₦airaland Forum

“This morning I woke up and the Lord was telling me I should pray for this person in a graduation gown, with a cap,” he said. “He must be a well known, he must be a very, very popular person. The fact that God can bring this issue to me – he must be well known. What has happened? When the person died, they took the picture of graduation gown to show on the screen. Who is the person? Somebody at the centre of his own world.” In a subsequent service, he expanded further details of the vision, this time specifying the day Saturday. “On Saturday, pray for protection for this hero. He is struggling with some certain things known to him and God. But I am seeing death.”

This means nothing, its vague , not specific.

If it was possible, Nigeria would be split on nairaland.

Most nairalanders just like ordinary Nigerians are tired of the union, but the reality is we are stuck together until the oil finishes

"But again if USAID did carry out a real survey, then they could be right
What is the minimum wage? 7000 per month
How much of that is a dollar per day, then times 2
7000 naira a month = appr. 47 dollars per month (@150 naira/dollar) = 1.5 dollars per day
How many Nigerians earn 7000 per month? How many earn more?
How many don't earn anything at all?"

very interesting calculation

yes they are
they are the lost tribe of isreal

Almajiris has become an endangered species in Nigeria, first it was Jos deporting, followed by Lagos even Kaduna has now joined the Almajiri must go campaign.

I believe this is a fallout of boko haram crises; must members that battle the authority were Almajiris

You guys are unfair, its not the fault of the chidren that their father is a sleeping president.

Anybody who wants to marry the president daughter should try become a Governor or do 419 and be a multy millionaire, that is the first prerequiste, and all other things would fall into place. Just like many good things in Nigeria, the president daughters is not for the poor

[size=25pt]138.6m Nigerians live below poverty line - USAID[/size]
Oluwaseun Ayantokun, Abuja - 14.09.2009

UNITED States Agency for International Development (USAID) has released a damning report on the food insecurity situation and poverty level of Nigeria, stating that about 138.6 million Nigerians live on less than N302.00 ($2.00) per day.


According to Mr Tim Prewitt, Managing Director, USAID Markets, who spoke last week at the just concluded Africa Telecom Development Summit hosted by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) in Abuja, the figure represents 92.4 per cent of the country’s population.


He also said that Nigeria is eighth among the African countries with most rapidly developing middle class population without a corresponding food production level for sustenance.


Dwelling specifically on the production of rice, a staple food item in Nigeria, Mr. Prewitt said, “Nigeria consumes more than five million tonnes of rice annually and two million out of it are imported.”


He recommended that “Nigeria needs to increase its grain production significantly while ensuring that farmers have access to good storage and preservation facilities as a form of encourage for higher production level.”


http://www.tribune.com.ng/14092009/news/news7.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take heart, you re not the only one, the bald headed coward betray a whole generation

the beautiful one are not yet born, the ugly refuse to die

[size=20pt]Ojukwu betray me - Okorie[/size]

Sunday, 13 September 2009 00:00
Basking in the euphoria of his recent restoration as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) after a five-year legal tussle, Chief Chekwas Okorie, in this interview conducted before the convention of the party recently, he told EMMA-ENYINNAYA APPOLOS that rebuilding APGA is the only challenge before him now. Excerpts:

What is your regret in this struggle?

No regret at all. I said this because, no doubt, I felt a terrible sense of betrayal by Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, whom I served like a slave, when nobody compelled me to do so, because I believed him to be the symbol of the Igbo struggle, and I was warned. I used APGA platform to rehabilitate Ojukwu politically. Everybody is a witness to this rehabilitation, but this man, without any warning, without telling me where I erred, aligned with his kinsmen against me and he led the struggle for APGA destruction. But why I will not regret getting him involved is that he did me a great favour which he did not intend to do. He made me get closer to my God. And ever since I got closer to my God, my closeness to God has been improving on daily basis, so I can’t regret a struggle that gave me great joy at the end of the day of being a happy child of God and the experience I have acquired in the last five years of this struggle. I have not acquired them before. I have understood human beings for who they are. I will not be careless to trust people anymore, but that is not good enough, and I am trying to change that opinion.

What gives you joy when you remember the struggle?

The struggle brought me closer to God. That is my greatest joy. And God has shown me His hand and with that hand, I have defeated more than a Goliath; I have defeated an entire army of brigands and rebels. Now I can identify a traitor from a distance; I can perceive the pungent ardor of a deceiver and my sensibilities are sharpened, and my closeness to God is responsible. I can now perceive things before they happen, and those around me do not take my views lightly because they know that what view I express always tend to happen like that and some times they wonder and ask if I am a prophet and I say to them: ‘no, I am not a prophet but you can achieve what you want to achieve when discipline your body and mind for Christ and get closer to God.’

http://www.compassnews.net/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28101:ojukwu-betrayed-me-okorie&catid=36:poilitics&Itemid=58

[size=20pt]Adeboye Prays At UN Headquarters
[/size]

From Laolu Akande (New York) and Abosede Musari (Abuja)

AMBASSADORS and representatives of more than 68 nations were on Thursday led in prayers for global peace by General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Worldwide, Pastor E. A. Adeboye, at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, United States (U.S.)

Tagged "Uniting in prayer for the United Nations," the prayer session was organised by the International Prayer Council. The event was open to all Christians and Moslems at the UN. The theme of the prayer meeting was: "That the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord" (Habakkuk 2:14)

Adeboye was the keynote speaker at the session.

Introducing Adeboye, who was listed by Newsweek Magazine among the 50 most influential people in the world early this year, the planners of the event described him as the one "who holds the largest prayer meetings in the world in his country Nigeria."

In his presentations, Adeboye told the gathering that "the greatest problem the world is facing today is not the one we are trying to grapple with here. It is the attack on our youths, our children, our tomorrow, while we are busy planning strategy."

He said the enemy has sneaked in through the Internet, luring children and the youths into such dangerous acts as pornography and how to make explosive weapons, among others.

