₦airaland Forum

[quote author=john_blaze link=topic=412545.msg5767281#msg5767281 date=1269541326]@cap28
You are very correct, I am quite happy to have found someone who shares my views as well. You have said it all. The first thing for us to do is to start to create the needed awareness to our people with a view of opening their eyes!!![/quote]@john blaze you are welcome, yes i agree, once people fully understand what they are dealing with then we are half way there, thanks for your comments.

coldhearts:
at cap,

why?
why do you resort to bashing a whole group of people?.
why?
why bash nigerians, that is,if you are a nigerian; why not give constructive criticism which might make people interested in what you have to say without calling them names e.g mental slavery, ignorant, inferiority complex e.t.c (by the way the latter can only affect you if you live among a few low class american whites and allow it to huh).

You might want to try leaving nigeria alone if it's that bad for you, it will sort itself out in due time.

The nigerians i know here are highly educated, they'd do anything including going overseas for a good education. I'v met many Nigerians who are doctors, engineers e.t.c many in my family actually and that includes me as well. Some of the smartest people out there are Nigerians. Maybe you are angry now, many of us are seeing what is happening but that's no reason to bash it like this but then again feel free to, it's the world wide web.

We simply need to better ourselves more than just bashing, too much talking/bashing is one of the problems too. Do you not get tired of people saying nonsense about Nigerians. why

you start out bashing nigerians instead of the supposedly guilty foreigners that robbed us as in your first paragraph, then i wonder who is winning here - the foreigners maybe. Sorry if i appear to be harsh.

read  more
http://www.nigerianmuse.com/20080526092132zg/nigeriawatch/education/EDUCATION_In_America_Nigerians_education_pursuit_is_above_rest

http://newsone.com/nation/good-news-nation/casey-gane-mccalla/black-wonder-twins-in-britain-break-records-on-exam-scores/

@coldhearts predictably you responded defensively, but the  truth is often bitter.

The fact that i have pointed out things which i feel cripple my people does not mean that i am bashing them, im merely holding up a mirror and saying: this is who we are.  there is no point going through life in denial because sooner or later you will be forced to confront the truth no matter how hard it is. 

i think i did give constructive criticism as i pointed out how we could redress the problem of mass ignorance that many of us suffer from - i talked about re education, not from a white man's perspective but from an african perspective, where, instead of focusing on mimicing people who look at us with contempt, we look back to our great history and develop on that, our ancestors achieved many great things but those achievements were derailed by slavery and colonialism. 

the truth is that the average nigerian DOES  worship the white man and every thing he stands for, take for instance the current sad state of our country, what is the genesis of this problem?  i wont go as far back as slavery because a lot of what happened then was outside our control but lets look at the post independence period - why has it been so easy for the british and now the americans to have a hold over our economy?  isnt it because our ruling elite have colluded with them and have assisted them in the systematic plunder of our economy?  why would any proud african who loves his people allow foreigners to hijack their economy and cause the poverty, misery and suffering of their own people? 

i was impressed by the nigerian twins in the link you provided, however this only highlights my earlier point which is that we are capable of doing great things but we prefer to live in the shadow of our former colonial masters - we can equally nurture talented kids like that in nigeria if our govts provided adquate funding for education instead of diverting the monies into their private bank accounts - those kids actually grew up in deprived parts of london but because they were in an environment which was conducive for learning they excelled - these things are all possible in nigeria, if we could only get the right sort of govt in place.  these kids  should be nigeria's future mathmeticians, physicists and scientists but i can see a situation where their knowledge and skills will be used towards the development of a western economy when we need these sort of brains in nigeria  in order to compete on an equal footing with western economies. 

you talk about nigerians being the smartest minority in the united states, well if we are so smart why in god's name is our country in such a deplorable state , why cant these "smart" people come up with ideas on how to dislodge these criminal psychopaths who have been decimating our economy in collaboration with their white masters so that they dont have to run away to america and europe in order to "make it", isnt it time that these self proclaimed intellectuals did something about the downward spiral of our country instead of pontificating from their ivory towers about their so called fantastic acheivements. 

individual success means nothing if 80% of your population lives on the equivalent of less than $2 a day - your link confirmed that nigerians are a tiny minority in the US and therefore any successes they achieve has no impact overall on the lot of an average nigerian anywhere else in the world, nigerians do not work together as a unit in the way that the chinese, indians and other minority groups in europe or america do, we   are selfish and individualistic  this is why as a race of people we remain backward and at the mercy of the white race.  the average white man beleives in working collectively towards the betterment and progress of his people as a whole (to the exclusion of other races) a white man will never sell out his own people to favour someone of another race, whites always put their own people first, in addition  a white man will come up with ideas that will create jobs for his people and lift everyone out of poverty, a nigerian will think of how he can better himself alone so that he can look down on his fellow nigerians, the current tragic situation in nigeria is a clear reflection of that.  we make enough money from oil revenue that we should be able to guarantee every nigerian citizen a decent standard of living, free education up to university level, excellent infrastructure, free healthcare and adequate employment, but what do we have instead?  mass poverty, mass unemployment, non existent healthcare, terrible infrastructure , deteriorating standards of education the list goes on.

by the way these so called "achievements" of our people in america that you talk of would have been impossible had it not been for the courage and sacrifice made by many great african american leaders who challenged the white supremacist power structure, something that our so called leaders, intellectuals and working people are yet to do in our own country.

moderator can you tell me why you are afraid of posting opinions which are critical of america's foreign policy - are you afraid that they will close this forum down? what is the point of having a forum for debate if you censor opinions that you disagree with ?

