₦airaland Forum

I once learnt from a highly respected friend that smart people show their smartness by the way they treat the less endowed ones. With all these names calling in NL, i wonder who is better than who. Is there no better way to talk to people than words like 'slowpoke' and the likes? Otherwise, NL will become less intellectually engaging.

Why not address the message and leave the messenger alone. You can even correct a man without making it obvious to him. I vote for more maturity.

I LOVE THIS!!

THIS GUYS REALLY BOUGHT INTO THE INTELLECTUAL MILITANCY IDEA PROPOUNDED BY PROF SOYINKA.

NOW, IT IS THE TURN OF NIGERIA TO NURTURE HER BEST MINDS AND GROW THEM INTO THE BEST OF WHAT THEY WANT TO BE.

GO, NIGER DELTA, GO!!!

@Nwakuchce
The problem with our Nation is that we will at every critical stage choose to reduce strategic decisions and our entire thought processes to ethnicity and what a group calls 'narrow throw-backism'. If Soludo has started something good, must he be the same person that will complete it?

You are right about this, i must admit. My point is that you dont have to trivialise and demonise a man's achievements to bring in somebody else to replace him, lest, you will be derailing the very 'something good' that you referred to. Soludo did not achieve these things because he is from an ethnic group, i think he did because he has the right stuff. I also owe commensurate respect for El-Rufai and Ribadu no matter what you may think about them. They have one thing in common- they are all agents of change. It is about a right quality of person doing a right quality of job.

You talk about consolidation, which bank is truely consolidated in Nigeria? Can any of the so-called consolidated Nigerian banks lend to the hard-working man on the street - however micro the lending can be? We must stop this our parochial mentality in thinking.

It is good that you are talking about parochial mentality, if not for that, you should not be talking this way. Are you aware that the banking sector has only undergone the 1st phase of the consolidation? Soludo predicted that there will be fewer banks at the end of the day but the parochialism in the mindset of our leaders shot down the dream. From the way you sound, i believe that you know too well that Nigerian banks are on the right path to what you just described above. If first phase can create such activity in the sector and this much improvement in the standing of Nigerian banks, then i am sure that you can guess how much better off we will be if the policy is followed through.

How much did Soludo & OBJ spend to change the lower Nigeria Naira denominations? And what did they tell us when they started out? To make those notes resistant to rough handling! Now take a look at the notes today and tell us marooned Nigerians that they achieved that end which they used to deceive us fools!

Now, you are sounding somehow desperate to pin something on the guy. So his crime now is quality of the naira notes? There may be some issue with the policy but i am sick and tired of these arm-chair economists that insist seeing the cup as one-quater empty against the more rational idea of three-quater full. I say i admit that i dont like the quality of some of the newer notes, but you will believe with me that some of the notes are better. Soludo has not declare 'mission accomplished' on the naira denomination issue. He only declared the party open before people with far less idea on what should be done stepped in.

Do you know how banks get listed in those Western bank ranking you are touting as the reason why it is that Soludo is doing a good job that his tenure must be extended? We have the Nigerian Government place our oil money earnings in the vaults of these banks and we say they are doing well! Give us a break!!!!!!!!


I will really appreciate if you tell us how banks get listed, since you seem to know better. Your Nigerian government keeping your oil money in the banks? So the banks are now banking for the federal government or what? Were they forced by Soludo to do that too? I thought CBN is meant to keep FG money and not commercial banks? I need clarification on this.

I am not suggesting that we have arrived, i am only suggesting that we are on the right path and Soludo did his best to get us work!