The cleric said the Internet is now teaching the youths that "the things that their parents value are but attempts to limit their own freedoms. The Internet therefore, has become an avenue for the enemy to attack humanity. This is a problem facing every nation, rich or poor, first world or third world."

He asked: "How do you fight an enemy you cannot see, an enemy you cannot defeat by force of arms, an enemy you cannot legislate against, an enemy you cannot fight with diplomacy?

Providing an answer, Adeboye said: "It is best to use the age-old method of warfare by calling in on the ally. The greatest ally is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of hosts."

Adeboye was also expected to lead a prayer walk yesterday at the Twin Towers Ground Zero scene of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York as the U.S. marks the 8th year anniversary of the attacks.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=120909&ptitle=Adeboye%20Prays%20At%20UN%20Headquarters

Haba Hollandis!
Do you realise the implication of the oil well drying up?

There wont be a Nigeria; it would break up into different fragment and would definitely lead to civil war. More than 20 million people might become refugee, and these would completely decimate the entire political stability of west Africa, its impact would be felt all around the world.

There is no love lost between Igbo , Yoruba and Hausa: the three major tribes hate each other. Alliance is only form to acquired power and manipulate the oil revenue. For more than 5 years now Nigeria has not enjoyed a single day of total peace: somewhere in a village, there is a communal clash, which goes unreported.

More than 90% of government revenue comes from oil. Meaning, every metre of road, bridge, building, salaries, initiatives , everything comes from oil. No state government , nor the Federal government can survive without oil: its everything , without it Nigeria is nothing.

The end of oil means the end of Nigeria, and that might lead to civil war

what do you expect from a shariah incline CBN Governor

[size=18pt]Nigeria is losing money holding reserves in dollars– FMI
[/size]

Business Sep 10, 2009 By Peter Egwuatu
Nigeria is losing money holding reserves in dollars following the fact that the dollar has been losing value as reserve currency in the last couple of months says Financial Market Intelligence (FMI), a firm of financial markets analysts. The FMI in its recent report states that the dollar has lost 12 per cent since March against an index comprising the euro, yen and four other major currencies.


Naira sign
According to the firm of financial market analysts , “ As at June 2009, Nigeria’s reserves stood at $43.46 billion . If dollar has lost 12 per cent, this amount can only buy $38.26 billion worth of imports.

This means that since March Nigeria’s external reserves has shaved off N5.2 billion in real terms” It further stated that If current drop in dollar yield persists, reserves would drop by as much amount in the next five months. This means that at year end, the country may have lost as much as $10 billion in real terms.

FMI have been actively involved in some of the most significant prognosis of the financial services industry in the last half decade. Experts concern on the dwindling dollar is on the increase “ the dollar will weaken as the U.S. pumps “massive” amounts of money into the economy, according to Curtis A. Mewbourne, a portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s biggest manager of bond funds

Joseph Stiglitz, another financial experts has stressed that the current reserve system is in the process of fraying. According to him “ The dollar is not a good store of value. Right now, the dollar is yielding almost no return and yet anybody looking at the dollar has to say there’s a high degree of risk.”Experts says real reserves are set to drop , due to oil revenue dips from militancy in the Niger Delta.

Other effect of drop in reserves include: Slowing remittances due to global crises; Slower capital flows to Nigeria following Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN ) five- bank intervention.

They further stressed that increased speculation on naira will lead to dwindling reserves;• Impairs CBN’s ability to defend naira; Disrupt CBN’s weekly Forex auction.

• Naira would lose value against major currencies, Imports would be dearer and Manufacturing wouldslump • Jobs would be lost The FMI has stated that other countries like China and Russia are also worried about the dwindling value of dollar.

According to FMI, “ China, the world’s largest holder of foreign-currency reserves, and Russia have both called for a new global currency to replace the dollar as the dominant place to store reserves. New questions may have to be raised over Nigeria’s reserves being held in US Dollars.

Are there entrenched interests for dollar reserves even if it makes little investment sense? ” On way forward, FMI stated that there is need for active reserve currency portfolio management that would see CBN entering in and out of currencies depending on yield • According to the firm of financial analysts “ First step is to exit the dollar or hold just a fraction of reserves in dollar. Other factors affecting reserve include: Thinning oil output from militants activity in the Delta ; Cyclical oil price.” flows to five- bank

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/09/10/nigeria-is-losing-money-holding-reserves-in-dollars%e2%80%93-fmi/

[size=15pt]Nigerians dissatisfied with EFCC’s anti-corruption battle[/size]

National News Sep 10, 2009 A survey carried out by the NOI/Gallup Polls has revealed that half of those polled are dissatisfied with the Federal Government’s current fight against corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

NOI Polls conducted the survey to get the opinion of Nigerians on the issue after sentiments were heightened after the recent visit of the United States Secretary of State, Mrs Hilary Clinton, to Nigeria, where she described the EFCC as having “fallen off the wagon.”

The results of the poll revealed that 51 per cent of the people who were surveyed, believe that the EFCC has fallen short in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

On what more the EFCC could do to fight corruption, the top three suggestions given by respondents are: pursue more convictions, be more transparent and increase collaboration with the judiciary and other law enforcement agencies.

These results are based on telephone interviews with 620 randomly selected phone–owning Nigerians aged 16 years and older, across the six geographical regions of the country.

NOI Polls is a Nigeria-based opinion research organisation which works in technical partnership with Gallup Polls (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls on various socioeconomic issues in Nigeria.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/09/10/nigerians-dissatisfied-with-efcc%e2%80%99s-anti-corruption-battle/

Becomrich

About 49 % +- 5% of nigerian lived in the 81 cities with population above 300,000 , I once listed.

And another 26 % +- 5% of live in another 280 cities which i would list later, with population from 40,000 to 300,000

while just 24 % +- 5% of live below towns, or villages less than 40,000


It was very easy to , it as taken me month to do this. i still continue this work.

I group this settlement into 3 class.

