₦airaland Forum

many of course. one was very close to me before he got deported overnight by team of SSS, Immigration and police. he is an American and he was accused of being a CIA agent. this happened in Abacha days.

To think that China will go to direct war with the US shows naivety; even IF push comes to shove, China will know to back down. Even almighty Russia had to back-track during Cuban Missile Crisis, despite equally powerful armoury and "mad" leader in Nikita Krushev. The strength of US military is not a myth, it is still the most potent military in modern history- well advanced beyond the next in line. More importantly, China knows this.

Then again, NK is the buffer between West and China, so it means a lot to China. So one cant just expect China to sit back and watch that hedge removed.

Really, IMHO, the joker is with US. when they really become fed-up with NK, they know how to checkmate Russia and China politically. Every other country is no more than trader who will shift ground at opportunity of good bargain. They will feed her to the sharks once the powers find bargain.

NK tough talk is all hot air, it will be suicidal to LAUNCH a nuke against US; it doesn't even have to enter her territory before the LAUNCH is countered and replied. I believe Russia is there to tell them the implication of such LAUNCH against US and how the mechanism of MAD works.

Anybody thinking Iran is so much a force must be a joker. Her capability is limited to her peers, not the BIG BOYS - they will do a quick work with her.

[quote author=Sunny_bobo]Adams Oshiomhole is a Moslem[/quote]No sir, he's a catholic.

[quote author=IT_Guru]ok[/quote]you can reach me on homerac7 at yahoo dot com for further discussions. i'm sure you know why i have to write my e-mail id in such funny way. ciao

i can make very good quality turnstiles locally for your company if you are interested.

Moukafoam: Boys! Enjoying how you guys have decided to ignor some nonetity here

Are you guys real golfers or you play internet golf?

Bros, na for real o! "Jew-men"no go know the neighbouring clubs as Mapet did a roll-call of them. Then, its only true golfers that know that threat to close BGC na IGG (Initial Gra-Gra), when shove comes to push, Oshiomhole himself will run down to apologize at the club himself. FACT!!!

mapet: @ Melahou,

1. I doubt your story and I think it's a blatant lie that Ikoyi club is shut because environmental sanitation. I doubt you're even a member of Ikoyi club else you'll not be posting false information
2. I am a member of Ikeja Golf Club (Benin Golf Club as well as Ibadan Golf clubs are sister clubs to us).
3. On environmental sanitation days we get into the club b4 7.00am. some of us are already "teeing" off by 6.20am.
4. NOBODY has ever come to harrass us in the club for not participating in environmental sanitation\
5. My office runs 24/7. some of us are on essential duties on weekends nobody has ever come to inquire why are we not participating in environmental sanitation
6. It is even more absurd that someone was asking that BGC should participate in cleaning of Osadebe avenue. Golf clubs as a private business have adminstrative staffs what work within (cleaners, managers, security etc), the internal and external environment of the club is maintained regularly.

Why u dey waste time dey explain how the "system" runs to those who don't care to know? BTW, i hope to take u up on that challenge someday soon when i have the time. Cheers bro!

mapet: @homerac7,

you be my senior o. H/c is 25, but I'm not afraid to give you a run for your h/c sometimes

do u wanna put ur money where ur mouth is? be ready to lose out on both match and medal with all d "asides" o! bcoz eyez dey red

clapping...

a perfect weave of facts and fallacies. only grand-masters can do such

...oh! it's Reno

Maple: ^^^

What most rational thinkers dislike is the double standard and hypocrisy displayed by people like you.

