₦airaland Forum

Everything about these recent sects and terrorist activities smell very fishy to me.
Let's make some things clear first. Maitatsine=Kala Kato (one and the same). Islamic clerics have warned that Muhammad Yusuf (of Boko haram) share the same ideologies with Maitatsine long before the Boko Haram incident. The government knows about Maitatsines since early 80s and nothing has been done. Borno state government has arrested Muhammad Yusuf 3 times but was always released on court orders.
The International community only became worried about Boko Haram when the leader was killed but they never gave a damn about his earlier open threats. Just when we thought Boko Haram is over, now we have Umar Mutallib.

No doubt some Muslim sects are involved (don't be mad I'm a muslim)
But I seriousely think that the CIA and some top Nigerian politicians are also involved. The SSS said that Muhammad Yusuf had the backing of some powerful Nigerians.

Who knows maybe these will be the justification for setting up AFRICOM on African soil.

Just trying to put the pieces together.

This is unbelievable. I know that Oracle is the most popular RDBMS but necessarilly the best out there, but being less secure than MSSQL server is something one finds hard to believe. Unfortunately that's the bitter truth. I expect Oracle to be less secure than some open source offerings but they already have the muscle to maintain the market leadership which doesn't have to be leadership in terms of quality.

logica:
I know exactly what I am saying, and I am not saying it because "it is cool to bash Microsoft". I am speaking from experience, and only someone who doesn't have the experience will then make the claim - hence making it cool to bash Microsoft.

My point here is the fact that almost any technology related to Microsoft will be for a fee because of some steep licensing fees they have to pay to Microsoft, therefore making it impractical to have a free version.

Alright, I get you. But the case here is that Novell is trying to get it's pound of flesh. Maybe that's why they never tell us that the source code is available.
You see many software companies will try to be Microsoft if they get the chance. Well, there is nothing wrong in charging for software you developed, Just make sure that what you offer is good enough to justify the price.

Talking about being bitten by Microsoft, you aren't alone but I just decided to leave their products whenever I get a good alternative.
I used to develop on .NET using the SDK which is free with no strings attached but i don't use Visual Studio. Instead I use sharpDevelop I.D.E which is open source.

Eventually I migrated to Linux which means no more windows headache and I still do .NET in form of Mono.
I must confess that I still sometimes run windows on a virtual machine because my team mates are still using windows and we need to have similar development environments when working on the same project.

@candylips, I think you may be right. People love apple despite their being extremely closed because apple make great products. I recently got an Iphone 3g and was disappointed by how you need iTunes to synchronize and other apple imposed restrictions. A few days of playing with the device I discovered that it is highly hackable. Now I have many open source applications installed on it using Cydia.

The truth is that I have been using Linux for quite some time now and find it really difficult to work in a constrained system. I will try some Iphone development if I can get the tools to run on Linux but I am not ready to buy a Mac just to do Iphone development.

I heard that I.B.M have some Iphone development toolchain but you need to install the eclipse I.D.E first and it doesn't come with an emulator.

logica:
There-in lies the problem with anything associated with Microsoft.

That's exactly what I mean when I say we need to outgrow bashing Microsoft because it's cool. Monotouch is from Novell and iPhone is from apple and the CIL (or .NET) is an open standard now. What does Microsoft has to do with any of these?

I know that Microsoft make some crappy software but when it comes to openness, I think Microsoft is a saint compared to apple.

You can view the source code repository here
http://anonsvn.mono-project.com/viewvc/branches/monotouch-1-0/

to check it out you need svn, type the following command;

svn co svn://anonsvn.mono-project.com/source/branches/monotouch-1-0/

I must warn you that the source code is very large and runs into hundreds of megabytes. My only problem with the whole iPhone development thing is that you need to run MacOSX no matter the tools you are using.

candylips:
Personal edition of monotouch will cost me $399

I think it will be cheaper for me to learn objective-c and use the free xcode IDE that comes with my MAC

That's if you are buying it from Novell.
Monotouch is an open source software and you can download the source code from the Mono repository.
I think it's easier to checkout and compile the source code than to learn a new language.

About licencing, if you love .net and hate Microsoft try using Mono. We've talked about it in this thread. It's open source and cross platform (windows, Linux, Mac etc). Some parts of the gnome desktop in Linux are now written in C# using mono. The runtime comes pre-installed in some distributions like ubuntu.

I still don't like Ms and have stopped using windows for some time now but I think it's time to outgrow hating Ms because we think it's cool to.

Go get Mono at www.mono-project.com

Talking about Iphone apps. .Net developers can write programs for the iPhone using monotouch. They don't need to learn objective-c. These types of .Net advantage is what this thread is all about.

@Henry
Choosing a gui toolkit is mostly a matter of choice as much as it is a matter of capabilities of the toolkit.
One thing I can tell you is that you should not use MFC cos even microsoft are moving away from it.

Both GTK+ and Qt are good. If you've been using linux then you must have known about Gnome and KDE
desktop environments. Gnome uses GTK+ while KDE uses Qt. That tells you that both of them are very powerfull.

Personally I prefer GTK due to it's more friendlier licence ie it's free even if you are using it commercially.
Since you are using C++, you should look at the C++ binding for GTK+ called Gtkmm.

I Laugh, not at the idea of us having a space programme but at the blind critcisms I see on this thread. To make things clear, the milestones achieved are in building our satellites and not going to space. Please, we are not launching any rocket into space, that part is normally contracted out and a single rocket can deliver more than one satellite at a time into Orbit.

