top (albeit lax in recent days).

Beaf doesn't see Nuhu Ribadu as a threat to GEJ's camp, no one does. That's the reason he set up the "Sharia.Islamic.Zealot.Thread" immediately after GEJ's success at the primaries, its just a smear campaign.

I'm on the Ribadu camp, but in the recent days I've seen him and his camp as novices, who don't know jack about NP.

Thats right sir!
Ribadu and his brand new mentor, Tinubu keep kicking themselves in the teeth. We can at least thank GEJ for enriching the polical field with the pardoning of Ribadu, who had been exiled by the cabal and his very own kinsmen; we watch in amazement as displays a nack for naivety. . . A good man who has taken to eating his shoe, because he is not ready (and please, nobody tell me that its a healthy practice or shoes taste nice).
A senate position would have been a good starting point for him; but in his headlong rush, he is now in danger of walking into the political trash can with both eyes open, hand in hand with Tinubu; while his fellow traveller, El Rufai only has to wait for Northern (and in time, Nigerian) leadership to fall into his lap.

One correction though, I didn't smear Buhari with the sharia zealot stuff, he is indeed a religiously crazed, wild eyed type. These are his exact words:

"I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria," Buhari said, quoted in press reports.

"God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country,"

- Gen. Buhari

^
You can draw your own conclusions, nobody can "know" you better than yourself. Society observes.

BoboYekini:
yup yup

@post,
first things first, a first lady should do much much better, but
this is the first time i'm actually listening to any of Dame Patience's fabled speeches. and i'm pretty shocked, it aint that bad at all. practically all her tenses were correct,
that means she can read, folks.
her problem is basically pacing, delivery, and The Accent
many rookie public speakers have the wrong pacing

Thank you jare! The woman might not speak to please those with pretentious tastes, but it hasn't stopped her from seeing an opportunity to help women and children with the advantage of her closeness to the President. It is very telling that all of her critics totally lost focus on the content of her speech and decided to score airy details instead; this trait is alarmingly common in Nigeria, even more so when these arguments are propagated by some of our youth. The country is in danger of producing yet another wasted generation of cheap minds.

All that glitters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.

-W. Shakespeare

This topic is a very thinly veiled below the belt blow by those who hate GEJ for one reason or the other, that is why the pages are littered with words from Patiences critics like; sycophant, Okrika, Ijaw, ethnic minority, and phrases like, "i am ashamed to be from the same tribe as you" etc.

What should really catch our attention is the content of the speech and if there is any traction behind her words. How her words affect her target audience, women and kids, if indeed she can become their champion; substance, not airy detail.

I wonder if those who have given examples with their own mothers and wives realise that the likes of Wangari Maathai have achieved much more than the women they have wheeled out ever will, she is Africa's first female Nobel Laureate even with her English not being of the "stellar" quality that tickles their enslaved colonial mentalities:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-lecture.html

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Wangari_Maathai_portrait_by_Martin_Rowe.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Wangari_Maathai.jpg/371px-Wangari_Maathai.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Maathai_and_Obama_in_Nairobi.jpg


There are more than enough videos of Wangari Maathai on the net for our pretentious clan of dimwits to smirk at:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=ie7&q=maathi&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7TSEA_en&redir_esc=&ei=TohDTdGNNZS1hAeXtcD1AQ#hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7TSEA_en&tbs=vid:1&&sa=X&ei=Y4lDTaj3HYO3hQfB--yJAg&ved=0CDMQvwUoAQ&q=wangari+maathai&spell=1&fp=e89c9c36dbab50c2

[flash=640,510]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0qGlnc-30?version=3[/flash]

cap28:
Here comes GEJ sycophant extraordinaire with his upside down logic and inability to converse in a coherent manner without resorting to crude and immature abuse.

A man so desperate to champion the cause of an undeserving criminal couple that he is willing to turn a blind eye to Patience Jonathan's glaring semi illiterate state.

Do i need to justify my stance on international issues to you ?  Definitely not

Do i expect someone with your low reasoning ability and non existent understanding of international issues to understand where i along with  many informed individuals are coming from - again - no?

Not only is it apparent to most sane nigerians that Patience and Goodluck Jonathan are quite frankly an embarrassment to all Nigerians but it is also manifestly clear to anyone with an iota of intelligence that this couple's only agenda for the country is to carry on with their looting jamboree which they commenced during their tenure in Bayelsa State govt house.

Your desperation to derail this thread is now becoming quite boring and tired, why dont you go back to what you do best - kissing GEJs backside - if you keep it up long enough - he might just reward you by giving you a job as one of his drivers.

The brilliant part of the story you told above, is that, we the emarrassments are contributing positively to the country in ways that your conspiracy addled brain cannot fathom.
I read somewhere that belief in conspiracy theories (like fear of the dark, fairies, your own shadow etc) is a sure sign of schizophrenia. You should check it out dude.

Maybe you can tell us how Patience Jonathan is really an American White woman or something similarly crackpot, crazy and far out; that will be truly entertaining indeed and closer to the madmans tales we know you for. This weather-beaten attempt to be more British than the British is too weak.

If you aren't in love with Patience Jonathan, why not leave her alone? She is someone elses wife and you should respect that.

manny4life:
Dude, you said shame on me? Why should I be ashamed of myself? Please come up with strong criticism, not this cheap a$$ shot…Try again.

If you feel strong enough to criticise another persons vocabulary, then yours must be perfect at the very least. . . Unfortunately, it is very faulty.
I guess you genuinely can't tell that what you've written above is closer to Pidgin English than English.
Be ashamed, be very ashamed.

blacksta:
I thank My Lord Jesus - that folks on NL now see past all your hypocrisy. I am amazed at the rapid rate at which your opinions change.

