₦airaland Forum

that is cool

Davidovinci:
Pure water? Fa hear!

Check how he suck/Licks mango then you'd know whats up...

REALLY??

PHOTOS PLEASE

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has spoken of the tensed moments he faced on March 28, 2015 ahead of his decision to concede victory to President Muhammadu Buhari after that year’s presidential election.

“I was actually in that valley on March 28, 2015”, he said.

Jonathan also narrated why he relinquished power to Buhari, saying he did not want Nigeria to slide into a theatre of war, with his fellow county men and woman dying, and many more pouring into other nations in Africa and beyond, as refugees.

“I never knew that the human brain had the capacity for such enhanced rapid thinking. One hundred and one things were going through my mind every second. My country was at the verge of collapse. The tension in the land was abysmally high and palpable, in the months leading to the election. The country became more polarised more than ever before, such that the gap between the North and the South and between Christians and Muslims became quite pronounced”, the former President said.

“In fact, it became so disturbing that some interest groups in the United States began to predict indeed, many Nigerians did buy into this doomsday prophesy as they began to brace themselves for the worst.

“As the President, I reminded myself that the Government I led had invested so much effort into building our country. I worked hard with my top officials to encourage Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in our country to be able to provide jobs and improve the lives of our people.

“We worked hard to grow our economy and to improve and bring Nigeria up as the biggest economy in Africa, with a GDP of about half a trillion dollars”.

Jonathan told his story, last week, during a dinner in his honour by Cercle Diplomatique, Geneva, Switzerland. The former President also spoke about his foray into politics, the allure of power and future plans.

Jonathan and Naomi King
Jonathan and Naomi King
He began: “ As you can see, I have not come here with a prepared speech, since what I consider appropriate for this occasion is to just thank you all, members and everyone else in attendance, in a few words, for the dinner and the award, in order not to make the evening look boring. But having said that, I am still tempted to note that if I were to present a written speech, the title, would probably have been “Power Tussle in Africa: A Stumbling Block to Economic Growth.” When Mr. Robert Blum, your President, made his very interesting opening remarks, he introduced me as the former President of Nigeria. He was absolutely correct.

My foray into politics

“However, I believe that not many of you here know that the story of my foray into politics has a peculiar ring to it. I entered politics in 1998 and, barely one year after, I got elected as the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, my state. I later became Governor, Vice President and eventually got elected as the President of my country. I remain the only leader in my country to have travelled that route.

“As the President, I served out my first term but, as Mr. Blum had pointed out earlier, I lost the bid to be re-elected. I am encouraged by the fact that many of you here appreciated my decision not to reject or contest my loss at the polls, not even in the courts as many people had expected.

The allure of power

“Again, I have to agree with Blum that it was not an easy decision to take. This is because the allure of power and the worries about what would become of you after leaving office constitute an irresistible force. It has an attraction so controlling and powerful that it takes a man who has the fear of God and who loves his people and nation to relinquish power so easily in Africa.

Alone in the valley

“I was actually in that valley on March 28, 2015. I never knew that the human brain had the capacity for such enhanced rapid thinking. One hundred and one things were coursing through my mind every second. My country was at the verge of collapse. The tension in the land was abysmally high and palpable, in the months and days leading to the election. The country became more polarized more than ever before, such that the gap between the North and the South and between Christians and Muslims became quite pronounced.

“In fact, it became so disturbing that some interest groups in the United States began to predict that Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015. And, indeed, many Nigerians did buy into this doomsday prophesy as they began to brace themselves for the worst. As the President, I reminded myself that the Government I led had invested so much effort into building our country. I worked hard with my top officials to encourage Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in our country to be able to provide jobs and improve the lives of our people. We worked hard to grow our economy and to improve and bring Nigeria up as the biggest economy in Africa, with a GDP of about half a trillion dollars.

Posers I had to contend with

“Should I then, for the love of power, watch Nigeria slide into a theatre of war, with my fellow country men and women dying, and many more pouring into other nations in Africa and beyond, as refugees?

Should I hang on to power and tussle with my challengers, while the investments of hard working citizens of the world go down the drain? I then said to myself, NO!

