LegendHero:
Jagaban Borgu.

Atiku is extremely happy to meet Jagaban.

See Ayu also smiling in the background.

If you watch the video, there is one Atiku man that is shouting Jagaban Jagaban Jagaban when they met today. Who be that man self ?

The man is a long time ally of Atiku Abubakar by name Senator Ehigie Uzamere from Edo State. He was Senator representing Edo South Senatorial district under the defunct ACN between 2011-2015 having earlier been under PDP from 2007-2011.

Perfectbeing:
My school increased my school fees. And even though my faculty isn't completed I still pay the high school fees. But I can see work ongoing. This ongoing work started when school fees increased.

I may never receive lectures from the completed classrooms that will be fitted with ACs before I graduate but I cannot deny that I saw what the VC did with the increased school fees.
I might not enjoy it but the next set will.

Impressive with your analysis/comments on this thread so far. I guess you are financially inclined and savvy about public finance matters for you to posit such points. So good are your points I have had to comment for the first time in donkey years.

Many think it is rocket science to have a viable working system as is obtainable in western climes without doing their bits to achieve that here with our thoughts and ways.

The average Nigerian student goes berserk with watton destruction of facilities when fees are raised in public schools while not in the know that subsidy on tertiary education by Government is what even allows for such fees in this day and time yet they say nothing is done.

Seeing persons advocate for salary increases in bankruptcy and inflationary periods for ASUU and not knowing that every other group like NNASU, Polythecnics, Colleges of Education, Teachers, Doctors and other medical personnel etc, would send us to situations worse than Venezuela years back. Something has to give way and for now the best bets are in petrol, power and tertiary education. The pool should go to quality healthcare and Basic education till secondary level.

In summary, Nigerians do not really know what they want. Till we have a FUNCTIONAL CREDIT SYSTEM which would bring about INCREASED REVENUES, everything we hope for would be mostly of wishful thoughts. We pander alot this way hoping to arrive in eldorado.

EngrHumble
Honestly, Osho might delay Or denied obaseki APC primary ticket but Note; That Can't Stop Obaseki from Coming back For second tenure.

Godfatherism nor fit Happen for Edo....

Edo South (Binis) is with Obaseki 90%

Edo central (Esan) is with Obaseki 90%

Edo North (Afemai) is with Obaseki 50% ( Shaibu and osho go share d votes)[/quote].



With what you have written here, it is evidently clear to all who know what politics is about that you are quite naive and ignorant on how things are.

For a start, I would advice you go read up books on history on how that of 1983 transpired in the then BENDEL STATE which led to the removal of Prof. Ambrose Folorunsho Alli. Then read up what the constitution of both frontline political parties says and find out who is behind both.

Godwin Obaseki is the easiest of persons to dislodge. I would not put out everything in public. Love or hate him, Adams Oshiomhole is one with extensive reach politically to make it possible.

Godwin Obaseki is yet to have his foot on ground as you think. Do not let the rantings of Philip Shuaibu, Osarodion Ogie, Charles Idahosa (Akakasiaka), Valentine Asuen, Albert Obazee (Social media team) and a few others deceive you. When the time comes you would remember this quote. If you may have taken note, Oshiomhole has not even spoken over the issue as such compared to ways he is known to generally speak.


Cheers.

Astark:
do you know who's bello osagie? Although he now looks like Hausa because of Nigeria quota system, he among the richest men in Africa

..

Lol.. I very well know who Hakeem is from his acquisition of UBA as a young man during the IBB administration which had to be ratified by the powers that be then down to his dad who was a physician during the military era. His last big business venture was Etisalat which has been acquired by 9mobile after mountainous debts almost ran it under.

Hakeem isn't as wealthy again Monsieur as you think. Same way the igbinedion family isn't as wealthy as Captain Hosa despite working for him in the past. Listing his business interest here would amaze you.

Gracias.

Astark:
bello osagie, igbinedion?

They are no longer as wealthy as Captain Hosa Wells who incidentally got his first job working for Igbinedion. His business interests spans through every sector you can possibly name presently and only recently the Agro allied which is one of the biggest with direct exports to the Mexico and US.

Tomide007:

Are you kidding, for someone who is company paid 6billion as tax for last year alone?

..