Based on your analysis and conclusion, can you tell us the standard deviation observed with respect to the different region of the country

The APGA people are realising why Mr. Onoh , Bianca's father, refuse to allow Ojukwu to marry his daughter. Mr. Onoh (blessed memory) knew Ojukwu is useless, self centred and care less about anybody. He uses the Igbo cause as a platform for his own personal gain. Some fools who cannot see beyond their nose still think his a hero.

Any political party will die to have somebody of Ojukwu standing as a member, but APGA are diplomatically telling Ojukwu to please step aside, your service is no longer required. Thank God for APGA, they now know the truth:The bald headed fool is a coward, divisive element and lack conscience.

This is the final confirmation of Ojukwu's uselessness, even the party colleagues recognise the fact

[size=18pt]Libya Deports 140 Nigerians Daily[/size]


By Idowu Sowunmi, 09.08.2009

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Libya has commenced massive deportation of Nigerians in the last five days, THISDAY has learnt. The deportees, who were seen walking in droves along Airport road towards the Domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, condemned the Libyan government for shabby treatment and also the Federal Government for its insensitivity to their plights.
As at the last count, over 600 Nigerians had been so far deported from Libya.
Some of the deportees, who volunteered to speak with THISDAY under condition of anonymity, explained that the security officials treated them as slaves.
“We were beaten like animals; treated like outcasts; and condemned to death even before any proper prosecution process could take place. More than 200 of us were packed inside a room like frozen fish,” one said.
The deportees who were described as “illegal immigrants” by the Libyan authorities are mainly from Zamwia-Zamzu prison in Tripoli. After months of detention in this prison, the Libyan authorities moved these illegal immigrants to Zahba Camp.
“We were given the option to voluntarily buy our air tickets and return to Nigeria. But some of us who don’t have money were given free tickets and deported to Nigeria. Each day since September 1, 2009 the Libyan authorities have been deporting 140 people from Zahba Camp alone. The camp houses both Nigerians and non-Nigerians already condemned by the Libyan authorities over issues bordering on illegal immigration,” another deportee said.
When asked to describe the shabby treatment meted out to them by Libyan security officials, one of the deportees said: “We were lucky to be alive. We were beaten, treated like slaves, but we thank God that we were not summarily executed. Many Nigerians have been so killed and as we are talking many will still be killed.”
But when told that the Federal Government of Nigeria had come out to deny the allegation of summary execution of Nigerians by Libyan security officials, a young deportee angrily said: “Nigeria is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians in Libya. The government most especially Nigerian government officials in Libya can only live in denial. But I tell you conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal. As a graduate, if our government has really provided us with the enabling environment to realise my dreams, I wouldn’t have become a victim of Libya’s illegal immigrants. It is true that we have thousands of Nigerians who are caught while trying to escape to Europe through this route. Nobody can deny that. The worry is the brutal way Nigerians are executed like fowls. We were being constantly reminded by Libyan security agents that they don’t need foreigners to develop their land. There are still many Nigerians languishing in Libyan prisons.”
When a call was put through to a Nigerian lady currently detained in Jadida Prison in Tripoli, she admitted the harrowing experience they are going through. “We are more than 100 in a very small room. Other Nigerians have been moved to our prison. We were asked to wait. So we hope to be deported to Nigeria by tomorrow Sunday or next. We have suffered enough. Regardless of the business you have come to do in Libya, the authorities see you simply as illegal immigrant that must be crushed,” she said.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=153898

you are a fool, if you have nothing better to write take a jump

The shameless coward wont retire, he is far too interested in the in the pecks from politics, rather than the welfare of Igbos

[size=19pt]Retire from active politics, APGA advises Ojukwu -[/size]

Calls for Obi’s resignation
Jude Ossai, Enugu - 08.09.2009

THE National Chairman of the All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has called on the former presidential candidate of the party, Chief Emeka Ojukwu, to retire from active politics and play a fatherly role in the present politcal dispensation.


Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Enugu on Monday, Chief Okorie also asked Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State to resign, arguing that he had no party having been expelled from APGA by the national leadership of the party.


Chief Okorie, who reaffirmed his utmost regard for the ex-Biafran leader, lamented the roles the Ikemba played in intra-party crisis that had engulfed APGA, stressing that he should not have taken side with his rival, Chief Victor Umeh, in creating unhealthy relationships in the party.


According to him, “time has come for Chief Ojukwu to withdraw from partisan politics by virtue of his roles in the history of Nigeria and Igboland.”


“When I pleaded with him to retire honourably so that his respect will be intact, he refused. The time has come for him to retire. I have taken risks because of him in the past and I think I’m very close to him,” he added.


Chief Okorie also advised members of the Anambra State House of Assembly to “initiate the impeachment process of Governor Obi,” adding that APGA was very happy to offload the governor and other heaps of rubbish.


On the rumours making the rounds that Obi’s deputy, Mrs. Virgy Etiaba, was making moves to dump him (Obi), Okorie advised Etiaba to tarry a while. I will advise her to tarry a while. I urge the state House of Assembly to ask Governor Obi to resign immediately or initiate an impeachment process against him. He does not belong to any party again. If the House of Assembly has any credibility, if they love their state, now that Obi has been expelled, he should be asked to resign,” he added.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/08092009/news/news19.html

[size=15pt]Alamieyeseigha’s London properties for sale [/size]
By Musikilu Mojeed


August 31, 2009 10:45PMT


The Federal Government has hired a British law firm to help it dispose of four multi-million naira properties fraudulently acquired by the disgraced former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

The firm, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, contracted by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, (SAN), on April 9, 2009, is to help sell the properties recovered through a legal proceeding brought against the former governor at the High Court of England and Wales.

Mr Alamieyeseigha’s wife, Margaret and two of his companies: Santolina Investment Corporation, (a company he incorporated in the Seychelles), Solomon and Peters Limited (a company he incorporated in the British Virgin Islands), were also joined in the suit.

