₦airaland Forum

One reason men of God should stay away from politics.

Hmmmmm . . . Pastor Bakare claims to have worked with Rotimi Williams, Gani Fawehinmi,
Pastor Kumiyi, Pastor Adeboye and now tells us that Buhari (fomerly viewed by him as
bad and unfit for Nigeria) is the most honest of them all.

Did Bakare need to mention names?

Ihejirika gave a "salute" first, as is done in the military.
The hand is on it's way down from the forehead.

By the way, is that the biggest problem you have, poster?
People are obviously mad on this nairaland.

Don't crucify Tony one week for speaking the truth.
He belongs to the opposition party (ACN) and could not have voiced that if actually
electricity supply has not improved under GEJ

Let's not allow our hatred for federal government becloud our assessment of electricity
supply across the country.

In my area, (I live in Lagos) power supply has improved by over 200% under GEJ's administration.
It is interrupted 3-4 times a day but restored soon thereafter.

Aregbesola is failure

Nuhu Ribadu Returning to Nigeria Today, Pressure on Him to Return to EFCC
Written by Edna Ibukun on 25 November 2011.

NaijaPundit has received incontrovertible information to the effect that Malam Nuhu Ribadu is flying back into the country today via the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Aiport Abuja. Malam Ribadu has left his base in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he is a member of the U.N. set up Afghanistan Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee. Our sources revealed to us that there has been intense pressure on the President to return Nuhu Ribadu to his old job as Chairman of the EFCC and this may have been the reason for the sack of Farida Waziri who has made a mess of the vigorous anti corruption war begun by Nuhu Ribadu and rendered the previously dreaded EFCC of which Malam Rubadu was the pioneer chairman a toothless bull dog mocked by the corrupt in Nigeria and scorned by International Law Enforcement agencies such as the London Metropolitan Police and the FBI. Incidentally, these agencies have a strong relationship with Malam Nuhu Ribadu and the fact that he is returning to Nigeria today, only days after the ouster of Mrs. Farida Wazirir, his arch nemesis, lends credence to the what sources tell us are plans to bring him back as substantive head of the EFCC.

It may be recalled that President Jonathan only appointed Ibrahim Lamorde as 'acting' chairman which is very telling.

Meanwhile, after making public her claims that she heard about her sack from the television, it has now been revealed that Mrs. Farida Waziri was actually served with a dismissal letter on Thursday by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The letter which was signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim Pius, was served on Mrs. Farida Waziri yesterday, Thursday the 24th of November, 2011.

Farida had given selected the Punch Newspapers an interview where she had claimed that she only heard of her sack on T.V. and she was considering what to do when she officially receives communication as to her removal. This freudian slip on her part may have made the government decide against giving her a soft landing as her comments portrayed her as considering any option. The exchange between Mrs. Waziri and The Punch went thus;



"
Punch: How did you see what happened?

Farida: I don’t know; I will talk to you later because I have not gotten any fact. I only heard of it on television and I have nothing to say.

Punch: What do you intend to do if you are formally communicated?

Farida: When we get there we will decide the next option. I will link you up through the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi."




“Relieve of your appointment as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission." and continues "I write to inform you that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan has relieved you of your appointment as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with effect from Wednesday 23rd November, 2011. Consequently, you are to hand over the affairs of the commission to the Director of Operations, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde. I also wish to express Mr President’s appreciation to you for the services you have rendered to the commission and indeed our dear country.”

With the receipt of the letter, the ball is now in the court of Mrs. Farida Waziri who gave substle hints that she might challenge her dismissal in court as certain opposition elements most notably Malam Nasir Elrufai of the CPC are urging her to do.

But it is doubtful if she would follow this course of action as it may force the government to release some of the more unsavoury facts about her.

For instance, it is alleged that the EFCC had charged a certain suspect to court and the suspect made certain revelations about his relationship with Mrs. Wazirir which were dismissed by the powers that be until the suspects produced earth shattering evidence in the form of pictures of him with Farida!

