₦airaland Forum

@DapoBear

I've never said Lagos is a no-man's-land. It belongs largely to the Awori Yorubas the last time i checked.

What i'm saying is that Lagos is not as Yoruba as you would want us to believe. It may be Yoruba territorially, but it isn't demographically.

Another known fact is that non-Yorubas make up the larger percentage of the city.

Sorry to bring up Awo, and using it wrongly. I think i didn't get my point across clearly.

But Lagos still remains unique as one of those city being run by non-indigenes. The only way to make it a Yoruba state culturally is declaring it a non-Nigerian territory and evacuating all non-Yorubas. Without that, i dont see how it can become a Yoruba state, just the same way North America can no longer be said to be indian anymore.

^^

Thank you for those intelligent questions.

DapoBear:
Well, wouldn't you first have to demonstrate a majority AGAINST speaking the Yoruba language within the state? If there were, presumably we'd have some sort of evidence for this.

One thing to keep in mind btw is that despite the guy interviewed here not showing much interest in learning Yoruba, many of the foreigners do end up speaking the language. So I'm not sure demography is going to diminish the importance of the language in the state.

Dont get me wrong. I'm not against Yorubas speak their language in Lagos.

If someone comes to my part of the country to tell my people not to speak their indigenous language, i'm be mad at such a person.

What i dont find comfortable is an attempt to make Yoruba an unofficial 'official' language of
such a multi-ethnic state as that.

You asked if the majority likes speaking Yoruba. I dont know, but i've met a good number of people who find it hard to integrate because of that barrier.

I know this Awoism philosophy is eating up the whole SW, but the govt in Lagos should remember that Lagos still remains multi-cultural and that fact merits some consideration.

~Bluetooth:
How is lagos different ? The fact that lagos was a british colony or given any status does not change the fact that it's a yoruba state.get that to your head.every other ethnics there are just visitors.

You see your mentality. This is what is drag that city backward. You make other not feel at home, and you expect them to give their best. You'll lose in the end with this kind of thinking.

^^^
Yes, personally i'm off the opinion that they make up the plurality, the only threat to the fact may be the Igbos, but lets ignore the Igbos now. The fact still remains that the larger part of the tax-paying Lagos is non-Yoruba.

So why not do things that is in favour of the majority? Is that not the democracy of a state entails?

This is the same majority group you used in getting yourself into power. Why speak a language they are probably not familiar with when you have got their votes?

^^^

The purpose of using a language is to communicate. Communication is not complete if the transmitter does not get his message across to the receiver(decoder).

Southern Texas is culturally pure, so it's ok to make spanish another official language in the area.


Lagos is not culturally pure, and the Yorubas are do not make up the largest in comparison to the other non-Yoruba ethnics. It is not the same as Igbo-ora where the indigenous Yorubas make up the highest percentage.

So what's the point of serving a section of the populace who do not make up the majority?

^^^
You are still using the same flawed logic.

If you know the history of some states in the U.S- you'll know that some states were not originally part of the initial 13 states of new england. Most of the remaining were formerly spanish and french colonies, but where later ceded to the british. Louisiana, for example, was originally french. 

The long and short of the story is that some of these former non-british still feel spanish like south Texas
due to its proximity to spanish mexico.

Lagos is different, it is inconsideration to the larger non-Yoruba Lagosians to impose a new official language of government in the state.

DapoBear:
^-- They adopted an additional language, not swapping out English for Yoruba. Many municipalities in the world have 2 or more official languages. . .

Hell, go visit South Texas and see what people speak there, and what is on the street signs, in addition to English.

Or a Polish neighborhood in Chicago. . .

Or visit the Chinese part of any major city in the west.

Much ado about nothing

Those instances are different. Those immigrants are coming from another country where they have a different official language.

If french had been adopted to cater for our french-speaking west african neighbours, i'll still with comfortable with it.

Most Nigerians living in Lagos do not coming from a different country and do not have a problem comprehending the national official language. Why create a new one?

alj harem:
wrong, the house of assembly passed a bill that the official language when discussing is yoruba not english which was put forward by afinfera and gini adams of opc

alj harem:
wrong, the house of assembly passed a bill that the official language when discussing is yoruba not english which was put forward by afinfera and gini adams of opc

Can you imagine? In a highly multi-ethnic society as Lagos.  How then would those that are tax-playing residents of the state who dont understand the proposed new 'official' language know what the lawmakers are doing with public funds.

Really daft if you ask me.

ziddy:
Apparently, SNG has no idea whatsoever of the going rates in Naija politics, if they regard that small honorarium as a 'bribe to buy their loyalty'. That was just transport money, haba!

People who came all the way to Abuja or wherever know what it will cost them to journey to and fro. Did they ask Jonathan for transport money?