One minute you say GEJ is 9 months old and Not a part of the Yar adua adminstration. The next minute you claim that Nigerians should be happy at least power generation is increasing. Which one should be believe now.

SInce you suffer from selective amnesia let me remind you. Your GEJ propaganda would work anymore.

Electricity generation in Nigeria has always hovered around 2500 - 4000 MW fora Long time and it is an insult to Nigerian Masses from the Inept GEJ adminstration to claim kudos for extra generation of 118mw that always been there.

It pays to keep informed. Nigeria's capacity never ever got above 3600MW until last month and Egbin and a few others packed up temprarily as a result. Every donkey knows what happened with power on Xmas eve, as well as the explanation, luckily December is not too far away, so even winshes can easily find recent news.

Where you plucked 4000MW from is beyond me. I will give you the rumour monger test and challenge you to back up your claim (of course, you will fail, cos its a lie).

The rest of us normal folk are happy that the power situation is improving, it gives hope that one day, things could be sweet. Dude, back up your false figures or disappear into your coven.

manny4life:
First lady or not, how does that concern me? She is a human being and subject to criticism, just like every leader and their wives. If you cannot deal with the fact they I am critiquing her, well sorry. I’m not an expert, but I sure know how to read well, at least through the toast master club in college and even at my organization, we have classes, I have improved way better than my peers. Everyone is entiltled to their opinions, I would not refuse anyone of theirs, get used to the fact that people at some point in time has to improve. There is something called standards and expectations, and when those two are not achieved to a minimum, I don't know what to say again.

There are at least ten grammatical errors above. Shame on you.

Krayola:
Haha

I think the real joke/embarrassment here is that some actually believe that being unable to speak English "fluently" is an embarrassment to the country.

What kind of embarrassment exactly is it?

Thank you! You just killed it completely. Why are people so enslaved by the whitemans language? The strangest bit in the puzzle is, the cheerleader cap28 unceasingly rattles out crackpot conspiracy theories about how the US, the UK and the UN are teleguiding us, and how we are so enslaved to them. But it comes to his pet hate, GEJ and bang! He becomes the evangelist for mental slavery. Its a really scary irony!

So our power generation capacity increases and people complain? It just goes to show how negative some are, they are the sort of people we call winsh!
Winshes hate progress and love darkness.

Some have brought up SA's capacity as support for their whinging; but dudes the only way we can ever catch up with SA is by steadily increasing capacity. Last month, we hit 3600MW for the first time in our history (don't mind the clowns mentioning 4000MW, remember they are winshes ), a month later we've climbed to  3,800MW. In the next one month or so, we should have topped 4000MW. . . Let winshes complain, afterall they are lovers of deep darkness, others are hopeful and glad that after decades of hopelessness, things are actually getting better.

[size=14pt]Fresh Air 2011![/size]

[size=14pt]African innovation produces clean water from bacteria, dirt[/size]
By Onche Odeh Head, Education & Science

The Life and Water Development Group Cameroon (LWDGC), with help from Engineers Without Borders of United States has invented a simple device and taught technicians how to construct and install bio sand filters.

Pioneered in 2004 by Peter Njodzeka, LWDGC has set up a group of technicians that created the Bio sand filter launched in 2010 at Nkuv village.

Njodzeka whose innovation was published on innovation that changed the world blogg of the World Watch Institute said, “with a rather simple goal, I wanted to see the people in my area have clean water and we kept expanding. That’s how it started.”

Peter noted that while he was growing up in Nkuv, the small village in Cameroon where he was born, no one had clean water.

“The water available for drinking was also used by livestock and wildlife, as well as for the whole village’s washing,” he said.

At the village, at least one child would die from illness caused by the dirty water every year and most households reported having at least one sick family member in the past six months at any given time.

“That’s how everyone lived when I was growing up. But when I left the village and came to Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon, I saw that things were so different from my village and I wanted to change things to make them better.”

In 2008, Thirst Relief International USA partnered with LWDGC providing access to the clean water with a very unlikely technique. They are using dirt and bacteria to make the dirty water clean and has been bringing access to clean water to over six villages in addition to Nkuv, as well as providing wells and latrines for 23 schools, and providing education about hygiene and sanitation practices.

LWDGC and Thirst Relief International are building bio sand filters and teaching households how to use and maintain them, greatly improving the cleanliness of drinking water and all but eliminating diseases caused by contaminated water.

Bio sand filters are built with the help of an iron mold. Concrete forms the base of the filter and its center is filled with layers of differently-sized, crushed rock. Two layers of gravel and then fine-grained sand create three levels through which water is poured over the course of three weeks. Slowly on the very top forms what is called a biolayer. Once that final layer has formed, the filter removes 99 percent of the bacteria in water that passes through it and is ready to use.

The drinking water slowly filters through the layers of naturally formed bacteria and sand at a rate of about one liter per minute and comes out clean and ready for consumption from a pipe that’s connected through the concrete from the bottom to the side top outlet of the filter. If properly maintained a biosand filter can be used for up to 12 months without the need for much maintenance.

When LWDGC partners with a community to provide the filters, the first thing the organisation does is hold a series workshops, teaching basic hygiene and sanitation such as hand washing and other measures to prevent the spread of disease.

Peter said the workshops are important because not everyone realises that there is a problem. “And then there is the task of convincing the community that dirt and bacteria are enough to actually clean their water. “No one believes us when we say that everything that will filter the water is already in the water,” continues Peter.

