₦airaland Forum

Beaf:
You seem to pluck arguments straight out of your anus. Sometimes one wonders if you are properly aware of current events, or if you can even read well enough to tackle newspapers.

Balarabe Musa, Ciroma, Kaita etc are all bigots.

@Beaf
Ad hominem attack. Alj_harem made a valid point. Rather than providing evidence to substantiate your claim (that Balarabe Musa is a bigot), you instead resort to insults and vague references to unnamed "world events".

There is a reason why Nairalanders longer respect you.

Beaf:
Balarabe Musa is a backward ethnic bigot not worth the trouble. He is in the same category as Ciroma and Kaita, angry and unwise old men.

^^^ Your opinion.

Balarabe Musa's point still stands, so far, GEJ has been a pretty awful president. He's been significantly worse than Yar'Adua was and he doesn't even have a kidney ailment as an excuse. I still consider Shagari to be worse than him but that may change over time.

Jonathan still has three years to turn things around, but with what we know of his previous performances as governor and VP as well as his perceived level of intelligence and the worrisome public statements he and his handlers have made over the past 18 months, a surprise improvement seem highly unlikely.

christian fundamentalists = muslim fundamentalists = re.tards

Q.E.D.

No matter how reasonable you try to be, the crazy religious fundies will never tolerate an atheist. That's why in real life I try and keep my lack of religion to myself. There's no point arguing with them, they're completely immune to reason and logic.

In the unlikely event that Nigeria were to split up, the north and the SS would be the biggest losers and the SW the best off.

The north would be land-locked and would depend entirely on the southern nation(s) for all their imports. Plus they would lose all the free money they've been getting from oil leading to a major economic crisis.

The SS on paper would be the richest, but in reality, their politicians would get most of the wealth as they currently do leaving the ordinary people to feed on scraps. The average SS man wouldn't even be able to farm because of all the pollution. The gap betwwen the rich and the poor will get even wider than it currently is leading to instability and eventually, Libya-style chaos.

The SE would do fairly well they'd get a little oil and they'd make a good living trading with the surrounding nations.

The SW would likely end as the richest of all the nations. They already have a diverse economy, excellent man-power and fairly good governance. The removal of oil revenue will lead to less rent-seeking, less corruption and ultimately more wealth for everybody. Plus they are likely to serve as the economic hub of the entire region, the same way London serves most of western Europe. This is less likely to happen though if the Yorubas kick out those from other tribes. If the SW can keep its best people, then they'll be the big winners.

Proof or GTFO!

BTW, a link to elombah.com does not constitute proof.

Brothers and Sisters we are celebrating Nigeria at 51 after the independence but as a baton we are 97 years old because Nigeria was amalgamated in 1914, in 2014 we will celebrate the centenary, our 100 years of existence, we will do a big ceremony. Today, we are celebrating 51 years of independence, definitely Nigeria is moving and with your prayers and God's guidance we all get to where we want to go. Jesus is Lord

This is all I got from all the jargon's GEJ is quoted to have said. If he spent N10 billion on common 50th anniversary, how many billions is he planning to waste on the "big ceremony" in 2014? How many schools and hospitals are not going to get built because of that celebration?

I wonder what Dame (Dr.) Patience will the sharing to the crowds then, Gold?

OP is a re.tard!

chima2011:
Terrible with regards to security

Bad with regards to education

Bad in terms of infrastructure

Good in terms of economy

Good, Bad, Terrible depending on your location - PHCN power generation

What's so good about his handling of the economy? The way I see it, government spending is out of control and Nigeria is speeding towards an economic train-wreck. At the rate GEJ's government expenditure is rising, very soon, we'll be spending more more money maintaining the government than we earn from oil.

And despite the cooked-up economic statistics, there is very little real evidence of growth on the ground. Small and medium-sized businesses are struggling and jobs are increasingly hard to find.

GEJ might be fooling himself that he's doing well, but he's not fooling us.

