₦airaland Forum

will Buhari be there?

The advert on channel says says only Utomi, Ribadu, Dele Momodu and one other has accepted

great!

thanks.

men i watched this video 6 times and i am just there, thinking deeply

how do we get this video on ait danjohn? you did this video? i have shed tears man.

please i can support whatever way financially, with the help of others, to play this on AIT even for just one day. this can't just be on facebook!

are we saying BB campaign commitee will not show this on AIT or any of the local TV radio stations? this is the best song I have heard in a long time by a Nigeriaan voice about her country.

how can we get this on AIT, NTA, Raypower, all.
This VIDEO cannot be YOUTUBE ALONE! I recorded it on my BB (blackberry this time ) but it is not good enough and i cant send to my contacts because the size is huge. I am ready to contribute 5 digits starting from 2 as a the first digit to hear this on AIT.

I just finish shedding tears here too. and I have vowed this is my last tear for Nigeria.

I will only shed more when BB is sworn in May

does this beaf really have a job? I just returned from a foreign trip and my colleagues in the office here in naija were asking me who the hell of a clown is Beaf on Nairaland?

always displaying an icon of daft smiling to his anus being fingered!

and mind you, Opposition consensus candidate is different from Northern consensus candidate

Thank you, Gbawe. And Akande should stop blaming Buhari in public for the collapse of the ACN/CPC talks

Gbawe,

Yes, and what is wrong with it? Buhari is not ready to be a Northern Consensus Candidate. is anything wrong with that? Someone has insisted Nigeria is his constituency and trying hard to removed the Northern toga on his image, and you expect him to fall for this.

Yinka Odumakin is really managing this media war well

The presidency Nigeria deserves
Font size: By Ignatius Wachukwu 24/03/2011 00:00:00

Large democracies invariably have a silent majority, a mass of ordinary citizens more pre-occupied with attaining economic and emotional well-being than with being politically relevant. They may opine freely on what sort of government should lord it over them but they rarely get involved in bringing about such a vista. Their fantasised government is an ideal one that hardly ever becomes reality.

The politically active sub-population on the other hand, is that segment that holds membership of political parties: seekers and occupants of electoral office and those canvassing for or against them. They ultimately, by their successes and failures, are responsible for the extant regime. The objective of their politics is to ensure the dissonance between what they offer and what the silent majority craves does not become untenable to the point of popular revolt. In other words, they give the nation the government it deserves and not necessarily the government it wants.

It was Joseph De Maistre, a staunch royalist in early nineteenth century France who first pointed out that every nation has the government it deserves. He spoke both historically, in terms of the kind of leadership the French people had endured in the past, and prophetically considering the steady rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to power in rudderless post revolutionary France.　 Since then, there has been considerable debate about the origins of revolutionary leadership. Can a failing system still produce the right kind of transformational agents to uplift its fortunes? If it did, then would it still be apt to describe such as a failed system if such positive products could emerge from within it?

From an existentialist standpoint, the ultimate purpose of government is to create the best possible milieu for citizens’ legitimate pursuit of happiness. When a long-suffering silent majority decides that it has had enough of bad leadership, they rarely effect change through regular polls. Eventually, they become so distrustful of the electoral process that they take matters into their hands and march onto the streets. Recent events in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world have served as a timely lesson on the ultimate power of the ruled over their rulers. The North African example, when coupled with the rather very impressive nationwide turnout recorded during the just concluded voters registration exercise has given fair warning that anything short of credible elections in April may precipitate widespread social unrest.

The most significant public demonstrations to have held in recent Nigerian history were those organized by the Save Nigeria Group in December 2009 during the heated crisis of a presidential vacuum created by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s failure to transmit power to his Vice on departing the country for medical treatment abroad. Convened by social activist and pentecostal Pastor Tunde Bakare and with the support of notable personalities like Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and a number of prominent artistes and musicians, several hundred Nigerians joined the celebrities in marching to the National Assembly to press for adherence to the constitutionally stipulated procedure on succession. For a nation the size of Nigeria and with such a critical issue at stake, the turnout may have been less than expected, but nevertheless it indicated the possible reawakening of people power in Nigerian politics. For not even at the height of the general angst surrounding the

heavily-criticised 2007 polls did any significant protesting occur – much to the disappointment of opposition politicians.

