₦airaland Forum

I don't know it works in other settings. But for a recent web app project I hired I contractor for, I wrote the tests. Then he wrote the code to pass those tests.

For the next stage of the app, if I hire him for it, I'll also write the tests again. Then he'll write code that passes the tests.

Agreed. Even Yoruba/Igbo, Igbo/Yoruba, Igbo/North (three permutations the PDP is unlikely to do) has a much better shot than simply blindly copying what the PDP does, out of respect for so-called "appeasement."

It is simply stupid to offer somebody the fake brand of a beverage when the PDP is offering the real thing.

Is a strategy doomed for failure.

Even as a child, I was always suspicious of trying to win a game when someone else sets the rules.

Perhaps after failing in 2015, 2019 and possibly 2023 (if Nigeria still exists), the opposition will learn that "appeasment" (as Gbawe calls it) doesn't work as a strategy.

Beating a man at his own game is folly. Much better to force him to play an entirely new game, one in which the rules are not to his advantage.

icez: What did the Osun State governor expect to gain by saying that?

i wonder oooo

@Gbawe: I'm not analyzing things from the perspective of the UK or France (for obvious reasons). Nor am I analyzing things from the perspective of the US.

The point is, if the PDP puts forward:

1. Charismatic presidential candidate from region A
2. VP from region B

and the opposition does the same exact thing...they will lose. It has nothing to do with the US specifically. Just human nature and psychology.

Someone is presented with two nearly identical options, yet one is already in power...naturally they'll feel inclined to back what they view as the stronger side.

In general, my analysis comes from my beliefs about human nature. This is also what informs my views on American politics. Not vice versa.

Who knows, maybe it will take a few more years of banging your heads against the wall with strategies that will obviously fail before you guys perceive this truth about human nature

Na wa for Abia State

It was just a dumb move by Aregbesola to begin with.

Hmm. I'm actually not 100% sure about the terminology differences. But my point is, assuming that you have a rough idea of how the different objects in your model should interact, then you should be able to start writing tests.

If there is a Bank class, with a method deposit(User, amount) and a User class with a field cash_in_pocket, then I should be able to write tests for that, whether i was the main developer or not.

The test specifies how the objects should interact. Anyone (developer or user of the code) should be able to write tests.

Mods, can you go through this thread and delete every offtopic post? This is a 7 page thread, but at least 4 pages of the content are posts about soup and other irrelevant crap.

I wish they'd just implemented ignore lists on this damn site...so annoying

bayooooooo: It's not just unseating the PDP but a better alternative must exist to drive the process. Who are the likely candidates, the one calling for bloodshed or who else?

Back to topic: overconfidence, in a coded language, was the undoing of the North in 2011. partnership, alliance, or whatever it's called is good in politics. But alliance should not be reduced to I will be the president , you will be the vice. Such is useless as the current reality has shown under GEJ. Agreement should be based on core restructuring of the country, or formulation of policies that promote competitive development in the west.

The reality of Nigeria today is that a Yoruba candidacy for President in 2015 will not sell, even if Fasola turns Lagos to Newyork or Beijing. The best bet is for vice presidency to help hold the president to honor any commitment mutually agreed. SE will not support it, SS will hear non of it and the support from middle belt, if any will be minimal mainly from ethnic vote of Kwara and parts of Kogi. The North, having realized that overconfidence must not be the problem this time around is planning early and seeking workable alliance.

For the North (North West, North East) the chance of getting vote in the SS is absolutely zero. SE is dicey except there is a compelling deal more than what the Zone is getting from GEJ and there is no political structure to actualise deal. Middle Belt is not a problem as long as the votes can easily be polarized. That leaves one zone for an alliance, the South West. The main problem is this: what SW wants to be restructure is what the conservative North want to preserve. The North and the West, since independence and even pre Independence, have not articulated the same policy directions and the West have more than once been the stumbling block in the North quest to perpetually dominate the South. That to me brings a conflict. Remember how the alliance in 2011 collapsed. Remember the monumental failure of CPC despite fielding a Yoruba VP? Then think about how Tinubu et al truncated the quest of Yoruba to be Speaker? These guys can be adamant in one guise, show compromise in another but Will there be a middle ground for the alliance to work?

Can a genuine alliance between the North and the West worked? Has such an alliance ever existed? The power brokers in the West must tread carefully, it's a slippery terrain and any mistake can be catastrophic.

On the other side, it's not unthinkable that GEJ can equally get re-elceted based on sympathy votes if the Boko Haram madness continues to 2015. The argument will not be on GEJ's performance but that he was frustrated and was treated unjustly. The whole south in a 2011 fashion may decide to return him to power with the active connivance of the middle belt. So much is given to sentiments in Nigerian politics that it's the main factor driving it besides looting.

So, it's still very early, by mid 2013, the picture will be very clear.

An excellent contribution.