Please Monsieur, do you work with Seyi Makinde's company or you are amongst the external auditors who conduct statutory audit for his firm or you work with FIRS to be privy to such information or you have come across the 2018 financial statement of his firm by any possible means which is at most times private?

Do you by chance know what it means for a firm to pay #6billion as tax and how much he would need to make as Profit Before Tax in a financial year for him to retire such to government coffers from the existing tax laws obtainable at present?

Don't be quick to say things bro if you must push figures to public domain to substantiate claims, every finance related person here knows you are either ignorant or at best made errors and wanted to probably say #6billion in revenues.

Gracias!

superlanny:
We highly intelligent Nigerians already know that anything that comes out Athiefikulate's mouth is filled with hypocrisy and utter lies, you that cannot declare your stolen assets, i only pity you and your adopted cohorts for thinking you will be allowed to rape us again, God forbid bad thing. God bless Buhari & the Nigerian state,Amen.

We certainly know Atiku Abubakar beyond his gimmicks. If Seyi Makinde is trail blazing by declaring his assets to the tune of #48billion and pays taxes of over #1.5billion yearly going by his claims before the governorship elections, what do we then say of Atiku Abubakar who showed 3years tax receipts of a mere #60million plus which means he earned #20m averagely yearly whereas even the devil in hell knows Seyi Makinde is a pauper where Atiku Abubakar is.

I keep laughing daily when I see posts/statements from him.

JasonScoolari:
....And some Resident Nairaland Online Cow's tag Baba Lifeless "Mr. Integrity"

You begin to wonder the "miraculous" voting that happened in a state like Yobe and Bornu ravaged by insecurity.

Daura is a sure ticket and it's also a ONE WAY ticket to the great beyond for Baba Lifeless.


By the way, take a look at the two miscreants below me.

Just laugh at them.

While you claim to wonder how votes from the aforementioned states are of that number since it has been locked in terrorist activities for some time, does it not throw bigger wonders how your principal foolishly makes such assertions yet goes ahead to still say more than 1.1million persons voted in Borno from his spiritual server as against INEC's figure which is less by over 250,000 persons and then tell the naive ones he has a case and he is coming? Lol..

As OBJ would say, "" I just dey laugh""

morrizo:
The best business one can do with that kind of money and become a testimony to ur friends and family is pig farming.

Pig farm is the must lucrative livestock farming but it is neglected. I have been rearing pigs for so so long.
If u have space to build a pig house then this will be so easy for u. Pigs are one of the cleanest animal but it all depended on how u house them. To prevent smell u can dig a suck away where u channels all waste products from this pigs to. U have to make sure it is always clean.

First of all u have to identify the kind of breed u want to rear cos this is important. I will advice u to go for a duroc or large white specie and this cost btw 30-40k for a piglet unlike the local breed that goes for 5k but, both can't be compared to money they bring to the bank. U can feed a local pig for a year but u won't notice in its weight unlike foreign breed. Foreign breeds eat to gain weight within a short time and they reproduce much more. A duroc or large white pig averages about 10 piglets twice a year and it can be more when cross breaded.

They become marketable in the market when the get to six month weighing about 80-150kg. A kg of pork goes for about 800-1000 naira do ur maths.

Feeding is very important and can also be so cheap when u know what to give them. It's true that pigs eat everything but u have to be mindful of what u give them don't feed them with kitchen waste to avoid diseases and worm. One can feed them with brew waste, rice waste from rice Mills around, Palm kneel waste from the inner kneel nut, soya beans, maize and hydroponics. Pls always remember to decor them every three months.

If a pig gives birth to ten pigs averagely and u were able to buy three pigs (foreign breeds)
Two female and a male
2*10 =20 (in six months) valued at 600k frm birth
Let's say out of the 20, 8 were female and the produced in six months again
80*10=80 forgetting the first two that produced 20 cos they will be reproducing again
80+20=100 in 12 months making u farm worth a value of about 4.5 million not forgetting to add the old stocks up and it goes on and one but u have to have passion for this to succeed cos the need time and care.

I believe with 350k all will be set for this.
Have a nice day.

Hello Morrizo... Somehow my reply to your mail have failed to deliver. Reach me with your details through my mail. Thanks

@op. why have you decided to be economical with the entire details requested from you all in a bid to market your firms products?
It would be best to come out straight by saying your rates are between 4-6% MONTHLY which translates to 48-72% per annum. Be guided!

