₦airaland Forum

@Beaf, a lot has been happening about this Boko Haram thing that never make it to the newspapers. I am even surprised that 234next.com was bold enough to publish this story. There is no denying that the Yusufiyya sect are actively engaging in bombing campaigns, but I have reasons to believe that they are knowingly or unknowingly working either for politicians, foreign forces or both. I was surprised about how the international community was so bitter about the killing of Muhammad Yusuf. In fact the Nigerian government had to apologize and yet America claimed to kill Osama bin Laden in a similar manner.

And what many do not know is that all the politicians so far killed by Boko Haram all belong to one party. If Boko Haram hates democracy in general, they shouldn't discriminate on the party their victims belong to.

Talking about setting Muslims and Christians against each other, it should be noted that Boko Haram started by assasinating top Muslim clerics before proceeding to bombing of churches. That I believe is a deliberate plan to start a Muslims vs Christians war.

@Auwal, just give it up. Throughout history, the Hausas have never ruled non-Hausas and they have never won a war against non-Hausas. The Hausa language spread fast and far simply because it is the language of trade. I am a Borno man, our historical empire covers an area larger than today's Nigeria. We've never been militarily conquered by Europeans. God did not make me Hausa so you can't talk me or any of my people into joining an imaginary Hausa republic. We are part of Nigeria and will try to make it work. Afterall, the Kanem-Borno empire was a multi-ethnic federation much like Nigeria. We've learned to live with people of different ethnicities long before the creation of Nigeria.

ajirebi20:
At least under IBB, Nigeria was better off. and under Buhari as well.

I long for the IBB days. Life was peaceful, And Marwa in Lagos was just awesome, not what we have now with Fashola and Tinubu lording over us.

Marwa was in Borno during IBB's time. He governed Lagos under Abacha.

fried-rice:
Jokes apart, The Media is part of our problem.

Agreed, during the early days of the Yusufiyya sect, the media kept potraying them as the victims and the Borno state government as the bully. In fact, it is the media (BBC Hausa specifically) that created the name Boko Haram.

@ifyalways, this land is blessed but we the people are trying to curse it by our actions and inactions.

I know many people will disagree with me but I think this is a job well done. Our space program is one of the few things I give Obasanjo credit for initiating and all subsequent governments for continuing.

@9jaganja, but your grandma was bold enough to show herself when doing that and wasn't cowardly trying to set the Muslims and Christians in that area against each other. If this Bauchi woman wasn't caught, the story will be the normal one we are used to; Boko Haram!!!. And we will here the normal wholesale attack on Muslims whether you are Boko Haram or not.

I think the Media are also not helping the situation here. During the Yusufiyya problem in Maiduguri, the Media kept reporting stories out of context and portrayed the Yusufiyya sect as the victims. Now with the Boko Haram thing they are now promoting a single stereotype to a problem with multiple faces. Some days back, the police in Maiduguri managed to arrest a person supplying Boko Haramist with bomb making materials. It turned out the person is also Christian. Now we have a radical Islamic sect doing business with some Christians and killing both Muslims and Christians, don't you think very serious questions need to be asked here?

No, instead some Northern Muslims will say it is CAN behind it all and some Southern Christians will say it some Northern Muslims with born to rule mentality behind it all. I think we can only solve this problem or at least understand it when we stop telling ourselves convenient lies.

@nasoeb, I agree with you on your suggestion that we start proffering solutions instead of throwing insults around. As for AbuJabir24, I don't think he is a Boko Haramist but I believe he has fallen victim to the original motive behind Boko Haram. Which is to set Nigerians against one another and ultimately go to war to split the country. My hypothesis is that Boko Haram has became like a brand name under which mischief is perpetrated. I think the various attacks we are seeing are committed by four groups of interest;
1- Remnants of the Yusufiyya sect that have survived the 2009 Maiduguri battle.
2- Politicians: Not a single PDP politician has so far been killed in Maiduguri.
3- Armed robbers: the bank robbers in Adamawa could not be Yusufiyya people because they were seen eating bananas in Ramadan when they are supposed to be fasting.
4- Individuals sponsored by foreign interest to destabilize the country. That is the only reason why you find Muslims executing Muslim clerics and Christians attacking churches. Many people don't know about the involvement of bad Christians because somehow they are never reported in the newspapers. For example the guy shot in Maiduguri trying to  forcefully break into the state police command is a Christian. Recently another woman was caught trying to set a Church ablaze. I posted the woman's story here on Nairaland but surprisingly nobody seems to find it interesting. Here's the link for anybody that wants to get the full story. https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-748316.0.html#msg9047608

I am surprised that after 12 hours not a single person made a comment on this thread. Is it because the story didn't fit the normal Boko Haram stereotype we are used to? I thought this will be a good place for the progressives on Nairaland to have an honest discussions on the terrorist activities in this country.

