₦airaland Forum

nurexg:
I still belive that 9JA will change for good. inshaAllah

Your prayer is good, but your political fundamentals are wrong. Nigeria is made up of 300+ ethnic groups, each needs to be respected no matter how small; otherwise Nigeria, no matter how much we pray for its success will be a non starter. If the country is reduced to wazobia, you cut out some 300 ethnicities who can react in ways to bring the union to its knee's.

Wazobia is an insensitive and arrogant term that is insulting to minorities.

[quote author=john_blaze link=topic=407618.msg5624616#msg5624616 date=1267686760]@beaf
note I didnt label your post as a "conspiracy". I wonder why you should do the same to my post. You dont have to agree with my views but you can surely debate issues with me without resulting to character assassination.

"Do unto to others what you want them to do to u". I knw you will understand[/quote]Is this a trade proposal?

. . .I simply reported. I didn't say anything outlandish like, the US or Russia or whoever caused the earthquake in Taiwan, see?
Please feel free to label my posts as crackpot, conpsiracies or hare-brained if they come across to you as such.

nurexg:
I have a dream that Nigeria will be WAZOBIA

That is an imperialistic dream that has already failed.

I will repeat, the army needs to be balanced out. There are groups that already show military capabilities, especially MEND that can be used to correct the imbalance quite immediately and sharply.

The current situation is unnaceptable, where it sems there are tribal / sectiona loyalties to the extent that Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike is not aware that a colonel can move troops to sieze the national airport, cut out electricity supplies and deloy tanks on the streets.

The title of this article is deeply insulting, I'm sure you mean well, but please change it. Nigeria is not and will never be wazobia, let us learn to respect each other.

The army is lopsided as far a demographics are concerned. This is something that needs immediate attention, it is in the interest of the country to immediately negotiate MEND, Bakassi Boy's, MASSOB and OPC into the army to redress the dangerous balance.

The current demographics are untenable.

[size=14pt]Is this cabal more powerful than Nigeria? [/size]
By EDITORIAL BOARD, Published: Thursday, 4 Mar 2010

The intrigues of a handful of presidential aides over President Umaru Yar’Adua’s illness have become too dangerous to condone any longer. With the connivance of elements within the army, the clique deployed troops on Wednesday last week in Abuja as they smuggled the ailing President home under the cover of darkness.

Completely ignoring the person and office of the Acting President and Commander-in-Chief, the clique deployed soldiers from the Brigade of Guards in the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, where in something close to a coup manoeuvre, they switched off the power supply, transferred the ailing President from an air ambulance to a waiting land ambulance, and took him in a long convoy along a route lined with armed sentries to the presidential villa.

Executed entirely under the cover of darkness, it amounted to the most brazen security breach in the nation since the return to civilian rule in May 1999. Some knowledgeable commentators have already likened it to a coup or, at best, a dress rehearsal for one. It is alarming that troops could be deployed for any purpose in any part of the country, much less in the federal capital, without the knowledge of the Acting President and top defence chiefs. Even the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike, was reportedly kept in the dark about the troop movement.

Since the President’s long-standing ailment took a turn for the worse, necessitating his controversial evacuation to Saudi Arabia on November 23, last year, some presidential aides, allegedly supported by the President’s wife, Turai Yar’Adua, have used his predicament to deny access to him and used his name to promote their own private interests. In the process, they have heated up the polity, created a constitutional dilemma, promoted divisions and threatened democracy.

The troop deployment is one intrigue too many. This dangerous clique of power mongers and insubordinate security officials should be stopped forthwith. Who authorised the Brigade of Guards commander, Brig. Gen. Abdul Mustapha, to seize Abuja airport and the villa? What role did the Army Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Abdurahman Dambazzau, play? If Mustapha did not inform him before the exercise, what action did he take? If he did nothing, then he has lost grip of the army and should be shoved aside promptly.

