₦airaland Forum

1.Asa                                                          Female reggae musician.Has potentials to influence  her industry 
             
2.Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie                       Young female writer and author of the internationally acclaimed 'half of a yellow sun'

3.Mallam Nuhu Ribadu                                   Was influential in EFCC but now has potentials to influence future Nigerian politics

4.Deola Sagoe
                                             
5.philip Emeagwali                                         Super Computer Scientist that was once described as a father of the Internet. Influential to  those who visit his website.

6.Emeka Anyaoku                                         Influential as former Commonwealth Head but do not know how much influence he wields in Nigeria now but must have influence in the diplomatic world.

7.Oluwole Akinwande(Soyinka)                       Has been a recurring factor in Nigeria both as her first nobel laureate, literary guru, activist and an international figure and so qaulifies as influential.

8.Ngozi okonjo-Iweala                                       Former finance  and foreign affairs minister of Nigeria.  Influential in the International finance world as  a World Bank  Managing Director.

9.Genevieve Nnaji                                            Popular  Nollywood actress. Influential in the movie industry.

10.Oluchi Onweagba                                           Once MNET face of Africa and now an International model. Might be influential in the modelling world

11.Agbani darego                                     Former miss world who must have an influence on the NIgerian youths

12.Babatunde R fashola.            Lagos state governor with very progressive governance and touted as the best performing governor in present day Nigeria. Has potentials to influence future Nigerian politics.

13.Adenike ‘Nike’ Oshinowo-Soleye

14.Aliko Dangote                                                    Business tycoon with very large employment base and said to be the richest blackman.

15.Nwankwo Kanu                                           Most decorated Nigerian footballer and founder of the Kanu heart foundation

16.Biodun Shobanjo

17 & 18 P-Square brothers(Peter and Paul Okoye)     Pop musicians with much influence on youths

19.Michael Adenuga              Vast Nigerian businessman with interests in telecommunications ,banking and Oil. Huge employment base.

20.Enoch Adeboye      Nigerian Pastor and Preacher that hosts the world's most attended convention and pastors the largest African church with over 15,000 parishes. Winner of the vanguard living legend  contest of 2009.



PLEASE HELP FILL THE BLANKS AND FEEL FREE TO ADD OR MODIFY.

OAM4J:
There is definitely a definition problem here. They should have just called them 'Some honorable Nigerians'; may be 50% of them will qualify.

whao! strong words. any evidence?

It appears the stronger the derogatory words used on Men of God the more popular you are on Nairaland. Help us God.

[quote author=Igwe. link=topic=528575.msg6909916#msg6909916 date=1286654682]lol, president's got a handful of things to worry about at the moment.
I believe the state govt can handle that or you gonna blame your domestic squabbles on him also? [/quote]Who are having the sqaubles exactly. Please do not misrepresent GEJ here. Saying his hands are full appears to mean that protecting the rights of the citizens is not foremost in his resume. NO please. GEJ has shown a lot of concern for the masses not to talk of elder statesman. Many of them were in the lockout. I believe that GEJ will intervene if for nothing else to show that his hands are clean Ohakims actions could actually hurt him here so please do not hold such a negative brief for him. THE SS and SE are GEJ's main home constituencies no matter what anybody may think, Most of the SW will eventually go to AC so GEJ will not abandon these his primary constituencies because of 'a handful of things' . You can see how he reacted when MEND wanted to rubbish the SS.

I have always known that they will go down fighting but let them have their say. GEJ should have his own play ready. His think tank cannot go to s;eep. They have a lot of brainstorming to do. All options should be on the table. But diplomacy must be exhausted first.

Those omissions were huge as well as Akanu Ibiam , Ajayi Crowther, Mary slessor, Lord lugard, etc but I think Chukwumerije was right when he observed that Federal character was the culprit. he did not blame Jonathan after all he did not do  the choosing but could have done a better vetting job. However  a list of 50 men   cannot capture all worthy Nigerians to be included and so such omissions should not make GEJ lose Igbo votes. However the foreigners in that list could have been included as an addendum to make room for more worthy Nigerians.

violent:
If i were an Inspector General with Autonomy powers to protect and secure the lives of Nigerians, my first and immediate reaction to this swift is to get Mr Mr. Bakabio Walter. spokesman for JRC, arrested and charged to court for withholding vital information on terrorism and treason and as such, puts himself as an accomplice in such crimes.


when you get him arrested, then the bird will truly sing!

I'm tired of listening to paid advertorials!

Are you sure they did not alert them. For GEJ to have the gumption to say what he said, he must be coming from somewhere.

sad!!!!

Like Kwara like Katsina. Another dynasty.

