Pennywise: I did Lagos-Benin road for the first ever since I started driving sometime last year. And I was amazed at why we do not have more fatalities on that road. At 120km/hr you get the sense that you are having a stroll on the highway. A good number of the vehicles have dubious road worthiness (I am not talking certificate here) but they want to prove to you that they can still out-run you for some uncertain glory.

Even at the best of times, the road is still dangerous. When you factor in the police and the custom with their surprise road blocks then you get a real sense of what I am talking about.

This same scenario is repeated all over the country. With a population of 160million people abandoned by Govt, I am surprised there is any other country with a more depressing statistic.

How long have you been driving? Did you take a driving test? If you did not take a driving test how do you know if you are a better driver than others on the road?

Is there anyone under the age of 40 years old in Nigeria who has actually done a driving test in Nigeria?

Brixtonyute:

Can a Welsh man be an MP in England??

Can a Scottish man be an MP in Norhern Ireland?

Can an English man be an MP in Scotland??

Answer those questions...

YES a Welsh man cab be an MP in England, Yes. Scottish man can be an MP in Northern Ireland, YES an Englishman can be an MP in Scotland

Brixtonyute: And it's funny how you mentioned one Scot, and a Welsh; yet they're in the same country..

How many English PM have we had?? Tens of them, yet you think mentioning a Gordon Brown, who became a PM by mistake - and Llyod George would change how partial the system is?

Can that ever happen even in the so-called 'tribalist' Nigeria??

My friend you are obviously confused or you have been indulging in a Saturday 'drink up' . I gave you a 'a couple' which means '2' ...examples of many but I don't have the patience to keep giving lectures. My whole contribution was to highlight the possibility of 'foreigners or outsiders' getting political office in UK unlike Nigeria. You were arguing that does not happened in UK and asked people to give examples of MP's from the home countries in different seats, I and other pointed examples to you and then you move the goalposts.

My point is clear 'Nigeria' does not have foriegners or non indigenes taking political office, UK does, hence this Nigerian woman is now a Mayor. Take your 'hating hat' off and give the woman her due credit.hf

ROSSIKE answer now. No insults just intelligent answers, let us the spectators learn who is talking sense, Tezzapete or ROSSIKE.

Brixtonyute:

You're dumb!! It seems you don't know the difference between United Kingdom, Britain, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland...

I'll respond, when you can tell me the difference between what I listed above... And I don't have time to read no history, till I see an Irish mayor of London.

I

Am dumb? Wow your ignorance is so obvious. The position of Mayor of London is a relatively new position created by the last labour government. There have only been 2 Mayors, Ken Livingstone (who did 2 terms) and Boris Johnson who has just started his second term and for your information, Boris Johnson is actually of Turkish origin - his grandfather was from Turkey.

United kingdom is Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. Great Britain is united kingdom with the exception of Northern Ireland. For your information the Republic of Irelamd (Eire) is an independent country that shares a physical island with Northern Ireland, so what's your point?

Lloyd George was Prime Minister of United Kingdom he was Welsh, Gordon Brown the last Prime Minister is Scotish, these are just a couple of so many examples.

Please, I know you don't have time to read or study, so if you won't learn I suggest you keep your thoughts to yourself until you can put forward real facts, Mr 'I live in UK'

Brixtonyute:

Can a Welsh man be an MP in England??

Can a Scottish man be an MP in Norhern Ireland?

Can an English man be an MP in Scotland??

Answer those questions...

Go and study your current affairs and political history and stop relying on beer palour talk. the UK has had Welsh MP's and even at least one Welsh Prime Minister, we know there have have Scottish Prime Ministers, there are numerous cases of MP & councilors of Scottish extraction in Northern Ireland (bear in mind the NI protestants are of Scottish origin).

We currently have at least 3 MP's of Nigerian origin in the UK including Chuka Umuna whose Dad contested for Governor in Imo state during the IBB debacle (NRC & SDP).

A mayor of Enfield may not be the highest political office in the world, but she has been elected as councilor by the Enfield community and her fellow councilors have decided to elect her Mayor, obviously her origin was not used against.

This forum has pages and pages of comments about kids with Nigerian names committing offences in UK or US, let's have some positive news for a change.