Let's treat the issues raised one by one.

1-It's a waste of money:
NigeriaSat-1 cost $10m to build, that's about N1.6bn in today's exchange rate. That is something even a small state in Nigeria can afford. NigComSat was built at no cost to Nigeria, it was suppose to pay for itself with the revenue it will generate. But we lost it, still at no cost because it is insured and another one is going to be build.

2-It is built by foreigners, so we do not own it:
Most satellites owned by countries were contracted out. But our case is different, Nigerian engineers are currently building NigeriaSat-X without any foreign engineers in the team.

3-It's a misplaced priority cos we don't need satellites:
we indeed need satellites because most of our communications is still using (foreign) satellite infrastructure. Look at all the VSATs around, NTA, Nitel e.t.c still use satellites. We are losing foreign exchange because we do not have our own satellites.

4-We should tackle power and road problems first:
Power is the concern of the ministry of Power and Steel, roads are the concern of ministry of works, does the ministry of science and technology have to wait for them to finish before they embark on space projects? Taking that analogy, does NTA stops transmission because there is no electricity to  power our televisions?

5- We can not manage it, we've already lost one:
space projects are very risky, it is common to lose satellites. The so-called advanced countries have lost tons of satellites but they never quit. Our space programme is so far considered successful. We've launched our first satellite in 2003 and our second in 2007. We plan to launch NigeriaSat-2 in 2010 and NigComSat-1R in 2011 to replace the lost NigComSat-1. 

How come nobody is complaining about all the billions being spent on hosting football tournaments. Is sports more important to us than technology or is hosting the world cup going to provide stable electricity and good roads? I think our journalists also need to grow up and learn to report technology adequately, they need to have a little knowledge of what they are reporting so that they do no misguide the public.

Everybody, I think it's very wrong to rudicule people's religion even if you do not believe in it.
You can not also force your religious views on people. The Qur'an said that there shall be no compulsion in religion.

I think alimat is bringing up this suggestion for a reason. As a muslim, Islam encourages me to dialogue with christians and Jews (collectively called people of the book). So maybe learning Hebrew will help christians understand the bible better and dialogue better. I have a close friend who is a christian and we discuss both Islam and Christianity very often. The areas we agree are often more that where we disagree. Most of our disagreement revolves around the concept of trinity.

Talking about translations, historians believe that Jesus spoke the Aramaic language, the books of the bible where written in Hebrew and translations to greek, latin et.c later took place.
The word bible was derived for "Biblos" which means book.

I cannot dig out their names right now but the first and second Nigerian graduates of Arabic and Islamic studies were neither Muslims nor Northerners.
Sooo, Were they also stooges?

illusion2:
IG,walahi,so far you're the only ---

@illusion2, That word in bold was borrowed from Arabic and means "I swear by Allah". It's like eye still neva open my friend .

illusion2:
IG,walahi,so far you're the only northerner wey de make some sense here,  . . .  .,but tell me why would someone make the NIGERIAN ARMY motto as 'Victory From Allah',why? ONE NIGERIA !!!   

The Army is NIGERIAN Army,not Usman Dan Fodio Brigade or  Imperial Army of the  Sokoto Caliphate . . . . . . . . 

Please help me explain this one? 

Thanks for the compliment but I think it came at the expense of other Northerners that contributed. Personally I think gadogado made some good contributions.
About the army, well it used to be the Royal Nigerian Army under British colonial rule. I do not know why they made that the motto. Maybe it's because of the Hausa making the bulk of the army then.
Talking about the caliphate, it's important to note that Sokoto caliphate didn't cover the whole North and doesn't represent the North like some southerners think.

illusion2:
Like someone said,illiterates(unable to read or write) use currency world over,cos of unique size,colour etc,so why must the contentious 'ajami' or arabic text be on 'ONE NIGERIA's' currency ?! 

I await your response 

Like I said in my first post in this thread, I am for the Ajami because of it's cultural importance to the North. It doesn't matter to me if the Igbo and Yoruba on the notes will be written in non-english scripts. It's the Igbos' and Yorubas' choice. Many people are afraid of the Ajami script because they think it's Arabic and therefore islamic and I tried to explain that Arabic and Islam are not the same.
I think Nigeria changed it's currency from pound to Naira during Yakubu Gowon's time. So the Ajami scripts were approved by Gowon who is a christian. That brought us back to the cultural and not religious significance of the Ajami script.

The word Allah is what is used to refer to God in Hausa, the Arabic bible used by the christian Arabs also refer to God as Allah. So @No2Atheism, Allah is not a false moon-god as you claimed but the God also worshipped by christian Arabs.

@No2Atheism, since you are pan-Africanist and Black then I think where we differ is in the fact that you hate me, cos I am a Muslim. But I am a pan-Africanist and pro-black but unlike you I do not hate people just because we don't share the same faith, skin color or continent. The following quote is a long one and is targeted for the black man in you. Please be patient and read through it.

A True Description of the Prophet Mohamed’s Family (SAWS) – Tariq Berry
Tariq Berry is a Black Arab whose origins lie in the Gulf of Arabia.  Rasta livewire supports Tariq Berry and all the great work he is doing to give voice to the existence and struggles of the original Black Arabs of Arabia who are indeed the true and classical Arabs.  Below you will find another masterpiece from Tariq Berry:


The term Sharif (nobleman) or Sayyid is used to describe a descendant of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) through his daughter Fatima (RAA). They are descendants of Al Hasan and Al Husein- the two sons of Ali ibn Abi Talib (RAA) and Fatima the daughter of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS). The Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (RAA) are from the Bani Hashim branch of the tribe of Quraish. They are the noblest of the Arabs. The Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (RAA) were first cousins. Ali’s father, Abi Talib, was the brother of the Prophet’s (SAWS) father. Once it has been established that the Bani Hashim were a black-skinned people, there should be no need to prove that the pure Arabs of the past were, in general, a black-skinned people.