Kobojunkie:
[size=14pt]Nigeria names Jonathan acting president[/size]
By Tom Burgis in Lagos

Published: February 9 2010 14:39 | Last updated: February 9 2010 14:39



Nigeria’s national assembly on Tuesday voted to declare Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president, the country’s acting ruler, in a move that appeared to sideline Umaru Yar’Adua, the ailing leader.

But the latest twist in a power struggle brought on by the president’s 11-week stay in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment does not end the uncertainty that has engulfed sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest energy producer.

The motion drafted by the senate and passed by both houses states that Mr Jonathan “shall henceforth discharge the functions of the office of the president, commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federation”.

However, the motion seems to depart from the constitution’s provision for dealing with a presidential absence. This requires Mr Yar’Adua, who suffers from a heart condition and a chronic kidney problem, to write to the national assembly if he intends temporarily to transfer powers to his deputy on health grounds.

Mr Yar’Adua has declined to do so – a reluctance that many blame on an inner circle determined not to relinquish power even temporarily.

Consequently, the national assembly’s motion may have no legal force. “They are not backed by the constitution,” said Rotimi Akeredolu, president of the Nigerian Bar Association, which has petitioned the courts to force a handover of interim powers. “At this point in our democracy we should try as much as possible to stick to procedure.”

Under the constitution, only the cabinet has the power to declare Mr Yar’Adua incapacitated. It has so far refused even to send a medical team to assess the president’s health. Under these circumstances, it is unclear how forcefully Mr Jonathan will be willing govern.

David Mark, the senate president, said that a brief radio interview Mr Yar’Adua gave to the BBC last month – the only time he has been heard since his departure from Nigeria on November 23 – served as “irrefutable proof that he is on medical vacation”.

Other political insiders suggested the national assembly’s move was a political compromise.

The disparate strands of the Nigerian elite – from former heads of state to the influential governors of the federation’s 36 states – have in recent days coalesced in their demands for Mr Jonathan to assume full powers.

“It will definitely resolve the present constitutional crisis or vacuum in leadership,” Bukola Saraki, governor of Kwara state and chair of the governor’s forum, told the Financial Times. “As to legal questions, it is the doctrine of necessity. It’s something that we had to do to get out of this logjam.”

The senators stressed that Mr Yar’Adua could resume his office if he wrote to the national assembly informing lawmakers that he was fit enough to do so.

Although he has been cautious not to be seen to be staging a power-grab, Mr Jonathan has already been acting as de facto president, chairing cabinet meetings and ordering troops to quell a recent outbreak of ethnic violence in the central city of Jos.

It is unclear whether Mr Jonathan will now be officially sworn in as president, although some political insiders suggested he would not.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

can someone clarify this point for me - since the transfer of power was not done in accordance with s 145 of the consititution nor by Yaradua's cabinet but by the national assembly does it mean that Jonathan has assumed power illegally?

if Jonathan and his cronies are saying that they had to do this out of necessity why is it that the nigerian populace still does not know whether Yaradua is dead or alive?

I think we the nigerian people are still not being told the truth, this whole thing is beginning to look more and more like a coup d'etat - could it be that Yaradua has been deposed possibly because he was not serving certain powerful interests and now we have a transfer of power to a more pliable candidate?

to me what is happening now is a power struggle between two equally corrupt juntas desperately trying to grab power with neither having the interest of the nigerian people at heart - will we ever know the truth?

i have said it time and time again - this woman is NOT to be trusted, she is a greedy, corrupt, judas whose only ambition in life is to amass as much stolen money as possible, she jumps from ship to ship, wherever she can gain position, power and money thats where youll find Dora, no sane person should dream of trusting this woman, she is just like her compatriots, psychopathic and criminally minded, if she could off load her former mentor Yaradua in order to be with the in crowd then who knows what else she is capable of, anyway at least now we know that this transition govt is nothing but a continuation of the former one - no change here, same old crooks carrying on with their only agenda - looting of the national treasury.

blacksta:
^^^

Usual Anti America crowd  - Please abandon the hypocrite  lifestyle ( maybe then you will be taken serious)  talking nonsense using the internet, mobile phone, wearing jeans and wondering when the empire will crash

get a life bro.

what is it with you american wanna bees?  each time the truth is told about america you all cry anti america, does it mean that america is above reproach?

maybe if you took the time to find out more about the country's foreign policies you wouldnt be so enamoured of it.  here is an excerpt from an interesting link which highlights some of the atrocities committed by america in africa:


[b]1950-present: AFRICA. The U.S. provides arms and military training to both sides in wars between African nations, under four different programs, involving virtually every nation on the continent. In the period 1991 to 1995 alone, William "Wet Willy" Clinton will supply weapons and military training to 50 of the 53 countries in Africa . Of the twelve African nations at war in 2004, eleven are armed by the U.S. The systematic destabilization of Africa by U.S. armaments and training is documented in the New York-based World Policy Institute’s book, “Deadly Legacy”.