If as you say you live in the UK and you decide not to improve yourself because you are in another man's country, that's your own look out. At least this woman is feeding herself and her family with a resonable job and I bet (if she has kids) that her kids will not be on the pages of newspapers having stabbed one guy!!! (despite not having a father)

[1] In 2000, the British government were hell bent on resolving the IRA crisis
[2] They introduced a disarmament programme and appointed two statesmen to supervise and monitor the handing in of weapons
[3] The IRA insisted on having a former guerilla fighter on the panel, so the British government acted in good faith and appointed former ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa to the two-man team
[4] Ramaphosa's presence gave the IRA confidence that the programme was genuine
[5] To back this up, the then Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam, visited IRA prisoners at the Maze Prison to make it clear that this time, the government was not playing games
[6] Nigeria has a similar Boko Haram problem at the moment and is at a loss about how to solve it
[7] For me, the man who is central to all this is this gentleman here - Retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari
[8] Buhari is the defacto Sardauna. I actually believe that if he tells the Almajiri to abandon violence they will. I challenge anyone to name me another Nigerian with the same amount of influence among the Northern Nigerian youth
[9] As far as I am concerned, since Ahmadu Bello, we have not had such an influential leader in northern Nigeria. If the sarduana was alive today, all he had to do is say stop and not one more bomb would go off
[10] After the recent Kaduna bombing, I say enough is enough. The government should stop playing games with our lives. Appoint Buhari to head a disarmament panel, give him all the authority he needs and then give him three months to end the crisis. Does anyone have a better solution?





Please read above before you comment, remove sentiment and ask yourself what is best for Nigeria

rainbowman: Having read most of your comments on this forum, I find it astounding at your level of naivety concerning the BH wahala. This crisis is a classic example of insurgency and subversive opeartions conducted to ensure a change in govt by making the citizenry feel insecure and turning them against the govt. These BH thugs have no clear mandate and are only interested in killing innocent civilians or military/policemen whose only crime is wearing the uniform to protect innocent citizens. Theses guys want all of us to convert or die and it is as simple as that. They are mostly poor illiterates who chose not to go to school and are blaming the govt for their present predicament, the people who started sponsoring them no longer have control over them. Their members are hell bent on dying for their cause because they are mostly cowards who are afraid of going to hell because they cannot live a pious life hence the suicide bombings as they believe that this is a shortcut to heaven. The President and the security agencies are doing their best, men are sleeping on the roads, exposed to all sorts of dangers so that the majority can sleep safe and if not for their efforts only God knows what could have happened by now. So instead of criticising your President and calling him names, I believe its better for all of us to start getting security consciuos and report suspicious pple to the relevant authorities. We all must join hands against this menance. Nigeria is our country, it is not for Boko Haram.

@Rainbowman - don't whether it is me you are referring to? however I agree hundred percent with you. the problem with violence is once the genie is out of the bottle it is difficult to close the cork with the genie back inside. I AM NOT A GEJ apologist but all leaders that have terrorism in their countries find it difficult to deal with it. The UK struggled with the IRA for over 30 years, in that time the IRA were blowing up skyscrapers in central London in the mid 1990's with all the UK intelligence, they couldn't stop them.

an IRA spokesman once said ' we only have to be lucky once, whereas you (the government) have to be lucky all the time'

I believe the leverage Buhari has he can start by talking to local leaders in the North to start laying down their arms, even the Niger Delta militants needed some sort of mediation to slow down their activities.

Yes they are always be some hot head independents but the majority of them can reigned-in, if a person of Buhari's standing is given the right tools and authority to speak to the relevant players.

bakila: Hehehe the apologist of His Excellency Mr President have started again. Why would poster be so callous to celebrate a new style in terroism with simultenous bombings at Abuja and Kaduna with this stuptd post. It shows how foolish some people are. Very Beaf like.

The actual post was uploaded, almost 2 days ago, it's just today that Nairaland system have put on the front page, nothing intentional

This is a call to both Buhari and GEJ, if they are truly Nigerian leaders they should seek a solution to the menace that is Boko Haram, if Yaradua & GEJ could offer amnesty to Niger delta militants, then Buhari should be able to persuade BH foot soldiers and their field commanders to lay their arms.

It has been done in other parts of the world, see the post on Northern Ireland and the IRA after 30 odd years of terrorist attacks in the UK, peace talks enabled the end to terrorism (at least most of it)

hercules07: Buhari will not serve under GEJ, he does not respect him enough for him to do that, also, BH is a PDP thing, how do you think GEJ will react when Buhari starts clamping those who supported him to jail?

It's not about respecting GEJ it's about loving Nigeria, can Buhari only serve Nigeria as President?

If Buhari truly loves Nigeria he should offer his services and like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn wipe out this menace.
If GEJ truly loves Nigeria he should call Buhari to help and assist.

Anyone who supports BH already has blood on his hands and should thrown into jail, but look at other peace efforts in the world, sometimes jail is not the only answer.

