₦airaland Forum

shachris:
When will this man ever learn to take responsibilities for his actions? Its no longer APC, its now external forces smh.

APC,Nigeria's version of the Moslem brotherhood,APC, an amalgamation of power mongers and their feudal slaves.

debo07:
When will GEJ stop complaining and start working?.well sha its too late cos he's a goner nxt month.This guy is just too dull but he's cunning.

those that have never won ordinary Councillorship election are saying that a former deputy gov,former gov,former vice president and now president is dull.Success is not a mistake but a result of hard work.He is your president get that into your head.

Those that vow to make this government ungovernable are working with extraneous influences to destabilize this country.

sherrylo:
jeezz so its CIA now not Buhari again? God help us oh

Yes in concert with some disgruntled Generals and Northern Elite.

Hear,this Boko Haram is a CIA covert operation,the president is right about external influence.CIA have done it before and they are doing it again.

Mohamed and Muhammadu Buhari are they the same name.No,this is some one else's result or at best a forged one.What an after thought.So how did he enter the army if he is just getting his result in 2015.

......more comments.

That's right.

===========
1. Which Agency bought those cars? Ans :NCAA.
2. Is Princess Stella the DG of NCAA? Ans: No
3a. Is it true that the NCAA is financially autonomous ?
Ans : Yes
3b. Would it be safe to assume that the NCAA's financial autonomy means
their financial activities don't fall within the purview of the Minister of
Aviation the same way the CBN is autonomous?
Ans: Yes
4. Is it a fact that two bullet proof cars were bought by the financially
autonomous agency called NCAA?
Ans: Yes
5. If the Minister is not directly involved in the financial decisions of the
NCAA, how logical is the conclusion that she "forced" the agency to make
the purchase?
Ans: Defies logic
6. For all the stories doing the rounds that the said cars belong to Stella
Odua, is it right for a clear-minded person to claim the cars are not the
personal properties of madam Minister?
Ans: Yes
7. Is it safe to say the quoted price for the vehicles sounds outrageous to
most sane minds?
Ans : Yes
8. If all are agreed the price is outrageous, would it be safe to expect that
any outrage emanating from the said transaction MUST FIRST be logically
vested in the said autonomous agency and not the minister who statutorily
has no say in how they choose to engage in financial transactions?
Ans: Yes
9. How is it that it seems a nexus is being drawn between the said financial
transaction and a minister who its not been proven has a say in it even
when we're agreed it doesn't statutorily fall within her purview?
Ans: Defies logic
10. Is there a need for a probe of this transaction?
Ans: Yes
11. Should the said probe start from apportioning blame even when its not
taken off?
Ans: No
12. Is it true that a lie frequently told wears robes labelled "Truth" and that
we run the risk of elevating the wind instead of chasing substance by this
constant fixation on madam Minister?
Ans: Yes
13. Is it true that the news agency that broke the story erred in claiming
madam minister forced the agency to make the purchase when even nothing
in their story upholds the bold claims in their headlines?
Ans: Yes
14. Is it true that the only thing Sahara Reporters succeeded in achieving
was drawing our attention to the fact that an "outrageous" transaction was
undertaken whilst cleverly (with their raging headline) apportioning
unsubstantiated blames?
Ans: Yes
15. Is there any known paper proof/trail ( the same type released by the
whistle blower and presented by SR in graphically revealing the transaction)
to suggest madam minister personally approved the transaction?
Ans: No
16: Can Madam Minister approve the transaction without putting pen to
paper and if we are agreed she gave approval, where is the document?
Ans: No/Dunno
17. Can our current inability to trace this (currently imaginary) document
justify the current elevation of conjectures as fact ?
Ans: No
18. Would it be safe to assume men ought to seek ways to unravel the
minds behind the transaction by first seeking accountability from those in
the said agency for we always work from the known (NCAA) to the unknown
( Stella Odua)?
Ans: Yes
Bottomline,
Yes there was a transaction,
Yes someone has to be held accountable,
No there's NOTHING presently on ground to support the claims that Stella
"forced" the agency to buy those cars and there's nothing so far to suggest
she was a part and parcel of the said transaction,
Yes for all the noise baying for her blood, all they have masquerading as
proof are merely conjectures fueled by legitimate outrage,
Yes its a known fact the world over that the buck stops at the table of a
leader but there is an increasingly intentional misconception of situating the
said leader for the simple reason that this buck don't statutorily stop at
Stella Odua's table but the DG of NCAA!
============
The graveyard silence on the 'bullet-proof' car purchase by the ordinarily
loquacious APC characters, in the face of the facts that their leadership
(particularly Mr. Bola Tinubu and Mr. Fashola) likewise purchased bullet-
proof vehicles at almost double the rate for which the Aviation Ministry is
now being profiled, coupled with the clearly sectional and partisan
orientations of Sahara Reporters, Punch and The Nation Newspapers which
are spearheading the witch hunt of the Aviation Ministry, brings a totally
new coloration to this entire episode.
Perhaps a more holistic investigation into all vehicles purchased and used
by all public officials in the country would be more productive than the
express personality attack being unveiled
profited from

The combination of names is a suspect.Seems strange.

This list does not reflect federal character at all.It is loop sided.

When it is time to share the
spoils of office.They will not
remember marginalisation,but
when they lose out it is
marginalisation

take dat: I am on the side of Iku Baba Yeye on this. OBJ during his presidency did nothing for the SW, rather he enthroned crooks, pilferers, the most defective and least-able men as governors and law makers with his garrison-styled politics. The elders complaining of SW being excised from GEJ's government are those who have lost out at home, and are trying to whip up sentiments in order to win concessions at the center!

When it is time to share the spoils of office.They will not remember marginalisation,but when they lose out it is marginalisation

django1: The OP said the truth here, all those elites are just fighting for their own pockets, @least they didn't remove yoruba senators from senate house!
What has GEJ done for bayelsa, ehn? Guys leave this marginalization talk alone, people come and go, 2015 now, probably a yoruba man will occupy d apex position, who knows?

