₦airaland Forum

Nigerians abroad have no vote and really have no say on the elections.

Has:
Not realy because many innocent nigerians died while exercising their franchise during the last general elections!

Many innocent INEC officials and policemen/women died too while doing their job on the election days.

http://www.yorubanation.org/Yoruba.htm


Who are the Yoruba?


The first obvious answer to this question is the Yoruba are a nationality, numbering about 40 million, the majority of whom live in the South Western part of the state of Nigeria in West Africa. Obvious as this answer is, it is not wholly explanatory, and certainly, it is not without its own controversy. First, regarding its explanatory status. One has to add, that the Yoruba are a black people, of Negro stock; that they speak a common language, Yoruba, which belongs to the Kwa group of the Niger-Congo linguistic family, and it has about 12 dialects; that they are a well urbanized group with genius in arts as symbolized in the famous "Ife Bronzes"; that Yoruba people are also found in Togo, Benin Republic and in other parts of the world, including Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, and the United States. Second, regarding its controversial status, one has to confront the question what makes the Yoruba a nationality, or a nation, not a tribe or clan, and how does one then mark a distinction between Yorubaland and Nigeria. To this last question, there is no better answer than the one provided by Obafemi Awolowo in 1947, to which a later section of this presentation will return. For now, it is necessary to answer the question: "Who are the Yoruba?" by focusing on some critical moments in Yoruba history and thought.

Address these and other issues by focusing on some critical moments in Yoruba
History.

1. The Oduduwa Dynasty and the Founding of the Nation.
Oduduwa is the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba. There are two variants of the story of how he achieved this feat. The first is cosmogonic, the second, political. The cosmogonic version also has two variants. According to the first variant of the cosmogonic myth, Orisanla (Obatala) was the arch-divinity who was chosen by Olodumare, the supreme deity to create a solid land out of the primordial water that constituted the earth and of populating the land with human beings. He descended from heaven on a chain, carrying a small snail shell full of earth, palm kernels and a five-toed chicken. He was to empty the content of the snail shell on the water after placing some pieces of iron on it, and then to place the chicken on the earth to spread it over the primordial water. According to the first version of the story, Obatala completed this task to the satisfaction of Olodumare. He was then given the task of making the physical body of human beings after which Olodumare would give them the breath of life. He also completed this task and this is why he has the title of "obarisa" the king of orisas. The other variant of the cosmogonic myth does not credit Obatala with the completion of the task. While it concedes that Obatala was given the task, it avers that Obatala got drunk even before he got to the earth and he was unable to do the job. Olodumare got worried when he did not return on time, and he had to send Oduduwa to find out what was going on. When Oduduwa found Obatala drunk, he simply took over the task and completed it. He created land. The spot on which he landed from heaven and which he redeemed from water to become land is called Ile-Ife and is now considered the sacred and spiritual home of the Yoruba. Obatala was embarrassed when he woke up and, due to this experience, he made it a taboo for any of his devotees to drink palm wine. Olodumare forgave him and gave him the responsibility of molding the physical bodies of human beings. The making of land is a symbolic reference to the founding of the Yoruba kingdoms, and this is why Oduduwa is credited with that achievement (Idowu, 1962).

According to the second version of the myth, there was a pre-existing civilization at Ile-Ife prior to its invasion by a group led by Oduduwa. This group came from the east, where Oduduwa and his group had been persecuted on the basis of religious differences. They came to Ile-Ife and fought and conquered the pre-existing Igbo (unrelated to the present Igbo) inhabitants led by Oreluere (Obatala). Obviously, there is a connection between the two versions of the story. The political one may be the authentic story of the founding of Ife kingdom through conquest. However, the myth of creation lends it a legitimacy that is denied by the conquest story; just as it appears that it is lent some credence by the fact that, as a result of the embarrassment it caused their deity, the followers of Obatala are forbidden from taking palm wine. Indeed the second version of the cosmogonic myth also appears to foreshadow the political variant. The claim that Obatala got drunk and the task of creation had to be performed by Oduduwa already has some political coloration which is now explicit in the political version of the tradition. What is crucial in both variants of the story is the role of Oduduwa as the founder of the Yoruba nation which is why the name cannot be forgotten. Oduduwa is the symbol of the nation, the rallying point for al those who subscribe to the Yoruba identity. The name Yoruba itself, according to historians Smith, Atanda and others, was fixed on us by our northern neighbors and later popularized by colonial publications. Before then, the "Anago" to which some Yoruba in the present Benin Republic and others in the new world still use to refer to themselves, was used to refer to most of the people called Yoruba today. A common origin and language, as well as common political and religious cultures made the Yoruba a nation long before any contact with Europeans and the advent of colonialism.

