₦airaland Forum

okooyinbo:
I did not do that. If I did, I will definitely state it more clearer. The term Niger Delta is a relatively new one in the Nigerian discuss. I just replied to what somebody said about palm oil originating from the Niger delta. Our discussion was based on the pre oil era. The Niger delta in strict geographical sense is comprised of Bayelsa, delta and Rivers state. Economically, its catchment area does include many more states. My friend, I am sure I will beat you hands down in the Geography not only of Nigeria, but also of the world. Take my words for it. An A1 in WAEC in Geography should convince you, even if the world has evolved a lot since I sat for my WAEC joint School Leaving certificate / GCE.

I said the bulk of the palm oil production originates not from ND (specifically Rivers, Bayelsa). I did not say only these states makes up the Niger delta. For your information Delta and Edo States were long part of the West.

I maintain therefore that the Niger delta has also benefited from the other parts of Nigeria. It is not just a one way thing.

And btw, what facts are you shouting about? Whats fact have you provided?

Dude, the more you speak the more ignorant you come across. I have shown you with unimpeachable figures that money from outside the ND has never been used to build anything in the ND. Indeed, palm oil accounted for 90% of Nigeria's exports at one time (deja vu); in return, all your arguments have turned out to be mere gossip and guesswork. Rubbish.

Please, don't ever make the claim that Edo and Delta are part of the West, we fought a hard battle to free ourselves from that marriage; that battle for freedom gave us the Midwest.

The last time someone foolishly said that the Niger Delta is new terminology, I provided references to the phrase from the 19th century (bear in mind we are in the 21st century). Cure your ignorance with this:

whether, as a result of the visit paid by the chairman of the Royal Niger Company to the Niger Delta. . .

-Page 338, Great Britain. Parliament, William Cobbett, Thomas Curson Hansard - 1819

I recall your madcap statement about how Oil Palm cannot do well in the Niger Delta. . . That was until I pointed out to you that the most important Oil Palm city in Nigeria was Brass in Bayelsa, then (as usual), I backed up my words by pointing out an existing 160 square kilometer oil palm plantation in Bayelsa. . . And of course, you are now singing a strange song about WAEC! Who cares?!

Dude, never talk trash about things you don't know. Someone might just thoroughly sink your boat. Ok, whats the next thing you heard from Iya Basira's akara shop about the ND? Its lecture time!

okooyinbo:
. . .
For instance, the port of Portharcourt was not built with crude oil money. The rail network to the port was not built with oil money. There abound numerous other examples, but I would not want to delve into that. Well, the cocoa and rubber plantations of the old western region did built some infrastructures not only in the West, but also somewhere else. And mind you, Portharcourt got it port not because of the Enugu coal but also due to the cotton and groundnut, as well as the Tin and columbite from the North. Yeah, you had palm oil, but the bulk of Palm oil production was actually in the old Midwest, the old Cross River State, and Igboland not the Niger Delta (Rivers, Bayelsa states). The Oil palm does not thrive in a swampy enviroment. I am also a swamp dweller, I should know.
. . .

So you describe the Niger Delta as Rivers and Bayelsa only?! You must have failed geography.
The geographical Niger Delta consists of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta (take a hint from the name).

As for the heart of the palm oil trade, dude look no further than Brass in Bayelsa. For your arguments that most of the palm oil and rubber came from the Midwest, please just open a history book. Oil Palm was grown right across the SE and SS and in any event Delta state is in the ND and used to be in the Midwest (same goes for Edo).

There is no point going on with your guesswork, cos for any guess you make, we can provide solid counter facts. Money from outside the ND has never built anything in the ND, rather that whole area has been Nigeria's breadbasket from time immemorial.

