₦airaland Forum

Nothin to be excited about though but i'm from this state, meanwhile, i don't think bunching up all edo girls is quite right

I see nothing wrong, my last girl friend was a tomboy and she was really cool! Could discuss several stuffs with her

justwise:
Xmas is around the corner, scammers are desperate to steal. U will end up in jail if u are not careful.

Just came in here and i think you guys ot the ish men!, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,cool!!!

Won't you guys like to in to Chivita country? What of that career threatenin piece from sunny nneji, Chi exotic!

I do not like the name of the film, its a bit too flat

My best bond is timothy dalton and my worst is obviously george lazenby.

some real interesting story!

Nonsense! Its not possible now

Spoof

What crime exactly would that be? I am not a fan of either of them but the facts should be laid out

Exactly! And the other problem being created has a social undertone which is a whole lot more detrimental to the social framework of the state

I see absolutely nothin wrong in falana's submission, he has the right to express his views. However it does not stop the right of charles to contest for a political office

Please let us not be sycophants, when the government has done well we should praise him like most of us have done, but when room for improvement arises, it only behoves on us to exert our civic duty and make such known to the government. Fash has been relatively fantastic so far, lets urge him to take it another notch. People in areas such as iyanaipaja, ajegunle, ketu etc. are yet to fully feel the impact of the mega city project and they DESERVE to

, you mean the sani abacha peace prize?, anyway, really the whole amnesty issue appeared like jamboree to me, it could not work if there was insincerity from any of the parties, and obviously the government was not genuine with its intentions. The whole plot was to pave an easy route for the further plundering of the region's resources. SHAME

onye_ngbu:
anh him (falana) should be where?

where do you suggest?

Some interesting read

I will go with kobojunkie's view, the hype might not help the overall performance if it gets to his head. There has been some improvement in Lagos quite alright but soon the praise singers would make it seem the streets of Lagos are paved with gold

Well said, very well said, even a rookie cop who knows his mettle would have done better IF really it was a trap

Was about telling him the same thing

Becomerich you are just impossible! What do they do to 'unrepentant' pests like you? Please tell me

oh my God! He is here!

Becomerich,
you could not hide yourself for just a day!

I think all the poster is tryin to point out is that the lagos state government should be transparent and i see nothing wrong in it.

Are we suddenly turning ourselves into forensic experts over an issue that these evil crooks have put behind them!

The army chief obviously did not fail to give us a distorted view of the whole incident.

When would becomerich dump all these his conspiracy theories or better still buttress them with tangible facts? And yes i know it is you considering the fact that you have not rushed in here by now!

Where are all those 'rebranders' of the gangrene infested state? How would they defend the cover-up of this heinous crime. And this also exposes the weakness of the nigerian press, they simply just stopped reporting about the crime enablin a natural death! To hell with all those indices about lower corruption figures, we are gettin so good at corruption that i am forced to state that we might be influencin them. Damn

NIGERIA: THE STATE AS AN OBJECT OF OPPRESSION

Capitalism has all but set in carvenously into every sphere of the Nigerian clime, socially, economically, politically and psychologically, eating deep into the very fabric that binds us together as a people. As the word implies on its own, capitalism always seeks to take advantage of people. It is the antithesis of mankind as it encourages one man’s bestiality to another.
**The state is an integration of all living within it, and the indigenes therein abide by the structure that is established.
The Nigerian state is one that naturally embraced capitalism post-independence, a structure which is now the root cause of our woes. Capitalism always sieves the populace; it classifies individuals, creating a pseudo-food chain with the larger populace at the bottom. There is this falsehood and ill-pretence by several obsequious western-driven economists who always make capitalism synonymous with humanity or democracy. It is in fact an antonym to those two latter words as the greater part of humanity always suffer oppression and slavery from the powerful-few, or ‘‘opportunists’’ the Nigerian social structure has all but crumbled under the feet of capitalism. There is the insalubrious need for greed by almost everyone now. The oppressor continues to be insatiable, and surprisingly as you shall soon find out a strata of the oppressed inhibits and most often exhibits a mutated form of greed that further seeks to re-classify the poor.

Structures at the lower-end of the social ladder.
First I would want to make clear that the bourgeois middle-class represents but a thin fine line in the social structure, and can at best be considered as non-existent. At the top are the ’’ elite’’; who are those in political power, those that have multiple-monopoly of businesses, and of course, the illegal dealers in oil and its derivatives; we have a few Bank MD’s and some CEO’S of private companies leading the fight for a middle-class sustainability and existence. The third structure wherein resides the poor and larger percentage of the Nigerian masses is further classified as a result of this capitalist-greed that has seeped down to the ‘’oppressed’’ masses.

