₦airaland Forum

lawani:
If there is a return to the independence constitution it can be done. Back then regions did not want to be divided unlike now that states are asking to be divided. The military messed up the country.

You guys just talk anyhow sha! This is not the fantasy channel! It’s the same people that cannot create states that you are dreaming will return to independence constitution?

This is why people should think before they act, when things aren’t going your way else you make moves for which there is no return.

Those who couldn’t see beyond today and refused secession clause, who abolished referendum, who staged a coup, those who promulgated decree 34 etc etc did not realize they would be here today paying the price for the situation they created for themselves and everyone else.

Revealpanda:
When last did you hear of any IPOB attack in the south east?

South east is currently one of the safest zones in Nigeria

Last Monday actually.

I know of one church attack and one where a woman was filming the attack and if I remember she was also shot or something.

lawani:
How will they create one small state and give them three senators when Lagos and Kano with over 20 million people have only three senators? The first thing is to abolish the Senate then give anybody that want state the state they want.

Like I said….people who are capable of thinking know this is just a jamboree and not a single state that will be created. Not even a single local govt, talk less state!

It is easier to for Nnamdi Kanu to see the law under which he was tried than for any state to be created.

The parliament just presented a list of constitutional amendments including renaming of local govts etc. Did you see any state creation there?

If people prefer to keep the space in their heads empty, pastors, politicians, Islamic and IPOB terrorists will use your brains for you.

Those whose brains are still functioning and haven’t been sublet to politicians know it is more or less impossible to create a state in a civilian dispensation in Nigeria. The only time is was done was when we had regions and at the time you only needed the approval of 2 out of 3 regions. With states, you need the state parliaments of 25 out of 36+ FCT and all want their own state and none will vote in favour unless they get their own.

It is just a campaign tool especially as election season is round the corner.

State creation and promise of political solution for Kanu are campaign tools for the usual suspects who have wide empty spaces between their ears. Neither is going to happen!

Fiscus105:
More reason eason Jonathan was booted out of power, since, he couldn't comprehend basic English and refused to use power granted to him by constitution.

When he declared his own state of emergency, the same Hausa/Fulani people that are using insecurity to distablise his govt because they wanted to come to power, he left them in the state to continue running the affairs of the state .

His eyes cleared when he finally booted out of power.

Many Nigerians are also not very intelligent.

The scenarios are different.
In no previous scenario where emergency rule was contemplated was the problem the elected officials themselves. In a case of terrorism, there is no need to suspend the governor……he is not the terrorist….he isn’t the problem!

It wasn’t a case of terrorism or militants. It was a case where the elected officials had broken the law, there was no functioning government because there was no budget, all actions and spending of the govt had been deemed illegal. They could not go forward and impeachment was the next step. Without a budget you can’t pay salaries. One side was not prepared to pass the budget, all they wanted to do was impeach.

The person who was suspended has said the emergency rule saved him from impeachment. You are here speaking English you don’t understand using logic you picked up at a beer parlour.

It’s funny how you people did not find your voice when a governor burnt down an assembly building, when he passed a budget when he appointed commissioners and passed a budget illegally with 4 out of 30+ members? You didn’t know these actions were illegal? You were all cheering him on!

I said it at the time that many Nigerians speak but don’t understand English.

When something is an “emergency” it means normal rules and rights are suspended.

Moreso if the elected official himself is the root of the problem.

The emergency powers will be applied based on the nature of the problem. In this case the problem was the elected officials themselves.

ultraviolet27:
Did you mean the first Nigerian university graduate is benin or the first graduat from a nigerian university is benin? Rev samuel ajayi crowther had already even graduated from fourah bay college in sierral Leone even before the first nigerian medical doctor who died in1879 at age 37 of small pox epidemic,in pre colonial lagos his name was nathaniel Philip he graduated from university of aberdeen (scotland) as at 1869 or so google it his grandparents were yoruba recaptive slaves from serria leone who settled back in abeokuta his grandparents were originally captured in a slave raid from the old oyo war and the oke odan war where dahomey army raided slaves from infact his grandpa was alaafin of abiodun of old oyo empire!!

followed by Dr John stone smith who later changed his slave trade name to Dr orisadipe obasa his recaptive great grandparents were were both grand children of the ikole ekiti king in and an egba royal family in pre atlantic slave trade era in nigeria infact Dr obasa's dad was a great grandson of king obasa of ikole ekiti then there are 3 royal families ruling in ikole I am not an ikole indigene but we lived there for 27 years,this former Dr John Smith eas the first senior boy of Methodist boys high school in bariga Lagos he had already became a medical doctor as at 1900 google is there for you followed by Rev samuel johnson who wrote the history of oyo and yoruba people and his younger brother Dr Obadiah Johnson, and Dr Leigh sodipe akinsiku all of them schooled in university in europe because U.I the first nigerian university had not been established then

Infact the first nigerian african university graduate ever though not based in nigeria as at then his grandparents were recaptive slaves of Igbo origin captured from the bonny slave raid freed in freetown serria leone his name was surgeon africanus b horton I had known this when I was reading makers of modern Africa volume 1 in my secondary school library I hate someone dishing out false information when did edo people start attending school let alone graduate from a university?

