₦airaland Forum

Vandals Wreak Havoc On NTA, Yenagoa
Fyneface Aaron • Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009
Normal work at the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Yenagoa has been disrupted following vandalisation of its three giant generators by unknown men.

According to the reports, the vandals were said to have gained entrance into the premises by climbing the back fence and made straight to the generator house, and made away with some vital parts of the generators.

Following the development, the station has been out of operation for three days.

Attempts by The Tide in Yenagoa to speak to the General Manager of the station, Mrs. Carthy Aloley was not successful as her mobile phone indicated she was not available.

However, a staff of the station told The Tide that skeletal services have been restored, and described the incident as a sabotage.

The view was supported by observers who said the station had of recent become very critical of the activities of the state government by allowing the opposition to use it in launching their attacks.

Police source, however, said seven staff of the station who were on duty during the incident, have been invited for questioning, while full investigations have commenced.

Human trafficker nabbed escorting Edo girls, boys to Cameroon Written by Isa Umar Gusau, Maiduguri
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
A suspected human trafficker has been apprehended along Gamboru, a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon, while guiding seven youths, comprising two ladies and five young men all indigenes of Edo State out of Nigeria to Cameroon with each of them carrying what the immigration described as forged passports and other travelling documents.

The Comptroller, Nigerian Immigration Service, Borno Command, Mohammed Sambo Gwandu, paraded the suspected trafficker and his accomplices in Maiduguri yesterday.

He told newsmen that the passports recovered from them showed entry immigration stamps of numerous countries pasted along with visas even when it was clear that the youths being led out of the country had never been to the countries from which immigration entry stamps were forged.

Gwandu also said his men recovered a movement chat from the team which implied that they were heading for other countries, using Cameroon as a route.

The suspected trafficker and leader of the delegation, Osenwenge Ikubor, 34, told our correspondent when asked, that one Mohammed, a friend of his in Lagos, was the one who made the passports for the youths while he was assigned to lead them to Cameroon for the purpose of taking part in shooting a home video.

Some of the youths told our correspondent that they paid N10, 000 for the passports to be made for them even as they said they didn’t know they were carrying forged passports.

The immigration said they were to be handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for investigation.

Message from BecomeRich

"Bode George, with tens of EFCC charges and a dead NPA to show for his political sojourn, is the Yoruba Presidential candidate in 2011 or 2015"

Is it not the same Bode George who could not deliver Lagos to PDP? The man is a political liability and a loudmouth thief. If that is the Yoruba candidate, then the dogs are at play.

BecomeRich,
This is in direct response to your long post and I will give it back as raw as you did.
You have concluded that other Nigerians do not accept Igbos, but instead, I put it to you this way:
Yoruba do not accept Igbo and vice versa
Hausa do no accept Igbo and vice versa
Hausa do not accept Yoruba and vice versa
Awo tried it and failed
Olu Falae tried it failed
MKO wanted to rule without the Igbo, Arthur Nzeribe worked with IBB to truncate his dreams
Obasanjo tried it but was supported because he is a northern homeboy
When he thought he could bring in the Yoruba agenda (3rd term) he became unacceptable to others and was flushed out.
So who accepts who in Nigeria? Ever tribe dislikes the other. Proove me wrong here.