White007:
According to Lee Strobel and Louis Carroll, Christ was one of three things: a Lunatic, a Liar or the Lord. No other options are available logically. Make your choice. Since there are more than two choices, it is not a faulty dilemma or False Alternatives Fallacy. It is an axiomatic fact that Jesus existed, it is up to you to discern whom he was. Faith and Logic are not mutually exclusive. There are mathematical certainties that indicate Jesus Christ was God.

What mathematical certainties?

Also, what if Jesus was none of the above and instead it was his followers (Paul being the most likely culprit) who twisted his message to it's present form?

Also, if a modern day Jesus appeared before you, would you not assume that he was a lunatic or a liar? If I claimed to be the only path to salvation and refused to perform miracles to prove it, What would you think I was?

Cain married his sister. So did Seth, and probably Abel as well. Adam and Eve likely had several female children but the misogynistic nature of the bible means that females are hardly mentioned except when they do something bad.

If the bible is to believed, then there was some serious in-breeding going on in ancient times. Aside from the in.cestious first family, there's also the descendants of Noah. The 1st generation of children born after the flood must have all married their cousins; and the second generation, their second cousins.

This is one of the ways we can confirm that the biblical account of creation isn't true. There's a reason why people are discouraged from fuc.king or marrying their cousins. Repeated in-breeding leads to weaker and weaker offspring as well as an astronomical rate of genetic abnormalities. If the bible is true, then the human race would have gone extinct within a dozen or so generations.

Also the level of genetic diversity among modern humans shows that there could never have been fewer than 10,000 people on earth throughout humanity's existence. Any fewer than that and the calculations show a rate of spontaneous mutations that s incompatible with life. The idea that there were once only 2 people on earth is just crazy! Even the animals living in Chernobyl don't mutate that fast.

Heroin (aka Diamorphine) is a powerful painkiller used to relive seriously injured people of their pain. It is commonly used in many parts of the world. Its not easy to get in Nigeria but I have personally prescribed closely related drugs to my patients countless times.

If you don't die instantly, then being a suicide bomber can be a very painful experience. There's nothing wrong with these people taking these drugs to prevent this and there's no evidence to suggest that they are using drugs for recreational purposes, I understand that people don't like suicide bombers, but you shouldn't have to twist the truth to demonise them. Just saying "they kill innocent people" should be enough.

^^^ Its the same reason why we have arabic script on the older naira notes. The argument is that if you just write "naira hamsin" on a N50 note, the average hausa man would have no clue what it means. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it happen right in front of me.

What percentage of Nigerians can read and understand a newspaper? What percentage can write a simple essay describing how they spent their day? 70% sounds about right.

In the south, christianity has helped somewhat because many children are taught to read the bible in english or their native tongue. This is a useless skill in itself, but those children can later translate it into more practical uses like reading textbooks and novels, writing receipts, etc. Unfortunately, most northern children are taught to read the Koran in Arabic, a language that is completely useless in every other context. Businesses don't use arabic documets, there are no arabic-speaking secondary schools or universities. Arabic even uses different letters and symbols so its impossible for a child who can read it to teach himself to do the same in english the way many who learn to read in their native tongues do. Unless you plan to become an islamic scholar, its possible to spend 6 years in a typical northern koranic school and yet gain nothing of value educationally.  This may explain why while i was in junior  secondary school, do many of my classmates from the north couldn't even spell their names.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for the government to force koranic schools to teach with one of the english translations of the koran to reduce illiteracy in the north. Of course, the religious fundamentalists will never allow it. "The koran cannot be translated" or some such nonsense.

jamace:
Oh my God! Nigeria is finished. Everybody is after money and not the interest of the nation. The politicians are after money and not service to the citizens. The judges are after money and not justice. The military/security agencies are after money and no longer service to their fatherland. Even the ordinary citizen puts money first against the interest of the nation. Nigeria is finished.

The whole government is corrupt. Traditional rulers are corrupt. Religious leaders are corrupt. Even MEND has taken money and compromised. Only Boko Haram remains true to their convictions. If only they weren't a bunch of crazy, islamist killers I would have considered joining them.