If, as is widely believed, he was privy to the conspiracy, then he is unfit to continue as COAS. Jonathan should sack him if investigations reveal that he connived in the treasonable act. The argument that the guards have some autonomy in their professional task of protecting the President and his family is self-serving and untenable.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan should not treat this grave security breach with levity or with his usual can’t-hurt-a-fly approach. There are indications that an investigation is under way. All the officials who conspired to smuggle the President into the country without the Acting President’s knowledge should be brought to book. Those still holding ministerial offices should be sacked. There is no point being C-in-C if troops can be deployed with no reference to him or the CDS.

It is tempting to say Jonathan is not safe until those who deployed troops illegally are punished and flushed out of the military. The ensuing investigation should also unearth the role of the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Sarki Mukhtar(rtd). It has become obvious that the re-professionalisation programme of the armed forces begun in 1999 has suffered a setback. All the efforts made in the last 11 years to insulate the military from politics are being eroded by the unscrupulous clique that is manipulating the President’s unfortunate situation. The clique is reducing the President to a sectional leader and seeking to suck some senior military officers into its deadly gamble.

The officials privy to the Wednesday infamy — Col Mustapha Onoyvieta, the Aide-de-Camp; Yusuf Tilde, the Chief Security Officer; and Mustapha of the Guards Brigade — all report to various security agencies. Their various bosses, those who have not compromised their positions, should query them or replace them forthwith.

Dike should also, on his part, demand an explanation from Dambazzau for the Abuja insubordination and recommend appropriate punitive action to the Acting President.

The Acting President should also order officials to stop telling lies about the President. For three months and more, aides and ministers have lied shamelessly about his health and embarrassed the nation before the international community. Who, for instance, is giving Segun Adeniyi, the President’s Special Adviser on Media, the instructions to dish out the statements and comments he makes from time to time since he has also admitted to not seeing his boss?

Nigerians will not forget also that it is the refusal of the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly to do their patriotic duty by invoking relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution to deal with the cabal’s shenanigans since November last year that has brought the country to this pass and emboldened the clique to more brazen actions.

It is commendable that the Acting President has sought to douse the heat unnecessarily foisted on the nation by the power-mongers, using the physically-incapacitated Yar’Adua, by empanelling a 26-member broad-based advisory board of eminent persons. Such moves are welcome as the nation rallies to confront the rascals toying with our collective destiny.

FEC has run out of excuses to avoid invoking Section 144 of the Constitution that empowers it to declare the President incapable of continuing to govern on account of his health. But it is not too late for the Council to free itself from a cabal that has so far prevented it from performing its role under the Constitution. Apart from dirty politics and sentiments, a President who had to be returned secretly in an ambulance after three months of intensive care abroad is surely unfit to remain in office.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100304165226

Pharoh:
I really hope things goes as you have just highlighted but in all these i still believe he needs a considerable home support. He needs support from his party as well as the opposition parties, from the army, governors, national assembly, the masses, students, labor unions and all other interest groups. But i am not seeing all these right now judging from the present situation which makes it look like a one man army with little support. I just hope when he starts acting finally these needed support will rise to the occasion and in terms of dealing with the military i think he really needs the help of OBJ or former retired personel's from the south.

I don't think a president without a military background should be the C-in-C of an undisciplined/politicized army like that of Nigeria.

Even if things don't work to that plan, the fight is still Jonathans to lose. The buck stops with him, no excuses.
For now, he seems to have laid his groundwork quite well. The army is the greatest threat, but he can checkmate any ambitious guys with careful planning and ruthlessness (let nobody dream that he can't be ruthless, all Alams supporting Bayelsa ex-commissioners know the drill).

Pharoh:
But he has already accepted the agreement with the governors forum and other stakeholders so i guess it is game over. The FEC and NASS has already calmed everything so what else could be up his sleeves?.