Similar events have happened in Maiduguri but are never reported by the Media. There was the case of a girl caught trying to plant a bomb in her own church. Her mom got suspicious when the daughter insisted she shouldn't go to church. The mom reported to their pastor which led to the arrest of the girl. When Christians are destroying churches and Muslims are killing Imams, you know somebody somewhere is trying by all means to make Nigerians go to war against each other.

Nemesis caught up with a woman who attempted to set a church building in the Bauchi State capital ablaze at the weekend.

The suspect, Lydia Joseph, allegedly walked into the St. John Catholic Cathedral Church at about 12:30p.m. with a jerry can of fuel and a match box.

Ms Joseph who, it was learnt, lied to the security men at the gate that the content of the jerry can was kerosene, also told them that she wanted to pray and was allowed to enter the church compound.

The Catechist at the church, Johan Daniel, told NEXT that he was at the priest’s house in the church compound when he heard shouts.

“When I came out she had ran out of the compound but as God would have it the member who saw her chased and caught her,” Mr John said.

He said that after entering the church, the suspect poured the fuel on the pews inside the church and lit them with a lighter.

Mr John explained that after lighting the fire, she was on her way out when another member who was in the church to pray saw her and raised an alarm.

“We had to rush in and put off the fire,” he said. “Fortunately for us, a man praying in the church saw her and shouted that the gates should be locked. But many people, including the security men did not understand and before the gate was locked, she had ran out and he followed her and arrested her.”

He identified the suspect as Lydia Joseph, “a LovePeddler who was being converted by the Charismatic Renewal Ministry of the church”.

“She used to come and fellowship with them but she is not a member of the church,” Mr John said.

He said after interrogating the suspect, the police was alerted and she was handed over to them.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mohammed Barau, said the church alerted the police that a woman was caught with a jerry can of fuel and a lighter while trying to set the church ablaze.

Mr Barrau said that the suspect was currently in police custody, and investigation was on to know her motive for trying to set the church ablaze.

Source: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5740273-146/story.csp

It seems most people speaking against Ghaddafi here are people living in the west. When the west moves around forcing democracy down everybody's throat, I think that's world dictatorship. In a free world, people should have the right not to practice democracy. Must everybody contest to be a leader? We were quite Ok under our emirs, obas, obis etc before the westerners came and fractured the system. And now they are blaming us for failing to make their imposed system work.

As a Muslim, I think it is good that christians also get christian banking. Since both the Qur'an and the Bible are explicit in their prohibition of usury, Islamic and Christian banks will have more in common. The Swedish model Pastor Ayo is talking about is based on the micro finance model created by Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi Muslim. I think the pastor should fight against usury just like Jesus fought it during his lifetime.

I don't know how true or false the story is, but I like how he emphasized his pride in black Africans. I was made to understand that Ghaddafi's tribe has more Blacks than light skinned people. Maybe they are one of those Berber tribes that only recently start losing their black color. I think the Arabs dislike him so much because he is not as Arabized as they want him to be. We can all see how the Qatari emir unleashed his media machine in the form of Al-Jazeerah against Ghaddafi.

I think it's wrong for GEJ to take the credit for the satellites for himself alone. Most of the work was done by Obasanjo. Secondly, the two satellites can not provide internet bandwidth. They are earth observation satellites and not communications satellite. Nigcomsat is our communication satellite and not the NigeriaSat series of satellites. I think whoever wrote that speech for GEJ should be queried.

The following is the part of the thisday article I was refering to

The second satellite, NigeriaSat2, is currently in its seventh year in orbit and is a follow-up to the manifestation of the technological innovation behind the design and implementation of the satellite system called NigeriaSat-1 which was launched on September 27, 2003 with a lifespan of five years.