@OP


In response to your post, i sought information as regards the origin and validity of the said SMS when I got it and I was told by the source whoever subscribes to the message from the network provider would have Fifteen naira deducted daily from his/her line to cover the policy as premium. Hope it helps? So be careful..

This post has been hidden.

This post has been hidden.

This post has been hidden.

@Marlockj

I just had a chat with a representative of betfair now and she suggested that i try to use my Nigerian issued VISA cards to see if it would go through since i told her that the cards are also accepted on other reputable sites like FB, amazon et al. So i would suggest you try it out to see if it would go through. I do not have cash in my card at present to test run mine but would do so later. Give the house any feedback when and if you are successful.
Aside that, she suggested using bank transfer as the other alternative. Hope this helps?

@folks who think only an uneducated person would do so. Let me give u a vivid experience.
Sometime in the last week of june this year after having just received a credit of 106k plus into my AFRICARD, i then used 54k to do something again online leaving me with a balance of #52,123 which i proceeded to withdraw using the service provider's ATM..
Suprisingly after the 1st 20k debit was done, i requested for a subsequent 20k debit only to be paid #4500 which looked like the 8th wonder of the world at that moment.. Mind you, my contact with counting huge sums dates back 20years ago and having worked in the bulkroom of a Nigerian bank 6years back and presently working as an auditor, i guess you can make your conclusions better now? I would advice you find out from persons it has happened to before you conclude.
Peace.

@forumites

i have always been among those who continuously insisted that PDP have rarely ever won any election conducted since 1999 in Nigeria at all levels of government if results are not manipulated by those with 'vested interest'... Hopefully in subsequent elections, its my prayer that Nigerians would choose not to be deceived that PDP is on ground with their electoral and psychological manipulations of the past especially those who claim to be voting GEJ and not PDP...

Surely, this is more than MOHAMMED ALI'S knock out to GEORGE FOREMAN in the epic RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE BATTLE.

Sijo01:

hahahahahaha
u jst stated d reason.
inbox me urs.

hmmm. Somehow nairaland is making me seem like i dont know how to send messages by blocking the compose page. Hope you dont mind doing likewise from your end?

@Sijo01
not heared from you about the request or your detailed reports of each result like a journalist is holding you back?

Koyo Oohh..

@Sijo01(f):
thanks for the response. Mind if you inbox me your digits so we chat? Takia

Esan west- Acn-13499, Pdp-13282

ovia north east. Acn-26435, Pdp-5427

@Sijo01(f)
hello madam. Nice one about the follow up results. Just sent you a mail. Add me up.

@fellow forumites.
The final results are presently been called by the respective returning officers of each local government areas on NTA BENIN.
Hope you dont mind my inability to give you the exact figures in some cases as i just tuned to the channel and only picking up figures from the projector screen thats been displayed.
The results are as follows

Egor LGA- ACN-50623 while PDP-3436

ESAN NORTH EAST- Acn-13k plus and Pdp-12k plus.

ESAN CENTRAL- Acn-11782 while Pdp-9281

OWAN WEST- Acn-15k plus while Pdp-7k plus

IGUEBEN- Acn-9753 while Pdp-6758

UHUNMWODE- Acn-17k plus while Pdp-5k plus

gulfer: You are a slowpoke
for this comment: Compare
for your crappy head what
the signature names of
Unilag, UI, OAU etc means in
securing a good Job in the
market as against a MAU,
TASUED etc.
You are the slowpoke here, so
if u are an employer u will
employ an empty brain who
finished from UI over a
TASUED graduate with a 1st
class who proved himself
during the screening process...
I know loads of the so called
UNILAG grad who are still
jobless years after graduating,
so bros borrow a brain,u are
better off keeping quietgulfer: You are a slowpoke
for this comment: Compare
for your crappy head what
the signature names of
Unilag, UI, OAU etc means in
securing a good Job in the
market as against a MAU,
TASUED etc.
You are the slowpoke here, so
if u are an employer u will
employ an empty brain who
finished from UI over a
TASUED graduate with a 1st
class who proved himself
during the screening process...
I know loads of the so called
UNILAG grad who are still
jobless years after graduating,
so bros borrow a brain,u are
better off keeping quietgulfer: You are a slowpoke
for this comment: Compare
for your crappy head what
the signature names of
Unilag, UI, OAU etc means in
securing a good Job in the
market as against a MAU,
TASUED etc.
You are the slowpoke here, so
if u are an employer u will
employ an empty brain who
finished from UI over a
TASUED graduate with a 1st
class who proved himself
during the screening process...
I know loads of the so called
UNILAG grad who are still
jobless years after graduating,
so bros borrow a brain,u are
better off keeping quiet.