The state of endless warfare promoted by the U.S. destabilizes the continent, makes any attempt at effective government or economic progress impossible and conveniently leaves most African countries in the hands of brutal dictators who readily sell out their countries’ resources, particularly oil and minerals, to the transnationals in return for being allowed to steal massive personal fortunes while the citizens of their countries die in the millions of starvation and disease. And, you get to sell billions of dollars of weaponry to countries which can't afford it. It's a win-win situation.

Africa is one of the world's great storehouses of valuable and strategically important minerals. The continent has 90% of the world’s cobalt, 90% of the platinum, 40% of the gold, 98% of the chromium, 64% of the manganese and 33% of the uranium. As of 2003, 18% of U.S. oil will come from Africa compared to 25% from the Persian Gulf.

Since 1950, more than five million Africans have been killed as a direct result of warfare and twenty million or more have died as a result of war-related starvation and disease[/b]

http://mtwsfh..com/


oh  and by the way almost all the raw materials used to manufacture computers and mobile phones come from africa - cobalt which is used in mobile phones and computers comes from the mines of congo which have been appropriated by US multinationals so my using a mobile phone or computer doesnt make me a hypocrite at all.

marvix:
@ all those who took time to respond to my post,
I still stand by my opinion that a pastor should not be involved in politics especially the kind of politics we have in Nigeria. ArchBishop Desmond Tutu and Rev Martin Luther King are not the people whose message pastor Bakare claims to preach, Bakare gave his life to Jesus Christ and took up a job in his vineyard his ultimate role model is Jesus, not even Elijah or Isiah or any other prophet in the bible or any of the disciples or apostles.


When Jesus' forerunner John the baptist was beheaded his disciples came up to him and ask him to revolt or do something Jesus answered and said my kingdom is not of this earth, were the government of the day right when they came to arrest Jesus, No, yet Jesus went ahead to perform a miracle for the soldier Peter had cutoff his ear, the ultimate commission Bakare was given or he claimed to have been given by becoming a pastor is go ye therefore into the world teaching the nations and reconciling men unto God and not reconciling govt to the people.


As someone had said earlier Pastors like traditional rulers are supposed to be neutral always preaching peace and not taking sides and that is what i expect from the man of God.

We dont need Bakare to know that the retired generals brought us to this mess. His utterances make us doubt his call to the ministry especially when u consider his background a boy who grew up as a staunch muslim became an activist and then a pastor and now a politician, are we not sure he just used the church to gain popularity becos he has always loved being sensational and in the news if he wasnt a pastor who would even bother with what he thinks, so Bakare can come out straight with Nigerians and tell us on which side he is, Is he a Pastor or an activist? because you cant be both

@marvix your comments do not make sense - how can you condemn a man who fearlessly stands up to speak out against injustice?  the fact that he is a pastor makes it even more necessary for him to condemn injustice wheerever he sees it, jesus, who you refer to was a very controversial figure, he  espoused revolutionary ideas which made him so unpopular to the extent that his own people called for his crucifixion, he never shied away from the truth in the way that you are expecting pastor bakare to do.  your definition of neutrality is very strange, okay so let me get this right according to you neutrality is where a person sees something that is wrong but chooses to ignore it in order not to be seen to be taking sides - my friend that is not neutrality that is cowardice.  

martin luther king was very critical of america's hypocrisy - he took the american establishment to task over their constitution which stated that all men are created equal - he demanded to know how they could have this in their constitution and still deny blacks the same rights as its white citizens.  if you think bakare is too political you should go and read martin luther king's speech against the vietnam war which he made in 1967 and see how he launched a scathing attack on their political establishment,
here is a quote from that speech:

"A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam"

would you prefer bakare to be like all the other cowardly praise singers who bury their heads in the sand while the nation goes to the dogs?

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html

america's hands are stained with the blood of these somalian people who did not ask for this war, they are directly responsible for the anarchy in this country as they have backed and supported various warlords, as usual it is the innocent somali people who are paying a heavy price. i keep asking when the day of reckoning will come for america, in a bid to impose a puppet govt on this country they are now using starvation as a weapon of war in the same way that the nigerian govt used it to force the surrender of biafra during the civil war, when will this their empire collapse.