Gbawe: If , as I think the case will be, the PDP throws up a combo of very visible Northerner and charismatic/well respected Southerner (eg Donald Duke) then watch as a broad opposition coalition tries to do the same. It is very difficult to defeat a very influential/bullying/rigging ruling Party unless you beat it at its own game using its own tactics. I think a coalition will not embrace a risky gamble in 2015. They will settle for a combo that ticks all the boxes for equity/appeasement of the system/ strategising for the future/ peaceful and harmonious terrain for incoming President etc, etc, etc.

The "broad opposition coalition" will always fail with tactics such a these, heh.

In general, a strategy of "copy what the other side is doing" generally will not differentiate you enough to make you appealing. You need to make sharp contrasts between yourself and the opposition, rather than only providing people with a pale imitation as their alternative.

[quote author=Akanbi_edu]Gbawe,

I think the surest way to defeat GEJ (if he runs) is to present Fashola/northener ticket and not the other way round. The other way is too risky for the opposition. The reason I am saying this is I am sure you are aware that presidential elections are not really won by general votes, a lot of rigging is usually involved. in other to defeat PDP, the incumbent, you need to be too popular to be rigged in at least 3 zones in the country.

If we consider northerner/Fashola against GEJ: GEJ has SS and SE already and large portion of the middle belt will be rigged in GEJ's favour leaving NW, NE and SW. Do you seriously think the SW people (except Lagos may be) are angry enough to vote overwhelmingly against GEJ? This still leaves some room for manipulation by the SW PDP guys. Leaving only NW and NE. I can assure you, even the northern elites will not risk this, they would rather stick with GEJ if this is the case. A repeat of what happened in 2011 is likely.

Now consider a Fashola/El-rufai ticket. Fashola is extremely popular in the SW, that is the surest way to KILL PDP votes from the SW. let us count SE and SS for GEJ. Leaving us with NW NE NC. This time, NC will be divided in this case with PDP still having slight edge. Now where do you think NW, NE will go? with the right agreements, I think NW NE will go with Fashola since they know SW is automatic for Fashola and with them voting him, victory is assured rigging or no rigging.

The strong point for the opposition parties here is that they can have tangible agreement on power sharing/zoning/rotation and start afresh unlike the PDP who are currently having trust issues within themselves.

An arrangement on how to share power and even succession could be fashioned out like the type PDP did in the recent past. We should stop thinking about zoning or what would appease northerners at this stage. We are in a situation to start affresh again because the current political arrangement has been tamperred with. Since the PDP's zoning thing has been tamperred with, there is[/quote]This is exactly what I am saying, and what I have said.

jmaine: Come 2014 - 2015 . . .The horizon will be clearer for all interested parties . . .

Dr Babangida Aliyu is an intellectual, no nonsense,straight to the point Northerner who is also politically savvy . . . .but the sentiment is . .He is of the PDP stock again . . .

Whatever happens from now till 2015 will determine the course of events . . .

Wtf? Intellectual? No nonsense? Where is the evidence of this? Is this manifesting itself on the ground in his state?

Why would anyone even bring up Aliyu's name when a man like Fashola is alive.

I don't understand why you guys love bringing up the name of people who failed to govern Northern Nigeria well, but then want them to become president.

megaplaza: the truth is that after looking at python for days, infact i have been scanning python ebooks since last year, i set up ruby and rail last night. I cant even write ruby codes now without looking up reference manual but my verditc is Python < PHP < Ruby. So RoR it's. Python sucks, seriously the python buzz is just hype thanks to google marketing. Till i see any reason to look it up again. Scala and Ruby are the new programming languages i'll learn. Python till next time.

I feel that Ruby > Python too. But I spent a couple days this weekend writing some small python scripts. I think this is one of those things where you have to dive into the language completely...use it for any tasks you need to do.

Otherwise you'll just never find the energy/time to learn it...you'll stick with languages you like better.

Honestly, probably you guys should write tests before you even start the project. Tests are also a specification of how your code should behave.

So whoever came up with the idea for the project, or those who have a sense of what the end result should look like should be the ones writing tests.

Gbawe: Even as I use the word "appeasement" it is not in relation to the SW appeasing the North. It is about pragmatically appeasing the system, even if out of self-interest and politcal calculations, so that you benefit tomorrow.

We all make such choices in life. Fawehinmi and Soyinksa failed politically because they are simply not pragamatic or able to match their tempo to reality on the ground. That is what, IMO, you are displaying here.

Being myopic and dogmatically insistent on something today, when we may fall foul of that tomorrow, simply does not show an awareness for playing the game.

Why must the system be appeased? Why is there a pressing need to get a deal done? The point is that there is no pressure on us. We are not desperate for power. Well, Yoruba people are not at least, ACN appears to be

You effectively have a great situation in which someone badly, desperately needs your help. Yet for whatever reason, you don't realize how advantageous your position is and how easily you can extract whatever you like from this other side...

This is not the time for generosity, kindness, or "appeasing the system." This is the time for hardball and ruthlessness.