2. Moremi 's Patriotism and the Survival of the Nation Upon the death of Oduduwa, there was a dispersal of his children from Ife to found other kingdoms. These original founders of the Yoruba nation included Olowu of Owu (son of Oduduwa's daughter), Alaketu of Ketu (son of a princess), Oba of Benin, Oragun of Ila, Onisabe of Sabe, Olupopo of Popo, and Oranyan of Oyo. Each of them made a mark in the subsequent urbanization and consolidation of Yoruba confederacy of kingdoms, with each kingdom tracing its origin to Ile-Ife.

After the dispersal, the aborigines, the Igbo, became difficult, and constituted a serious threat to the survival of Ife. Thought to be survivors of the old occupants of the land before the arrival of Oduduwa, these people now turned themselves into marauders. They would come to town in costumes made of raffia with terrible and fearsome appearances, and the Ife people would flee. Then the Igbo would burn down houses and loot the markets. Then came Moremi on the scene-like Deborah of the Old Testament. When no man could dare the Igbos, Moremi asked the Esinminrin river for help and promised to give offerings if she could save her people. The orisa told her to allow herself to be captured and to understudy the Igbo people. She did, and discovered that these were not spirits; only people with raffia for dress. She escaped, and taught her people the trick. The next time that Igbo people came, they were roundly defeated. Moremi then had to go back to Esinminrin to thank the gods. Every offering she offered was refused. On divination, she was told she had to give Oluorogbo, her only son. She did. The lesson of Moremi is the lesson of patriotism and selflessness. The reward may not be reaped in one's life time. Moremi passed on and became a member of the Yoruba pantheon . The Edi festival celebrates the defeat of the Igbo and the sacrifice of Oluorogbo till today.

3. The Oranmiyan Adventures, Afonja Treachery, Internal Division, Enslavement and the Fall of the Nation. Oranmiyan was the last of the Oduduwa offsprings. But he was the most adventurous and the founder of Oyo Kingdom. On some accounts, he was the third ruler of Ife as successor to Oduduwa. But he later decided to avenge the expulsion of his father from the East, and so, he led an expedition. After many years on the road, and as a result of disagreement between him and his people, he could not go further. Feeling too ashamed to go back, he appealed to the King of Nupe for a land to found his kingdom. He was obliged, and that land became the nucleus of Old Oyo Kingdom. Oranmiyan, taking the title of Alafin, succeeded in raising a very strong military and effectively expanded his kingdom. His successors, including Sango, the mythical god of thunder, Aganju and Oluasho were also as strong. Peace and tranquility prevailed during the reign of Abiodun, though it also experienced the decline of the army. (SONG). Awole Arogangan was Abiodun' s successor and it was during his reign that trouble started for the kingdom. He was forced to commit suicide; but before his death he was said to have pronounced a curse on all Yoruba, that they will not unite and that they will be taken captives.

Afonja was the Kakanfo, the generalsimo of the Army, in the northern Yoruba town of Ilorin, during the reign of Awole and his successor. Afonja refused to recognize the new king, and invited the Fulani who were then leading a jihad to the south, to assist him against the king. They did, but he did not survive himself, because the Fulani, after helping him defeat the Alafin also turned against him. They fired numerous arrows at him and his dead body was stood erect on those arrows as they stuck into his body. The treachery of Afonja marked the beginning of the end of the Oyo empire and with it the decline of the Yoruba nation. Civil war erupted among the various Yoruba kingdoms: Oyo, Ijesa, Ekiti, Ijaiye, Abeokuta and Ibadan. As this was going on, Dahomey on the west and the Borgu on the north were also posing trouble for the Yoruba kingdoms until the intervention of the British and the imposition of colonial rule.

