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Autos / Re: SOLD!Tokunbo 2006 Highlander Price N2.450m @ Banix Autos 07044024051,017383301 by freezy(m): 4:42pm On Apr 13, 2011
Please sir, can I have the VIN? freezeyo@yahoo.com

Thank you!
Politics / Re: How GEJ Will Win On Saturday Foretold by freezy(m): 12:28pm On Apr 13, 2011
Jarus, why you sef dey use jalopy ride na?  grin

Sebi dem don repair Lekki-Ajah road. . . cheesy
Politics / Re: Ribadu Stands Down by freezy(m): 12:00pm On Apr 13, 2011
^^^^

Nigerians and lofty writings. . .
'Vote with his tongue' grin
Dude prolly does not even have a voter's card tongue
Politics / Re: Corrupt People Are Afraid Of Me – Buhari by freezy(m): 9:33am On Apr 07, 2011
Omo_Tier1:

Gbam exactly what I had in mind! People wonder why there is no electricity despite the claim by this babaric PDP led government that she has spent well over $16bn on power? Answer = Corruption and Embazzlement.

undecided
Politics / Re: My Experience In A Lagos Bus!lagosians Dont Know Bb! by freezy(m): 8:45am On Apr 07, 2011
Ileke-IdI:

So this is the Pro-Ribadu campaign strategy? Upon the millions of heads in Buhari's rally, you still want to claim that Buhari is unknown?

This campaign strategy is def below my expectation from you guys. Give it another try jor.

Fayemi should have ran for president. I'm highly disappointed in this year's figure heads

I'll suggest you rephrase that. . .
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: Ucl: Chelsea Vs Manchester United [0 - 1]On 6th April 2011 by freezy(m): 8:47am On Apr 06, 2011
Dear God, Thank you for the opportunity to avenge Atkinson's decisions. . .  cheesy
Politics / Re: Cote D'ivoire Crisis: Returnees Flood Osun Communities by freezy(m): 3:58pm On Apr 01, 2011
It is. Hardly is there any family in Ejigbo, Osun state and it's environs that do not have kinsmen in IVC. They've been travelling/relocating to IVC as far back as the early twenties.

They even have a loading park to IVC on specific days. . . (i doubt the park'll be doing much of taking out now. T'will be doing more of bringing in)
Politics / Re: Abacha Never Stole, Say Buhari by freezy(m): 3:11pm On Apr 01, 2011
BB fans really are sumn else.
Politics / Re: 'Buhari Stole Our Idea', Says Bluelabs Limited by freezy(m): 1:50pm On Apr 01, 2011
sunayo:

Written by Ebenezer Adeniji Friday, 01 April 2011

[Muhammedu Buhari]

Muhammedu Buhari
Statesmanship is defined by an impartial concern for the public good. It also has a lot to do with the content of such a leader’s personal values. Globally, religious zealotry and ethnic jingoism clearly do not fit well as edifying values. This is why some watchers find Nigeria, and the Nigerian political space, somewhat strange. The value system of some of our national figures could be so overly diseased, and parochial; and rather than odium, it earns them praise and worship. For all that the late General Sani Abacha was and represented, it was bizarre that a section of this country lionised him. The production and selling of Abacha’s images in this part of the country is still strangely a brisk business, leaving one to conclude very strongly that, indeed, the major divide in this country is not situated in geography, but in thinking processes and value systems.

The issue here is General Muhammadu Buhari, who has been angling to rule Nigeria in the past eight years. Buhari has been riding on the wings of just one point - purity from official corruption. Buhari has misled the man in the street, to believe that a clean slate on corruption is just all it takes to be a competent leader and a man of ideas.

Without undermining the critical place of integrity in governance, Buhari’s score-card as military Head of State, between 1983 and 1985, firmly leaves one with no doubt that personal integrity, and competence, can be as far apart as the North and South poles. Buhari, as Head of State, amply showed that an indolent office secretary, who can be trusted with everything in the office, including office pins, has no more value than the efficient one with itchy fingers. PresidentJonathan has been around, only for nine months. Buhari ruled this country for close to two years. It will profit the system, if Nigerians, and the voters, should challenge Buhari on his achievements in government as Head of State.