The judiciary's job is to interpret and uphold the laws made by the national assembly, not to make new ones. His honour needs to STFU and face his work. Maybe he should concentrate on reforming the corrupt judiciary in order to reclaim some of the respect they once had; or makng sure the PDP cannot buy another favourable decision at the presidential electoral tribunal; or ruling fairly on some of the many cases before the apex court. Leave lawmaking to the people elected for that purpose.

Why can't these people learn to play their position? If Nigeria's government were a football team, it'd have 11 strikers and no goalkeeper.

davidylan:
Pathetic. that wasnt my thought process at all.
Going by the OP's article, it is clear that his idea of "religion" is either christianity or islam. Well the white man and arabs were far more advanced than us at a time when they had this same religion that misinformed id[i]i[/i]ots like you claim breeds poverty with us. We were still in poverty long before the white man's religion came to us so what was our fundamental problem? It certainly wasnt religion.

OP didn't say christianity and islam, he said religion; put your reading glasses on. I'm not sure if you're aware but there are quite a few other religions besides those two (about 6000 or so, I think). Some even consider the many african traditional religions to be examples of religion. What was your point again?

Evil Brain:
I wouldn't bother if I were you. Arguing with davidylan is like running in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still retar.ded!

I really need to start taking my own advice.

davidylan:
absolutely untrue. Africa was in poverty long long before the white man and arabs brought their religion to us (surprisingly they have always been richer!). What religion is responsible for the crushing poverty in north korea?

The amount of uninformed nonsense that passes for comments here is incredulous.

Hilarious! This guy actually thinks there was no religion in Africa before the white man came. Words fail me.

kabukabu:
Actually dolt   most of the population in the most advanced nations have increasing population of less devout religous devotees, this does not mean that they are "athiests", Mr TURD.Japan,most of Europe and increasing parts of Asia and latin America.

Clearly you don't understand nuances that exist in discussions such as these.So why don't you zip  it and perhaps go beat yourself off, somewhere else.

I wouldn't bother if I were you. Arguing with davidylan is like running in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still retar.ded!

When was the last time any high profile murder in this country was solved? I'm not even sure if its a crime anymore.

alj_harem:
I can tell u of alagomeji area. which is has a lot of traffic every morning and evening because of the working class are going to work or going home.

the problem with Lagos is that there are too many people and too many cars on the road

Lagos can only take so much

I've lived in Lagos most of my life and the roads have never been as good as they are now. They're still nowhere near good enough though. Like you said, there are just too many people.

Talk is cheap. Wake me up when he actually does something.

umechuma:
I completely agree with you.Poverty is the number reason why Africans are religious

It's not that simple. Poverty makes people religious, but religion also breeds poverty. The two are closely related, where you find one, you find the other.

frosbel:
Please post your sources to verify the above info !

Google is your friend.

Worst educational system and yet their tertiary schools dominate the top 10 in the whole world.

American school age children routinely test well below their peers in other developed countries in reading, comprehension and maths skills. Nobody measures educational development using the tertiary level. The vast majority of people don't go to college.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html

America has the one of the best healthcare systems in the entire world, of course there is an issue of affordability but the poorest of the poor have free medical care.

Even the British elite go to the US for treatment now and again.

Best has many meanings. They may have the best machines and the most expensive equipment but when tens of millions cannot afford even basic preventative care, its a bit difficult to claim that they're the best. Also, the bolded above is a barefaced lie. Stop watching Fox News.

Their life expectancy is about 80 years , is that not healthy in your opinion.

Their life expectancy is 78.3 according to Wikipedia. They are 36th in the world right behind Cuba, a third world country. Macau is actually 27 places above them! I said that they had the lowest life expectancy in the developed world but it turns out that Portugal's is slightly worse, my bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

The problem with Africa is that the continent is retar.ded in the old (or french) meaning of the word, i.e. slow. We are lagging behind the developed countries of the world demographically. The west used to be just as religious and superstitious as we are now but they grew out of that a century or two ago. On the other hand we are still stuck in the dark ages.