.

I am not the author but the 1st Nigerian or indeed sub Saharan African to attend university was Olu Atuwarse of Warri. Many refer to him as crown prince of Benin Kingdom (hence why some erroneously say Benin) but he was actually from Warri. He is also referred to as Dom Domingos.

He attended a university in Portugal in 1600. I am sure 1600 predates 1879 (Macaulay) and I am almost certain the ibos had not had contact with the Europeans in 1600.

The first set of Europeans to interact with Nigerians around 1400s were the Portuguese but their interaction (trade) was limited to the coastal cities (hence Warri, Lagos, calabar etc. It was only when the British came (350 years later) that they started explorations inland when ibos started to have interactions with the white man.

By the way FFK’s grandfather graduated in 1885.

This is what happens when you pay tax. You start to find your voice.

The more you pay the more you get annoyed at civil servants stealing g your money.

Dangote pays N400b every year in company taxes, not o it are they stealing the tax , they are trying to frustrate the company paying the tax

When tax bill comes into effect, everybody (particularly the silent middle/ upper moddle class) will start to find their voice.

math2001:
When Nigeria was a united nation without tribalism

There was always tribalism. If there was no tribalism Gowon would never have been a head of state because there would have been no coup.

https://x.com/fattylincorn_01/status/2000218007105061055?s=46&t=zIh8l0Y5x1WkbEiRY9Q56Q


By Prof. Ihechukwu Madubuike)

THIS IS SIMPLY THE REASON WHY HAUSAS, YORUBAS, EDO AND THE NIGER DELTA MAN WILL NOT TRUST THE IBO MAN AT THE CENTER AND WHY THE HAUSAS MAY NOT WANT TO RELINQUISH POWER IN NIGERIA

Any historians in the house to vet this but no insults or character assassination please:

Forgotten History Of Igbo Tribe And Northern Alliance.

Do you know that when Tafawa Balewa was Prime Minister of Nigeria;

Chief of Army Staff was from SE
Chief of Naval Staff was from SE
IG of Police was from SE
Chief of Defence Staff was from SE
Internal Affairs Minister SE
External Affairs Minister SE
Education Minister South SE
Many other key ministries to SE
Parliament President SE*
Unilag VC from SE
The University of Ibadan VC from SE
North resisted same at ABU!!!*

Still, there was dissatisfaction by SE, the officers from the region killed this same Balewa!!!*

*Out of all the most senior officers in Nigeria, SE has 37, none was killed. 8 from the north, all of them were killed. 10 from the west, 2 were killed.*

*Then Ironsi imposed a unitary system of government on the country so that everything can belong to a region who snatched it!*

*We must know our history so that when we want to make corrections, we will not end up concealing the truth.*

*This has nothing to do with tribalism but everything to do with the truth.....at times when lies litter the streets.*

*There is a tendency to think those are truths and facts.*

*What follows are documented facts that can be cross-checked for authenticity!"*

*Thou shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.*

* *“Prof. Ben Nwabueze was the man who drafted the constitution that took away powers from regions and handed it to the central government because his brother Aguiyi THEORY WOES IN NIGERIA TODAY:*

*The Igbo man is known to enjoy blaming the Hausa fulanis, Yorubas and indeed every other Nigerian tribe and Lord Luggard/Britain for their seeming claim of being in third class citizen status in Nigeria.*

*In their perpetual attempts to play the victim card, they recount the political events of Nigeria from 1914 to the present in a half-baked and highly selective manner which cleverly avoids the mention of the roles played by their elite who by all natural laws of judgement were actually responsible for the woes that befell not only the Igbo race but the entire Nigeria nation.*

*The story told in the post above is one of such selective and distorted accounts of history which the average Igbo man is fond of narrating.*

*However, the national archives have the complete and unedited history of Nigeria regarding the political events beginning way back from even before 1914.*

*I will therefore proceed to furnish my readers with the complete story for all to read and be endowed with enough facts so as to judge and act from an informed position.*

*Shortly after the 1914 Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates, it started getting clear that the country was bound to fail as the amalgamation in question was done with colonial fiat without the consent and consensus of the different tribes which were over 300.*

*This prompted the political leaders to start asking for de-amalgamation so as to forestall the future danger which the forced amalgamation portended.*

*To that end, Ahmadu Bello, speaking on behalf of the Northern protectorate in 1944 described the amalgamation as* *"The mistake of 1914 which if allowed to remain will ultimately lead to unstoppable bloodshed and a failed country".*
*Awolowo, speaking on behalf of the Yorubas and Western minorities, described Nigeria as a mere geographical expression not qualified to be called a country let alone a nation.*

