₦airaland Forum

lagcity:
What's up with the Northerner bashing going on here? Now I see why Yorubas and Igbos can be very obnoxious. Let's get real, Sule Lamido or El Rufai can't do worse than an Igbo or Yoruba president. Stop deceiving yourselves, there's nothing special Yoruba/Igbo president. Southerners accuse Northerners of fanaticism but I see a fanatic Southerner (onlytruth) making the statement below. Yes, it is fanaticism of a different flavor but it is still fanatism that's very far from reason. smh.

There is nothing wrong with this guy wanting Soludo for president and thinking that he is heads and shoulders above the others. He is entitled to that opinion. Just as you are entitled to believe that El Rufai or Sule Lamido are just as good, or just as I am allowed to believe that Fashola is by far the best.

It isn't by force for us all to agree, is it? If nobody is willing to see anyone but their own side rule, then let us split the country apart come 2015.

Me personally, I don't want to take another gamble with another one of these northerners. Whoever said they have the reverse-Midas touch earlier is correct. Do you want to gamble your future on Sule Lamido being the counterexample?

I'm thinking about the future. 30 years from now, where will the SW zone be development-wise? 30 years ago China was one of the poorest nations on earth. Now their future is bright. I don't want to gamble with my future and the future of my people on some Northerner again.

Isn't anything personal, I just want prosperity.

Katsumoto:
As GEJ displayed any character that suggests he has the balls to do that or is even interested in doing that?

Sorry, missed this post. Honestly, I don't know man. If he is sensible, then he should realize the importance of a smaller FG after he leaves.

I'm sure if Gowon had to do it over again, he'd have tried to decentralize Nigeria rather than put everything at the center.

(Then again, who knows, maybe he doesn't actually give a sh1t about the effect of certain decisions on his people in Plateau State. Maybe GEJ doesn't care what happens after him, I don't know.)

Long story short, by any means necessary, Northerners must be blocked from the presidency of Nigeria in 2015. Either the FG must be weakened so much that the position is worthless (including Nigeria splitting apart), or there should be a consensus on someone else.

Even these middle belt candidates, they all suck.

When I see Bliss4lyfe try to tout the virtues of a loser like David Mark, it makes my skin crawl.

I am also concerned that the ACN will try this nationalist game in which they field a northerner as their presidential candidate.

If they do this, then they will lose my support in national politics (though retain it for state politics).

There is no Northern politician alive who is as good or qualified as Fashola. So if the ACN chooses a northerner for president over him, I will be very angry.

We need to break this cycle of blackmail, divide and rule, and other b.s. that they've successfully used in the past.

I would also suggest that GEJ try to weaken the FG as much as possible.

You don't give powerful machinery (FG) to people who are not responsible enough to manage it (Hausa-Fulani). So the weaker the FG is, the better off we all are.

All of this talk is fine and well.

But how do we prevent this from actually happening?

Yoruba and Igbo in my opinion need to decide who will step down for the other, if both groups truly want Nigeria to continue and don't want the North to regain power in 2015.

If either group decides to accept VP to a northerner in 2015, then all will be for naught.

And if neither group is willing to stand down for the other, then that means either that they want to see Nigeria split up (which is fine by me) or for a northerner to be president in 2015 (not fine by me.)

Lol.

OK, so it looks like this will be discussed anyways. But I'd suggest Soludo's corruption (or innocence) be discussed elsewhere, not this thread.

manny4life, the main point is that I don't think that he is *massively* corrupt. Like, so bad that you cannot consider him at all. At worst he is a little. Anyway, we can discuss this on another thread if you want. . . I don't want to derail this thread on a not-very-important issue.

Soludo is probably slightly corrupt. But for me:

slightly corrupt + intelligent + competent (Soludo) >>>>>>>>>>>. incorrigible + stvpid + incompetent.

And generally with these northern guys, you get corrupt+stvpid+incompetent. The trifecta of failure, basically.

And on that note, let us add Amaechi to the list of those I'd be reasonably happy with.

And Okonjo-Iweala, if she does reasonably well.

I would suggest that Igbos, if they are serious about 2015 pick ONE of these suitable candidates and rally fully behind them. And begin making alliances across the country to gain more support for your proposed candidate.

I just weight executive experience at the governorship level highly, personally.

If you did an excellent job managing your state, then I think there is a higher chance of you doing a good job managing Nigeria than any other position.

Anyway, it isn't really that big a deal. . . I have a preference for Fashola and Akpabio over Soludo, but it isn't as if the gap is huge.

I'd be fine with all three of them.

All I want is someone competent at the job who isn't biased against me and mine.

Akpabio is another one I wouldn't mind as president (though he seems to have a mean/vindictive streak that perhaps needs to be investigated further. . .)

I just want someone who I'll be reasonably sure knows what he is doing as president, will make Nigeria economically prosperous, and has a track record of success at whatever job he is currently occupying.