NOW, THEY WILL ACCUSE SOLUDO OF BRIBING THE OPERATORS OF FORBES WITH THE MONEY HE STOLE FROM ADB (NEVER SUBSTANTIATED) TO GET THOSE BANKS ON THE LIST SO AS TO SECURE TENURE ENLONGATION. DO PEOPLE REALLY REASON AT ALL? IS THIS REALLY JUST ABOUT SOLUDO BEING AN IGBO MAN OR ABOUT A NIGERIAN WITH FULL NIGERIAN ACADEMIC BREEDING ACHIEVING WHAT MAY MEASURE UP WITH THE BEST ELSE WHERE IN THE WORLD. THIS SHOULD BE THE RE-BRANDING WE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT, THAT SOMETHINGS IN NIGERIA STILL WORKS, THAT SMART, CONFIDENT, INTELLIGENT, DRIVEN PEOPLE STILL EXIST, AND THAT MAKES ME THINK EACH TIME THAT INSPITE OF THE CLEAR INACTIVITY ON THE MOMENT AT GOVERNMENT CIRCLE (I DONT CARE WHETHER THE slowpoke IS FROM NORTH OR SOUTH), THERE ARE STILL SOME GUYS OUT THERE THAT HAS SOME CLEAR HEADED ANSWERS TO ATLEAST SOME OF OUR PROBLEMS AS A NATION.

SOLUDO SAID CATEGORICALLY THAT NIGERIAN BANKS ARE STABLE ENOUGH TO WITHSTAND THE STORMS OF GLOBAL CRISIS AND EVERYDAY, EVEN ON NL, PEOPLE KEEP SAYING WHAT I DONT UNDERSTAND. NOW, I GUESS WE CAN SEE WHAT HE MEANT. NIGERIAN BANKS ARE EMERGING STRONGER, EVEN DISPLACING OTHER ESTABLISHED BANKS IN THE LIST. IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF SPINELESS SERPENT LEADER-YARA'DULL- PROVIDE THE NEEDED POLITICAL WILL TO TAKE ON THE SECOND STAGE OF CONSOLIDATION. NIGERIANS MIGHT AS WELL BE ON THE PATH TO ECONOMIC DOMINANCE IN AFRICA.

TALKING ABOUT NATIONAL REBIRTH, IT IS ONLY WHEN WE COLLECTIVELY EXTOL THE VIRTUE OF HARDWORK AND FOCUS AND DISCIPLINE ABOVE PAROCHIAL CONSIDERATIONS WITHOUT RESORT TO ETHNIC OR RELIGIOUS EQUATION SHALL WE BE READY TO MOVE AS A NATION. OTHERWISE, WE SHALL CONTINUE SENDING OUR YOUTH A WRONG SIGNAL- THAT HARDWORK DOES NOT PAY AFTERALL. THOSE SAME YOUTH WILL AMBUSH US ALL BOTH VIA THE INTERNET FOR FRAUD OR WITH GUNS ON OUR WAY BACK FROM THE 'BEAUTIFUL COUNTRIES'. THOSE GUYS DO NOT CARE WHERE YOU COME FROM, OR WHO YOU ARE. THEIR BOND AND VISION TRASCENDS ALL THESE RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC LINES. QUICK MONEY HAS BECOME THEIR GOD AND WE NURTURED THOSE IDEAS.

MIND YOU, THIS IS ONLY AN EFFECT OF A POLICY IMPLEMENTED IN OBJ'S TIME, SINCE ALL MILESTONE POLICIES HAS BEEN SHOT DOWN BY DEARLY BELOVED YARADULL SINCE HE STEPPED IN.

NO!!! but i want to

Our EFCC under Ribadu was ruthless to a ruthless trend and we even here on NL, Creativity ably led a campaign against him. How then won't you expect Ibori's name to go missing.

Ibori is the major financier of Yar'dull's election, he has the slot of many major political office holders in YRD govt including the AGF. Now, for those bent on calling YRD an inherently good man, how do you reconcile this situation. YRD was in Nigeria during Ribadu's era. He knows Ibori's credentials, so why is he allowing a corrupt guy like that so much hand in his govt. The guy is a serpent! Taking us on a smooth sruise to stone age.

All these attempts to rewrite history.

Accuse OBJ of greed and any other thing and i may agree but i am sure that even a sophomore psychology student will tell you that the man is not a coward.

OBJ, an overbearing personality, an alpha male character, a predominant choleric  temperament,  he is more like Ceaser. Ambitious, greedy, strong craving for perfect control of situations, native and ready intelligence to deal with situation as they arise with whatever quantity of information available,  that is OBJ's personality and that personality, my friend has no room for cowardice!!!

To me, apart from the greed and ambition component which i greatly detest, that guy would have been the greatest leader the country has had. He just couldn't tame some beasts within.