In the not too distant past, key members of the present ruling class were principal figures in the opposition movement. They criticised both the character and policies of the government in power, and many ordinary people agreed with them. Today however, they have their chance. Needless to say the citizenry are as disillusioned as ever. It is widely agreed that crisis of leadership has been the bane of Nigeria’s underdevelopment since independence. Despite the relatively high turnover of a dozen different heads of state over a 50-year period, successive Nigerian governments have hardly ever succeeded in kindling a collective sense of national progress amongst the populace. Nothing best illustrates the alarming level of disconnect between the Nigerian political class and public opinion than the enormous, mind-boggling wage bill commanded by the legislative arm of government.

It was a similar scenario of free-for-all squandermania that characterized the last days of the Second Republic, abolished with popular approval by the army under Muhammadu Buhari. For once, the people seemed to have gotten the government they craved! But such a dispensation is inherently unfeasible, and Buhari’s regime was duly overthrown less than two years after by an apparently more pragmatic Ibrahim Babangida. Ever since, Buhari has been portrayed as an overly strict and uncompromising disciplinarian and has struggled to attract more sympathy in a country weary of decades of military dictatorship. Some have even gone as far as suggesting he is an Islamic fundamentalist. But nothing could be further from the truth; and successfully co-opting a fiery Pentecostal pastor in the mould of Tunde Bakare as running mate for April’s presidential elections should conclusively dispel all such notions. Buhari has been the victim of an entrenched regime of

self-aggrandizing political jobbers who see him as simply "bad for business." Passing him off as a fundamentalist is their way of denying him vital support in the Christian South and Middle Belt.

As a soldier, he employed what tools that were immediately available to him i.e. whips and gun barrels to attempt to instil sanity back into the political class. Backed by a democratic mandate and this time utilizing civilian means, Buhari is the best bet to comprehensively reform the Nigerian political system. In concert with Tunde Bakare who has remained at the vanguard of social activism in Nigeria, the option espoused by Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is a strategic alignment of Northern and Southern reformist forces which represents the most credible challenge yet to PDP’s hegemony in Nigerian politics.

These two politically correct thorough-bred conservatives may actually be Nigeria’s best opportunity to introduce a semblance of ideology into her political firmament. Their ascent to power could spark a revolution of ethos, a revolution of ideals. Furthermore, a dubious victory for the ruling party at the polls will need a motivational activist like Bakare to serve as an arrowhead in mobilising disaffected citizenry onto the streets. Unlike some other politically aspiring preachers whose modus operandi is to proclaim that "God" has asked them to contest for elective office, this Man of God has specifically stated that it was his personal decision and not necessarily a divine mandate. His sincerity will no doubt appeal to many of the silent majority.

The voting pattern at January’s PDP presidential primaries suggests that the so-called core north is yet to be won over by President Jonathan’s good luck euphoria.　 The same ‘core’ north unsurprisingly has been the major voting bloc for Buhari in previous elections. Disaffection with Goodluck Jonathan’s opportunism is likely to push even more of such voters to Buhari’s side and coupled with Pastor Bakare’s radical appeal in the more Christian south could result in an April stalemate and consequently Nigeria’s first ever run-off elections. The competitive excitement of run-off elections will itself be a huge boost, a watershed moment of puberty which will be a positive prognosticator of a thriving democratic culture.• Dr. Wachukwu, a political scientist writes in from Lagos.

40% igbos in Kano

Then they should produce the next governor there

this GEJ people have been bastardized by money. they can't think straight again!

danjohn

do forward to your friends on your mailing list, post on your facebook page and leave the rest to God.

I can say God is really working now as the kind of followership Buhari is experiencing among the educated people of the south is unprecedented since 2003. I was also a victim but now we know.

As Pastor Enouch Adeboye once said, Buhari needs a strong christian to contest with him. he got not just one, but the most outspoken pastor in the history of the country, and I want anybody to counter me, at that point of Bakare joining the ticket, the tipping point occured, eyes became more open and PDP became scared!

Donmeca,

you have done well.

there can never be a perfect candidate, but who is that man that has remained consistent on his values and that has lived it.