NigeriaSat-1 which was launched in September 2003 is the one in it's 7th year in orbit and not NigeriaSat-2 which was launched yesterday. I am not challenging you @Kobojunkie, I am just pointing out an obvious mistake in the report.

Kobojunkie:
^^^ How about you go do your own research, put together a convincing write up of your own, along with back up evidence to support whatever claims you have to offer. Then you talk then!

All I am trying to do is get real answers to questions, not get told I should not believe what I read from the more legitimate sources simply because you say so.

Please re-read the thisday article you posted. The very article that said we are launching NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X this wednesday is still saying that NigeriaSat-2 has been in orbit for 7 years. I think this whole thread is about the launch of NigeriaSat-2, so definitely saying NigeriaSat-2 has been in orbit for 7 years is a mistake. You do not need any research to see that.

@Kobo, I think there is a mistake in that report. It is NigeriaSat-1 that has spent 7 years in Orbit not NigeriaSat-2 which was just launched now.

Pardon me @Kobo, here is your reference.

In May 2007, the Nigerian government rejoiced as the Chinese- built Nigeria Communications Satellite - 1 (NIGCOMSAT-1), was sent into orbit by a Chinese rocket at the Xichang launch facility. Nigeria was upbeat and looking forward to 15 years of advanced telecommunications service, thanks to a satellite which China, along with sending into space, had funded to the tune of well over $200 million.

www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JK18Ad01.html

Apart from that we only have NigeriaSat-1 which we have already used beyond it's intended 4 year lifesapan. It was built by Surrey Systems Lab at the cost of 10 million dollars, roughly 1.5B naira at that time. IMO that wasn't very expensive. By the way the NigeriaSat-1 is an earth observation satellite whose use may not be too apparent to the general public like the Nigcomsat which is a communications satellite. The first Nigcomsat would have had a lifespan of 15 years if not for the unfortunate failure.

Kobojunkie:
^^ At least get your story right . . . . it did cost us money--- it was not free of charge!! The replacement was what was at no cost.


http://allafrica.com/stories/200811190748.html

Haba @KoboJunkie, why start an argument for the sake of it. Yes, the satellite is worth 30bn but the Chinese funded the project. We were suppose to pay back with the money made from the satellite. Building and launching a satellite is an Engineering project so naturally somebody has to foot the bill.

Kobojunkie:
What about the previous satellites we paid China millions of dollars for?

That was Nigcomsat our communications satellite and we didn't pay a kobo for it. The chinese funded the project with the hope that it will generate revenue to pay for itself before it malfunctioned. Now they are building it's replacement Nigcomsat-1R because the first one was insured. Unlike what many believe, we are not wasting millions on that project.

Is the national assembly not built like a central mosque too. Me think some forces are trying hard to portray us as a muslim state.

Agreed, Just like the capitol hill in U.S.A, the Kremlin in Russia and St. Peters Bassilica in the Vatican. Damn these Muslims.

illusion2:
An illogical excuse if you ask me.

20 million Where did you get this figure from ?

How old are these people?

We have over 200 languages in Nigeria,why must we pander to every one? Even in arab countries,the have stopped using 'ajami' on their number plates,so as to keep up with modernisation.

Please lets stop all this pandering to silly sentiments. People can easily identify money without Ajami scripts.

Yeah we may have over 200 languages in Nigeria but how many have the culture of writing before the coming of the Whiteman? Ajami is the original Hausa script. The latin characters were later forcefully introduced by the colonialists. Don't forget that the oldest known written material in Nigeria is in Arabic by one Abu Musa El-Kanemi. And Arab countries are not dropping the Arabic script, in fact even the Jewish state of Israel have Arabic script on it's currency, the Shekkel. I once argued here on Nauraland that one of the reasons we have Ajami on the Naira is heritage. And that's the same reason Soludo changed his name from Charles to Chukwuma.

I am of the opinion that the South should also evolve past the strict ethnic inclination and people start seeing themselves as just Southerners. That way we will be closer to realizing a true honest Nigerian identity. I am not saying you should lose your ethnicity. But the main purpose of ethnicity is nothing more than identification.

I am not saying this is not true, but motorists are not even allowed near the gate of the police headquaters. You can only park at the other side of the road even if you want to go into the HQ.

Rgp92:
Too much Capitalism is bad, so is too much communism. How about a mixture of both Socialism?