None of these failures and incompetents like David Mark, Sanusi, 95% of the Northern governors, etc, etc.

Zoning the presidency to a guy who has failed as governor (as pretty much all northern governors except for supposedly the Jigawa one) is a recipe for disaster, in my opinion.

Babatunde Raji Fashola.

8 years of executive experience, responsible for managing the 5th largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa. And by every available metric we have, has done an excellent job at this task.

Imo, he has no peer or equal in Nigeria.

However, I may not be able to get him, for reasons both internal and external.

I'd be reasonably happy to have Soludo though, assuming he wants to play a straight game, isn't one of these "Biafran" Igbo types (I have as little interest in supporting one of those as I would Sanusi. Makes no sense voting for someone who hates your guts. . . )

@oyb, texazzpete: I'll respond thoroughly later this weekend. I don't want to just half-azz my response. . . requires a bit of time+thought

The same Soludo you Anambrarians rejected in favor of Peter frikkin Obi?

Anyway, Soludo is a quality guy (in my opinion). Certainly better than anyone the north has to offer.

Definitely would not be my #1 choice. . . but perhaps choice #2 or #3 ain't bad, all things considered.

lol.

Is it not obvious to you that this is extreme hyperbole?

lordy

Sanusi?

A camel has a better chance of passing through the eye of a needle.

Some of you all are being extremely unrealistic if you think he stands a chance.

In general, you cannot expect someone who has trashed the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria to do well, lol.

Maybe Hausa will look past his subtle insults, but I doubt Yoruba or Igbo will.

Anyway, long story short, 2015 comes around we go our separate ways

+1

Let us all go our separate ways

It was a bad strange run while it lasted, but all things must come to an end.

Wtf?

You do realize that HIV/AIDs is recent, right? And that malaria is old?

emmke:
give it to the middle belt. Peace loving, educated and well meaning set of people. Try us and see.

And who from the MB would you suggest? Which governor there is performing that he should be president? Or if not governor, which other politician?

Rarely ever heard news from Ebonyi side

Horus:
What will happen to Nigeria in the event of a nuclear disaster?

Many dead, many others giving birth to chickens and goats. And wherever the disaster happens becomes a place unfit for human habitation for a long, long time.

All because naija leadership is too foolish to take advantage of the natural gas that God for some reason decided to give 'em. Enough gas to power all of West Africa, and most of Africa sef.

texazzpete:
Yet you're one of those who's always complaining whenever the doctors withold their services over poor financial compensation.

You don't want the doctors to go on strike to demand higher pay and you don't want them to move over to where their services are better appreciated. Strange.

Tex, do you have a parent who is a Nigerian doctor? You seem to be excessively taking up their side for some reason that makes me suspect a bias on your part.

For the record, I'm not opposed to them moving wherever the like. But before you leave, pay back the money (Nigerian) society invested in you.

I don't believe in essential staff like doctors striking, since it generally leads to deaths. Unless you want the staff at the nuclear power plant also to strike

AIDs did not exist in the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s when whitey start moving to South Africa.

And it isn't as if white in SA are having unprotected sex in large #s with black folk. Or with black folk in any country in large #s, for that matter.

Interracial sex is still relatively taboo, in a sense.

South Africa (which they moved to en masse) doesn't have quite as many of these diseases that causes the white man to die like a fly, right?

^-- A lot of truth to this, I guess.

Still, better to be the guy doing the plundering and r.aping rather the guy being plundered and r.aped, right?

Hrm. I'm wondering if malaria and some of these other tropical ailments actually protected West Africans from suffering the same fate Native Americans did.

If it weren't for some of these tropical diseases (and our immunity to different European illnesses, which the NAs didn't have), it is quite possible we could have suffered the same fate as they did, no?

If so, God bless malaria

djustice is mostly right on this one.

I'd have no real problems with OBJ if the politicians he had imposed on the SW had actually performed. That is my only major grouse with him.

Well, and failing on power.

USA in 1843 was probably better off than Nigeria today (unless you are a black slave in the south.)

Probably higher GDP/capita, higher life expectancy, etc, etc.

I'm sure someone can look up the #s and let us know.

frosbel:
If power returns to the North , we might as well go and live in Somalia  

Pretty much. The chances of a northern dude producing a half-way decent country are zilch.

All I want is a country with some measure of hope for the future.

Which yeye threats is he even making.

Is his boy president now?

Lol.

Take any threats and stick 'em up your @ss

It isn't by force Nigeria remains one.

We can all go our separate ways in 2015 if we are unhappy with the terms for staying together.

Not a problem

Jealous of. . . what?

There is nothing to be jealous of, lol. I'm "jealous" of success and places that work, not failure.

And Nigeria with a northern president simply will not work.

History should be enough to teach us that this is pure truth, yes?

So either power remains with the south in 2015 or the country splits apart.

I don't need the gains made since 1999 reversed by another Yar'adua like incompetent at the helm