He doesn't need to have anything up his sleeves, just the strength and willingness to pursue his path after things have calmed down. He has the power (when some degree of calm has returned) to effectively shut down any noise maker like Tanko Yakasai etc without resistance; Ibori will very likely be extradited to the UK (or be too busy fighting for his life); he doesn't have to consult the FEC, because he has set up parallel commitees (who are also looking into contracts awarded by FEC members in the past 100+ days); international agreements have been reached to investigate troublemakers, their sources of money and to trace the conduits of those funds to foreign banks.

Don't forget that it took OBJ one month as an ex-soldier to reshuffle the army. Winning some calm is Jonathans first victory, we can now move forward gradually.

Gra-gra doesn't win anything. In the end, all these people will run back to Jonathan, they have now realised that they can't stop him, next they will realise that they can't control him; in fact, most of the ministers are already done for (with the committees Jonathan set up).

Earthquake hits Taiwan, no initial reports of damage 04 Mar 2010 00:34:38 GMT
Source: Reuters
TAIPEI, March 4 (Reuters) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 shook Taiwan on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, officials said.

Taiwan uses the Richter scale to measure earthquake intensity. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 6.5.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 8:18 am (0018 GMT), was around the southern city of Kaohsiung at a depth of 5 km, the Central Weather Bureau said.

Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.

One of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999. Measuring 7.6, it killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings. (Reporting by Jonathan Standing; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/TPU002200.htm

A brand new conspiracy theory.

naijaking1:
Do we know whether Jonathan enjoyed the presidential chair when he sat on it last time. Did it warm up his butt real good? Did he have any special type of genitourinary sensation? What happened

If Jonathan made the mistake of not sitting in the presidential seat, cabal for no let us hear word again. Dem for don begin hala victory like the winshes they are!
Jonathan could only have sat in the presido seat.

[size=14pt]Nigerian president's health remains a mystery[/size]

Umaru Yar'Adua has not addressed the public since November. Aides say he's fine, but his political rivals are suspicious, and the West fears the crisis could destabilize the oil-rich country.
By Robyn Dixon

12:38 PM PST, March 3, 2010

Reporting from Kano, Nigeria

Nigeria's ailing president may still be flat on his back in the ambulance that rushed him from the airport to his residence after his secretive return last Wednesday from Saudi Arabia, where he was treated for a heart-related health issues.

Or sitting in a hard-backed chair in his official residence, while nieces, nephews and grandchildren tear up and down the stairs. Or doing exercise daily on an exercise bike and walking up and down stairs.

Any of the scenarios, reported by Nigerian newspapers or by President Umaru Yar'Adua's supporters, could be true, false or somewhere between, but they're all that Nigerians have to go on: The president has not addressed the public since he left the country for treatment in Jidda for pericarditis, inflammation of the lining around the heart, in November, not even after he returned last week.

One thing that does seem clear is that since the president's return, acting President Goodluck Jonathan has been unsuccessful in several attempts to see him.

Yar'Adua's supporters put this down to the president's introverted personality and insist he's on his feet and doing well. His opponents in the ruling party counter that if Yar'Adua is able, he should address the nation, and they accuse his aides of running the country without authority.

The Cabinet is deeply divided between the largely Muslim north where Yar'Adua comes from and the predominantly Christian south where Jonathan comes from.

Nigeria's political culture is replete with secret deals, betrayals, bitter lifetime feuds and scandals. As the crisis drags on, northern and southern power brokers grow more suspicious of each other's motives.

Nigeria, with a history of military coups and rigged elections, is Africa's most populous nation, with 130 million people: a major oil power situated in an unstable corner of West Africa. Western powers are watching the impasse anxiously, given Nigeria's oil riches and geopolitical importance.

The British Embassy released a statement recently calling on Nigerian politicians to avoid a constitution crisis. A U.S. statement on Yar'Adua's return was more blunt. It said that Nigeria needed a strong leader, adding that reports suggested Yar'Adua was frail.

"We hope that President Yar'Adua's return to Nigeria is not an effort by his senior advisors to upset Nigeria's stability and create renewed uncertainty in the democratic process," the statement read.