The SNG has their support for ACN and Afenifere, and Jonathan knows he has lost it in the SW.

He only wanted to buy back the support the SNG gave him during the Yaradua imbroglio. Period.

We are beginning to have lawmakers like Maduabum who use their heads to think right.

Imagine, Nigeria still importing plastic dust bins!

Igbobuigbo, i wonder why you waste your time on a self-important egg-head called kobojungle.

Instead of having a decent arguement like you've been having with fstrange(who i initially perceived as a fool, though i was wrong) she resorts to insults and the usual rambling.

Empty self-important knock-head that thinks she has an opinion on every thing and making silly comments everywhere.

igbobuigbo:
Emeka Offor''s bank failed just like many other banks including those owned by Yorubas and located in Yorubaland. The truth is, not many of the current 25 banks are headed by Yoruba. So you do not have more than a fair share of say in the current banking system. We can name the 25 banks and their CEOs to prove this.

Tell them. They refuse to realize that they have been left behind. Still believing those fallacies their parents passed to them.

OAM4J:
Oh no you got me wrong. What I mean is that the North only loves the North, and the SW loves the SW hence the SE should love herself more, and trust no one.

Can you show me a post where anyone wrote the SE trusts the North. The North doesn't care about the SE, and the SE doesn't care about the North. (though i'll most likely take a northerner for his word than a south-westerner. If Atiku with a SE running mate succeeds in knocking off Jonathan, they have my full support.

jason12345:
i think they taunted you because it felt like you were behind ijaws and ijaw has even replaced igbos in the wazobia foundation of our country couple with ohanaeze's endorsement (with all due respect). i do not think it is about the war. they might refer to the war once you insult their leader(awo) but other than that, i do not think it was to spite you.

Jason,  Can you do me a favour of not answering any question i posed to the yoruba. Btw, you are not even as 'yoruba' as i am, so i will never see you as a yoruba no matter how hard you try.

ezeagu:
No one answered my question. I am against the wasted energy by Igbo people for presidency. Presidency in the hands of a member of your ethnic group ensures nothing and there are far more effective ways of developing your community. All this talk of Igbo presidency is a distraction from what people know that they have to do.

Are you not here when some folks come online to mock igbos of how the ijaws have take our position in nigerian politics? Is it not this same yoruba folks who will never vote for an igbo man(even though igbos always vote for them). We need to give an answer to those that taunt us because we lost a war. We have accomplish that in all areas by surpassing them. What is left is to outclass them politically.

OAM4J:
I agree with some of your statements here. But you forgot that 4yrs is a long time in politics especially with a region that has shown itself untrustworthy over the years.

Did you read onlytruth post? Why didn't the North support Ekwueme in 1999? Do you think if Yardua was still alive he would have retained Jonathan in 2011 and if so support him for presidency in 2015?

Anyway, you can continue playing second fiddle hoping to be rewarded with the 1st someday - at your own risk.

I guess you are Yoruba. This is how they talk. The worst thing to happen to an Igbo man would be to trust a Yoruba.

^^^

The dude is some kind of miserable black american monkey who has no life.

I really hate posting when there's a mad rush of replying. Thank God there's sanity now.

What some Igbo folks here dont realized that the civil war gave the Igbo a whole lot of baggage to carry. Winning in an election in Nigeria is beyond thinking i'm one of the largest tribe.

You think an Igbo can just come out to contest and everybody votes for him? That's laughable. Then why haven't the Igbo produced the President since 11 years of democracy.

Let's leave pride alone and gradually gain the confidence of Nigerians.

The Ijaws started with a VP and eventually got the presidency. As Igbos we are not on the same level playing field with others when it comes to playing politics. Dont forget that ever.

Let's go for this VP option. Its the shortest way to get closer to the presidency in my honest opinion.

DapoBear:
Honestly, I'm starting to hope Atiku wins the PDP primary, forcing GEJ to the ACN.

There he will lose scandalously. The Yoruba votes will get him no where.

I know he's more smarter than that and will simply step down in the presidential race.

The ACN is not in resonance with his father figure OBJ. It would be the most shameful loss to an incumbent.

KnowAll:
A President can make a VP little better than d office table he sits on by stripping all pernaniphelia of officialdom from such person reducing d percieved exulted post of a VP t. dat little better than an office chair.

Even in America they don't know what to make of d position of the VP which in a lay man's term is a spare hand. I have bought enough used cars in my time and many of these old bangers dat I bought, I was amazed how some had there spare tyres intact never used B4,  this is d position of a VP.