*Awolowo added that if the5 amalgamation could not be reversed, then Nigeria should be structured as a strictly federal state so as to enable each tribe enjoy autonomy this freedom from being dominated by any one single tribe.*

*But Nnamdi Azikiwe, speaking for the Igbos, denounced Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello, terming them ethnic champions.*

*He accused them of nursing a sectional agenda against the unity of Nigeria, and he declared further that the Unity of Nigeria was non-negotiable.*

*After moving the motion for independece in 1953, Anthony Enahoro proposed that a secession clause should be incorporated into the future constitution of Nigeria so as to give legal backing for any tribe to peacefully exit the forced union if it feels marginalized in future.*

*According to Enahoro, such provision in our constitution would instill in all Nigeria's future leaders the fear of the consequences of misgovernance.*

*But Azikiwe, speaking on behalf of Igbos, rose against him in the parliament and labelled him an agent of disunity, and enemy of Nigeria.*

*At a later date, Awolowo too made a case for secession clause, but Azikiwe again resisted him and instigated the colonial authorities to threaten him and Enahoro with charges of treasonable felony if they didn't stop proposing secession clause for the future constitution.*

*While Azikiwe did all these, Igbos cheered and urged him on because they felt the future Nigeria was theirs to dominate and lord it over every other tribe.*

*Before independece, Tafawa Balewa too had in a public speech described Nigeria as a British experiment and Nigeria's unity as a British intention which Nigerians themselves don't believe in. But Azikiwe kicked and demonized him too.*

*Had Azikiwe co-operated with Enahoro, Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa about the secession clause, Nigeria perhaps would not have been this misgoverned.*

*For those in doubt, here is a link of one of the numerous instances in which Nnamdi Azikiwe fought against the secession clause proposal for the future Nigeria constitution.*

*It should be noted that there were many Igbo members of the parliament in which Azikiwe fought against Awolowo's secession clause proposal in the link above, but not a single one of them rose against Azikiwe or condemned him.*

*Igbos initially never wanted to hear anything like secession in Nigeria because they so much believed, though falsely, that they were the most educated tribe. (The first Nigerian tribe to produce a university graduate is the Binis).*

*As an evidence of Igbo domination agenda hence their initial resistance to the idea of secession; here are some quotes:*

*"From all indications, the god of us Igbos have destined us to rule the whole of Africa"..... Nnamdi Azikiwe (1945).*

*"It is getting clearer each day that Igbo domination of Nigeria is just a question of time"... Oscar Onyeamma. (1949).*

*As at 1900, the whole of the present Benue State, Kogi East Senatorial District and some southern parts of Taraba State called Munchi District back then; were all in the Southern Protectorate.*

*Whoever doubts this should consult MacMillan Atlas for secondary schools in Nigeria. With that situation the South had a higher population than the North hence always had an upper hand in any democratic bargain.*

*But as at the early fifties when the regions were being created, common sense dictated clearly that these areas should fall in the future Eastern Region.*

*But against common sense, the colonial masters decided to gerrymander them into the Northern Region.*

*While they did that, Azikiwe who was supposed to be in Enugu fighting against it as the leader of the East, was far away in Ibadan struggling with Awolowo to rule the Western Region and also playing the spoiler role against Awolowo's attempts to have Kwara and present Kogi Yorubas carved into the Western Region from the North which was already too large by landmass.*

While he abandoned his burning house and was far away in Ibadan struggling against Awolowo for his own (Awolowo's) region, Igbos saw absolutely nothing wrong with that. Rather they applauded him as a nationalist.

They left and decimated PDP when they couldn’t get what they wanted, they hijacked LP and scattered it’s existing structure, causing chaos and factions, claiming leadership while at the same time flirting with ADC and leaving those ones in limbo. But somehow it is Tinubu destabilizing parties and creating a one party state.

Can’t manage a home, can’t manage a state, can’t manage a party but wants to manage a country.

At which one was INEC present? INEC can’t be present at both.

AlphaTaikun:
That SA must have a really brusque temperament that's 1000 times worse than what Obasa has ever been accused of by others for you to give that kind of damning feedback about his person and his repeated poor handling of constructive criticisms. That type of SA must never be the future Governor of Ipinle Eko if he has NO emotional intelligence.

'Tokunbo Wahab might not get the ticket even though he's well-spoken and educated, but I don't see 'Femi Gbaja there either. I suspect that Muri-Okunola might be the next one in line. Ambode might not make it back to complete a final term as claimed by some. Someone with the near-temperament of a Babatunde Raji-Fashola who can come up with creative iconic projects such as the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge, someone like Raji-Fashola whohas a deep love for nature by beautifying the Lagos environment with plants to give off oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, someone who respects traffic lights and drives around without sirens, etc.