Na so we see am.

IBADAN — ALAAFIN of Oyo,
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has said
the marginalisation of the
Yorubas being alleged by some
elders in the zone was caused
by the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. It will be recalled that recently,
the Yoruba Unity Forum alleged
that President Goodluck
Jonathan marginalised the zone
in the distribution of political
offices. Oba Adeyemi, who received
former Senate Leader, Senator
Teslim Folarin, who was on a
sympathy visit to his palace
over the fire incident in some
parts of the palace, said the eight year rule of Obasanjo was
not beneficial in any way to
Yoruba people. *Olusegun Obasanjo *Olusegun Obasanjo According to him, Obasanjoâ
€™s eight year rule never
ensured a succession policy for
the Yorubas, instead, the former
president paid mere lip
service to issues that could assist the cause of the Yorubas. He called on Yoruba politicians
to guard jealously the cultural
heritage of Yoruba nation,
warning that Yoruba language
and culture ceeded in many areas. Earlier, Folarin sympathised
with the Alaafin on the fire
incident, thanking God that
there was no casualty. He apologised for his late visit
to the monarch, saying it was due to
ill-health.

Allegations of sharp practices rock the Akpugo campus of Madonna University with the students at the receiving end, reports Olaolu Olusina This is, indeed, a pay back
time for ObinnaOjukwu, a
fresh graduate of Madonna
University, Okija, Enugu State.
Sitting comfortably in his
office at the Akpugo Campus of the first private university
in Nigeria, where he studied
Engineering and graduated
only last year, he could not but
thank his stars for being a
lucky young man. At a time, his mates were still
mourning their inability to be
called up for the compulsory
one-year National Youth
Service Corps (NYSC)
programme due to the non- accreditation of their courses
by the Nigerian University
Commission (NUC), Ojukwu is
already calling the shots at his
alma mater. And just about the time his
school mates were still
ruminating about what
becomes of them next in the
labour market due to the non-
recognition of their Engineering degrees obtained
from Madonna University, Ojukwu has no
reason to bother himself as he
is already back to what he
knows how to do best in his
days at the university, and at
a higher level. But his mates are not envying
the young man, who is now
the Dean of Students Affairs at
the Akpugo Campus of
Madonna University.
Current students, who knew him well during his days as
the school’s General Hall
representative, are not also
surprised at his rising profile.
Known for being a bully and
unrepentant ‘Man Friday’ for the university’s authorities to
the detriment of the interests
of his fellow students, whose
interest, he was supposed to
protect in the first place, many
can only conclude that this, among many other alleged
malpractice, could only
happen at Madonna
University. But many are worried that
such things could be
happening in a university that
prides itself not only as the
first private university as well
as the first Catholic university in Nigeria but also one of the
most expensive private
universities in the country
where standards and morals
are supposed to be high. Students of the institution are
equally worried as they are
not sure of what the future
holds for them with the non-
accreditation of their campus. Yet, THISDAY gathered that
the authorities of the
university appeared
unperturbed as what matters
to them most is the money
being collected from the helpless students, whose
parents are, unfortunately,
being made to believe that
their wards are being given
sound education and morals
in a supposedly Christian institution. But different allegations
rocking the school are sure
pointers to the fact that
Madonna University may have
derailed from its initial
objectives and reduced to nothing more than a
concentration camp’ where
the students are exploited in
so many ways. The Petition A petition sent to THISDAY in
Lagos about the current
developments at the Akpugo
Campus of the university,
titled “Madonna University
Akpugo Enugu State Appoints Fresh Graduate as Dean of
Students Affairs,”mexposed
many shocking and quite
unfathomable developments
in the school. “I’m seizing this
as a medium to bring to the notice of the National
University Commission (NUC)
and other branches of the
government, which should be
notified about the current
developments in Madonna University, Akpugo Campus,
Enugu State (Engineering
Campus). “The Administration Council of
Madonna University Akpugo
Campus led by the founder/
chancellor of the university,
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Edeh, on
August 7, 2012 organised a final semester meeting with
the students of the above-
mentioned campus. At the
meeting, the chancellor of the
university announced to the
students the swearing-in of a new Dean of Students Affairs
in person of Obinna Ojukwu, a
student with registration
number PTE/08/ 034. The
bearer at that time was an
undergraduate student of the university and the General
HallRepresentative of the
male students of the
university. “Obinna, who was traced to
be a student of the
Department of Petroleum
Engineering, was still writing
his final semester
examinations at that time. The bearer, Obinna, as I write
to you has not been mobilised
for his National Youth Service
Corps (NYSC). Neither does he
posses any preliminary
qualifications to fit into this position as the Dean of
Students Affairs of a
university. “As I write to you, Obinna
Ojukwu, a fresh graduate is
currently the Dean of Student
Affairs in Madonna University
Akpugo Campus, Enugu State.
Beyond every reasonable doubt, this is an eyesore or
should I say a dent to the
struggle by NUC and the
Ministry of Education toward
ensuring good standard in the
nation’s education sector. “Obinna who is known to
have a reputation for
assaulting and brutalising
fellow students during his
tenure as the General Hall
representative of the university has been put into a
position to continue his cruel
acts on students,” the petition
sent by a close observer of
happenings in the school had
stated in part. Non-accreditation of Courses The petitioner, who craved
anonymity also continued his
expose: “On the other hand, I
would also shed light on the
other illegal activities
happening within Akpugo campus Enugu State. The
Engineering Faculty has none
of its departments accredited;
therefore the students who
have completed their years of
study and have advanced into the labour market do not have
certificates to show as
graduates. Neither are they
mobilised for the National
Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
scheme. Incompetent Heads of Departments “The Head of Department
(HoD) of the Examinations
and Records Department in
Akpugo Campus who goes by
her regular name-’Point and
Kill’ -is not a graduate . She was employed into the
