₦airaland Forum

Garri the 1st: All the citizens of the state are in Lagos, so constructing good roads will be a waste...

vizboy: *falls from okada*

please where are the world class road and hospital cause I cant see any

Former chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, has described Nigeria’s democracy as one full of tyranny.

He said leadership failure had made the youth lose confidence in the government.

The ex-EFCC boss said the citizenry should know that they are in a sinking ship.

He added that Nigerians should all see themselves as politicians in the storm, who were bound to rescue the ship.

“The reality of modern Nigeria is one that challenges us to drop any other identity aside from that of citizen in our effort to rescue the ship of state from this stormy sea of chaos,” he said.

Ribadu said this in his address delivered at a public lecture organised by the Students’ Representative Council of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State on Saturday.

He said the tyrants in Nigeria’s democracy were certain individuals who served as agents of electoral malpractices and political dishonesty.

He added that unless Nigerians put their patriotism away from greed and any undemocratic advocacy, their collective struggle to install a popular government will remain a mission impossible.

Ribadu said, “But the place of the youth in our democratic space is jeopardised when the elite in our state decide to model our government after a gerontocracy—a government by the old and for the elderly. Ours is a system in which new and modern ideas are denied a chance to grow and mature.

“The tragedy of our democracy is that it is one in which the yearnings of the youth are stamped down in order to perpetuate a tyranny of interests. Tyranny it is when a certain slim range of people impose their private interests on the majority; tyranny it is when the agents of change are left on the cliffs of unemployment, poverty, insecurity, substandard education and, worse still, policies destroyed by our heritage of corruptions.

“We are doomed as a nation the moment the youth get hoodwinked by the bickering of bitter politicians who ride to relevance on sentiments that only inspire distrust among citizens. My experience so far in politics has taught me that age does not guarantee maturity to responsibly play the role of a patriot in an atmosphere of tensed political antagonisms.”

He noted that the political storm included inter-ethnic, inter-religious and inter-regional clashes.

Ribadu said, “The challenge ahead is enormous. The challenge is for us to form networks that will engage and destroy the evil missions of the exclusionists and agents of anarchy among us. In a time of anarchy, everybody is a politician. This is a time of anarchy.

“In a time like this, we should have no identities other than ordinary Citizen. We are citizens of a world challenged, a people confused and abused, a nation whose resources is misused by leaders whose major worry is the amount of dollars in their bank accounts. The situation is one of psychological abuse, existential abuse. My antidote for this monstrous reality is also psychological.”

Speaking yesterday when Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, a governorship aspirant in Anambra State paid him a courtesy visit

Obiagelli: We are saying the same thing, my question is if by chance pdp loses to APC? Are we going to align with the new power only to play second fiddle again, knowing that we did join them in the beginning.

Obiagelli: There you go again, no other tribe yet we haven't produced one

coogar: performance? name one igbo politician worthy to be a president in the true standard of democracy?

Obiagelli: Exactly, we need to stop coming out weak (waiting for people to reciprocate support) , we are one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria,

We need to reach out to others from a point of strength and not weakness.

STOP FIGHTING OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS

Abagworo: We can generalize based on majority but some Igbos like myself follow where there are signs of change and truth.
Igbos need to learn that you fight to earn recognition and nothing can be given to you on a plata of gold.

Afam4eva: This is when you may get the shocker of your life. That's why i keep telling Igbos not to support any candidate wholeheartedly like they're doing for Jonathan. His people will rather vote a Togolese than an Igbo man. We have to start being our own people. Let's stop these Old Eastern Nigerian bullsh1t that is bereft of truth. It's only Igbos that live with this delusion that the people of the old eastern region will support them when it's there turn. Only time will tell.

@Cleverly
You opened a thread to seek for opinion and you shouldn't start insulting people if they hold an opposite opinion from yours. let's keep things civil or i'll have to take an action. Thanks.

Sincere 9gerian: Shameless LIAR! Igbos massively AND genuinely supports GEJ. That support is real and unshakable. If you doubt, go to the streets today and confirm or consider the result of the POLL done recently by one private organisation.
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/132031-again-jonathans-approval-rating-takes-a-beating.html

As for the other politicians- OBJ, Yar Adua and co -the so called support, if it exists, was ARTIFICIAL. The elections that produced those leaders were MASSIVELY manipulated. I'v witnessed elections in the east since 1999, but the TRUTH is that prior to 2011 (and may 2010 Anambra gubernatorial election) there has NEVER been an election in the east. Results are just announced from no where.

Afam4eva: The reason is not far fetched. You have to look at the history of Igbos to understand while they pander on whoever is in power. The civil war left us in a very bad state politically. Even the fact that Igbos always seem to follow whoever is in power hasn't really helped us. So, being in the opposition is actually going to be worse because despite being a major ethnic group, we don't have the political power to renegade the powers that be. You don't want to imagine what will become of Igbos and Igboland if they were in the opposition.