Meanwhile, just as Farida was receiving her letter of 'dismissal', Ibrahim Lamorde was receiving his letter of appointment. And sensing that there is no profiti i following the corspe to the grave, Mr. Femi Babafemi has made a 360 and switched his loyalties to the new helmsman, Ibrahim Lamorde who Mr. Babafemi reported to the press as having taken over on Thursday (yesterday). According to Mr. Babafemi, his new boss has swung into action.

The idea is to remove subsidy and deregulate petrol
so that Shell and Total can come establish refineries.

Bring back Nuhu Ribadu

or

Dora Akunyili

One is involved in multiple taxation, increament in school fees. The other is talking about removing fuel subsidy.

Is Fashola different from GEJ?

stepo707:
But sun news and punch newspaper reports otherwise.which do we believe now?

Don't mind Gbawe and his multiple usernames aimed at ridiculing the President all the time. INEC announced yesterday that it is yet to take a stance on the outcome of Bayelsa PDP primaries.

Talk to Bayelsans (not state govt officials) if they want Sylva. See, 85% of Bayelsans, not just Jonathan don't want Sylva.

But why should civil servants & political office holders
consume 85% of our national budget?

What about we that do not work for government?

Achebe did same in OBJ's time

Ibadan.

This Buhari guy is funny.

The money he is using to prosecute an obviously lost case against GEJ
could have been used to pay rent of his parties national headquarters.

Buahahahahahaha. . . . . oh my ribs.

Prof Akporhonor’s bombshell:
‘Jonathan is an ASUU member’
FROM EMMANUEL OGOIGBE, WARRI
Tuesday, November 01, 2011

• Akporhonor
PHOTO: THE SUN PUBLISHING

* More Stories on This Section

Forget everything you’ve been told about the ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) strike before now. Forget the accusation about ASUU members and its executives trying to bring down the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, trying to bring about a revolution, bloodless or bloody. Fact is, President Jonathan, was once, and still is, an ASUU member.

Thus said Temi Akporhonor, a professor of Chemistry, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, and, until recently, the Rector, Delta State Polytechnic, Oghara, Delta State. In fact, he completed his four year tenure in August before proceeding on his sabbatical. But the professor of Chemistry who spoke with Daily Sun in an exclusive interview at his Agbarho residence has accused the President of playing a double game: of being an active member of ASUU and yet turning round to maltreat ASUU by reneging on the agreements that he reached with the union.

Akporhonor is not a happy man. He is not happy with governments, both at the Federal and State levels, for failing to fulfill their own side of the agreements they reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), in the past.

“Our government is paying lip service to education,” Akporhonor lamented in the interview with Daily Sun, before adding: “I want the strike to continue until government implement all the agreement reached.” “Government should endeavour to implement all the agreements reached before ASUU goes on full strike,” he warned. Excerpt of the interview in which he talked not only about ASUU but also about his stewardship as a Rector of Delta State Polytechnic, among other matters of common interest:

Tenure at Delta State Polythenic, Oghara
Administratively and academically I met structures on ground, and I built on it. When I came in about few courses were not accredited but by the time I left, all the courses had been accredited. Beside, there was only one programme for Higher National Diploma (HND) but by the time I left all the departments had HND programme approved for them.

Experience
I feel that it’s quite an experience; it’s something that we live to remember. Like I always tell people, I wasn’t born to be a Rector and I joined the profession in the university as a lecturer, and the highest position in the university is professor and any other thing that comes after it is just an addendum.

Assessment of education in the country
It is a pity that education standard is falling at the primary level, secondary level and even at the tertiary levels; in fact, we have a serious problem in the country. Above all, without education, I don’t think that we can have a good nation and if attention is not focused on education we will run into further problem. Various crises we are having in the society are all part of the decadence in education sector.

Improving our education sector
I think government has to take education very seriously. First and foremost, we have a UNESCO-approved standard which makes it mandatory for major part of our budget should go to education generally, not just tertiary education. Regrettably, we are going very far below that recommendation.

Revolution
In the first instance, if you want to build education it is not even at the tertiary level you start, let there be a revolution in that sector. It should start from the primary school and graduate to secondary school level and move ahead to the university level.