university as a labourer
(cleaner). As I speak to you,
she is the Head of Department
of the Examination and
Records unit in Akpugo Campus. Another disturbing angle is
the fact that the lecturers in
the campus who are
engineers are not allowed to
mark and grade examination
scripts of students they have taught. Instead, they are
handed over to the Reverend
Sister in charge of the
Examinations and Records
unit, Rev. Sis. Eleonora, who
distributes the scripts between her other Rev.
Sisters and other non-
lecturers for marking. This
disturbing development
brings the question: Why
should a professional course such as engineering be
marked and graded by non-
qualified individuals? “Rev. Sis. Eleonora has been
given the go-ahead by the
Chancellor of the university to
remark examination scripts,
thereby failing a lot of
students. This is a system which Madonna University
uses to hide the actual
number of its students from
NUC. “Another method which
Madonna University uses to
reduce its population and hide
its actual number of students
is wrongly accusing students
of offences, thereby placing penalties on them and
expelling students in their
final year and suspending
students for no defined
reasons.” Suspension of Operating Licence In July last year, NUC
suspended the operational
licence of Madonna University
along with that of six other
private universities for
violating its guidelines in physical facilities and
academic programmes. The
other affected universities
were Achievers University,
Owo; Caritas University,
Enugu; Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Osun; Lead City
University, Ibadan; Obong
University, Obong and Tansian
University, Umunya. NUC ,
according to its spokesman,
Mallam Ibrahim Yakassai, had based its decision on the non-
compliance with the
regulations guiding the
operations of universities in
the country as stipulated by
the NUC. “The operators of the
universities affected know
their offences because so
many times, we have
informed them about their
failings but they did not take necessary steps to address
their shortcomings. Anyway,
It’s just a suspension and it
will be lifted as soon as they
do the correct things,” he was
quoted as saying. Nothing Has Changed And true to his word, the
suspension on Madonna
University was lifted not long
after but it’s simply back to
the basics with little or no
changes made. An impeccable source close to the powers-
that-be in the university told
THISDAY that there is little or
nothing NUC can do about the
situation in Madonna
University. “NUC is just a toothless bulldog; the
authorities there are mere
stooges and cannot do much. They are tied down to the
apron strings of the powers-
that-be. The owners of
Madonna will continue to do
whatever they like because
they already have their ears of people in power,” this
reporter was told.
A student at the Akpugo
Campus of the University also
confirmed to THISDAY last
week, saying nothing really has changed in the school. “The suspension by NUC has
been lifted since and we are
now in session. But nothing
has really changed. You need
to come here and see things
for yourself,” the student who craved anonymity told this
reporter in an e-mail
correspondence. Shocking Testimonials Reacting to the suspension of
the operating licence of the
University by NUC last July, a
student of the school, who
spoke on condition of
anonymity, said: “I’m a Madonna University student
and I’m very happy that NUC
took this bold step to suspend
the university. I’m studying
Electrical/ Electronics
Engineering and in 300 Level. My campus is in Enugu State,
in the deep village of Akpugo. In Madonna university, a
carry-over program was
introduced where students
are to pay N150,000, which is
higher than our second
semester school fees and almost equal to first semester. “Illiterates are made Heads of
Departments, Dean of Student
Affairs, Secretary, etc. A
person who washes toilet in
Madonna University is the
Head of Exams and Records. We go to church eight times a
week in Madonna. Eighty
students are in a particular
department but only
twongraduated from that
department and the others were not given certificates.
Madonna, on purpose, fails
students and lie to NUC on the
total number of students in a
department. “No department in the Faculty
of Engineering is accredited
and the university is allowed
to run and collect money from
students. If you use a
Blackberry phone in Madonna, you are suspended for two
years and any other phone
attracts a year suspension.
The Students’ Handbook is
written by illiterates. We
suffer every single day of our stay in Madonna University.
We stay 12 students in a room
but the authorities always lie
to NUC.” State of the Hostel Jesus The Saviour Hostel is the
main hostel for male students
at the Akpugo Campus. The
hostel, according to
impeccable sources, is in
decrepit condition, despite the fact its development is still
ongoing. “Students in this hostel are
forced to use the toilet as bad
as it is. There is also a swamp
harbouring several reptiles
close to where the students
live. The students are also forced to live with a fully
loaded trash bin because the
workers don’t get paid so
they cannot empty the bin.
Instead we are told to sweep
and throw the bin,” THISDAY was told. Madonna Officials Keep Mum THISDAY made more than
three trips to the Akpugo
Campus of the university over
a period lasting a month in
order to get an official
reaction of the authorities to all the allegations. But no one
was willing to volunteer any
information as this
newspaper was told at the
first visit that only the
founder of the school who could react was away in
Rome. Subsequent visits did
not yield any results either as
officials of the school kept
tight lips all through. Telephone calls made to the
official lines of the school and
its key officials did not go
through at all, though
THISDAY gathered that no
telephone mast is available on the campus, hence reception
is very poor. No reaction was also
forthcoming from the NUC in
Abuja thus lending credence
that there might be some
elements of truth in the
insinuations being made about the commission’s
helplessness in the case at
Madonna. A Sad Commentary Madonna University was
established to, among other
things, “revive in its
community the age-long
tradition of Catholic education
and the exacting demand of the contemporary society for
sound education enrooted in
salubrious life-promoting
morality.” The university has
its main campus in Okija and
the second campus at Elele. According to the information
obtained from the school’s
official website, “Akpugo is
the third campus of Madonna
University which houses the
Faculty of Engineering with the following departments :
Electrical/Electronics, Food
Science and Technology,
Petroleum Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering, Civil
Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Computer
Engineering.” Additional
reports by Christopher Isiguzo
in