Leave aside party politics.

No comments? let's have your views, is Buhari the man? should GEJ appoint him?

The following was presented by a Nigerian author and social commentator. He suggests that Buhari should be appointed by Jonathan to head a commission to tackle Boko Haram (the white man calls this poacher turned game keeper) - how una see am?

[1] In 2000, the British government were hell bent on resolving the IRA crisis
[2] They introduced a disarmament programme and appointed two statesmen to supervise and monitor the handing in of weapons
[3] The IRA insisted on having a former guerilla fighter on the panel, so the British government acted in good faith and appointed former ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa to the two-man team
[4] Ramaphosa's presence gave the IRA confidence that the programme was genuine
[5] To back this up, the then Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam, visited IRA prisoners at the Maze Prison to make it clear that this time, the government was not playing games
[6] Nigeria has a similar Boko Haram problem at the moment and is at a loss about how to solve it
[7] For me, the man who is central to all this is this gentleman here - Retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari
[8] Buhari is the defacto Sardauna. I actually believe that if he tells the Almajiri to abandon violence they will. I challenge anyone to name me another Nigerian with the same amount of influence among the Northern Nigerian youth
[9] As far as I am concerned, since Ahmadu Bello, we have not had such an influential leader in northern Nigeria. If the sarduana was alive today, all he had to do is say stop and not one more bomb would go off
[10] After the recent Kaduna bombing, I say enough is enough. The government should stop playing games with our lives. Appoint Buhari to head a disarmament panel, give him all the authority he needs and then give him three months to end the crisis. Does anyone have a better solution?

[color=#006600][/color]

Lawan and co.

Not a few also consider the chairman of the Adhoc Probe Committee, Farouk Lawan, and members of the committee as winners for standing their ground, despite pressure from the cabal fleecing the country to make them turn deaf ears to news of rot in the sector.

[color=#006600][/color]

I have read many Nigerian government reports, I have seen a few committee reports from NASS, this is most professional report I have ever seen or read by a Nigerian government organisation at any level, executive or legislative.

Even if this report completely exonerated any of the parties involved the quality of the report and the presentation of the report would still be very commendable.

I hope other arms of government learn from this report how to do a presentation.

Let's see what they do on the SEC report and Arume - where they can't even get right the cost of restaurant bill!!

What a fool!!!! I feel for his children.

Nigerian law is a direct descendant from British Law - British law clearly states 'beyond reasonable doubt'. Civil law both in Nigeria and Britain rely on so-called 'inference' Ibori's case in Asaba and UK were both criminal and not civil.

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

We all thought this man was a fool, he has now proved it 'beyond reasonable doubt'.

If you have not read the full report, please DO NOT comment, the report is very revealing and many of the comments we are making are ill informed.

This is the first time I have witnessed the House of Reps actually producing such a compelling piece of work, I for one am very impressed.

Now it is over to the law enforcement agencies and judiciary to do the right thing and the executive to do the right thing with their staff who were complicit in this fraud.

Callotti:

If you return the money to Delta State, it goes right back to Ibori's pocket.

So give the money to unaccountable Nigerians in London?

Pleaseeee

Callotti: If the British want to truly stop collecting Nigeria's loot, they should use the money to money to Nigerian citizens in the UK as loans to start up their own business. The British are rogues. Nigeria learnt from them.
Shiooooooooooooor!!!

Now am sure your joking or just looking for a reaction, money is stolen in Ibori's case from Delta State, if a big if, British government recover any of this money, they should give it to Nigerians in UK as loans according to you, why don't they just return it to Delta State government, which is what their law requires?

The point of this thread is to highlight some points and errors.

Contrary to what some people think, the Brlitish authorities have arrested Nigerian politicians not as a quasi route to neo colonialisation but as a moral way to stop looted money coming to their society and to stop criminal and terrorist money coming to their society.

Western countries are attempting to change from their old ways of supporting corrupt third world politicians and actively encouraging them to keep their stolen money in their banks.

For the avoidance of doubt, governors, senators, etc do not have diplomatic immunity or immune from prosecution only heads of state have this privilege in other countries apart from their home country.