@ogbeche77. Thanks for letting him
know he is actually the slowpoke for not knowing that the previous name of OAU he used as reference to butress his point was UNIVERSITY OF IFE. So much for name over substance. Mtcheew.

@OP
It depends on certain factors such as

1. If you have carried out any form of business since it was incorporated

2. When exactly did you commence operations ( Incorporation doesn't mean you have commenced business )

3. Your Statement of Affairs and Financial records till date if any. [b][/b]and others.

Contact 08036342990 for further details. ( Audit & Tax Consultant).

Just saw this article and thought we would do well to discuss this here.






Why the West wants the fall of Gaddafi? An analysis in defense of the Libyan rais – Rights monitorin
www.rightsmonitoring.org
Analysis by Jean-Paul Pougala – Africans should think about the real reasons why western countries are waging war on Libya, writes Jean-Paul Pougala, in an analysis that traces the country’s role in shaping the African Union and the development of the continent.





[color=Black][/color]In Defense Of QaddafiDevelopment In Africa Gaddafi's Works In AfricaInterests Behind The Conflict In Libya Positive Actions To Gaddafi Reasons For The Conflict In Libya War In Lybia
Analysis by Jean-Paul Pougala – Africans should think about the real reasons why western countries are waging war on Libya, writes Jean-Paul Pougala, in an analysis that traces the country’s role in shaping the African Union and the development of the continent.

It was Gaddafi’s Libya that offered all of Africa its first revolution in modern times – connecting the entire continent by telephone, television, radio broadcasting and several other technological applications such as telemedicine and distance teaching. And thanks to the WMAX radio bridge, a low cost connection was made available across the continent, including in rural areas.

It began in 1992, when 45 African nations established RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication Organization) so that Africa would have its own satellite and slash communication costs in the continent. This was a time when phone calls to and from Africa were the most expensive in the world because of the annual US$500 million fee pocketed by Europe for the use of its satellites like Intelsat for phone conversations, including those within the same country.

An African satellite only cost a onetime payment of US$400 million and the continent no longer had to pay a US$500 million annual lease. Which banker wouldn’t finance such a project? But the problem remained – how can slaves, seeking to free themselves from their master’s exploitation ask the master’s help to achieve that freedom? Not surprisingly, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the USA, Europe only made vague promises for 14 years. Gaddafi put an end to these futile pleas to the western ‘benefactors’ with their exorbitant interest rates. The Libyan guide put US$300 million on the table; the African Development Bank added US$50 million more and the West African Development Bank a further US$27 million – and that’s how Africa got its first communications satellite on 26 December 2007.

China and Russia followed suit and shared their technology and helped launch satellites for South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria and a second African satellite was launched in July 2010. The first totally indigenously built satellite and manufactured on African soil, in Algeria, is set for 2020. This satellite is aimed at competing with the best in the world, but at ten times less the cost, a real challenge.

This is how a symbolic gesture of a mere US$300 million changed the life of an entire continent. Gaddafi’s Libya cost the West, not just depriving it of US$500 million per year but the billions of dollars in debt and interest that the initial loan would generate for years to come and in an exponential manner, thereby helping maintain an occult system in order to plunder the continent.

AFRICAN MONETARY FUND, AFRICAN CENTRAL BANK, AFRICAN INVESTMENT BANK

The US$30 billion frozen by Mr Obama belong to the Libyan Central Bank and had been earmarked as the Libyan contribution to three key projects which would add the finishing touches to the African federation – the African Investment Bank in Syrte, Libya, the establishment in 2011 of the African Monetary Fund to be based in Yaounde with a US$42 billion capital fund and the Abuja-based African Central Bank in Nigeria which when it starts printing African money will ring the death knell for the CFA franc through which Paris has been able to maintain its hold on some African countries for the last fifty years. It is easy to understand the French wrath against Gaddafi.