I don't want to see 'Seyi there for now because he needs to show more self-discipline and introspection. How can 'Seyi, (a young man of 40 who is also a lawyer) just allow all kinds of creeps defame his father with deliberately fabricated disinformation here on NL and other online platforms calling his father a d*ug baron despite the FACT that he wasn't charged for any crimes back in 1993. These monikers ought to have faced justice and serve time in jail for defamation of character. The uncertainty surrounding the disinformation around his father, 'Bola Tinubu over the fake d*ug baron story definitely led to his loss by 10,000 votes to the other guy because a powerful strand of Yoruba voters in Lagos who were not convinced about the morality surrounding the disinformation being spread online and offline around his academic records and that recircled drug issue in voted against him.

HMO to me is as Lagos APC as you get. The problem I have is exactly with these sort of people. The guy I am talking about is a mini HMO. They are part of the Political structure of Lagos APC and they know no other way.



People like Fashola, Wahab, Osinbajo, Cardozo, Edun etc are not really APC political structure. They are fundamentally private sector professionals or technocrats as we like to call them so they tend to have a sense of professionalism and standards. They may have been compromised in their standards by having to work with these people but they are fundamentally a different breed.

When I refered in a previous post to APC Lagos political family, it is people like Gbaja, HMO and this young SA, I am talking about.

HMO is a career civil servant and a key member of the Lagos political Family. He is part of the furniture, part of the system. IMHO, There is nothing that has happened in Lagos since 1999 good or bad that has not become part of his DNA……he knows no other way. So when I say I am not happy with Lagos APC, he is not the solution. It’s like wanting to reform a Federal ministry and bringing in a man who started his career in that ministry and became a permanent secretary. He entire career, professional (or unprofessional) habits and mindset have been formed in that organization and is exactly the thing you are trying to reform. Whatever rot exists in that ministry he is a part of. IMHO, You don’t rise to the top in a rotten system without being a part of the system. All you are going to get is more of the same. You don’t for example say you want to reform NNPC and appoint a GMD who spent all his life in NNPC or ministry of petroleum, if you are serious you bring a Bayo Ojulari from Shell.

I have nothing against HMO personally but having been part of the governance and political structure of Lagos since 1999, to me he represents more of the same mediocrity and exactly the kind of person I don’t want to see as governor.

It’s one thing to be an appointee from the private sector for a few years but you don’t remain in a system for more or less your entire working life and not become the system yourself.


PS: the idea of Seyi as governor is a joke gone too far. I don’t think even he himself or anyone from APC takes it seriously.

Lagos APC has become too comfortable in their mediocrity. Ordinarily they deserve to be kicked out for a term or 2 to rest their brains but unfortunately Gbadebo, Jandor and Doherty are a bunch of clowns and not viable options……same story at the Federal level.

Tinubu is doing well at the Federal level but it is also because his boys can’t operate at the Federal level with the opacity and standards of project delivery they are used to in Lagos. Nonetheless you still see the Lagos APC DNA in his boys from the flip flopping of policy and tardiness in certain respects of administration. Leaked official docs from presidency, 15% petrol duty today, gone tomorrow, appointment of dead people without vetting the list, granting pardons to terrorists or people whose case is still in court….etc etc. these are the hallmark of the amateurism and anyhowness of his footssoldiers from Lagos that are hallmarks of how they operated in Lagos.

AlphaTaikun:
One thing I like about APC folks at the Federal Government level and APC Lagos level is that if you call them out and offer solutions as well either via their official social media handles or directly to some senior officiaks, they'll listen to you. I've seen that pattern play out within the last 2 years. Like you emphasized, APC though filled with some mediocrities is still a little better than other parties and this is hoping that they take a cue and upgrade themselves to be more responsive to real time situations occuring around them.[/i]

Maybe some, but I have seen one of their key SAs in particular repeatedly acting arrogantly and condescending on social media towards genuine criticism and suggestions. More disturbing is that he is someone some suggest as a potential future governor (not 2027).

In fact the exchange I read and his responses is the day I said I would never vote for APC in state elections. Like I said I won’t vote for any other party because they are also equally or probably more incompetent but I will never leave my house to vote APC in Lagos state, let the chips fall where they fall. Tokunbo wahab is the only person I can leave my house to vote for. He is a descent person and you can tell he is one of the few who still has a sense of right and wrong.

AlphaTaikun:
Indeed, I'm on the same page with you on that PPP issue. A few months ago in 2025 right here in NL, we analysed some road projects undertaken by some Lagos LGAs, and looking deeply at the pictures of some of the roads ATTACHED to the thread(s), some of the roads looked crooked (despite the fact that the road had covered drains and side walks that also looked like their constructions where rushed so they looked annoyingly uneven looks.