But once that lesson is learned, lives are changed forever. The bio sand filters “really help the community” said Peter. “When we finish working with a community they always tell us that they don’t have the sickness like before. It’s helping and saving the lives of people.”

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=27781

Gbawe:
this is about you being a shameless bare-faced liar and not about me digging up my best contributions to impress your sad self . I provided random examples to show you are a liar . Is this not what you wrote:

I proceeded to show you more than a "single post" and , as usual, you shamelessly and decietfully shift the goalpost without acknowledge your past lie only to insinuate you are looking for 'Einstein' contribution !! Incredible !!!! Why not say so before mumu when you claimed I have never contributed a single post on certain topics ? You should minimally admit that you lied deliberately if you have any integrity or honour. As for reeling off several names well , the way you do worryingly, that is your own 'groupie' wahala. I don't go around ' understudying' folks on an internet chat forum. Too damn secure in myself for that . You appear to be the one who need Nairaland to validate certain insecurities about yourself. waving a list of those you claim write to your approval is childish and immature . Alternatively, If you are here to collect pen role model then you really need to get a life away from Nairaland. Dont expect we will all be sad like you with how you treat Nairaland like you are back in Primary school sucking up to the bright kids. You really need to be careful. You are becoming too emotionally attached to Nairaland . Once again I urge you to get a life . for most well-adjusted folks , Nairaland is a place to just kickback not to take on the entire world to assuage inscurities as you appear driven to do.

All this in defence of your unfortunate statement that ethnic minorities are too unsophisticated to rule? Its not surprising for a person that makes such comments.

You can rant all you like. The first thing I pointed out was that it takes a certain sort of uncouth individual to go pointing at other peoples wives. That had barely cooled before you started making and defending your bigoted statements.

Dude, actions speak louder than words; from what you have put out so far, I do not expect you to understand that; but several people are reading these pages and defining you.

Here is your statement again, there's always time to step back from error of judgement:

Gbawe:
Dont mind the 'olodo'. The next time some Nigerians , from the majority ethnic groups are arguing , even if erroneously, that [size=14pt]minority groups are not sophisticated enough to lead Nigeria [/size] , they will use the 'area champion' utterances of folks like Beaf to buttress their point i.e Patience Jonathan is "another man's wife" when she effs up but she is "her excellency" first Lady to all Nigerians when Jonathan needs to cited as an effective President.

Gbawe:
As well as "decietful", "stalker" , "bigot" and other unsavoury appendages to your name you want to add "comedian" , "clown" and "joker" to your CV ? I guess someone else stole my username below in my discussion with biina about the power sector:'

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-397443.0.html

it must also be an alien posing as Gbawe that wrote this (and other contribution) on the thread below;

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-320807.64.html


There are many more examples , if you wan't to search, that shows I will discuss issues , from federalism to the deregulation of the downstream sector,  that move Nigeria forward in details if other discussant want to focus on issues rather than personal attacks and mudslinging as you seem to prefer to do always. You just need to stop being a spiteful, sad little git obsessed with deliberately blackening the name and reputation of others . This bears out my arguement that you are a local champion. Even if you don't like some folks why not refrain from lying about them shamefully in a condemnable attempt to demonize them unfairly with your usual and pathetically obvious 'divide and conquer' ruse ?

If those things are what you call examples, it really is shameful; you've been an NL member for years now. The post you so proudly quoted (Iguess its your best ever on NL) does not profer any solution, its just slightly less negative than most and very ordinary.
Since thats the best you could dig up after years of posting, then you have only provided further proof that you only engage in negativity, complain and dispense cheap abuse (this thread is a sterling example).

Do you want some names of NLers whose ordinary posts are miles better than the examples you gave? Try houvest, Koruji, Kilode?!, dem_people, PapaBrowne, sky blue, AjanleKoko, Dr Kitaun, PhysicsMHD, asha 80, ROSSIKE, MzDarkSkin, morpheus24, Busy_body, paddy_lo, Ezeachi etc
There are very many more of such top quality posters than I have mentioned (some not mentioned, cos we share the same politics). You will do well to study them and see what positive posts actually read like, you will also feel lifted by the solid nuggets of enlightenment they bring to NL.

None of the people mentioned will ever be caught making a poorly judged statement like this one:

Gbawe:
Dont mind the 'olodo'. The next time some Nigerians , from the majority ethnic groups are arguing , even if erroneously, that [size=14pt]minority groups are not sophisticated enough to lead Nigeria [/size] , they will use the 'area champion' utterances of folks like Beaf to buttress their point i.e Patience Jonathan is "another man's wife" when she effs up but she is "her excellency" first Lady to all Nigerians when Jonathan needs to cited as an effective President.

Whether or not the deal with Buhari/CPC goes through or not there is one helluva battle on the cards. Tinubu and Ribadu will have to step in the ring.
If the CPC deal falls through, Tinubu will blame it on Ribadu and kick of an almighty fight. Same goes if Ribadu is forced to withdraw from the race, he will start the almighty battle.

We might be seeing the end of ACN in the next few weeks if the players don't tread softly.

^
Your signature is quite creative.

