₦airaland Forum

These are excerpts from statements made by two eminent personalities who are in the forefront of the fight against 3rd term that corroborated the point I made in the previous post.

"This government has lost touch with the people. There is no connection any more. The government is on its own. Nigerians are on their own. What happened to past administrations that lost touch with the people? They were disgraced - Gani Fawehinmi
"I have the same message for Obasanjo. The end of this administration is in sight , ” That is saying with Shakespeare that the Ides of March is not past. - Alhaji Kola Animashaun
To these, I say Amen.

I attended an information forum organized by the Islamic Center of East Lansing, MI USA on Saturday March 18 2006 to educate the public about Islam and its Prophet  in the wake of the global unrest  of the past weeks.  One of the panelists and discussants was a Nigerian Christian, Dr. Folu Ogundimu, a journalism ethics professor with the Michigan State University, East Lansing.  His brief was to expatiate on press freedom and the role of a responsible press in diseminating information to the public. According to him, just because there is freedom of press does not give the press the right to publish information that are intentionally distorted, prejudiced, hatefu, inciteful, harmful or offensive to the sensibilities of the people or the commonwealth rights and feelings.    The freedom of the press is only limited to political speech, and even so,  a reporter can be censored if he/she compromises on matter that are sensitive to the security of a country.    He said there is an unwritten code of conduct that a reporter should follow - and that is, to use his rational judgement in the discharge of his responsibilities.  Failure to do show can result in unpleasant consequences, as the Cameroonian reporter had learnt, albeit too late, to his detriment.(hopefully)

What about Adegoke Adelabu of Shooting Stars of Ibadan; Andrew Uwe of Flying Eagles fame and later the Super Eagles; not to forget my look alike colleague at First Bank, Monday Onyechi who played for both the First Bank Club and the Flying Eagles in the 80's.

We are from a tradition or culture that is deeply oriented toward juju or voodoo belief system and it is often very difficult to be completely divorced  from this line of thinking.  That is why soccer clubs of old are wont to consult juju men (or in some cases put them on their payroll)  on the false assumption that they have the power to conjure spirits that would help them them win matches. Similar thinking is employed when in activities of human endeavor that can only succeed by dint of hard work and extra effort, most people would simply jettison hard work and ask a babalawo to help out.
I remembered in 1984 during the Club Championship final in Lagos, 3SC then known as IICC was pitched against Zamalek of Egypt at the National Stadium in Lagos.  IICC so much believed in juju that they were bold to use the score board to dish out incantations - "ofo" - and their babalawo was visible with his fetish, running from pillar to post.  IICC needed only a goal to win the championship but the goal did not come despite all their scheming. Matter of fact they played Zamalek half field throughout the encounter, yet they could not turn it to advantage.  Even the famous mathematical Segun Odegbami lost a penalty.  What is the lesson?  Juju does not win matches but hard work with prayer to crown the effort of the team with success does.

You are right! But remember that past leaders like the "evil genius" IBB and the monstrous Abacha succeeded in driving fear onto the collective psyche of the people and almost got away with imposing themselves on the country. Even Gowon too. However, as fate would have it, their devilish and evil machinations were thwarted by the Almighty God. What then makes OBJ, the self aclaimed "babacratic born again" present occupier of Aso Rock think that he will succeed and prevail where the most fearful of them all had treaded and failed? Was Gowon not swept away in a coup? Was IBB not forced to step aside against his wish? Did Abacha not die in a mysterious circumstance to the tumultous joy of all Nigerians? How is fate going to deal with OBJ for attempting to thwart the will of the people? Going by the antics of his predecessors and what befell them, we can only surmise that the future does not portend well for him. As mere mortals, we do not know what the 'morrow ' will bring forth but we will leave that for the Almighty God to decide.

It is an aberration and against societal norm of good practise for a man to be dependent on his woman for his needs especially  in our neck of the wood.  But,  it is not uncommon to find scores of men doing that.  So in the final analysis, the moral imperative should be left to the woman to ponder over.

I live in Lansing, Michigan in the US and one of my colleagues at work own a snake as a pet. According to him, he loves the way he curdles around his neck because he gives him a gentle massage. Well I advised him to take the snake to the zoo because if it grows 2 big he might not be able to pet it no more and ""one day will be one day wey monkey go go market wey in no go return".

Why is OBJ interested in contesting for another term? The reason is not far-fetched.  He has the likes of Orisa Molete (Adedibu), Mr. Fix It (Anenih) and the illiterate Chris Uba to thwart the electorate will of the people through moonslide rigging(remember NPN of 1983 and PDP of 2003).  In a civilized world, OBJ cannot dream of attempting to amend the constitution through the back door not to talk of contesting for an illegal third term because of his many shortcomings as President.  First by attempting to contest election for his third term ambition, he is in disobedience to the constitution to which he swore on oath to uphold. He has a penchant for disobeying court rulings, or be selective on which court orders to obey; his stubborn recalcitrance to the sufferings of the masses is legendary; as a president, he is given to pursuing personal vendetta against his opponents, real or imaginary through the use of the instrument of state etc. It suffice to say that those who makes peaceful change possible makes violent change inevitable.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/columns/voiceofreason/vor12032006.html

For the full meaning of and who Onaopepo is, Click on the above link for the full article written by the venerable Kola Animashaun of the Vanguard newspapers.
It all seem like yesterday that poor OBJ that was framed into the phantom coup by Abacha in 1995 was just been released and he is full of joy for the support and the steadfastness of people the world over for agitating for his release.  Of course, the brave and courageous Abacha was unbending and it was not until providence intervened to take Abacha to the world beyond that OBJ was released from incaceration.
Following his unexpected release form jail after the demise of Abacha, an elated and overjoyed OBJ traversed the length and breath of the country and criss-crossed the world to thank these patriotic people.  In the numerous speeches he gave after his release, he reiterated the favors the Almighty has bestowed on him and on one such occasion in Chicago, USA,  when asked if he will run for the presidency of the country, he gave an emphatic 'No' as answer. That is the true OBJ, cameleonic in spirit and character - you only take whatever he tells you with a pinch of salt. Fast forward to the present situation and the so-called agitation for third term. 
The rumored ambition of OBJ to foist a third term agenda on the country did not just take the center stage in the country politics.  It has been going on for a while.  In December 2004, when Paul Wolfowitz, the newly appointed World Bank president visited Abuja, he posed the question to OBJ whether or not he will leave at the end of his 2nd term in 2007.  Again, he said "No".  And a little while thereafter, he was attending a conference in Paris and at the end of the summit, the question was asked  again.  Not only did he said "No", but added that his chickens missed him and he would love to go back to tend to them.  Going  by the recent activities of the JRCC about the 3rd term episode,  nobody should be left in doubt about the honesty and integrity of the president in elongating his stay for another unwelcome term of 4 years.