₦airaland Forum

Jakumo: So ALL Nigeria's fake prophets feel compelled to use the name "Joshua" now, to try and masquerade as Nigeria's most widely known scam artist "prophet" of the same name.

Will the real 419 trickster Joshua please stand up ?

Man you gat jokes....LOLS......

fijiano202: i fault u on ur last comment...dont blame things on the opposition parties alone,the prob revolves around every arm of the govt..the govt also have their media allies like AIT who hardly broadcast any current news but spend all day on TAN and jonathan advert..no Media house tells the truth anymore

Yes I admit its a government thing too but the origin of that practice of underreporting or out rightly suppressing the news of sectarian violence in the north can be traced back to the days of northern dominated military regimes.The repeated news of strife against southerners up north could stir the southern populations against them if nothing was done.That attitude in government has carried over to the present civilian administrations ......bureaucratic inertia at work .

fairheven: precision bomb? Operation that was carried out without the knowledge of Pakistani millitary base that was located a few metres from the scene,so how come they did not hear the bomb?they only got to know after the US special forces had left.

Are you that forgetfull ? Where was bin laden prior to his settling in Pakistan?
I'll tell you if you do nor know:
Sudan then Afghanistan then the TorraBorra mountains then finally Abottabad in Pakistan.
Airstrikes' were launched at his suspected hideouts in Sudan and Afghanistan by the Clinton administration then the bombing some suspected Afghan village and cave hideouts' within the TorraBorra mountains.
Do you think the raid on Abbottabad was the first time they went after binladin ?

fijiano202: @EMANYO1 Thank you for that educative insight,i wrote my suggestion based on my little knowledge abt the north.Although i served in Nguru,Yobe where things were really peaceful i never knew there was a long history of violence in the north,most of we lagosians believed this violence originated from boko haram,we are all well aware of Jos Ethnic violence but not kano,though my mum was also given birth to in Zaria,she left there due to the heavy crisis in the 60-70's... thanks for educating me..

Not your fault the opposition to the current government and their media allies have almost successfully erased from our national psyche any and all memory of the happnings in northern Nigeria prior to 2007 better yet 2010 if they could.
If they have their way they would rewrite the history of sectarian violence against all those considered "outsiders" in the last three decades and claim BokoHaram is the only security problem the north has had since the civil war.

OkikiOluwa1: Hope it's not those Chibok girls & every kidnapped girls that Boko Haram is using as suicide bombers.
What's the spiritual promise for these 16years, 18year old female suicide bombers?
Shey na 72 virgins boys.
Last Bullet
Can every Nigerian now see what the country is turning to?

It could be those girls or any of the many others that have been kidnapped but no one publicized.The operative word is could.
Even if it was them,it is very unlikely that brainwashing would have taken place in so short a time (100 plus days) over unwilling subjects ,enough to go on a mission to kill ones self never mind others no.
A far more likely scenario is the theory of unknowing delivery agents.
For the longest time I and many others (young people who grew up in the north) have wondered why and how BokoHaram could so successfully plan and execute kidnapping(s) of that magnitude and afterwards manage to hide the kidnapped subjects (in this case girls) from every surveillance asset,search and rescue efforts but in the same turn seemingly (I use the word seemingly because it is now becoming obvious that it was a strategy) demonstrate repeated cases of incompetence by have a number of girls escape periodically.
I posit that the girls still in captivity are shown the news of the escaped girls while all the while their captors would have announced to the captives that a few of them were gong to be released because/after they did what was required of them.
ln that situation tomorrow they ask girl number Bleep to do so so and so when the release her at a particular
location and then she will be free to go otherwise someone will shot her or something girl Bleep will comply not knowing that the bag they gave her to hold or wear or whatever could be a bomb the captors and supposed releases would then detonate at a time and distance of their choosing.
The end result is the same female in possession of a bomb that detonates killing her and others while we are held in the fear of female suicide bombers.
Which one is bleep now ,I typed Bleep .
ok I get it x.x.x

dhammyg:
"I THINK SOMEONE WANTS TO
WRECK THE ECONOMY OF THE
NORTH.OF ALL THE STATES IN THE
NORT.KANO& KADUNA ARE THE
MOST VIABLE.AND RECENTLY THERE
HAVE BEEN BOMB BLASTS IN THESE
STATES.IF THE ECONOMY OF THESE
STATES COLLAPSE THE ECONOMY OF
THE NORTH ALSO COLLAPSE"