Gbawe:
you misunderstand me . Let me give you an example that can make it clearer . In the UK , if a black man (especially if African) rises to a position of authority , wether in the public or private sector, he will be scrutinised , far more than others , for his ability to lead on behalf of everyone because of how a white majority has already concluded he cannot lead with equity, focus and fairness. We even see this in some of Obama's travails . The best thing a black man can do in this position , as an unfavoured minority , is to lead by the book with ingenuity , transparency and zero favourism. It is what many of us have faced and conquered in the diaspora . You will even encounter white folks who cannot stand taking instructions from a black man even when he is the boss and has earned that priviledge through merit . We have the same going on in Nigeria with how some nearnderthal folks think they cannot defer to a President from a region they don't "reckon with" . The onus is therefore on this "unfancied" President , and his fans , to desist from speaking in a "dem against us" manner so they convince Nigerians that we have a leader prepared to do what is best for every Nigerian as per his oath of office. let Jonathan provide robust and equitable leadership of all Nigeria that will not be found wanting when ethnic allegiances are called into consideration. Let his fans also learn to speak as Nigerians supporting a Nigerian rather than as local champions supporting their area father. You are a smart leader when you adjust your leadership style to what obtains on the ground.

One single word to summarise the above, BIGOTRY.

[size=14pt]How I will become president- Momodu[/size]
Politics Jan 28, 2011

https://www.vanguardngr.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dele-Momodu400.jpg

PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the National Conscience Party, NCP, Bashorun Dele Momodu during a visit to Vanguard Newspapers’ Corporate Headquarters bared his mind on why his aspiration should not be taken for granted. He also spoke on his plans for the country, if elected and why power should return to men of the Fourth Estate, who fought for and won Independence for the country. Excerpts:

Why are you in Vanguard?

I’ve been quite worried since I joined politics that even my own colleagues have refused to see my participation as a big deal. But when we go down in history, you will find out that, most of the founding fathers of Nigeria, came from the background of our profession.

If you go across to Ghana, even Kwame Nkrumah, had a stint in journalism; but for some curious reasons, it would seem that journalists have become dregs of our society, who are not respected by anybody. We can respect a soldier who forces his way into power, we can respect a Customs officer, who became Vice President and almost became a president; we can respect a police officer in politics, but most people think that a journalist is an empty barrel.

Unfortunately, that is not my story. I believe, like someone mentioned recently that if I was a lawyer, I would have been a Senior Advocate of Nigeria by now, by the level of work one has done.

From Labour Party to NCP, what is the story?

The story is very simple. I joined Labour Party based on principle, the principle was simple. I wanted to use the platform of the labour unions to reach out to the workers. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has intimidated Nigerians into believing that they are the biggest and the largest party in Africa. it’s an exaggeration, I don’t know who coined the idea for them, but I think it’s too hyperbolic. If you ask them (PDP) today to produce two million registered members, they cannot and this is a country of 150 million people.

We did the same statistics in 1993 with late Chief MKO Abiola, I was one of the people who wrote to Chief Abiola as far back as 1991, that the next time he’s going into politics, because we knew eventually he was going into politics, that he should consider joining the party of his people At that time, of course there was no GSM, he sent for me to come and he asked why I said so?

And I said from our simple statistics, more than 80 per cent of Nigerians don’t participate in elections; more than 80 per cent don’t belong to any political party, they will not register to vote, they will not queue up to vote, they will not wait behind to protect their votes.

The assumption, therefore, is that PDP will be in power forever. In fact, they’ve boasted about it that they intend to rule for the next 60 years. They speak with the authority of God, but I’m not persuaded by such arrogance of power. I believe that today, the biggest party in Nigeria is what I call the floater’s party. Those floaters are the ordinary people, the workers and so on and so forth. So, the idea of going into Labour Party, was to tap into that big party of the ordinary workers and you can see what happened in Edo State when Adams (Oshiomhole) came.

The PDP was the ruling party. I’m from Edo State, my father is from Edo State, while my mother is from Osun State and I know that out there on the streets, if we apply the same formula we applied for Abiola, we should be able to galvanize about 50 per cent of members of the floater’s party unto the streets on election day; and once you are able to do that, you will overwhelm the less than 20 per cent who constitute the entire political class in Nigeria.


Dele Momodu
So, I went into Labour, believing that Labour was controlled principally by the Nigerian Labour Congress; but after joining, I realised that the man who is the chairman, Dan Nwanyawu, had actually hijacked Labour for himself and it’s obvious at this moment. I tried thinking that it was possible to persuade him to see beyond today and look at the future of Nigeria, but he was not persuaded. He kept telling me that for anybody to contest election in Nigeria, you must have billions of naira. I don’t know of anybody who has billions now apart from (President Goodluck) Jonathan and maybe Atiku (Abubakar).

There are young people who are making donations to us, we have volunteers.

My chairman then, granted a newspaper an interview and he said he was not interested in the presidential race, that he was only interested in getting about 10 governors to Labour. I have never seen such a thing where a man would voluntarily sell his birth right. I called him, I wrote him a letter, he didn’t respond; so I knew it was time for me to move. I looked at the party that was close enough ideologically and that was why I settled for NCP, the National Conscience Party.

Looking at Nigeria and its economy, we are not growing the way we are supposed to grow, we have mass unemployment and industrial failure. What would do you do to address the ugly situation?

It is very ugly indeed and that is the reason I’m in politics today. I look at the caliber of people who are ruling at the moment, I look at the people who have joined the race and you will realise that most of them, at one time or the other, they were in power. They were in power and they could not achieve anything and yet, they are the ones we are promoting as the leaders of the future.

My plan is very simple. I come from a background of business. A businessman is a builder, a businessman knows that the first thing you will need in business is fiscal discipline. Our leaders are spending money as if money is going out of hold. Fiscal discipline is the first thing we must enforce and a leader can only do that when he has made a success of his own personal life. So, for you to grow the economy to the extent where you can begin to generate employment to improve on the education of our children, you must have a leader who sees government and governance as business.