The properties, according to the power of attorney given to Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge by the Attorney-General, are located on 247 The Water Gardens, Burwood Place, London, 14 Mapesbury Road, London, 68 and 70 Regents Park Road, London and Flat 202, Jubilee Heights, Shoot-up-Hill, London.

The actual description and value of the properties were not provided in the document; but a source said the properties were “prime ones whose total value could be in the region of N2 billion”.

Mr Alamieyeseigha bought The Water Gardens property for £1, 750,000.00 and paid for it in cash on July 18, 2003. It served as his London residence as well as the registered office of Solomon and Peters Incorporated.

The law firm, acting through two of its attorneys, James John Maton and Collin Stuart Joseph, is to “issue and prosecute proceedings to obtain vacant possession, to market and sell the properties and to execute deed of conveyance and other documents to facilitate the transfer of title both from the existing title holder and to the subsequent purchaser.” The firm is also to render “proper and detailed” accounts of the proceeds of the sale of the properties and maintain a Federal government of Nigeria Client Designated Account into which the proceeds from the sales would be paid.

A source at the Ministry of Justice said Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge was close to finalizing the sale of the Mapesbury Road property.

“What is delaying it is the need for a letter from Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom to the UK Land registry confirming approval to the sale. This is a requirement of the relevant office of the Land Registry when processing sales by foreign states,” the source said.

Waiting for a letter NEXT learnt that the UK law firm wrote to Mr. Aondoakaa on August 7, 2009, requesting him to direct the High Commissioner to the UK, Dalhatu Tafida, to issue the letter. It is not however clear whether the Attorney-General has issued the directive to Mr. Tafida.

The firm sent the letter after the Attorney-General claimed that he did not receive an earlier letter forwarded to his office on the matter.

After the former governor was impeached, prosecuted and jailed in Nigeria for corruption and his assets, valued at about £17.7 million confiscated, the Federal Government went ahead to institute proceedings against him, his wife, Margaret, and two of his companies in a bid to seize his assets in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Alamieyeseigha was impeached by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in December 2005, following his arrest by the London Metropolitan Police over allegations of corruption and money laundering.

Afterwards, he was arrested and prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on money laundering and corruption offences. On July 30, 2007, M.L. Shuaibu, a judge of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, sentenced him to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5451341-146/story.csp

It is finished
Nothing more to say
birth is not the beginning death is not the end

RIP

Gani: Death Of A Great Lawyer
By Reuben Abati

Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, Gani for short as he was known, touched our lives in significant ways and left a great impression on the minds of the power-drunk Nigerian elite whose shortcomings he exposed and condemned, his colleagues in the temple of justice, who even when they did not agree with his methods, could not but admire his special place in the growth of Nigerian jurisprudence due to the emphasis of his practice and its distinction, the quality of his advocacy, his industry and his sterling ability to bring the law in line with social justice. Of course, he will also be missed by ordinary Nigerians: students, market women, the poor, the dispossessed voter, the cheated labourer, the angry, the alienated, whose interests he defended, often pro bono. Gani gave the voiceless a voice at great personal risk. His voice was heard loud and clear on all the major issues of his time relating to justice and injustice. He was a most courageous man who took on our collective battles and phrased them as radical imperatives and being not one to shy away from battles, he stood firmly at the barricades. He led protests and whenever he was arrested and imprisoned by the military authorities, he bore the harrassment with dignity. He remained uncowed.

His most important legacy in my view, is his projection through personal example of the values of commitment, consistency, courage, patriotism, and principles. He was a principled man. He was a courageous man. He was a great man. With him on national issues, you knew where you stood. Crowds of men and women looked up to him, but he did not follow the crowd. Gani led the crowd with the quality of his thought. With his death, yesterday, the radical left in Nigeria, the progressive camp of Nigerian politics lost one other of its icons. Sadly, that community is recording too many losses lately: with Ola Oni gone, with Omafume Onoge dead, with Claude Ake no longer with us, and now Gani, the left has every reason to mourn especially now that opportunism is becoming triumphant and the destination of ideological engagement is predictable in many instances.

It can be said of Gani that he was a blessing unto the country of his birth, and even additionally that he was a gift to the legal profession, to Nigerian politics and to us, the Nigerian people. Not too many great men enjoy the pleasure of being celebrated in their lifetimes. Gani lived to witness the appreciation of his contributions to the making of Nigeria and his special contributions to the promotion of human rights and justice. It was public knowledge that he had been ill for a while: battling with cancer, but even Gani's illness was a lesson for us all. He bore adversity with great equanimity. From his sick bed, he continued to issue statements on national issues. When his death was announced yesterday morning, it was like grief foretold and the confirmation of our worst fears. But we can still proudly say after the poet, that "Death, Be Not Proud." The graveyard is full of many bones, but it is not all bones that disappear into the bowels of the earth, forgotten, unmourned. Gani deserves to be mourned, deeply and widely; and in the very bones of his remains lies all the relevant ways in which he has enriched our space. So he is dead but he lives with us and we should be thankful for his life and its many riches and fruits.

It must be said that the legal profession will never forget him. Law is a social modulator. Law is a stabilising force, the strongest vehicle for asserting the rule of law, the lighting rod of man's humanity, pointing to the difference between him and apes. Gani, more than any other, was the most determined, and the most vociferous defender of the rule of law. That phrase now has become a slogan, misappropriated by those who stumble upon it in a speech and then parrot it because of the niceness of its sound, but for Gani it was a cultural imperaive, that men, all men, are deserving of the protection of the law and that any attempt to derogate from that natural and legal right must be resisted by men of conscience. He challenged attempts by the ruling elite, the military or the civilian, to ride roughshod over the common man. He detested cant and hypocrisy which have always been in generous and plentiful supply in Nigerian politics. He waged war in the court rooms, on the streets and on the pages of the media. He was a delightful source of quotable quotes. He penned endless articles to the newspapers and was always prepared to speak on television. He was a different kind of lawyer. He was one of the most distinguished in the profession and in all ways, he was a member of the Nigerian aristocracy, but his politics was that of the common man. And he was most sincere. He showed younger lawyers, an alternative mode of practice: using the law to advance the common good. His kindred would include Alao Aka-Bashorun.