Those words have riled Yar'Adua's supporters while prompting speculation in the news media that America had intelligence from Saudi Arabia that Yar'Adua is on his deathbed. Northern power brokers took it as evidence the Americans dislike northern leaders.

One scenario reported in the Nigerian daily the Punch on Monday said that U.S. intelligence sources had informed President Obama that Yar'Adua was in dire health and that Obama had "demanded" to know his condition.

Nigeria's political stability hangs on a gentleman's agreement in the ruling People's Democratic Party to rotate the country's leadership: eight years to the south, then eight years to the north.

If either side were to renege, it would shatter the ruling party and potentially plunge the country into turmoil. The PDP met Tuesday to reaffirm the deal, undercutting any ambition Jonathan and his backers might have to take power and run for president in the 2011 elections. The nation's 36 state governors also met Tuesday and agreed that for the sake of Nigeria's stability, the leadership should remain in northern hands till 2015.

"If Goodluck reneges, some people in the PDP would support him, but the majority would not support him. It would be very difficult for anyone in the north to support him," said northern power broker Tanko Yankasai, a former presidential liaison officer to the National Assembly.

Yar'Adua, 58, was elected in 2007 in a vote that led to widespread allegations of ballot-rigging and intimidation.

Yankasai said Yar'Adua had been endorsed as successor by former southern President Olusegun Obasanjo in a complicated plot to maintain southern control. He said Obasanjo chose Yar'Adua because of his poor health, hoping either to dominate him or watch him die in office. Obasanjo called on Yar'Adua to step down in January.

"He picked Yar'Adua because of his ill health history so that Yar'Adua would not survive to the end of his term and if Umaru [Yar'Adua] died, then power would rotate back to the south," Yankasai said.

He said the confusion and anger over Yar'Adua's failure to appear in public have been deliberate over-dramatization from the south. "You have to appreciate the kind of politics we play in Nigeria."

Information Minister Dora Akunyili, a Jonathan ally and the only minister who has spoken out on Yar'Adua's health, risks dismissal should Yar'Adua return, analysts say. She has called on Yar'Adua to address the nation if he is healthy enough to do so.

"The cabal [Yar'Adua's aides] wants to continue with their usual statements of, 'The president said and you must comply.' They want to continue dishing out instructions even when the president did not say so," she told Reuters. "They sneaked him into this country at night. . . . I think it's something unnecessary and uncalled for."

Yankasai said that if Yar'Adua recovered, many people in the ruling party would advise him not to seek a second term.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-nigeria-president4-2010mar04,0,1778858.story

Yet another conspiracy theory.

marvix:
Biina and Beaf shld pls cut it and spare us, this is wat I talk abt wen I say silence isn't a sign of weaknes as it stands now they hav left d issue and faced somtin else wich I no longa undastand

No vex, I beg. There is wisdom in your words.

xterra2:
Okay,at the EXCOF(old FEC) did Jonathan sit on Yaraduas chair ir he sat on his chair-please do any one of you know

Everything was as normal, Jonathan sat in his chair.

Yar Adua will still be paid the full presidential salary, he is still president (I don't know if there is sick pay though).
As for Jonathan, I believe there is a special arrangement (a committee met early after he became acting presido).

MrCrackles:
This is another big joke from the notoriously incompetent Nigerian media. . .
What kinda headline is this? I mean how can someone who is bed-ridden be expected at a any sort of meeting?
Who is the daft punk who headlined the story and used the word "Skipped"

It is sourced from Aljazeera. Blame Yar Adua's captors for spreading false rumours.

Fhemmmy:
Were they actually expecting to see him at the meeting, or were they joking?
Yaradua came back and said, that Jonathan will be in charge, while he take care of himself and get much better to be back in office, how come no one seems to pay attention to that statement?

There were rumours that he was sorrounded by kids in the villa, was walking about would attend the FEC meeting.

[size=14pt]Yar'Adua skips Nigeria meeting [/size]

The Nigerian president has failed to appear at a cabinet meeting in the capital Abuja, after returning to the country from Saudi Arabia following three months of medical treatment.

