₦airaland Forum

cap28:
You are wrong (again!) Bedouin which is derived from the arabic word "bedu" which means desert dweller, are nomadic arabs who move from one place to another on camels, they live in the desert regions of the middle east, from time to time they adopt a sedentary lifestyle and when they do you will find them in countries like Syria, Libya, Israel and Egypt NOT in northern nigeria -

The Arab Bedouins are in no way related to the Kanuri people, the  Kanuri are descendants of the kanem bornu empire which is now known as Chad,  - the Kanem people migrated east to the lake chad area and started intermarrying with the people in the area, this region is now known as Borno  in Nigeria, the Kanuri have no relationship with arabs apart from their religion islam

I'm surprised how I always get pulled back into this discussion. But let me tell you what the 14th century Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi said about Kanem.

The King is a wandering Bedouin. When he sits on his throne, his subjects make obeisance to him and fall on their faces. His armies, including cavalry, infantry, and porters, number 100,000. Between Aljama and Yalamlam there dwell a great many unbelievers…the king of Kanem has five minor kings under his sway. His horses are small. Kanem is a vast region through which the blessed Nile flows."

And the 12th Century Greek scholar Yaqut said

Kanem …is part of the land of the Berbers in the farthest west in the land of the Sudan. Some say that the Kanem are a people of the Sudan. At the present day there is a poet at Marrakesh in Maghrib known as al-Kanimi (the one from Kanem) whose excellent work is attested to,

And you tell me that the people of Kanem are in no way related to Berbers and have not bedouins among them.

cap28:
you are extremely confused!!!!

No I am not. I just happen to know some things you don't.

EzeUche22:
People need to understand that the Berbers are native to Africa.

The Tuareg fall into this category. They are not ARAB. Some Berber groups speak Arabic, but their ethnicity is still Berber.

Please tell them.

9jaganja:
Persians are mixed in case you don't know. Persians are Mongols/Africans/Caucasians (especially Greeks). I don't know why you are so ignorant to the point of accusing others of Ignorance. Try calling a bi racial kid from New York, African. Even though I identify myself as African, I know I'm not fully African so arguing with me that you are African blah blah is really not necessary. Persians know they are mixed that's why they don't identify as Arabs. And this is not about Persia. You flawed your own logic. Persia was an empire not a race of people. Persia was made of people from all over the old world (America not sure). So calling Persians Arab is ridiculous same way calling Americans whites is stoopid. As for the Turks, I'll like you to post their history here yourself and see why they belong with the Arabs.

Definition of Persians goes like this: Persian people, are an ethnic group native to Iran.

9jaganja:
Noone is as ignorant as an ignorant person calling someone ignorant. Go study hard. Read hard but there is one thing you can't study for, it's called intellectual logic, you think hard to get it not read.

Logic, hmn. So you logically derived that Berbers and Persians are Arabs! Respect.

I bet you think that Afghans and Pakistanis are also Arabs . You can continue believing what you want to believe, I cannot be of any help now.

Oh I forgot, I said I give up.

@9jaganja, so you still think Turks, Persians and Berbers are Arabs. It's just unfortunate.
Try telling a Turk or an Iranian that he is Arab and see what he will do to you. It's almost like telling a Jew that he is Arab.

It baffles me how people become so stubborn in their ignorance. No wonder Ghaddafi used the phrase "ignorant Africans".

I give up.

cap28:
Actually Gaddafi is a Bedouin (a nomadic arab) not a Berber and I don't think he regards himself as an african, despite his self proclaimed title of King of Kings of africa.