Photo from Bayelsa Oil Palm Ltd (a 160 km² Oil Palm plantation):
https://www.cbf-timipresylva.org/ts/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Palm-plantation-300x199.jpg

ziddy:
Jonathan will kill this case for Uduaghan to be able to deliver Delta State to him come 2011

I do not see any real case in the article, it just makes allegations without meat. PDP is going to have a very difficult time in Delta state, in short, the omens look really dire. Calculations might run with Uduaghan or without, depending on the lay of the ground in a very fluid governorship race. I see Uduaghan as expendable at this time, especially since his allegiance was with IBB.

1025:
i don't pray to have jonathan as my local govt chairman.
jonathan single handedly destroyed all the charges leveled against ribadu by EFCC and forcefully ask the nigerian police to drop all charges against ribadu and turn his sack into retirement just to please ribadu's boss - obasanjo.
this same jonathan striked a deal in settling out of court the siemen's scandal and here we are, filing charges against D. Cheney. it is a shame.
every market woman in nigeria can name at least 20 corrupt politicians in nigeria yet these are men who still walk in our presence as saints and chief makers.
from the way things are going, we will soon charge the catholic pope along side obama in our oil loots.
this is a shame of a country and party that is as confused and their members.
if jonathan can stay 7 months with nothing to show for it, give him 600 yrs, i bet u nothing will still happen.

Obasanjo this, Obasanjo that! If night falls you will blame Obj. Guy, try to sound reasonable at times na!
If calm down and quietly you read through what you posted again, you will find that it is a long ramble with no valid point.

Getting local criminals with the help of foreign allies has proven lucrative already (witness Ibori), so don't worry, Cheney's big net will snag a lot of very big fish.

Ok, this reads as 'Uduaghan is going "dan!"'

History; sacked as gov, nailed by EFCC.

okooyinbo:
A substantial chunk is a substantial chunk. It is not only the states that get allocation, the LGs also get allocations from the rest 87%. If anyone is telling lies, it is people who are blinded by their greediness. Before oil was discovered, other peoples money was used to build Infastructure in the ND. It is very certain that even if the ND get 1000% of the oil revenue, the situation of the masses will never change over there. The leaders and especially the led need a new orientation. The people have to learn to fight to make the leaders accountable, and not just to have a piece of the cake. Only then will Nigeria move forward.

Nigerians are pretty greedy people and thats why there is corruption everywhere.

Badly told lies.

Before oil was discovered, the ND was exporting palm oil and rubber. In fact, the formation of the country called Nigeria is 100% due to the palm oil trade.
The Royal Niger company traded almost solely in palm oil and slaves. The bastar'd, Lugard was a representative of the Royal Niger company and the Royal Niger company is what later became Nigeria.

The Niger Delta has always built other parts of Nigeria, never the other way.

The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It formed a basis of the modern state of Nigeria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Niger_Company

But although palm-oil and palm kernels accounted for 80 to 90 per cent of total value of Nigerian exports in 1900, with the expansion of new exports of groundnuts, cocoa and tin they declined to only 47 per cent of exports in 1929.

-Pages 454 - 455, Colonialism in Africa, 1870-1960 By Lewis H. Gann, Peter Duignan

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-e88AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=Royal+Niger+company+palm&source=bl&ots=NXvB8HwxjB&sig=oO3z7mMd9xHLh-eIqu_3M1y1nSQ&hl=en&ei=nHb_TPXEDcuyhAfTrOGmCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Royal%20Niger%20company%20palm&f=false

History repeating?

trinigal:
@ moderator, are the posts by the person called bkbabe 97y on the following thread acceptable on nairaland? > https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-562655.32.html. i know that i should not have stooped to his level by initially responding to his ignorant post on the thread i started but his posts are highly offensive. please do something about it. thanks.