Alxmyr:
I read through your past posts and I can understand that you are part of the sychophantic Nigerians who will prefer the status quo because of the the corruption which form their way of life. You give away yourself as a sympatizer of corrupt leadership and a benefactor of corruption.
I am not surprise that you take on Pastor Bakare. Afterall you are a disgrace to Nigerian elites

dont mind him, a pastor has the right to speak out against injustice, was martin luther king not a church minister, but he was courageous enough to challenge the injustice in the american system, i respect bakare for his courage, i just wish we had more pastors like him.

bakare is right - infact i said this on a different thread yesterday, this transfer of power is more or less a covert coup d'etat - yaradua has been deposed and replaced with a junta of retired generals with jonathan as a powerless frontman who is being remotely controlled from behind the scenes by obj, danjuma and other members of the nigerian elite.

marvix:
Quote from Cap28
yes i think he's doing the right thing but while he's at it perhaps he could start by reopening his wife's case with the EFCC - you know the N104m which she stole from the bayelsa state treasury and of course the other $13.5m again stolen from the bayelsa treasury, its nice to know that nigeria's acting first lady was indicted on money laundering charges which were subsequently quashed - nigeria, what a country.

Y do people just like to say rubbish on threads, or mayb he shld let d ministers b because his wife was indicted. Y don't we leave his wifes case till Yaradua returns as some pple are assurin us he would. If u can't be a judge in your own case it should also hold that you can't be your own accuser.
One question for u, should we wait until a saint comes to power before we fight corruption?

first of all this man and his wife have so many skeletons in their cupboard that had it been they were in a normal country and not a banana republic like nigeria they would have been looking at spending the rest of their natural life behind bars, the idea that a man who along with his wife looted millions of dollars from thier state treasury are now the acting president and first lady respectively speaks volumes about the sort of country nigeria is, but what i find really tragic is that instead of being outraged that one set of criminals are being replaced with yet another set you get angry when people point out the truth, why are you so incensed about me highlighting Jonathan's wife's looting, can you not see that Jonathan and his crew are taking the nigerian people for a ride yet again with his fake promise about bringing his former accomplices to book for corruption, how can a criminal talk about corruption when he is up to his neck in corruption?  

are you so delusional that you think that a man whose wife was indicted on money laundering charges can in the same breath declare that he wants to go after corrupt politicians - are these people he's talking about not his former accomplices? if i were any of those ministers i would refuse point blank to cooperate with him until he reopens his wifes case, what is good for the goose should also be good for the gander, you cant pick and choose who to prosecute, if he really wants to convince the nigerian populace that he is indeed an anti corrupton president (which is a complete contradiction in terms because a corrupt and rotten person can not also claim to be advocating anti corruption) let him start with his wife so that nigerians will be convinced that he means business.

as for yaradua returning - all i can say is -  is that in this life or the after life!

let me ask you a simple question - why is it that up till now nobody has seen or heard from yaradua and why is it that there has been no effort on the part of Jonathan and his crew to provide any credible explanation as to his whereabouts?

dayokanu:
Have you found reports linking CIA to the killing in Jos, Okija shrine and Ado Ekiti.

Someone even told me Clifford Orji is a CIA agent. Maybe you can work with becomricch to help solve this mystery

ignorance is bliss, but only for a limited time  - i suggest you research into the CIA's background before you condemn.

are you aware of the CIA's activities in africa do you know that they have been responsible for the overthrow of almost all african heads of state since the 1970's?

http://www.serendipity.li/cia/stock1.html

nigerians are definitely in the firm grip of mental slavery, but i beleive this is borne out of ignorance, the average nigerian does not read books, is not inquisitive about the world he/she lives in and cannot look at things from a critical perspective, colonialism totally robbed nigerians of the ability to think and reason properly, the average nigerian aspires to be like a white man, they look up to western knowledge, (look at our educational system) they carry chrisitianity on their heads(look at the amount of churches in nigeria )  despite the fact that christianity was used as a tool of control by the white man to enslave us mentally and physically, the  white man came with the bible in one hand and a gun in the other, the so called christian missionaries worked hand in hand with the slave traders - christianity and islam were used as weapons of control and they are still being used sucessfully on africans to date. 

the reason i say our mental slavery is borne out of ignorance is because many of us dont read books - the only way you can know who you are and what to do about improving your situation is to go back into the past and research your history, this will enable you to make sense of where you are to date  if more nigerians knew where they were coming from they would be able to find solutions to enable us as a people to move forward.

we have the ability to achieve greatness but inferiority complex holds us back.  you only have to look at how we have tolerated years of abuse from our leaders to know that we dont beleive that we deserve better, if you look at every other nation that has suffered  under repressive govts like nigeria, the people always rise up to overthrow the elite ruling class - in latin america it was peasant revolts and grass roots movements that led to the overthrow of corrupt western backed govts this has never been done in nigeria for a number of reasons - the major one being ethnic differences which our so called rulers play on and manipulate in order to retain their positions of power, they pit different  tribes against each other so what we have is a situation where we fight each other instead of fighting our real enemies - instead of focusing on taking down the real enemy we focus on taking down each other, but all these inter ethnic conflicts are a diversion from the real problem - the nigerian elite and their foreign backers.  until we can understand the world we live in and our position in it we will continue going round in circles, i advocate the need for a mass literacy campaign which will educate the people the way Fela did using his music, explaining to the masses basic concepts ie the neccessity for an organised movement, overthrow of the nigerian ruling class through organised resistance,etc,

mbulela:
By Yusuph Olaniyonu, 03.21.2010

What Nigerians do not know are his close advisers, confidants and strategists whose counsel, thoughts, ideas and opinions will shape the policies, programmes and plans which the acting president may unfold in moving the nation forward from this week.