In the words of Kim Kardashia "WHAT ECONOMY" ?
The economy that they unwittingly but systematically destroyed since the early 1990s with the "Reinhard Bonke" riots or the pork riots in Bauchi in 92/93 or to cite more recent events( because these are annual culling events don't asks what they are culling or why) sharia riots in Kaduna 2001 or Kano riots in 2007.It's a long list I couldn't possibly recall all of it without consulting a diary.

fairheven: Check again,was boko haram responsible for those that were dying before then?am not in anyway condoning wt they are doing but let solve the matter from ghe root.their leader was striped naked and shut by a police man without been tried,how do u gather evidence in that manner?
As dangerous as Osama bin laden was,do know that the US army tried to take him alive without killing him,that wud have giving them more evidence on al quida.

You asked a question, well I will answerer in the typical Nigerian manner,I'll ask and or two questions right back:

Who has been responsible for decades of killings of those core northerners describe as "nyamiri" or in other name "arrne", who and what do they claim they do it for?

Who do BokoHaram claim they represent? who are their primary targets statistically ?

I honestly don't expect you to answer but that's ok you are who you are I am who I am lets just agree to disagree,if you insist on having the last word ,that's ok as well.
Nigeria's security troubles of the religious sort did not start today it won't end tomorrow.

"As dangerous as Osama bin laden was,do know that the US army tried to take him alive without killing him,that wud have giving them more evidence on al quida"

At no time did the US military try to take bin laden alive as you say.You don't fire scores of cruise missiles against a target or drop two thousand pound precision bombs at a targets location because you want him alive but if that's the way you feel that ok also.

fairheven: Wt are u talkin about?the killing of their leader by an irresponsible policeman marked the beginning of terror attacks on innocent nigerians.our problem is that we don't always look at the root of a problem.we have a culture of police brutality and impunity;why kill an "accused"person in cold-blooded murder wen he has not been proofing guilty?

"Innocent Nigerians" were dying all over the north long long before then.....ohh silly me I just got your meaning:
Innocent Nigerians: Nigerians who are not Christian,do not come from the south, and lastly (BUT MOST IMPORTANT) can trace their ancestry to one of the "Banza Bakwai".
I forgot my place for a while there sire it won't happen again I promise.
No need to talk about why the "accused" person(s) were sought after and arrested in the first place....i wouldn't dare to aggravate you sire.

jking001: You have been through a lot and when you hear someone like Tunde Bakare make this kind of statement you begin to wonder if he has human feelings at all?they created this army to be used to put fear against the nigerian state,and their leaders are not helping matters,like mandela rightly stated people are taught to hate,the same way they can be taught to love.

I have/had absolutely nothing against Pastor Tunde Bakere but when he joined the Buhari train for the 2011elections, knowing what any observant and honest southerner knows about the north well......let's just say I have no comments.
The opposition controlled/sympathetic media has almost totally succeeded in wiping from the records Buhari's statement not just of sharia law but of the hedgemony of Islam in the political set up of Nigeria during the controversy surrounding the sharia law issue before it became full blown crisis.
I will never forget.
Millions of southerners /Christians at the time in Kaduna will never forget.

fijiano202: i support this idea.. we need to find a way to appease this people

" appeasing them is way diff from apologizing"