I had to propose on that same NL thread that Lagos State Government and the citizens MUST ensure that all the Lagos LGAs and LCDAs MUST have one universal construction standard and NOT carry out shoddy jobs during construction on public infrastructure.

Picture below says everything you need to know about Lagos APC. Some of his fans are saying this is one of SanwoOlu’s flagship deliveries in the health sector.

Please look at a flagship center that looks like it was designed by a draftsman with tacky looking red roof, blue windows, brown and beige paint crooked signage and a design that looks like something from the 1950s.

This is just one example of Lagos APC’s idea of excellence in 2025!

If you disburse N5000 to buy bread but only N700 of it gets to my hand, I can only come back with N700 bread. I can get you the best bread for N2000, I can get you decent bread for N1200-1500 but since I only got N700 all I can deliver is N 700 bread and it is N700 for a reason.

AlphaTaikun:
@casualobserver

Oh yes, I understand the thrust of your post.
20 years now since those 2 impending mega projects came into our consciousness... How time flies.

Those two major projects (4th Mainland Bridge and the Lekki-Epe International Airport ought to have been rounded off by now) and that would have saved the overall costs of construction. As part of the Lagos State Master Plan though, successive Governors and their teams were able to finish (via PPP) the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ), the Lekki Deep Sea Port, and leased huge tracts of land for the construction of the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery in Ibeju-Lekki. I commend 'Bola Tinubu and his team for initiating and overseeing the conclusion of some of those projects but there's still a lot more to be done.

For instance, it's the intangibles that really matter for many folks who care about long-term livability and welfare of Lagos State such as having proper urban waste disposal whereby urban refuse can be turned to harmless organic fertilizer for agriculture/biogas for cooking/thermal energy for electricity, public toilets can be built in strategic areas to be replaced with modern biogas toilets which generate cooking gas and electricity from gas from human wastes, facilities management of government infrastructure such as street or highway lights and buildings have been poor. After 3-4 years of the commissioning of both government buildings and government vehicles they start looking rickety.

That BRT lane construction on the concrete road to Epe that you talked about should NEVER been there in the first place. Removing it again further shows how wastages occur due to a deficiency in "project management" skills. I

Once again the lack of a "sense of urgency" and foresight on the part of some of these people can be very enervating.


Right BELOW is a reaction video on the temporary opening as of yesterday [December 12, 2025] of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway (Lagos end)

BREAKING: The Coastal Road Is Open! I Drove From Eko Atlantic to Eleko — No More Traffic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so0cOzrhPDo
LekVibe •

Start to observe and will notice that most projects successfully completed and completed to a good standard are Projects executed by private capital, PPP or Federal govt. It seems that once a job wholly involves Lagos APC often what is “left” is not enough to do a decent job. That’s why their jobs are usually of a poor standard or they don’t stand the test of time.

PROPHETmichael:
Tinubu will view this statement as a declaration to contest against him in 2027 election.

Wike is Tinubu’s political successor. He is the only person I can see on the scene worthy of stepping into his shoes.

However he needs to work on his brash style although that too is an asset.

Ribadu/Wike 2031! NE/SS

Peter Obi is not an enlightened man or he is deliberately being mischievous.

1) on the issue of where is the money from increased revenue going…renewed hope infrastructure fund. Most of the infrastructure projects going on are ex-budget for those who claim to be educated but talk like they are not, that means the funding for those projects are not part of the budget. Any road or infrastructure project that is part of the renewed hope infrastructure fund is not part of the budget. Where is the money coming from? Increased revenues!
2) I have said this many times. there is no new borrowing, borrowings are approved as part of the budget but you don’t take the loan until you actually need it. When you need it and actually request the loan, people spin ii as a new loan. It is not a new loan.

You cannot rightly criticize the govt for poor budget performance and then criticize them for taking new loans. The reason why the loans are late and it seems like a new loan is because the budget is behind schedule in execution so the loans to execute the budgets will be late in requesting not that they are new loans. It is not a new loan request

When we hear that the budgets are underperforming but we see infrastructure project being built all over the country, it is because those projects are part of the Renewed Hope infrastructure fund and they are not part of the budget. They are funded largely by the increased revenue the govt is always telling you about. It is the same mechanism Buhari used to execute so many infrastructure projects. I don’t know the mechanism but it appears when things are routed through the normal budgetary and civil service mechanism they never get done on time so priority projects are routes through special ex-budgetary funds and initiatives like Buhari’s presidential task force on infrastructure and the renewed hope infrastructure initiative.

The renewed hope infrastructure fund is a special fund that started out with N20Trillion in funding (it may have been increased) . It is outside the budget.

AlphaTaikun:
That's deep... Really deep.

You just "toasted" these folks like toasted sliced bread.