I place myself in the shoes of Buhari, if I can be a minister of petroleum and supervised the building of the refineries, be a governor, be first NNPC chairman, Head of State and chairman of a multi billion naira PTF, as a child of this present generation that grew in the heat of corruption, I can't guarantee I will not have more oil wells, multi billion dollar companies, houses, foreign accounts than IBB, Danjuma combined.

This is my reason for supporting him. I have seen the strength of integrity and will to fight corruption which is the weakness of my own generation.

And look at them, El-Rufai, despite his great job in abuja, he still couldn't resist the temptation of buying the Vice Presidential residence in Abuja, Fani Kayode is still in court, Shekaru fell out with Buhari when the latter asked him what he did with the billions of naira in Kano and he replied that it was used for polio awareness, Ribadu has a house not far away from Aso Rock - he said so himself. Jonathan has been a child, lieutenant, deputy to corrupt people.

Yet, Buhari has no house in Abuja or has he ever been tempted to use his position to corner government properties for himself even if he had to buy them legitimately. He was PTF chairman in abuja and he refused to collect salary, saying his pension as a retired general remains his entitlement.

Donmeca,

You got it completely wrong

He knows his limitations, that is why he chose the most erudite of all vice presidential candidates, Tunde Bakare. In his first stint, Tunde Idiagbon also did all the talking.

He is a man who has the courage to attend the debate, while your man was hiding in Patience's closet.

The most brilliant peole are not the best debaters. check your days in secondary schools and tertiary institutions!

Pataki & my fellow Buhari supporters. stop reply to Beaf and the other GEJ forty thieves. you are just wasting your time.

Please copy the article and send to as many possible on email contacts

I have sent to forty people and the feedback I got is amazing. so just move on and let Beaf and Co continue to rant her

I think the article below needs a wider audience to feel it. This man may not know how to debate, but he do know how to get things done, manage resources and still walk the street without any label of corruption!

Integrity is never old and as long as the leadership is incorruptible, any idea from the young generation will flourish. Reduce corruption by 70% and this country will see things happen. As long as corruption stays, our ideas, vision, plan and the $16 Billion dollars spent on power in the last 12 years will remain a fantasy.

Please note the writer!


[b]Buhari’s handshake and handcuff
By Ebele Chukwu

Obasanjo never hid his disgust for General Sani Abacha who had jailed him for a “phantom coup”. Released from jail and still wallowing in a fit of new found spirituality, he wrote a book and called it “The Animal Called Man”. And he elected to wage a battle on this “Animal Called Man”.
While taking his oath of office at the Eagle Square on 27th May, 1999, he had pledged to wrestle corruption out of our national psyche. In a fit of mediaeval triumphalism, he chanted: “there will be no sacred cows!”

But his first attack was a disaster. No sooner had he made that declaration than he dispatched Mallam Haroun Adamu to the headquarters of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), an intervention agency run by General Muhammadu Buhari, to start the war on corruption. Haroun Adamu’s public brief was to wind down PTF but the hidden one was to disgrace General Buhari by exposing the “shady deals” in PTF.

Contractors working for PTF were used to picking their cheques across the counter without much ado. Under the new inquisitor, contractors discovered they now had to oil their cheques out, something alien to the PTF they knew. They cried foul. And there were several other fouls after the first foul. To say that Obasanjo was thoroughly embarrassed by his minions would be an understatement, so much so that till date he does not discuss PTF in public.
As a General, it would appear that Obasanjo read Sun Tzu’ s “The Art of War” upside down. Sun Tzu had counselled: “Know thyself; know thy enemy. You will fight a thousand battles without defeat.” The blitzkrieg he deployed only showed he did not know PTF. He might not have needed to fire a shot to win or wean PTF. To date, most Nigerians knew how PTF started, what it did but not how it ended. Not known as one who forgives, was it not surprising that General Buhari walked the streets with his head high throughout Obasanjo’s imperial majesty when the fear of EFCC was the beginning of political wisdom?