But the more important achievement in this regard was his emergence as role model for younger lawyers. Traces of his influence can be found in Femi Falana's advocacy, and in Olisa Agbakoba, Ayo Obe, Bamidele Aturu, Fred Agbaje, and Festus Keyamo, His Chambers at Anthony Village in Lagos, was a laboratory for the production of well-groomed lawyers. Even those who did not go away with a part of his radicalism, went on to sustain a tradition of hardwork, diligence and commitment to the fine points of law. This particular crowd will never forget him. Lawyers who did not train in his Chambers will be no less grateful. Gani Fawehinmi has been the most ardent chronicler of developments in the Nigerian legal system in the last 50 years or so. His many books on aspects of the law remain major reference points for all lawyers and jurists. His law library is also one of the best equipped in the country. Gani invested in knowledge, his courage was that of a cognoscenti and an illuminati. Judges respected him, his adversaries in the law court learnt very early not to treat him lightly. His power of forensic analysis and cross-examination was formidable. His presence in the court room was a statement in itself. There were lawyers of the conservative mould who also inspired great confidence, and whose talents no one could trifle with, but Gani came to every case, well prepared as every lawyer should be, and around him was always a touch of drama. He was, if we may say so, a celebrity lawyer, for whom the court room was not enough. Indeed, the entire Nigerian space was his constituency. His books, and the many cases in which he was involved, a significant number of which are cited as locus classicus, will keep him forever in the bright sections of the annals of Nigerian law,

Something must be said again about Gani's refusal to go with the pack. He was prepared to stand alone. Many of his colleagues, in the Nigerian Bar Association and elsewhere hated him for this. They said he loved his own voice and that he was not a team player. They said he was a slave driver who liked to dominate his environment. More senior colleagues throught Gani was a dramatist of every play of his own making. His personal friends with whom he disagreed on issues of principle thought he was disloyal and that he was always too willing to scarifice his own friends. Yes, Gani was human, he had his own frailities. But who isn't? And who doesn't? Whatever may have been his shortcomings however, is more than compensated for by the fact that here was a man whose good intentions were not in doubt. He was prepared to sacrifice himself in the pursuit of those good intentions. That he lived as long as he did is even surprising. Asthmatic, he continually knocked his head against the military, enduring detentions and assault, not because he was looking for contracts, or money or patronage, but because he wanted Nigeria to be a better place. He was indeed a patriot.

Before his death, we had started missing him. The mere fact that Gani was ill made so many unhappy. His death now makes us feel like orphans. He was a self-made man who made a choice and who stood by that choice and who through consistent self-application, became distinguished. Future law students and lawyers and even entrepreneurs and civil rights activists will always have Gani Fawehinmi to contend with as role model and his interventions as paradigm. The likes of General Ibrahim Babangida will also never forget Gani. He was a thorn in the flesh of the military, the feudalists, the vote-riggers and all pretenders to the throne. He defended the freedom of the press, the right to liberty, the right to protest, the right to form political parties, the right to the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of movement, It was as if the whole of the Chapter Four of the Nigerian Constitution was made for him to defend.

Gani was the poor man's hero. His contributions to the growth of Nigerian case law on human rights is non-pareil. He stands shoulders above all other lawyers, including his contemporaries in that genre. He was rich, but every poor man looked up to him. He was in some ways, the Fela of the legal profession: Iconoclastic and courageous, for many years he did not have the title of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, in protest, conferred on him the title of Senior Advocate of the Masses. When eventually he got the SAN, it didn't quite matter. It was the work of his hand that had long recommended him, bringing him more important local and international honours. Gani, in spite of all his radicalism believed in Nigeria. He wanted the best for this country. He had a self-imposed rule of never criticising Nigeria abroad. If he had to criticise anyone, he did it on Nigerian soil, and to the person's face.

The attitude towards him by the legal establishment was, for emphasis, at best ambivalent. On many ocassions, he stood up against the Nigerian Bar Association and insisted on the supremacy of principle. And so he was not very popular with both the professional Establishment and the Nigerian Establishment. But in death, Gani is likely to be even greater. Beyond his public engagements, there were lessons to be learnt also from his personal life. He was a polygamist, but he made polygamy look natural. If he had any private turmoils, he had enough strength of character to manage them. He was also devoted to his mother. He was an only son and he showed every one that mother is gold. In everything, he provided an alternative; in law, politics and activism. In law, in particular, he demonstrated beyond doubt that the purpose of law practice shoud not be primitive acquisition but public service. There will be in the next few days testimonies about his generousity. Gani encouraged scholarship: he wrote books and donated them to libraries and newspaper houses. He encouraged other lawyers to make use of his library. He gave scholarships to indigent students.

He was also proud of his background as an Ondo man. Whenever the history of that town in the 20th century and early 21st cenutry is written, Gani will occupy one of the early chapters. He drew great attention to Ondo. He was a source of pride to his people. Gani's overall vision of society is that the country can be made better for the benefit of all and sundry. Unfortunately, he is now dead and gone and Nigeria is still at the crossroads. His vision of a greater Nigeria remains unfulfilled. He died, so to speak, in the course of this seemingly endless struggle to make Nigeria great. We are consoled by the fact there are enough people to keep the flame of activism burning and that Gani, one of the shining lights of that struggle, shall not be forgotten. We will miss him.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=060909&ptitle=Gani:%20Death%20Of%20A%20Great%20Lawyer

Rest in peace Gani
May journey be smooth

na today

[size=17pt]Security forces slam travel ban on bank debtors [/size]
By Elor Nkereuwem


Oil executive, Jimoh Ibrahim, who is the chief executive of Global Fleet Industries Ltd, found himself dealing with a new set of issues on Thursday in Abuja, when federal authorities informed him to shelve his planned business trip abroad because his name has been listed on a new travel advisory that security agents issued on Wednesday.