North Korea is a sovereign country with right to self-determination. How the NKoreans choose to live their lives, or defend themselves against external threats is their 'cup of tea', and not anybody's goddamn business. Most of the worlds most brutal dictatorial regimes are enjoying the protection of media and governments in countries claiming to be the so-called champions of freedom and democracy, simply because those dictators (who are equally enslaving their own people)answer to them "yes sir", at all times. NK doesnt, and thats call dignity, sir.

i wish i can make a total stand with this school of thought, but thought of nuclear warhead in hands of an irrational regime like North Korea gives me "hibis jibis", walahi!

mapet: 1. I think the Oloye went overboard or he's an illiterate....
2. Golf courses are private properties, well secured and not in anyway disturbing the public peace or affecting the environmental sanitation exercise.
3. In Lagos, all golf courses are fully loaded during environmental sanitation exercise, because that's even a good time to play as the course will not be busy, hence you can enjoy your game.
4. For me the pertinent question is, when is it part of our laws that government official storms private property to demand people partake in environmental sanitation excercises.
5. Benin Golf Club should sue Oloye and Oshiomole fast......we are not in military era-----that's if the story is true.

But I guess the club would have been opened by now and the oloye guy would have been warned in strong terms; going by the number of influential people that play golf, he'll be suprised that his warning would even come from military quarters

seems u r a true golfer from your "inside" knowledge of how the thing runs. wetin b ya h/c? ....10 here

styuupeed reasonong by OP.

since when did bombers become hostage rescue equipment? u mean if Britain really is to come and rescue the hostages, they will come with bombers....to do what? nonsence. if u had mentioned stealth helicopters, it would hav made a biy of sense, but bombers? What The Hell! will the OP recognise a bomber if he sees one? ...no b fighter o! i mean BOMBER itself with its massive size!

Alternative reasoning will be that they are here to provide logistic support to Nigeria's mission in Mali.

i couldnt help but laugh hard at the "hot slap" the guy gave to the French nation.

French criticise 'ignorant' comments by US tyre boss


Maurice Taylor is nicknamed "the Grizz" for his bear-like no-nonsense style


A French minister has responded angrily to the boss of US tyremaker Titan who said he would have to be "stupid" to invest in the country.

Maurice Taylor made the claims in a letter to France's minister for industrial recovery, Arnaud Montebourg.

On Thursday, Mr Montebourg replied that Mr Taylor's "extreme" comments showed a "perfect ignorance of what our country is".

He added that 20,000 foreign firms are in France, employing 2 million people.

Mr Taylor - a former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 - was replying to a request for Titan to consider investing in a loss-making Goodyear plant in Amiens, north France.

"I have visited that factory a couple of times. The French workforce gets paid high wages but only works three hours," Mr Taylor said in the letter, dated 8 February, and published by French business daily Les Echos on Wednesday.

"They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that's the French way!"

He is nicknamed "the Grizz" for his bear-like no-nonsense style. He added: "How stupid do you think we are?"

French unions had blasted the content of his letter.

In his response, Mr Montebourg said: "May I point out that Titan, the company you lead, is 20 times smaller than Michelin, our French leader of international influence, and 35 times less profitable?"

The minister added that 4,200 subsidiaries of US firms employed more than 500,000 people in France and that some firms had been around since 1842.

He went on to praise the efforts of young US soldiers in World War II and the current efforts of President Barack Obama to stop deindustrialisation in the US.

This is not the first row that Mr Montebourg has been involved in since the Socialists took charge of the presidency last summer.

He accused steelmaker Arcelor Mittal of "lying" and "disrespecting" the country and said it was no longer welcome during a spat over the closure of two furnaces at its steel plant in Florange.

France has a 35-hour statutory working week, brought in by the Socialist Party in 2000, but critics say it is now stifling economic growth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21530619

isnt same Okotie-eboh the first popular corrupt public figure who got himself nickname of "10%"? i guess in another 40 years, Bode George and Maina people too will be pushing for their sons to get national recognition. Late Okotie-eboh will be happier if his family will stop fighting over his estate from stolen national wealth he abruptly left behind over 40 years ago.