No it's not.
Not when you are apologizing for a course of action that was well deserved.
Everyone seems to be too willing to forget that they(the first iteration of BokoHaram) were caught and YES killed after they had sated themselves on the blood of hundreds of defenseless innocent people in Maiduguri and environs' .
A recurring theme in the North that nobody talks about any more.
BokoHaram is just the new chapter in that decades old practice in the north of killing "outsiders" only now a small ratio of the locals are killed as well.
As someone who as a baby survived the Maitasine riots in kano in the eighties,started my first day in secondary school with the sight of decapitated,disemboweled and burning bodies of human beings in the nineties (because some people didn't like that some gospel evangelist was coming to town) and witnessed the same carnage in kaduna in the early 2001 (because some people dared challenged the attempt to introduce sharia law).
Counting from 1999-2007 alone(during "STRONGMAN" Obasanjo's administration) there was an average of three incidents a year of sectarian violence against Christians or to be politically correct "non-indigenes" in the north resulting in minimum a hundred people killed(after the government would have massaged the numbers downwards) and their properties destroyed and or looted.
Do you people think everyone has forgotten?
Do you people ever ask yourselves why people from the south couldn't give a shit?
Do you people ever bother to figure out why the largest economy of the north kano has been deteriorating for over a decade?
Do you people just like to lie to yourselves.

I lived the first eighteen years of my life exclusively in kano and the following eight years afterward in kano on an intermittent basis so I grew up to the reality of core northerners killing "outsiders" from time to time like they were culling excess rodents.
The menace of BokoHaram is just the same music playing a bit faster with the dance step having changed.
I have never said this publicly before but here goes:
ANY SOUTHERNER STILL IN ANY OF THE CORE NORTHERN STATES SAVE FOR PLACES LIKE SOUTHERN KADUNA IS THERE AT YOUR OWN RISK.NO MATTER HOW MANY INCIDENTS YOU SURVIVE THE LONGER YOU STAY THE MORE THE CERTAINTY THAT THE NUMBERS WILL CATCH UP WITH YOU SOON.

Appeasement will only embolden the aggressor, have people learnt nothing from centuries of human history?

Jakumo: Wow Emany01 you write very much like my favorite author Tom Clancy, painting pictures from the heart of high tech battle scenes so vividly that the reader can just about smell the cordite and feel the ground reverberate as the fast-air jets thunder and shriek demonically inbound overhead.

That imagery evoked with words above, of "rag-heads blended with metal" is downright poetic. I hope the Nigerian military decision-makers are listening to your words of sage advice here, so that they can be motivated to unleash the A10 in Sambisa to help all them slave-raiders hear the fat lady sing, signalling that the show is over forever and ever amen ha ha ha.

LOLS.......
Now that you mentioned it it does evoke a certain image and yes Tom Clancy is my favorite author.....so sad that he died just last April.I personally felt his passing.The man was a prophet of sorts,you only need to compare major international incidents and events of the last ten plus years with scenarios written in his books and you will see similarities: 9/11, Ukraine and the crimea china's cyber attacks and theft......
Gota be in church now,have a wonderful Sunday.

Jakumo: It is a pleasure and a distinct honor to make the acquaintance of another A10 Warthog believer. As we speak there are muffugin SQUADRONS of A10s lined up in the sun out there in the desert aircraft graveyards of Arizona and Nevada, waiting for buyers or for a recall to duty by the US military. Those birds can be re-activated quickly and armed for battle at a very reasonable price per beast. Nigeria must get a few to prove the worth of the A10 in pitch battle, after which there will most assuredly be further orders placed to prosecute the war on terror more efficiently.
Get you some A10s right this minute Johnny B. Goode, and let that veteran ground pounder close the deal on all moving targets that rear up out there in the desert bad-lands.
That Warthog is one ugly bastard, but war is not about beauty contests - it is about bang for buck, of which the A10 fits the bill to a tee.

The pleasure is all mine.
You know whatam taklinbout.
Them warthogs were designed to rip through armored Russian tank columns with 30mm tungsten rounds,weasel in an out air defense protected zones successfully, provide close air support to troops on the ground already under fire.The perfect mix of capabilities .
Even without tungsten rounds ,standard 30mm munitions would mince the Toyota technicals that boko haram use.The antiaircraft cannon and RPGs them ragheads carry wouldn't even matter to the warthogs cos they will never be quick enough .
We have the perfect opportunity to buy a squadron or two on the cheap, refit them with new electronics and sensors buy spare parts and munitions.
It would work wonders blending raghead BokoHaram flesh and metal together.No where to run theA-10 will outrun you and no shield to hide behind if you are caught in the open with no civilians to hide behind.
The Americans didn't use the warthogs because the early days of the war against terror had aircraft sorties made from carriers.The warthogs didn't have the range to fly to Afghanistan all the way from airbases in Turkey or worse Saudi so F16s and F18 rolled out doing the job the Warthogs should have done.We however do not have that disadvantage.
With safe airbases close by, the warthog could very quickly reach the target at speeds of 600plus kilometers an hour,do its job gain altitude and fly holden pattern,wait for attack choppers to come clean up decend to take out out any remaining but preciously hidden resistance and then head back to base.
Johnny B Goodde would be well advised to get some warthogs.