Umara Yar'Adua's supporters had hoped he would show up at the meeting on Wednesday. The meeting, however, was chaired by Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, who is acting as the head of state.

Yar'Adua has not been seen or heard in public since his return on February 24, fuelling speculation that he is incapable of carrying out his job.

His silence has led many Nigerian newspapers to continue reporting that Yar'Adua is on a life support machine or in a coma.

There is also speculation that the president’s aides and family are holding him hostage in the presidential villa until they can figure out how to retain influence and power in the event of his death.

'Strengthening Jonathan"

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Abuja, said Yar'Adua's continuing absence had made it possible for Jonathan to consolidate his position.

"He has already received the backing of the United Kingdom, the United States, and on Monday the UN secretary-general Ban ki-moon sent him a message.

"He has also set up a presidential advisory committee again in an attempt to bolster his own position and his power within the cabinet."

Yar'Adua left Nigeria on November 23 to receive treatment for pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart that can restrict normal beating.

He is also known to suffer from a chronic kidney condition and has long been criticised for not being able to work more than five or six hours a day.

Political uncertainty

Aside from a political vacuum and near constitutional crisis, Yar'Adua's long absence had prompted street protests across the country, demanding his resignation.

It also threatened to paralyse the government until parliament installed Jonathan as acting head of state on February 9.

Nigeria's constitution says the president must make a written declaration that he is on vacation or unable to carry out his duties before a transfer of power could take place.

Yar'Adua had not officially given his consent to the transfer of power, but parliament said it based its decision on an interview that he gave the BBC last month, saying that he would return to work once his doctors gave him the go-ahead.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/03/2010331685559487.html

[size=14pt]Court okays fresh legal moves to sack Yar’Adua[/size]
National News Mar 3, 2010 By Ise-Oluwa Ige

A Federal High Court in Abuja, Wednesday, okayed a request by former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Farouk Aliyu, to void the January 27 resolution passed by the Economic Council of the Federation, ECF, giving President Umaru Yar’Adua a clean bill of health.

The trial judge, Justice Adamu Bello, granted the applicant the permission to review the resolution following an ex-parte application brought and argued by his lead counsel, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, to the effect.

President Yar’Adua was wheeled out of Aso Rock last November 23, for medical attention in Saudi Arabia.

He is said to be suffering from acute pericarditis.

Since he was rushed out of the country last year, no one has seen or heard from him including all members of ECF.

Although, he was rushed back into the country February 24, this year, nobody including the Acting President Jonathan Goodluck had seen him neither had he been able to make any public appearance.

He himself had confessed through his aides that he was not capable to shoulder the burden of his office presently.

But without seeing him or having any information on the condition of his health, the members of ECF had, two times, passed a resolution to the effect that he was capable of governing the country.

The first resolution was passed last December 2, to frustrate the activation of the provision of Section 144 (2) of the 1999 Constitution while the second one was passed on January 27, to rubbish the order of the Abuja Federal High Court which directed that his health should be probed.

Both resolutions were passed without any access to the medical report on President Yar’Adua by the council peopled by those not recognised by the constitution.

Aliyu and the leader of the Nasarawa chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association NBA, Mr. Garum Gabbas, who approached the court to order EXCOF to pass a resolution, declaring Yar’Adua incapable of continuing governance in view of evident evidence of his incapability are contending that the order of the court was not complied with.

They came to court by a way of judicial review.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/03/03/court-okays-fresh-legal-moves-to-sack-yaradua/

[quote author=Igwe. link=topic=407391.msg5622353#msg5622353 date=1267643838]to be honest with you, i don't see any wrong with this guy's posts. if you dont like them, just ignore them and move on, the truth of the matter is that some people can't do without opening his threads or threads found his replies on it.[/quote]Wait until you start an important thread and becomerich "maps" it. . .