With the people that we have, it is not possible if they come back to power. PDP is never going to change. For us in NCP, we don’t have such fat cats. The biggest man in NCP is my chairman, Mr Femi Falana. And Falana is not going to sit down with me and be talking of how to appoint ministers. We are looking at having a star studded cabinet of distinguished Nigerians, who are genuine about bringing about the change that we all shout about.

When we are in government, by the grace of Almighty God, I can assure you that generating employment is not a difficult thing. Already today, I know how many employment I have been able to generate on the streets of Nigeria through selling my magazine. It is about creating opportunities for people. I have had the opportunity of living in Ghana, which has not lifted any oil, but has enough money to generate employment and build their infrastructure. So, what is wrong with Nigeria?

The problem is that we have a leadership that has encumbered itself with oil, everything they dream about when they sleep is oil. When you have a leader like me, who has been exposed to other cultures in the world, I can see that the country can make progress without oil. All these things we have already put in our manifesto, which was initially written by late Chief Gani Fawehinmi and others.

There is a lot of tension among the major political parties on shifting the office of the presidency to the North and even in the ruling party, there is division. So, how do you now situate your own aspiration after eight years of former President Obasanjo, who is from the South?

The only people who are agitating for the North to retain power are in PDP, not the rest of Nigeria. And like I said already, PDP controls less than 10 per cent of our population. As for me, I’m the only candidate who comes from the South-South and the South-West. So, whether Obasanjo ruled or did not rule should not stop other people from coming out to vie for the presidency.

Where Nigeria is today, the country needs a good leader and I don’t think what is important is where the person comes from. But even if you’re talking about that, I come from the same zone as Jonathan. So, if Jonathan is qualified to run, I don’t see why I cannot run. And Jonathan is not the best representative of my zone. I know the terrain very well and I think the best bet is to give me the mandate. I also have another advantage in the South -West, that is important and definitely, my running mate must come from the North. We have a very good chance to win this, I can tell you.

You are fresh in politics…

(Cuts in) I’m not fresh in politics.

You are coming out for an elective position for the first time. How much work have done to woo the electorate and change the mentality of voters in favour of fresh contenders?

That mentality is not the mentality of Nigerians. I’m the one on the road and that’s why I am here. It is the media, which has a fixation whereby we only, always promote those who are already there. Nigeria is the only place where a government has failed for 12 years and we continue to drum support for the same government.

Let us get Nigeria to that situation, where it becomes impossible for PDP to form a government. I told you, 80 per cent of Nigerians don’t belong to any political party. We are reaching out to students.

I can tell you today that I’m the only candidate who has been going from campus to campus, none of them will enter into any of those campuses. I’m the only one talking to okada riders, I’m the only one who met with herbal practitioners, I hosted them on the eve of Nigeria’s independence, you cannot imagine their network. Nobody is talking to all these people.

And so, we are building, we are talking to pressure groups. You are not going to win that election just by campaigning. There is no part of Nigeria today, where I have not touched lives. Abiola was not a governor, he was not a Senator when he ran for elections. There is nobody who can fight government, money for money.

Abiola tried it, what was the result? Death. It’s not even about death, all his businesses were crippled. So, there is no way you are going to run an election and then, you are going to fight Jonathan with your own personal money. It’s not by money, it is by how many lives you have touched. We underrate the ordinary man. I realise that the ordinary man knows us very well because I go everywhere. I have been an household name since 1988 in this country, when I joined the Concord newspapers.

Tell me where Jonathan was in 1988. I read in Reuben Abati’s article that Jonathan joined politics in 1998. That was the year I ended my exile and 10 years earlier, I had been on the streets of Nigeria. I have operated in over 60 countries, there is no part of the world I went that I did not interact with Nigerians.

I will give you another example, you cannot rig elections without the connivance of the police and the army. I can tell you that winning my primaries, was a touch game, but one of the things that helped me was the popularity of Ovation magazine, we invaded everywhere with copies.

If a change is ever going to come to Nigeria, it can only come from people like us who have managed to build our networks everywhere. It’s not just about money. Atiku, with all his money, could not beat Jonathan. I can tell you that in terms of structures, even before coming here, we have been talking to a lot of people in labour.

In the media, there is this fixation that only a few people can make it. There has never been a time Nigeria was in crisis that I didn’t defend my country. 1993, Babangida put me in detention, 1995, Abacha chased me out of Nigeria, for three years, that was how Ovation started. Why can’t we encourage people who want to change our society, why this fixation with those who have been in government? If they didn’t have access to public funds, they will be local champions. I have met the Queen of England in my private capacity, but I’m not a government person.

Do you think you can manage the resources of Nigeria?

Jonathan, for me, is the most experienced politician Nigeria would ever have, who went through the whole gamut of governance. From deputy governor to governor; from Vice President to acting president and then to president.

Leadership is not about experience, it is about management of resources, people and resources; and that I have done well. When Jonathan was teaching in the secondary school, I was teaching A levels, some of my students are bank directors today. I’m not fresh to politics, I have been in politics, but I have not been in power, there is a difference. There records are there.

So, are we saying that unless I’m a police officer and I stop corruption, then, I can’t rule Nigeria?

How do you intend to confront PDP’s machine? In Akwa Ibom for instance, is your friend likely to sacrifice the PDP?

Akpabio is not my friend, he had to respect me because I’m a presidential candidate. That is the mistake we make, when we break it down to nitty gritty, I’m not a mad man. You think I just woke up to run for president. I didn’t just wake up as a mad man and said I wanted to be the president of Nigeria. God has been preparing me, I’m a child of destiny. God had been preparing me, I didn’t just realise it, how come of all the candidates, I’m the only one from South-South and South-West? The problem today is how anybody would tell a man from South-South not to run for election, when they’ve never had the president and the oil comes from there.