The Poor Ones!
Starting this chain are the ordinary workers both in private and public sectors, who earn just enough to get them a car, habitable house, provide the necessary feeding requirements for his\her household, and cater for his\her extravagant needs (fallout of capitalism). This first class of the third reich is where, unfortunately, most of the bourgeois’ have descended into. There is a freefall into this first casement of poverty. Most socialists would disagree on the enlistment of these classes of people by me into the poor casement. I would adduce reasons much later, which would of course etiolate the otherwise unstable social framework of the country.
A few steps below these quasi-bourgeouis are the second-class poor people. Their existence or the lack of it is a direct function of ability to keep the miserable job they have at hand. A few of them try to be enterprising and dabble into a menial trade or two, something here and there to push up their income (or yet again sustain a new extravagance), but as long as they are beneficiaries of the minimum wage debacle they are still second-class paupers of the reactionary government.
A step down, just fortunately above the “wretched of the earth’’ are the third-class poor people. These include the jobless and those that involve in menial jobs to sustain a livelihood (if it can still qualify to be called that) their activities are without form and style. They could be seen at point A in a second their feet claim eternal possession of point B. They can hardly entertain the demands of their belly, and more often than not labour their lungs with cheap burnt-sacrifices. The feminine individuals are mostly call-girls and only virtuous ones slave their lives doing men’s jobs. T Most of the men engage in armed robbery and several other social vices. These form or class of people have a much better chance of dropping to the next zone than rising a notch up, as their educational ability is in serious lack.
The last rung is the hopeless and damned ones? They seem cursed beyond eternal damnation. They are those we sneer at at public places, and when meekness overshadows us, we drop a few coins to keep their obsequities away from. From this class also we find those that constantly live in isolation, away from the complexities of man’s thoughts. They take on theirs and forget our ways. But they are still human! And form to a great extent a part of our social framework. Each class sneers at the others above, and oppresses any below it.

The Rich Ones!
Amongst the elite class comes a not too evident stratification, it is one that now divides the mortal beings from the demigods.
For the Demigods, wealth and affluence become means and not ends at this stage. The craze to equate with “god’’ becomes the driving force of the Top-elites. The elites in the lower echelon are somewhat content with just getting on with their lives running their cartels and investing more in real estates. They keep several foreign accounts, and have their foreign bank managers flown into the country every week to discuss with them. They have their private jets and comfort comes at the snap of a finger.
The top- elites (or demigods) are never satisfied with just being affluent, they seek influence. This could only come with political power, and this power they must get. The feeling one gets from knowing he has power (legal or illegal) over millions of people, knowing millions depend on your sound-judgement for survival is quite immense. It is one that transcends that feeling of owning millions in the bank.
These demigods, of course still loot public funds, but the greater joy they derive is that which their political positions give them. These individuals in the top-elite class always seek separation from everyone else. They develop a psychological condition which sees them having no regard for human lives. Dead people become statistics for their perusal; more often than not they have little or no reverence for their personal family life. In forsooth, they have crossed the threshold of humanity and burden themselves solely with responsibilities of a greater calling. Every man would rather be feared than loved. Every individual has an innate urge for power, but few have the ability, opportunity and will to cease this power, this philosophy they have imbibed and accepted fully.
General Sani Abacha is a classic example of a top-elite. He derived utmost joy in his ability to exert power on individuals. He looted the state quite alright, but I think he had more pleasure watching Saro-wiwa Beeson kenule die than reading his bank account statement. The fact that he could decide the fate of his subjects was something he cherished.
Obasanjo Olusegun could easily have had the indigenes of Odi and Zaki Biam tried and sentenced (if found wanting) to various degree of jail terms for their unbecoming actions, he rather chose to exercise that feeling and shed some blood to satiate that powerful feeling that drew him to the position.