It is on record that from 1979 to 1999, no single investment was made in the power sector. This period included Buhari’s time in office. What steps did Buhari take on the country’s social and physical infrastructure? Buhari talks about the Midas touch, he will bring to bear on governance from May 29, yet does not feel any moral pinch, for his tactical side-stepping of his 1983 to 1985 score-card on campaign grounds.

In productive climes, Buhari would never wish to breathe a word on the political scene, but this is Nigeria, a country of anything goes. Buhari’s relevance in today’s political equation rests squarely with Islamic activism. Buhari was the mastermind and cheer-leader of the blood-stained Sharia law campaign in the Northern region. It was murderous campaign, given the massive destruction of the lives and properties of southerners in the North in the wake of Sharia implementation in the states of the region. In the lead-up to the 2003 general election, in which he contested for the presidency, Buhari sent out a call that Muslims in the country should be guided by religion in their voting pattern. As the dangerous religious campaigns against President Jonathan flourished in mosques in the North, in radio stations in the region and by text messages, Nigerians, including Sule Lamido, governor of Jigawa State, a neighbouring state to Buhari’s Katsina, traced the ill-wind to Buhari.

For Buhari’s supporters, it is just enough that Buhari is not corrupt, and more compelling to those of them that support him among the northern Muslim population is that he is a northerner, a champion of Islam, who wants to take power back from a southerner, and an “infidel” Christain. These ethnic and religious contents are entirely the drivers of every single support Buhari gets in the North. But for the larger health and well-being of all Nigerians, these must be seen and treated as the active ingredients of religious radicalism, terrorism and national security risk.

Even in his campaigns in the North, Buhari’s attitude and style have been ominous. His northern political rallies come across more as religious revivals than political campaigns. Aware that he is a symbol of Islamic activism among his people, Buhari addresses his northern supporters, only in Hausa language, and would often not even bother to address the developmental challenges of the people. Buhari can do these among the northern youth population that converge for his rallies and get away because, he well understands that their presence was entirely motivated by religion, Islamic struggle and not governance issues.

If religiousness is all it takes to drive a country on the path of productiveness, development and service delivery, then let the supporter of APC take over in Darfur, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and Al Shabab in Somalia. Let Sharia take over in all Muslim countries, and Canon Law in those of the Christains. May Al Queada over take us all! But competence is the issue, and Buhari failed woefully, pathetically on this score between 1983 and 1985.

Buhari despises the elite of his people, remaining ominously aloof, rigid and forebodingly one track-minded. These are all red flags! Nigerians should be circumspect. This man may not be corrupt, but there are certain alarms about him. Buhari clearly transmits red signals in the polity. It is clear that apart from the states of the North-West and North-East, his Congress for Political Change (CPC) would hardly earn 25 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the remaining states of the federation.

By implication, two zones just cannot earn Buhari the presidency he is looking for, no matter their voting strength. As a fledging one-man party, his CPC also lacks a strong national presence, organisational and structural framework needed for strong political in-roads in all the states for a victory in a presidential election. It is also evident that the Buhari’s personality and character profile are assets to him only among the Hausa-Fulani of the North-West and partly North-East, and strictly for the Muslim population of the two zones, but a heavy personal baggage on him in the entire South, and the Christain-dominated North-Central, with a low population of the Hausa-Fulani stock. These scenarios promise yet another presidential election rout for Buhari. The huge worry is whether his CPC supporters, whom he has weaned on violence and religious bigotry, would allow peace reign after Buhari had gone down on April 9.

Nigerians have been fed excessively with the issue of Buhari as lily-white to the extent that many now throw up. But I wish I were a presidential candidate. With all these debates, I would have given anything to have a one-on-one with Buhari.[b] I would have loved to tell him to his face that the Lateef Jakande’s $60 million metro rail project for Lagos, which he cancelled immediately after he over-threw the Second Republic, has now accumulated a debt profile of over $3 billion for Lagos State, making the state the most indebted state to Paris Club in the federation. I would remind Buhari that Gbolahan Mudashiru, his Military Administrator for Lagos State, alerted him on the clause in the contract agreement that would yoke the state to this debt, if the contract was cancelled unilaterally, and that he replied Mudashiru, that he didn’t care a damn.