In discussing the appearance of the Sharifs, I believe that it is appropriate for me to begin with the father of the Sharifs- Ali ibn Abi Talib (RAA). In his book Tarikh Al-Khulafaa (The History of the Caliphs), Imam Al-Suyuti described Ali ibn Abi Talib as follows:See quotation at Savethetruearabs



Ali was a heavyset, bald, hairy man of average height which leaned toward shortness. He had a large stomach and a large beard which filled all that was between his shoulders. His beard was white as if it was cotton and he was a black-skinned man.

There are certain names that we usually hear when the Sharifs or Sayyids – the family of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) are mentioned. We have all probably heard of Ali Zein Al-Abidin the son of Al-Husein the son of Ali the son of Abu Talib. Though his mother was Persian, he is described as dark-skinned. Where did he get his dark complexion from? From his father’s side of the family, of course. This Ali Zein Al-Abidin the son of Al-Husein the son of Ali the son of Abu Talib married Fatima the daughter of Al-Hasan the son of Ali the son of Abi Talib.

Mohamed Al-Baqir- another name we hear when there is mention of the Sharifs, the family of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) – was the eldest son of Ali Zein Al-Abidin and Fatima the daughter of Al-Hasan. He was nicknamed “He Who Resembles” because he looked so much like the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS). He was described as dark-skinned, kinky-haired, and of average height. Mohamed Al-Baqir married Umm Farwa, the great granddaughter of Abu Bakr Al-Saddiq and they had Jaafar Al-Saadiq. Jaafar Al-Saadiq is another name frequently heard when speaking of the family of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS). He was described as black-skinned, kinky-haired, and average height.

Jaafar Al-Saadiq had a Berber slave-girl named Humaida and through her he had his son Musa Al-Kadhim – another well-known member of the family of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) whom many Sharifs claim descent from. Musa Al-Kadhim was described as very black-skinned.

Musa Al-Kadhim’s son Ali Al-Rida is another well-known member of the family of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) whom many Sharifs claim descent from. He, too, was described as black-skinned. He was once standing in a bathhouse when a soldier entered and pushed him to the side and said, “Pour water on my head oh black one!” Ali Al-Rida began to pour water for the soldier and then someone who knew who Ali Al-Rida was entered the bathhouse and when he saw what was happening he shouted, “Oh soldier! Woe to you! Do you dare have the son of the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) serve you?!” The soldier quickly began to kiss the feet of Ali Al-Rida and said, “Why didn’t you disobey me when I ordered you?!”

Ali Al-Rida had a son named Mohamed Al-Jawaad also known as Mohamed Al-Taqi. Mohamed Al-Jawaad was also described as very black-skinned. Mohamed Al-Jawaad or Al-Taqi had a son named Ali Al-Hadi. Ali Al-Hadi, too, was described as dark-skinned.

The chart below was taken from this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid. Take a look at the link and the chart to get an even better idea of how the dark-skinned members of the Prophet Mohamed’s family that I have just mentioned are the noble ancestors of those called Sharifs or Sayyids today. Click here for chartChart
 



You have all probably heard of Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia. He is Mohamed the son of Abdella the Pure-Blooded the son of Al-Hasan the son of Al-Hasan the son of Ali the son of Abi Talib. Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia was nicknamed the Pure-Blooded of Quraish because he was so unmixed. His father Abdella was also nicknamed the Pure-Blooded. Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia was from the Bani Hashim clan of Quraish from both his mother and his father. Remember that Bani Hashim is the clan of Quraish that the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) and Ali (RAA) are from. Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia was described as very black-skinned and huge. He had a son named Hasan. His son Hasan was nicknamed The Father of the Tar because he was so black-skinned. This is the description of the pure-blooded descendants of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS). Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia wrote a letter to the Abbasid ruler complaining to him that he had more right to be the ruler because he was so closely related to the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS). Amongst the things he said in his letter to the Abbasid ruler was, “We are in the right…Our father Ali was the Imam (leader). How did you inherit the rule which belongs to the children of Ali?! You know that no one who seeks this position (ruler) has a purer genealogy than I do or is more highborn than I am…You know that no one has as close relations or relations to anyone better than he whom I am very closely related to (He means the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS)). I am from the best of Banu Hashim in genealogy and the noblest of them both paternally and maternally. No non-Arab blood runs through my veins and I am not related to the slave-girls.” Bear in mind that Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia, who is here talking about how pure his Arab blood is and how closely he is related to the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS), was very black-skinned.

Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia had a brother named Musa Al-Jawn (the Black). Musa Al-Jawn was also very black-skinned. He was nicknamed Al-Jawn (the Black) because of his blackness. The Sharifs called Banu Al-Akhaidar, who are found in Oman, Saudi Arabia, and other places, are descended from Musa Al-Jawn.

Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia and Musa Al-Jawn had another brother named Yahya the Possessor of Daylum. Yahya, too, was described as black-skinned. Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia, Musa Al-Jawn and Yahya the Possessor of Daylum were all the brothers of Idriss the 1st, the father of the Idrissi Sharifs and the founder of the city of Fes in Morocco.