Support for the government of
President Goodluck Jonathan
appears to be shrinking in the
South-South, following
complaints from the area
regarding neglect by the president, writes Idowu
Samuel. PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan
may be in for boisterous
moments ahead of the 2015
presidential election,
considering the groundswell
of opposition that has consistently been growing
against his perceived ambition
to re-contest. The birds seem
to be returning to the roosting
points for that speculated
ambition, at least for now. First, it is beyond doubt that
the Northern part of Nigeria is
poised for a battle with
Jonathan. Aside the incubus of
terrorism that has for months
been raging to give the Jonathan administration some
sleepless nights, the elite of
the region seem to be keeping
strong malice against his
government. That is rooted in
the heckling of the zoning arrangement which the
presidency of Jonathan
allegedly violated against the
northern interest. The
governor of Niger State, Aliyu
Babangida, echoed such malice early in the week when he
averred that the patience of
the North had run out on
Jonathan. By that, Babangida
was of the view that the North
would not allow the president the chance of a second term on
the basis of a pact on a single
term he earlier signed with the
northern leaders. The South-West zone has been
a considerate ally of President
Jonathan. The zone embraced
him fully before the 2011
election and took steps to
demonstrate support for him with overwhelming votes that
boosted his all round victory at
the poll. Yet, the zone believes
it is being made to sulk
ruefully for the act of
magnanimity it showed the president during his moment
of distress. Today, the South-
West is convinced that
Jonathan is never ready to
show gratitude with expected
fair patronage meant to make it feel good for being an ally. It
remains to be seen whether
Jonathan would respond to the
strident protest of
marginalisation by the South-
West. The South-East, which had a
thawing relationship with
Jonathan before and after
2011, appears to be having a
rethink on its support for the
president. The youths of the zone held a conference lately
in Enugu and ended with
aspersions on the present
administration, which they
accused of precipitating the
degeneration of Nigeria into a failed state. The conclusion by
the youths sounded like a vote
of no confidence in the regime
of a man they had always
risen to defend. The South-East
is already joining hands with other zones of the federation
to ensure that Nigeria holds a
dialogue before 2015 to
determine the direction to
take the country, contending
that an alternative to the National Conference being
clamoured was chaos. When stress begins to build up
for the president on his
ambition to stay on in power,
the next zone to lean on for
support is his home base, the
South-South. Even at that, the zone appears not to be totally
convinced that Jonathan is a
man to take a second bet on.
Of late, there has been a
protests from all parts of the
zone against the Jonathan government, a signal that the
president has not impressed
his people to a great extent. From the South-South zone
today, unions of ethnic groups
have been mushrooming,
telling the world that he had
neglected his home base too.
The grouse of the ethnic unions was that the president
had been pandering only to
interest of the Ijaw nation
where he hailed from at the
expense of other ethnic groups
from the zone. The Urhobo and the Itshekiri which both have
strong unions in the South-
South, are the most outspoken
on the alleged marginalisation
of other ethnic groups in the
zone. The Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU), led by General
Patrick Newton Aziza, was
reported to have held a
meeting recently to review the
support of the ethnic group for
President Jonathan. The group has consistently complained of
neglect by the Federal
Government, threatening to
withdraw support for the
president if the supposed
marginalisation of the Urhobo in government did not stop. A member of the group, Dr
Ezikiel Ned Onwumi, who
spoke with newsmen after the
meeting, said: “We are not
pleased with the Jonathan
administration because we have since discovered that the
president has given virtually
everything due to the South-
South to only his Ijaw people,
leaving out the interest of
other ethnic groups in the region unprotected.” The
aggregate view among
members of the union was
that the ‘marginalised’ ethnic
groups in the South-South
should start seeking cooperation with other parts
of the country ahead of 2015. Not too long ago, the Minister
of Niger Delta, Godsday
Obubebe, engaged in a verbal
warfare with the Rivers State
governor, Rotimi Amaechi, on
the interest of President Jonathan in the zone. The fight
between the two had,
however, thrown up the
familiar issue of neglect of the
zone by the present
government headed by one of its own. Amaechi had
challenged Orubebe to name
one project ever
commissioned by the Jonathan
administration in the South-
South. The failure of the East- West road project appeared to
be the heart of grievances by
the people against Jonathan
A senator from Rivers State
recently issued a statement to
counsel President Jonathan on the steps to take to win back
the support of the people from
his zone. He said, “The
president must now turn to
the South- South to ‘stabilise’
the zone by neutralising the Amaechi threat. This project
will take precedence in time
and resources and divert the
president’s attention from
pressing national issues.
“Jonathan is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The peace, prosperity and
progress of Nigeria is the real
challenge facing the president.
What he needs is the
‘friendship and goodwill” of all Nigerians. He should find
lieutenants who can turn even
potential adversaries to
friends and supporters by their
performance.” модули joomla 2.5 Read 1033