[quote author=john_blaze link=topic=405353.msg5622001#msg5622001 date=1267639540]for the fact that some people do not believe in other people's views doesnt make them silly,nobody has monopoly of knowledge. It is simply a clash of ideologies and understanding. Some believe earthquakes are natural while some believe it could be man-made, thats life everybody cannot reason the same way. Another thing to note, I believe most people on this forum are respected indviduals and as such people should respect other people's views instead of resulting in insults.[/quote]This is so true. E.g. some believe the Earth is flat, others KNOW it is round.

I hope the following links will be illuminati illuminating;
http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/
http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/tiki/tiki-index.php

^
Agreed, he will have to carry out the verbal preemptive strike in all countries he visits from now on.

The man is just a disgrace, you can almost see his "Julius" in his latest marriage pic below;

[img]https://www.nairaland.com/attachments/216295_Jacob-Zuma-performs-a-hig-001_jpg2d22a36bbadaefdd1f5077bb1fd313b5[/img]

Poor Sanusi. He seems to have political ambitions.
Hopefully his plans work for the countrys benefit.

biina:
Yar'adua was competent enough to have led the NNPC reforms for 2yrs, but then you would claim ignorance of this.
It is ever satisfying when one exposes ethnic bigots like yourself  for what you truly are.

Will it actually kill you if I don't worship Yar Adua?

In my opinion as an [size=14pt]"undeserving Southerner"[/size], Yar Adua was so incompetent, there is no word to describe it. He was damn damn damn damn damn damn damn incompetent, live with it.

If you and your association of tribalists want to build a shrine to Yar Adua, feel free, but leave me out of it.

Cheap, tribalistic LOSER!

biina:
We have all read your purported credit to yar'adua in which you described him as 'never been able to even get it going'. Interesting choice of words for 'praise', when a simple declarative statement would have sufficed.

I do credit your consistent efforts at trying to drag the discourse off road. Grabbing at straws is an hopeless endeavor.

Who are the "all"? You and your cheap association of tribalistic LOSER'S?

biina:
Your only mention of yar'adua was only in a veiled attempt accusing him of incompetence.

Ok. So I should have praised Yar Adua for competence? Sorry, Yar Adua was fuc'king incompetent. You just want me to worship because he is not an [size=14pt]"undeserving Southerner".[/size]

NL bully, I refuse worship, instead; I hail Jonathan! Make e pain you well well! Ode.

Cheap, tribalistic LOSER!

biina:
Seems you have now become delusional At what point did this become an issue of Jonathan deserving to rule the country. Its is funny how you are so sure you know what I meant, even after I have clarified otherwise. Your are either paranoid or suffering from self guilt. (un)fortunately, I have no intention of following you on your deranged expedition.

The issue at hand is simple and clear: Yar'adua, and not jonathan, deserves credit for the NNPC reforms.

You created this issue for your own ulterior, tribalistic motives, I already creditted Yar Adua here https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-406672.0.html#msg5621527
You came on here nitpicking and calling people [size=14pt]"undeserving Southerners"[/size]; all because I said "I loff Jonathan".
You're sick man!

Cheap, tribalistic LOSER!

biina:
Increased font size will nont make your post any more credible.
You can accuse me of being a tribalism all night long, but the truth is there for all to see.
Yar'adua deserves the credit for the NNPC reform and not Jonathan. Give credit (or criticism) where it is due and not try to arrogate the good works of others for your preferred candidate.

I gave credit earlier on, but you feel I should kneel and worship (apparently, because Yar Adua is not an [size=14pt]"undeserving Southerner"[/size]).

Cheap, tribalistic loser!

biina:
because he hasnt done anything as per the reform to deserve any credit or as he?
do you feel we should credit him for not doing something wrong?

Stop dodging, fuc'king tribalist. You have enough command of English not fool anyone by pretending not to understand the exact meaning of what you said.
You meant, Jonathan or any Southerner does not deserve to rule this country.

[size=14pt]Cheap tribalistic LOSER![/size]