But why must Prof Watson base his judgment on black man's IQ solely on his contact with Becomerich. That is very unfair, Prof!!

@Affalatus

I just want to know, how much were you paid and how much was budgeted for this 'project'. Was the VI meeting as reported the only meeting? Look, Soludo stole your idea from where? Okonjo Iweala also stole your idea? And the whole OBJ economic team too? If i have a smart idea and i want it to fly, i first discuss it with my boss and he often insist that i present it in a meeting. You know what i do? I present it as a suggestion he made to me on an informal level during the meeting.

With the number of people claiming consolidation as their idea, i wonder whose idea it really is. Lets stop this nonsense and celebrate a true Nigeria product- B.SC, M.Sc and PhD all in UNN claiming the best graduating student in all. Yet a professor to many western University and research consultant to many world economic bodies. He got there too with some body's idea? Lets stop fooling ourselves, some people want the financial sector to be like what it was in IBB days and those are the guys crying kill Soludo.

Unlike many of the guys 'whose ideas he stole', that guy will earn double that digit if he leaves CBN today and still want to work in a formal sector. He's got the brain, the focus, the tenacity and the boldness to tackle difficult task, including convincing the overbearing OBJ on certain financial sector reforms.

Lets leave that guy alone!!

This Yar'dua man is just incompetent. Just divorce his sickness from this issue since he is not the only leader that had been sick. US has had a president in wheelchair, even the former pope (John Paul II) battled Parkinson for years while providing leadership. Yar'dua mind is simply retarded. Period.

But wait a minute, was this not the guy whose father  once classified fanta, coca-cola and 7up among the mineral resources in the North in response to the claim by other regions in Nigeria that the North is being sustained by the mineral resources from down south? My late uncle always tell this story whenever he is in a lighter mood.

Just being curious.

Yes, the corruption machinery still works, i swear!!

It is so unfortunate that i am( i don't know where you are) in a country like this.

I look at it this way, Mr 'Serpent Leader' saw an action oriented, disciplined woman who remains a symbol to what African women can achieve if given the chance and guess what he did, he asked her to be the mouth piece of an incompetent government. Hey guys, it runs in her blood- getting something done. With the kind of portfolio she has and her person, she want to make an impact and she thought about re-branding Nigeria, if not for anything, to get Nigeria talking about her image. I think that Mrs Dora is too smart to think that she can rebrand Nigeria. I just think that she want to get us to look inwards and talk about ourselves, maybe it will help.

This Umoru guy is incompetent, period. Forget his health, we know that Roosevelt was physically challenged, yet he led US through recession.

On the way forward, i think in the words of Obama, change technically cannot come from Abuja, change can only go to Abuja. Unfortunately, there is presently no grass root structure on ground for any 'outsider' to bring that change to the way Abuja works. I am still hoping, but i have no illusions.

At the last count, gladiators, who have indicated interest include: Dr Andy Uba, Prof Charles Soludo (yet to declare),

That VI meeting is really paying off. Even a fool can see the contradiction employed above just to bring Soludo into the picture to make him up as an over-ambitious guy. I read that guy's interview where he said that his heart belongs to the academia!

Whether we believe it or not, OBJ did a pretty good job as Nigeria's president, that does not suggest that he is perfect.

Some people are just bent on building their political capital on running down other people. OBJ made some strong statements about Nigeria. This is just the beginning, we will discover more. Yar'dull have nothing to offer other that inaction. OBJ is not a saint but but on a scale, he is about the best president we'd had in my lifetime. I may not have loved him much about the time he was in office and when he was leaving but he is definitely a model of statecraft compared to what we have now!

@RichyBlacK

To your questions, i think that you should know that the law establishing the code of conduct bureau empowers you( as a citizen) to walk into their office as ask these questions that you are asking me. As a bonafide Nigerian, you can make that request and post your findings here, i am not Soludo's lawyer but i have followed this development from the time of the controversial consolidation issue. I know some University Profs that say that he was living in a fools paradise to dare dream of Nigeria as Africa's financial hub. If you want to convince us all that Soludo is evil, you have to prove it,  it is a common idea in law that he who asserts bears that burden of proof, and going by the way you sound( quite enlightened) i know that you are aware that the onus of that proof lies on your shoulder. And for your information, Soludo is not ' a professor in the US, he a visiting professor in many universities as has been mentioned in my post, a consultant to world class financial bodies, a researcher, and an author. That guy does not need to steal to buy a house or send his children(only 2) to the best schools if that is what he wants to do.