more thieves, rogues and money launderers to continue the trend of looting the nation's treasury

THISDAY checks in the presidency indicate that the new men who will shape the corridors of power are from varied generations, educational backgrounds, professions, religions and geo-political zones. Enter Olusegun Obasanjo, Theophilus Danjuma, Andrew Azazi, Hamman Tukur, Edo Obi and the Anyiam-Osigwe brothers. Exit Abba Rummah, Tanimu Yakubu, Ibrahim Shemah and Dahiru Mangal.

why the f****k are these old b.a.s.t.a.r.d.s still involved in decision making in nigeria after the havoc they have caused in the past, i think we can now agree that what we really have is a junta of ex army generals who have taken over power from Yaradua.

First in the list of members of the Jonathan inner circle is president Olus-egun Obasanjo Obasanjo became close to Jonathan in 2005 after the former president engineered the impeachment of ex-Bayelsa governor Alamieyeseigha. Since then the two men had been very close as Obasanjo was also instrumental to the selection of Jonathan as running mate to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who was then PDP presidential candidate in the 2007 elections. Obasanjo had publicly called on Yar’Adua “to do the right thing in view of his failing health”, a euphemism for him to resign and allow Jonathan take over as president. The acting president will rely on the former four-star general who is the chairman, PDP board of trustees to rein-in the party behind him and to have a firm grip of the military.

i think it should be clear to all and sundry now that that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d obasanjo deliberately selected an incapacitated man in the form of Yaradua with Jonathan as a running mate, knowing full well Yaradua would not complete one ful term, as it stands his plan has fallen into place and now power has been transferred to his puppet Jonathan

As a result of Obasanjo’s influence, Jonathan may also bring in some technocrats into government while he may also have used the old man as an emissary to some Western governments.

okay so the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d is basically still running the country but this time from behind the scenes with Jonathan as his frontman.

Lt. General T. Y. Danjuma (rtd.)  is also a crucial adviser to the acting president on policy formulation and personnel sourcing. Danjuma, alongside members of the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC), will be influential in the nominations into the cabinet about to be formed. Danjuma and the PAC members have also been helpful in advising on what should be the focus of the government in terms of programme to be implemented in the next 14 months.

the same danjuma who boasted about how he made $500m from the sale of an oil block and he doesnt know what to do with all the (illegal) money he made   - god help us

becomricch:
Ebitimi Banigo is a man, what are you talking about intimacy = s-e-x. [/b]Are you saying Ebitimi Banigo( man) and Jonathan (man). I dont get you.

[b] dont think they are gay. They have wife. I know so.

this guy, becomrich is giving us serious jokes here 

what is wrong with what gadaffi said - since nigeria is incapable of moving forward as one nation common sense dictates that it would be better to partition it, can david mark and his cohorts boast of achieving 1/4 of what gadaffi did for his own country? at least libyans are not running around all over the world looking for permanent residence away from their country of origin, can any nigerian leader boast of acheiving any of what gadaffi achieved for his country, can any of them dream of standing up to the west the way gadaffi has done, gadaffi is the only african leader who has successfully received compensation from the west for colonialism, can these useless animals even dare bring up the topic of reparations to the west without being shouted down?
of course hopeless david mark would describe gadaffi as a mad man because the partitioning of nigerian between a muslim north and christian south will spell the end of the hausa fulani gravy train. Gadaffi is right these useless animals are wrong yet again.

i cant beleive that we as a nation of people are so s.t.u.p.i.d that we would even contemplate the idea of having this animal back again after what he did to us in the 1980's what kind of nation are we, what is wrong with us.  i have never heard of any nation of people tolerating the return of a former military dictator who was responsible for so much misery and suffering.  this man is now being reimposed on us again by our greatest enemies the americans, all in the name of having easy access to cheap crude oil, why are we so gullible and weak minded. 

as if having 8 years of obasanjo wasnt bad enough IBB is now back to finish off the downward spiral of this country - this will be the final nail in the coffin for our country. we must resist the americans plan to impose this former drug baron/murderer on us.

becomricch:
tell me what make me tribalistic. So you do you think jonathan can win sokoto state? or bauchi or Gombe. I said I speak several nigeria languages. yorubas, igbo,hausa, igalla and with a little of urhobo and bachamma. How can that make me tribalistic. I use to be a malam in the the north.

you are tribalistic in your thinking and you cannot think outside the box of tribalism, you have tunnel vision and you cannot see the bigger picture, there is something bigger than tribalism at play here, and the only way to defeat it is to put tribalistic sentiments to one side in order to deal with a problem which should be of greater concern to the average nigerian. 
 

why do you keep on talking about oil well.they have no interest in your oil well.  Have you ever been to the USA before. the USA have oil. so is canada. the USA and Canada has more oil reserve than nigeria.

america is not planning to install IBB. Those story are false story. America does not support IBB.

i see that you prefer to live on fantasy island unlike the rest of us who prefer the real world - so you are telling me that despite the fact that nigeria supplies america with 25% of its crude oil imports they are not really interested in our oil wells, next youll be telling me they're  in iraq to remove weapons of mass destruction. 