Here is a Trinidadian complaining about bkbabe.
Trinigal is not the first and might not be the last to complain about the despicable fungus that is bkbabe.
How can a foreigner like bkbabe be allowed to make racist comments against Nigerians so freely on NL? It just goes to show how much we value ourselves as Nigerians. How shameful can things get?

bkbabe should be banned permanently. If the problem is that users can immediately sign up with similar sounding names, then it is possible to screen all new registrations for similarity to a given list of banned user id's.
_{The simplest way is to employ a system that employs the Levenshtein distance algorithm.}

@trinigal
Thanks a lot.

seunmsg:
It is so funny that a man whose candidacy is based on the vote of four men in a nine member gang from just a region of the country can come out and be telling us that sovereignty lies with the people. Does the committee that choose him as the northern consensus candidate have the mandate of the entire north? If not , he should just shut up.

Tell dem o!
Can you imagine that in this day and age, a pack of old men can only think of politics in terms of ethnicity? Its high time history swept these neanderthal vultures into the bin.

How can the concept of a "Northern" candidate be acceptable in todays Nigeria? Where are the Middle Belt, SW, SE and SS "consensus" candidates? None? Thats because such politics is totally unnacceptable in those regions. The core North desperately needs a new set of leaders, not those washed out 70 something and 80 something year old ethnic bigots that have foisted themselves on the region.

[size=14pt]Nigerian philanthropist donates US$1m to River blindness control in Africa[/size]
News - Africa news .

Abuja, Nigeria - The 16th session of the World Health Organisation African Programme for Onchocerciasis (River blindness) Control (WHO/APOC) opened in Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday with a donation of US$1 million to the programme’s Trust Fund by a Nigerian philanthropist and a survivor of the blinding disease, retired Army General T.Y. Danjuma.

President Goodluck Jonathan also pledged Nigeria's continued support to the disease control programme and called for its extension beyond the pre-set exit date of 2015, to ensure complete elimination of the disease.

'I have had a personal experience with this disease and live with relatives and friends who are victims,' Gen. Danjuma told health ministers, donors, UN agencies, Non-governmental Development Organizations (NGDO) partners and private sector representatives gathered for the JAF session at the Transport Hilton, Abuja.

Danjuma hails from the northern state of Taraba, one of the 31 states in Nigeria that are affected by river blindness, a parasitic worm disease transmitted to humans by the black fly, usually in the remote communities. 

Speaking as special guest,  he said he suffered and survived the disease as a young military officer and had since 1996 supported a local NGDO, MITOSATH, as its grand patron in the fight against the disease.

'Today, I am happy to note that MITOSATH has expanded to include other health interventions to improve maternal and child health,' said Gen. Danjuma, a former Chief of Army Staff.

He urged Nigeria, which has 31 million or one-third of the total number of people at risk of river blindness in Africa, to donate handsomely towards bridging the US$66 million funding gap towards the elimination of the disease from Africa, where 30 countries are endemic with some 120 million people at risk.

In his address read by Health Minister Prof. Onyebuchi C. Chukwu, President Jonathan noted that Nigeria had in the past three years contributed annually an average of US$5 million (mostly in overhead costs) to the implementation of Community-Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI). 

More than 146,000 communities in 15 of 19 APOC participating countries are using the CDTI strategy, also known as community-directed intervention (CDI) strategy, which was introduced by WHO/APOC in 1997 for the control of river blindness.

Expressing “concern” about APOC’s possible exit in 2015, President Jonathan urged the international community to “encourage APOC to continue as there is no other viable regional body with the experience, institutional memory and exposure to coordinate the control, elimination/eradication and management of onchocerciasis.”

Speaking in a similar vein, Dr Luis Sambo, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said he looked forward to the outcome of the 16th JAF session “as this will allow partners and the executing agency make informed decisions about the way forward for the programme after 2015.”

“Given the laudable achievements of OCP (Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa of 1974-2002) and APOC, we must ensure that eliminating blindness from Africa is a success,” he added.

The JAF session, the first to be hosted by Nigeria, coincides with APOC’s 15th anniversary.

The Regional Director paid tribute to the programme’s director Dr Uche Amazigo of Nigeria, for her contributions to the disease control efforts and wished her a happy retirement, being her last JAF session at the helm of APOC.