Training/re-training/renumeration of teachers
There is still the need for training and re-training of teachers. It is not enough to say those who will be teaching must be NCE graduate. And if you are not properly remunerated, then the purpose is defeated.
Uncompleted projects
I want to say boldly that uncompleted projects form one of the basic factors militating against our educational system. In this wise, I want to appeal to the Commissioner for Education (Delta State) to ensure that abandoned projects are completed. It is good the commissioner should try to go to both primary and secondary schools to monitor these projects because he is the eyes of the governor.

The looming ASUU strike
Well, for your information, we have finished with the warning strike. It is a pity that government did not fulfill its own part of the agreement. Imagine having finalized issues, government will not fulfill its own part of the bargain until ASUU will go on strike again. Unfortunately, government is insensitive to the plight of the common man, especially students whose parents are not rich. Every top government official wants his children to school abroad, but if a policy is put in place to compel every Nigerian to train their children in Nigeria, it will be better.

A vote of continuation of ASUU strike
Unfortunately, our government is paying lip service to education and in this wise I want the strike to continue until government implements all the agreement reached. It is true that our children are suffering, luckily it was a warning strike but government should endeavour to implement all the agreements reached before ASUU goes on full strike.
Strike and sabotage

Well, it is not aimed at discrediting the present government but rather, President Jonathan inherited the strike. It is not a calculated attempt to make the country ungovernable for Mr. President, it is just a coincidence. Why the strike is worrisome is because President Jonathan was once an ASUU man; hence it is worrisome and that is one of the problems we are facing in this country. I want to appeal to President Jonathan to think about it, that he was once a member of ASUU while he was at the University of Port-Harcourt. I think he still is. He should be serious and call the leadership of ASUU, and appeal to them quietly; it is not all the time he should go to the Press. He should take it upon himself and do something about it knowing that he is an ASUU member. But the issue of people saying the strike is to make the country ungovernable for Jonathan should not arise.

A please for a conducive learning environment
We should learn to appreciate our own, the era of importing foreign expert is gone. We have capable Nigerians that can handle education properly. Nigerians who go outside the country do excel. We travel outside the country to study and in most cases we excel more than them but the only problem is that the environment they study is very conducive. If I were in government I would suggest pilot project as a prelude in implementing our resourcefulness. On this wise, I am pleading with government to take education seriously.

@Poster
No sir, Amosun won.

@Poster
This is harsh but not too far from the truth.
There were rumours that Ayo Salami delivered Ekiti and Osun to ACN.

But obviously, Fashola's performance (not Tinubu) delivered Lagos, Oyo & Ogun.
So far, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti & Osun are not doing any better than their PDP counterparts
in Rivers, Enugu, Jigawa etc.

So, ACN could be worse than PDP without the Fashola effect.

Lagos Council poll: A post-mortem
By OMONIYI SALAUDEEN
Sunday, October 30, 2011
• Tinubu
• Photo: Sun Publishing

* More Stories on This Section

By guile and intrigue, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) on Monday finally concluded last Saturday’s controversial Local Government poll. The announcement of the result came nearly 72 hours after the conduct of the election across 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Development Council Areas (LCDA) in the state without any convincing reason for the unanticipated delay from the Chairman of the electoral umpire, Justice Fatai Adeyinka, who declared the winners.

And expectedly, the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) emerged victorious with a landslide clinching all the available 57 chairmanship positions in the state. Though its strongest rival, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), did its best to wrestle power in some council areas, its best was not good enough. Rather, it went home with only 18 councillorship positions. The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on the other hand took a third distant position with just two councillorship seats.

What’s more! The election has come and gone but the question still remains: How transparent is the process? Just like the usual contestation that has always characterized every election in the country, this result has been another major source of controversy among concerned parties in the last couple of days. Indeed, other than the 2007 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Prof Maurice Iwu, no other poll in the recent past had generated as much protests and condemnation as the last Saturday’s election.