Actually Bedouin is a term used to describe desert dwellers not necessarily Arabs. We have ethnic groups in Nigeria that are Bedouins, some have retained a variation of the name. Examples are Bade and Badawi, you can find them in Borno and Yobe states and can be considered to be branches or related to the Kanuris also known as Barebari (Berbers in Hausa).

cap28:
You've got to understand that these arabs invaded africa, enslaved its indigenous people and forced their language and religion on its conquered people, they even managed to encroach into parts of southern nigeria

I am a little bit lost here, when did Arabs encroach into Southern Nigeria?

cap28:
I don't rely on BBC or CNN for news as most of the time its biased propaganda - I've read several books written by southern sudanese people who have lived under the tyrannical rule of Omar Bashir and their stories are absolutely horrendous, violence, killings and brutalisation of southern sudanese people are  regarded as the norm and anyone who speaks out against their persecution is murdered.
You should read a book called Diary of a Lost Girl by Naima Bint Harith aka Kola Boof whose own parents were murdered in front of her because her father spoke out against the way arab men enslaved black african boys, kept them in chains and made them sleep out in the back yard with their animals.

Actually we are talking about Darfur here not Southern Sudan. So I think you are reading the wrong books. Southern Sudan has had autonomy for some time now and may end up being an independent state if they win a referendum. Darfur is more to the west and shares a border with Chad republic. I think the problem is that maybe you have never came across a Sudanese and talked one on one. I have.

cap28:
Gadaffi is an arab expansionist who is backed and supported by the rest of the arab world, the fact that the population of his country is only 7 million does not mean that he is not a power broker in africa, with the backing of his arab brothers he is more powerful than Tunde Fashola who is nothing more than a western puppet.
What vision or goal do the likes of Fashola have for their people?

I think the issue of Ghaddafi not being Arab has been resolved. If you still don't know the difference between Arabs and Berbers then I am afraid there is nothing I can do help.

cap28:
Gadaffi and his fellow OIC members are united in their goal to arabise the entire african continent.

Again confusing Arabic and Islam. OIC is the Organization of Islamic Countries. It's about Islam and not Arabic. Being Muslim doesn't mean being Arab. Malaysians, Indonesians, Turks and Iranians are almost entirely Muslims but they are not Arabs.

Please guys, lets understand things before we debate on them.

@tipia, @sage, couldn't agree more.

tpiah:
you are both right even though you dont know this.


blacks were also native to arab lands [ie the middle east] before.

so it wasnt only in africa that black africans had interactions with arabs.

Very correct, one of such blacks from Saudi Arabia has been writing about that for some time now. Tariq Berry authored the book "The Unknown Arabs". You can check his website here http://savethetruearabs.com/

and his blog here http://savethetruearabs..com/

Talking about Darfur, I am going to quote from an article titled "SEVEN MYTHS HINDERING PEACE IN DARFUR" published by The European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council. I have already posted a link to the article in my last post.

Myth 1: THE DARFUR CONFLICT IS BECAUSE OF MARGINALISATION

"The conflict in Darfur has nothing to do with marginalisation or the inequitable distribution of wealth."
Anti-Government human rights Activist Ghazi Suleiman

Myth 2: GENOCIDE IS TAKING PLACE IN DARFUR

"Our teams have not seen evidence of the deliberate intention to kill people of a specific group."
Médecins Sans Frontières

Myth 3: THE GOVERNMENT IS DENYING AID ACCESS TO DARFUR

"It is strange to see that there is still the notion, that, we're completely blocked from accessing Darfur"
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mr Jan Egeland


Myth 4: THE DARFUR CONFLICT IS RACIAL

"Darfur's Arabs are black, indigenous, African Muslims - just like Darfur's non-Arabs."
Anti-Government human rights activist Alex de Waal

Myth 5: THERE IS A POLICY OF ETHNIC CLEANSING IN DARFUR

"there is no systematic target - targeting one ethnic group or another one."
Médecins Sans Frontières

Myth 6: THE GOVERNMENT CONTROLS THE "supporter of APC"

"[the supporter of APC are] a monster that nobody seems to be able to control."
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mr Jan Egeland

Myth 7: ALL MILITIAS IN DARFUR CAN BE DISARMED IN 30 DAYS

"This is going to take, in my view, 18 months to two years to conclude the first phase"
US State Department official Charles Snyder

cap28:
To say that all north africans are berbers is just like saying all europeans are english, SOME north africans are berbers but they are mainly concentrated in the north west region of north africa, we have black african people who were the original inhabitants of countries like Egypt and Sudan who were conquered and subjugated by arab invaders just like the berbers of north west africa were.