The Tribal Beast Awakes!
In as much as a greater part of the Nigerian populace would be conveniently classified according to the poor-rich classification carried out above it would be a blinding act to ignore one that is a lot more complex, passionate and surreptitious. It is a lot more obvious and potent form of classifying the Nigerian state.
The average Nigerian is a tribalistic-beast, and would readily carry out actions against any one that seeks to oppose his tribe’s status. Only when we see ourselves outside the shores of this country do we water down this trait and establish a psendo-comaradierie with the other , but inside the irregular borders of this land, every man is an alien on another man’s land.
The term “Nigeria’’ seems strange to many, as history, both past and present has shown us. The Kano riot of the 60’s was less a religious event than it was a tribe-prompted one. It would seem necessary to point out here that the malignation of the smaller tribes is in degree, and one sees this first from the point of South and North, then the south-East/south-south/middle-belt. The North has a much agitated “middle-belt’’ (a controversial terrain none the least), the North-West and North-East or better still the Hausa’s and Fulani’s. There are further chasms in these areas. For example, the south-south having the Edos, Urhobos, itsekiris, Ijaws etc, Each self conscious up to the point of his hamlet. This tribe-differential, important for identification purposes, poses a dangerous and clandestine decay of the Nigerian State in its exaggerated form.
This tribe segregation is obviously not in the decline, even with a greater civilisation of the country post-independence, as every father or mother daily educates his/her progeny of the dangers of inter-acting with the other tribe. The scars of Biafra are still deep, as rather than clean the wound with antiseptic lotion and dress it with antibiotic powders, the then power houses of the country simply bandaged the rottening wound and sent the patients home. Gangrene has slowly set in, and once again there may be a call to serve the fatherland against itself as recent political events are showing.
There are also popular clichés that have been placed on tribes, which further stresses the tribalisation of the state.
“As promiscus as a calabar girl’’, “stringy Ijebu-man”, “illiterate Hausa-man’’ etc,
These metaphors could be true for some individuals but have been found largely biased in the definition of a people. They are continually being used in the recognisation of a people by another. The Religious classification is but a mere tool people use in achieving their oppressive tribalistic aims. While the main religious beliefs in the country insist they preach peace, several have died during their numerous campaigns, making one stare in absurdity at the contradictions between the action and the saying. There have been several proffered solutions to the detribalisation of Nigeria, yet, like the mythical Sisyphus, we are continually cursed with re-occurrences of tribal nepotism.

CLASS ANTAGONISM
The Nigerian state (which I shall hence forth refer to as the failed state’’) sees several agitation within each class, and between each class. Both in the subclass level and in the main class levels, this agitation is quite obvious.
The wretchedly poor people sneer at the little comfort those just above them in the poverty-cadre enjoy. There is a latent acrimony for the immediate top class in their cadre. However, in relation with the other major classes, they hold forth some sort of reverence and the camaraderie they would rather have with the elites than with any of the other sub-classes in their cadre. This peculiar behaviour applies to all the other classes. However, when a major class interacts with one below it, the sneer returns, only this time in self-indignation. They feel the class below are a lazy sort and as such deserve little or no respect for their lack of achievement. The top elites, however displays that “godism’’ earlier talked about to all irrespective of their class.
There is a perpetual need for anarchy by the imperialist government the PDP represents as this would constantly provide the impetus it requires to quiet the concerns expressed by few with regards to growth and development (or the lack of it). The current form of class-antagonism expressed by the Nigerian populace is retrogressive as well as self destructive, it is self serving and short termed and as such would not be able to solve the major problem that abounds, the problem of leadership.
The major class struggle is that which exists between the oppressor and the oppressed, and it is one that sees the oppressor continually needing to exert power over the oppressed and the oppressed perpetually seeking freedom from his bondage.