koboko69: You dey mind these vodoo economist. All this growth be like music....we dey hear am, but we nor dey see am Thanks to PDP entertainments!

Why are you guys like this?It's this same attitude of unbelief that leads some unwittingly sabotage the government's efforts.
Some of you will hear of the improvements ongoing in this country's economy and infrastructure but WILL NEVER see it because you have become willfully blind to any good thing happening in this country.
It's a condition you have to wean yourselves from.

mascot87: Bros, na wa for u o. Didn't u read my comment?I was talking majorly about Nigeria been the African prototype version of the United states of America and not because of boko haram.What is boko haram? A combination of two or more of J[i][/i]-10, Mig-35, F-22, F-35 & Rafale fighter aircrafts would send boko haram into extinction. Bros, I see u o & I get ur point ok, no P sha.

Absolutely dissimilar platforms you would be better served by buying the A-10 Warthog that the Americans are sidelining because of budget issues.The airplane is a ground attack platform optimally placed for making minced meat of BokoHaram convoys wherever/whenever they have been identified and located by intelligence assets on the ground and drones tracking them from the sky.In that scenario, the A10has the speed to reach the location designated by control back at the Defense headquarters operations room from a safe airbase faster than any attack chopper can go thereby cutting response time ,lay waste to any Boko Haram position using the 30mm autocannons to destroy any resistance with little risk of damage from antiaircraft fire or Man pad /shoulder mounted surface to air missiles', drop a few bombs where necessary and then climb to higher altitude to wait for arriving slower moving attack choppers to come mop up the left overs.
Over the years aviation experts have repeatedly said the US military's continuous use of high value aircraft assets like the F16,F18 & F22s were doing jobs that the A-10,and other fast attack helicopters could easily have done at much cheaper costs especially if you throw in drones with advanced surveillance systems.
Because of repeated use in the 10 years plus of the war on terror these high value airframes have reached the end of their service life faster than they should have reached with their associated increased cost for maintaining and operating them.
We only need the F16,18 and their like if we were in combat against an air force nor really against ground targets .

WombRaiders: The issue is not the actaul procurement cost but the operating costs.

BlackHawk helicopters have an operating cost much higher than a Hind Attack helicopter.
A blackhawk helicopter has an opertating cost of $4,600/hr.

It makes sense to go for robust and rugged crafts like the hind to anything the Americunts are peddling

Totally agree with you on the operating cost argument .....apart from the blackhawk the apache has an operating cost almost twice that which if the aircraft flies an average of 15 hr/wk (barely enough for training flights which is why we need flight simulators to cut down on training flights not that it is a way to go)would amount to a horrible bill.However the issue of the robustness and ruggedness of Russian crafts over that of the Americans is one i'm not completely sold on. You only need to look to look at the ATTRITION RATE of all the Russian aircraft (we have a lot had as a nation over the years) it has been quite high.I need not remind you we just lost yet another aircraft just a week ago or so in bama and it was a hind.
The Americans have much much lower attrition rates for their aircraft but much higher requirements for those who operate their aircraft (pilots and technicians ).
Will they be so hard for us as a Nation to meet if we put our minds to it, removing sectionalism and nepotism and letting the best qualified people mentally and otherwise anywhere they may be from instead of making it the preserve of a particular section of the country as has been the case since the time of Buhari / IBB.
If we get the best people and train them, then invest in cutting edge flight simulators that the Americans sell along with every aircraft category we would reduce the real flight periods for training and have better trained pilots. You must that Russian flight simulator tech is not that impressive and they have been trying to buy same from Israel (entirely US tech) and France(partly US tech) knowing they will never get it directly from the US failing which they will get or by now might have gotten it on the sly from the tech that the Chinese stole and cloned from the Americans and others.