I totally agree, not all not Africans are Berbers but the point I am trying to make is that Ghaddafi is a Berber and Berbers are not Arabs.

cap28:
You say that europeans are guilty of racialising slavery - if what you say is true please answer the following:
why do arabs refer to black africans as "abeed" which means black slave?

why do arabs practice colour coded discrimination in their respective countries?

why has the mixed race arab elite of Sudan conducted an ethnic cleansing programme against the indigenous Sudanese people?

Arabs called black africans "Abeed". Abeed is a derogatory word and that tells you how racist the Arabs are. I never said that the Arabs or Light skinned Berbers are not racist.

Yes, unlike any other group that practiced slavery, Europeans indulged in enslvaing black people only. And have built their civilizations almost entirely on slave labour whereas other races that indulge in slavery never restricted themselves to blacks only. For those who know Kano use to be an important slave market in the past. And white slaves use to bring in a lot of cash.

do a little reading here
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=3612927

Ethnic cleansing in Sudan is what BBC and CNN tell you. The truth is that there is a long standing problem between Nomads and Farmers just like the recurring problem between Fulani nomads and mainly Hausa farmers in Northern Nigeria.

http://www.sudan.net/news/press/postedr/316.shtml

http://www.arabmediawatch.com/amw/CountryBackgrounds/Sudan/DarfurisnotasblackandwhiteasblackvsArab/tabid/162/Default.aspx

cap28:
I think to dismiss Gadaffi as a crazy old fool is to make a serious mistake, this is the same way Hitler was dismissed as an unhinged megalomaniac until he succeeded in annexing Poland, France, Belgium and the rest of europe.
Gadaffi's desperation to control the entire african continent could make him sign a pact with the west in order to realise his ambtion to arabise the entire african contient.

Hitler was a charming young man that gave a lot of people hope when they had very little of it. In contrast Ghaddafi is a senile old man that is becoming hopeless each and every day. The whole of Libya has less than 7 million people, thats less than half the population of Lagos state. In essence Tunde Fashola is managing a state that is bigger than Libya in population and is just a governor in Nigeria. That tells you how unrealistic Ghaddafi's dream is.

@9jaganja, @Redman44, let me help you do a little bit of reading about the Berbers

Berbers are the indigenous peoples  of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Today many of them speak Darija and also French in the Maghreb, due to the French colonization of the Maghreb, and especially Spanish in Morocco. Today most Berber-speaking people live in Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia.[1][2]

Many Berbers call themselves some variant of the word Imazighen (singular: Amazigh), possibly meaning "free people" or "free and noble men"[1](the word has probably an ancient parallel in the Roman name for some of the Berbers, "Mazices".

The best known of the ancient Berbers were the Roman author Apuleius, Saint Augustine of Hippo, and the Roman general Lusius Quietus, who was instrumental in defeating the major Jewish revolt of 115–117. Famous Berbers of the Middle Ages included Tariq ibn Ziyad, a general who conquered Hispania; Abbas Ibn Firnas, a prolific inventor and early pioneer in aviation; Ibn Battuta, a medieval explorer who traveled the longest known distances in pre-modern times; and Estevanico, an early explorer of the Americas. Well-known modern Berbers include Zinedine Zidane, a French-born international footba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_people

Talking about Africa being originally fully black, you should know that the whole world used to be inhabited by black people. I think we need to do a little bit of reading and researching outside the conventional knowledge we were taught in school.

The reason why light skinned North Africans hate blacks is ignorance, the same reason why different ethnic groups in Nigeria take arms against one another or protestants and catholics kill each other in Northern Ireland.