The African Monetary Fund is expected to totally supplant the African activities of the International Monetary Fund which, with only US$25 billion, was able to bring an entire continent to its knees and make it swallow questionable privatisation like forcing African countries to move from public to private monopolies. No surprise then that on 16-17December 2010, the Africans unanimously rejected attempts by Western countries to join the African Monetary Fund, saying it was open only to African nations.

It is increasingly obvious that after Libya, the western coalition will go after Algeria, because apart from its huge energy resources, the country has cash reserves of around a 150 billion. This is what lures the countries that are bombing Libya and they all have one thing in common – they are practically bankrupt. The USA alone, has a staggering debt of $US14,000 billion, France, Great Britain and Italy each have a US$2,000 billion public deficit compared to less than US$400 billion in public debt for 46 African countries combined.

Inciting spurious wars in Africa in the hope that this will revitalise their economies which are sinking ever more into the doldrums will ultimately hasten the western decline which actually began in 1884 during the notorious Berlin Conference. As the American economist Adam Smith predicted in 1865 when he publicly backed Abraham Lincoln for the abolition of slavery, ‘the economy of any country which relies on the slavery of blacks is destined to descend into hell the day those countries awaken’.

REGIONAL UNITY AS AN OBSTABLE TO THE CREATION OF A UNITED STATES OF AFRICA

To destabilise and destroy the African union which was veering dangerously (for the West) towards a United States of Africa under the guiding hand of Gaddafi, the European Union first tried, unsuccessfully, to create the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM). North Africa somehow had to be cut off from the rest of Africa, using the old tired racist clichés of the 18th and 19th centuries ,which claimed that Africans of Arab origin were more evolved and civilised than the rest of the continent. This failed because Gaddafi refused to buy into it. He soon understood what game was being played when only a handful of African countries were invited to join the Mediterranean grouping without informing the African Union but inviting all 27 members of the European Union.

Without the driving force behind the African Federation, the UPM failed even before it began, still-born with Sarkozy as president and Mubarak as vice president. The French foreign minister, Alain Juppe is now attempting to re-launch the idea, banking no doubt on the fall of Gaddafi. What African leaders fail to understand is that as long as the European Union continues to finance the African Union, the status quo will remain, because no real independence. This is why the European Union has encouraged and financed regional groupings in Africa.

It is obvious that the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS), which has an embassy in Brussels and depends for the bulk of its funding on the European Union, is a vociferous opponent to the African federation. That’s why Lincoln fought in the US war of secession because the moment a group of countries come together in a regional political organisation, it weakens the main group. That is what Europe wanted and the Africans have never understood the game plan, creating a plethora of regional groupings, COMESA, UDEAC, SADC, and the Great Maghreb which never saw the light of day thanks to Gaddafi who understood what was happening.

GADDAFI, THE AFRICAN WHO CLEANSED THE CONTINENT FROM THE HUMILIATION OF APARTHEID

For most Africans, Gaddafi is a generous man, a humanist, known for his unselfish support for the struggle against the racist regime in South Africa. If he had been an egotist, he wouldn’t have risked the wrath of the West to help the ANC both militarily and financially in the fight against apartheid. This was why Mandela, soon after his release from 27 years in jail, decided to break the UN embargo and travel to Libya on 23 October 1997. For five long years, no plane could touch down in Libya because of the embargo. One needed to take a plane to the Tunisian city of Jerba and continue by road for five hours to reach Ben Gardane, cross the border and continue on a desert road for three hours before reaching Tripoli. The other solution was to go through Malta, and take a night ferry on ill-maintained boats to the Libyan coast. A hellish journey for a whole people, simply to punish one man.

Mandela didn’t mince his words when the former US president Bill Clinton said the visit was an ‘unwelcome’ one – ‘No country can claim to be the policeman of the world and no state can dictate to another what it should do’. He added – ‘Those that yesterday were friends of our enemies have the gall today to tell me not to visit my brother Gaddafi, they are advising us to be ungrateful and forget our friends of the past.’

Indeed, the West still considered the South African racists to be their brothers who needed to be protected. That’s why the members of the ANC, including Nelson Mandela, were considered to be dangerous terrorists. It was only on 2 July 2008, that the US Congress finally voted a law to remove the name of Nelson Mandela and his ANC comrades from their black list, not because they realised how stupid that list was but because they wanted to mark Mandela’s 90th birthday. If the West was truly sorry for its past support for Mandela’s enemies and really sincere when they name streets and places after him, how can they continue to wage war against someone who helped Mandela and his people to be victorious, Gaddafi?