@doyin13

Lets know the shady deals and refer to the CBN act to justify what the central bank would have done that it did not do to institute financial discipline in the polity. CBN does not the control the EFCC, ICPC or the Nigeria Police that have the responsibility of prosecuting economic and financial criminals. Your AGF(Aandoaka) does. It is under Soludo's CBN that i even know that CBN job goes beyond printing money. And hey, the stock market, i learnt a stock brocker friend is driven by speculations, which is not based only on logic but substantially on the emotions of FEAR and GREED. The moment the fear set in, greed took the back seat and the guy did his bit to shore up investors confidence ( addressing those fears) to extent of making the controversial statement of the isolation of the Nigerian market. We know the cause: capital flight to Europe and Americas to address their own problem back home and it got the local stock price plummeting and only a foolish CBN governor will come out and say it as it is knowing that people like me would have sold off all my stock the very day i hear it. And besides, as of the time the comment was made, the guy was te only credible voice in the horizon, i am sure you believed him more than you would have believed your own president and that was why he was the messanger!

This to my mind is a grand plan being executed by some hawks who will stop at nothing to make sure that Soludo does not get a reappointment. I remember clearly that the FG set up a panel which only came up with a report that about ADB, a project in the CBN plan of action i think is aimed at strenghtening the country's financial system to be for Africa what the US financial system is to the world. This is a brain child of OBJ economic team which i guess we all believe is one of the best this country ever had. The same sahara reporter went on to draw spurious conclusions which from them is from a reliable source and i quote:

'[b][b]Even though the full content of the committee report was not yet made public, Saharareporters gathered from sources at the presidency that the committee recommended that the CBN Governor, Charles Soludo, face further probe and possible prosecution for certain indiscretions that was interpreted as self-enrichment by the committee. The source told us the report had earlier been turned in last week Monday while Yar'adua was visiting the United Kingdom.

It was not clear if the committee made any recommendations regarding three major banks -Oceanic, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Zenith bank- who were said to be implicated by a key document provided by Soludo to members of the committee after he initially resisted providing documentary evidence to the panel.

The submission of the committee report may not sound an immediate death knell for Soludo, if earlier indications that he finally succeeded in getting a hefty bribe of $4 million to Turai Yar'adua the wife of the president, prove to be true.[/b][/b]'
Source:http://www.nigerianmuse.com/20080723044948zg/nigeriawatch/soludo_probe_panel_submits_report_recovers_18_million

Enough of all this sensationalism. Enough of all this character assassination. Some guys are not happy with this guy. If Soludo is as bad as we may want him to really be, i can assure you that we will be hearing from the government source. After all he is not best of pals with Usman, the present National Planning Minister ( that gave us three budgets for 2009). The guy has appeared before the senate committee several times and they have not really pinned anything on him, including those that saw the consolidation as anti North. The guy knows his economics, and his policies are so far successful, save for the ranting from our 'numerous' arm chair economics. The policies we kill(like the second phase of consolidation and even naira re domination) policy in the name of know it all i guess we will one day desire again.

And i have read that this guy has said that his soul really belong to the academia and on this i think few of us will have no reason to argue.

Enough said!

Guys, take a look at this. The source is still the same sahara reporters.
Re: Chuwkuma Soludo is living large-234NEXT.com
Sunday, 15 March 2009 19:15 Abami
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What is wrong with the media? Writing nonsense about the only CBN governor, we have ever had in this our "non-nation" called Nigeria. Prof. Chukwuma Soludo - best graduating student in his first degree, master and PhD all from the only University of Nigeria – must believe in good education. Is it not possible that the man has been working towards giving his children good education?