Those who argue that there was no consciousness of a common Yoruba identity until the 19th century may be referring to these civil war episodes in the life of the nation. But they forget that these people, in spite of the civil war, share a sense of common origin and common language. And it is to be noted that the so-called peace that was imposed by the British could not have lasted had there not been a sense of consciousness of coming from a common origin.


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My comment.


I disagree with (unrelated to the present Igbo) part. I think the aborigines of Yoruba were the Igbo. The Moremi "Masquerade" is said to be similar to Aguleri or some Igbo Masquerade.

http://www.thinkersroom.com/blog/2007/04/great-grandpa-was-a-slave-apologize/

Great Grandpa Was A Slave. Apologize

Apparently black people wish for some sort of apology, as well as some sort of financial consideration because at some point in time these sons of toil moved tons of soil under a variety of persuasive agents such as whips, shotguns and axes. They sowed, weeded and harvested for massa to eat. They cleaned, washed, mowed and painted for the modest salary of room and board, shared and hard respectively.

I am not one of these seeking these nebulous things.

As a matter of fact, I find these attempts, and the resulting rippling gymnastics hilarious.

Tony Blair, trademark Cheshire cat grin in abeyance, bemoans the shameful enterprise that was the slave trade, conveniently overlooking the fact that a good bit of Rule Britannia was built on the backs of slaves on all 7 continents. If Atlantis had been around you bet your boots some of His Majesty’s vessels would have set out there and delivered gifts of whips, guns, bibles and small pox. Tony came just short of wringing his hands in sorrow.

The Archbishop of York, emotion plainly visible across his countenance, also called for a formal apology from the UK, temporarily forgetting that the UK is not the shouting gentlemen who sit in parliament — he too is part and parcel of it.

The British are not a people to do things by halves. London Mayor Ken Livingston is unable to resist the overwhelming urge to apologize for London’s complicity in the Slave Trade. He also finds among his conflicting great emotions, overwhelming sorrow.

Some doofuses even had the temerity to chain themselves and had a brisk walk with said chains in empathy for the slaves. Uh huh. Try doing that for 60 years.

The Church too has not hesitated to toss its hat into the ring. The Archbishop of Canterbury too wishes for the Church to make amends post haste for the trade.

Whoever came up with the pearl “honey catches more flies than dung” ought to have shared this with the bearded gentlemen who landed on our hallowed shores to convert our black hearts. I find it hilarious that they found the natives rather reluctant to be converted. I wasn’t there, you understand, but perhaps the natives found it difficult to reconcile fellows talking out “turning the other cheek”, “blessed are the meek” and “peace on earth” with hard swearing, vicious fellows who substituted lambs with village maidens and proceeded to lay down with them by night, whipped, clubbed and shot errant natives before noon and in the afternoon burnt incense and read from the Good Book.

The good Archbishop conveniently forgets to mention that the Good Book itself is replete with slaves and slavery. Just mention Hagar to Abraham and watch him turn pink.

But I digress.

With little fanfare, the 25th of March was the anniversary of the ban of the slave trade. There was little mention of this in the Kenyan media. This could be due to the fact that we are:

1. Bored beyond belief with the proliferation of meaningless anniversaries and holidays. The other day we had ‘ World Water Day’.
2. There was nothing actually to commemorate.
3. All the above

The fact that people believe the slave trade is over just because there are no people living in plantations saying “Yessuh massa William suh!” speaks volumes of the collective naiveté of a civilization that prides itself on “information everywhere”, “globalization” and “communication”. Visiting the yahoo home page and giving a cursory look to the headlines therein is enough to convince most that they are indeed in touch with the realities on the ground.

Consider for example the domestic maid. This poor lass is generally source from some remote village and planted in a household. Her impressive array of duties include cooking, cleaning, sewing, darning, washing, taking care of the general household and taking care of the massa home owner’s children. Her pay is usually token, and meals are deducted from the same. She generally eats on her own in the kitchen. Any breakages or damage is invariably deducted from her token pay.

And then on the 25th of March the massa home owner sits down at his PC and, emotion creasing the face, poured out the heart about the angst, consternation, anger, sadness the vile trade(delete as applicable)

His/her people inflicted on the slaves
His/her people had inflicted upon them

Consider too the thriving traffic of young girls and women to Europe, where under lock, key and whip, they attend to the assorted needs of their masters and mistresses.

Today. 2007. 200 years since slavery was banned.