In October 1994, General Sani Abacha increased the pump price of petrol from N3.25k to N11.00 per litre. Nigerians assailed him with criticisms for this unpopular move and to assuage their feelings, he quickly established the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund to use a portion of the proceeds of the increase to intervene in critical sectors of the economy. Nigerians never took Abacha seriously on this project until Gen Muhammadu Buhari was announced and inaugurated the chairman of the PTF in March 1995.

That PTF awarded contracts worth billions of naira is not news. The news the PTF made within the four years it existed was and still is that contracts awarded were executed to their logical conclusion and for those not executed, the PTF got every kobo back. Before PTF, contractors were used to abandoning contracts and bolting away with their advance payments. It never happened in PTF. When Buhari visited the Onitsha end of the Enugu-Onitsha express way awarded to a local contractor and discovered the job was abandoned, he simply called on the bank that guaranteed the contractor to pay back. There and then, the contract was terminated and later awarded to another contractor. From that moment, banks and insurance companies that provided bonds to contractors learnt that the old order had changed and had to monitor projects it guaranteed.

For the years it existed, PTF published its annual reports and always addressed press conferences to respond to issues arising from the reports. And each time it did, it challenged anybody who could deliver on any of its projects at a price cheaper than what it cost the PTF to submit his proposal. Nobody ever did.

In one of the presentations of its annual report, the Executive Secretary of the Board of the PTF, Chief Tayo Akpata, maintained that the roads constructed by the PTF not only cost less than World Bank funded roads but were also better qualitatively. He challenged anyone to prove the contrary. Until the PTF was scrapped, nobody did.
While the PTF existed, contractors never needed to lobby and grease palms to get LPO’s. You only needed to belong to the appropriate group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and other professional groups to qualify. Not a few contractors received requests to supply the PTF in the comfort of their offices. It was so unbelievably true that some had to travel to Abuja to reconfirm if the LPO’s they received were genuine. And genuine they were.

To be paid for a completed contract, all the contractor needed was to present a certificate of completion issued by the ubiquitous consultants engaged by the PTF and his cheque would be prepared. And with a proper letter of introduction, a contractor could send a third party to pick his check across a counter in the Finance Department without any ceremony. Picking a cheque then was just like walking into a bank to withdraw cash across the counter. As staff of Set and Sell Communications Ltd and later Media Trust Ltd, I personally picked several cheques on behalf of these firms. The challenge the finance department of the PTF faced then was getting contractors to come and pick their cheques which would pile up for months as a good number never knew it was so simple.

One cannot also forget in a hurry the PTF drug revolving scheme. Under this, the PTF set up offices in hospitals across the country and supplied them with drugs. The financial consultants employed by the Fund ensured that receipts from the sales of the drugs were used to replenish the stocks in an unending cycle that banished out-of-stock anthem the Nigerian public were forced to listen to before then. And it was not easy to divert PTF drugs to the parallel market. The smallest tablet supplied had PTF logo engraved on it. Somebody attempted diverting the drugs and was caught. General Buhari took up the case personally and ensured the culprit went to jail. After that, nobody heard of diversions again.

The strategy of the PTF in procuring these drugs is worth reviewing. Over 60% of the drugs supplied to the PTF were locally produced. In fact, the PTF only imported drugs that could not be produced by the local pharmaceutical firms. The pressure on the existing pharmaceutical companies was so much that almost all these firms had to increase their capacity by expanding and employing more hands. Neimeth Pharmaceuticals, Emzor Pharmaceuticals among others can be contacted to affirm or disprove this. This policy was deliberately made to ensure that more jobs were created within the economy.

Builders who built for PTF would also tell you that they were not allowed to import paints. There was a list of all the paint manufacturers in the country maintained at the PTF from which builders bought paints. Within the same period, the capacity utilisation in these companies soared as they expanded and created more jobs. A look at the records kept by IPWA plc and other existing paint makers within the period under review is worth attempting to digest the profundity of the PTF intervention in the building sector; and other sectors it intervened in as its model was so overarching that critics labelled it “the alternative government”.
This column is not enough to put in a proper perspective the job General Buhari undertook and did while in PTF but it suffices through this glimpse to understand the mindset and the strategy of this maelstrom which the ruling elite hate for his forthrightness - a quality in short supply in governance today.
One can cite the number of roads and hospitals rehabilitated by the PTF. One can also quote the billions it spent. The essence of the PTF, however, lies more in the multiplier effect its intervention had on the economy as a whole than in the number of what it did, which on its own was equally impressive. This distinction is what differentiates growth from development. While the former is quantitative, the latter is qualitative. As a political economist, I know that the economic development of any third world country lies in qualitative transformation.