With reference to Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR, SAN, you spoke the truth about him. He indeed had a team that conceptualized the Ikeja GRA, the Ikeja Industrial Estate, Ilupeju Industrial Estate, the Iganmu Industrial Estate, the Oluyole Industrial Estate, Odua Group, the Western House highrise building on Lagos Island, the Cocoa House highrise building in Ibadan, the Bodija Estate in Ibadan, free education, the huge cattle ranches with several improved hybrids in the Fasola area of Oyo State which gradually disappeared during the years of military dictatorship because of the oil boom and military corruption. Since Awolowo attended the London School of Economics and Political Science I noticed that some of those who got Western Region scholarships also went to LSE.


Governor. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu is an ex-investment banker who rose to the senior rank of a Treasurer [just like the now President 'Bola Tinubu rose to become a Treasurer with Mobil Nigeria (now ExxonMobil)]. Sanwo-Olu was the FIRST EVER Chairman of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) so he has had experience in public service after leaving the private sector and finance. More is expected from these men and their lieutenants tbh.

I've occasionally wondered when the 4th Mainland Bridge and the Lekki-Epe International Airport construction would commence with Sanwo-Olu's finance background because time is ticking out. I've seen two models of the airport on IG and that airport is gonna be lit on completion. Roads are also critical and just like you earlier stated, that "Wike standard" is going to be good for Lagos State.

I thoroughly enjoyed your disection of APC Lagos and the solutions to assist them to get back on track for the benefit of the citizens.

Cheers.

I was in the UK 20 years ago when I first heard of 4th mainland bridge and Lekki airport. I was so excited. Alas 20 years later still waiting, meanwhile population has doubled.

Have you been on the new (state) concrete rd to Epe? If you have you will notice some sections that previously had BRT concrete barriers slabs that were removed. Only lagos APC in their infinite mediocrity would design an intercity highway with BRT barriers (just like Ikorodu road).

Nobody thought to think that if a bus breaks down on the BRT lane, It would create a pile up of buses that can’t exit the BRT lane because of the barriers and then you would then have other buses and cars sharing the other 2 lanes. Not only that, what happens if a car breaks down? He has no way to exit but to sit and take up a lane creating traffic. I don’t know if you can picture what I am saying. I passed there at the early stages of construction and I thought what a bunch of muppets! I also passed recently and am glad to see they have seen the error of their ways and removed the BRT lane but the point is this is the intellectual capacity of these people.

I dont rate Sanwo-Olu. He is the muppet who thought it was a good idea to introduce a toll gate on a bridge right by a roundabout. Maybe you’ve forgotten the traffic it used to cause.

AlphaTaikun:
You've said it all.

In every organization, lethargy often sets in to various degrees WITHIN the workforce. The chains of command have to be robust as well starting with the President, the Governors, the LGA chairpersons, etc, and the lines of communication have to be open at all times. The folks on the lower cadre of APC Lagos and their agencies are in my opinion largely responsible for not passing on relevant information to their bosses on time as well. A major retreat is needed in the lead up to 2026 so that they can all REALLY become motivated and aware of some "disruptive strategies" that can be utilized to leapfrog that party for the benefit of all.

Though Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, the Commissioner of Works, and his team did well to build a new Opebi-Ojota Link Bridge to ease the massive traffic jams in the Maryland, Opebi, Mobolaji Bank Anthony axis, that road rehabilitation on the Lekki Peninsula should have been done long before the impending holiday period knowing FULL WELL that there's currently an inflow of Diasporans and tourists for the "Detty December" Holiday. To make matters more annoying, there's been a slew of information about kidnappings along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway (especially the Ibadan end) by foreign Fula bandits hiding in the forests just off the expressway. This is a mirror of what has been happening every year since the Buhari Presidency. A major sense of urgency should have triggered Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and his fellow SW Governors to order large numbers of surveillance and attack drones since they FIRST suggested the use during their South West regional meeting early this 2025 in order to mitigate the yearly attacks by foreign Fula bandits hiding in the forests right next to some major highways in the SW.

The cerebral former Governor Babatunde Raji-Fashola and his team I'm aware used to conduct opinion polls to find out what the folks on the street level needed at any particular point in time and Nigerians in the Diaspora and in Nigeria saw the massive transformations he carried out in the Oshodi area with the gentrification and greening of that axis of Lagos State.

The fundamental problem with Lagos APc can be summed up this way:

A leader is determined by his lieutenants, his team. One reason why Awolowo was so successful was not just his vision or his administrative abilities but in the caliber of his team of Lieutenants in his political family. It is for that reason that Awolowo can conceptualize a vision of a university for the western region and leave Akintola to plan and execute and deliver excellence. Many of the legacies of Awo were not executed by him but his team of Lieutenants even after he left office….even while he was in prison, even under military govt and deliver to a standard of excellence. Once you are a member of Awo’s political family your standard is excellence and this is reflected in what they did wherever they were whether Awo was around or not.