Resisting the lure of power

“I promised my God that I will not let that fate befall Nigeria under my watch, hence the historic telephone call I put through to congratulate my challenger even when the results were still being tallied. I believe that for a country to be great, both the leaders and the led must be prepared to make sacrifices. This is why, everywhere I go, I always advise that the new generation of African leaders must think differently. We can no longer afford to wilfully sacrifice the blood of our citizens on the altar of dangerous partisan politics. It is not worth it. This reminds me of one of my campaign statements to the effect that my ambition was not worth the shedding of the blood of any Nigerian. Some people took it then as mere political slogan but I knew that I meant it when I said it.

“We must all fight for the enthronement of political stability in Africa, for in it lies the panacea for sustainable growth and development. For Africa to record the kind of advancement that will be competitive and beneficial to our citizens, we must have stable states supported by strong institutions. That appears to be the irreducible minimum that is common to all developed societies. Africa’s political odyssey can distinctly be categorised into three eras, and probably another that would later signpost its classification as a developed continent”.

Challenges

“Some may doubt this, but it is no fluke that Africa is growing and rising. However I will admit before you here that we still have challenges. That is why people like us did all we could to ensure that Nigeria, the biggest black nation on earth, would not drift into anarchy because such a situation would have spelt doom for the rest of the continent. It would have affected not just Nigeria alone, but the GDP and economy of the entire West Africa. And if the economy of West Africa crashes, it would definitely affect the performance of the economy of the whole of Africa.

“As you know, the GDP of Africa is less than three trillion dollars, with only six African countries able to boast of nominal GDP above $100 billion. Even for those in this ‘elite’ category, you can’t really say that they are rich countries. Apart from maybe South Africa that has an industrially competitive economy, the rest are still mainly commodity exporting countries. Even the case of that of South Africa is not very encouraging, because we have a situation which we could refer to as a first world economic performance, yet the ordinary people live the life of the people in the so called third world.

“In the case of Nigeria which is even the biggest economy on the continent, the reality is that we have an unenviable per capita GDP of $3,203, which is the World Bank average for a period covering 2011-2015.

Africa’s future is bright

“Even then, I still believe that Africa has a bright future; a promising prognosis that is supported by the fact that the continent remains a very fertile and attractive territory that yields irresistible returns on investments. I believe that in the next few years many more big investors will be jostling to come to Africa, if only we will do the right thing. The process of getting it right has already started with a democratic and increasingly democratising Africa. But we have to deepen and strengthen our democratic credentials through regular, free and fair elections. This will in turn bring about the stability necessary to improve the infrastructure that promotes rapid economic growth. These are the guarantees that would lead us into the next period which I would like to call the era of a developed Africa. I have no doubt in my mind that we will get there some day.

My future plans

“I will be applying myself diligently to two key areas. First, is to work for good governance by promoting credible and transparent elections. This will bring about the strengthening of our institutions and the enthronement of stability. I also believe that there is the urgent need to create jobs for our teeming young population. This is another area that will be receiving my attention. I recall that the Vice President of your association made reference in his speech to my achievements in that regard through what we called Youth Enterprises with Innovation (YouWin) and the Nagropreneur programme which encouraged young people to go into agriculture. I believe more programmes like that should be established to promote youth entrepreneurship. That way, we reduce their reliance on paid employment.

“We will not only teach them to become entrepreneurs, they will also acquire the capacity to employ other people. We will be paying special attention to this segment of our society, especially young people and women. We will develop programmes that will inculcate in them business skills to be able to set up micro, small and medium enterprises. We shall assist them to access take-off grants when they acquire the relevant skills and capacities. There are many areas that they can go into; food processing, light manufacturing and the services sector are just some of them. I can tell you from experience that this works.

“As we speak, Our Nagropreneur programme, to promote youth involvement in agriculture value chain, is being scaled up by the African Development Bank presently. It is already being replicated in 19 African countries because of the success of the programme in Nigeria. I invite all of you here today, cabinet ministers, diplomats and private sector people to remain committed to the cause of improving lives, especially those lives in Africa, and making our world a better place. For those of you that will be sharing in this vision for Africa, I assure you that you will not be disappointed. I am very optimistic that if we encourage young men and women in this continent to develop businesses of their own, the story of Africa will change within 10 years”.

culled from VANGUARD

mofayodeyahoo:
Thank you mama justice for averting the repeat of bye election in bayelsa state

if this were to be during Oga Jonathan tenure..