IBB and Obasanjo are front men for the US and britain, go and check out their backgrounds they have been working in collaboration with both these countries for years.  Go and research IBB's SAP /austerity programmes which were all initiated under instructions from the us owned IMF bank, go and research about how obasanjo in cahoots with britain and america sold off almost the whole of the nigerian public sector to foreign owned private companies, officially handing over economic control of nigeria to foreigners.

asha 80:
cap28

one question

is nigeria an independent nation or not?

it depends on what you define as "independence" if by independence you mean a sovereign country which has control over its economic and foreign policy then i would say no because nigeria's foreign and economic policy is dictatated to it by britain and america, nigeria is more or less a "client state" of the united states and britain  it has no real sovereignty.

however if you define independence as a superficial concept then yes - nigeria was granted superficial independence in 1960 by the british but thats all it was - the british have retained economic control over nigeria and now the americans are also in the picture.

Kobojunkie:


I was so hoping you would not confirm my fears here. You SERIOUSLY believe the Nigerian Government is FORMIDABLE? You use the word FORMIDABLE and Nigerian Government in the same sentence?? AAAARRRRGGHH!!!!

is it me or are you just a wee bit retarded - why dont you go and start protesting openly in the streets of lagos , abuja or port harcourt  condemniing our leaders and see whether you'll be received by a group of "pot bellied" illiterate politicians or a group of bloodthirsty, soldiers ready to blow you away at the drop of a hat.

if the nigerian govt/ military isnt formidable can you explain what happened at Odi under obasanjo's watch? how about umuechem,  

http://www.waado.org/Environment/FedGovt_NigerDelta/BayelsaInvasion/FederalGovernInvadesBayelsa/MilitaryInOdi/MilitaryMassacres.html

Dude, I give in!!! I can't even continue. . . .  cause I don't know how I can reason with the idea that the bunch of, mostly uneducated, pot-bellied dingbats we have today sitting in asorock, each working to better his own cause, and butt at the end are as divided as can be, can be regarded as FORMIDABLE opposition. IT IS JUST IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME and so I give in !!!

yeah i think you better because you dont sound as if you think logically, anyone with any semblance of intelligence would know that for a corrupt group of politicians to perpetuate themselves in power they will need to have a repressive army or secret service to keep them in power and protect them, why is this so hard for you to understand, in underestimating the strength of your opponent you have revealed your ignorance, the main characteristic of a repressive govt is a sadistic and repressive military, police force or secret service which is used to PREVENT the masses from rising up.

Kobojunkie:
I had to sift through all YOU have created there for yourself to the bit above. What regime do you speak of? Yar adua? Jonathan? What FORMIDABLE opponent? The weak government we have now is FORMIDDABLE? Is Jonathan part of this FORMIDABLE government cause I heard he dissolved cabinet and the country did not collapse. Note: We used that EXCUSE during millitary rule, and it did not work for us. You still use it even when we have a frail/near death old man as president ?

are we talking about the same govt?  when we had the uprisings in the niger delta - did yaradua or jonathan go out personally to speak to the niger delta militants, didnt yarauda send troops to crush these people, what planet are you on, arent you aware that the nigerian military is an arm of the nigerian govt, who is sent to clamp down on dissident groups? do politicians go out to engage in talks with dissidents. 

go and ask the people of odi what happened to them when they started protesting - did obasanjo go out to meet with them personally and engage in dialogue.

Kobojunkie:
I don’t think the question you are asking here is a valid one considering you are of the knowledge that the UN is comprised of different bodies that VOTE on most every mission/issue. That the UN voted against going into Rwanda 16 years ago, and allowed the massacre of hundreds of thousands as a result is no valid reason to state it should not DO BETTER by learning from those mistakes.  The war in Iraq did not happen in 1994, it happened AFTER THE MISTAKES of the past were made.  Even in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US made serious mistakes and has worked to correct those mistakes in the last couple of months. Remember sudan? Remember all the mistakes made by GOING IN to some of the volatile areas in Africa.

i see that you are more than happy to give a nation who has never shown that it can be trusted, the benefit of the doubt, why is that?  maybe you need to check up on america's foreign policy in latin america and the rest of africa and then you will awake from your complacency.  the mistake you make is that you think that the failure to act on the part of the americans in the rwandan case was a mistake ie done unwittingly, in other words that the intention was honourable but due to poor judgement they failed to act, you are wrong - their failure to act was DELIBERATE, the americans are not s.t.u.p.i.d they know exactly what they are doing, every decision they make is carefully thought through it is not some spur of the moment act - they always look at the bigger picture and what is in it for them.  all those examples you used are incorrect - america's involvement in sudan was a carefully orchestrated policy to weaken the predominantly muslim north in favour of the south, why? because the north refused to play ball over the oil reserves and uranium but instead chose to trade with china, america then began to foment uprisings all over the country in order to destablisise the entire country and scupper china's trade arrangements with sudan.  

also despite the fact that five other countries are members of the security council with veto powers the US STILL dictates what goes, remember how they unilaterally refused to abide by the UN resolution which stipulated that they should not launch a preemptive strike against iraq?  did they abide by it? does that not tell you that they are a law unto themselves and are not bound by international treaties?  