mascot87: I wish the FG could order the following : AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-88 HARM, AGM-158 JASSM, AGM-114 Hellfire, FGM-148 Javelin, BGM-71 TOW, BGM-109 Tomahawk, RGM-84 Harpoon, RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, RIM-66 Standard, FIM-92 Stinger, RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile, RIM-161 Standard Missile 3, RIM-174 Standard ERAM & UGM-133 Trident II. With all this weapons,we would not only be d heartbeat of Africa weaponry, we will also be the African United state of America. Boko wetin? Them no born them well [i][/i]


I wish the FG could order the following :
AIM-7 Sparrow: Air to air weapon. Ashe Boko haram don get airforce wey we no no.Bross na wah for you oooooohh.
AIM-9 Sidewinder : Air to air weapon
AIM-120 AMRAAM: Air to air weapon
AGM-65 Maverick: Air to ground weapon
AGM-88 HARM: Air to ground weapon used against air defense system
AGM-158 JASSM : Air to ground weapon
AGM-114 Hellfire: Air to ground weapon
FGM-148 Javelin: Ground based infantry weapon
BGM-71 TOW : Ground based infantry weapon
BGM-109 Tomahawk:Ground/Sea to ground weapon .Bros u no just need this one unless Boko haram don congregate for one large area /building.In any case one(or ten) small hellfire missile go do.
RGM-84 Harpoon:Sea based Anti-ship weapon .Bros I thought Boko haram is up north abi den get navy?
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow: Air to air weapon
RIM-66 Standard: Air to air weapon
FIM-92 Stinger:Man pad .Ground based light Anti-aircraft weapon .Hmnnn abi Boko Haram don first get attack helicopters?
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile: I NO GO JUST COMMENT
RIM-161 Standard Missile :I still no go comment
RIM-174 Standard ERAM :Bross take am easy naa
UGM-133 Trident II: Bros na waa for you you wan nuke sambisa and the whole of Borno plus chad abi na wetin ,u even get the submarine wey u park under water for lake chad we u wan use fire the missile abi.Na God go judge you take you time oohhh.Some people enhhhh if them give them chance ……..
All those books that you guys read without really reading ……….

This is cheering news. Speaking with a friend in army aviation , the orders for these aircraft ,training for the flyer ,technical crew and support crew had been put out long ago. While he is not sure of the number of units and specific type of platform ordered from the Americans and the Russians he does not think the number of platforms ordered altogether is anywhere close to 40 as mentioned in this article. Why?I will come to that later.
The best platforms (commercially successful) in this category {transport/combat } choppers are made by the Americans and then the Russians followed by the French and British in no particular order.
However with the high cost of American platforms which comes from complexity and rigorous maintenance needs the best choice would be to go for mostly Russian Platforms although they will not necessarily have the same performance levels that the American platforms would give ,we are not using them for peer state conflicts so the performance of Russian platforms would be more than adequate.
The likelihood is that the heavy main attack platforms would be Russian while the transport platforms would be American although these would still carry offensive weapons like rockets and high caliber(up to 30mm) auto cannon rounds which would mean that if you are ever sighted by one, you had best use what rapidly diminishing time you have left on earth to reconcile with your maker. The light attack platforms black hawks would be for troop transport and field support medic trans port and the likes but they could also play full combat roles at the drop of a hat with minimum reconfiguration .
The obvious point no one seems to be talking about here is the cost of having “40” of these platforms with their related armaments and maintenance spare parts. Which for Nigeria would be astronomical we simply couldn’t afford it even if the 3 trillion naira defense budget for the past three years used entirely for these planes. A current generation MI -35 M helicopter gunship with top speed of 335 kilometers an hour and two hour endurance usually carries a twin barrel 23mm auto cannon. Missiles and rocket pods can be attached to the stubby wings It is a twelve ton helicopter gunship that also has a cargo area that can hold up to eight people or ,four stretchers costing averagely $13 million dollars {#2.08 Billion } (two billion eighty million naira) while a refurbished would likely cost around 5 million dollars (#800 Million) less and that’s just talking about the cheaper option should we decide to go American the costs of a new Apache AH-64D gunship goes for $15 million dollars{#2.4 Billion } (two billion four hundred million naira).
The upgraded UH-60 Black Hawk costs $19.3 million each{#3.088 Billion} (three billion eighty eight million naira) ,a latest Naval version of the Black-hawk, the MH-60R costs 46.1 million each{#7.376 Billion} (seven billion three hundred and seventy six million naira each) this particularly is what we would need to combat crude oil theft and trade on the high seas and patrol our coast lines.
Just take any three aircraft mix and extrapolate the cost for about forty of them and you will realize the entire defense budget of three ,four or even ten trillion naira would not be able to afford it .