OBJ is not on that list. Is it complete or is he a saint like Buhari? What they dont tell us is that this list is obsolete because by now those amounts are in multiplied figures. Their oil blocks are still churning out zillions. Current figures please.

Good one chyz. Ribadu draws the SW through AC, Oji draws d SE through grandPPA andthe rest of the southern votes fought bw GEJ and IBB while there is a major block vote in the North for IBB. The same grand northern scheme of using the South against themselves.

Abagworo:
The problem with the present FG is inability to admit the truth.Look at my answer that would have saved us so muvh stress and trouble.

Question - Sir,how true is this talk about zoning in your party?

Answer - Frankly speaking,there was a zoning arrangement in my party but a perculiar situation arose following the unprecedented demise of the President.It would be fair for us to allow his vice to continue the good works.

With this answer,I doubt if anyone will come out to oppose or accuse you of going against an agreement.

An interesting perspective but a bit simplistic in a game as complex as politics where ulterior motives and very long term permutations by power hungry folks would easily torpedo such a noble answer. The foundations of zoning, the unconstitutionality thereof, the sincerity and fidelity of the parties involved, the spirit of it and not the letter, the temptation on those who have benefitted from it to renege either by accident or design (coups, assassinations, force majeure) all need to be brought into the calculation to obtain the alchemy of reason why it should not be followed. Again you are forgetting that power is not easily relinquished without a struggle. Only few mortals like Mandela have been able to escape the allure of this ultimate aphrodisiac and for him, he was getting old and had tasted it for 5 years but uncle Joe only a few months and is very young and virile. Now fast-forward. Put the shoe on the other foot. If IBB was in GEJ's position, the man with the unending transition, would he just step aside without testing his popularity at the polls, a constitutionally assured right? Would he not invoke the party provisions that allow the man in power to seek re-nomination as long as he is constitutionally permitted? Abeg talk some as the Ghanaians would say. By now the mantra from most of the North would have been 'it is the will of Allah'. Now fatalism is not acceptable.

You might say that they rotated power to the south instead of allowing Abubakar to continue. Everyone
knows that at that time, military rule had become globally despicable and any one holding unto power military  was on his own. Again at whose expense was power rotated to the south? It was still at the expense of the south definitely not the North.  Alex Ekwueme was on a roller coaster to clinch power as Abacha had decimated most of  the strong poltical juggernauts in the country by death, imprisonment or exile . It would perhaps have been a battle royale between Ekwueme and Ige/Falae. No Northern political heavy was in sight and IBB would have been so odious had he come out then. More odious than now. Those figures were all unnacceptable to him and his constituency so he played a fast one killing 4 birds with one stone.

1/ Play the south against themselves as before and deny the SE power as a continuation of the civil war.
2/Pay lip service to assuaging the SW and Nadeco on June12 and Abiola by foisting on them a candidate he believed would not rock the boat. 
3/ Appear generous to the South by rotating power to them when actually the election was theirs to lose. All these three were to lead up to the season finale, 
4/ Reposition and take back power to the North through himself after 8 years of the token given to the south.

Of course against his expectation OBJ rocked the both and thwarted this by foisting his own man on the North, someone IBB would not morally contest against and then
God took over and the rest is the history he is trying so had to rewrite. This IBB's script is so long in the crafting that is why I said the above quote is simplistic. It is like taking a pen-knife to a gun fight or trying to use a keke marwa where a high horse powered bulldozer is needed. Thank God OBJ and GEJ are providing the needed horsepower for the bulldozer to go to work
I  have always maintained that IMO IBB, and most of the the North, is not sincere about power rotation . If so they would have constrained on Abubakar to include it in the 1999 constitution as, I gather, Abacha wanted to before his demise. Nothing would have stopped them. If so all these arguments now for or against zoning would have been moot. Friends we need to empower GEJ to put it on the front burner till it is brought into the constitution or that he restructures the country so thoroughly away from such an overwhelming and suffocating strong centre to make power at the centre unappealing . If not once the North grabs power again it might not be for 38 years but 83.  Of course I know there are many fair minded Northerners.  To them I apologise  if they feel I have been too hard at my analysis of the Northern Power mongery. However they will agree with me that there are Northern folks who think that they own Nigeria, the way Tompolo says he owns MEND, and parcel out power to whom and when and to the tune they want. They must be stopped before they disintegrate Nigeria. This is a time they must pull back and allow Jonathan. It is the will of Allah. Ta ta.

Is judicial intervention tantamount to Government intervention? Can someone please enlighten me.