Billyonaire: Well, ownership of nuclear capabilities promotes you to the league of big boys automatically, we are not talking about victory here, in nuclear war, there is no victory. We are talking about equality of might and pride.

big boy...yes, you become big boy....but there are bigger boys. with a medium size nuclear bomb, a small city like Ado Ekiti can be flattened by about 80%. although the economic and strategic importance of the city is considered. Then the nuclear fallout affecting about the area of Ekiti, Kogi, Ondo, Osun States. Most of the new entrants into nuclear club only possess handful of such weapons, their power is not in number of the weapons they possess but in the unwanted destructive nature of the weapons themselves. Now imagine let's say India vs Russia, India probably have just enough nukes for Russia's major cities but Russia has enough nukes for all towns located on India's map. India may just be able to deploy from limited locations and intervals, while Russia has capacity to respond immediately you launch from multiple platforms and rapid rate. Now do you say they are mates despite being co-members of nuclear big boys club? Thats what i am trying to point out. Being just nuclear armed only heightens potential threat one is exposed to, and not exactly reverse. The ones who really enjoy the advantage are the ones who maintain massive arsenal stockpile, not the wanna-be-s.

on separate note, do you know that US went to Iraq with nuclear bomb sitting in one of the support ships to USS Enterprise? Iraq was not a nuclear nation but US was anticipating if an uncoventional warfare to evolve with Saddam using his nerve gas, they will nuke the place.

Billyonaire: In the end, its not what we want, its what's best for NK's survival as a nation and as a people. If Saddam and Ghaddafi had Nuclear weapons, theyy would have been alive today. The only language of friendship that the West understands is nuclear-powered military capabilities, and NK understands it.

bros, madness get scale o! ....police get rank...and nuclear possession get quantities. Even almighty Russia bowed in the height of their power when push came to shoves during the Cuban crisis.

My point is that possessing few nuclear bombs although makes you a nuclear power, but a mere small boy who's a legitimate nuclear target by the big sharks like US, Russia, France and UK. If you dont have it, you have far less probability of being attacked with one even in conventional war with any of the nuclear powers.

sheyie2007: I see dead people

lolzzz

Billyonaire: I see nothing wrong with NK exploring nuclear energy. She is a sovereign state and needs to defend her sovereignty especially since she is surrounded by enemy state with nuclear armed allies. The best thing for NK to do is go ahead and develop and master nuclear weaponry. That is the only way to win friendship of your enemies.

bro, i agree that as a sovereign nation, North Korea should have the right to develop her nuclear programme. But if u leave a mad man with corpse of his late mother, u may come back to find him having a barbecue party o! That's the conundrum of nuclear matter and sovereignty. Moreover, there's a nuclear proliferation treaty in place, but what i cant tell is if NK is signatory to that - even if they are, they can always rescind.

On issue of having enemies with nuclear power allies, thats a weak excuse except if NK actually plan attacking the enemies and their allies with some type of non-conventional weapon, thats when that can come into factor. This is because the regulation is that you cant launch nuclear attack if you have not been attacked in kind, or if its a last measure to self defence. If you do, other nuclear powers have the obligation to hit back at you for being a loose canon. Mutaually Assured Destruction (MAD) goes into gear.

honestly i dont want NK to have it because of their antecedents and current hostile posture. China's blind support for her makes matter worse because she's d buffer between China's East and America's West. But I dont think she can carry through her threat on attacking South Korea, she knows the consequence will be too much to bear. America will literally level her once more.

lol. agreement indeed...

by principle it should be honoured, but in Nigeria politics, it doesn't always need be if it doesn't suit the incumbent. Ask about Aburi conference and PDP zoning formula. But again, what did Macchiavelli say about agreements?...the moment it doesn't suit you any longer, ditch it and claim that you did that under duress or with incomplete information. shikena!

CGKing: Ol' bob read before you comment. Let Julius Berger phase the thing themselves.

^^^

whats ur obsession wt JB? what will JB do that others cant do? isnt ds same okada park argument i hear everytime that JB is the all in all? if you hav the smallest idea of how engineering projects run, u will know not to continue wt this ur JB talk.