Though t[/b]he fund for the execution of that project which would have given the people of Lagos an intra-city light train transport system would not have come from Buhari’s Supreme Military Council, General Buhari, as Military Head of State, cancelled this wonderful project of the state government, with ethnicity on his mind.

Buhari’s action of jailing Dr Alex Ekwueme, then Nigeria’s vice president, from Anambra, and keeping President Shehu Shagari, from Sokoto State in a house arrest in Ikoyi was also ethnically fired. So also was the shorter end of the stick he handed the South, as chair of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), in the execution of projects.

Dr Adeniji is a UK-based
chartered accountant

Now, that's a new one. . . lipsrsealed
Nairaland / General / Re: Have You Been Fooled Today? by freezy(m): 1:34pm On Apr 01, 2011
I fooled someone. . .

Told a colleague that his tyre was flat grin

He walked 12 floors down to find out!
Politics / Re: Bb Heading For Another Defeat; 80% Of Literate Supporters Dont Know Party Logo by freezy(m): 1:28pm On Apr 01, 2011
This is some serious shizzle o.

I just did the survey in my office and in all, an average of one in five people know CPC's logo.

Popular logos were 'Umblerra' and the Broom!
Politics / Re: 'Buhari Stole Our Idea', Says Bluelabs Limited by freezy(m): 8:56am On Apr 01, 2011
I think everybody has a right to vote for his or her choice.
Name calling because 'A' has decided to vote for 'B' should be the least important.
Instead of BB supporters resorting to using negative language on PDP and pro-GEJ fans, I feel they should point out more of what the BB administration has to offer. We are sick and tired of the endless castigation going on.

And like they say in them Gladiator games "May the best team win"
Politics / Re: Python Swallows 6months Old Baby In Okada, Edo State by freezy(m): 1:04pm On Mar 31, 2011
Ileke-IdI:

I beg to differ, it doesnt take 30 mins. . . .Based on some other videos I've watched.
I've seen a video showing how a snake swallowed an alligator/ hippo in less than 30 mins. . . .so time might be a factor, but it does not rule out the authenticity of this video.

The question still remains, why was a 6mos old baby left outside, alone?

I also beg to differ ma'am.

I have seen the Boa Constrictor, which is much bigger than a python (Before its demise in the early 2000s), at the University of Ibadan zoo feed on a young goat.

The complete process took close to 45 mins. I'm sure a good number of the Zoology students would bear me witness on this. It takes quite a while for these guys to swallow prey that's bigger than their heads. A lot of the videos we see on NatGeoWild are abridged and they only allow us see where the 'action' is, not the full length process.
Autos / Re: Buying from COTONOU made easy by freezy(m): 5:40pm On Mar 30, 2011
Mr. Fhemmy

I'm interested in a 2006 Rav4. Please what will it cost to deliver to Abuja?

Thanks!
Autos / 2006 Rav4 (no Naija Used) Needed. by freezy(m): 12:05pm On Mar 30, 2011
Hi guys,

Kindly get in touch if there is anyone with a 2006 Rav4 for sale. No Naija used, please.

Please get in touch on freezeyo@yahoo.com or 08028299358.

Thanks.
Politics / Re: Another Massive Endorsement For Jonathan by freezy(m): 6:41pm On Mar 22, 2011
You people will not kill somebody on Nairaland o! cheesy grin
I've been (quoting Koboj) ROTFLMAO in ma office all evening! They think sumn's wrong with me already.

You guys rock. . . Can't wait for the after election comments! cheesy cool
Politics / Re: Buhari Sokoto Rally - In Pictures by freezy(m): 2:37pm On Mar 18, 2011
Funny, but did not see Bakare in any of 'em Sokoto pictures. . .

Just an observation
Politics / Re: Cpc Rally Held In Ibadan - 14-03-2011 by freezy(m): 3:45pm On Mar 14, 2011
Becomerich's a genius.