Ohakim has always displayed a penchant for gangsterism. I personally am pro- Jonathan but that should not make me oppose those with opposing ideas. The beauty of democracy is that multiplicity of ideas is allowed to flower. To deny that is dictatorship. The minority should always  be allowed to have their say while the majority has their way. GEJ washed his hands off this because it is not his style. That Ohakim was afraid of presidential backlash is funny. How many meetings are going on all over the Nation and how many folks have GEJ purnished because of that?  GEJ should be wary of all these over-zealous gangsters that are outdoing themselves for his sake. They will only end up hurting him.

Whatsreally wrong with this guy?

500m? I doubt it.Try 5m or 50m.

babaearly:
free rent in this sh, it hole? and this is the best linda can blog about. rubbish.

Very unappreciative. So sad.

I think his performance so far is above average but for certain mis-steps like his handling of the recent bombing, delay in tackling the kidnap menace in Aba, kid gloves on the recent Boko Haram jail break,etc but I rate him above average. OP can also break the polling into segments ie for him to be rated differently in different sectors in other to get a clearer picture of his popularity or otherwise in each sector before reaching a global conclusion.

hope it

Daddi:
am in Enugu

Hope it is not a glo hoax

Somebody said that Okah got disgruntled at his lieutnants because of amnesty and went on self exile to South Africa. I pray thee where was he living before the amnesty? Even before his detention in Nigeria?

dappssee:
Jomo Gbomo is a code name. A pen name for the spokesperson of MEND. It is an office and not a person

So the office exists and is still functioning today abi? Or what are you saying?

Ehoi:
Like I said, the proof is, are there not MEND camps in the niger delta creeks today?
You can take a boat there to confirm. The government knows there are still many operating militant camps in the creeks at this very moment.
So who are we deceiving? Why are we trying to play the ostrich and wish MEND existence away like a bad dream.
It is the same attitude by us that have made them grow form a bunch of rag tag gang to the well organized outfit they are today.

We must swallow our pride and face this problem sooner rather than latter.

MEND has always maintained that not all militant camps are part of MEND unless you are talking about militancy in general. Then clarify that position because MEND does not equate all militant groups inthe creeks. Most militant groups accepted the amnesty but MEND did not. Those that went to Abuja are the groups that accepted it. They are the ones saying that MEND was not involved in the explosions. Those that we have all these while known as MEND have been consistently faceless and invisible but have always being ably represented by Gbomo Jomo and they still maintain that MEND planted the bombs. I am inclined to believe them rather than the ex militants. MEND has always being consistent so why should they be obsfucating things now.
I think GEJ should let his spin doctors do the damage control instead of throwing his hat into the ring. It belittles his office.
It is still possible that the real MEND is being used by the  politicians being suspected by GEJ. If so it means that this has always being the case and both GEJ and Clarke knew all along or at some point for  them to forcefully deny MEND's involvement on one hand and deny its continuing militancy and even existence on the other with the funny logic that a N Deltan is the president.

MEND's  myth and frightening image being denconstructed in a very funny and cheap manner for an unneccesary cheap point by GEJ. It is a sad day in Niger Delta. Tomorrow will tell the damage being done today. Then ND will need MEND but it would have shot itself so badly in the foot that the damage would be so irreparable. Sad!!  so sad!!! 

why waste such a talent by successive govts

why waste such a talent?

If all this is true about Ringim and d negative effect on the NP. I wonder what GEJ was thinking in picking him. I thought that his reasons for bringing back Ribadu was to use him somehow.Where is the followup?

None of the tribal champs should make that list.

I wish reporters would do more in their publications. No balancing of Ohaneze's comments with that of the managers of the centre to know the truth of his claims. For all we know, this might be an act by or a false story planted by political opponents of GEJ to tarnish his relationship with the Igbo even if it were in all the papers. Just like the Owerri affair that the presidency had to quickly react to and disclaim the lock-out.

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=519780.msg6840573#msg6840573 date=1285720811]Unbelievable!! This is the kind of misdirected understanding that continues to make you people subservient to your Igbo lords, you will ultimately be ruled by them. Mark my word.

I hereby continue with excerps from a recent interview of Professor Ango Abdullahi, former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria:

What is your opinion on Edwin Clark and others who have been clamouring for Jonathan to vie in 2011?