Though I should ask. Will you supply this list of excellent northern candidates? Men very qualified to govern Nigeria, men who will be a substantial upgrade over GEJ?

Fair enough. Let's agree to disagree. I suppose in a few years time, we'll find out if my analysis was overly simplistic or not.

Gbawe. My point should be obvious. It is not us who needs to appease them.

They need us more than we need them....

That is the import of "why are you so happy to zone it to them."

They are not in a position to make any demands...

It is us who should be appeased in any alliance, not them..

Gbawe, in the interest of keeping this discussion relatively focused, please ignore Beaf.

No reason to let people bait you.

Even their one performing governor, Sule Lamido is supposedly gay, and thus probably has a 0% chance of being chosen by the northern power-brokers (not to mention that he is in the PDP and seems to be a GEJ supporter..)

I am very curious to hear some names from you Gbawe.

People who have performed or who are performing, and who have a reasonable chance of being popular in the SW specifically and in the south more generally.

Your continous talk about "incompetent Northerner" is distasteful and almost banal.

To me, it is more distasteful that you want to make an alliance with Northerners w/o even knowing who they will support. If they suggest a goat as president, you'll still accept VP.

It is as if , dogmatically, you think Fashola has to be a Presidential candidate for Yoruba folks to be interested in 2015. That is wrong. Running Nigeria effectively will best be achieved by a coalition of good guys in many strategic positions.

Again, you keep trying to tribalize this. 10% of it is tribe. But 90% of it is competence. Northern Nigeria simply doesn't have any candidates that are as qualified or capable as Fashola, in my humble opinion.

Like, again, name some names. Mention some of these Northern politicians more qualified for leadership than Fashola.

Why must we look for a president from a place lacking in good leadership? Methinks northern political talent would best be served fixing their states, no?

It would help also if the peace and political harmony exist also to facilitate this. No one wants to "shove aside Fashola". It is about looking pragmatically at what our very flawed system can accept. There is no point, for example, pretending we a politically sophisticated Nation . Absolutely no point whatsoever doing that.

You can rationalize it however you like. However, it won't help you get the desired results.

Yoruba people have stood up and made themselves heard.

I salute you!

Anyway, from the way you are talking Gbawe, I can tell already that any project you guys embark on is doomed to failure.

You'll shove aside Fashola in favor of some lesser incompetent Northerner who is unknown and unpopular in the SW.

And that ticket will be crushed in 2015 by GEJ.

Hopefully Fashola will be smart enough to let some other id1ot accept VP on the ticket.

Atiku is simply an example. By the way, I mentioned him because you did.

"ACN controlled SW"...heh.

You ACN dudes are absolutely tripping if you think you'll get enough people to follow you behind some incompetent northerner.

Or maybe "ACN controlled SW" means that if the ACN says so, people will also vote for a frog for president

I think you are badly misjudging the amount of influence the ACN has on people when it comes to voting for presidency.

Your best bet is to find the best man you can find, a man who will be very popular in the SW.

Otherwise, you are wasting your time..

An interesting hypothesis, I'm sure.

But when I said support your statement with facts, I meant substance.

If you are claiming body count, then surely it won't be hard to provide an actual number. Data. Something quantitative.

Heh.

They themselves have said zoning is dead. So why are you so happy to zone it to them, Gbawe?

Makes zero sense

Gbawe: The SW has started an experiment that the right President, wherever he is from, can help it finish. You are only insinuating that Yoruba folks are tribalistic with your constant talk of how we will not be "motivated" if a Yoruba Presidential candidate is not available. I think we have moved beyond that.

Lol. OK, then in 2015, shout "tribalism" as loud as you like

Maybe your shouts of tribalism will be enough to make people dance in the streets to be voting for Atiku.

They should be overjoyed, ecstatic at seeing the better man (who incidentally is their son) shoved aside for say an Atiku. Or whichever other random bum from the North will get their support

You had better restrategize.

Well, maybe I shouldn't say "we" are not desperate for power.

The ACN probably is. Out of greed, they'll probably willingly accept some sort of stupid deal in which they sell their influence too cheaply.

However, your typical Yoruba man will not view things in the same way as a short-sighted ACN might.

Patience unfortunately is a virtue that many lack..

Even in 2011, Buhari was not willing to humble himself enough in an alliance.

By 2015, perhaps they will have learned humility. And if not?

Then maybe 2019.

The point is, time is on our side. We are not desperate for power. They are. This gives us the advantage.

What sort of Yoruba man could in good conscience support say an Atiku over Fashola?

I don't think that you truly believe in your heart of hearts what you are typing, Gbawe...no sane human being would prefer Atiku to Fashola as president.

You are only holding fast to this because it is the way you have been politically conditioned

Well, zoning is DEAD.

GEJ killed it. Atiku and the rest of the Northern politicians have agreed.

So anyone can contest in 2015. Anyone can be president. So there is absolutely no reason that in any potential alliance we should accept VP.