Talks About Yoruba
Marginalisation Kayode Komolafe backpage kayode.komolafe@
thisdaylive.com The alleged marginalisation of
the Yoruba has been turned
into the issue before members
of the ethnic group. The way
the issue has been presented
in the public sphere again confirms the position that
members of the elite use their
class advantage to impose
their interpretation of reality
on the majority of the people.
Worse still, this interpretation of reality has nothing to do
with the fundamental
interests of the people. Yet
those who have voice claim
they are speaking for their
people, regardless of the fact that what they present as the
issue is meaningless to the
people. It is an age-long
ideological problem.
Unfortunately, there is hardly
any prospect of a definitive solution to the problem soon. Meanwhile, the distortion of
the reality by the various
strands of the Yoruba faction
of Nigerian ruling class should
be unsettling to those who
genuinely crave for progress. It is the duty of the
progressive elements from
the Yoruba ethnic group to
combat these backward
positions at the ideological
level. This is the time for proper
clarification. Those who want
progress ought to insist on the
interpretation of the reality
that would advance the
genuine interests of the people. However, the matter
becomes more worrisome
when those who profess
progressivism are the most
conspicuous in this “struggle”
against Yoruba marginalisation. For instance,
Senator Femi Okunrounmu
was recently quoted as saying
inter alia: “Check from
number one to number 15,
you won’t find a Yoruba person there. Look at the
people controlling the
economy, the finance
minister, the Central Bank
Governor; no Yoruba person is
there. The first lawyers in this country were Yoruba. Today,
the Yoruba are marginalised
in the judiciary. In the
National Assembly... the
Yoruba people are not in the
leadership position. It is bad. It’s as if the Yoruba people are
not wanted”. Now, there could have been
no problem with this reported
statement of the Okunrounmu
if he had talked of the Yoruba
elite and not the Yoruba
people whose name is being invoked in vain. It is hard to
see how the Yoruba are
marginalised simply because
none of them occupies any of
the first 15 offices in order of
precedence. Even going by Okunroumu’s statement
which, by the way, is a clear
articulation of the position of
the Yoruba Unity Front (YUF),
let’s not forget what has
happened in the last 14 years of this republic.During the
period under review, a Yoruba
man, Olusegun Obasanjo,
combined the office of the
President with that of the
Minister of Petroleum for eight years. During the first three years of
Obasanjo in office, other
Yoruba men held some of the
positions the Yoruba elite
now want to hold so soon
again. Some of these Yoruba personalities were Chief
Joseph Sanusi, Governor of the
Central Bank; Alhaji Musiliu
Smith, Inspector-General of
Police; Chief Bola Ige, Attorney
General, Chief Sunday Afolabi, Minister of Interior and
others. Although, in fairness
to President Obasanjo, you
could not accuse him of ethnic
chauvinism in the
composition of his team, yet it is not true that the Yoruba
elite have been excluded in
the sharing of these offices in
recent years. The prognosis is
that by the current geo-
political formula there are several ethnic groups this
country that would not
produce a President in many
decades from now. However, that is not even the
point at issue. The question to
ask is this: in what way has
the fact of Obasanjo’s
presidency or any Yoruba man
holding any high position for that matter alleviated the
mass poverty in Yoruba-
speaking areas? In eight years
of Obasanjo, was there a
revamp of decaying
infrastructure or reduction in youth unemployment in
Yoruba land in a remarkably
different way from what
happened in other parts of the
country? The Lagos-Ibadan
Express Road was left to collapse; the road to Ota from
where Obasanjo left to Abuja
to take the oath of office, as
President in 1999 was not
fixed.
Did the federal government educational and health
institutions located in the
Yoruba-speaking fair better
because a Yoruba man was
President? When you consider
all the indices of development, the condition of the Yoruba,
like any other ethnic group,
has never been determined by
the positions held by its elite.
The condition of the people
has always been the consequence of poor
governance of the country no
matter the language spoken
by the President and his
ministers. So the material
issues of underdevelopment facing the Yoruba like other
Nigerians are not going to be
tackled by the psychological
satisfaction that someone
who speaks their language is
appointed to any of the high posts. Similarly, it is yet to be seen
how the fact of President
Goodluck Jonathan being a
son of Niger Delta has
enhanced the fundamental
resolution of the issues at the root of the agitation in the
region. Just like Obasanjo
played politics with Lagos-
Ibadan Express Road;
Jonathan is making the East-
West Road, which traverses all the states of the Niger Delta,
another political toy. The
Amnesty Programme that
was conceived by President
Umaru Yar’Adua to be a
tactical manouvre to create a peaceful atmosphere for
development has now
become the strategy.
Awarding huge contracts to a
handful “ex-militants” has
become a development programme. When Senator
Adeseye Ogunlewe was
Works Minister under
Obasanjo, no federal road was
done in his home state of
Lagos just as the earlier tenure of Mr. Fix It, Chief Tony
Anenih, as Works Minister
could not ensure the fixing of
even the Benin-Ore Road. Yet
by his presence in
government, Edo State is presumed to be represented
and not “marginalised” like
the Yoruba elite would say
now. Going by the Okunroumu’s
logic, can we now say that
the appointment of Mallam
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has
reduced poverty in Kano, the
home state of the prince? Or has the fact of Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala being Finance
Minister and Coordinating
Minister for the Economy
shortened the job queue in
Delta State where her parents come from or Abia the home
state of her husband? She is
rather expected to manage
the economy for the
development of the whole of
Nigeria. The foregoing is just to demonstrate the point that
appointing persons of any
ethnic or regional group into
office does not necessarily
translate to the development
of the area. It is honest development efforts that can
benefit the people. Come to think of it, the
Nigerian constitution provides
for the reflection of federal
character in appointments and
staff recruitment in public
sector. The purpose is not for the person occupying any
office to serve his ethnic
group alone. Even though
every section of Nigeria
should be represented in
making appointments, whoever is so appointed is
expected to work for the
good of the whole country
and not his area alone. So if
you concede that Obasanjo’s
policy in the telecom sector succeeded, the benefits have
not been restricted to the
Yoruba. It cannot be
otherwise. That is the correct
interpretation of reality. It is
also necessary to distinguish
career posts in the public
service from political
appointments. The Federal Character Commission is there
to ensure that every section of
the country is represented
based on the competence of
the respective officers. The
National Assembly has committees in both houses
performing over-sight
functions in matters of federal
character. So the Yoruba are
not the only with complaints. It is interesting that the other
factions of the Yoruba elite
strike the same chord as the
YUF in this latter day cry of
marginalisation. The agitation
is in itself a gross decline of politics. It is derogation from
the rigour of the Awolowo’s
politics, which the competing
factions claim as their root.
More appropriately, the
marginalisation talk is symptomatic of the inherent
malaise of bourgeois politics.
The emptiness of this sort of
politics is shown when under
stress. That is why in his
response to the YUF, the presidential spokesman, Dr.
Doyin Okupe, also substitutes
the interest of the elite with
those of the people. His
politics is driven by the same
bourgeois calculations. It is even more disappointing
that among the agitators is a
personality such as Chief Olu
Falae. Here is a man who had
the opportunity to influence
policy at the highest level as Secretary to the Federal
Government and later Finance
Minister under the regime of
President Babangida in the
1980s. Subsequently, he
contested presidential primaries during the
Babangida transition
programme. In 1999 Falae
contested the presidential
election against Obasanjo.
The Yoruba elite have forgotten so soon that the
political elite in other parts of
the country could bear with
the fact that the two
candidates in that election
that put an end to military were Yoruba politicians. You
would expect from a man of
Falae’s experience and his
group to articulate alternative
development strategy for the
country if they are not satisfied that the Jonathan
agenda could tackle mass
poverty. The Nigerian political
elite is a study in
contradiction: yesterday you
wanted to govern Nigeria, today you are an ethnic
champion and tomorrow you
may again seek to be Nigeria’s
president. The majority of the Yoruba
people are poor like most
other Nigerians. They are the
ones on the margins of this
political economy and not the
elite. The NOI-Polls released only yesterday showed that
almost 50% of Nigerians lacks
access to clean water. The
Yoruba poor are among the
millions captured in this grim
statistics. You don’t need a Yoruba man to be the Finance
Minister, Governor of Central
Bank or Speaker of the House
of Representatives to reverse
this ugly trend. The ethnic
origin of Minister of Water resources does not even
matter in making potable
water available in every
home. All this talk about the
marginalisation of the Yoruba
is a distortion of the reality
facing the people. It is coming
from the disaffected members
of the Yoruba elite. Their agitation has no bearing with
the problems of poverty of the
people. The problem is not the
alleged marginalisation; the
issues are hunger, disease and
ignorance of the poor. These problems will not disappear
even if Jonathan makes peace
with the elite by merely
appointing some of them into
positions. The people should
see beyond the veil of this “struggle” against
marginalisation. Tags:

Former presidential aspirant
and chieftain of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Chief
Reuben Famuyibo, speaks, in
this interview with Abiodun
Awolaja, on salient issues in the polity. Excerpts: HOW would you assess the
administration of Governor
Abiola Ajimobi in Oyo State? I think the administration is in
a hurry to develop the state. A
lot of activities are going on.
On road networks, he’s trying
his best there. At the same
time, the state is wearing a new look. Approaching Ibadan
from the Lagos Expressway,
one sees that he is doing a
wonderful job and when you
go to the interchange at Iwo
Road—when the last governor was there, I gave the advice
that it was an eye sore—you
know that you are entering a
city. To be fair to Ajimobi, he’s
trying his best; the rot he met
on ground was much. But
there are some other aspects
that need to be touched and
people need to be educated: packing dirty things and
putting them on the road is
not good. Before the Waste
Management people pack the
dirt, it creates a filthy
environment. When you are passing through Oke-Bola, you
will notice a very filthy area. There are complaints that
alternatives were not
provided for most of the
displaced traders... I think that we are a bunch of
lawless people. Before the
traders were sent away from
Dugbe area, I had about 350
shops in my complex but we
were not able to rent out more than 10. The traders preferred
putting shanties on the roads. I
am a good supporter of traders
leaving the roads so that they
can take up my shops
(laughter). At the same time, I believe that he should create
an alternative space for
vulcanisers and other artisans
even though it is not binding
on him because an illegality is
an illegality. There is a hypothesis that
the South-West is being
deliberately marginalised by
President Goodluck
Jonathan. Since the zone
opted for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the last
election, would you say that
the alleged marginalisation
is self-imposed? I wouldn’t say we are just
marginalised: we have been
finally forgotten.
Marginalisation is a very light
word to use to describe what
is happening to the South- West. Yes, we made a mistake
by going en masse to one
political party, but Nigeria
belongs to all of us. President
Jonathan cannot close his eyes
to the South-West. If he is having a personality clash
with former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, that does
not mean that his ethnic
nationality should be forgotten
completely. From my research, in the
Customs, the last time a
Yoruba man became
Comptroller-General was over
40 years ago. Ditto the
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC); they do not put Yoruba
people there. I don’t know
what offence we have
committed. Look at the
ministries we have. What is
the percentage of Yoruba there? Look at the Nigerian
National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC). We don’t
know whether this is a
punitive way of paying the
South-West back for not voting the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), but the South-
West voted massively for
Jonathan. In my state, despite
the instruction given to the
South-West states, we voted massively for Jonathan. The
only state he lost was Osun. I
expect Yoruba leaders to come
together; let us forget about
our political differences.
Enough of playing politics with the life of our children. I learnt that in the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN), out of over
400 staff employed in the last
three years, less than 50 are
Yoruba. Similarly in Customs, I
learnt that out of the about 300 people employed, we
have less than 20 Yoruba. So,
where are we going? The South-West lost the
speakership to internal
bickering... Yes, that was as a result of the
dirty politics played by Chief
Bola Tinubu. I believe that we
should forget about party
matters and see our ethnic
nationality as one: something loaned to us was given freely
to another zone. Now, we
should be able to ask Jonathan,
before we give you support,
what are you giving to us? How do you assess the recent
Oby Ezekwesili, Federal
Government bickering over
alleged squander of $67
billion? The government has not
debunked anything. Nigerians
want to know what
transpired. Sincerely, I think
that the Senate and the House
of Representatives should invite Ezekwesili and the
Information Minister, Mr
Labaran Maku, and beam the
whole thing live on television.
If it is true that they
squandered $67bn, they should be made to account for
it. Ezekwesili should come out
with the documents because
she cannot just say anything
for saying sake. If possible, let
us bring Obasanjo in; let him come and tell us how much he
left in the treasury. The issue of former director
in the police pension office,
Mr John Yusufu being given a
fine of N750,000 for stealing
N32 billion is still raging in
the polity. As a lawyer, do you think that this is because
our laws are weak? I think that many things are
being kept away from the
prying eyes of the public. I
cannot run down a high court
judge on the pages of
newspapers as a very senior member of the bar with over
32 years’ experience. But there
is still a question mark on why
the respected judge should be
so lenient with somebody that
stole so much money. I was dazed, but maybe the guy had
refunded some money; we
don’t know. Maybe he plea-
bargained and maybe the
value of the 20 houses seized
from him will be sufficient to pay the money he stole. But at
the same time, I think that a
life jail is not too much for
such an offence. Some people say that plea
bargaining only gives room
for people to steal the more That is the bitter truth. I don’t
support plea bargain. If you
have stolen, go to jail. As a
matter of fact, I was one of
the people that recommended
during our last constitutional conference that there should
be death penalty for
corruption, during the Sani
Abacha regime.
Look at what Ghana did; they
sacrificed a few people and there is sanity in Ghana. The
people that stole Nigeria’s
money, by the time they line
up about a hundred people and
fire them, there would be
sanity in this country. We don’t need more than 60 people to
be made scapegoats to restore
sanity. If you know that if you
steal money, you would not be
able to enjoy it, then you
would not steal. How would you assess
President Jonathan’s seven-
point agenda? I don’t know about the seven-
point agenda because I have
not seen any. The only thing
that I have seen improving is
electricity. Then, we have seen
a lot of action in agriculture and our foreign policy is not
too bad. Outside that, I don’t
think that Jonathan is a serious
president. Let him pack his
things and leave. But the
northerners are now telling us that the presidency is their
birthright, no! I was at the Constitutional
Conference as a member of the
Committee on Devolution of
Powers. What we
recommended then was that
every zone should be allowed to taste the presidency. We
have produced the president in
the South-West and the South-
South has done the same now,
what about the Middle Belt
people? What about the South- East? A single term of five or
six years should be
recommended for the country. The Igbo are there. They are
our brothers; they are
Nigerians. We are cheating
them and they have been
suffering for a long time. I
think that they have suffered enough punishment due to the
Civil War. They deserve to be
given the presidency in 2015. Some people are saying that if
they don’t get the presidency,
then Boko Haram will kill
everybody. But that will not
work. I don’t think that we
need violence in this country. They have ruled Nigeria for a
very long time. Now, about the
idea of Jonathan running for a
second term, I don’t see any
need for that. What he has
done in the last three years is nothing to write home