ARE THOSE WHO WANT TO EXPORT DEMOCRACY THEMSELVES DEMOCRATS?

And what if Gaddafi’s Libya were more democratic than the USA, France, Britain and other countries waging war to export democracy to Libya? On 19 March 2003, President George Bush began bombing Iraq under the pretext of bringing democracy. On 19 March 2011, exactly eight years later to the day, it was the French president’s turn to rain down bombs over Libya, once again claiming it was to bring democracy. Nobel peace prize-winner and US President Obama says unleashing cruise missiles from submarines is to oust the dictator and introduce democracy.

The question that anyone with even minimum intelligence cannot help asking is the following: Are countries like France, England, the USA, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Poland who defend their right to bomb Libya on the strength of their self proclaimed democratic status really democratic? If yes, are they more democratic than Gaddafi’s Libya? The answer in fact is a resounding NO, for the plain and simple reason that democracy doesn’t exist. This isn’t a personal opinion, but a quote from someone whose native town Geneva, hosts the bulk of UN institutions. The quote is from Jean Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva in 1712 and who writes in chapter four of the third book of the famous ‘Social Contract’ that ‘there never was a true democracy and there never will be.’

Rousseau sets out the following four conditions for a country to be labelled a democracy and according to these Gaddafi’s Libya is far more democratic than the USA, France and the others claiming to export democracy:

1. The State: The bigger a country, the less democratic it can be. According to Rousseau, the state has to be extremely small so that people can come together and know each other. Before asking people to vote, one must ensure that everybody knows everyone else, otherwise voting will be an act without any democratic basis, a simulacrum of democracy to elect a dictator.

The Libyan state is based on a system of tribal allegiances, which by definition group people together in small entities. The democratic spirit is much more present in a tribe, a village than in a big country, simply because people know each other, share a common life rhythm which involves a kind of self-regulation or even self-censorship in that the reactions and counter reactions of other members impacts on the group.

From this perspective, it would appear that Libya fits Rousseau’s conditions better than the USA, France and Great Britain, all highly urbanised societies where most neighbours don’t even say hello to each other and therefore don’t know each other even if they have lived side by side for twenty years. These countries leapfrogged leaped into the next stage – ‘the vote’ – which has been cleverly sanctified to obfuscate the fact that voting on the future of the country is useless if the voter doesn’t know the other citizens. This has been pushed to ridiculous limits with voting rights being given to people living abroad. Communicating with and amongst each other is a precondition for any democratic debate before an election.

2. Simplicity in customs and behavioural patterns are also essential if one is to avoid spending the bulk of the time debating legal and judicial procedures in order to deal with the multitude of conflicts of interest inevitable in a large and complex society. Western countries define themselves as civilised nations with a more complex social structure whereas Libya is described as a primitive country with a simple set of customs. This aspect too indicates that Libya responds better to Rousseau’s democratic criteria than all those trying to give lessons in democracy. Conflicts in complex societies are most often won by those with more power, which is why the rich manage to avoid prison because they can afford to hire top lawyers and instead arrange for state repression to be directed against someone one who stole a banana in a supermarket rather than a financial criminal who ruined a bank. In the city of New York for example where 75 per cent of the population is white, 80 per cent of management posts are occupied by whites who make up only 20 per cent of incarcerated people.

3. Equality in status and wealth: A look at the Forbes 2010 list shows who the richest people in each of the countries currently bombing Libya are and the difference between them and those who earn the lowest salaries in those nations; a similar exercise on Libya will reveal that in terms of wealth distribution, Libya has much more to teach than those fighting it now, and not the contrary. So here too, using Rousseau’s criteria, Libya is more democratic than the nations pompously pretending to bring democracy. In the USA, 5 per cent of the population owns 60 per cent of the national wealth, making it the most unequal and unbalanced society in the world.

4. No luxuries: according to Rousseau there can’t be any luxury if there is to be democracy. Luxury, he says, makes wealth a necessity which then becomes a virtue in itself, it, and not the welfare of the people becomes the goal to be reached at all cost, ‘Luxury corrupts both the rich and the poor, the one through possession and the other through envy; it makes the nation soft and prey to vanity; it distances people from the State and enslaves them, making them a slave to opinion.’