There are many possible explanations for this: economic exploitation by the west (e.g. slavery); ethnic fragmentation leading to wars (also caused by the west); the high disease burden; the harsh tropical climate; etc. There are a few signs that we're catching up with them and a few countries are nearly there (Botswana, Rwanda) so I'm optimistic for the future. One thing is sure though, for Africa to develop religion has to take a back seat.

frosbel:
What an utterly silly statement.

America is one of the most religious countries in the world and is also  the most advanced. I will give you a long rope to try and refute this so that I can 'hang' you with it. 

Saudi Arabia and Dubai are also ALLAH countries even though I shiver to say they are also well of and advanced.

Britain , Germany etc were until the last few decades ( and in many cases still are ) very religious countries.

Tell me where you get your daft ideas from  !!!!

It's a myth that America is the most advanced country in the world. They have the highest rate of poverty in the developed world, the highest infant mortality, the highest rate of illiteracy, the highest crime rate, the lowest life expenctancy, the worst health and educational systems, etc. Their demographic statistics are simply awful compared to those of Western Europe or even Canada. The US is a great place only if you're rich and most Americans aren't. It's the welfare of the people that decides a country's level of development, not how powerful its latest fighter jet is.

Saudi Arabia and UAE are only developed because of their oil money which is several times more per capita than Nigeria earns. They don't have a real or sustainable economy. Saudi Arabia's health statistics are just as bad as any other 3rd world country. In addition UAE only seems developed when you ignore the huge numbers of migrant workers (who actually outnumber the indigenes). The level of inequality in that country is shocking. What they have there is nothing less than a system of modern slavery.

Joagbaje:
You are correct! To a carnal man that is what it is. It is not mans language. There are different levels of praying in the spirit. The Pentecost day was only a beginning . Paul taught on deeper experience. Do you know you can even groan and yet, it's a form of praying in the spirit. Look at the scripture below and tell me what you make of it.

Romans 8:26
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

When will you people stop thinking like this? What does it matter if its " a man's language" or a language of angels, or a language of space aliens? If it's a way of passing information using sounds, then it must follow certain rules. Speaking in tongues doesn't  do this. Instead it just a continuous tream of random nonsense.If something doesn't make sense, then it doesn't make sense. Face reality.

Also, quoting a bible verse out of context is not going to work on me. That verse is not about speaking in tongues. Go back and read the whole of Romans 8 if you want to know what Paul was actually talking about. He was quite clearly talking about something completely different. Twisting the bible like that is very dishonest and its a shame that its now become a standard practice among christians.

Eko Ile:
Apples and Oranges.

Saying Ogoni land has been destroyed by oil exploration and saying 80% of Ogoni land has been destroyed by oil exploration are 2 different things.

The 80% numerical assertion implied proof of statistical facts which he obviously don't have. That was a reckless statement on his part.



Btw, this is not about ogoni land please.

Don't mind them. 73.2% of people on this thread are completely clueless! Plus it doesn't matter whether or not there is a grain of truth in what he said. He has no statistics to back it up and its a completely unhelpful statement which will only increase tribal tensions and cause violence. Amaechi has revealed himself to bw a bigot and a tribalist. In any sensible country, he'd be forced to resign after a gaffe like this. But then this isn't a sensibe country, this is Nigeria.

A personal example. When I was much younger, I was actually a very serious born-again christian. I "recieved the gift of tongues" from a very famous TV pastor (I won't mention her name out of respect for the dead, she was a really nice person) and this is how it happened:

I was in a small group of maybe 10 people who had answered an alter call for those who didn't yet speak in tongues. The famous pastor took us aside and gave us a short  lesson on how speaking in tongues worked. She told us that all we had to do way pray to god for the gift and the holy spirit would descend, and take control and we would be able to speak. Then we started a very long, intense prayer session during which she started speaking in tongues very loudly. Now mind you, I was really young back then and I didn't yet have any of the doubts that eventually led me to abandon religion so I prayed as hard as I could. One by one, the people around me started speaking in tongues but me, nothing! I prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing!