Nineth century poet Abu Al-Hasan Ali ibn Al-Abbas ibn Jurayj, known as Ibn Al-Rumi, wrote a long poem to the Abbasids blaming them for the way that they treated the family of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS). It should be understood that at that time, the Abbasids had become very mixed with the Romans, Greeks, and Persians. Here is part of what Ibn Al-Rumi said in his famous poem called Al-Jeemia:



“You insulted them (the family of the Prophet Mohamed) because of their blackness while there are still pure-blooded black-skinned Arabs. However, you are blue (eyed) – the Romans have embellished your faces with their color.”
There you have it. These are the ancestors of the Sharifs or the Sayyids – the family of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) and as you have seen, they were all dark-skinned people. The question that remains to be answered is this – why aren’t the masses aware of this fact?

So, how far have you gone in researching about Arabs and Islam ?
Can we start talking now and keep the hatred aside?

Beaf:
Naira and Kobo are already Hausa words. The motto of "our" army is already "Victory for Allah".
Numerous other examples litter the landscape.

@Beaf, Naira and Kobo are not Hausa. I am not sure but I think Obasanjo has changed the army's motto from that. And it was "Victory From Allah" not "Victory For Allah". There is definitely going to be a lot of hausa influence in the armed forces because the Hausas joined the armed forces before any other ethnic group in the country. That is why you find many morale songs in the army, police e.t.c are in Hausa. Think of it, the first police station/barrack in Nigeria was called Hausa constabulary which was located in Lagos.

SapeleGuy:
Beaf - I agree with you. There should be no arabic, no hausa, no yoruba or igbo inscription on the Naira. This would be the fairest solution to all ethnicities in the country.

Yeah lets leave only the numbers. Or why don't we use binary digits since it originates from the Yorubas which is Nigerian.

1000 Naira will be 1111101000
500 Naira will be 111110100
200 Naira will be 11001000
100 Naira will be 1100100

That way even our computers, mobile phones e.t.c will find it easier to read

One more thing, the ancient Egyptians were black with strong kinky hair just like ours. It should be noted that it is customary for them to wear wigs and so you see the long hair in their paintings. But in case of the Nubians, no contest, full blown negroes. And we all know that Nubia gave birth to Egypt.
Guys, please lets not also end up becoming racist. What does it take to be black? Do I have to be as dark as my hair ? Are the ethiopeans, eritreans and somalis not blacks ? I know many Igbo people that have lighter skin than those east Africans. Those that make them not to be black. In order to avoid racism, we should be careful not to end up being racist ourselves.

lastly a site about black Arabs some of us might find interesting
http://savethetruearabs..com/2009/08/true-description-of-prophet-mohameds_26.html

SapeleGuy:
Gadogado - I direct my question to you. To deny the early Kemetic/Nubian dynasties were the black africans is an an unsuccessful exercise in deception. Even the most racist egyptologist have given up on this line of attack.

The knowledge that is now ascribed to ancient greece and arabia etc was plagiarised from black africa. Christianity & Islam all owe their existence to black africa. Therefore the contribution made by africa to the world is immense.

I could go into detail but I can't be bothered. I shall leave you with an excerpt from Prophet Muhammeds last sermon:

"All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a
non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; white
has no superiority over black, nor does a black have any superiority
over white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and
good action."

@SapeleGuy, you said it all. All known civilizations in the world somehow directly or indirectly spawned off the ancient Nubian and Egyptian civilization. The earliest forms of writing also originate from there. The gnome desktop software project paid tribute to that fact by naming it's text rendering engine "Cairo".

Initially I avoided quoting prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) or the Qur'an because it will be of no use when talking to somebody that is proud to say the he hates Islam. But I am going to do that now for the sake of others who might be discussing objectively.
This is what the Qur'an said in suratul Houdjurat;
"Oh mankind, we created you from a single pair of male and female
and then divided you into nations and tribes so that you will identify
one another. Verily the best among you is the most pious
"

And yet people like No2Atheism claim that the Qur'an is a racist book.
Well, I guess we all have the right to our views (as long as they don't deny others their rights).

gadogado:
those people in the picture above are north african arabs not black africans

The point is that they are black. My ancestors aren't Arab and they indulged in that. I'm not proud of it but it's true.

No2Atheism:
3. Yea right the token christians and non-arabs in position of power in the arab states is evidence of lack of racism and discrimination by muslims arabs against blacks and non-arabs   Grin Grin Grin Grin dream on  Grin Grin Grin Grin. By your own inference that means Micheal Steel of the republican party has eradicated the racism of the republican party . . . every tom, di.ck and harry knows that micheal steele is just a token black man meant for window dressing.
Abeg wake up to reality. The things u have mentioned (assuming they are true) are mere tokens in the sea of racism.

I thought we were talking about discrimination against christian Arabs. We both agreed that most arabs are racist against blacks didn't we ?

@No2Atheism, about your hatred for Islam, I guess I can't be of any help. You may have to live with that fire burning in your heart for the rest of your life. I will just make sure we never get to meet in person so as not to risk being physically attacked by you. If you are christian, then I'll advice you to go and study your religion because I seriously doubt if you understand anything about it. If you do you won't be so much filled with hatred.