[b]This is why I wrote him a letter to remind him. I wrote him a letter personally on why he should tread with caution. We visited Warri a number of times. We had several meetings with the South-South people–mainly Ijaws–in Abuja, and that is how we agreed that they will support a northern presidential aspiration. But they will also want a South-southerner to be the vice-president, specifically, in the words of Edwin Clark, an ‘Ijaw man’. There are several tribes in South-South but he insisted on an Ijaw man. It worked out in the end. I Hope Clark will remember all these. He is not guiding Jonathan along the path of this agreement or understanding that it would get to them, after the North would have run its eight years. And if things work out the way we plan, the South-South will take its turn in 2015. And by that time it is the vice-president from that zone that will perhaps, depending on how he performs, emerge as the president. That was our agreement. But now, they want to disown that agreement and still want the North to support Jonathan to continue as president. Something must be wrong with the way they think.[/b]


Integrity is not a word that comes to mind whenever the name Edwin Clark is mentioned !![/quote]I have always suspected  this conspiracy. It is always a  wrong way to solve problems of a multi-ethnic society as Nigeria. A National Conference is a better approach were a total overview of  National issues is discussed. When it comes to powersharing, the agreement should be made by all the 6 geopolitical zones on how, when and whom not just a ganging up of two or three groups against the rest on how they will parcel out power among themselves and possibly give fragments to others when they decide. This is the bane of this Nation. If Nduchuks says it was a PDP affair why were all the 6 zones not present or represented at the meeting. All these conspiracies are coming back to bite the North on the backside. Clarke may be a bigot but using the North's own tactics to outsmart them is needed just like OBJ is doing. Till the North stops seeing themselves as kings and kingmakers, there is no sane reason to support them anymore by any Southern zone. It is obvious that the North does not see their historical/traditional alliances with the S.East as reciprocal but rather a use and dump tactic. The SE should support GEJ to the hilt and start fashioning a new politic for herself . Even if GEJ does not succed, a North /East alliance should never ever be contemplated anymore after deciphering this Northern mindset. The same goes also for the SS or SW. They used the Se against the Sw in the 50s and 60s. Used the Sw and SS against the SE in the civil war and after. Trying to use the SE against the SS in the present era. The South should wake up and smell the capuchino.

[quote author=Aloy+Emeka link=topic=522638.msg6850634#msg6850634 date=1285856845]Enough of the excuses. Our greatest threat in Nigeria is the mindset of the present and future generation and not the bigoted past generation. Many countries across the globe had bigoted ancestors who supported slavery, despoil, cannibalism, etc and they were able to navigate away from that and realize that their forefathers were blind but the reverse is the case in Nigeria. Tell a Northerner that Balewa was bigoted and he will cut off your head and it doesn't matter whether you present facts to him that he vehemently resisted Azikiwe and Macaulay who were trying to bring unity. Tell a Yorubaman that Awolowo was a tribal bigot and a scum of the earth whom I prefer to call Africa's Adolf Hitler and the Yorubaman will flip and give you 10,000 reasons why you are wrong and foolish at that; Tell an Igbo man that Kaduna Nzeogwu planned a bigoted coup and he will list the names of Yoruba soldiers who participated in the coup without considering whether those Yoruba soldiers participated because they were misled into believing the coup was for a cause or may be they didn't have any option of defecting knowing how the military is. Their families may have been hostages during the coup.

Bottom line, we place tribal integrity above human values. It doesn't matter if all of us are roasting in hunger and pain as long as the supremacy of our tribes remains in tact. That sort of thinking was what Azikiwe gave in his 1952 Speech at Lincoln university and then he allayed it as one of his fears that at the rate we are going, Africans will be more absorbed with tribal superiority than the value of their own lives and it is a pity.

So, our greatest threat is our retrogressive mind and not how our ancestors erred. Since we are able to identify these flaws, what is holding us from correcting them?[/quote]Great Post. If the abuse of our elders is modified to constructive criticism I suggest it should be copied and pasted on the Nigeria at 50 website

Story is so incredible that it appears a frameup or something funny. 4 adult brothers on toddlers. Blimey. I need very serious convincing on the reality of the event. It's possible one of them is suspected to have done it and the kids' people decided to deal with all of them. Very possible in Nigeria were might makes right. Will keep my fingers crossed till the whole thing unravels

If the founder and leader of PPA can defect why should folks blame a senator from doing so. Na wa for bigotry.

I have always known that the SE would come round. There are so many reasons for this  that I can't enumerate here. The unfullfill-able promises of desperados  can't fool the wise men from the East. The PDP primaries belong to GEJ. The elections will be more tricky as most of the SW will go to AC. IBB will make inroads in both the SE and SS but at the end of the day GEJ will nick it aided by incumbency factor. Winning the peace in Nigeria after that needs to be planned now. Some concessions will have to be made though .Good governance will ensure his second term come 2015. Anything short of that will lead to a reversal and then both the SE and North will be jostling for the position with him. National restructuring should be seriously embarked upon in his first tenure so that even if he does not come back in 2015, the centre would by then not be so attractive anymore.