Top security officers told NEXT in Abuja that the advisory was initiated as “a measure to prevent some of the very bad debtors from escaping,” adding that “some of the debtors are really owing so much that they can afford to run away and abandon whatever they have in the country.”

Mr. Ibrahim and 200 other individuals, including top businessman, Azeez Arisekola Alao, were barred from travelling until they clear their names in the N746 billion debt owed the five ailing banks that the Central Bank of Nigeria said accounted for more than 90 percent of the funds drawn from the CBN’s emergency expanded discount window, and had exposure to more than 50 percent of the credit to both the capital markets and oil marketing sectors.

Mr. Ibrahim whose family left for the United Kingdom on Wednesday without him, gave a different twist to the travel ban in a phone interview last night, saying it’s not a ban targeted at him but a general advisory that offered a window of ease for those who seek clearance from their banks. “It’s not just me. The CBN asked all the people whose names were published by the CBN not to travel.” He said adding that “The instruction is that if you want to travel, you have to obtain clearance from your bank.”

Mr. Ibrahim refused to say if he was at the airport Thursday, but he claimed that his pilot merely took his aircraft for servicing and that the aircraft is due back this weekend. “My pilot has taken the aircraft for servicing. He left Lagos for London today (Thursday) and will be back by this weekend. The aircraft is in Luton airport,” Mr. Ibrahim stated.

He said: “Nobody stopped me from travelling. In fact, I will be in England next week and nobody will stop me.”

Who issued the directive?

But in Abuja, federal agencies and law enforcement units at the core of the investigations traded excuses on Thursday, unwilling to accept responsibility as to who initiated the travel ban.

Mohammed Abdullahi, spokesman for the Central bank of Nigeria said “the notice is not from the CBN. The issue is with the EFCC. Maybe you should confirm from the EFCC,” but Femi Babafemi, spokesman for the EFCC, told NEXT that “there is no official statement from the EFCC.” NEXT sources also gathered that the State Security Service [SSS] denied issuing the advisory, pointing fingers at the EFCC and the CBN as the agencies to clear the air.

Airport authorities also claimed ignorance about the advisory. “We are not aware of any such advisory,” said Sam Adurogboye, spokesman for the National Civil Aviation Authority.

Following the recent regulatory action of the Central Bank of Nigeria on the five banks, the CBN requested defaulting customers of the affected banks “to pay without further delay their indebtedness, failing which the banks will take all appropriate legal actions to ensure repayment.”

To save the banks from going under, the CBN fired all their chief executives and injected an initial N420 billion life line to keep them alive.


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5455570-146/story.csp

PRINTING OF N420BN: Sanusi violated constitution - Reps insist
Bola Badmus, Abuja - 04.09.2009

THE House of Representatives, on Thursday, insisted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, violated the constitution of the Federal Republic by unilaterally printing N420 billion without the approval of the National Assembly, just as it said it had no sympathy for debtors of banks whose managing directors were sacked recently by the CBN.


Chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency, Honourable Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, made the declaration while addressing newsmen. He said Mr. Sanusi was wrong to have printed the money and given it as loans to the five banks, saying the CBN governor must, therefore, await parliament’s sanctions once members, who were currently on recess, resumed.


The affected banks are Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Afribank, Union Bank and FinBank. The lawmaker, who spoke on the outcome of the closed-door session his committee had with the CBN boss, on Wednesday, and the allegation that he used the writing pad of one of the debtors to one of the affected banks, Rockson Engineering Limited, to write the speech he delivered at the opening session, declared that nothing in the issues raised at the parley suggested that the Committee on Banking and Currency was backing any of the banks’ debtors.


According to Ozongbachi, it was not true that the speech he delivered at the probe of the unapproved loan granted by CBN governor, was written on a bank debtor’s writing pad, explaining that he had a speech already prepared by his committee clerk, which did not capture the entire issues at stake.


He explained further that he only made additional jottings on the said writing pad, noting that he could have done same on the CBN and other writing pads that he presented at the briefing, which he said were all available to him at the time of Sanusi’s appearance.


Ozongbachi argued that his committee, like the Northern caucus of the House which spoke at the weekend, was not opposed to the sack of the managing directors of the five affected banks, their prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as the efforts by the commission to recover huge sums of debts they owed, but the manner in which the N420billion was given to those banks without appropriation by the National Assembly.


The legislator argued further that what members of the committee had done was to assert their constitutional right by demanding that the constitution, which they swore to protect, be upheld by Sanusi, wondering how the real issues at stake helped the cause of any bank debtor.


He declared that the matter was not over yet, noting that Sanusi had failed to convince the committee on the status of the N420 billion. Ozongbachi said it was the belief of the committee that as practised all over the world, bailout was a treasury matter and should have been brought to the National Assembly for approval.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/04092009/news/news2.html

[size=15pt]Portrait of a country as a failed state[/size]
By Reuben Abati

WHY is there such a scarcity of good news in Nigeria? Bad leadership. Poverty. Ignorance. Impatience. Apathy. Alienation. Frustration. Wickedness. Hypocrisy, And more. Many years ago, the buzz phrase in the original argument for a new world information order was that the reporting of Africa should focus more on the positive attributes and achievements of the people rather than the predictable stereotype of Africa as the world's worst basket case. We blamed the Western media for its racist mindset. We lamented the meanness of parachute journalists who jet into Africa for a few days, report all the dirty gutters, the bare-chested women, the fratricide and the poverty and present that to the rest of the world as the true face of Africa. Two or more trips later, and well-funded travels across African countries, some of those journalists ended up with tomes on Africa and became experts on African affairs!