NIGERIAN WOMAN SETS WORLD
RECORD IN HEROINE SWALLOW
CAUGHT AT AIRPORT ***THE DREAM OF MERCEDES,
HOUSE IN LEKKI, OWAMBE PARTY
IS OVER FOR BOLA!! A Nigerian woman, Bola
Adebisi, set an unenviable
world record for amount of
ingested heroin ever recovered
when she tried to smuggle five
pounds of heroin in 180 pellets into the U.S. The previous
record, set by a Nigerian man,
was four pounds of heroin
ingested in 100 pellets. Airport authorities at the Dulles
International Airport, say that
52-year-old Bola Adebisi
ingested an incredible 180
thumb-sized pellets filled with
heroin. Airport officers became suspicious when she was
questioned after arriving on
Ethiopian Airlines flight 500
from Adis Ababa.
Adebisi claimed she was
visiting her brother in the U.S., but she was unable give details
of her “brother” and his
address. A routine pat-down
showed that her belly was
suspiciously rigid, and an X-ray
revealed to astonished officials that she had in her stomach 180
thumb-sized pellets with a total
weight of five pounds.
Steve Sapp of the Customs and
Border Protection, said: “We
were kind of shocked and surprised at the sheer number
of pellets she ingested. We
usually see men twice her size
ingest about half of what she
did.”
According to International Business Times, Adebisi broke a
previous record for ingested
drugs set on March 30, 2011, by
another Nigerian man, 46-year-
old Yomade Aborishade of
Lagos, Nigeria, who was arrested for ingesting four
pounds of heroin in 100 pellets.
The lady was taken to the
hospital where overnight, she
passed out all the pellets
containing heroin worth an estimated 150,000 pounds.
Christopher Hess, director of
Customs and Border Patrol for
Washington D.C. said: “The
amount of pellets and heroin
this woman ingested is incredible, a serious health risk,
and very troubling if these
numbers become the new
normal.”
Authorities say drug mules
often attempt to smuggle heroin and cocaine, and
sometimes ecstasy by
swallowing latex balloons,
often condoms or fingers of
latex gloves or other special
pellets filled with the drugs and later recovered from feces. It is
a medically dangerous way of
smuggling small amounts of
drugs and a mule can die if a
packet bursts or leaks before
exiting the body. Statistics from 2003 show over 50% of foreign
females in UK jails were drug
mules from Jamaica, with
Nigerian women making a
large contribution to the
balance. Adebisi, according to MSNBC,
will be prosecuted by the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Eastern
District of Virginia.

truth4meal: I am of the believe that this assertion by the NUJ boss is fair assessment of the team. It is a knwn fact that Igbos wuld have cry foul if the team comprises of mainly players frm a section of this country other than the south east. You are all welcomed to call me a bigot but the truth is why is no one from the south west good enough for a place in this present Enyimba super eagles? Why is at least Obafemi not listed for this nations cup? Why in the name of free hand shld one jettison federal character? The strongest Nigerian team of 94 is a compilation of Nigerians frm all ethnic groups why is this different? First its Ihejika now its Keshi - I am not comfortable with this trend and it indeed calls for concern.

f.u.ck you.what is important is good result.

When an Igbo man is in Authority the people rejoice and are happy.Bart you did you best but God knows the rest.

¥

Priviledged information that i obtained suggests that the aircraft will greatly help him in pursueing his law programme in Uk.