In her goodwill message to the three-day governing board meeting being held under the theme “Join forces to make river blindness history,” the UNICEF Country Representative,
Dr Soumi Sakai, noted that her agency’s support to river blindness control in Nigeria - which started in 1991 in 10 states - had grown to serve an estimated 15 million living in more than 13,000 communities in the country.

In her address of welcome, Dr Amazigo expressed gratitude to all APOC partners for their support and appealed for continuation of the support adding: “If APOC is allowed to
sunset in 2015, the huge health and socio-economic gains over the past 30 years will be lost and blindness may return.”

The opening ceremony featured traditional dances with African music icon, Onyeka Onwenu, entertaining guests with her popular numbers “Ekwe and One Love.”

http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/nigerian-philanthropist-donates-us$1m-to-river-blindness-control-in-africa-2010120863449.html

Enh?!
I need to quickly check my "focal place". Will be back to post later!

Vavavoom:
The story of Nigeria unfortunately bears a striking similarity with that of the parable of the good Samaritan in the bible. People who can rise above greed and be sympathetic amongst us are yet to travel the leadership route. Instead we've replaced white colonial masters with internal ones.
It is foolhardy to expect rogue creations from Abuja who fill leadership positions in the ND to be different from their lords. Governance to these lot is like paying royalty from earnings( state allocation) to the center(Abuja). How the indigenes fair is neither their care nor concern. Ibori, Odili, Alams, Obong Attah, Lucky and co were never answerable to the people but Abuja. Each one was engaged in systemic resource mismanagement that enables self aggrandisement with ''extended courtesies'' to Abuja. Chrisbenogor's NNPC analogy is perfect for how things generally work in Nigeria nay ND.
In truth the custodians of the ND are the creation of the Nigerian state-people whose motive collide in agreement to rob us all of meaningful development irrespective of cardinal location.

Like I have said in the past when we as a people are ready to take back our country we will wake from our slumber, rise above ethnicity and pay the ultimate price for freedom from internal colonisation and create fucntional governance structures which will enable development to thrive, '', in here, ethnicity blinds us to the common good we search; it is prevalent in our write-ups so much so, we fail to see the lift in another's suggestion'' Make we rise.

In one word, brilliant!

ROSSIKE:
emeka, thanks for that official data you posted above. It shows that Indians, Pakistanis, Kenyans, Ghanaians, Banglageshis etc have it much worse than Nigerians, but you'll rarely find any of those people dismissing their country the way some idiots who call themselves Nigerians do.

And I'm really getting sick of people going on about ''how well Ghana is doing''. Look, if you visit Ghana, all they have is Accra. Finish. Drive out of Accra the capital and you'll be wondering just what it is that people are talking about. It's like stopping off in Abuja and returning to say Nigeria is now eldorado.

Please please please, there is no basis for comparing Ghana to Nigeria. The Annual GDP of Lagos State alone is $33 billion.

The annual GDP of Ghana is $22 billion.

Says it all right there.

No basis for comparison.

I really don't get your point. Agreed, we must be proud of who we are, but we must also note the stark reality that there's a lot of work to be done. Emeka_gh's link puts Nigeria as the 171th poorest of 213 contries by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Where is the pride in that?

In the data referred to, India is richer than us and Pakistan is not worse; yes Ghana is poorer, but I fail to understand the reason for pride in Nigeria's dismal standing. Why should we compare ourselves to the likes of Bangladesh? Whats the reason?

171th poorest of 213 contries? God! I feel like crying!
Something in my head has been telling me we are about number 141 poorest, not good, but 171 is a real shocker.

For those who don't know what Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is, its how much the same item costs in different countries; its a direct measure of what the average person can afford.

. . .That list puts even Congo ahead of Nigeria!

[size=14pt]Lawmakers frustrate efforts to make assets declaration public[/size]
BY Gowon Emakpe
December 8, 2010 07:45AM

The National Assembly has refused to amend the laws prescribing the terms and conditions under which the public can access the assets declared by public officers, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has said.