Less indignant commentators asked for the development of local structures to deepen the capacity of local African media systems to compete in a world where information is all. I don't get to hear all of this now being trumpeted from the rooftops with the same ardour of old. At least in Nigeria, we may gradually be settling down to the cold fact that bad news may be all there is to tell in our public sphere. Yes, in the private sphere, people still organise weddings, loud funeral parties (after which the living tends to be worse off than the dead due to the weight of debts), house-warming parties (well, Nigerians like to warm/wash everything including the purchase of a used SUV four-wheel drive which Americans are shipping off due to high energy cost- we go wash am o), dedication of babies, birthdays, send forth parties: good news is made of such stuff in the privacy of individual lives.

Looked at closely, such good stories, so described, invariably point to one form of sadness or the other in private lives, and indeed the event may be a way of covering up other deficiencies, psychological and social. Never judge the goodness of the lives of Nigerians by the number of people who congregate at peppersoup joints every Friday evening (proclaiming Thank God, it is Friday) or the gaily dressed aso ebi crowd at weekend parties particularly in the South West whose Yoruba population has been described in one recent dictionary as "the fun-loving people of South-West Nigeria." They even hold wedding parties nowadays on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lift the veil and look at the public sphere: bad news.

Democracy has not changed the tone of tnews in the public sphere. It is the same drone of dreariness and jeremiad, failures and aborted hopes. There is no point blaming the outsiders anymore. Foreign media channels have become favourite sources of expert commentary on the African, nay Nigerian condition. We quote Western journalists with such great concurrence. A negative comment on Nigeria on BBC or in the Economist, the Financial Times of London is immediately reproduced in the local media as gospel truth. Nobody is complaining about negative image and if there are some people still doing so, they are few indeed. Deep in their hearts, they know the truth that "this house has fallen," that the Nigerian state is in retreat, that all is not well here. In the age of the internet, and instant news, the apotheosis of the global village theory, Nigerians do not even have to worry so much about imbalance in the world information order, they are all over the internet and the blogosphere, lamenting the frustration in their lives. Nigerians curse, rave, rant, they abuse each other, they hold every other man responsible for their own woes. So much bile.

Reading the newspapers, sitting down at editorial discussions, engaging fellow compariots in debate, you wonder how so difficult it is to be a Nigerian, how so low life and living in Nigeria can be. It is a great wonder we are not all in psychiatric homes yet. It is three or four months to the end of the year, it is in vain that anyone can point to good news. Is it the endless strikes in the hospitals (which have resulted in needless deaths), or the strike by school teachers at all levels (which continue to disrupt the school calendar and the lives of students)? How about the lack of regular electricity and the high cost of diesel which has driven companies across the border or forced them to shut down, like the textile factories, resulting in job losses and greater social hardship? No end in sight to the Niger Delta crisis, with governments only managing to dance round the issues. Across the country, armed robbers, kidnappers, rapists and ritualists are on the prowl. Ten years ago we wrote on the bad state of Nigerian roads. The FRSC used to complain about the urgent need to revamp the roads in order to reduce carnage; last week, the FRSC said precisely the same thing, and yet in ten years, close to a trillion Naira has been spent on road audit, construction and maintenance. The roads are still bad. We are confronted with corporeal changelessness and worsening uncertainty.

Surprise: every Nigerian knows what is wrong. We don't need to wait for media headlines. We climb over each other to articulate the best solutions. A thinks he is wiser than B. C suspects D because he or she is of a different ethnic extraction or religious persuasion. The land has been overtaken by assassins at all levels; some carry daggers and guns, they complain about election results or religion and then kill others, the so-called educated ones engage in such bitter fights that make them no better than the Boko Haram zealots. The people blame their leaders. The leaders blame their followers. Even public officials go on television to complain that they are overwhelmed.

Every year, we say the same things: leadership is the problem, civil society should wake up, the Constitution must be reviewed, Nigeria is a failed state, it needs a revolution (yeah!), institutions need to be re-built, economic reform must focus on drivers of growth, proper federalism must be adopted, the Niger Delta question must be addressed. Let's line up all our leaders and give them the Rawlings treatment (yeah, yeah!). We look at the achievements of other countries and we draw parallels wondering why Nigeria is behaving like an slowpoke. We ask the media to do better. We ask that the development process must be pro-poor, we shout, we scream, And we put it all down to the lack of political will to do anything. Find that will, and all else will improve. We insist further that those who have looted the treasury should be guillotined. We say it. We scream it, In due course an important foreigner visits the country and comments on our failings and we all talk about how profound that is.

Of course there is the praying and fasting crowd. They fast during Lent. They fast during Ramadan. They can quote the Quran or the Bible with the facility of a parrot. They claim to know God. They go to umrah, hajj or they visit the Vatican and take photographs with the Pope! Many unemployed graduates have learnt to short-circuit the system: either set up a private business, or engage in internet scam (the most amusing being the case of one fellow who says he makes the fantasies of lonely old white women come true through phone and internet messages, and he soon fleeces them), or become an armed robber, or better still, a spiritualist (claim you have been called by God: Nothing impresses Nigerians more than claims of ability to see into the future and identify the enemies debarring your progress- every Nigerian is waging a war against enemies- real and imagined). Even the ones abroad occasionally flee from the enemies in the Western world: credit crunch, hunger, unemployment, terrible bills, humiliation, hopelessness, they return home only to be confronted by bigger enemies. Some of them stay back and join the struggle with enemies, but many return abroad, drifting from one uncertainty to the other, hoping that some day, Nigeria will become a country where they and their children and their own children can have a true sense of home.

And then in the midst of it all, one Nigerian suddenly wins an international award, and while some people applaud, others would sneer, and the event leads inexorably to the evil of comparison: he couldn't have excelled if he was still in Nigeria, and so the good news is pushed offshore. Football used to make us happy too, but now we can't even put a team together and we are not sure of anything with our over-aged players and unhappy coaches.