So, with regards to this reparation, I wonder if anyone would answer for me the following questions:

1. Who, exactly is going to apologize is it the governments? I for one would laugh myself to tears seeing Condoleezza Rice or Baroness Amos apologizing for the slave trade. Is it the civic society? Is it the common man? The church?
2. If we generously generalize that black people were oppressed by the white people, what becomes of those shades of grey like Colin Powell and Barack Obama? Do they apologize from one side of the mouth and accept the apology with the other?
3. Since the blacks happily took part in the slave trade themselves, vigorously buying and selling their brothers, how do these factor into the apologies?
4. Our Arab brethren also took part in this trade and made some good living out of it. Why then the double standards?
5. What use is this apology?
6. Why am I being apologized to, and it is my great great great grandfather who was bought, sold and worked himself into the grave for no pay?
7. Why do people want an apology from Tony Blair for things done 150 years before he was even an idea in his folks’ minds?
8. If Mr. Blair does make this apology, it will be completely hollow and meaningless. Why would he take responsibility for the deeds of his forefathers? If my ancestors through guns, whips and ships propelled my country to be the second superpower in the world and I stepped into the shoes of leadership, I dare say I could find the tears and sorrow to be as sorry as you would like me to be. I would even apologize if you’d like. At the end of the day I’d still be sure that it wouldn’t change a damn thing
9. Am I the only one who finds ludicrous the notion that I have to apologize to a boy I wouldn’t know from Adam because my father soundly clobbered his father in nursery school?
10. Those outraged black folk fuming about the white oppressing them ought to put down those writs and dig a little deeper into history where they will find the Berbers took white slaves from Europe. Are they ready for that reparation?
11. There was a roaring slave trade in West Africa, and as a matter of fact they even constructed a market! Demanding an apology from Tony Blair is as absurd of demanding an apology from a bullet and neglecting to mention the gun.
12. Why stop at the transatlantic slave trade? Myopia appears to be a fairly coming affliction
The prime minister of Greece should apologue for all the things the Greeks did when they dominated the world, including trading in slaves
The prime minister of Italy should apologize for all the things the Romans did when they dominated the world, including trading in slaves
Saddam Hussein, before being unceremoniously hanged, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should have been made to apologize for all the things the Persians did when they dominated the world, including trading in slaves
The relatively mild people of Norway, Denmark and Sweden should be startled out of their placid lives with demands that they apologize for the things the Vikings did
We can ask the same of the Mongols, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Egyptians …
13. If financial reparation is to be made:
Who will actually foot the bills for this? The taxpayers of the US and the UK? Which include descendants of the said slaves?
How will the figures be arrived at?
Who will receive this monies? If your great grand mother was the bed wench of a plantation owner are you eligible for half?
14. If we can figure out who will offer the reparation, and how it will be done, how will this invalidate the inhumanity that took place?
15. If it is an apology people want, what if I personally offered an apology for the inhumanity of the slave trade. Will that do? If not, why not?
16. We have spent all these centuries without these reparations. Why the sudden urgent need now? I like to think that most of us are doing just fine without it.

I think it is high time we started taking responsibility for ourselves, and stop looking for feeble crutches like the need for reparation to get on with our lives. Don’t get me wrong — the life of a slave back then was infinitely worse than death. The people that participated in this were undoubtedly the scum of the earth. I believe that they and Hitler will get their own heated section of Hell to themselves.

But come on people! Enough with the feeble crutches! Are we poor because of the slave trade? Perhaps. Perhaps not. The question is what are we going to do to correct the situation? Sit on our backsides waiting for nebulous apologies and money from the guilty descendants of the slave traders that will magically transform us? Someone has even discovered post traumatic slave syndrome! Get over yourselves already!!!

When will people ever learn — no one is going to help you. You wait for George Bush and Tony Blair to apologize. You wait for money to be wired to your bank account in reparation. That’s right, my sons and daughters. Wait right there for millennia of oppression and brutality to be corrected by a hallmark e-card and a wire transfer. Bush and Blair won’t apologize for something blatant for invading Iraq but somehow they will apologize for centauries of slave trade. They have so much money in their coffers and have fulfilled all their health care, defence, education and social security needs that they are looking for something to do with the extra funds.