Edit:
After carefully doing the math, it does appear the government could actually afford to buy forty (40) of these platforms. Assuming the average cost for each of these airframes is the price of the Naval Black Hawk costing $ 46.1 million ,forty of them will cost $ 1.844 billion amounting to around # 295,040,000,000 (two hundred and ninety five billion Naira).I use this as a bench mark as it is about the most expensive combat helicopter airframe in the market (second or third to the V22 Osprey) ,because the costs for the aircraft given earlier are just for the airframe without the electronic systems and sensors fitted which would almost double the cost just base electronics for controls (most countries like to build in their own electronics eg India ,Isreal,Tukey Brasil and even Pakistan ) and also because we clearly will not be buying only this airframe . Where we buy a mix of airframes the bench mark cost would offset the cost of additional munitions start-off parts and the likes.
As to why we need forty, not all these planes will be available to sortie as a certain percentage will be grounded for maintenance and servicing at any giving time so it makes sense to have a number that accommodates that percentage otherwise we end up pressing all the airframes into service more regularly than it would be safe to do thereby cutting into maintenance and service schedules ultimately resulting in a high attrition rate.
With that size of a bill we would still have a defense budget balance of # 704,960,000,000( seven hundred and four billion nine hundred and sixty million Naira).
The problem is that having these aircraft is just one aspect of their cost , over the life time of these airframes ,massive amounts would be required to keep them flying reliably which include costs in the air(fueling, flight training consumable airborne antimissile systems, etc) and costs on the ground (maintenance and servicing).We would still have to fund the airforce, build airfields,fund the SSS and other paramilitary agencies like customs and immigrations whom actually need aviation assets like helicopters and small planes to function efficiently ina country the size and geography of Nigeria.

The lengths some people will go..........even in the most fertile imaginations.
The annoying part is that the press will actually give him airtime and space on the print /online media to propagate this ridiculous rant.
@ shymexx I thought you were pro Russia?I'm surprised you aren't jumping onto this claim to further your pro Russia /Ukrainian separatist arguments.

You are all clowns.

Wallie: @Sisi_Kill

Just in case your dumb hass wants to come back with more retarded examples:



http://how-to-x.info/513472-examples-of-unconscionable-contracts.htm

My God i need to pm you if you don't have a problem with it.

@ post
There isn't much to say that "REASONABLE PEOPLE" have not already pointed out.That bond by the bank is simply unconscionable and unreasonable.

Funny the way people reason in Lagos State.At the mere mention of ACN/Fashola the other party in any controversy/dispute automatically becomes guilty.You guys are being had big time.You just refuse to see it.

Potential crisis looms in Malawi amid reports of president's death
By Faith Karimi, CNN
April 6, 2012 -- Updated 2308 GMT (0708 HKT)
Click to play
President leaves Malawi in ruin
STORY HIGHLIGHTS


NEW: Government official declares vice president ineligible for presidency
Bingu wa Mutharika, 78, took office in 2004 and was re-elected five years later
Citizens welcomed his programs to help farmers in the largely agricultural nation
His popularity took a hit in recent years amid a faltering economy and diplomatic spats

(CNN) -- A possible constitutional crisis loomed Friday in Malawi following the reported death of President Bingu wa Mutharika, once hailed as a positive steward for the southern African country.