Deep Sight: 1. How can you close a bridge for four months for maintenance and do the same again four years later?

2. How can you close a bridge for four months and not repair the street lights on it.

3. How can you close a bridge for four months and only begin to patch rough parts of it after it has been opened (not even finished yet, as I type)

4. As to repairing or resetting the joints of the Bridge, does this take four months?

5. As to repairing or resetting the joints of the Bridge, does this take N1 billion? That is 4 million Pounds.

6. How much would such have cost if in another country.

7. How long would such have taken if in another county?

8. When next will the bridge be closed down? Because if it is anytime in the next ten years then there is apparent fraud or at best - incompetence of the grossest and most objectionable nature.

bros, u r askn d wrong person.

hercules07: Apparently you do not know much about the army, the guy can never be the COAS, that is reserved for infantry and artillery, sometimes armour corp. he is not meant to be loyal to the COAS, his loyalty is to Nigeria and his Commander in chief.

False! while it might hav been somewhat traditional, Gen Alexander Ogomudia was from Engineering Corps.

Deep Sight: Well that is very strange and impossible to believe because the exact same portions of the bridge were closed on both occassions?

well bros, na wetin i read b dat o! na only top insider go fit giv u d load-down proper. what i hav experienced working on govt projects is dt ot always as dark as u think and never always as clear as u imagined. u just learn where to draw d line and play along.

also remember that a lot of highly competent consultants from private sectors do most of the preliminary works before final approval. so dont think less about the technical inputs that went there.

CGKing: Rubbish talk. Ask them if they embezzle money in phases. Can't they just contract the damn thing to Julius Berger? Let Julius phase the thing by themselves. Tired of these ppl men.

^^^

fooolish talk. do u know the lenght of the section dt was worked on that took 4 whole months? if the whole lenght is to b repaired at once can you guess how long it will take to do that> what about the costs? i am not holding brief for FG and her agencies, just that i hav low tolerance for criticism based on ignominy.

Deep Sight: Fair enough, but since you are well acquainted with this sort ofthing, can you tell why they had to repeat this within 4 years - and also why it had to take 4 whole months? Is it likely to be repeated yet again in another 4 years?

what i read from papers is that the previous job was for another section, not same place. the future jobs will be in subsequent sections in like manner. in other words, it's phased.

it is simple, Nigeria is member of OIC and it is balanced by her association with Vatican.

Deep Sight: Ol boy, I agree with you on the vibration thing, that is only normal. I do not even know if there was anything wrong with it in the first place. What I know FOR SURE - is that NOTHING tangible was done on that bridge to warrant the closure for four months. . . that was just corruption. That's my point.

Chief, just in same way I cant hold brief for FG/MWH/Picollo Bronelli. The info out then was that the expansion joints were to be replaced in segments, which they hav done. Other segments will be done in future. Thats what they said basically. I'm an engineer and I sometimes work on projects funded by FG. the pattern is if FG says on d paper that so so and so is the title of the project, please believe it even if u r the most acute skeptic. Now, the extent of execution might be another kettle of fish o! but in sort of high level works as 3MB civil works, most of the times it is as given. Picollo Brunelli wont risk cheap or shoddy job in their name because it will be a very foolish gamble for them. If the bridge fails, their reputation is damaged forever, ...yea it all goes beyond Nigeria because ur company name will instantly bcom the newest case study in every school of HSE and Quality Control all over the world. Worse for you is that the politicians and civil servants will wash their hands off you sharp-sharp. We all know ourselves and how to play d game. Price, u can tamper with, critical sections of the job, not even the president will make them tamper with it, or else dem go dump the job for am and no sane contractor will do it. The consciousness is there, even at the highest level of our very corrupt society.