Truly, the divisiveness embedded in the President’s win-at-all-costs brand of politics has inevitably brought us to the sorry-pass of this indescribable conundrum of insecurity!

Sincere 9gerian: "Mr. Jonathan said his two years performance should be COMPARED with those of previous Nigerian leaders andother African leaders"- Premium Times

That is the koko. If the predecessors of GEJ were not able to build bullet trains in the past 50yrs, is it a REASONABLE expectation to expect GEJ to build bullet trains in 3yrs? Yes we need bullet trains but the reasonable expectation is that, even with the BEST of intentions and efforts, it will take a few more years for that to be achieved.

As a Party, we really sympathize with Abati for the dislocation in his career path and the utter misadventure the media aide appointment has turned out for him. The future, as a practicing Journalist, is bleak and the past cannot be recalled. He is stuck in the conundrum of a sinking regime. Unfortunately, his choice is to sink with it

ckkris: Ekwensu, Esu

Embattled Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, on Monday said he has steeled himself enough to resist all the maneuverings by the presidency and the top hierarchy of the Peoples Democratic Party to push him out of the ruling party.

The National Working Committee of the party had after an emergency meeting on Monday announced the suspension of Mr. Amaechi for contravening “Articles 58 1 (b), (c ), (h) and (m) of the PDP Constitution following his refusal to obey the lawful directive of the Rivers State Executive Committee to rescind his decision dissolving the elected Executive Council of Obiokpor Local Government Area of Rivers State”.

The suspension came three days after the PDP and the presidency failed in their bid to dethrone the Rivers state governor from the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. The governor won a reelection by defeating the presidency/PDP-backed Jonah Jang 19 to 16 votes.

In anger the PDP suspended him and raised an 11-member disciplinary committee to try him.

But speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday night, Mr. Amaechi said he would not leave the party for those seeking to oust him.

“The suspension is to frustrate me out of the party,” Mr. Amaechi said on the telephone. “They believe I will leave once they do it. But no one can stampede me out of our party. I won’t go anywhere.”

The governor said rather than leave the party, he would remain within the fold to challenge his suspension and victimization with every legitimate weapon at his disposal.

“I will challenge this suspension because it is illegal,” Mr. Amaechi said. “I will use all legal means possible to seek redress. They accused me of not reinstating a suspended local government council chairman who was suspended by the state House of Assembly. Am I a member of the Assembly? Why will anyone blame me for the action of the assembly?”

The governor described his suspension as a political witch-hunt, saying the party was merely reacting in anger to his reemergence as chairman of the NGF.

“They were confident that they would defeat me,” Mr. Amaechi explained. “But they were shocked that I defeated them. They couldn’t take the defeat in good faith, and they needed to do something.”

The governor also said the party was apprehensive about his political future and that it is doing everything possible to bring him down.

“All they are doing has to do with political tussle,” he said. “They believe I will contest for a position and they believe they should stop me now.”

The last few months have been politically stormy for Mr. Amaechi after the presidency and the top brass of the PDP became uncomfortable with him for allegedly opposing party chair Bamanga Tukur and President Goodluck Jonathan on some important national issues.

He is also accused of using his post to strategically position himself as vice-presidential candidate of the party in the coming presidential election.

In late February, the ruling party formed the PDP Governors’ Forum, led by Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, in what analysts see as a last gasp effort by Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Tukur to dilute the perceived growing political influence of Mr. Amaechi, who was elected chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum in June 2011 for an initial two-year term.

In mid-April, the control of the Rivers state chapter of the PDP was wrested from the governor after an Abuja High Court, sacked the executive committee of the party, led by Godspower Ake, a loyalist of Mr. Amaechi.

The court, in a ruling by Justice Ishaq Bello, recognized the executive committee led by Felix Obuah, a loyalist of the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, the presidency’s hatchet man in the battle with the governor.

In late April, the Federal Government banned the Rivers State-owned bombardier aircraft from flying in Nigeria’s airspace again in what critics see as a ploy to cripple the government travels in and out of Nigeria.

Aviation authorities claim the plane’s clearance certificate had expired and that its paperwork was a forgery, an allegation that has been punctured by a House of Representatives Committee that investigated the matter.

The PDP and the presidency spent most of May strategizing on how to defeat the Rivers governor in the NGF chairmanship election held on Friday. Mr. Amaechi however prevailed, and opponents are now fighting back.

otokx: Mimiko has giving his own version but is unable to answer a simple question.

berem: I wonder the kind of parental advice these evil men will give students who engage in cultism in tertiary institutions. O ma se o!