Mutharika, 78, died of a heart attack on Thursday and his body was flown to South Africa, according to government sources.

However, there was no formal government statement announcing his death, and the chaotic politics of the impoverished southern African nation raised questions about what happens next.

Under the constitution, Vice President Joyce Banda would succeed Mutharika. However, Banda was expelled from the ruling Democratic People's Party in 2010 in a dispute with Mutharika, involving the president's efforts to position his brother as his eventual successor, rather than the vice president. Banda formed her own party after her expulsion from Mutharika's ruling party, but remained vice president.

At a news conference late Friday, government spokeswoman Patricia Kaliati declined to discuss reports of Mutharika's death, but instead declared that Banda cannot take over the presidency.

"The conduct of the honorable Joyce Banda in forming her own opposition party precludes her from being eligible to succeed the presidency," said Kaliati, who serves as information and civic education minister.

Banda held a news conference earlier Friday to tell reporters she was being kept "in the dark" regarding the president's condition. However, the Malawi Defence Force, which provides security for the sitting president, reportedly shifted security members to Banda's residence amid news of Mutharika's death.

While declining to comment on Mutharika's condition, Kaliati appealed to Malawi residents to remain calm and listen to information only coming from official government sources.

The United States and Britain have urged Malawi to observe the succession process in the constitution.

"We are concerned about the delay in the transfer of power. We trust that the vice president who is next in line will be sworn in shortly," said a statement by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson.

During her news conference, Banda, along with former President Bakili Muluzi, called on Malawians to adhere to the constitution regarding the issue of succession.

Mutharika, a former World Bank economist who studied in the United States and other countries, was elected president in 2004 after campaigning as an "economic engineer." He won re-election five years later for a term scheduled to end in 2014.

His initial years in office were considered a success as Mutharika focused on battling corruption and working to improve the economy.

He implemented a subsidy program for agricultural products that was credited with boosting the economy of the largely agrarian nation. Malawians welcomed his focus on reducing reliance on food aid and attaining self-sufficiency.

However, his popularity plunged in recent years as the economy faltered and the nation faced chronic fuel shortages and frequent power blackouts.

Anti-government groups accused Mutharika of dragging Malawi back into a dictatorship, citing the passage of bills they say infringe on citizen rights.

Protesters took to the streets last year demanding immediate government action to address the economic plight. Security forces cracked down, leading to more than a dozen deaths and sparking international condemnation.

Critics also accused Mutharika of jeopardizing international relations and risking foreign aid that benefits the nation's poor.

Last year, Mutharika expelled a British envoy who was quoted criticizing him in a leaked diplomatic cable, straining relations with one of Malawi's largest foreign donors. In return, Britain asked Malawi's top envoy to leave the country and rescinded her invitation to the royal wedding.

At the time, London said it was halting "all general budget support."

Last month, the United States announced it was suspending $350 million allocated to Malawi because of concerns about its democratic governance.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/06/world/africa/malawi-president/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

If Banda the Vice president at the time of death of the sitting president Surmounts the political hurdle she faces she will become Africa's Second Head of state :A feat in and off itself which is a welcome development however i worry for Africa in that the political players in the continent (even supposedly democratic countries) have a proclivity to not follow laid down /agreed rules IE: the constitution as soon as events turn out to not be in their favor and they are unabashed and brazen about this.This is a major factor stunting our growth/progress in a aspects of development.
As an aside when are we going to see a female VICE PRESIDENT TO SAY THE LEAST?

ekt_bear: You cannot really predict where talent will come from. Kind of silly to a priori rule out certain places for leadership...only reduces your talent pool and thus diminishes your overall effectiveness.

Make things as meritocratic as possible and you'll get the best results

Truer words have never been spoken.A mock political process on nairaland reveals the democratic credentials or rather lack of of the participants.
A few are sound minded folks like the poster of this quote who unfortunately would rather leave the process in the hands of others and not participate even when their participation and hopefully emergence could turn things around,
Quite a number work hard to exclude others and shroud the whole process in opacity using terms like "mainstream this" "son of the soil that" they know themselves.
Some will import the number magic used for decades in Nigeria into cyber land creating(or rather deploying already created) multiple id's to shore up votes.
In all the most distressing is the emergence of people who(by their antics) should have their names faaaaaaaaar from the ballot box.

afam4eva: By "moon", do you mean "moon bar" in Lagos?