Once again if you must steal don't take your money to Britain, US, Germany, etc

Just case anyone is wondering why the British government should prosecute Nigerian politicians, there are some basic simple pointers;

1. in recent years the British, led by then labour government of Tony Blair with his Chancellor Gordon decided that their country would not be used to launder international crime proceeds and also criminals should not benefit from their crimes.
2. any money brought into the UK from a source that could be considered in crime in the UK (so if the money is got from a country where the source of the money is not criminal in that country, for instance if in country A, kickbacks are not considered a crime and you bring that money to UK)- that money will be considered proceeds of crime by the British authorities because in Britain kickbacks are illegal.
3. the British authorities, banks, financial institutions, even suppliers of high value goods have a legal duty to report any activity regarding money that can be considered suspicious.
4. If you are convicted of a crime in the UK that gives you a financial benefit, you will subject to a confiscation hearing separate from the original trial. This is so the British authorities can determine what is your financial benefit from the crime, this will confiscated from you and where appropriate used to compensate your victim.

So with our Nigerian politicians such as Ibori, the main crime was bringing their money to UK in the first instance. If Ibori did not bring his money to UK, the UK government would have no jurisdiction over him no matter how much he stole.

My advice to our politicians please either leave your money in Nigeria or go to North Korea or China where they don't ask questions to hide your money.

@GenBuhari, I was just finishing university when Buhari carried out his coup, if not for the armoured personnel carriers in the streets, we students would have rejoiced. We all believed in the coup. I was incensed when Umaru Dikko full page advert in the Times of London was reprinted by other magazines in Nigeria whereupon Dikko called Buhari and Idiagbon - a military Junta. We felt how dare this thief refer to our government as a 'military junta'.

My point, we lived through Buhari/Idiagbon and don't need your news clips to remind how it was to live under their rule.

shymmex: He's going to spend 4yrs in the bin. Can anyone tell me the prison he's gonna spend his time? I'm guess it's gonna be either Brixton, or Wandsworth... Damn! This guy is going to live on chips, halal, slice bread, and baked beans - and I hope he's gonna be in a shared prison.

To those thinking UK prison is a joke, you guys have lost your damn minds. 23hrs lock down is NO joke, it's gonna mess you up mentally. Do you know how many guys commit suicide in there yearly?? The only way he won't feel the time that much is if he can get a job in there... Ibori is definitely gonna get moved to if he spends his time in a London prison; I know the naija mandem in there won't show him any love, and he's gonna get robbed everyday..

Shymx you know Brixton and Wanno are holding only, they'll move him to D cat very soon and in two years when he reaches his F.L.E.D date he will start his weekly day release.

However the biggy is when they do his confiscation order; the British authorities make it clear that one cannot benfit from their proceeds of crime, as such it's not just the amount he has admitted but any assets that the court believes is proceeds of crime means that he will have to pay this back. They will probably give him 18 or 24 months to pay 'cash' something like $250 million. If he doesn't pay this, another 7 years or so will be added to his sentence, but even then if he serves the additional 7 years the money will still need to be paid.

So it's not that easy for him.

seriously GenBuhari why don't you just encourage your man to carry out a coup, after all that's how he got power and came to prominence in the first place, see Guinea Bissau and Mali, it can still be done and stop bothering us with your pointless propoganda

ceah: Kobojunkie is so funny...why cant you just answer a simple question.
who is the young lad that is worthy of our vote ?

@Kobojunkie

Personally I would rather vote for 'ceah' than Buhari, Abi Ceah can't you run for President, Gowon was only 31 or 32 when he became Head of State, what stops you from contesting?

Seriously if young men like you started by even contesting for your local government, as a Councillor or chairman, this country will be a better place. instead of all of us coming on nairaland and solving all Nigeria problems from our keyboards

Harbioollah: As expected,Money has exchanged hands...
D UK has been promised millions of barrels of crude oil from GEJ in xchange 4 a lenient sentence

xo xo disappointing

this is not China or US, this Europe and UK, sentence of 13 years is actually quite high for money laundering - I didn't think he would get more than 9. I have working knowledge of these things having worked in the system

He'll probably do between 5 and 6 before release on parole, howver confiscation order to follow

b0dnel:

is that not part of the conviction? The judge should stop these rhetorics and convict the petty thief joor.....whay all these wasting of time and speaking big big grammar like Okotie?

No that's not part of the conviction. He is convicted of money laundering, there will be separate hearing regarding the confiscation of his assets - known in British Law as his proceeds of crime. He will be given an amount to pay and a time period to pay it, if he does not pay within the time period he will be given additional years to his initial sentence.

The Judge says that sentencing Ibori will not be the end of the matter as his property will be confiscated, and there will be serious consequences if that process runs into problems.

[quote author=Demdem]Am very happy to know that Ibori will be gang R.A.P.ED tonight

sorry Demdem he is already in prison on remand, most probably at Wormwood Scrubs or Wandsworth. Gang rape is not prevalent in UK prisons unlike what we hear in US prisons.

taking bets on length of sentence; I say 9 years, what do you think?