Chairman of the bureau, Sam Saba, said in Abuja yesterday, at its 2010 ministerial press briefing, that the agency proposed an amendment to the Act, but up till today it has not seen the light of the day. Hence, Nigerians cannot have access to assets declaration forms of public officers.

“It is the hope of the bureau that the National Assembly can help to facilitate the work of the institution by prescribing the terms and conditions under which the public can access the assets declared by public officers. This is in addition to the speedy consideration and passage of the Freedom of Information(FOI) Bill,” he said.

He said the National Assembly, in the exercise of the powers granted it in the Third Schedule, Part 1 to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, should make the attachment of CCB acknowledgement slips mandatory for public officers acquiring land or seeking to obtain Certificate of Occupancy.

“This will deter public officers from breaching the code on assets declaration,” he said.

Mr. Saba said Nigeria is at a cross road of good governance, pervasive corruption, and abuse of office.

“Reportedly, Nigeria produces two million barrels of oil a day, has the seventh largest natural gas reserves in the world, but according to the United Nations, poverty rate in Nigeria has gone up from 46 percent to 76 percent over the last thirteen years,” he said.

The official said the most immediate source of the disconnect between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty level is a failure of governance at all levels, which he said was largely due to corruption and misappropriations.

The CCB chairman said the foundation of any democratic government is trust, stressing that the lack of trust, transparency, and accountability erodes the legitimacy of the government.

He said the verification of assets declared by public officers, to ensure that what is declared is confirmed through scrutiny of relevant documents, has gone a long way in checking anticipatory declarations.

“To date, a total of 93 top government officials have been verified. In the same vein, 29 serving ministers were invited and 19 have been verified. Meanwhile, the supporting documents submitted are being analysed. It is pertinent to point out that this is a continuous exercise, as the verification of ministers is still ongoing,” he said.

Charges against Tinubu

Furthermore, he said that the case against a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, alleging that he operated a foreign bank account while in office is not yet closed.

A charge was filed against Tinubu at the Code of Conduct Tribunal about five years ago. But since the charge was filed, nothing has been done to prosecute it.

In the charge, filed before the tribunal, it was alleged that Tinubu opened foreign accounts in his name, the name of his wife and children while in office as the governor of Lagos State. But Mr. Tinubu has severally denied the allegation.

“Only yesterday(Monday), the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and I were discussing the issue. I told her that it is the responsibility of the bureau to prosecute him. His case is still with us,” Mr. Saba said.

“I will meet the EFCC chairman and the Attorney-General of the federation to get the case file. The case against the former governor and his family is not closed yet.”


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5651240-146/lawmakers_frustrate_efforts_to_make_assets.csp

^
GEJ is the ECOWAS boss and he has done creditably well. As with everything ECOWAS countries practically begged Jonathan to take over.
It is a pretty strong position that ECOWAS has taken under GEJ's direction and all must be congratulated and given their due. Enough of introducing petty politics into every issue on Earth.

slap1:
PDP is getting to the end of the thether. I like this! If GEJ wins, Atiku will leave. If Atiku wins, GEJ will leave.

Its like a slow refining process. Could PDP actually be in the process of giving birth to a truly representative Nigerian party?

The wrecking ball might actually throw up a situation where the scheming cabals eject themselves into irrelevance through their overbearing arrogance and GEJ's previously rejected party reforms (eg digitalising the membership register, new voting mechanisms etc) become accepted, and he is able to empower youthful progressive types like Umar, Utomi, Donald Duke and the Fashola's of Nigeria.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Last week, Cheney’s lawyer Terrence O’Donnell called the Nigerian charges “entirely baseless.”

Peter Long, a Cheney spokesman, did not immediately respond to a request for new comment. Halliburton denied involvement in the project in an email last week, saying “none of the Halliburton employees have ever had any connection to or participation in that project.”