Quick examples: ...Industrial nuclear disaster, where comes to ur mind? (Chernobyl) ...oil rig disaster? (Alpha Piper) ...industrial chemical disaster? (Bhopal) ...off shore oil spill disaster (BP)...catastrophic bridge failure (na ur name u wan make e dey there?)

these hue and cry over 3MB is getting more stewpid as d days go bye. I have been hearing all sort of silly cries of "abnormalities" with 3MB but never has anybody given a sane and educated reason. Today, a pepper seller will tell u dt d bridge is shaking, tomorrow a dog-catcher will tell tales of how d bridge was vibrating "dangerously", next a lawyer will talk about a bolt that is broken somewhere, bla bla bla..........

Nobody who is an expert has ever said that the bridge is faulty for any reason. by the way, how many bridges in Nigeria is in same type with 3MB? ...so why would u expect that it should b rigid like the other shorter bridges? If the vibration is the reasons u think it is abnormal? then u r right...it is normal for it to vibrate more because of its "abnormal" length. if it were to b as rigid as many of u expect, then that will b very abnormal because it will collapse if only a bicycle rides over it!!! if MUST vibrate more in order not to crmble under its own sheer weight when a rolling load is on it, otherwise there will be serious load imbalance which by its sheer size cant tolerate, hence catastrophic failure.

Pls if u have any other reasons y u think it is faulty, bring it up and i will like a thread be opened where structural engineers will come up and educate the people correctly. Not just silly sayings gathetred from pepper sellers, dog-catchers, lawyers and ice cream hawkers.

is that position constitutional? ...so how do you build something upon nothing by making legislative budgeting for an illegal entity? weird, isn't it?

@Abagworo,

Yes, a lot of Nigerian towns r mainly along the major roads, but when you factor that four major highways criss-cross Gombe town, then u will understand its conglomeration better. it is bigger than a town of 30,000 people.

The first pix is in Kasuwa area either along Biu road or close to Biu road. it is where u hav all the banks, so not necessarily university campus.

some of the other pix r around Federal Low cost estate or perhaps GRA. those r the well structured enivronments with paved streets as such.

the mosque, honestly i cant identify it. very likely i might be able if someone gives me a clue. but again, i havent been in gombe for 4 years, so there might be new structures that i haven't seen.

yes oooooooo! that's my Gombe! Jewel of the savanna. guess u took some of the pix in Federal Low Cost estate... enter GRA and Bauchi road make u see some nice town planning too

Decryptor: From your profile, i think you are South African. Here in Nigeria, the norms that follow fomalities in burying the dead is very different from what you have there in SA. Firstly, Nigeria does not make use of Burial Services but the burial of deceased persons are solely the responsibility of the family members. Esp the eastern part of Nigeria where it is taken very seriously.
Secondly, we don't cremate our dead here in Nigeria. So the possibility that there was a fraud from funeral homes or palors is completely ruled out.
These were extra-judicial killings carried out by the police whose members are mostly made up of people from the northern and western part of 9igeria. The people from these zones hate the easterners so much for no apparent reason.

apart from the bullshiit in bold, your responses r correct. I live in Lagos and hav fair idea of what SARS in GRA ikeja and SARS Elewe-eran in Abeokuta r like, wc r mere replication of other SARS all over the country- they r slaughter slabs! so forget the tribal sentiments, afterall, i'm also an Igbo man. there was a time it was almost a daily thing to hear gun shots at early in the mornings from SARS in Ikeja. Guess what they were shooting at? ...now u know. so many fathers and sons believed to be "hustling" in Lagos or other places who r too busy to call or visit home hav actually been used for live target practice in SARS headquarters. if u never knew, u wont know...

holyvirgin: The yola - Gombe road is in a good shape now, it was repaired last year. I just came back from yola yesterday.
The road was not the cause, read the article again

ow! that's a good news. it used to b very bad way back then, particularly at d sections btw Billiri n Kumo, then Immediately after Kaltungo till u get to Numan, u r just on ur own.