Before the coming of PTF, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida had introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which he had claimed had no alternative. The revered economist, Professor Sam Aluko, had also reminded him that economics was a science of alternatives; that even death had an alternative which was life and that SAP was a kiss of death. IBB was to acknowledge the failure of SAP when out of frustration around 1991, he exclaimed that “the Nigerian economy had defied all known economic theories and was surprised that the economy had not collapsed”.

The economy did not collapse. The PTF intervention ensured it did not. This was the lesson OBJ failed to grasp when he dissolved the Fund with executive fiat in 1999. As at 1997, funds available to the PTF was about N115 billion and Nigerians could point at projects the fund was expended on. A decade after PTF, the governments from OBJ’s to date had spent much more than that in the power sector alone and have not been able to generate even a megawatt more of electricity.
Managing public funds is serious business. General Muhammadu Buhari was fond of telling contractors on visit to sites: “If you perform well, you get a handshake. If you perform badly, you get a handcuff”. This is the mantra we need at this historical juncture. The man that incarnates this mantra out of the available presidential candidates is General Muhammadu Buhari.

There is also a lesson to be learnt from the day Buhari left PTF. Obasanjo, on assumption of office, announced the setting up of the interim management committee led by Mallam Haroun Adamu to wind down PTF. The following day, Buhari addressed a press conference and invited the new management to immediately take over. He told Nigerians that everything the new management needed were in the records to which they would have unhindered access. He bid his staff farewell, descended the stairs, literally jumped into his four wheel drive that took him home to Daura. He never stepped into that premises again to this day. And he never fled the country to escape the EFCC.


The likes of Obasanjo should go back to the military academy to understand “The Art of War” before going on another offensive.

Ebele Chukwu writes from Eziora, Ozubulu (ababio38@gmail.com, 08186482246 sms only[/b]

Nassaraw, Niger, FCT and part of Plateau will go to BB ticket. April 9 is almost here!

Yes, I am listening.

When did it become the right of the police to determine where i associate with people? it does not happen in a democracy.

why was Jos shutdown by security agencies for Jonathan when he campaigned there? he has two heads.

You will not end up in a gutter, keep screaming and see yourself under the rail track of the Buhari Bakare Train, totally crushed. Because of people like you, we are awake in the midnight to crush your propaganda on the internet.

nothing will stop the BB revolution!

yes!

and so? we have freedom of association in this country. Have you ever had police telling americans not to gather for rallies?

Continue with the intimidation, we will crush all form of intimidation

It is sign of things to come. PDP, Police, rig in April and you die!

it is that simple

Easy GenBuhari

GenBuhari, this is GenBuhari3, Danjohn has done well and I think he has shown much brilliance that has qualified him to be Non-PDP, whether he is for Ribadu or not. I am not happy with the outcome of the model as well based on the fact that some assumptions (like the rigging) was not put into consideration, but we must respect his time and energy and the opportunity he has given us to modify the model using our own assumptions and fantasies.

But really, if people can come out enmass in Plateau yesterday despite the intimidation, Buhari will get the 25% there.

Danjohn, i will want you to follow Buhari fan page on Facebook to see what we are seeing. Nassarawa rally is happening as we speak, and you will be amazed with the people on the street and at the rally.


And let not all forget that Buhari is the only candidate that is going deep by road into the North - Keffi, Lapia, arugugun, gwandu, bida, zaria, birnin kundu, Ribadu and GEJ are just stopping at the state and going back

The onslaught on south west is meant to be the last and that is why the head of Buhari presidential campaign committee, Tunde Bakare, has been preparing the groundwork through consultations since last week.