LEST WE FAIL!
The Nigerian state is one weird establishment that has over the years defied the true essentialities of statehood and yet managed to survive this long. Of course it is unimaginable that this process of eccentric self-existence would continue to be.
It is all but obvious that we are at that threshold of our existence where only a revolution can assuage the deprecation that our livelihood had been turned into by the ruling government and its brutal and beasty predecessors who lent their characteristic traits to the PDP government. The indices are all clear for all to see that we have consistently kept on that road to national destruction, only just a different version from that embarked upon by Somalia, the one brought about by greed-infested wars and ethnic oppression by the ruling class and the Nigerian case brought about by corruption and a lack of governance.
But can a true revolution just occur without the full consent of the participants? The answer is a big No!
That is obviously why a lot of people have witnessed a transformed pattern of oppression from the hands of the tyrannical government into the hands of their order-phobic and chaos-loving liberators who adopt the misguided assumption that they do not need to carry the people along in their messianic sojourn.
This has sourly characterised the Niger-Delta struggle, degrading it into one of brigandage and personal vendettas. You do not set a home-grown chicken free, for it has no reason to be free and would die in the wild.
A people who have seen no reason to be free, can never be free, and when a genuine group of individuals moved by the youthful blood running in their veins decide to take it upon themselves to free these inertia-bound people called Nigerians, it would only induce further affliction and torment on everyone of them. This brings out a fundamental question, when a people refuse to see their torment should the few who have a pathway to liberation keep quiet? This is also another No.
As earlier stated, a true revolution has to be fully encompassing, and it becomes the duty of the few liberated ones to educate the larger populace on the reasons why they should have a paradigm shift in their way of life.
It is first nature of man to embrace anarchy and chaos and for this reason, a true revolution ought not to be all violence from the outset, not that violence does not become necessary at some point, a calculated one is all but essential. Power struggle (or wrestle) is never a peaceful process, as more often than not the predecessors never want to leave the realm of oppressor-General.
Let us take a recent case example from the Niger-Delta struggle which would help us clearly understand the pitfalls that could come out from a revolution, no matter how altruistic the initial motives were.
Kenule Saro-Wiwa probably was on the right track towards redeeming the region from the exploitation it had undoubtedly suffered in the hands of a few multinational oil firms and of course the diabolic ruling government of General Sani Abacha. Right until the murder of the Ogoni 4 on May 21, 1994, an act which I still insist should still be laid at the feet of Saro-Wiwa as his statements and calls led to the death of those high chiefs (the Death Penalty issued on him I however denounce), there was a real reason for the people of Ogoni land (and the Ijaw land at large) to believe that in the course of time there would be remedial actions to the pain they were suffering. Eventually after the death of Kenule on November 10, 1995 there seemed to be a degradation of the whole struggle into a crude form of brigandage and illicit profiteering that has more or less become a mirror of the original oppression suffered by the people of the region.
The capitalist tendencies of the past administration made the oil-rich region a business must-visit for military officers (mostly from the Northern part of the country) and several other business men who were sympathetic to the cause of the corrupt administration. This made the indigenes of the region develop resentment to the treatment meted out to them, but rather than voice out in carefully calculated propaganda, they sought to replicate the plundering.
Of course not everyone could be involved in the bunkering business and this stratified the oppressed into two separate cadres, i.e. the real oppressed people and the crisis profiteers disguising as freedom-fighters, creating further stress on the former. It was impossible not to imagine that the haphazard manner with which the region was being governed would result in the rupture of civility.
Chief E. K. Clarke was an important factor to the destruction of that region also. He was only heard when he was not benefitting personally from the goods of the land and was reticent whenever his “beak was being wetted” by the ruling government. He vacillated in his views severally and his every movement was largely dictated by his imperialistic motives. This bred a new form of gangrene in the body of the struggle and the mutation resulted in the breeding of several terrorist organizations.
We were also treated to the spectacle of Alhaji Asari Dokubo and his self-preservation styled fight to save himself. Was it not funny that all the while he was incarcerated by the Obasanjo administration all his comments were directed at savings his skin rather than making use of his opportunity to make a case for the regions emancipation? The Politicians had constantly made use of the boys in their constant quest for unending power distributing the arms that helped them perpetuate themselves in their ignominious acts. The state government, Oil companies (who refuse to be socially responsible) and influential politicians all help fund the running and sustenance of the several camps that the militants have set-up.
Right from the time of Saro-Wiwa, the overall living condition of the average Niger-Deltan has not changed much, yet the struggle has become more violent. This can be adduced to three main factors, first the non-involvement and non-belief of the people in the region in the fight for the struggle, secondly the involvement of first impulse actions by the misguided youths in their quest for redemption and lastly the inconsistency (which is a function of their corruption) of the leaders of the region in asserting putting force to the struggle for the redemption of the people. Eventually what we have seen in the true sense is an emaciation of the Niger Delta region. This is the case of a revolution that has become lost in its debauchery, and if we must avoid this malfunction in our quest to save Nigeria we must also learn from other revolutionary movements within our environment, for we are a peculiar sort.
A Nigerian revolution is an imperative, the system has gone mad! We have failed to establish reasons for our cohersion, and this serves as the biggest fear now for any true nationalist. The Nigerian ensemble has cracked on many fronts; there have been calls on different wavelenght for action! People do not know what to do anymore. Columnists on our national dailies keep ranting and rambling about the same thing every single day, our eardrums and iris are filled with the ignominy that exhumes from the Television everyday.
We know that things have not gotten to this point before in the history of our existence; we hear the cracks and snaps as our elastic limits slowly become overstretched. It was just a few years back when we were telling ourselves that we were a fool at fourty? How time flies when you are headed down to the bottom!
But when you do not realise that something is fundamentally wrong, you would never see the need to save yourselves.