This is the problem I have with Lagos APC as a Political family. They are largely populated by mediocre people incapable of excellence and occupy the positions they do because unlike in Awolowo’s era, the best brains stayed away from politics and governance and created a vacuum which these charlatans have now filled. In Awolowo’s time, a Gbaja who attended a law school rated in the bottom 10% of American law schools would never rise to become his chief of staff. The opportunity to be a key figure would not even present itself. So it’s no surprise we see the tardiness we see. Awolowo would. To even tolerate you embarrassing g him so many times.

These are the people that populate Lagos APC. Ofcourse there are a few exceptions but the excellence can never emanate from such an environment, where throroughness, excellence of thought and execution is the exception rather than the rule. I understand that this is also a reflection of how we have fallen as a people but what really gets on my nerves is the arrogance and how they parade themselves as the best thing since sliced bread.

That said they are still better than the alternatives and that’s why they remain in power.

Dalohad:
Attention from you? How much is your attention worth? Eh..

Funny Gbadorian..

You are excused. You lack the exposure of world affairs to know what’s really happening in the world and why Trump is picking fights everywhere and trying to bully people.

Dalohad:
By default, Nigeria has also legitimized any foreign intervention in Nigeria.

Those always shouting 'Nigeria is a sovereign nation' must seal their mouths going forward.

Trump is coming and he is coming very fast and hard. Brace up..

Some of you are so stoop-hid. Nigeria was invited by the government of Benin. Nobody invited American troops. In any event, Trump is not invading Nigeria, it was all a bluff and a cry for attention from the collapsing Empire of the collapsing dollar. All America wants is attention from us.

AlphaTaikun:
'Femi Gbaja is a U.S.- trained attorney and former Speaker of the House of Reps in Nigeria so one would have expected things to pan out right and with a sense of urgency. A lot of the APC Lagos guys who served in the Lagos State Government as lawmakers and Commissioners are brilliant folks and NOT mediocrities.

Something MUST be WRONG somewhere with reference to the tardiness you are talking about here. Even Jimi Disu who is a veteran Journalist with Nigeria Info FM on V/Island which I monitor via their mobile app from my base here has called out Gbaja (his first cousin) on multiple occasions while on air to such an extent that I started wondering that if he is indeed Gbaja's first cousin, why not simply phone him directly to give him constructive criticisms about observed lapses?

Last but NOT least, I'm aware that the appeal to grant pardon to Maryam Sanda was initiated by her late husband's biological father who due to Islamic principles chose to forgive her and because she gave birth to children for her late spouse. He then sent an appeal to the President Muhammadu Buhari to grant a pardon to her. So, the pardon of Maryam and others were started during Buhari's Presidency and NOT the President 'Bola Tinubu's President. Tinubu's government ONLY chose to bring up the cases for final vetting and everyone wel

What exactly is US trained supposed to mean? This is part of our problem…colo mentality! Some of the best lawyers were trained in Nigerian universities. Secondly there are good schools and bad schools abroad even in the US. For the record, since you brought it up, the law school he attended in the USA is ranked in the bottom 10%!. So much for ”US trained” mentality!

It is not beyond the reason to expect that an undergraduate in law should know that there is separation of powers and you can’t interfere in an ongoing case.

The issue here is tardiness. How do you as a chief of staff sanction a list of appointees that include dead people? It’s happened more than once.

As for Lagos state APC please don’t let me start. Yes they are capable of appointing SOME sound people but will they allow sound people to do the right thing or work to their full capabilities without allowing greed to set in? The problem with Lagos APC is because they have certain natural advantages over other states, because they have had Tinubu to pave the way, they feel they are the better than they really are and they operate with that arrogance. They have not had many states with the ability or personnel to expose their nonsense. See how many roads Wike has built in 2 years and the quality of the roads. Don’t let me start with Lagos APC.

How they handled (bungled) the recent rehabilitation not the admiralty to Ajah reconstruction is in my humble opinion symptomatic of the mediocre minds in Lagos APC. No scenario planning no forecasting, did they not know that December is not the best time to embark on rehabilitation on that road at a time when you are promoting Detty December. That’s just one example but typical of a mediocre overrated bunch who have come to believe their own hype. What gets on my nerves is that they are arrogant in the mediocrity not realizing they are simply one eyed men in a country of the blind.

Think about it for a second. Only Lagos APC will open up an entire corridor with only i road in and out. To go from one estate in that corridor to another just next door, you have to go on the express way. That’s Lagos APC excellence….Brilliant minds indeed! If they were the ones who planned ikeja or surulere, yaba, iluoeju or any of the old areas the traffic on Mortala Mohammed way, western Avenue, airport rd etc would be child’s play compared to the lekki traffic.