If you go to Bayelsa, will you tell me, in good conscience that Jonathan is very solid in Baylesa? We all know the problems between him and the governor of Bayelsa. Do you want to tell me that, truly, in Rivers State, Amaechi would go all out and fight a Dele Momodu? I have known Amaechi for years before he became governor. We will fight our battle, I know what I’m talking about.

If you go everywhere in the South-South today, you will understand that Jonathan is the only person who does not have solid base. In Yoruba land today, if you look at the latest equation, there is not a single Yoruba man in the race. Unless may be Nuhu Ribadu will pick a running mate from Yoruba land, it means there will be none. So, I will still be the closest. If you are talking about the ethnic configuration, I don’t believe in it, but I can say it’s more to my own advantage than to the advantage of any of the candidates.

Well, it’s possible Buhari is likely to pick Pastor Bakare any moment from now from what I’m reading in the papers. So, if you look at the permutations, I am not going to bother myself about the politicians, I will follow my catchment area religiously. I’ve picked my own lifestyle of the rich and famous and not so famous. It’s the same way in politics.

What is your message to the public?

[b]The message is don’t write off Dele Momodu, there is nothing God cannot do. There is no nation in the world that has lived perpetually in stupidity and backwardness and Nigeria is not going to be an exception by living perpetually in backwardness. I am very determined to carry along especially the young souls, the first time voters, those who have given up hope on Nigeria. I can tell you, we have a very big data base of youth corpers, of unemployed graduates. Like I have been telling all my friends in the media, you don’t have to declare support or endorse Dele on your front page, just give me my own quota.

I don’t have money, but I have good will. How come we want to die without seeing a better Nigeria? Why are we so intimidated by power that we will allow these people to use the same money they have stolen to oppress us?

The only person the oppressed fear in this life, is his oppressor and he will only hope by miracle that one day, God will also turn him into an oppressor. That must not be our case.[/b]

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/how-i-will-become-president-momodu/

ikay88:
Firstly, since its the same administration that promised 6000MW by Jan 2010, 4000MW 'generation' by Mar 2011 is not proof enough.

This news does not really translate to much for the masses because we have been hearing similar jargon for about 10 years now but yet major cities cannot be assured steady power supply.

I will believe you are serious when Lagos, Kaduna or PHC, can have at least 6 months uninterrupted power. I think that is a generous requirement seeing alot of african countries do better than that.

The current administration is just 9 months old, so the bolded above is nonsensical. It was yar Adua's govt that promised and failed. We need some honesty in our discussions.

Thank God, there is positive movement in power supply at long last. We have waited many govts for this.

^
Dude, I have NEVER seen single constructive article posted by you on NL. There is no single article or post from you on how we can solve any particular problem (say federalism or power generation); you stream negativity, condemnation and abuse 100% of the time, things you attempt to veil in clever arguments. Everything from you is 100% negative. Why?

Today, you have expressed the bigoted view that minorities are too unsophisticated to rule the country (a sweeping statement because, in all likelihood, you arent brave enough to name names).

There are quite a few of you in the "shout abuse and profer no solution" category; yourself, kobojunkie and redsun being the most prominent. Shame on you all.

More troubles for ACN. It ain't easy to be led by a drug dealer.

[size=14pt]Confusion in ACN over Ribadu, Buhari  • Pressure mounts on Ribadu to withdraw[/size]
•Govs, Tinubu part ways
Written by Taiwo Adisa, Abuja
Friday, 28 January 2011

A huge crack has developed in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), following moves by loyalists of former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, to get the party’s presidential candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to withdraw from the presidential contest.

Sources close to the party said that pressure had been mounted on the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to withdraw from the race and concede the seat to the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, in line with the ongoing alliance talks between the CPC and the ACN.

It was confirmed that the pressure being mounted on Ribadu to quit the presidential race was at the instance of former Governor Tinubu, who is hopeful of picking the vice-presidential slot of the CPC/ACN alliance.

Investigations revealed that Ribadu was almost falling for the bait to withdraw from the race, especially after his meeting with General Buhari last week, but some governors of the ACN were said to have insisted on having his name on the ballot.

It was gathered that the governors, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Mr Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, were said to have insisted that they wanted the party to field Ribadu, irrespective of whatever any sector of the polity would say.

The governors were said to have insisted that the ACN should not fall into the same pit which consumed the Alliance for Democracy (AD) when it failed to field a presidential candidate in 2003.

A source knowledgeable about the development said that one of the governors argued that the ACN should learn from the mistakes made by the AD, when it failed to field candidates for the presidential slot in 1999 and 2003.

“In 1999, the AD went into alliance with the APP and in 2003, its name was not on the ballot at all and that led to the extinction of that party. Today, we are trying to build a new structure out of the ashes of the AD,” the source quoted one of the governors as telling the leaders of ACN.

The position of the governors was also said to tally with that of the national chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, who was also said to have argued in favour of Ribadu.

[b]The decision on Ribadu’s candidature was said to have negatively affected the push for an alliance between the CPC and the ACN. It was gathered that while Tinubu had sanctioned the alliance with the aim of neutralising Ribadu and then clinching the vice-presidential slot, the governors, who influenced Ribadu’s entry into the presidential race, believed that his name could be used to popularise the party among a new set of Nigerian voters, the youth.

It was learnt that Tinubu initially did not oppose the bid to recruit Ribadu into the presidential race as a result of his belief that the former EFCC boss could bolster his (Tinubu’s) credibility and withdraw some negative comments he made about the former governor when he was EFCC chairman.