Beaf:
@IG
They ARE official languages (unfairly, considering that there are 250+ ethnic groups). The main issue we have is the overbearing attitude of the North.
Forget about whether Arabic is alien to Nigeria or if it is a tool of Islamisation, of what use is Arabic on the Naira, if by far the vast majority of Nigerians cannot read it and don't even know if the inscriptions abuse their parents?

Since they are official languages now, can we please have the Hausa part rendered in Ajami ? It won't do you any harm. What you call the overbearing attitude of the north is actually attitude of the Northern political elite. So pleas don't hate the average northerner for that because he is busy on his farm now.

Beaf:
The North is the greatest proponent of "one Nigeria", but they are the ones who want to live separately with their own sharia, their own private inscriptions on national currency. Their own everything, while others do the donkey work.

Still I'll redirect your anger to the political elite. In fact the average northerner feels the pressure more. Remember the almajiris, the poverty e.t.c that some southerners always cite as a sign of the North's backwardness.

Beaf:
Truth is patience is really running thin. If care isn't taken, we might begin witnessing horrendous riots against Northern attitudes within a couple of years, maybe even less. People are tired, it is a dangerous position the North is taking.

I look forward to that, start with the PDP people first and don't generalize on every northerner.

@Beaf, seriously I feel your pain but the truth is that the problem is bad governance and not the region. If we cannot call our councillors to order, there is no way we can call our governors or senators or the president to order.
Remember the first republic ? It's true that the elections were rigged to bring the Northern Peoples Congress to power. But the NPC doesn't represent the Northern masses, NEPU was the masses' party but it was rigged out by the british colonial administration. So up till today, the northern masses suffer just like all Nigerians masses but additionally receive the hatred of some southerners simply for being northerners.

Beaf:
@IG
Simple question. If Arabs love blacks so much, why are there still black slaves in Arab countries to this day?
Remember that the worst enslavements were carried out by Arabs. Why, if there is so much love?

I never said that Arabs love blacks. Remember that I said that many Arabs of today are racist. Talking about enslavement, the Europeans were the first to turn slavery into a racial issue i.e only blacks are captured as slaves. This i know because some of my ancestors are negroes that specialized in capturing and trading white skinned slaves. In fact when british forces first invaded potiskum (now in Yobe state) the leader of the first village they met tried to capture the white commander alive because of his value in the slave market. Shehu Hashim of Borno during his reign had an Italian cook. Call it a domestic servant but the truth is that he was a slave.

check the painting below showing black people trading a white slave. Things like that were common in those days.

Let me make some things clear about the North and the Fulanis. Most southerners believe that the Fulanis rule all of the North. Agreed they rule most of the Hausaland but that is because the Hausas never woke up to the concept of creating empires and kept living in city state like Kano, Zazzau, Daura e.t.c. Before the fulanis, the Jukuns ruled most of those areas. it was a great empire. But empires rise and fall. Even after the fulani conquest there are some kingdoms that were ruled by non-fulanis. For example Bauchi is part of the sokoto caliphate with a majority fulani population but the ruling class are the original gerawa people up to this day. Zaria has three ruling families, the Zage-Zagi who are hausas, the Mallawas who fulani and the Barnawas who are Kanuri.
The Kanem-Borno empire has some significant fulani population. They are called the fulata-borno but they've never ruled and were still loyal to the empire. The instances when Borno was attacked by fulanis, those attacks were carried out by foreign fulanis from the hausaland.

Kanem-Borno at it's peak covered an area that starts from present day Jigawa state from the west extended into cameroun to sout-east, libya and sudan in north-east. The point here is that Kanem-Borno was a negroe empire that ruled over arab kingdoms. Like I said empires rise and fall. So the fulanis never ruled all of the North. In fact the sokoto caliphate is considered young at 200 years compared to Kanem-Borno which is roughly 2000 years old.

Now talking about Darfur, the truth is that there is nothing like Arabs against Africans. That is only what the western world and some of their middle-east cronnies want us to believe. It's an age old fight between farmers and nomads. The british colonial government set the precedence for this fight when they allocated land for each ethnic group but didn't give any to the volatile nomads. I think the media propaganda started when Sudan chose to do business with chinese Sina-Oil instead of western oil companies.

The people being reffered to as the opressed Africans are mostly from the Zaghawa ethnic group. This group form the ruling class in the neighbouring Chad republic. The president Idris Deby Itno is Zaghawa. The highest ranking sultan in Chad the Sultan of the Zaghawa. Don't forget that majority of the masses in Chad are Shuwa Arab living under Zaghawa rulership.
Going back to Sudan, it's interesting to know that the president Umar Al-Bashir is not even Shuwa Arab but traces his roots back to Nigeria.

The point I am trying to make is that Sudanese politics is not about Arabs vs Africans. It's just about holding on to power and controlling the resources. Just like any other part of the world.

No2Atheism:
1. I hate islam.

Just like I thought, blinded by hatred. Just curious, are you christian? If you are then I believe you are ignorant about your religion cos christianity is all about love.

No2Atheism:
3. Go through my post and u would understand i already said original inhabitants of arabia were actually black . . . hence i don't understand why u feel the need to repeat back to me what i already mentioned.

I was telling you that those blacks were the original arabs. Blacks can be Arabs and Arabs can be black.

No2Atheism:
4. English is nigeria's official language . . . Arabic is not.

Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo are not official languages. Should they be removed from the Naira then ?

No2Atheism:
5. English is a parasitic language that steals from other languages hence the reason why Indian Numerals are found in english.

Just like the Hausa language stole the Ajami characters from Arabic.