9jaganja:
Any wise person will know that what you posted has bias and propaganda sprinkled all over it. Is Libya and other North African countries in the Arab league? Yes, Berbers is just a name to fool you with. What Egyptians practiced has nothing to do with Christianity and in fact wasn't monotheistic in any sense. Stop spreading propaganda.!! What you have in North Africa now are Arabs and Moors (Blacks/Arabs) and that was a product of invasions that reached Mali and Northern Nigeria. Will you kindly tell me why their TV stations in North Africa doesn't like showing Blacks speaking their languages? They must speak Arabic. Why? Does that sound like an indigenous act or that of colonial invaders? Negro take a Logic class.

@9jaganja, I never said the light skinned Berbers are not racist. I am trying to let you guys know that Berbers are not Arabs, same way as the Turks and Iranians are not Arabs. Arabic has became the lingua franca of North Africa but the indigenous language of the Berbers is still very much alive. Those countries may be in the Arab league because of the Arabic influence in the region.

I am not just talking on hearsay, I came from a part of Nigeria that has ruled over many parts of North Africa in the past. Yes, black people ruled over many of those light skinned Berbers that you think are Arabs. If you have been to the North you may have come across light skinned Berbers begging on the streets. They know they are not Arabs, the Arabs know they are not Arabs.

Honestly I do not know where to start, but it breaks my heart to see that many Nigerians are so so ignorant of African history and ethnic composition.
First of all, let everybody know that the North Africans are Berbers and not Arabs.
Ghaddafi is not Arab and has always showed that in his mode of dressing.
There are many Berbers who are black skinned. In fact the Kanuri people of Borno are reffered to as BareBari by the Hausas because they are originally Berbers. BareBari simply means Berbers in Hausa.

The idea that Arabs overran North Africa in the name of religion is not true.
Before the coming of Islam, the North Africans practice a form of strictly monotheist Christianity (no trinity). With the coming of Islam many of them converted to Islam because of the similarities it has with their religion and difference it has with the type of christianity practised in Europe. Many of the Muslims that conquered parts of Europe especially Spain where black skinned. The commander of the Army was a man called Tariq Bin Ziyad was also black. The place called Gibraltar in Spain was named after him. It was actually JabalTariq which means mount Tariq.

Talking about slavery, I believe every race has practised slavery; blacks, arabs, europeans et.c

What the Europeans are guilty of is not just slavery but the act of racializing slavery. Justifying that black people are suppose to be the only ones to be taken as slaves and even going ahead to import heresy into the bible to justify it.

Having said that I still believe Ghaddafi is a crazy man who has rule over a country of less than 7 million people and thinks he can rule the whole of Africa. But that does not stop him from being African.

For those who want to know more about the true (Black skinned) Arabs plese check the following blog http://savethetruearabs..com/

I don't see the point of emphasizing that he is Yoruba. A con man can be from any ethnic group. I think it's wrong to make it sound like it is a Yoruba thing to be a con man.

A successfull kidney transplant was carried out at the University Of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital's kideney center by a group of Nigerian doctors drawn from 3 Nigerian teaching hospitals. I saw it on the local news in Maiduguri.

http://www.peoplesdaily-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13533:maiduguri-teaching-hospital-conducts-its-first-kidney-transplant&catid=16:national-news&Itemid=33