But it was further learnt that Tinubu knew Ribadu might end up being used if his own vice-presidential bid sailed through.

It will be recalled that when Ribadu held sway as the boss of the EFCC, Senator Tinubu, who left office in 2007, was one of the governors alleged by the EFCC boss to have corruptly enriched themselves. He said then that Tinubu’s case had international dimensions as he made no bones about his readiness to prosecute all corrupt governors.

A source explained that Senator Tinubu, being a very shrewd and calculating politician, did not forget the role of the former EFCC boss in the corruption issue and part of his plan was to gain some level of credibility by associating with the former EFCC boss.[/b]

This claim was corroborated by Saharareporters, an online news blog which recently quoted Senator Tinubu as telling some of his close associates that with his association with Ribadu, he had gained a “clean bill of health regarding the allegations of corruption against him as governor of Lagos and his continued dominance of the financial and political scenes.”

A source said that Tinubu’s ambition to be vice-president, is “partly the reason he wants to form an alliance with CPC of General Muhammed Buhari. Even after Mallam Ribadu was picked as the presidential candidate of the ACN, the party leadership, at the insistence of Senator Tinubu, was still holding alliance talks with the CPC.”

Sources said that the alliance talks were ongoing at press time on Thursday but it was learnt that fundamental differences about party platform and choice of running mate had stalled the talks.

While Tinubu’s camp is pressurising Buhari into joining the alliance and fly the ACN flag, Buhari’s loyalists are afraid that if he dumps the CPC, his supporters in the North could have serious problems tracking him.

It was also gathered that Buhari’s men are already pointing to the way former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was shoved aside by Tinubu in the AC as an example of what could befall Buhari if he joined the ACN.

Another source said while Ribadu was aware of Tinubu’s plot, he was uncertain of broad support in the party until the governors decided to back him.

“Mallam Ribadu was aware of the plan to dump him. That is the reason he refused to sign the clause in the form that says the ticket can be withdrawn from him at anytime, which candidates for other positions were made to sign,” said the source, confirming also a meeting between General Buhari and Mallam Ribadu in Kaduna, where the former EFCC boss bluntly refused to step down for the former military head of state.

“Ribadu is aware of the game plan of Senator Tinubu and is ready for a counter move of his own,” he said.

But the spokesman for Ribadu campaign organi-sation, Alhaji Ibrahim Modibbo, in a telephone interview, said his team was going ahead with the campaigns.

He said the campaign team was unaware of moves to stop Ribadu and gave the ticket to the CPC candidate.

Spokesman for the ACN, Alhaji Lai Moha-mmed, did not respond to a series of questions on the state of affairs in the party, especially following the protracted negotiations between the CPC and the ACN

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/16804-confusion-in-acn-over-ribadu-buhari-govs-tinubu-part-ways-pressure-mounts-on-ribadu-to-withdraw

[size=14pt]How North is fighting over Jonathan[/size]
Politics Jan 28, 2011 By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

Never before has the otherwise once politically cohesive North been pushed to the wall as it is now. Even more vexatious for some is that the source of the disharmony raging in the North today is the smiling innocent looking and seemingly harmless ‘political neophyte,’ Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The discord that followed last Tuesday’s meeting of the apex socio-cultural northern group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF was reflective of the problems now ravaging the North. Thrust with a near fait accompli, after the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the political tendencies in the North are now seeking to advance beyond the shackles it was tied to by the outcome of the PDP primaries.

Remarkably, the major protagonists of zoning and forces behind the Northern consensus candidate, that is Atiku Abubakar, have largely remained silent.

Mallam Adamu Ciroma, the leader of the Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF which canvassed zoning and adopted Atiku as the North’s candidate for the PDP presidential ticket has remained largely silent since the convention. Ciroma remarkably, was not able to deliver his Yobe State to Atiku at the convention.

Jonathan in the first direct political contest of his life on January 13 defeated Atiku for the presidential ticket of the PDP. Undoubtedly, incumbency was credited as a factor which helped in outwitting Atiku from achieving a life long political milestone.

Following the convention, northern political leaders have been meeting quietly to pin point the way forward for the geopolitical region. Among the first revelations from the post-convention meetings was the split in the G-4, that is the four Northern presidential aspirants who subjected themselves to the consensus arrangement.

Aside Atiku, the other aspirants were Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Gen. Aliyu Gusau and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State. While Babangida and Gusau helped to deliver their states to Atiku, Saraki on his part was not able to deliver Kwara to Atiku.

Associates of Saraki were quick to trace the development to what they alleged to be the conspiracy that was waged against their man during the selection process. They claimed that Saraki was schemed out in the arrangement because he was not from the core North.

Indications were that Saraki was equally helpful in the decision of the 20 PDP governors to adopt President Jonathan prior to the convention. It was as such not surprising that Saraki was not part of the meetings by the trio of Babangida, Gusau and Atiku after the PDP convention.

The group in their meetings reportedly resolved that the convention result should not be challenged in court.

While the trio met privately and unannounced, the ACF which had all along been split in its own assertion on zoning had a more canterkarous post-convention meeting in Kaduna.

At the end of the meeting, the group condemned the procedure adopted by many of the parties in their conventions.

The group in a resolution signed by its national publicity secretary, Anthony Sani equally slapped a strong rebuke on the ruling PDP, which it claimed failed to adopt zoning in choosing its own candidate.

“In particular, ACF is disappointed with the outcome of the primary elections in the ruling party, the PDP. The emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate is legally and morally wrong because it is a violation of that party’s constitution, which clearly requires that under the zoning/rotation formula, a northerner be returned as candidate in the 2011 general elections. In this regard, and in the light of its principled stand on fairness and rule of law, the ACF rejects the outcome of PDP presidential primaries,” the body said in its communiqué.