That map, is most definitely not a reflection of Godliness!
Politics / Re: Collection Of Honourable Patrick Obahiagbon Grammars by freezy(m): 9:29am On Mar 11, 2011
You forgot "Political Mehu-mehu, "! cheesy
Politics / Re: Breaking News: Tinubu, Ribadu, Adeola Escape Death In Bauchi. by freezy(m): 8:17am On Mar 10, 2011
^^^^
We don hear o, Mr Obahiagbon
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: UCL: Tottenham Hotspurs Vs Ac Milan [0 - 0] On March 09, 2011 by freezy(m): 10:47pm On Mar 09, 2011
@ DK.
Nothing do you o! Over alright dey worry you!! cheesy
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: UCL: Tottenham Hotspurs Vs Ac Milan [0 - 0] On March 09, 2011 by freezy(m): 10:40pm On Mar 09, 2011
DK, no musicians invited? Let's celebrate small na. At least an English team went through. Even na Karaoke if musicians no gree come.
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: Barcelona Vs Arsenal @ UCL: 3 - 1 (8th March 2011) by freezy(m): 7:12pm On Mar 08, 2011
Odinaka00:

yea, hello??, is that boiz 2 men on d fone??, Ya, uhmm, Can u guyz make it to nairaland in d nxt one hour??, Umh, ther iz a big party goin dwn dz 9t at nairaland and i wud lyk u guyz to come and perform along wif oda nigerian artistz such as 2face, m.i, banky w, d banj and many more, I wud lyk u guys to sing END OF THE ROAD juz for arsenal fanz k??, Right, so hw much am i suppose to pay you guys??, 10 million what, Your father,

^^^
Pally, you are sick o1 cheesy grin
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: Barcelona Vs Arsenal @ UCL: 3 - 1 (8th March 2011) by freezy(m): 5:34pm On Mar 08, 2011
Olalimits:

Y'all will be [font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font] suprised at what Arsenal's gonna get from the match!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah right!! They'll get the spanking of a lifetime. . . One not to be forgotten in a hurry
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: Barcelona Vs Arsenal @ UCL: 3 - 1 (8th March 2011) by freezy(m): 5:09pm On Mar 07, 2011
ideylaff:

BARCA 1 : 1 ARSENAL OR BARCA 1 : 3 ARSENAL

AMEN.

I DEY LAFF! grin
Politics / Re: What We Did Not Know About Buhari by freezy(m): 1:37pm On Feb 18, 2011
Johndoe100:

[size=14pt]The Crimes of Buhari[/size]

By Wole SOYINKA

This intervention has been provoked, not so much by the ambitions of General Buhari to return to power at the head of a democratic Nigeria, as by declarations of support from directions that leave one totally dumbfounded. It would appear that some, myself among them, had been overcomplacent about the magnitude of an ambition that seemed as preposterous as the late effort of General Ibrahim Babangida to aspire yet again to the honour of presiding over a society that truly seeks a democratic future. What one had dismissed was a rash of illusions, brought about by other political improbabilities that surround us, however, is being given an air of plausibility by individuals and groupings to which one had earlier attributed a sense of relevance of historic actualities. Recently, I published an article in the media, invoking the possible recourse to psychiatric explanation for some of the incongruities in conduct within national leadership. Now, to tell the truth, I have begun to seriously address the issue of which section of society requires the services of a psychiatrist. The contest for a seizure of rationality is now so polarized that I am quite reconciled to the fact it could be those of us on this side, not the opposing school of thought that ought to declare ourselves candidates for a lunatic asylum. So be it. While that decision hangs in the balance however, the forum is open. Let both sides continue to address our cases to the electorate, but also prepare to submit ourselves for psychiatric examination.



The time being so close to electoral decision, we can understand the haste of some to resort to shortcuts. In the process however, we should not commit the error of opening the political space to any alternative whose curative touch to national afflictions have proven more deadly than the disease. In order to reduce the clutter in our options towards the forthcoming elections, we urge a beginning from what we do know, what we have undergone, what millions can verify, what can be sustained by evidence accessible even to the school pupil, the street hawker or a just-come visitor from outer space. Leaving Buhari aside for now, I propose a commencing exercise that should guide us along the path of elimination as we examine the existing register of would-be president. That initial exercise can be summed up in the following speculation: “If it were possible for Olusegun Obasanjo, the actual incumbent, to stand again for election, would you vote for him?”