Segunbabba:
https://dailypost.ng/2025/12/09/peter-obi-from-coalition-to-collision-lagos-apc-mocks-adc/

Lagos APC themselves should be careful. I personally have no intention of leaving my house to vote for any Lagos APC candidate except perhaps Tokunboh Wahab. I won’t vote for any other party but I can’t vote for that lot in Lagos APC in any state related election. They are too mediocre and arrogant in their mediocrity.

Kindledlight:
The appeal for pardon came from the lady’s family and more importantly the late husband’s father because of of the children. Though it might have a political undertone.

The irony of this case is that if someone had done his job (looking at you Gbaja) and said look we can’t grant this woman pardon now because the case is still before the court. Then she wouldn’t have been caught in the cross fire of the pardons for r drug dealers and terrorists. Now that the case has been concluded, she could easily have been quietly given a full pardon I.e full release from prison and it wouldn’t have caused much of an uproar.

Again I repeat this is on the chief of staff.

Putindbutt:
Nonsense headline. The Presidential pardon was not the case before the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court gave judgement on an appeal before it. The constitution has given the President the powers for prerogative of mercy regardless the judgement of any court of the land. If the President still considered the woman pardoned, she's pardoned.

The executive does not have the power to interfere in an ongoing case. There is separation of powers. It is only after the appeal has concluded that the president had powers to pardon.

Unlike the original case, which was brought by the executive, in an appeal the executive cannot even withdraw the case because the appeal was initiated by the woman.

Presidency cannot interfere in a court case it did not initiate and it can’t pardon a party in a case before the court. What if she was found innocent by the appeal court, what would he have been pardoning? Can you see now why they should have waited till the outcome of the appeal court before granting a pardon.

Nnamdi Kanu take note.

Cc: YesDaddyTill203

Again I repeat Gabajabiamila is probably the most sloppy tardy chief of staff I have known in the history of this country. This is why I say I don’t like Lagos APC people as a group….they’ve risen to the top on Tinubu’s glory despite being mostly very mediocre and overrated. All these gaffes and ridicule are his job to vet and avoid. This is why a chief of staff is so powerful and the gatekeeper. Appointing dead people, pardoning and withdrawing pardons, pardoning people with ongoing cases and many more. He is too sloppy for a chief of staff!

He is supppsed to be a lawyer for Gods sake!

muyico:
Is executive order
Juciary can't challenge it

Read the last sentence. Again Gbaja should know better. This is the job of a chief of staff. He has brought a lot of embarrassment to the president due to too many lapses and sloppiness.

Azumagcc:
Ambode was the Leader of the APC in Lagos when he was removed.

Thank you

Atiku was also leader of PDP when he was chased out.

Shagari was president, Umaru Dikko was in charge. Buhari was president, Funtia and Kyari were in charge. Obasanjo was head of state, Danjuma and Yaradua were in charge Shonekan was president Abacha was in charge. Power is not by title or office.


You might occupy the office but if you don’t control the politics you are not in charge and occupy the office at the pleasure of those who control the politics. Go and ask them in Oyo state in the time of Adedibu.

Truths9ja:
Fubara is much smarter here. He's now the overall leader of APC in Rivers State.

On paper but stop deceiving yourselves. Wike runs Rivers state both APC and PDP

Bentacur007:
You Dey joke ooo
He is now in APC
Let’s watch out

Meaning what? And Wike is where? Were you not the same doll people saying Wike is in APC and PDP? Who controls Rivers state? Who delivered APC in the presidential and recent local elections? Was it Fubara who was suspended? You people are so doll it’s unreal.

Shettima is the administrative VP but Wike is the deputy political Godfather of the Nigerian Political space. He is Tinubu’s defacto no2 as afar as politics.

He controls Rivers politics and will be given full backing to maintain his control because he has proven to be a loyal and reliable partner.

It’s not by putting APC flag on your official car and singing on your mandate.

The biggest political debt Tinubu owes is to to his Northern allies and to Wike. When some of his yoruba kinsmen were busy supporting Giringorry, these are the people that made him president. Wike is the reason there is effectively no opposition for 2027. Wike is covered…no shaking! Did you see the Ambassadorial list? Did you notice Wike’s men Ikpeazu and igwuanyi there.

Wike is Tinubu’s natural political successor, his adopted Godson. The only reason he won’t be anointed as such is his brash style and he comes from the south.

Wike has been quiet. I think Tinubu has called him and said calm down, it’s not every time you respond, your opponents are not as smart as you, they want to be like you but they don’t have the brains you have. Sometimes just keep quiet and watch them destroy themselves without you doing anything.

There are only 2 politicians that Tinubu has shown public deference to: Buhari and Wike. I will not be surprised if he is lining up a Ribadu/Wike presidency. Of one thing I am almost certain. Tinubu rates Wike above all southern politicians. It’s for Wike to tame his excesses.

The point of all this is that Tinubu will help protect Wike’s political base just as Wile helped him but also because Tinubu can see shades of himself in Wike.