You wait there. You may never walk alone my lovely but I can assure you that you will jolly well wait alone.

http://www.thinkersroom.com/blog/2007/04/great-grandpa-was-a-slave-apologize/


Great Grandpa Was A Slave. Apologize

Apparently black people wish for some sort of apology, as well as some sort of financial consideration because at some point in time these sons of toil moved tons of soil under a variety of persuasive agents such as whips, shotguns and axes. They sowed, weeded and harvested for massa to eat. They cleaned, washed, mowed and painted for the modest salary of room and board, shared and hard respectively.

I am not one of these seeking these nebulous things.

As a matter of fact, I find these attempts, and the resulting rippling gymnastics hilarious.

Tony Blair, trademark Cheshire cat grin in abeyance, bemoans the shameful enterprise that was the slave trade, conveniently overlooking the fact that a good bit of Rule Britannia was built on the backs of slaves on all 7 continents. If Atlantis had been around you bet your boots some of His Majesty’s vessels would have set out there and delivered gifts of whips, guns, bibles and small pox. Tony came just short of wringing his hands in sorrow.

The Archbishop of York, emotion plainly visible across his countenance, also called for a formal apology from the UK, temporarily forgetting that the UK is not the shouting gentlemen who sit in parliament — he too is part and parcel of it.

The British are not a people to do things by halves. London Mayor Ken Livingston is unable to resist the overwhelming urge to apologize for London’s complicity in the Slave Trade. He also finds among his conflicting great emotions, overwhelming sorrow.

Some doofuses even had the temerity to chain themselves and had a brisk walk with said chains in empathy for the slaves. Uh huh. Try doing that for 60 years.

The Church too has not hesitated to toss its hat into the ring. The Archbishop of Canterbury too wishes for the Church to make amends post haste for the trade.

Whoever came up with the pearl “honey catches more flies than dung” ought to have shared this with the bearded gentlemen who landed on our hallowed shores to convert our black hearts. I find it hilarious that they found the natives rather reluctant to be converted. I wasn’t there, you understand, but perhaps the natives found it difficult to reconcile fellows talking out “turning the other cheek”, “blessed are the meek” and “peace on earth” with hard swearing, vicious fellows who substituted lambs with village maidens and proceeded to lay down with them by night, whipped, clubbed and shot errant natives before noon and in the afternoon burnt incense and read from the Good Book.

The good Archbishop conveniently forgets to mention that the Good Book itself is replete with slaves and slavery. Just mention Hagar to Abraham and watch him turn pink.

But I digress.

With little fanfare, the 25th of March was the anniversary of the ban of the slave trade. There was little mention of this in the Kenyan media. This could be due to the fact that we are:

1. Bored beyond belief with the proliferation of meaningless anniversaries and holidays. The other day we had ‘ World Water Day’.
2. There was nothing actually to commemorate.
3. All the above

The fact that people believe the slave trade is over just because there are no people living in plantations saying “Yessuh massa William suh!” speaks volumes of the collective naiveté of a civilization that prides itself on “information everywhere”, “globalization” and “communication”. Visiting the yahoo home page and giving a cursory look to the headlines therein is enough to convince most that they are indeed in touch with the realities on the ground.

Consider for example the domestic maid. This poor lass is generally source from some remote village and planted in a household. Her impressive array of duties include cooking, cleaning, sewing, darning, washing, taking care of the general household and taking care of the massa home owner’s children. Her pay is usually token, and meals are deducted from the same. She generally eats on her own in the kitchen. Any breakages or damage is invariably deducted from her token pay.

And then on the 25th of March the massa home owner sits down at his PC and, emotion creasing the face, poured out the heart about the angst, consternation, anger, sadness the vile trade(delete as applicable)

His/her people inflicted on the slaves
His/her people had inflicted upon them

Consider too the thriving traffic of young girls and women to Europe, where under lock, key and whip, they attend to the assorted needs of their masters and mistresses.

Today. 2007. 200 years since slavery was banned.