If the answer is “yes”, then of course all discussion is at an end. If the answer is ‘No’ however, then it follows that a choice of a successor made by Obasanjo should be assessed as hovering between extremely dangerous and an outright kiss of death. The degree of acceptability of such a candidate should also be inversely proportionate to the passion with which he or she is promoted by the would-be ‘godfather’. We do not lack for open evidence about Obasanjo’s passion in this respect. From Lagos to the USA, he has taken great pains to assure the nation and the world that the anointed NPN presidential flag bearer is guaranteed, in his judgment, to carry out his policies. Such an endorsement/anointment is more than sufficient, in my view, for public acceptance or rejection. Yar’Adua’s candidature amounts to a terminal kiss from a moribund regime. Nothing against the person of this – I am informed - personable governor, but let him understand that in addition to the direct source of his emergence, the PDP, on whose platform he stands, represents the most harrowing of this nation’s nightmares over and beyond even the horrors of the Abacha regime. If he wishes to be considered on his own merit, now is time for him, as well as others similarly enmeshed, to exercise the moral courage that goes with his repudiation of that party, a dissociation from its past, and a pledge to reverse its menacing future. We shall find him an alternative platform on which to stand, and then have him present his credentials along those of other candidates engaged in forging a credible opposition alliance. Until then, let us bury this particular proposition and move on to a far graver, looming danger, personified in the history of General Buhari.



The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the alternative choice are not only shaky, but pitifully naive. History matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future. Of course, we know that human beings change. What the claims of personality change or transformation impose on us is a rigorous inspection of the evidence, not wishful speculation or behind-the-scenes assurances. Public offence, crimes against a polity, must be answered in the public space, not in caucuses of bargaining. In Buhari, we have been offered no evidence of the sheerest prospect of change. On the contrary, all evident suggests that this is one individual who remains convinced that this is one ex-ruler that the nation cannot call to order.

Buhari – need one remind anyone - was one of the generals who treated a Commission of Enquiry, the Oputa Panel, with unconcealed disdain. Like Babangida and Abdusalami, he refused to put in appearance even though complaints that were tabled against him involved a career of gross abuses of power and blatant assault on the fundamental human rights of the Nigerian citizenry.

Prominent against these charges was an act that amounted to nothing less than judicial murder, the execution of a citizen under a retroactive decree. Does Decree 20 ring a bell? If not, then, perhaps the names of three youths - Lawal Ojuolape (30), Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26) do. To put it quite plainly, one of those three – Ogedengbe - was executed for a crime that did not carry a capital forfeit at the time it was committed. This was an unconscionable crime, carried out in defiance of the pleas and protests of nearly every sector of the Nigerian and international community – religious, civil rights, political, trade unions etc. Buhari and his sidekick and his partner-in-crime, Tunde Idiagbon persisted in this inhuman act for one reason and one reason only: to place Nigerians on notice that they were now under an iron, inflexible rule, under governance by fear.

The execution of that youthful innocent – for so he was, since the punishment did not exist at the time of commission - was nothing short of premeditated murder, for which the perpetrators should normally stand trial upon their loss of immunity. Are we truly expected to forget this violation of our entitlement to security as provided under existing laws? And even if our sensibilities have become blunted by succeeding seasons of cruelty and brutality, if power itself had so coarsened the sensibilities also of rulers and corrupted their judgment, what should one rightly expect after they have been rescued from the snare of power” At the very least, a revaluation, leading hopefully to remorse, and its expression to a wronged society. At the very least, such a revaluation should engender reticence, silence. In the case of Buhari, it was the opposite. Since leaving office he has declared in the most categorical terms that he had no regrets over this murder and would do so again.