No2Atheism:
6. Hausa has a non-arabic script. Igbo is written using english script, Yoruba is also written using english script.

Igbos and Yorubas chose the english characters. I do not know what they use prior to that. The North choses Ajami, why does that offend you so much ? Is it all the hatred for Islam ?

No2Atheism:
7. Non-muslim arabs are just as hated as blacks by muslim arabs so stop your whitewash of history or else soon you are going to start telling me its possible for non-muslim arabs or blacks to have significant position in the middle east e.g. Saudi Arabia, Iraq etc.

I- Saddam Husseins second in command Tariq Azeez was a christian.
II- Yasir Arafat's wife a christian.
III- Hanan Ashrawi, the palestinian woman politcian and parliament member, a christian.
IV- Afif Safieh, Palestinian ambassador to the United States, a christian.
You still think arab christians don't hold prominent positions ? Oh I forgot, You hate Muslims.
Note that I used roman numeral so as to keep any Arabic or Indian scripts out. Hey but there are no romans in Nigeria, Damn it.

No2Atheism:
8. Sanusi is an open islamophilic fulani man who does not hide that fact that he is pro - islam.

That word in bold is the second word that starts with Islam you are using that I can't find in a dictionary. Hope you are not inventing words to express your hatred  

bibiking1:
@IG
I really fail to see your point!
Bring up "tangible" evidence that would clearly show that the coat-of-Arm is a christian symbol please!

I was talking about the eagle in the coat of arms, look again. There is an eagle, a shield, 2 horses and some flowers.

Apart from the eagle, you can also ponder over the following;
1-Sunday is a Christian rest day adapted for the nation.
2-The title of "Minister" is also a church title adapted by the government.
3-Dean title used by our universities originally means head of the college of catholic cardinals.
4-We use choir outfits as graduating/matriculation gowns.

I believe there are more of such examples. The point is that nobody is complaining about that because we know, christians form a good percentage of the Nigerian population and therefore there is nothing wrong in representing them.

No2Atheism:
Africa became screwed the moment Arabs succeeded in defeating the ancient military powers and empires known as Nubia and Egypt. Arabs are more or less an uncivilised version of europeans. Both of them seek to kill, steal and to destroy africans for their lands and resources.

Arabs are succeeding the more because africans have been brainwashed from birth using Islam.

The bible does not support most of the things being done by Arabs and Europeans.

It seems the whole discussion is skewing towards hatred of Arabs and Muslims. It is interesting to know that there are still many people that do not know the difference between Arabic and Islam. Being Arab doesn't necessarilly mean being Muslim and being Muslim doesn't necessarlly mean being Arab.  If you know the history of Islam, you will know that Islam arrived Africa (Ethiopea) long before it arrived Madina. Ethiopeans under the christian Emperor Negus gave refuge to muslims when Islam was in it's infancy. In the history of Islam, muslims and christians have never been at war. The prophet accomodated monastries in madina during his lifetime. His next door neighbour was a jew. I think the hatred that later emerged wether from muslims or from christians has to do with ignorance of history and religion. Talking about Islam being a tool for Arab domination, I can't say much, but I can tell you that many of the prophets closest companions like Bilal and Antar were actually black and others like Salman were non-Arabs (Persians). Some historians believe that even the prophet has some negroe blood in him because many members of his ethnic group (Qureish) were black. The truth is that majority of today's Arabs are racist and always try to play down some of those facts.
For example the conquest of spain by muslims was actually done by African muslims. The commander Tariq bin Ziyad is believed to be black but Arabs quickly deny that. That conquest is actually what ended the dark age and brought the light of civilization to Europe.
I would recommend a documentary by BBC called "Islamic History Of Europe" which you can find at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq9sGZiEops .

No2Atheism:
I am telling u Africans need to stand there ground and drive out the Arabs and Europeans from Africa one way or another.

Most people who do not know history do not even know that Part of the present day middle east actually belong to black people in ancient times . . . until wars and more wars forced black people more and more inside africa until the present day.

Actually the original pristine Arabs were black like you and me. There are remnants of them still existing in the middle-east. Look very well at Sultan Qabus of Oman, he looks more black than Arab. Even Europe was once occupied by black people.

No2Atheism:
I do not support Sanusi . . . because i know he is a open islamist who is bent on doing anything that glorifies islam and thus indirectly glorifies Arabs because islam is nothing more than a political tool of Arabs. Even a stupid non - muslim can see that islam is a false religion.

Well, I can't say much about Sanusi but I know that he attended a Catholic primary school before going to Kings College in Lagos. Maybe that's the steps one need to take to become an Islamist (whatever that means cos I can't find it in my dictionary). If we assume that Islam is just an Arab agenda then what do we say about the significant number of Christian arabs in the middle-east. If you do not know they exist then I think it's important that you should know now. check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Christians for a start

No2Atheism:
1. Hence they are not Arabic . . . since its common knowledge that it was obtained from India.

Borrowing your logic, why do we have Indian numerals on our currency. Are their any indians in Nigeria. Why don't we just Yoruba since the yorubas are believed to be the originators of binary digits.

But all this things I said will be useful if one has not locked his mind in hatred. I'm not sure but I think it's Tupac that said "Know Me Before You Judge Me".
Lest we forget the topic is  "New Naira Notes! Arabic Is The Reason?".