Nahh i think this is a case of legally empowering them to smoke some hallucinogenic and cannabis-sativa mixed in for good measure believe me you take that better be carefull you don't overshoot the moon and end up in NEPTUNE.

MOON KO PLUTO NI.

What i think has happened is that the stage has been set for a House ROASTING OF Mrs/Ms Otteh.Otteh might be pretty much the cats ass in matters of the capaital market but hearing Hembe speak in the house today he seems quite grounded in law the lawyer that he claims to be he is no slouch himself and does know when to apply principles of law to support his case.I am watchful especially as he claims he has documentary evidence that the SEC(Otteh by extension)offered the bribe.

re@lchange:"things are starting to spice up in naija politics"

Indeed they are however i have a deep feeling that the game will go off-script for everyone/group involved.

The topics heading already tells the story of someone ranting incoherently.

Seuns outllook is similar to that of the British who deemphasised manufacturing for service.It hasnt worked out very well for them even though they still seem to be ok, in comparative terms their economy and output (seuns indices) has shrunk from where it was some two and a half decades ago.Heck they lost their rating to china first about a decade ago then to
Brasil early this year. Guess what the upsurpers are into:manufacturing.

"Oodua will be routed if halfwits such as you shall constitute the army of Oodua Republic."
No greater truth......

If  he  had   a  choice  that  speech  of   his   would  never  have   been  made   .But  we  will  never   know  will  we .Education  does   different  things  to different  people  Some   have  it   and   their horizons  are   broadened  others  get  it and  are  knocked   into  tunnel vision so  badly   they  couldn't  tell  a near to  long  term  threat to  them  until  it   bit  them  in  the  ass.
Before  anyone accuses me  of  casting  aspersions on  the   respected Enahoro do  note   he  and   Ojukwu  attained  the  same level  and  quality of education.
I  am  certain  of  one  thing : the  Man died regretting  the part   he  played   in  the  civil war after  seeing   what   his   pay masters  of  the  time   turned  his   Beloved  Nigeria   into  in  the decades that  followed especially  with  the   marginalization of  the  south/south south east   from the  influencing  areas of the  countries economy the  wealth  of   which  was   sourced from  his  area and  neighboring  territories .

dmainboss:
I dont agree that it was a neutral move. It looks like an endorsement for Oshiomole. The Oba can have his preference of candidate because he is still an individual with choices, but I know what I am saying when I tell you he should be neutral. The Oba has always had ways to let people know who he supports.

People can come on here and shout their throats out in support just because they like Oshiomole but the truth is that most of the people posting here have no clue of politics. They say PDP is this and that, but they have no clue. All the members of PDP during Lucky's time are now in the ACN with Oshiomole. Does it mean they are different people now? They are certainly one and the same. Even Lucky is one of the biggest backers of Oshiomole. Everyone in Edo state knows that. Lucky's father is eating steadily from Oshiomole's government. Nothing has really changed. The only difference between Oshiomole and Lucky is that the latter has embarked on some good projects while Lucky did nothing for 8 years and just threw parties around. But in terms of eating the state dry, nothing much has changed. But dont forget that while Lucky was throwing parties for 8 years, another PDP governor, Donald Duke was developing his state. The point is that it is not a PDP or ACN issue. It is the issue of bad Nigerian politicians, no matter the party. During that same 8 years, Tinubu was eating Lagos to the bone. His massive wealth today attests to that.

Oshiomole is a good politician, I must give that to him. He has done a lot of settlement including settling the Oba seriously. Again he has to do that because he is from a very minority tribe and without that, he has no chance. But the bottom line for the Oba is, when you start to engage in politics, you are setting yourself up for a big downfall. He should have just wished everyone well and act as a neutral father

I agree with the views of the writer above if the Oba steps into the slippery slopes of partisan politics he has no idea where it will lead him.