Human life is inviolate. The right to life is the uniquely fundamental right on which all other rights are based. The crime that General Buhari committed against the entire nation went further however, inconceivable as it might first appear. That crime is one of the most profound negations of civic being. Not content with hammering down the freedom of expression in general terms, Buhari specifically forbade all public discussion of a return to civilian, democratic rule. Let us constantly applaud our media – those battle scarred professionals did not completely knuckle down. They resorted to cartoons and oblique, elliptical references to sustain the people’s campaign for a time-table to democratic rule. Overt agitation for a democratic time table however remained rigorously suppressed – military dictatorship, and a specifically incorporated in Buhari and Idiagbon was here to stay. To deprive a people of volition in their own political direction is to turn a nation into a colony of slaves. Buhari enslaved the nation. He gloated and gloried in a master-slave relation to the millions of its inhabitants. It is astonishing to find that the same former slaves, now free of their chains, should clamour to be ruled by one who not only turned their nation into a slave plantation, but forbade them any discussion of their condition.



So Tai Solarin is already forgotten? Tai who stood at street corners, fearlessly distributing leaflets that took up the gauntlet where the media had dropped it. Tai who was incarcerated by that regime and denied even the medication for his asthmatic condition? Tai did not ask to be sent for treatment overseas; all he asked was his traditional medicine that had proved so effective after years of struggle with asthma!



Nor must we omit the manner of Buhari coming to power and the pattern of his ‘corrective’ rule. Shagari’s NPN had already run out of steam and was near universally detested – except of course by the handful that still benefited from that regime of profligacy and rabid fascism. Responsibility for the national condition lay squarely at the door of the ruling party, obviously, but against whom was Buhari’s coup staged? Judging by the conduct of that regime, it was not against Shagari’s government but against the opposition. The head of government, on whom primary responsibility lay, was Shehu Shagari. Yet that individual was kept in cozy house detention in Ikoyi while his powerless deputy, Alex Ekwueme, was locked up in Kiri-kiri prisons. Such was the Buhari notion of equitable apportionment of guilt and/or responsibility.



And then the cascade of escapes of the wanted, and culpable politicians. Manhunts across the length and breadth of the nation, roadblocks everywhere and borders tight as steel zip locks. Lo and behold, the chairman of the party, Chief Akinloye, strolled out coolly across the border. Richard Akinjide, Legal Protector of the ruling party, slipped out with equal ease. The Rice Minister, Umaru Dikko, who declared that Nigerians were yet to eat from dustbins - escaped through the same airtight dragnet. The clumsy attempt to crate him home was punishment for his ingratitude, since he went berserk when, after waiting in vain, he concluded that the coup had not been staged, after all, for the immediate consolidation of the party of extreme right-wing vultures, but for the military hyenas.



The case of the overbearing Secretary-General of the party, Uba Ahmed, was even more noxious. Uba Ahmed was out of the country at the time. Despite the closure of the Nigerian airspace, he compelled the pilot of his plane to demand special landing permission, since his passenger load included the almighty Uba Ahmed. Of course, he had not known of the change in his status since he was airborne. The delighted airport commandant, realizing that he had a much valued fish swimming willingly into a waiting net, approved the request. Uba Ahmed disembarked into the arms of a military guard and was promptly clamped in detention. Incredibly, he vanished a few days after and reappeared in safety overseas. Those whose memories have become calcified should explore the media coverage of that saga. Buhari was asked to explain the vanished act of this much prized quarry and his response was one of the most arrogant levity. Coming from one who had shot his way into power on the slogan of ‘dis’pline’, it was nothing short of impudent.



Shall we revisit the tragicomic series of trials that landed several politicians several lifetimes in prison? Recall, if you please, the ‘judicial’ processes undergone by the septuagenarian Chief Adekunle Ajasin. He was arraigned and tried before Buhari’s punitive tribunal but acquitted. Dissatisfied, Buhari ordered his re-trial. Again, the Tribunal could not find this man guilty of a single crime, so once again he was returned for trial, only to be acquitted of all charges of corruption or abuse of office. Was Chief Ajasin thereby released? No! He was ordered detained indefinitely, simply for the crime of winning an election and refusing to knuckle under Shagari’s reign of terror.

The conduct of the Buhari regime after his coup was not merely one of double, triple, multiple standards but a cynical travesty of justice. Audu Ogbeh, currently chairman of the Action Congress was one of the few figures of rectitude within the NPN. Just as he has done in recent times with the PDP, he played the role of an internal critic and reformer, warning, dissenting, and setting an example of probity within his ministry. For that crime he spent months in unjust incarceration. Guilty by association? Well, if that was the motivating yardstick of the administration of the Buhari justice, then it was most selectively applied. The utmost severity of the Buhari-Idiagbon justice was especially reserved either for the opposition in general, or for those within the ruling party who had showed the sheerest sense of responsibility and patriotism.