@Beaf, the true meaning of the Eagle is not strength. Check out the links I've posted earlier please.
If the Almajiris cannot read, then what do they write on the slates they carry? Mind you, I am not advocating the almajiri educational system in these times. But instead of branding them illiterates why don't we take advantage of their Arabic literacy. That's why I gave an example with merchants that record their transactions in Arabic.
Agreed their are many problems in the north some of which you cited in your hot reply, but those problems doesn't change the fact that Ajami writing is part of the North's cultural heritage. Northerners therefore have the right to demand that the Hausa writing on the naira be rendered in it's original Ajami form and not with English characters.

Why don't you suggest that the numeric value on the naira be changed from the Arabic numerals (1 2 3 4 , ) to maybe roman numerals ( I II III IV , ). Maybe then the Naira will be Arabic-free.

Beaf:
The bottom line of this argument is that, English is Nigeria's official language; Arabic is totally alien and without any footing in Nigeria.
How about this for a joke; why not print government documents in Arabic because some people cannot read English? Why not?!

I agree that English is Nigeria's official language, but who said that only the official language should appear on the currency notes? why do we have Yoruba and Igbo added on the notes? The simple point I am trying to make is that the Hausa inscriptions should be in Ajami and not english characters. One more thing, Arabic is not totally alien in Nigeria. Go to the main market in Maiduguri and you will find countless merchants that record their transaction in Arabic. My people from the Borno Region have been using those Arabic text for more than one thousand years now. Tell me, which one is more like Alien between Arabic and English. Do you know that most of those Almajiri boys that the North is (often justifiably) ridiculed about can read and write those Arabic scripts.

Beaf:
As to the Nigerian coat of arms being Christian; that is a load of BS. It is completely ignorant and laughable.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Nigeria

I was reffering to the Eagle on the coat of arms and not the shield, horses e.t.c

Beaf:
Even if Northern Nigerians are all bona fide Yemeni, they live in Nigeria and must conform to Nigerian expectations. Those whose allegiance lies in  Yemen can find their way back there.
Let's not divorce ourselves from reality.

The reality mr Beaf is that the whole country cannot all convert to your ethnic group. We must learn to accept that we are living together with others who might be culturally different from us.

@ndu_chucks, thanks. As somebody once told me here on Nairaland. Sometimes you have to be patient to teach, teach, teach and teach.

I think we've been here before, there has been such a discussion on the so-called Arabic inscriptions on the Naira as far back as 2005 or 2006. I just couldn't dig up the thread. What you guys call arabic inscriptions are not arabic but Ajami scripts. Ajami is actually Hausa written with Arabic letters. That's how the original hausa writing is. And that is what many Northerners that do not have western education can read.
I really do not think Sanusi will bring back Ajami though I wish he would (No apologies here). I believe by erasing the Ajami writings you are erasing an important cultural identity of the North. Don't forget that cultural identity is what made Soludo changed his name from Charles to Chuckwuma. And Cultural Identity is what made Joe Garba a christian to wear a turban.
Give a two hundred naira note to anybody that can read arabic and ask him to read the arabic text to you. He will pronounce "Naira Dari Biyu" that's "Two Hundred Naira" in Hausa. That is how Ajami works. The relationship between Ajami writing and Arabic is like the relation between Igbo and Yoruba writings with english letters.

Back in those days I pointed out the difference between Arabic and Islam and also pointed out how each group in Nigeria is represented in our National symbols. I gave an example with the Eagle that we are so fond of (Court of Arms, Super Eagles e.t.c) as being a christian symbol.

http://www.catholic-saints.info/catholic-symbols/eagle-christian-symbol.htm
http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/symbols/eagle.htm
http://home.att.net/~wegast/symbols/symbolse/symbolse.html

I also heard somebody said that there are no Arabs in Nigeria. Well, then you maybe you've never heard of an ethnic group called Shuwa Arab found in Borno State. They've even once produced a state governor in the person of Alhaji Asheikh Jarma. Also most of the ethnic groups from the North-East trace their roots back to Yemen. This is not based on some legends but based on documented evidence and written history.

And for those of us that so much despise Arabic, I'll advice them to device a new number system because the numerals we use with the english language are derived from Arabic and that's why they are called Arabic Numerals.

The Isreali currency called the shekkel has arabic (not Ajami) inscriptions on it. I didn't hear the Jews complaining.

I just read on mobilitynigeria.com that glo-1 submarine cable has landed in Lagos yesterday.

fayahsoul:
Look, the burden of proof is on you. Post the evidence in this forum for all to see clearly without a doubt and cut the grama.

@fayasoul, I've posted the evidence and explained it. But you chose to ignore it. I told you to disprove me but you didn't.

fayahsoul:
Do you know the opinion of everyone in benue? no. And even if you did, whatever they think remains an opinion not a fact.

Talking about Benue, I am not just a person hearing about Benue. I've been to Benue and know people from Benue. Non of them ever agrees that they are not part of the north. But I do not know your reason for saying that it's their opinion and not a fact. Well, a fact is that the Benue state governor is a member of the northern governors forum and prominent indigenes of Benue like Paul Unongo have on serveral occasions spoken on behalf of the North.

fayahsoul:
Also just because the north supplies food items to the south does not mean the south lacks arable land.

Nobody said that the south lacks arable land, in fact I am not saying food is not grown in the south. But that doesn't change the fact that a lot of foodstuff are supplied to south from the north.

fayahsoul:
I know that the north is not ethnically homogenous but the hausa muslims are still the majority in the north nonetheless. And i did not say that u are hausa nor fulani. If u read my post carefully u  would see that i said "So if you are fulani the question is still directed to u and yours"    

Well, I am not Fulani and that's why I adviced you to redirect the question to a Hausa/Fulani person if you know any.
@fayahsoul, it seems to me you are in "battle mode" and very angry which will make it really difficult to reason with me. Until you get the anger off your chest and move into "discussion mode" I do not think we can get anywhere.