The charges are connected to an investigation into alleged $180 million in bribes from 1994 to 2004 to Nigerian government officials for $6 billion in contracts with Nigeria LNG Ltd., whose largest shareholder is the state-owned petroleum company, to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island, off the country’s southern coast.

Technip SA, Snamprogetti SpA and KBR, which was formerly owned by Cheney’s Halliburton Co., along with Japan-based JGC Corp., formed a joint venture called TSKJ to bid for the contracts. TSKJ as well as former Snamprogetti owner Eni SpA were named in the charging document Tuesday.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday morning that Technip, Eni and JGC are in talks with Nigerian prosecutors to settle the charges.

Update: “No one on KBR’s current executive team was involved in the FCPA violations. KBR in no way condones or tolerates illegal or unethical behavior. Conducting our business with the utmost integrity is at the core of the work we perform each day,” said Heather Browne, a KBR spokeswoman, in a statement Tuesday. “The actions of the Nigerian government suggest that its officials are wildly and wrongly asserting blame in this matter.”

U.S. regulators collected $1.28 billion in penalties and criminal fines in the Bonny Island case after settling charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that bans the bribery of foreign officials to obtain business. A former London-based consultant to KBR pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to violate the FCPA.

A statement from the Nigerian anti-corruption agency said the charges were in line with the country’s commitment to “bring to justice all the participants in the criminal enterprise associated with the bribe-for-contract arrangement associated with the Bonny LNG payments and spanning over a long period of time.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2010/12/07/nigeria-charges-manliness-cheney-in-bribery-scandal/
Copy the link, replace "manliness" with the real name and paste in your address bar.

ikennahill:
So if u visit any state,u must c d governor?.

Yes o! How can you come to my house and go to my childrens room without seeing me, because the carpet in the sitting room was wet?

angrynaija:
why do members of our armed forces - army and navy in particular, think that they are more important than the citizens? in western countries, these people are usually not heard of. their only duty should be to defend the country and protect the citizens from civil unrest, but in nigeria, you better not cross these people in uniform if you don't want to hear the proverbial and very arsinine "do you know who i am" nonsense--- that is if they don't end up killing or seriously hurting you?

Well said. In Western countries, you can spend years without ever seeing a single soldier on the streets. Nigeria's situation is truly pathetic; they are not only everywhere, but are actively intimidating the public they have sworn to protect, beating and shooting the young and the old, ra'ping our daughters when sent on missions that other countries would send their police forces on. It is an absolute disgrace.

What Nigeria needs, is a modern, high tech police force not a crude army on our streets.

"Comrade" Adeyemi better be warned. NLC is trying too hard to make themselves the new enemy of the Nigerian public.

They better be careful not to provoke people to violence, because when we finally have some semblance of movement in the country (even though, still little), fools addressing themselves with stup!d titles like "comrade" wake up and start farting through their mouths. We will fight them down.

[quote author=~Bluetooth link=topic=564193.msg7293066#msg7293066 date=1291791706]You should have used google instead of coming across with your typical ignorance.[/quote]Exactly!

The case is before a court, so any educated person can get hold of the charges if they want, instead of asking elementary questions.
In any event, how many are lawyers here to deal authoritatively with charge sheets? And how many are so presumptuous that they can tackle court cases better than the full coterie of law courts, juries, prosecution and defence lawyers and a judge?

. . .Even more puzzling, kobojunkie who asking the daft question is a Web Developer, and so just playing the fool.

Kobojunkie:
Does anyone even know what exactly Mr Cheney is being Charged with? We read of 16 Charges, which are?

And who do you think is here to teach you?
Daft.

I wonder why some of us are scared of US reactions? There was more than enough warning of what was about to happen, yet the US said nothing, no part of their press reported an affront, no diplomats were summoned. Now, the charges have been filed and there is still a deafening silence from the US. The best we have heard is a few lame words from his lawyer, protesting Cheney's innocence. I wonder why?