That reportage of the communiqué which was interpreted by some as an open rebuke of the Jonathan candidacy was quickly followed by diverse comments from Northern stakeholders.

While Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State dismissed the resolution as not binding on Northerners, some especially in the House of Representatives saw the resolution as reflective of the view of the North.

Northern elder-statesman and former Secretary General of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN, Senator Uba Ahmed weighed in advising the ACF to keep to its original apolitical inclinations.

Apparently shocked by the reportage, a member of the national executive committee of the ACF, Alh Mohaamed Abdulrahman cried out that the communiqué which he claimed was apolitical had been doctored.

“They are meeting to discuss like Ohanaeze or Afenifere. There are 60 parties in the North, so there can’t be 60 organizations all clamouring for the North. So they are free to meet as friends as they all believe in the North. They can meet, they can advise, there is no problem. There is no fear over anything, just relax, stop getting worried,” Gov. Lamido told reporters after submitting his nomination form at the PDP national secretariat.

“I am not worried because we went through a number of things including civil war. It can’t be worst than that, we came out of it clean and clear and we reconciled as a country united under God. There is no cause for fear. We will secure your future. Don’t worry,” he further said.

Asking the ACF to be strict with its apolitical objectives as formulated at inception, Sen. Ahmed said: “When the ACF was formed it was in response to Ohanaeze and the Yoruba Council of Elders. In forming it, they were specific that they were a non-political organization and I remember being asked if I were a member of ACF and I said I wasn’t and couldn’t since I am a politician and could not belong to a non political organization.

“For an organization like ACF, they should be consistent not only in its organization and its formation, but also in its utterances because at one time they were saying they were a non-political organization. Since when have they amended that status and become political?”

Noting that Section 221 of the constitution restricted political pronouncement to only political parties, Ahmd added: “Even though what they said may not be directly political, but it can be seen as a negative contribution to one candidate!”

But Alh. Abdulrahman who disowned the content of the ACF communique issued at a press conference in Abuja said: “So if there is any issue like I’m reading in the front pages of the newspapers, it never happened there. This is a doctored communiqué probably reflecting the personal whims or ideas or agenda of certain people but certainly not that of the Arewa Consultative Forum. I am just trying to keep the records straight, because when we held a meeting of ACF, it was decided that at the ACF National Executive Committee held yesterday in Kaduna that the reaction and development that were fallout of the primaries of all the parties, it was decided that the political committee of ACF should convene a meeting immediately, and that individual opinions and reactions are not the issue because ACF must take a common stand on the matter.

“So the political committee which is the body of the ACF that is delegated to carry out this action should hold a meeting immediately and that thereafter the chairman of the political committee, Alh Ahmed Mohammed Gusau, summon a meeting of the ACF political committee to look into the entire issues relating to the political process and where we are now, which is the post primaries situation, and advise the ACF National Executive Council.”

Asserting that the view of a group should not be made to reflect the view of the entire North, he said: “The opinion of a few people from PDP does not constitute the opinion of ACF. Everybody has a right to hold on to his opinion but such should not be misconstrued as the opinion of the ACF”.

The ACF resolution was itself received with mixed feelings in the House of Representatives yesterday. While Rep Aminu Shagari (PDP/ Yabo/Shagari Federal constituency, Sokoto) endorsed the resolution as reflective of Northern opinion, Rep Bitrus Kaze (PDP/Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, Plateau ) sharply disagreed saying that the President was in good standing to contest and would be backed by the North.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/01/how-north-is-fighting-over-jonathan/

¬

[quote author=Robin_hood link=topic=594003.msg7617316#msg7617316 date=1296169943]@ oyebambam: Yea he will never win if people like you and I don't vote for him.

People should do the right thing for once and vote for the right reasons !!![/quote]You got the bolded right. We are tired of unintelligent, born to rule types who make plainly dishonest statements. Govt has always had several ministries, it didn't start yesterday; in fact, normal brained people would praise this govt for recognising the fact (it points to what will come after the elections).
We haven't forgeten Ribadu's foolish promise to fix Nigeria's security problem with 5,000 policemen, which amounts to only 6 policemen per LGA. Ribadu is better of gaining experience about how civilian systems work than making statements that cut him out as not very smart and very desperate. He'd better open the book of Atiku and learn from it.

[size=14pt]I can end violent crimes with 5,000 policemen — Ribadu[/size]
By Olalekan Adetayo, Ibadan
Tuesday, 14 Sep 2010

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday reviewed cases of unresolved high profile murders in the country and boasted that he could end violent crimes in the country with only 5,000 policemen.

“With 5,000 policemen ready to do the work, I can stop violent crimes. What we need is those who are ready to do the right thing, be honest and sincere,” he said.
. . .
Despite the over 350, 000 policemen we have in this country, nobody is facing trial over violence, either ethnic or religious, despite their frequent occurrence.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201009142572185

Naivety.

Ola edo:
These people are suppose to be in charge of securing life? Clearly by the commander's comment both he and his men are willing and okay with shooting unarmed women.

The STF boss's words are a chilling reminder of the absolutely neanderthal and low IQ nature of our armed forces. The army needs to be totally purged and rebuilt from scratch. The current position is unacceptable.

[quote author=Rhino.5dm link=topic=593836.msg7616901#msg7616901 date=1296165646]

That must be from pages of internet. lol.[/quote]No, I'm serious. I'm telling you of my experiences with that uni. It is a very scary place like Pakistan, most unlike say, Ahmadu Bello.