[b]Not only that the election was characterized by voters’ apathy and low turn out, the voting process was also marred by a number of irregularities ranging from lack of adequate materials and late arrival to ballot snatching and stuffing [/b]as well as other logistic challenges.
This was contrary to the assurance from the chairman of the commission on the eve of the election, saying that perfect logistic arrangements had been put in place to guarantee a smooth and hitch free poll. Addressing a press conference at the Yaba Headquarters of the commission to sensitize the voters ahead of the poll, he said the commission was poised to conduct a most transparent election. He also dismissed the insinuation of an alleged rigging plan by the ACN as untrue.

However, in most council areas where Sunday Sun monitored the election, the performance of the umpire in the overall conduct of the poll was less than inspiring. In Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government, Badagry, Agbado-Oke-Odo LCDA, Somolu logistic challenges were suggestive of ineptitude of the electoral officers in charge, lack of adequate preparation or deliberate connivance with a particular party in the contest. For instance, at Ward C, unit 005, Onibaba polling unit in Ajeromi, there were protests by the voters over inadequate supply of ballot papers.

A looming crisis was slightly averted by the timely intervention of the Electoral Commissioners in charge of logistics, Barrister Musbau Oyefeso, who assured the restive party agents that enough voting materials would be supplied. According to the spokesperson for the aggrieved voters and councillorship candidate of the CPC, Uche, out of 679 voters’ list, only 50 ballot papers were supplied, alleging that it was a deliberate attempt to manipulate the election in favour of a particular party.

But Oyefeso, while justifying the short supply of voting materials, assured that, “The vote will be counted in the presence of everybody and the winner will be declared instantly. Security personnel will also follow them (electoral officers) to the collation centres. So, there wouldn’t be any hanky panky. After using the 50 ballot papers, we will make sure we supply more. We want to make sure that they do not release excess ballot papers because one of the ways by which people do malpractices is by stuffing ballot box, using unused ballot papers for their own selfish end.

This time around, we are monitoring the ballot papers. So, let voting start with the 50; once they exhaust that, the electoral officer will bring in more.” The Electoral Officer in charge of materials in the area, Mr. Shola Abiodun, also speaking with Sunday Sun, said, “All we want to avoid is a situation whereby we overload ballot papers to people. If they issue 50, nobody will wait for them to get to 45 before they are reimbursed.”

A similar scenario also played itself out at Ward C, 052, Orodu Primary school, in the same council when a team of journalists visited the area. As at 11: 15 a.m when the group arrived in the centre, voting was yet to start because a wrong voters’ register was brought to the polling unit. A visibly angry voter, Mr. Samuel Abiodun, could not hide his anger, saying, “We are angry because they are just keeping us waiting endlessly. I have been here since 8 o’clock but electoral officers didn’t come until 10 o’clock. And even when they came, they brought a wrong voters’ list. So, we have asked them to go and bring our own register. We are still waiting for them.”

At Ifelodun LCDA, a boy was caught with two empty boxes at about 11:45 a.m. And when confronted, he said the bus which was supposed to convey them to their respective units disappointed them. But the Electoral Officer for the council area, Mr. Ayodeji Pedro, debunked the claim, saying they merely changed some boxes with worn out keys. He, however, confirmed logistic challenges.

Badagry was not speared of the perceived irregularities either. At Badagry West LCDA, Mrs. Basirat Adele, the Electoral Officer in charge of ward C, unit 006, disclosed that only 400 ballots were supplied as against a registered list of 1134 voters. The Chairman of the council, Hon Bamigbose Hontonyon Joseph, confirming the shortage in an interview with journalists, said, “The only challenge we have is limited supply of ballot papers which is a peculiar situation all over. And this is because if the materials are too much, people may be tempted to do otherwise. I think it is a control measure by LASIEC.”

Apart from all these irregularities, there were also allegations of widespread ballot snatching and stuffing in Somolu, Ikoyi/Obalende, Ojoo and Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA, among others. For instance, at Agbado Oke-Odo, a 14-seater Volkswagen bus with registration number XU 200 BGD was caught with thumb printed ballot papers. As such, the PDP has declared as unacceptable the results of the election announced by the LASIEC which gave victory to the ACN. And accordingly, there were protests against the outcome of the poll across the state. It only took the intervention of the police to disperse the aggrieved voters and PDP supporters who besieged the secretariat of Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA protesting the victory of the ACN.