If you ask me, Cheney is likely to give evidence by phone or videophone. He will be very very loudly exonerated, but during the process (since no one is too big) other US voices in the know will reveal inner workings, names, times and places. . . Bingo!

Its really funny to see the way IBB has taken one sure step into irrelevance after the other in his maniacal desperation _{(na long throat for oil blocks de cause dis kain small pikin behaviour)} .

IBB is like someone with a fever that causes madness, the man is in a self destruct mode that threatens to take all down around him. While he must be urged on to press the button, it must be done from a comfortable distance.

Mr Dewani has been arrested in the UK.

Sounds like a shallow excuse to ditch Atiku.

[size=14pt]Nigeria's Babangida threatens to quit ruling party[/size]
Tue Dec 7, 2010 6:59pm GMT 
* Babangida says Jonathan bid breaches zoning pact
* Divisions risk splitting ruling party
* Election set to be fiercely contested
By Nick Tattersall

LAGOS, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Former Nigerian military ruler Ibrahim Babangida threatened on Tuesday to quit the ruling party before elections next April, underlining deep divisions over the candidacy of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan's bid for the presidency of Africa's most populous nation is controversial because he is a southerner and inherited office earlier this year when late President Umaru Yar'Adua, a northerner, died part way through his first term.

The constitution of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) refers to a "policy of rotation and zoning" which has in practice meant that the presidency has switched between the mostly-Muslim north and largely-Christian south every two terms.

The PDP's candidate has won every election in Nigeria since the end of military rule just over a decade ago, but disagreement over who should run on its ticket in 2011 risks splitting the party and leaving the presidential race wide open.

Babangida said in a letter to PDP chairman Okwesilieze Nwodo that Jonathan's candidacy was a clear breach of the zoning deal.
"If the party has become so helpless in the face of these gross violations of its own constitution, then many of us shall have no alternative but to reconsider our continued membership of the party," Babangida said.

History has always favoured the incumbent in Nigeria's patronage-based political system, but Jonathan faces a tough battle at the PDP primaries, due by mid-January.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been picked by an elite group of northern politicians as a "consensus northern candidate" to challenge him for the nomination. [ID:nLDE6B00Y0]

Abubakar was chosen over four other northern aspirants for the ruling party ticket, including Babangida, former national security adviser Aliyu Gusau and Kwara state governor Bukola Saraki. [ID:nLDE6AL1JI]

Babangida and Gusau quickly congratulated Abubakar on his selection as the main PDP challenger to Jonathan, but analysts have questioned whether the "northern consensus" would hold.

"Babangida's comments are a warning shot -- a break-up of the PDP is a real possibility if Jonathan wins the primaries or even decides to continue to contest," said one Nigerian political analyst, who asked not to be named.

"It also suggests he has little faith in Atiku."

The April polls are shaping up to Nigeria's most unpredictable in recent memory because of the uncertainty in the ruling party. Ask three Nigerians how they will end and the response is at least three equally well-argued scenarios.

Key will be the state governors, who form a powerful caucus in the PDP. They could back Jonathan, Abubakar or a third candidate to try to resolve the divisions. Or northern factions in the PDP could split and mount a challenge at the polls.

Whatever the outcome, the final victor could find himself saddled with legal disputes and emerge with a weak mandate, hampering his administration's ability to push through badly needed reforms in sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy. (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/ ) (Editing by Angus MacSwan)

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE6B620920101207?sp=true

. . .And not taking the diplomatic slight lightly, a few days later the US charges Atiku for money laundering. . .
Ex-VP for ex-VP = 1 - 1. Draw!

[size=14pt]Nigeria files bribery charges against D. Cheney [/size]

Nigeria has filed charges against former US Vice-President D. Cheney over a scandal involving a former subsidiary of Halliburton energy firm.

The case, brought by the country's anti-corruption agency, centres on engineering firm KBR, which admitted bribing officials.

Mr Cheney's lawyer has called the allegations "entirely baseless".