The months come and go, the year ends. Yar'çdua asks the MDAs to return their unspent budgets. We all go to the church, the mosque, and we wish each other a happy new year. The new year is a copy of the old. And we start all over. We search afresh for the missing political will, for the magic wand that will make our society efficient in the age of efficiency , there are no life-threatening monsoons, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunami, or wild fires stopping us, only madmen and specialists, We argue, we scream -all over again, we rationalise. And life continues.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=040909&ptitle=Portrait of a country as a failed state

What is the full story behind this tree sef? Whose land is it on?
If it wasn't on the preachers land and the red cloth he burnt didn't belong to him, has he committed a crime?
If the tree is on govt land, have the worshippers been breaking the law?
Questions. . .

this your big big legal question tire me ooo!

[size=18pt]Soludo, banking reforms and the high profile debtors [/size]
By Said Adejumobi

SHORTLY before Charles Soludo, the former governor of the Central Bank stepped down, the Nigerian syndrome was at play in which there were insinuations, rumours and fears that if he was allowed to go, the Nigerian banking system would collapse; that he has done so much and so well for the system that he should be granted automatic term renewal and allowed to continue in office. Umaru Yar'Adua, Nigeria's president, reputed to be very slow in taking decisions, made a correct political decision in this case. He thanked Charles for his 'good works' and duly appointed a successor in Lamido Sanusi. Yar'Adua resisted the temptation of the personalisation of public office, which has become a plague of public life in Nigeria. It was this plague that made Babangida to seem invincible, and Abacha to play god and an Obasanjo to feel indispensable! Charles Soludo's exit makes for continuity and stability in the governance of the Central Bank, and has also exposed the shortcomings of what seemed a perfect, unbeatable regime at the Bank.

Charles Soludo conducted a much celebrated reform of the banking system in Nigeria - what is called the bank consolidation exercise. He increased dramatically the capital base of the banks, encouraged bank mergers and acquisitions and evolved in the process what is referred to as megabanks in Nigeria. In spite of what critics may say, there must have been something good about those reforms. A practical testimony to it was that as soon as those reforms were carried out, the Nigerian banking system witnessed massive expansion and foray outside the country. Nigerian banks sprang up in neighbouring countries like Ghana, Guinea, and Liberia, etc. Those banks assumed transnational character, and for the first time, the prospects of benefiting from our African centered foreign policy began to gain expression.

But the gaps in those reforms are now becoming manifest and the frailties of the system being dangerously exposed with the sudden revelations about the accumulated debts by some "privileged Nigerians" in collaboration with the bank chiefs. What was the nature of the monitoring and accountability systems in the banks? What were the oversight mechanisms that the reforms instituted which allowed a group of Nigerians to nearly again collapse some of the megabanks in the country? Were there cases of deliberate indulgence, favouritism, and abetting from the Central Bank in allowing some of those Nigerians to accumulate so much debt to the detriment of the health of those banks? Were there cases of cover-ups, 'massaged' accounts and false reporting and declaration by those banks under Charles Soludo's regime at the Central Bank? What could have happened if there was no change of guard at the CBN, and the situation was covered up and allowed to deteriorate further? Were we treated to media propaganda and exaggerated stories on the so-called achievements of the bank reforms? These issues require being investigated!

Towards the end of Charles Soludo's tenure in office, there were media reports which alleged his undue closeness and flirtation with some of the banking chiefs, and the so called 'captains of industry', who are today the high profile debtors. Charles featured prominently in several social events of those personalities and enjoyed the media limelight that came with it. It may be interesting to know whether he was at all compromised in the discharge of his duties in his relationship with those people.

The steps taken so far by the new Central Bank Governor to rescue those banks from imminent collapse deserve the commendation and endorsement of all well-meaning Nigerians. A bank is a not and cannot be a private property to anyone, even if it is owned by someone or a few. A bank is a public trust; it holds in trust and manages peoples' funds and savings for them, and the credibility of the system is at the heart of financial stability and growth of any economy. The attempt to ethnicise the surgical steps taken by Sanusi as a means of changing the ownership structure and control of those banks in favour of the north is baseless, diversionary and completely unfounded. The actions so far project a nationalistic approach designed to save the ordinary Nigerians who are usually the victims of failed and collapsed banks in Nigeria.

The prosecution of the bad debtors offers the new EFCC leadership an opportunity to redeem itself as being committed, serious and even in its anti-graft responsibility. Those who seek to collapse the banks either through deliberate acts, collaboration or default perpetrate heinous economic crime which would have had serious ripple effects on the banks, economy and the ordinary people. The billions of naira used to save those banks from imminent collapse could also have been judiciously used to provide public goods for the people. High profile personalities with little consideration for the interests of people and the well being of the economy of the country deserve high profile prosecution. There must and should not be any cover-up in this case.

The excuse some are likely to give is that the world economy is in recession, and banks are collapsing everywhere, and so why is Nigeria an exception and why should those responsible be prosecuted, since they are not in many countries of the world? The answer is that the Nigerian case is not a systemic problem in which market failure in a sector led to serious default by a large chunk of debtors - which in the case of the U.S. is the mortgage holders. In the case of Nigeria, it is a culture of impunity, recklessness, lawlessness, and dubiousness which was about to put our banks in crisis again. When Charles Soludo was still the CBN chief, and was asked how the global financial crisis will affect Nigerian banks, his response was in the negative - that it would not affect our banks. The Nigerian case is not a product of the economic crisis; it is a case of criminal behaviour, which has become the pastime of our ruling elite in all sectors of national life!

Sanusi, the new CBN chief needs to go a little further in his investigation of the current situation. More deeper and reflective questions need to be asked and answered. Was the CBN complicit in this situation? What are the existing regulatory instruments of the banks and how adequate are they? What measures should be put in place in order to prevent a recurrence of the situation? Sanusi has to provide answers to those questions.

The current banking scam shows that you never celebrate aleader until he leaves the seat! Perhaps, Charles Soludo may do the nation some good to open up and respond to the raging questions on what happened to the banking system at the twilight of his reign at the CBN!


Adejumobi, an African Governance expert lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article03//indexn2_html?pdate=010909&ptitle=Soludo, banking reforms and the high profile debtors

Nigeria is a a COMEDY REPUBLIC.