Eventually, when there were only 3 of us left, the pastor pulled me aside, put her hand on my head and started shouting the tongues in my face. "Rokoshantaraba, SPEAK IT!! Rababashekerebe! OPEN YOUR MOUTH!!" At this point I was feeling pretty bad that God had answered almost everybody and was forsaking me. But the pastor was shaking my head violently and telling me to open my mouth and and speak so I tried repeating the stuff she was saying: roboboramashama. "YESS!! THATS IT!! SPEAK IN TONGUES" she shouted, so I continued. Satisfied, she moved on to the next person, I didn't carry last like I feared I would.

Now the point of all this story is that I knew I was talking gibberish. I could have started doing that right from the beginning, but I was foolishly waiting for the holy spirit to come down and make me start speaking like it said in the bible. That didn't happen of course, and when this highly respected, spirit-filled pastor heard me "speaking in tongues" she couldn't tell the difference between my gibberish and her tongues. And nobody else noticed any difference during the several years I continued doing it even after I had decided that it was all cr.ap and was just doing it to fit in.

The simplest explanation for why nobody could tell the difference between gibberish and tongues is because there is no difference. They were all talking gibberish, they just didn't want to admit it to themselves.

N.B. I don't want anybody to see this as a slight on this pastor whom many of you may be able to recognize. Like I said, she was a very nice lady and despite her born-again predilections, I still have a lot of respect for her. Don't get it twisted, don't get it misconstrued.

Then again, there is the fact that what born-again christians practice and preach is in direct contradiction to what is recorded in the bible. Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 clearly states that the tongues spoken by the apostles were known to the foreigners in the crowd and that it allowed people to hear the gospel in their native tongue. I have never heard anybody speaking Aramaic, Latin or ancient Greek in church (trust me, I'd know it if I heard it). Missionaries don't miraculously start speaking Yoruba or even Pidgin when they come to Nigeria.

In fact, the bible specifically tells christians not to speak in tongues unless there is an interpreter present to tell people what the speaker is saying (1st Corinthians 2:14) which is exactly what people are constantly doing in church (christians are constantly quoting form the bible but they never seem to actually read it.).

If it doesn't agree with what the bible says, and it doesn't agree with known science, and it doesn't agree with common sense, how can it be real? You born-agains need to stop fooling yourselves

http://ecstaticspeech..com/2007/07/glossolalia_10.html

Speaking in tongues is clearly gibberish. The tongues don't follow any of the universal rules that govern all human language. It has no discernible structure, syntax or vocabulary and if you pay attention in church, its clear that most people are just repeating the same random sounds over and over. Many christians claim that they are speaking in "unknown tongues" but this is demonstrably false as I will show below.

When hearing someone speaking a foreign language most people can clearly tell that the person is actually saying something rather than talking gibberish. In addition with time, you can will eventually pick up words and phrases and their meaning. Young children are especially good at this. None of this applies to the stuff that christians are constantly babbling. Its impossible to make sense of it. It follows no logical pattern unlike all other languages. No matter how long children are exposed to the stuff, they never seem to learn any of it, instead they tend start aping the adults around them by babbling the same nonsense.

Some pastors claim that they are speaking an ancient long-lost language but this is also rubbish. Even long lost languages follow the basic linguistic rules. Also, an ancient language will have some features in common with known languages, living or dead. No language exists in isolation, they evolve and borrow features from each other. A simple example is the relationship is between yoruba and igbo which share the same sentence structure, word order as well as many words and sounds. There is no language living or dead that sounds anything like what the christians are shouting.

Personally I dont give 2 fuc.ks if he's a muslim or christian or devil worshipper. All that matters is that he's done more to undermine Nigeria's constitutional secularity than anyone since Sani Yerima. That is something I can never forgive.

is the police not part of the government anymore?

If Police = Terrorists
And Police = (subset of) Federal Government
Then Federal Government = Terrorists

If it acts like a terrorist group, kills innocent people like a terrorist group and quacks like a terrorist group; then it's a terrorist group.