The US of course WILL pick and choose where it will go. It will assess the situation BEFORE it decides to move. I actually expected you would ask something along the lines of why the US or even the UN didn’t choose to come in to the JOS issue BEFORE this more recent one. I mean we have witnessed the killing of hundreds so many times before now. Why aren’t you asking why now? I suspect you probably have guessed it is likely that the UN believes it is probably time it intervened.

no i didnt ask that question because i already know the answer - they see no reason to involve themselves in conflicts which do not adversely affect their economic interests, they will intervene however if the violence spreads south and starts to affect the niger delta area, remember how concerned they were when MEND started sabotaging the oil installations in the delta region, at the height of this period a barrell of crude oil was going for $152 and the americans and british were going crazy, they desperately needed those MEND boys to be stopped in their tracks hence their increase in arms supplies to the nigerian govt with instructions to crush MEND during this period.  

You speak of track records, what is our own track record? Has our track record shown we even care to prevent these killings let alone protect our own territory?  I say again, we sat by watching the nation dragged in the mud by OUR OWN LEADERS for decades; no talk of track records. Now we suddenly want to speak of track records when we have an appalling one to show the world? Give me a break please!

you are right in saying that as a people we have done nothing, but i think you are unfair in your condemnation of nigerians, i hope you are aware of what the nigerian masses are up against - one of the most brutal and repressive regimes you will ever come across which is armed and supported by britain, the US and Israel.  for the nigerian populace to defeat this formidable opponent we need to overcome our ethnic differences and understand that we have a common enemy, then we can organise and face our common enemy - it took the north vietnamese even with backing from russia, north korea and china among others -16 years to defeat their imperialist aggressors and they lost 3 million people in the process, war is never an easy prospect.

Kobojunkie:
So because of the mistakes in Rwanda(16 years ago), and many other mistakes of the PAST, the UN should continue to DO NOTHING then? The UN ought to continue sitting on the sidelines while more and more Africans get hacked to death in an age where pictures of these attrocities are transmitted into millions of households in seconds for people to see and cry out in outrage?

@kobojunkie of course not - but the question here is why is it that they pick and choose when to intervene, i used Rwanda as an example because it was such an extreme case - innocent men women and children were being massacred in full view of UN troops and yet they stood by and watched as they were under instructions by their respective govts not to intervene, it was only 3 months after 1 million innocent people had been brutally massacred -some even killed inside churches that the UN reluctantly sent 5,000 troops - compare that to the number of troops that they sent to wage war in  Iraq,  which as at nov 2009 was  115,000.  what im saying is that the US picks and chooses when it feels it should intervene and this is usually only when they have economic interests to protect, based on their previous track record in other african countries i cant see them intervening in order to stop mass killings of innocent civilians in nigeria , therefore i think we as a nation need to prevent the shedding of innocent blood as much as possible.

ElRazur:
I am not denying their bad record nor am I defending it. You have a point. However, that should not be a basis at this stage. I think it is a good thing they are even discussing it. Nigeria will be a bigger disaster if nothing is done

Apologies for my first post. That was necessary.

@apology accepted - what im trying to demonstrate is that they have a hidden agenda, if they didnt intervene in Rwanda where the situation was so critical why are they talking about intervention in nigeria now when things havent escalated to the Rwandan scale (god forbid that happening).  If you want to understand a country's  foreign policy you should always look at their past activities in similar situations, the UN is a toothless bulldog which is controlled by the US govt, it uses its veto power to block or derail any position that it doesnt agree with usually in a very undemocratic manner.  all im saying is we should not be fooled into taking what america says on face value - there is a hidden agenda at play here.

ElRazur:
Cap28 even when the UN are trying to do something, you still dey criticize. Next time, I think they should only act once your family and everyone you know is wiped out in Nigeria. That way your criticism will be justified.

The US do get things wrong, but to use that as a ruse and claim something sinister is going on is just flawed.