In d Nigeria context where d President is feted like a God the VP is as good as a "persona non grata" to lose sleep and be excited at being conferred with this ignominy which can be likened to a houseboyish role is not only a slap on Igbo intelligentsia but a sacriledge and mockery by d mallams playing d only aces they know   " the Igbo's would take this role becos of their love of money".

Rather d Igbos are better of engaging Jonathan in a dialogue about what they want to happen in d SE. After all a bird in hand is worth 2 in d bush. SE & SS used to be one & the President's middle name came from d high esteem d President's parent held for the indomitable Zik of Africa.

You have no of what is going on in Nigeria politics. There's a romance section, people who think like you should make it their permanent posting place.

What will be your position under a Jonathan ticket?

@ jason. When did you become the spokesperson for the Yorubas.

Your kinsman is about being unseated out of the governorship race in Delta, yet you never for once speak for the Itshekiri. I used to doubt those who call you an undercover tribalist until now.

No one seem to be answering the main question posed by the poster.

It would be a big display of weak judgment to attach sentiments to politics. Most northerner dont care what the heck with Igbos or any other southerners. To say that Atiku loves the SE is laughable to say the least.

If one insinuates that his attraction for the SE is to pitch it against the SS, that would be a gross over-statement.

In in educated guess, this latest move for getting a running mate from the SE by the Atiku camp is to cut down Jonathan's earlier popularity lead in the zone, and skillfully he does so with an attractive bait. This is what Jonathan has been unable to replicate in the North.

Whichever way you look at it, one thing is certain: The SE will benefit both ways.

fstranger:
By whom?
What do you gain from peddling falsehood on the internet?

And who makes Yoruba the official dialect of Lagos?
The last time I checked, Fashola speaks English when on official duties; also, the official language of the Lagos State government is English.

BTW, Yoruba is a language, not a dialect!

I know. I used it purposely in relation to the different tongues in that city.

I know what i'm saying when i said that Yoruba is the 'official' language in Lagos. Those who have lived there can testify.

I brought it up to buttress an earlier point why the guy from Mali found it hard to integrate.

@alj harem.

Thanks i even forgot that. A place i grew up in, somebody is coming to tell me poo about it.

@ DapoBear

I never said it wrong to speak Yoruba in a Yoruba land. What i meant was that in Port Harcourt you dont have to be worried about learning a local language. Everyone speaks English and Pidgin-familiar languages you are already used to.

Abagworo:
This scandalous fraud wasn't hidden.We were all aware of it and there were demands from all quaters for investigation.Why is this coming now?

I wonder too. This report came out as far back as early October. All of a sudden when Soludo is likely to join Atiku's camp, it's in the news again.

It's really hard to trust the intentions of anybody nowadays.

Abagworo:
This can easily prove some points about ethnic tolerance between Lagos and Port Harcourt from a non-Nigerian who has experienced both cities.

You are right. In Lagos, anything non-Yoruba is look down on and ostensibly perceived as inferior.

Just like DapoBear pointed out that has the bane of many Yoruba Lagosians, and explains why they seem to lag behind others.

On the other hand, Port Harcourt is seen more as a no-man's-land, and mutual respect exist among the different ethnics. The more reason why no indigenous language is used as the lingua franca. Unlike Lagos where the indigenous Yoruba is the official dialect. Those unable to communicate in it are usually not fully integrated into the society.

igochopur$:
Poster. What type of person are you? You heard a one sided story and you are doing all your best to prove it is true? Are you ok?

Believe me, i looking at things objectively here. I've not yet accused anyone in any of my posts above.

What the President is alleged to have done is not criminal in some countries, while in other countries, it's illegal. It might not be a crime in Nigeria. I dont know yet.

We need to allow the President or Pastor Bakare to refutt or confirm the story.

There were just some specifics in the report that makes it have some credence.

Aloy_Emeka:
They were arrested because they are muslims period. What of Christians ib the South who form confraternities in our various tertiary institutions? Have they all been arrested?. This is an infringement on their right period. Whatever you suspect they are about to do may be true or false. You don't arrest people on mere insinuation.

Aloy_Emeka,We should be thanking God that the Nigerian Police is now taking preventive measures, instead of the usual medicine after death reaction they are renowned for.

The police should act on any wind of suspicion it gets. Yes, we might say these are insinuations, but they police may have been acting on some tip off by law-abiding residents or on their past criminal records.
If they are investigated and found clean, they should be discharged and monitored for a long time.

monkeyleg:
The difference between the american and the Nigerians is that the american would dream, then do something about the dream, but the Nigerians would dream, then wait for someelse to fulfil that dream for them.

Democracy and good government is not free or handed on a plate of gold, you have to earn it, by desiring it and working very hard for it.

Yes, you are right. No risks, no gain.