So, with regards to this reparation, I wonder if anyone would answer for me the following questions:

1. Who, exactly is going to apologize is it the governments? I for one would laugh myself to tears seeing Condoleezza Rice or Baroness Amos apologizing for the slave trade. Is it the civic society? Is it the common man? The church?
2. If we generously generalize that black people were oppressed by the white people, what becomes of those shades of grey like Colin Powell and Barack Obama? Do they apologize from one side of the mouth and accept the apology with the other?
3. Since the blacks happily took part in the slave trade themselves, vigorously buying and selling their brothers, how do these factor into the apologies?
4. Our Arab brethren also took part in this trade and made some good living out of it. Why then the double standards?
5. What use is this apology?
6. Why am I being apologized to, and it is my great great great grandfather who was bought, sold and worked himself into the grave for no pay?
7. Why do people want an apology from Tony Blair for things done 150 years before he was even an idea in his folks’ minds?
8. If Mr. Blair does make this apology, it will be completely hollow and meaningless. Why would he take responsibility for the deeds of his forefathers? If my ancestors through guns, whips and ships propelled my country to be the second superpower in the world and I stepped into the shoes of leadership, I dare say I could find the tears and sorrow to be as sorry as you would like me to be. I would even apologize if you’d like. At the end of the day I’d still be sure that it wouldn’t change a damn thing
9. Am I the only one who finds ludicrous the notion that I have to apologize to a boy I wouldn’t know from Adam because my father soundly clobbered his father in nursery school?
10. Those outraged black folk fuming about the white oppressing them ought to put down those writs and dig a little deeper into history where they will find the Berbers took white slaves from Europe. Are they ready for that reparation?
11. There was a roaring slave trade in West Africa, and as a matter of fact they even constructed a market! Demanding an apology from Tony Blair is as absurd of demanding an apology from a bullet and neglecting to mention the gun.
12. Why stop at the transatlantic slave trade? Myopia appears to be a fairly coming affliction
The prime minister of Greece should apologue for all the things the Greeks did when they dominated the world, including trading in slaves
The prime minister of Italy should apologize for all the things the Romans did when they dominated the world, including trading in slaves
Saddam Hussein, before being unceremoniously hanged, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should have been made to apologize for all the things the Persians did when they dominated the world, including trading in slaves
The relatively mild people of Norway, Denmark and Sweden should be startled out of their placid lives with demands that they apologize for the things the Vikings did
We can ask the same of the Mongols, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Egyptians …
13. If financial reparation is to be made:
Who will actually foot the bills for this? The taxpayers of the US and the UK? Which include descendants of the said slaves?
How will the figures be arrived at?
Who will receive this monies? If your great grand mother was the bed wench of a plantation owner are you eligible for half?
14. If we can figure out who will offer the reparation, and how it will be done, how will this invalidate the inhumanity that took place?
15. If it is an apology people want, what if I personally offered an apology for the inhumanity of the slave trade. Will that do? If not, why not?
16. We have spent all these centuries without these reparations. Why the sudden urgent need now? I like to think that most of us are doing just fine without it.

I think it is high time we started taking responsibility for ourselves, and stop looking for feeble crutches like the need for reparation to get on with our lives. Don’t get me wrong — the life of a slave back then was infinitely worse than death. The people that participated in this were undoubtedly the scum of the earth. I believe that they and Hitler will get their own heated section of Hell to themselves.

But come on people! Enough with the feeble crutches! Are we poor because of the slave trade? Perhaps. Perhaps not. The question is what are we going to do to correct the situation? Sit on our backsides waiting for nebulous apologies and money from the guilty descendants of the slave traders that will magically transform us? Someone has even discovered post traumatic slave syndrome! Get over yourselves already!!!

When will people ever learn — no one is going to help you. You wait for George Bush and Tony Blair to apologize. You wait for money to be wired to your bank account in reparation. That’s right, my sons and daughters. Wait right there for millennia of oppression and brutality to be corrected by a hallmark e-card and a wire transfer. Bush and Blair won’t apologize for something blatant for invading Iraq but somehow they will apologize for centauries of slave trade. They have so much money in their coffers and have fulfilled all their health care, defence, education and social security needs that they are looking for something to do with the extra funds.

You wait there. You may never walk alone my lovely but I can assure you that you will jolly well wait alone.

Human Nature is wired to Forget about the bad times and remember all the good times. The Good Old days are not always good though.

Abacha is sometimes remembered fondly nowadays by some people.

OBJ is the best Nigerian President ever as of today.

OBJ said that in 3 years time, many critics will remember him fondly because by then they will have a new scapegoat to blame all the problems they and the country have on including exam failure. I believe him.