Shall I remind this nation of Buhari’s deliberate humiliating treatment of the Emir of Kano and the Oni of Ife over their visit to the state of Israel? I hold no brief for traditional rulers and their relationship with governments, but insist on regarding them as entitled to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of any Nigerian citizen. This royal duo went to Israel on their private steam and private business. Simply because the Buhari regime was pursuing some antagonistic foreign policy towards Israel, a policy of which these traditional rulers were not a part, they were subjected on their return to a treatment that could only be described as a head masterly chastisement of errant pupils. Since when, may one ask, did a free citizen of the Nigerian nation require the permission of a head of state to visit a foreign nation that was willing to offer that tourist a visa.?



One is only too aware that some Nigerians love to point to Buhari’s agenda of discipline as the shining jewel in his scrap-iron crown. To inculcate discipline however, one must lead by example, obeying laws set down as guides to public probity. Example speaks louder than declarations, and rulers cannot exempt themselves from the disciplinary strictures imposed on the overall polity, especially on any issue that seeks to establish a policy for public well-being. The story of the thirty something suitcases – it would appear that they were even closer to fifty - found unavoidable mention in my recent memoirs, YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DOWN, written long before Buhari became spoken of as a credible candidate. For the exercise of a changeover of the national currency, the Nigerian borders – air, sea and land – had been shut tight. Nothing was supposed to move in or out, not even cattle egrets.



Yet a prominent camel was allowed through that needle’s eye. Not only did Buhari dispatch his aide-de-camp, Jokolo – later to become an emir - to facilitate the entry of those cases, he ordered the redeployment – as I later discovered - of the Customs Officer who stood firmly against the entry of the contravening baggage. That officer, the incumbent Vice-president is now a rival candidate to Buhari, but has somehow, in the meantime, earned a reputation that totally contradicts his conduct at the time. Wherever the truth lies, it does not redound to the credibility of the dictator of that time, General Buhari whose word was law, but whose allegiances were clearly negotiable.



On the theme of double, triple, multiple standards in the enforcement of the law, and indeed of the decrees passed by the Buhari regime at the time, let us recall the notorious case of ‘Triple A’ – Alhaji Alhaji Alhaji, then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. – Who was caught, literally, with his pants down in distant Austria. That was not the crime however, and private conduct should always remain restricted to the domain of private censure. There was no decree against civil servants proving just as hormone driven as anyone else, especially outside the nation’s borders. However, there was a clear decree against the keeping of foreign accounts, and this was what emerged from the Austrian escapade. Alhaji Alhaji kept, not one, but several undeclared foreign accounts, and he had no business being in possession of the large amount of foreign currency of which he was robbed by his overnight companion. The media screamed for an even application of the law, but Buhari had turned suddenly deaf.

By contrast, Fela Anikulapo languished in goal for years, sentenced under that very draconian decree. His crime was being in possession of foreign exchange that he had legitimately received for the immediate upkeep of his band as they set off for an international engagement. A vicious sentence was slapped down on Fela by a judge who later became so remorse stricken – at least after Buhari’s overthrow that he went to the King of Afro-beat and apologized.

Lesser known was the traumatic experience of the director of an international communication agency, an affiliate of UNESCO. Akin Fatoyinbo arrived at the airport in complete ignorance of the new currency decree. He was thrown in gaol in especially brutal condition, an experience from which he never fully recovered. It took several months of high-level intervention before that innocent man was eventually freed. These were not exceptional but mere sample cases from among hundreds of others, victims \of a decree that was selectively applied, a decree that routinely penalized innocents and ruined the careers and businesses of many.