But I still insist on this: Utomi should join the better structured and sensible party that can pull weight on a national level if he wants to be useful to the masses of Nigeria.

ACN is doing well, he might want to join or form alliance with them.

violent:
The caption is misleading, you only bribe someone when the other party accepts a "gift" from you, which is not so in this case. .

bribe [brahyb] noun, verb,
bribed, brib·ing.
–noun
1. money or any other valuable
consideration given or promised
with a view to corrupting the
behavior of a person, esp. in that
person's performance as an
athlete, public official, etc.: The
motorist offered the arresting
officer a bribe to let him go.
2. anything given or serving to
persuade or induce: The children
were given candy as a bribe to
be good.
–verb (used with object)
3. to give or promise a bribe to:
They bribed the reporter to
forget about what he had seen.
4. to influence or corrupt by a
bribe: The judge was too honest
to be bribed.

Your question should be whether such bribery is criminal or not. I dont know how the Nigerian law sees this. Any Nigerian lawyer in the house?

Hmmm, If this news is by any stretch of imagination true, then all those allegations of bribing delegates by President Jonathan is surely true. Smh

An empty sack can never stand upright. We still have a long way to go.

Multiple sources have confirmed
to Elombah.com that President
Goodluck Jonathan actually met
with the leaders of the Save
Nigeria Group (SNG) - The
organization that organized
nationwide rallies and led the
struggle to help Jonathan
emerge as President when
former President Umaru
Yar'adua was holed up in a
Saudi hospital for three months
– and the USD 50,000 actually
offered.
On Saturday, 27 November 2010,
Saharareporters carried a report
that President Jonathan last
Monday night received the SNG
leadership in Aso Rock. The SNG
members, led by fiery Lagos
preacher, Pastor Tunde Bakare,
were invited to see Jonathan in a
meeting billed as a way of
reviewing his performance so far
in office.
However, what came as a
surprise was the news that the
President sent the minister of the
Niger Delta, Mr. Godsday
Orubebe, with $50,000, to give
the visitors as “a token for the
group’s transport costs.”
According to the report, Mr.
Bakare fiercely protested against
the “gift,” stating that as a man
of God and conscience of the
nation he would not accept
bribes or any form of
inducement he could not openly
sign for. "The $50,000 cash was
later sent back to Jonathan
through Tony Uranta, one of
Jonathan's political operatives".
Confirming the visit, an SNG
member that accompanied Dr
Bakare to the meeting said: "We
made it clear to the President
the impunity that we marched
against is being condoned left,
right and centre under him; we
also expressed displeasure at his
comment on the Sovereign
National Conference, SNC. We
frowned at the rate the bail outs
to banks are being mopped up
by governments at state and
federal levels as bonds at
atrocious interests thereby
denying businesses access to
such funds".
He continued; "in fairness to the
President, he admitted that he
would not say the media
misquoted him on SNC but
rather it was his fault that he
didn't make himself clear
enough. On the other issues that
we raised, he promised to take
actions on them. I don't want to
disclose the things he said he
would do except we don't see
action in a reasonable time".
Political watchers have described
the invitation to meet as
impulsive, reckless and an act of
desperation. What also surprised
observers and dismayed the
aides of the president was the
reckless manner President
Jonathan opened up to the
visitors.
"Some presidential advisers were
said to have cringed to hear Mr.
Jonathan open up to the SNG
delegation as if he were
discussing with an inner caucus
of associates"
Speaking about his political
chances, Jonathan was said to
have told the SNG delegation
that he did not see how Atiku
could defeat him in the primaries
or how any other opponent
could unseat him in the general
elections. “You can't defeat an
incumbent,” he said, to the
shock of his guests.
When one of his guests
suggested that some state
governors might be deceiving
him regarding his support base,
Mr. Jonathan angrily retorted, “If
I don't want them to sleep in
their beds, they won't sleep. ”
Mr. Jonathan stated that, by the
time anti-corruption agents
checked on a few state
commissioners of finance and
accountants-general, the state
governors would sit up. Jonathan
is believed to have worked on
ensuring that governorship
elections come after that of the
presidency, the timing implies
that he would move against the
governors who undermine his
own ambition.
While decrying the reckless
invitation by the President,
observers also said the graphic
revelations concerning the visit
does Pastor Bakare no good
either.
According to a political insider
that spoke to Elombah.com who
confirmed the meeting: “I have
confirmed the meeting took
place, it doesn't do pastor
Bakare any good either,  Never
trust any of our 'pro democracy'
people, when it comes to cheap
publicity, they have no
scruples, but GEJ is tactless to
have been that open with Bakare
and co who have no electoral
value !”

www.elombah.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4547:president-jonathan-bribes-pastor-bakares-sng-with-50000&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=67