Utomi won less than 100,000 votes and he is now the spokesman for the losers. He won lesss than 20,000 votes in Lagos State or is that rigging too?

In Nigeria no loser has been magnanimous in defeat even in cases where they were well beaten.

Due process for electoral complaints is the tribunal and the courts but alas they want Interim Government bypassing the tribunal.

This reminds me of the Biblical story of King Solomon and the 2 mothers who were disputing a child.

What has picture got to do with electoral loss in Nigeria?

Pictures on ballot paper is a novel idea worthy of commendation by INEC and if by any error from INEC or Jimi Agbaje's campaign organization his pictures are missing, but the DPA logo was intact.

The presidential elections new ballot paper including AC's Atiku Abubakar did not contain any picture of any candidate.

nigeria1:
mr makama figure showing 2006 local govt election, is not yet out, but those of us who know how mr makama got is falsified figure by multiplication can help you with this,  which local govt do you need,  I would help you get the figure with the new makamarized almight census formular?? tell me the local govt,  I would multiple the 1991 census and you would get the makama 2006 figure that he would claim, don't forget, plus or minue 20,000 to this figure,  we are as exact to what mr makama calculator and the new Nigeria makamarized almight census formular can do. so which local govt?? please

Please can you give the breakdown of F.C.T figures by Local Govt. so that we can compare it with Mr Makama figures when released?

Thanks.

http://www.crivoice.org/urbanlegend.html

The garden of Eden was in Iraq.

FALSE.  No one knows where the Garden of Eden was.  The Bible nowhere gives a location for it other than “in the East.”  Of course, where that is depends on where one starts.  From Israel, that could be anywhere from Arabia to China.  But since Israel does not yet exist in Genesis 2, there is no guarantee that “east” is from Israel.

Further, this assumes that “east” is a geographical comment.  In many cases in the Old Testament, such simple indications of direction or location are far more symbolic than they are geographical. “East” is often a way to speak of threat or failure, and coming "from the East" is a way to talk about hope and possibility.  Note that when Adam and Eve are driven from the garden they go to the east.  Cain must live in the east as punishment for killing his brother. When Lot separates from Abram, he moves to the east.  Abraham sent his other sons (besides Isaac) to the east country.  There are other examples that all suggest that “east” is not a geographical location as much as it is a way of talking about failure or promise.

Some have suggested that since Eden is mentioned in Scripture along with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers this clearly locates Eden in Iraq.

2:10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 2:12 and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Several things need to be noted here.

a) There is only one river in Eden.  It is only when it flows out of Eden that it divides and “from there” becomes four rivers. That would suggest, if we are dealing with physical description here, that Eden was described as being located at the head waters of the two rivers, which would place Eden somewhere in the mountains of Armenia or Southern Turkey south or east of the Black Sea.

b) The geographical location for the Tigris is not clear since the Tigris runs through the middle of ancient Assyria, not to its east. It is possible that only the city of Asshur, the 15th century BC capital of ancient Assyria, is meant. But that raises an entirely different problem of chronology since that city would not exist for several thousand years after the setting of the Genesis account.

c) The identity of Pishon is uncertain. Pishon only occurs here in the Old Testament.  It is associated with “the land of Havilah” and that area along with Ophir, a near legendary source of gold, is mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament as being in Arabia (Gen 10:7, 29, 25:18, 1 Sam 15:7, 1 Ch 1:9, 23). That suggests that Pishon may be located generally in the area of Arabia. It may refer to the Persian Gulf, the Red  Sea or more narrowly the Gulf of Aqaba or the Gulf of Suez, the River of Egypt (Wadi el-Arish), or some unknown river in Arabia.

d) The identity of Gihon is likewise uncertain.  It is mentioned as flowing around the area of Cush.  Elsewhere in the Old Testament Cush refers to the area of Northern Africa generally from Ethiopia to eastern Egypt (for example, 2 Chron 16:8, Psa 68:31; in most cases modern English translation of cush is “Ethiopia”).  That suggests that Gihon refers to the Nile. In some genealogies, Cush is the father of Nimrod, who is the ancestral founder of Nineveh, the later Assyrian capital.  That suggests connections between north Africa and Mesopotamia, at least on the level of relationships between peoples.  However, it gives us no geographical information.