From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri with agency report

Nigeria once again made history yesterday when one of its second generation universities, the University of Maiduguri, through its Teaching Hospital (UMTH), announced the conduct of its first successful kidney transplant.
Though the university was established in 1973, its teaching hospital only took off 17 years ago.
The transplant was successfully conducted on a 31-year-old man, Suleiman Usman.
Breaking the news of the medical breakthrough to journalists in Maiduguri yesterday, the Chief Medical Director of the institution, Prof. Othman Kyari, explained that the transplant was carried out on Monday at the university’s Kidney Centre, established in 1990.
Speaking further Kyari said: “The kidney was donated by the junior brother of the patient, Abubakar Usman, aged 27. Both the donor and the recipient are in good conditions and are recuperating in our ward.”
“Although the hospital spent about N2 million on the transplant, we did not charge the patient a dime. The successful transplant is no doubt a product of a long-term planning especially in terms of preparing our doctors through local and foreign courses,” Kyari added.
He said the surgery was conducted in conjunction with the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) and the Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital (AKUT).
“We decided to collaborate with sister agencies instead of foreign organisations because it was easier and manageable,” he explained further.
Also speaking, the Coordinator of the UMTH Kidney Centre, Dr Williams Wundi, described the transplant as “the first truly indigenous in the North-East.”
“This is the first truly indigenous transplant because the lab analysis and the operations were also conducted in the hospital,” Wundi said.

@seanet02, the man in picture you posted died since January 2009. How can he be awarding contracts in 2010?
I guess you just googled for "Yobe Governor" and just downloaded the first picture you got.

Beaf:
A very interesting development indeed.
Oracle is intent on enforcing Java patents and copyrights on the hugely successful Android. Hmmm!
It is likely they only want a slice of the Android pie, but the fact that they can attempt to hijack that slice legally should send shivers down any developers spine and set their adrenal glands on fire.

Undertone - Java is not free.

Damn!

Yeah Java is not free, not even the open source fork OpenJDK. Because the license doesn't allow you to make a superset of it like mono has done for .NET. Essentially Oracle owns Java and they are letting everybody know that now.

The last two killings happened at the same time. It took place in my neighborhood in Maiduguri. The two policemen were going to their duty post on a motorcycle when they were trailed and gunned down by two other guys also on a motorcycle.
The attackers look more like political thugs than Boko Haram members, in fact nobody in Maiduguri is buying the Boko Haram story. Everybody knows that it is politicians at work trying to create some chaos (only God knows why).

And for all those trying to create a Muslims vs Christians story, know that both policemen were Muslims.

Forgive me if I am repeating what somebody has already said cos I have not read through all the posts.
I just want to let us know that there is a kidney center at the University Of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

Weather they do transplants there or not, I do not know. And I am not in a position to know how well equipped
it is because I do not know what equipments a good kidney center is suppose to have. But I know from time to time
you hear that new equipment are being installed there.

I am telling everybody about it in the hope that it will help the cause of people like aisha2.

Get the photostream on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/fossnigeriaphotos
or

visit foss-ng site at http://fossnigeria.org for more resources.

We've discussed it some months ago on this thread https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-384489.0.html
It has finally taken place and is a great success. It took place from 23rd to 25th April 2010 in Kano. A lot of interesting talks were given that I cannot list all of them here. There are representations of NITDA , LPI-Nigeria, K.D.E and Free software Foundation Europe (fsfe). Speakers came from Nigeria, Netherlands and Germany.

I have already blogged about it at http://a-ig..com/2010/05/foss-nigeria-2010.html so I prefer not to repeat myself in this post.
Frederik Gladhorn has also posted about the event in his blog at http://blogs.fsfe.org/gladhorn/2010/04/27/foss-nigeria-day-three/

Looking forward to FOSS Nigeria 2011.

The database engine used by access is called microsoft jet engine. It is implemented as a single dll. I cannot remember exactly the name of the dll file but it's something similar to msjet.dll. Do a little googling on that. You only need to deploy and register that dll along with your application and everything will work even if access is not installed on the target system.

You can install Linux side by side with windows. You chose which OS to boot into as the computer starts. Personally I recommend Ubuntu Linux. That one, you can start it's installation from within windows environment.

As you grow in the programming profession, you find yourself doing less coding and more administrative work. This is irrespective of weather you are a business owner or an employee. Those who stick to programming still code less. They do things like architecture design, team management and mentoring more than actual coding. But they never lose their skills. I think at some point, programming becomes part of you and you find yourself doing more with less code and learning new things without making much effort.