Is there more luxury in France than in Libya? The reports on employees committing suicide because of stressful working conditions even in public or semi-public companies, all in the name of maximising profit for a minority and keeping them in luxury, happen in the West, not in Libya.

The American sociologist C. Wright Mills wrote in 1956 that American democracy was a ‘dictatorship of the elite’. According to Mills, the USA is not a democracy because it is money that talks during elections and not the people. The results of each election are the expression of the voice of money and not the voice of the people. After Bush senior and Bush junior, they are already talking about a younger Bush for the 2012 Republican primaries. Moreover, as Max Weber pointed out, since political power is dependent on the bureaucracy, the US has 43 million bureaucrats and military personnel who effectively rule the country but without being elected and are not accountable to the people for their actions. One person (a rich one) is elected, but the real power lies with the caste of the wealthy who then get nominated to be ambassadors, generals, etc.

How many people in these self-proclaimed democracies know that Peru’s constitution prohibits an outgoing president from seeking a second consecutive mandate? How many know that in Guatemala, not only can an outgoing president not seek re-election to the same post, no one from that person’s family can aspire to the top job either? Or that Rwanda is the only country in the world that has 56 per cent female parliamentarians? How many people know that in the 2007 CIA index, four of the world’s best-governed countries are African? That the top prize goes to Equatorial Guinea whose public debt represents only 1.14 per cent of GDP?

Rousseau maintains that civil wars, revolts and rebellions are the ingredients of the beginning of democracy. Because democracy is not an end, but a permanent process of the reaffirmation of the natural rights of human beings which in countries all over the world (without exception) are trampled upon by a handful of men and women who have hijacked the power of the people to perpetuate their supremacy. There are here and there groups of people who have usurped the term ‘democracy’ – instead of it being an ideal towards which one strives it has become a label to be appropriated or a slogan which is used by people who can shout louder than others. If a country is calm, like France or the USA, that is to say without any rebellions, it only means, from Rousseau’s perspective, that the dictatorial system is sufficiently repressive to pre-empt any revolt.

It wouldn’t be a bad thing if the Libyans revolted. What is bad is to affirm that people stoically accept a system that represses them all over the world without reacting. And Rousseau concludes: ‘Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium – translation – If gods were people, they would govern themselves democratically. Such a perfect government is not applicable to human beings.’ To claim that one is killing Libyans for their own good is a hoax.

WHAT LESSONS FOR AFRICA?

After 500 years of a profoundly unequal relationship with the West, it is clear that we don’t have the same criteria of what is good and bad. We have deeply divergent interests. How can one not deplore the ‘yes’ votes from three sub-Saharan countries (Nigeria, South Africa and Gabon) for resolution 1973 that inaugurated the latest form of colonisation baptised ‘the protection of peoples’, which legitimises the racist theories that have informed Europeans since the 18th century and according to which North Africa has nothing to do with sub-Saharan Africa, that North Africa is more evolved, cultivated and civilised than the rest of Africa?

It is as if Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Algeria were not part of Africa, Even the United Nations seems to ignore the role of the African Union in the affairs of member states. The aim is to isolate sub Saharan African countries to better isolate and control them. Indeed, Algeria (US$16 billion) and Libya (US$10 billion ) together contribute 62 per cent of the US$42 billion which constitute the capital of the African Monetary Fund (AMF). The biggest and most populous country in sub Saharan Africa, Nigeria, followed by South Africa are far behind with only 3 billion dollars each.

It is disconcerting to say the least that for the first time in the history of the United Nations, war has been declared against a people without having explored the slightest possibility of a peaceful solution to the crisis. Does Africa really belong anymore to this organisation? Nigeria and South Africa are prepared to vote ‘Yes’ to everything the West asks because they naively believe the vague promises of a permanent seat at the Security Council with similar veto rights. They both forget that France has no power to offer anything. If it did, Mitterand would have long done the needful for Helmut Kohl’s Germany.

A reform of the United Nations is not on the agenda. The only way to make a point is to use the Chinese method – all 50 African nations should quit the United Nations and only return if their longstanding demand is finally met, a seat for the entire African federation or nothing. This non-violent method is the only weapon of justice available to the poor and weak that we are. We should simply quit the United Nations because this organisation, by its very structure and hierarchy, is at the service of the most powerful.