@El razur are you unhinged?  whatever negative thing you wish on me will bounce back on you and your family tenfold!!!!

do you have difficulty with comprehension?  did you read the link that i posted? did you understand it? The UN have a track record of DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN CRITICAL SITUATIONS IN AFRICA, i have quoted on of their own govt documents - a NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVED DOCUMENT which set out how the UN (america's) failed to intervene during the Rwandan crisis in 1994 , why is this such a problem for you to accept. I know you regard them as your gods but the truth is they couldnt give a Poo about us , get used to it!!!!

i find it really interesting that the americans are so interested in the current killings going on in nigeria, what i want to know is this, why is it that they did nothing in rwanda where 1million tutsi's were slaughtered by hutu militias in a space of 100 days  - in fact their UN troops were specifically instructed to stand down and evacuate only expatriate nationals from the country, according to recently declassified national security archive documents on US foreign policy during the Rwanda crisis, america's position was described as follows:

"Despite overwhelming evidence of genocide and knowledge as to its perpetrators, United States officials decided against taking a leading role in confronting the slaughter in Rwanda.  Rather, US officials confined themselves to public statements, diplomatic demarches, initiatives for a ceasefire, and attempts to contact both the interim government perpetrating the killing and the RPF.  The US did use its influence, however, at the United Nations, but did so to discourage a robust UN response (Document 4 and Document 13).  In late July, however, with the evidence of genocide littering the ground in Rwanda, the US did launch substantial operations—again, in a supporting role—to assist humanitarian relief efforts for those displaced by the genocide."

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/index.html

why did they again do nothing in liberia where dangerous thugs and militia were rampaging through liberian towns r.a.p.i.n.g, maiming and killing innocent civilians - again all they did there was to evacuate their own people and remain on standby by the seashore in their ships,

what is so special about nigeria (oil?) now that they want to intervene to prevent genocide, this so called talk of responsibility to protect (R2P) seems to only apply where america has long terms plans of occupying the country in question, or where they intend to topple a govt which is not on side with them - i cant see them intervening in order to facilitate the break up of nigeria for the good of the country, what would they benefit from such a situation?

Kobojunkie:
[size=12pt]Where was this credibility you claim when EKITI was on the line? Where was this credibility when the NTA contract was questioned? Where was this credibility when the country had no clue where their president was for 2 whole months? Where was her credibility when she, for over 2 months continued to lie to the Nigerian people that the president was OK and talking to members of his cabinet? Why do we play the AMNESIA card so quickly? Why did her credibility wait till a week or two before the VP was made acting president to act?

@kobojunkie you are on point - as i have said earlier and will continue to say we deserve the a.s.s.h.o.l.e.s we have as leaders because we are not capable of reasoning properly, this woman is a liar and a thief there is nothing honourable about her or she would have not had anything to do with these criminals, this whole topic is a complete waste of time, if i came to your house and stole your money and raped your wife  then tomorrow you saw me on the road and i came to preach to you about morality would you not be within your right to attack me physically ? - this post is symptomatic of the moral bankruptcy and retardation of our people, we bow and scrape before people who hate us and wish us ill while we scorn and deride genuine and sincere people, im afraid we are going to have to find out the hard way that justice is something you fight for not something that is handed to you on a plate - ask the south africans.

@becomrich it is tribalistic people like you that the americans and british will continue to use to serve their own purposes, first of all africom is not coming to africa in order to deliver nigerians out of the hands of these criminal thugs aka our leaders they are coming to secure the oil wells - end of story, they have absolutely no interest in africa or its people - their interest is in being able to have acces to cheap oil, thats all - your naivite is embarrassing, these people look at us as if we are sub human they dont care how many africans die in the process of them securing their economic interests. you mentioned iraq - what do you think the americans are doing there ? - protecting the iraqis? - jeez you really dont understand what is going on do you? the americans are occupying iraq - iraq is now an occupied and conquered territory with a puppet govt which was installed by the us, the us now has full control over the exploitation of oil in iraq which has the second highest oil reserves in the world - that is their plan for nigeria, you are squabbling over whether jonathan can win votes from the north, what does it matter, the americans are planning on installing another one of their puppets IBB come 2011. these foreigners love people like you who cant understand who the real enemy is here, keep bickering and fighting over whether jonathan can win the north, you are wasting your energy, why dont you reserve it for your real enemies - britain and america who want to sentence your children and grandchildren to another century of misery, poverty and suffering.

yes i think he's doing the right thing but while he's at it perhaps he could start by reopening his wife's case with the EFCC - you know the N104m which she stole from the bayelsa state treasury and of course the other $13.5m again stolen from the bayelsa treasury, its nice to know that nigeria's acting first lady was indicted on money laundering charges which were subsequently quashed - nigeria, what a country.

Fhemmmy:
What stories was that
She made a booboo when Yaradua was still fresh with his sickness and later changed and started telling the truth and asking question . . . .

but why would you trust a woman who alligns herself with a group of known thugs and criminals, how do you know that the stories she was churning out were as you say "the truth" she is a spokesperson for a criminal organisation, are you that gullible that you think she would risk her life to tell you "the truth" rather than holding on to her position of privilege and power?  come on now!!! wake up!!!

no ive just watched and analysed his every move since he took over from yaradua and all his actions seem to be gravitating in a pro america/britain direction - yaradua was pro britain and america too, however he made the mistake of trying to favour china over britain and america which really got up the anglo/american alliances noses, anyway jonathan is nothing but a houseboy to the west - he's pushing through all their privatisation contracts and over seeing the plunder and pillage of the nigerian economy just like his predecessor did but this time giving the americans and the british a larger share of the cake.