The Buhari/Bakare Presidential Campaign mourns 4 Nigerians murdered in cold blood by the police in Jos yesterday just as we demand investigations into the brutal killings. The whole world is aware of the unjust attempt by the state police command to sabotage our Jos rally on the spurious pretext that an afterthought rally by Governor Jona Jang should take precedence over our own which was earlier communicated to the police. We rejected the unjust diktat in our quest to ensure that the ruling party does not continue to ride roughshod over the opposition and closing the democratic space in the process. Upon arrival in Jos on Monday, we headed for the Governor’s office on a courtesy visit, the normal thing we do in every state we go no matter the party in power.

While with Governor Janga large crowd of supporters had gathered outside which made us to shelve our proposed visits to the paramount ruler of Jos as well as the leaders of both the Christian and Islamic communities who were expecting us with due apologies conveyed to them. The above move was in tandem with our responsible conduct mindful of the unparalleled support we draw every city we have gone. This informed our diverting to Ganya the day our movement was to meet President Jonathan convoy near Yola as we campaigned in Adamawa the same day.

From the Governor’s office we proceeded to the Polo Ground venue of our rally where we had a successful event without any incident. It was at the end of the rally that we got report that the police acting out the PDP script waylaid thousands of our supporters at Massalacin Ja’ama area, some distance from Polo Ground and insisted that they must not go for the rally. The police subsequently fired gunshots into the crowd killing four people and wounding several people. Though eyewitnesses said the police brought a fire fighting truck to clean the blood of the innocent, we have no doubt that their blood will get justice as Nigeria will not endure this lawlessness for long. Those who murdered citizens whose only offense was exercising their freedom of association will face the full wrath of the law in due season.

The black Monday in Jos has clearly exposed the ruling party as deliberately Beirut sing Jos to explore the diversity of the people for political advantage. We have no doubt that these killings were masterminded to halt the balance of faith which the Buhari/Bakare combination was bringing to Jos as against the balance of hate which the PDP banks upon to maintain its tenuous hold in the area.

Let them rest assured that the people of Jos will not be bound to violence for long. Healing is coming to that land as indigenes and settlers would be brought to the table of brotherhood which a responsible leadership under Buhari promises. All the shut factories of Jos will have the enabling environment to re-open and engage the idle hands to bring about sustainable peace.
Our condolences go to the families of the deceased as we wish the wounded speedy recovery.

‘Yinka Odumakin.
Spokesman for General Buhari

I dont belong to the rich, but I wont keep quiet to a foolish man calling me a goat eating grass.

You hear me, assme?

And if it doesn't make sense to you still, then move on and ignore my posts!

Assme,

Keep it coming

I simply replied to the useless username who called me a goat! and I proved to him I am a goat considering my achievements. if usernames can recognize that we steal time off our busy schedule at work to make NL busy and engage, then it is proper for us all to respect each others' views.

texazzpete

Thanks. We can focus on emir of zazzau now.

odecious ass hole. so you know my age, i am in late twenties, if you dont know, mumu cious.

I am sure na your father be that username wey call me goat eating grass.

I love bragging. thank you

if this number of people could come out despite the Police intimidation and uncertainty. at least we know we can get many votes from plateau to complement Niger, Nassarawa and FCT.

Nelson Mandela came straight out of 32-year inprisonment to lead a nation at over 70 years. No new generation idea will work as long as corruption is alive. Buhari is 68 years old, but his integrity, consistency of character and patriotism is younger than yours, TNUBU4LIFE.

He may be old, but his leadership qualities will never expire.

Jakumo,

Why dont you take him down yourself?

I can bet your throat will be slashed slowly by those hausa men! Mumu

When Jonathan went there to campaign, where the hausa muslims not kept at bay by heavy security presence?

is it not the lot of every Nigerian to associate freely and for the police to provide security? why did the police attempt to stop the rally? and that is the reaction you get from a people wo will not be cowed by intimidation. and it shows the type of courage Buhari and Bakare has. despite the intimidation, they stood their ground. Am sure it where Jonathan, he wouldn't have even dared to go near jos as a private citizen.

Useless people. Continue to intimidate people and you will see how many PDP governors, senators, house of reps, even emirs will see the wrath of God through an abused generation of young people.

Okada riders including the massive Achaba riders in the North?

We dey laugh ooo. Massive support indeed. when i saw the topic, I thought the endorsement came from Pastor Enoch Adeboye