When I was leaving my home town in Nnewi in Anambra State for Lagos in search of work, my parents and relatives sang it into my ear that I should be wary of the Yoruba. I was told that some of our people who worked in organisations had been eliminated diabolically by their Yoruba colleagues out of jealousy. I was warned not to trust them because they were “double-faced”. But, I have worked with Yoruba, and lived
in their houses: none poisoned me, none betrayed me. On the contrary, Yoruba people have played very important roles in my life. In my last few weeks at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, a friend of mine from Edo told me she was very sad that since she had only a few weeks more to spend at Nsukka, it was certain she would not be able to learn Igbo language anymore. When I asked her why she did not learn the language all the four years she spent at the university, she told me sincerely that before she left home she had heard so many negative stories about the Igbo, and so came into the university with a dislike, distrust and fear of the Igbo. She hated everything about the Igbo, including their language, and never bothered to learn it. It was only late in her final year, after she noticed
that her hosts were not as dangerous as she had been made to believe, that she crawled out of her shell, began to make Igbo friends and frantically wanted to learn Igbo. Two of my friends — one Yoruba, the other Tiv – told me that when they were sent to Igboland for their one-year National Youth Service Corps scheme, their parents were sad that they would be killed and eaten by Igbo people. Months later, when they had wonderful stories to tell about the hospitality of their Igbo hosts, their relatives found such stories hard to believe. There is deep-seated mistrust among the Nigerian ethnic groups, much of it baseless and unfounded. Each ethnic group has stereotypical conception of the other. But in recent years, rather than abate, such stereotypes have been accentuated by Nigerian comedians. The comedy industry has seen a boom in recent years. No big event is complete in Lagos or Abuja (or any of the major cities) without a comedian to make the audience laugh. Comedy has provided employment for thousands of Nigerians directly or indirectly. But while the provision of jobs and entertainment are benefits of comedy, the ethnic jokes that seem to be the major jokes of Nigerian comedians do widen the gulf among the ethnic and religious groups and help to create or sustain stereotypes. Granted, most of the stereotypes were not created by the comedians, but they have been worsened in recent years, no thanks to our comedians. To the Nigerian comedian, a Yoruba man is always cowardly – he rants and boasts
but flees once there is trouble. It doesn’t matter that Yorubaland has been the headquarters of political activism in Nigeria for several decades. It doesn’t matter that whenever there is tyranny in Nigeria, the people that will march through Ikorodu Road (Lagos) and gather in Yaba (Lagos) are Dr. Tai Solarin, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Mr. Femi Falana, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, and others. In the same vein, to the Nigerian comedian, every Igbo man is an illiterate and a Shylock. To the Nigerian comedian, Prof. Chinua Achebe, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumuegwu-Ojukwu, Prof. Philip Emeagwali, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and other professionals are Nigerians, not Igbo men and women. It doesn’t also matter that according to the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board statistics, since 1991 when Nigeria became 30 states, Imo, Anambra and Delta states (in that order) have consistently and persistently come 1st, 2nd and 3rd as the states that produce the highest number of university candidates. It doesn’t matter too that no Igbo man appears in the Forbes richest list. Also the Nigerian comedian portrays every Hausa/Fulani (including every Northerner) as a daft and dumb “gworo- chewing,” dagger-loving “aboki,” who has only two types of business: cattle- rearing and security work. Every Northerner must speak English upside down with a ridiculous accent. Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, who speaks English better than the English themselves, is not a Hausa/Fulani man, neither is Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who is rated as the richest Nigerian by
Forbes. In the same vein, Alhaji Umar Ghali Na’aba, former Speaker of the House of the Representatives, who helped to keep former President Olusegun Obasanjo in check, is not a Hausa man, neither is Col. Abubakar Umar, who sacrificed his career to protest the June 12 election annulment in 1993. In the same vein, as far as the comedians are concerned the Warri/Benin area is peopled by only thieves and toughies. First-time travellers to that area would actually try to clutch their bags more closely to avoid loss. Parents would think twice these days before naming their children Akpos. It doesn’t matter that it is the same area that has given Nigeria some of her most prominent pastors, media moguls, technocrats, sports men and musicians. Everybody from Cross River and Akwa Ibom States (described ignorantly as Calabar) must be a house boy or house girl, or a lover of dog meat (404), and must speak with a peculiar accent, pronouncing “J” as “Y”, while every “Calabar” woman must be a sex machine. People like former governor Donald Duke or actress Ini Edo and actor Desmond Eliot cannot be “Calabar” people. It doesn’t matter that this is a region where virgins are highly regarded, a zone where pregnancy before marriage is frowned upon seriously unlike some other Nigerian cultures where pregnancy before marriage is no big deal. When these tribal jokes are reeled off on stage, we laugh and regard them as mere jokes. But the danger in them is that unconsciously, they create a wrong picture of other ethnic groups and make us relate with them in the light
of these wrong pictures, thereby widening the gulf that exists among the regions, and doing serious harm on the way we relate to one another. Such jokes and stories against the Jews created a repugnant stereotype of the Jews that culminated in the killing of six million Jews by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler. Centuries before the Holocaust, people like Reformation leader, Martin Luther, had written a treatise in 1543 entitled On the Jews and Their Lies, denouncing the Jews and asking that they be persecuted and even killed, while writers like William Shakespeare had created the vile character Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Today, especially in Europe and the United States, any Jewish joke is not regarded as a joke but as
an anti-Semitic comment – a hate speech. Jews protest such a joke so vehemently that the joker is made to apologize and resign his position. In the same vein, any joke against Blacks or women is viewed as racist and sexist respectively. Nobody accepts them in Europe and the United States as a mere joke, because they know the harm inherent in it. As innocuous as our ethnic jokes may sound and appear, it is time we started protesting any time a comedian comes on stage and starts telling such a joke. People can make jokes about professionals: lawyers, accountants, doctors, advertising practitioners, pastors, etc. But all jokes about ethnic regions and religion should be discouraged and rejected. Even though such jokes make people laugh, they are potentially dangerous and counterproductive to national integration and cohesion.

Desola: Those were the writer's words and not David Mark! Why are you people so evil?

Pls check Vanguard Newspaper of today.It is there or you can use google.

When the Gov was Flown to Germany and those with him were left out.I said to my self this must be a wicked country.Some lifes are more important than the others.

David Mark sir grant them their wishes after all they are know for one thing Ijebu G which will become cheaper .

This might look like an act of buffonry but ........

That guy Awo,had a narrow and myopic view of Nationhood hence his inclinations to being a local champion of regionalism and ethnicity.