Dr Soludo has been visiting scholar[2] at the International Monetary Fund, the University of Cambridge, the Brookings Institution, the University of Warwick and the University of Oxford and a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (USA). He has also worked as a consultant for a number of international organizations, including The World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the United Nations Development Programme.
Soludo is a core professional in the business of macroeconomics. He obtained his three degrees and then professorship at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Enugu State. He graduated with a First Class Honors degree in 1984, an M.Sc. Economics in 1987, and a Ph.D. in 1989, winning prizes for the best student at all three levels.[1][6][7]

He has been trained and involved in research, teaching and auditing in such disciplines as the multi-country macro econometric modeling, techniques of computable general equilibrium modeling, survey methodology and panel data econometrics, among others. Soludo studied and taught these courses at many Universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and Warwick. He has co-authored, co-edited and authored about ten books on this subject matter.[7]

In 1998 Soludo was appointed to the position of professor of economics at the University of Nigeria; the next year he became a visiting professor at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, US.[1]

Soludo joined the federal government in 2003. Prior to his May 2004 appointment to the bank chairmanship[8], he held the positions of Chief Economic Adviser to former President Obasanjo and Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission.[1].



Sahara reporters – investigative journalism right? Are all public office holders in Nigeria thieves? Are you sure that Chukwuma’s total earnings including all possible allowance in a year is 12 million? I seriously doubt that. That said, E be like say the man get money before him become CBN governor. For Nsukka that time the man no dee drive small car. Same goes for his suits and watches.



Visiting scholar / visiting professor? What is that? Does one get paid for that? If yes, please tell your readers how much Chukwuma was paid as a visiting scholar / visiting professor at the IMF, Cambridge, Brookings, Warwick, Oxford and Swarthmore.



Consultants nko? Are they paid? How much did he earn consulting for The World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the United Nations Development Programme? In your investigation, I am sure you will find other organizations he has consulted for, how much did he earn?



To read dee tire me these days. Nevertheless, E be like say the man get some books. Are they free? If no, how much does he earn as royalties? Even if them dee pirate his books for 9ja, the ones wee them dee sell for where u na dee na original.



Chief Economic Adviser to former President Obasanjo and Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission. No be small thing oo. Even if you forget the salary, the allowance big for that kind positions. The allowance dee legal.



As they say, common sense is not common – if I may add especially with the media. Are you familiar with this – Ex-president George Bush is the cause of the economic crisis in the US.

While he may be liable for some things as regards the economic crisis, the foundation for this crisis started in the time of Bill Clinton. (Hope I will survive the blasts I will get for this statement :-))) However, before you strike, pls do your research, cos I will defend myself.



Basic knowledge of macro/microeconomics will enable us understand that the blame and blackmail targeted at Chukwuma is unfair. What is that self! What did he do?



He lied! He lied to us!!! He said that nothing is happening that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.



So what? What is that nonsense? Did he say it was perfect? Was that not before the crash of oil price? Did he crash oil price? The Oyibo people (Goldman Sachs??) even released a report stating in very clear terms that Nigeria is the safest economy in the world!!!

If he had said - Oh, my fellow Nigerians, all is not well, our economy is crashing? What would have been the outcome? Pls educate me.



Naira is falling!!!

Sometime in the past, that man was advising that we build up our reserves for a time like this. Share that money, we do not have infrastructure and you are building up reserves, he was told. Those in front were shouting Share it in dollars!!! Those at the back were shouting Share it in Naira!!! Share, share share the money. THIS IS THE PDP!!! SHARE THE F…. MONEY!!!

And today we hear and read, that man’s legacy is finished. In fact, sack him immediately and crucify him. What is he doing? Our reserves are down!!! Hey, this same you? 9ja, I salute.



Citizen journalists at our dear Sahara reporters, that man kicked against so many government policies. His cries fell on deaf ears. Please examine that before you crucify him ok? Is there anything like balanced/objective journalism? If no, you can pioneer that. He talked about phase two of consolidation. Shut up he was told. Our dear northern brothers/sisters cried. They went on to say that phase one of the consolidation did not favour the north. Deconsolidation, right? Was that not what some were clamoring for?



From obscurity to world stage. Plucked from obscurity.

Kai! U na sabi insult person. I remember a discussion I had with a friend in the 1990’s. “if you go overseas, the lectures will tell you that Soludo said this …, or that according to Soludo, …….” He continued but if you go to Nsukka, Soludo will be the one telling you what he said. That was actually the first time I heard of Chukwuma Soludo. Pls my friend is well read, vast, travelled and cannot be considered “obscure” by any standard. He is known in the academic as well as business circle here and there.