What else? What does one choose to include or leave out? What precisely was Ebenezer Babatope’s crime that he should have spent the entire tenure of General Buhari in detention? Nothing beyond the fact that he once warned in the media that Buhari was an ambitious soldier who would bear watching through the lenses of a coup-d’etat. Babatope’s father died while he was in Buhari’s custody, the dictator remained deaf to every plea that he be at least released to attend his father’s funeral, even under guard. I wrote an article at the time, denouncing this pointless insensitivity. So little to demand by a man who was never accused of, nor tried for any crime, much less found guilty. Such a load of vindictiveness that smothered all traces of basic human compassion deserves no further comment in a nation that values its traditions.



But then, speaking the truth was not what Buhari, as a self-imposed leader, was especially enamoured of – enquire of Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor both of whom, faithful to their journalistic calling, published nothing but the truth, yet ended up sentenced under Buhari’s decree. Mind you, no one can say that Buhari was not true to his word. [size=14pt]“I shall tamper with the freedom of the press’ swore the dictator immediately on grabbing office, and this was exactly what he did. [/size]And so on, and on, and on….



The argument of those who say that, by endorsing Buhari, they are settling on someone who can be guaranteed to give Obasanjo and the NPN a good fight, is one of the most depressing excuses I ever encountered for placing a political noose around a nation’s neck. Buhari owes a debt to this nation, not the other way round. If Buhari wishes to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the citizenry whom he has so cruelly wronged, he should first scuttle his ambitions, then place whatever following he has garnered in the meantime at the disposal of a consensus candidate among the opposition. To insist on another taste of power, after such a history of gross abuse of power is an insult to any nation that values freedom and human dignity. Buhari should sit with the opposition and coordinate strategies to defeat the most unscrupulous act of political gerrymandering that, we all know, is about to be inflicted on the nation by a desperate incumbent seeking for a clone to secure his exit from power. The nation has more than sufficient time and strategic intelligence to organize behind a common choice, publicize his or her qualities and defeat the arrogance of incumbency.



What is being eroded, through the power of suggestion, is a people’s confidence in itself, and this is the beginning of mass suicide. Without that confidence, no powers on high or on earth, external or internal, can rescue the community from both the palpable and symbolic chains of slavery. To invite back into power a man who did so much to destroy a people’s self-esteem, dignity, and faith in law and justice, is a sign of self-abasement, lack of self-esteem, a slave mentality that dooms, not only the present, but succeeding generations.

I wish to declare, unequivocally, that those of my party, the ARP/DFPF shall not participate in such a degrading surrender.


http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/crimes-buhari-wole-soyinka





Now, that is some history. Guy looks like a raging lunatic to me.
Celebrities / Re: Marrying Timaya Would Have Killed My Mom Prematurely-empress Njamah by freezy(m): 5:53pm On Feb 02, 2011
LWKM o!!!

Larger you are sick o! cheesy

Seriously that Bakaasi is sumn else grin
European Football (EPL, UEFA, La Liga) / Re: Manchester Utd Vs Aston Villa On Tuesday Feb 1st, 2011 by freezy(m): 6:48pm On Feb 01, 2011
^^^^

Mos def!
Autos / Re: I Am A Clearing Agent,if You Have Consignment,am @ Your Service by freezy(m): 6:19pm On Jan 26, 2011
Sorry to bother you, Mr Banji, but what of a 2008 Honda Accord. I'm about order a car and the clearing cost will determine a lot. Please send your phone number to freezeyo @ yahoo.com so I can call you.

Thanks again!
Autos / Re: I Am A Clearing Agent,if You Have Consignment,am @ Your Service by freezy(m): 3:50pm On Jan 26, 2011
Mr Banji,

Good work o!

Please, much will it take to clear

1. 2007 Honda Accord
2. 2006 Honda Accord

Thank you!
Autos / Re: * NIGERIA * HEAVILY LOADED TOYOTA LAND CRUISER * ( Pre ordered by Piedpiper ) by freezy(m): 10:10pm On Jan 24, 2011
Thanks! Will holla @ you. Can you please send me pics of those available? E-mail is freezeyo@yahoo.com Thank you!
Autos / Re: * NIGERIA * HEAVILY LOADED TOYOTA LAND CRUISER * ( Pre ordered by Piedpiper ) by freezy(m): 10:05pm On Jan 24, 2011
Wow. Still a little beyond my reach. What can I get for about 2m? Thanks.

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