How genuine or otherwise some of these grievances are is definitely a matter for the electoral body to prove. But on a balance of scale, the process is apparently flawed and it is a good example of how not to conduct a transparent election. For one, the delay in the announcement of the result has given room for suspicion. Secondly, the pronouncement of the Chairman was at variance with what eventually transpired on the day of the election. His words, “We have also heard the allegation that LASIEC has decided not to count votes at the polling units. That is not true.

If the election period is 8 am to 3 pm and movement restriction is from 7 am to 4 pm, that means we reserve one hour for counting. We did it in 2008 and we are doing it again this time around. The one hour is for counting and movement of the results to collation centres.” Had the results been declared at the polling centres as promised by the commission, certainly, there wouldn’t have been any basis for the needless controversies. The rest is history! But there is always another day.

So, it is instructive for the victorious ACN to know in the final analysis that the voters’ apathy in this election was an indication of its declining popularity at the grassroots level due to the dismal performance of its chairmen in their respective council areas. Rather than embarking on meaningful development projects that would touch the lives of the people, many of them engage in sycophancy by using public funds to build structures that are named after some particular individuals just to marshal the ego of their political godfather.

With a trend like this, the next election may not be a walkover for the party because performance has come to be a critical factor in election of candidates into the position of authority as demonstrated in the South West during the April general election.

Definitely, "The Nations Newspaper" (Tinubu & ACN's mouthpiece)
will reply him tomorrow.

I support the removal of fuel subsidy too.

It is a fact that the subsidy claims has benefited only a few individuals to the detriment of the generality of Nigerians for whom it is meant. ``

Let us be bold enough to call a spade a spade. The masses travel on big mass transit vehicles which run on diesel, Lorries and other heavy duty vehicles that convey farm produce from the rural areas to urban centres are also powered by the same diesel which has since been deregulated.

Our research also indicates that BRT buses in places like Lagos as well as other mass commuter schemes which convey workers to and from their work place, including over 80 percent of NLC members, on a daily basis, are fueled by diesel. So who benefits from subsidized PMS?. The gain of course goes to the few Nigerians that can afford fleet of petrol powered cars, four wheel drives and sport utility vehicles, SUV,”

Christian militants For your information, Sheik Khalid Abubakar Aliyu of JNI, christians don't do militancy, unlike you muslims, christians don't fight for their God. Christians believe that the battle is the lord's. Their God fight for them and not the other way round. It is you people that go on a bombing spree in the name of fighting for your Allah. It is hightime JNI stopped all that media propaganda and misinformation.

@Poster, Your observation on Eko Ile is right, but you cannot win it arguing with him.
Honestly, sometimes, reading his posts, I wonder the kind of person he is.
You see, some people find it difficult to admit mistakes and take corrections.
He is obviously one of them. Leave him. Let him be.

Na waooo. . .

Buhari should go take a swim in the atlantic. What does he know?
Subsidy or no-subsidy is serious economics puzzle.
It is not boko haram, almagiri or extrimism.

The supply structure of petroleum products is blurred and as Oby Ezekwesili advised, it should be strenghtened.

Bola Tinubu

I was disappointed in our most hyped BRF for the conduct of a minor elections to local councils. It goes to say that all our politicians are the same whether ACN, PDP, ANPP or whichever, they will cheat, steal and rig if given the opportunity. We blame GEJ for conducting a somewhat free and tranparent elections nationwide but Fashola obviously towed the usual line of rigging to deliver council chairmen for ACN.

Jega introduced a system where votes are counted immediately and results announced at each polling unit, so

1) why did it take Fashola and his LASIEC three days to announce election results.

2) Why were journalist shut out during the counting and collation of votes

Something fishy obviously went on. These ACN guys are hypocrites.

This is good news.

Any muslim in the house?

Please someone should provide answers/explanations to
issues raised by 1stcitizen on page 1 of this thread.

Good. Excellent decision.

In my area power has improved alot.
Power and fuel are some remarkable achievement of the GEJ administration.