Chukwuma became an international figure/scholar/consultant/lecturer (add more and all join) years before Sahara reporters was born. It is just that you were not versatile enough to know professionals produced and recognized internationally by the first indigenous and the only University of Nigeria.



Convoys of as many as seven vehicles. What is that? Any day he comes to my area, I will add mine and possibly my wife. So please make it eight or nine. Before I take a break, let me make it clear – I am in no way saying that Chukwuma is a saint or that he has never stolen or abused public office. But please ……, what is all this! He did a good job and is still doing a good job. I am not perfect and so are you.

http://saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1306:re-chuwkuma-soludo-is-living-large-234nextcom&catid=81:external-contrib&Itemid=300

I personally think that this national assembly headed by Mark and Bankole cannot compare with those of the OBJ years. To me, the present national assembly does not have moral sensitivity at all. The leadership of both houses is taking Nigerians hostage. From Iwu's endorsement, to car scandal, to series of probes that 'honorable members' use to make extra money but without any outcome, to making more obvious the inefficiencies of the president, and on and on, 

What do you think?

I understand that INEC chairman office just like the PHCN MD office is also an executive appointment. Yar'dua is very insincere, he sent Ribadu to Kuru, redeployed Akunyili, sacked MD PHCN and even NNPC, yet Iwu's is a 'stritly constitutional matter'.

It is no more PDP affair now, it is election riggers affair.

I think that OBJ is good enough in knowing exactly what to do with power(Whether good or bad0 unlike what we have now. Under OBJ, we had a president that is self confident, strong, opinionated on any major issue, whose government reflects his personal character and trait. He was everywhere, strategic (especially when he came in e.g. restoring Nigeria's stand in the comity of nations, etc). To be fair, he was overbearing and did not know when to leave. Apart form these, he was a present president and that was what i admire most about him,  and that is exactly what we are missing in Abuja today.

Remember that he also rallied the country around party lines(don't ask me under what ideology) and not along ethnic or religious line. His mind is broad and strong enough to contain highly cerebral team in the cabinet unlike what we have now. I wish him happier years ahead.

This is the part i called the Obama creed, Audacity of Hope, page 10, second paragraph, i am starting from line 5 of my copy:

"I am angry about policies that consistently favor the wealthy and powerful over average Americans, and insist that government has ans important role in opening up opportunities to all. I believe in evolution, scientific inquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct or politically incorrect, and i am suspicious of using government to impose anybody's religious beliefs- including my own- on nonbelievers. Furthermore, i am a prisoner of my own biography: I can't help but view the American experience through the lens of a black man of mixed heritage, forever mindful of how generations of people who looked like me were subjugated and stigmatized, and the subtle and not so subtle ways that race class continue to shape our lives, I believe in the free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think no small number of government programs don't work as advertised. I wish the country has fewer lawyers and more engineers. , "

I hope to pick up the Dreams From My Fathers soon. That guy can write!

Look, The Audacity of Hope is one masterpiece that is filled with sincerity of political thought, humble x-ray of his belief, development of his creed, insight into his value system, and lots more. Man! that guy is smart, a compelling writer. I am reading it again now. Just an insight, in page 9 of the prologue, paragraph 2, he stated his reason for writing:

"Instead what i offer is something more modest: personal reflection on those values and ideals that have led me to public life, some thoughts on the way that our current political discourse unnecessarily divides us, and my own best assessment - based on my experience as a senator and a lawyer, husband and father, Christian and skeptic- of ways we can ground our politics in the notion of a common good"

That guy can write!

NANS? Which NANS Pure political thug contractors! Victims of a broken society. I know that many Nigerian Students disagree with NANS on almost all issues. Who then are they representing? Like PDP like 'students'. Some have even spent 8years doing 4year program. Sighs***

@poster

It will be wiser to stop such emotional massage. I am not the guy's fan but i do not wish him death, even if i do how does it factor in the guy's lifespan. IBB is still alive, OBJ is still alive, Iwu is still alive, Tafa Balogun is still alive, name them. I just want the guy to somehow go back to Katsina from Obudu ranch, just go home take some rest and leave leadership to those who are more competent that he is. Period!!