Seconded.
I think that is what China is experimenting and they seem to be succeeding. People are allowed to get rewarded for their hardwork but the society doesn't ignore those that fail to make it. My problem with capitalism is it's soullessness. It treats poverty as the fault of the poor.

@nagoma, well said. But I most also add that the culture of integration extends to almost all parts if the North and not just Kano. People from my part of the North are just assumed to be Kanuri irrespective of their ethnicities. This is because we all share the Abacha style facial marks and speak the lingua franca, Kanuri. I must state however that Hausa has taken over as the lingua franca now though many still cannot speak it. For example, the current governor of Yobe state is the state's first Kanuri governor since the creation of the state but the general assumption is that all the past governors are Kanuri since the state is generally a Kanuri territorry. That culture of easy integration is part of the reason why Northerners insist on one Nigeria much more than Southerners. Yet many Southerners are made to believe that it's just because of crude oil.

I think the little white racist is just trying to dodge that clear truth. Whites are beginning to find themselves in the extreme poverty that blacks have been subjected to since the beginning of the whiteman's domination of world politics. All humans react in mostly similar ways when subjected to the same conditions.

Beaf!:
Why focus this debate on the 'Sambo' in his name? This is simple. The father who is Igbo by origin married a Hausa and gave birth to a boy and decided to name him Sambo. End of discussion.

His name is Namadi Nalado Sambo. His father's name is Nalado, a true traditional Hausa name while Sambo is his grandfather's name. I think there is no doubt that Namadi is Hausa, the question might be whether they originally from Zaria or are settlers from another part of Hausaland.

I think there is nothing wrong with knowing our roots. It's discrimination that is bad. And I believe we are fast outgrowing petty ethnic based discrimination in our national lives, at least I can speak for the North. For example everybody in Kano knows that Shekaurau has his origins in Borno yet they voted for him twice as governor. Muhammad Abatcha also has Borno origin and is very visible in his surname yet he contested for Kano governorship. The member representing Maiduguri metropolitan council in Borno is also a Yobe man while one of the house of reps members from Potiskum in Yobe state is from Borno. The Borno state PDP chairman is Hausa, we all know that originally there were no indigeneous Hausas in the whole North-East. Kaduna is even more liberal than any other place in the North because it's a melting pot of all Northerners and sometimes even Southerners. My point is that our society is evolving, and that's a good thing.

Now I realize that many Nigerian christians are not actually anti-Islam but anti-religion. Imagine them insulting the elderly man for advocating for a christian church. The same thing happened with the christians and jews of Arabia during the time of Prophet Muhammad. They prefer not to be judged by their holy books but by laws they have written with their own hands. Just for the record, I think the man has the right to demand for a christian court. And for those wondering why we have sharia courts in a democracy I ask them to revisit our history. For more than a thousand years before the christian parts of Nigeria had christianity, we had an Islamic civilization in our part of the country. So asking us to drop that for Democracy is like asking a person to stop speaking his native tongue because we are in a democracy. I am not saying you have to like Muslims, but can't you live and let live? Nobody is forcing Shari'ah on non-Muslims. Not even in Shariah states. It's unislamic to do that.

tpia@:
muammar = momoh.

if you pronounce muhammed as moh hoh moh, the pronounciation will turn to muammar or momoh after a while.

depending on dialectal variation.

Nope, Muammar is derived from the word Amr and so is the name Amir. Muammar is an Arabic name that has not been indeginized by any Nigerian ethnic group that I know. Please let's not start a debate here.

lagcity:
yeaaa! another bombshell. which one be dis again? do u have some explanation or proof of this?

Nguru local government area of Yobe state where Hamza Al-Mustapha hails from is home to many indigeneous Yoruba people, many of whom settled with the coming of the railway. The same story with Nasir El-Rufai in Zaria. Go to Hausari, the main Hausa neighbourhood in Maiduguri, you'll find out that many of the people one assumes to be Hausa are actually Yoruba. Most of them can still speak the language but culturally they are as Hausa as the average Kano man, especially the kola nut merchant families. I've gone to school with some of them, everybody knows their ethnicity but they are full indigenes now with Maiduguri indigene certificates. The VC of Yobe state university is 100% indigene of Yobe state but is also a Yoruba man whose surname is Alabi. My point is that the North have evolved past the tribal identity thing a long time ago, these things are only raised when they can score political points.