Mr Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive before becoming vice-president to George W Bush in 2001.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had filed 16 charges against Mr Cheney, Halliburton Chief Executive David Lesar, and two other executives.

It also filed charges against Halliburton as a company and four associated businesses.

KBR last year pleaded guilty to paying $180m (£115m) in bribes to Nigerian officials prior to 2007, when it was a subsidiary of Halliburton. The firm agreed to pay $579m (£372m) in fines related to the case in the US.

But Nigeria, along with France and Switzerland, has conducted its own investigations into the case.

Mr Cheney's lawyer, Terence O'Donnell, said US investigators had "found no suggestion of any impropriety by D. Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton".

"Any suggestion of misconduct on his part, made now, years later, is entirely baseless," Mr O'Donnell said.

Office raid

The bribes concerned the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in southern Nigeria.

KBR and Halliburton have now split, and Halliburton says it is not connected with the case against KBR.

Halliburton denies involvement in the allegations.

It has complained that a raid on its office last month by EFCC officials was "an affront against justice".

Nigeria is a member of the oil cartel Opec and is one of the world's biggest oil exporters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11943192

DapoBear:
I support their right for resource control. But how will resource control be relevant if they cannot control their own corrupt politicians? Suppose they received 100% of the money produced from their land. How exactly will this help matters?

I agree that Yoruba/Hausa/Igbo are essentially colonialists. But you still have to spend the little money you have wisely, imo.

Are your politicians better? Why worry about what people do with their own money?
Anyway, the angle behind resource control is that those who own the land will not pollute it in the criminal way that govt operations do, and when they pollute it, they will take care to clean it up, because its their land.

The most important thing about resource control is that it wouldn't allow for the sort of politics we have today. First of all, the land wouldn't belong to govt, but to a family - royalties will go to the land owner; secondly, you can only have crazy levels of corruption in our present system, resource control will mean true federalism and representation.

appletango:
please never quote wikipedia to me again. the next time you go i'll give you an immediate "F".

flarring is not the most dangerous form of pullution in the niger delta. not even close. the air quality in large industrial cities (lagos, port harcourt, ect) is far worse than the air quality in the oil producing regions of the niger delta. and if people are too silly to avoid "walking into huge balls of fire while they are carrying out their daily tasks then that's too bad for them."

but as i said before i agree with you that it should be stopped but not for the reasons you are stating.

So you say I shouldn't quote Wikipedia which cites academic articles, but you can quote hearsay?
Gas flaring in the Niger Delta accounts for 50% of pollution in Nigeria. There is no place with lower air quality than the Niger Delta in Africa.

And you do not walk into huge balls of fire, the FG lights them next to your house and they are so big that they light up the sky for miles around.

desgiezd:
OBJ is an Igbo, in fact, a prince.

Dat one na pure lie! Obj is an Urhobo man from Mosogar in Delta state.

appletango:
pollution resulting from gas flaring DOES NOT effect the immediate environment. it is therefore a global issue and not a niger delta issue.

Gas flaring is the most dangerous form of pollution in the Niger Delta. It is the equivalent of pumping poison into the air people breath:

Gas flares release a variety of potenially poisonous chemicals such as nitrogen dioxides, sulphur dioxide, volatile organic compounds like benzene, toluene, xylene and hydrogen sulfide, as well as carcinogens like benzapyrene and dioxin. Often gas flares are often close to local communities, and lack adequate fencing or protection for villagers who may risk nearing the heat of the flare in order to carry out their daily activities. Flares which are often older and inefficient are rarely relocated away from villages, and are known to coat the land and communities in the area with soot and damage adjacent vegetation.

In November 2005 a judgment by, "the Federal High Court of Nigeria ordered that gas flaring must stop in a Niger Delta community as it violates guaranteed constitutional rights to life and dignity. In a case brought against the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (Shell), Justice C. V. Nwokorie ruled in Benin City that the damaging and wasteful practice of flaring cannot lawfully continue."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_in_Nigeria#Natural_gas_flaring