I am struggling to take my eyes off the incompetence of the man at the center and focus on the constitutional issue at hand. The constitution specifies in section 145 thus:

"Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President."

I am not a lawyer, but to my mind, this section struggles to stop any possible instance of usurpation by the vice president, the job of the president. The emphasis here is on voluntary declaration and i sympathize with the constitution to that extent. The main issues here are 'declaration' (which i think was done by the presidency) and to 'them' which the constitution states must be to the senate/Speaker, House of Reps. Te presidency instead 'declared' to the press. The manner of the declaration shall be written and it is after then that the president shall be taken to be on vacation, otherwise the senate is right to say that he 'absconded'.

It is high time we started asking questions of this loud-mouthed AGF and other concerned law officers of this 'federation' what they are doing. The president may not really be wrong as a person here, but is legal team are(this is to my mind) and not only do Nigerias deserve to demand accountability to them, but also demand the right thing to fromt he president- which i think is a summary sack of the legal team, i mean all!!!

I may be wrong though, the lawyers may have a contrary opinion on this.

i thought it is criticism

This analysis is quite reasonable, i was beginning to wonder whether i am not seeing things clearly.

I think that one of Yar'dua's really big mistake will be to leave behind a country with even a sharper divide along ethnic/religious/ideological lines. You can see the perception of some on his stand on the Jos issue. Look at the concentration of his power base, to me these are very stupid mistakes, they will flare ethnic and religious sentiments. They are already building up.

OBJ was smart enough to concentrate his power base, not in Yoruba nor Afenifere but in the PDP, elevating the party to the strongest force in the land. That provided a base for generality, he had alliances with individual from various parts of the country and you cannot accuse him of favoring even the Yorubas in appointment. This guy(Yar'dua) doesn't even understand the hole he is digging for himself. I guess the system will heat up gradually and by 2011, ethnicity will become of greater interest to voters(assuming their vote will count). The suffocating frustration he is creating is already paying off with the reported Atiku/Ken Nnamani/Tinubu alliance. This is just 2009. More will come, even from the progressive northerners who see future in healing instead of exacerbating ethnic and religious divides.

I dont like some of OBJ's policy but i love his statecraft and native wisdom, his courage and ability to get things done(Odi bombing and stemming the incessant plane crashes included)

Remember what Vincent Ogbulafor said after the 'interesting' ruling last December, "at least, we can now begin to work together as a party". I guess he meant more.

We all know this Iwu guy. He stands for falsehood. He is the root of the present comatose leadership we have in place.

Nnamani killed third term project from the senate house, he had strong alliances with the integrity group and as well a sitting senate president when the whole system was hot. He took sides with the masses and the law. We know the difference between the two persons. Sen Ken was almost estranged in the PDP that OBJ intelligently enough elevated to the strongest caucus in the land.

To me Nnamani knew that ING was wrong in the eye of the law. If Iwu had said that election was lobbied to be delayed so that OBJ and Atiku would go and Sen Ken taking place, that would have been more reasonable.

Sometimes, i wonder which school awarded Iwu this stupid professorship,

Guys,

Whether sacked or relocated or redeployed or whatever language may reflect whats going on there, i just hope the guy delivers. This i don't think is about 'bros-bros' kinda stuff. The guys has quite a resume reflecting sojourn in different positions, but i wonder whether he established a track record in those positions that makes him mature for the job at hand in the present dire economic situation and the strategic nature of the Agency he is to head.

Just wondering sha, about 23 yrs in NNPC, thesame corrupt, inefficient NNPC. I personally think that the salvation of that agency cannot come from an eroded within.

OK. I get it!

We are saying that OBJ is wrong, he  would have been right if he had said that 2009 will be a SMOOTH year, free from difficulties?? No wonder prosperity pastors are making it in Nigeria, nobody wants to hear the truth, or are we arguing on whether OBJ is even qualified to make such a statement?? To me, OBJ look like a star when compared to the present leadership(nay 'lookership') and he is not only right this time around, but very much qualified to make such statement, no matter how unpalatable it might sound.

Don't forget that Obama told Americans the same thing.