e) Large rivers like these do not usually divide; they usually come together to form larger rivers.  Some have suggested that this places Eden near the mouth of the four rivers where they empty into the Persian Gulf.  This would place Eden somewhere near Bahrain, or on one of the islands in the Persian Gulf.

f) All of this assumes that the description of Eden is to be taken literally and is accurate in its geographical description.  That evokes a certain view of Scripture that raises several questions.  Why would Eden be described in terms of general geographic landmarks known to the Israelites in 1200 BC when the time setting of the story is many thousands of years earlier?  Would that not suggest that the ancient Hebrews and Israelites were describing Eden in terms of locations with which they were already familiar?  Is it at least possible that the ancient Israelites did not know ancient Near Eastern geography precisely, so that they were roughly bounding an area rather than giving precise and literal descriptions?  How would they know the precise geography, unless we posit a certain theory of biblical inspiration and then use that theory as a basis for interpreting the material rather than using what we actually have in the biblical text from which to work?

g) The best conclusion that we can reach from the evidence is that we have no idea within a thousand miles and two continents what location is being described in Genesis 2. Maybe that is the point of the description, not to locate Eden at all but rather to place it somewhere within the immediate known world of the Ancient Near East.

h) It seems that the description of Eden is intended to locate it generally within a world with which the ancient Israelites were familiar, yet without precision. Since we have no way to identify precisely the location from the description, it seems that any interpretation of the Bible that depends on such precise location is pointless and driven by other agendas than sound biblical interpretation.

http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVarticles/FlawsInTheIraqInterestingEMail.htm

FALSE. No it wasn't - or if by some strange coincidence it was, there is no way of proving it. A careful study of the Bible will show that nowhere is the location identified. Yes, the Bible does state that two of the rivers flowing out of Eden were the Tigris and Euphrates, but using that to justify this claim is like saying that the capital of the British Empire really was located in Connecticut because there is a Thames River there, or that ancient Germans actually lived in North America because there is a Rhine River in Wisconsin. The location of the Garden of Eden is not known because the Noahic Flood completely reshaped the entire earth.

If Moses (Christians) or Musa (Islam) can destroy the 10 commandments written by God himself/herself and nothing happened to him, then why are some people ready to fight "God's fight" because somebody threw down a Koran that was being used to cheat in  an examination.

Behind all the religious crises in Nigeria are the real issues of Politics and Poverty.

Please do the math for all nairalanders Nigeria1 since you are the guru.

More grease to your elbow.

Pease Can you please give me the census figures for F.C.T too?

Nigerian masses Love European Football to the detriment of Nigerian Football.

Nigerian Leaders Love European Hospitals to the detriment of Nigerian Hospitals.

Somebody said It was wrong To Ban European Chicken in Nigeria.

When will Nigerians Stop this Foreign is best mentality?

Quote
You cannot just go about banning what thousands of people are enjoying for the sake of a handful of wannabes.
What if I propose that football should be banned in Nigeria so that more important industries like agriculture can grow?
If we continue like that, we will end up as a frustrated nation. The government should only ban criminal activity.

Thousands of People enjoy imported Chicken but It was banned. There are lots of frivolous imported things that some Nigerians enjoy to the detriment of our economy. It is in the long term interest of Nigeria and Nigeria Football in general that the excessive obsession of Nigerian Youths to English football should be curbed A.S.A.P unless you are "short-sighted".

HiTV is fighting DSTV over English Football rights in Nigeria.

I think it is high time NFL propose the banning of English Football in Nigeria so that our League can grow and get enough fans to support our football clubs.

An Arsenal Fan was stabbed last month after a disagreement with a rival fan during the Arsenal vs Bolton Match.

If some Agricultural Goods were banned to protect Nigerian Farmers, the a ban on English football for 2-3 years will do wonders to our League and the players will get more recognition.

Yoruba is claimed by some historians to be an Hausa word describing the Oyo people i.e a corrupted form of Oyo Eru Oba to describe the relationship between the people and the King.

Yoruba were a Migrating people and the question to ask next will be - Who are the Aborigines of the Yorubas .
It may possibly be the Igbos and Mitochodrial DNA research may actually be able to tell us that we are all related and then put a stop to ethnic bickerings.

The Masquerade that Moremi found the secret of is actually an Igbo Masquerade.