@nex, I think I'll stick to your advice i.e keep taking the attacks for the sake of a fruitful discussion.

fayahsoul:
Also u claimed in your first post that there's oil in benue(not technically a northern state) and bauchi.
 

@fayahsoul, yes I've heard many southerners say that Benue is not in the North but I've never heard the people of Benue say that. So I can't agree with you that Benue is not technically a Northern state.
And I am neither Hausa nor Fulani. Assuming every northerner must be Hausa or Fulani screams total ignorance of the north. Allow me to set straight a common mistake many Southerners make. The North is not defined by Hausa or Fulani. In fact where I come from many people look down on the Hausas and the Fulanis. But let me say that I don't share that view, cos I believe people should be respected irrespective of their ethnicities.

fayahsoul:
The first link deals with oil in chad-cameroon not nigeria and the second one bears similarity to one of those bogus illegible maps often presented by becomstupid. So u have proved nothing. Also u claimed in your first post that there's oil in benue(not technically a northern state) and bauchi.  . .u are yet to prove that too.

Now when i say hausa/fulani i mean the ethnic groups hausa, fulani and the mixed breeds of hausa-fulani. The fulani colonized the hausas with islamic imperialism in the past and still control the hausas today. So if you are fulani the question is still directed to u and yours.  

You did not talk about the licences I cited,OPL 298 and OPL 732. I gave you the link on oil in Chad to prove to you that there is oil in the Chad Basin which extends well into Borno state. In the second link I want you to see the listed blocks which include Benue Through and Chad Basin. I told you to go through the data but you only looked at map and hurriedly came back to post.
Somebody on this thread said that the heat in the north will distill all the oil even if there is any. But Chad is at hot as the hottest places in Northern Nigeria and have no rocks. How come their oil is not distilled?

The essence of my original post is to show that the North has some natural resource and oil happen to be only one among a list I've given. Apart from that the north has relatively good food security and supplies the south with some essential foodstuff. That is to show that indeed the North is contributing something to Nigeria.
Actually I am trying to have a discussion here and not an argument. So all I am trying to do is present my points. If you want to debate (not argue) then present points that convincingly disprove mine.

fayahsoul:
Cut the grama and prove it.

If and when u prove it then kindly proceed to explain why the hausa/fulani dominated government of nigeria has remained silent towards the consistent nation wide clamour for a sovereign national conference.

The Oil I talked about in Borno state is in the Chad Basin which is an area shared by Nigeria, Niger Republic and Chad Republic. Chad and Niger are already extracting oil on their own parts of the Basin. It is only Nigeria that is yet to start. Although the Federal government during Obasanjos's time has issued licences for Oil prospecting on the Nigerian side. This I think are OPL298 and OPL 732 issued during the 2006 bidding rounds. But now everything has stopped because of allegations of misconducts during that bidding round and we are told that investigations are going on.
As for the request to prove why the Hausa/Fulani don't want sovereign national conference, I can't say much because I am not Hausa/Fulani. I am not even sure that there is an ethnic group called Hausa/Fulani. One is either Hausa or Fulani. And where I come from there are no native Hausa people only Fulanis who are also of insignificant number.
But I'll advice you to put up that question to a "Hausa/Fulani" if you know any , maybe he/she will give you a satisfactory answer.

If you want more reading on oil in Chad basin then follow the links below
http://www.mbendi.com/indy/oilg/af/ch/p0005.htm
http://www.nigeria-oil-gas.com/nigeria_oil_&_gas_concessions_map_&_licenses-34-1-2-c.html

Please don't just rush through, but take your time and find the areas of interest i.e Chad Basin and Benue through.

I read your very long post.It was
boring
senseless
annoying
daft
pointless
needless
I also read your last post from your profile,I realize you are a boko harem supporter and nothing sane can emanate from your stupid hausa mouth and your daft islamic head.
The only part of your stupid write up ,I will react to,is ''oil in the north''
Did your imam brainwash and hypnotize you today.Dont you know the heat in the north will distil oil if ever it is found there.The only countries that happens to find oil in rock and other odd places are algeria ,saudi arabia and some other countries.
So keep wishing.
Americans know how stupid and controllable the hausas can be .Hence they will do everything within their power to stop nigeria from breaking.

@Hollandis, actually I made that post hoping that there are people that will reason with me on this thread. I expect you to treat the points I raised point by point like any reasonable person will do. But instead you dodged them by spraying insults and curses all around. And if you took time to read my post on Boko Haram, you will realize that I am more of a victim of Boko Haram than a supporter. Please Hollandis, calm down and get the hatred off your chest and maybe you can reason. And by the way, just like many Northerners I am not Hausa.
I think using phrases like "daft islamic head" and "stupid Hausa mouth" are very extreme and uncivilized. It is people like you that I describe in my post as highly emotional.  It is these type of extreme emotions that is always manipulated by the political elite to keep themselves in power and keep you frustrated.
About the oil in the North, I know it's bad news for those that keep arguing that it is oil that is keeping Nigeria together. But you don't really have to win an argument, just make your points clear and without insults.

I'm a little curious, what's with the Chinese script below your name 
And @Hollandis, I challenge you to respond to this post without cursing. At least to prove that you are civilized.