Let me put it this way, as you grow in the programming profession, you graduate from a foot soldier to a horse riding commander.

Guys, is it some kind of a bot or is it the moderator. I feel like some kind of dictatorship is creeping into Nairaland. Do we create a thread to petition Seun or his co-moderators?. But on a second thought, the thread itself can be removed.

My removed post goes something like this:
It is important to note that both the organizers and sponsors of FOSS Nigeria 2010 are based in the North and are not too familiar with Lagos which makes it logical to hold the event in the North. I made the announcement here because of my personal view that it is important to build bridges between professionals in the Northern and Southern part of the country. Last year, a Nigerian complained on the K.D.E discussion forum that the event was given very little publicity and they didn't hear it in the South, I believe this is being corrected now.
Talking about attendance, last year's event hall was filled to capacity despite being in Kano. So there is indeed a good turnout even though it's not in Lagos. Agreed that Lagos may be Nigeria's IT hub but that does not mean that nothing is going on in the IT field outside Lagos. This event is a clear testimony to that. I think a fair suggestion is to be moving the event to a different town every year. This I have already suggested to the organizers. Why not Enugu or Calabar or Minna or any other place apart from Kano and Lagos.
I think the only way to have a future influence on the event is by getting involved now. I do not stay anywhere near Kano either. The important thing we need to appreciate is that this is taking place in Nigeria.

@moderator, now don't remove this.

@moderator, why are my posts being removed?

We have to understand that both the organizers and the sponsors are based in the North and are not too familiar with Lagos. Talking about turnout, I think it's important for us to know that the last event has the hall filled to capacity even though it's in Kano. A Nigerian later complained in a discussion on the K.D.E forum that the conference was given very little publicity in the South that's why he did not attend. I think the best way to move the conference to Lagos is by 1st getting involved. I posted the announcement here because I believe it is important to build bridges between professionals in the Northern and Southern parts of the country.

We must also note that a lot is happening on IT in Nigeria and not necessarily in Lagos, this conference is a testimony to that. Despite Lagos being the IT hub of the country, we shouldn't lump everything in Lagos. Not all IT conferences in the US take place in a single town. I expect a fair suggestion to be about moving the venues every year. Why not Enugu or Calabar or Minna or any other place apart from Kano and Lagos.

@logica, let me keep it short. You have the right not to come, and the organizers have the right not to take it to Lagos.
Let's not divert too much, we are talking about FOSS Nigeria 2010.

I guess then you just have to miss it, because the organizers have very little reasons to take it to Lagos.
Beside I do not speak Yoruba to save my neck from OPC and Area boys (Just Joking).

On a serious note, I think we should avoid bringing ethnic politics into the programming section. I think this is one section of Nairaland where I can say reasonable debates and discussions are made. If you really want it away from Kano why not suggest Abuja which is more neutral.

logica:
Unfortunately, because of the general tendency of the Northern cities to indulge in ethnic cleansing I will not be going. I really think they should move the conference to Lagos.

The 1st one also took place in Kano and K.D.E and Ubuntu guys from  outside Nigeria attended despite all the stories they heard about Nigeria. Guess what? Nothing happened to them. Now the same people are encouraging more people from their countries to attend.

But you can call some Southerners living in Kano to let you know weather they are being hunted down and killed before making a statement like that.

The conference will not be moved to Lagos because the Organizers are all based in the North. If you want a future edition to be moved to Lagos then I suggest you become an active participant in the event and try to convince the organizers to move it to Lagos in the future. But staying away from the event will not help.

Yes, please start one and we may join you.

I've just checked out a little bit of Python syntax. I think the following is an example of my last post.

print "Press any key to continue"
a=raw_input()

Now the interpreter will be waiting for an input and so the program will not exit.

I don't do Python yet but the general trick is to try to read a line of input from the user. That way the console will not disappear since it's waiting for an input.
You can print "Press Any Key To Continue" before that. So whatever subsequent input is made, you just end the program.
Hope that helps.