I am sure they (PDP) will influence the Judiciary....


This is welcome development in Justice...


Baba always allow the law to take its course.


Welcome on board Nigeria to true democracy.

dadexcel:
........... No offense meant, but do not know why I am see insincerity in this post......

bring it on Mister?

protectionsiker:
PDP winning Niger delta back to back

if this were to be during Oga Jonathan tenure..


I am sure they (PDP) will influence the Judiciary....


This is welcome development in Justice...


Baba always allow the law to take its course.


Welcome on board Nigeria to true democracy.

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Nyesom Wike as the Governor of Rivers State.



The reason for the judgement is to be listed on February 12.

Giving the ruling on Wednesday, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, set aside the judgement of the Appeal Court which nullified the election of Governor Wike.

It is a unanimous judgement by a seven-man panel of the apex court.

The Court of Appeal had on December 16, 2015, struck out the appeal of Mr Wike, seeking a dismissal of the judgment of the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal which sacked him as governor of the state.

The five-man panel of the appellate court held that Mr Wike was not validly elected as governor, having failed to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the electoral guidelines laid down by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

More details soon…




THIS IS A WELCOME DEVELOPMENT IN DEMOCRACY....

BREAKING NEWS FROM CHANNEL TV

http://www.channelstv.com/2016/01/27/supreme-court-upholds-wikes-election-as-rivers-governor/

ace05:
I understand 'have fought ' what use is 'has been fighting ' to the best of my understanding, you learn from people who have CONQUERED.

Can you actually conquer insurgency?


Where in the world have you heard or read that insurgency was conquered. You can on manage them to the bearest miniumum.

hmmm


what do you expect him to say?

Lemon12:
Welcome to Alor mr Osinbade

Haba, omo Ina

Osinbade how??


The man name is Osinbanjo.

In another news, our Vice president is getting old faster.

@Mbuhari looks more agile than him self.

Abeg Oga VP sir take it easy ooo

OMG

in nelly's voice ..it is getting hot in here.

Nigerians, a new era is beginning.

ghen ghen...seasonal film with an unending series.

(waiting for Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon to comment though)

Sparrow13:
This man must be a cult member for always wearing red beret

Why would you say that.?

I think a person holding such post in Nigeria should not be a member of any cult

Lawyers in the house that understand the constitution can prove me wrong.

the man cant miss his tea!

mai shai...

but wait ooo....what is he trying to portray?

that he belongs to nobody?

no be small thing

the world is watching.

Colombia has been fighting terrorism from time immemorial.

NA needs to partner with Colombia army to share knowledge on how they have been winning the war against terrorism.

Good move Mr. Buratai

Oga, ask Emefiele. I was given 250million but I had to settle the CBN governor 50million to facilitate the release of the fund.


I am so sorry sir.

1.2 cash tomorrow morning to carry.

buyer in agbara lagos

how much?

Try Diamond bank, I have few testimoy

08035587988 - add me please

Nice and cool

Siena:
[color=Blue]I'll make time to come for a viewing and test drive during my lunch break on Monday.[/color]

please if you don't have something better to say. park well bros


how come you will test run a car when you are in UK and I am in calabar creek here.


I need serious buyer abegi

Siena:
[color=Blue]I would imagine "cleanly used" means a car that's in good shape.
I guess that term is subjective, because there's nothing remotely nice about this car - it's a ruin.[/color]

ruin...not so madame "siena"


you can come to see it.

Divinehenrich:
Why are you not showing us the plate no. Is there anything you are hiding about this car?

nothing hiding about it please.

must i show everybody the number? if you are interested ...come and confirm it is genuine moreover am the owner.


seeing is believing, am not asking for advance payment. as you can see, the car is parked outside my office

am popular**

Bj5all:
I'm interested, watz the price?

send me your number her us talk.

i am on 08184005288, the car is in calabar right now.

I am relocating and i need to sell it.

i only take it to and fr office daily. good car.

LOCATION: CALABAR AREA

PERFECT AND WORKING CONDITION

N350, 000K

(NEGOTIABLE)

CALL 08184005288 OR 08035587988

hmmm


there is God oooo

Resign Immediately.

OMG