We should leave the United Nations to register our rejection of a worldview based on the annihilation of those who are weaker. They are free to continue as before but at least we will not be party to it and say we agree when we were never asked for our opinion. And even when we expressed our point of view, like we did on Saturday 19 March in Nouakchott, when we opposed the military action, our opinion was simply ignored and the bombs started falling on the African people.

Today’s events are reminiscent of what happened with China in the past. Today, one recognises the Ouattara government, the rebel government in Libya, like one did at the end of the Second World War with China. The so-called international community chose Taiwan to be the sole representative of the Chinese people instead of Mao’s China. It took 26 years when on 25 October 1971, for the UN to pass resolution 2758 which all Africans should read to put an end to human folly. China was admitted and on its terms – it refused to be a member if it didn’t have a veto right. When the demand was met and the resolution tabled, it still took a year for the Chinese foreign minister to respond in writing to the UN Secretary General on 29 September 1972, a letter which didn’t say yes or thank you but spelt out guarantees required for China’s dignity to be respected.

What does Africa hope to achieve from the United Nations without playing hard ball? We saw how in Cote d’Ivoire a UN bureaucrat considers himself to be above the constitution of the country. We entered this organisation by agreeing to be slaves and to believe that we will be invited to dine at the same table and eat from plates we ourselves washed is not just credulous, it is stupid.

When the African Union endorsed Ouattara’s victory and glossed over contrary reports from its own electoral observers simply to please our former masters, how can we expect to be respected? When South African president Zuma declares that Ouattara hasn’t won the elections and then says the exact opposite during a trip to Paris, one is entitled to question the credibility of these leaders who claim to represent and speak on behalf of a billion Africans.

Africa’s strength and real freedom will only come if it can take properly thought out actions and assume the consequences. Dignity and respect come with a price tag. Are we prepared to pay it? Otherwise, our place is in the kitchen and in the toilets in order to make others comfortable.

Jean-Paul Pougala is a Cameroonian writer. Translated from the French by Sputnik Kilambi.

ideylaff:

My Bro Pat Utomi was referring to GEJ on the 100 million per day campaign not Buhari,

wey Buhari wan see am, I say the man nor get house for ABJ contrary to what's the norm for ex soldiers of awa 9ija, doubt he has in Lagos sef, he dey Daura, dey manage.

 @ideylaff--- Thanks very much for helping to educate Seguno2 on how to comprehend when reading, I can bet Seguno2 has already gone ahead to misinform politically naive persons around him about the contents of the statements made by Prof. Pat Utomi. mtchew

All those saying Buhari has integrity and is not corrupt should please tell us where the man got the N100 million per day (according to Pat Utomi) that presidential candidates spend for his three campaigns- 2003, 2007 and 2011.
I am sure it is not based on his salary as a military officer and former head of state plus pension.
Where did he get the money to take his case to the Supreme Court and pay all the SAN lawyers?
Those who want to be fooled by his cool demeanour can remain so. However I advise you that it is time to shine your eyes well well.


Quote
Africa does not need (bullies & brutes) great men. It needs great institutions - Barack Obama



@seguno 2

Are you very sure you were well grounded on Comprehension in English Language because you do not seem to come as one with the kind of comments of yours above, You better find study materials on How to Comprehend without problems after reading so you don't make post like these on forums in future,
I suggest you go back to re-read the article where Prof. Pat Utomi made such claim before you mis-inform those who look up to and live around you,

@OP

    That your supposed girlfriend is 90% SCAM in its purest form. I once met someone like that who would act like the world is about to end if you don't agree to her various forms of deceit. I had to ensure i used my senses by taking steps that may make you look wicked and heartless so as not to be taken for a ride. Certain women don't mind been deceitful so long you are a willing prey. I would advice you keep your money and act like you have heared and would soon take action but let her wait for eternity. Just play along like you have already done but this time in a better form. She can only have two words for you, STINGY or FOOLISH. Its left for you to decide which you rather prefer to be known as. Cheers.

@OP

It would honestly do you lots of good if you call it quits with her as you dont fill right within you anymore as regards her ways recently. You may not know that you are about to be taken for a smooth ride into emotional pains from recent happenings in your relationship with her. Your SUPPOSED girlfriend is definately up to something and the term Emotional blackmail is her way of getting reprieve for whatever wrong she does to you. Act fast and wisely when you still have the chance so you dont regret later on.
Best wishes.