Regarding your conclusion that Igbos do not have presidential materials
We have Utomi
We have Anyaoku
We have Ekwueme
We have Okonjo Iweala
We have Barth Nnaji
We have Soludo (people say he has stolen, if true, so has Obasanjo, Yaradua, IBB Jonathan, Buhari, Abubakir, etc. Yet they have all become presidents and VPs)
We have Akunyili
We have Ezekwesili
Infact, in Nigeria, only Igbos have women who can rule Nigeria, not thieves like Grange, Etteh and Turai Yaradua
Please name the Yoruba leaders who can lead Nigeria
You have mentioned Bode George. OMG! What a shame; a known thief is all you can produce?
Who is from the North? Atiku, another confirmed looter?
Or Buhari, a religious fanatic?
In 2011 through to 2015, The north will round off their time
After that comes the greater East (south south or South East)
I am of the opinion that Igbos should not contend with the south south. We are their big brother, so we allow them go first. Then North again, and then the Igbo
One thing is clear. Yoruba will never rule Nigeria again until all the southern groups gave taken their turn
The painful thing is that Yoruba was allowed for 8 years; the messed up the whole place with mediocrity, corruption, incompetence and tribalism. They so incompetent that tens of plane crashes were recorded under their watch as ministers of aviation; the national ID card scheme collapsed under their watch; NPA became a basket case with Bode George looting it dry; NEPA became another story under Makanjuola, and universities were rendered comatose under Borishade
Together with the North, the Yoruba have contributed to mess up the country. Please proove me wrong.
The little gains we have made so far all have Igbo inputs written all over them. From GSM to banking to education to NAFDAC to debt relief. You name it. Now a Yoruba is the Minister of Health. Lassa Fever, Meningitis and other diseases have killed more then 300 Nigerians since this year. What does he say or do? Nothing. Na

so so grammar we de hear. The Good Yoruba leaders are all dead. What is left are thrash and incompetent eediots.

True talk my man. Please tell them. Yoruba hm!

Xavier.:
They should talk to

OBJ
Alao Akala
Fani Kayode
OGD
Iyabo Obasanjo
etc

Getting the fund shdnt be too difficult

You are right. It should be easy to raise the money. They can get it from OBJ, Alao Akala, Madam Etteh, Bankole, Grange, Borishade, Fani Kayode, OGD, Iyabo Obasanjo, Bode George, Tafa Balogun, Ehindero, Bunmi Oni, Fayose, Makanjuola and hundreds of other known, (please complete)

Actually, this is another ploy to rip people off. Vincent Ola is very far away from ordinary Yoruba man on d street and hence he does not know what they want.95% of Yoruba graduates who ar products of free education ar currently jobless and what they need now is JOB and not further education.Vincent Ola should better raise that N50B and use it to build viable factories in all Yoruba towns Now.When those jobless graduate Yorubas ar engaged u can then think of producing more quality graduates.

He could be Igbo but running errands for the likes of Tinubu and Akindele

DeReloaded:
Ijawman, take your brother muda away

My brother ke? Ok I will cage him in the fish basket

Yoruba Cities Littered with Homeless Beggars, all Children and Women
Daily Independent, Hakeem Jamiu

Assume that the Yoruba culture is good and progressive. Assume that the Yoruba elders are wise and peace-loving. Assume that the Yoruba people are the most educated in Africa and that they received the most useful education any other group can ever dream of. These are the assumptions and beliefs of every Yoruba man. Now, given that the same Yoruba people managed Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, I ask you: Are these assumptions consistent with the results of Yoruba eight years of leadership in Nigeria? In other words, what did the Yoruba culture, people, and elders produce for the Yoruba masses in their eight years of sound and fury as the most “civilized” tribe in the African continent? For these assumptions to be true and valid, Yoruba states and cities will reflect positive changes in positive directions concerning the lives and behaviors of the Yoruba citizens therein. States such as Osun, Oyo, Ogun, and Ekiti, and cities such as Ibadan, Lagos, and Ayetoro Ekiti, the collective center of Yoruba “civilization”, will show good signs of happy Yoruba men, women, and children living their lives according to the results of the eight years of Yoruba “wise” leadership in Nigeria. Clearly, these assumptions are absurd because Yoruba culture produces useless animals and educated idiots who understand nothing about health, education, law and order, road maintenance, and administration of elections and public services. If you are still in doubt, read about the present conditions in the city of Ibadan, occupied and managed by 100% Yoruba people.

There is a social malaise which is gradually creeping into the lexicon of Yorubaland and this is the ugly spectre of hungry children begging for food and alms at social events. Older women are equally not left out in this ugly but strange practice in Yorubaland. It is strange in Yorubaland because the concept of almajiri which simply means street urchin is common in the Northern part of the country. Yorubas use to refer derisively to anybody soliciting for arms in Yorubaland in the olden days as almajiri. The almajiri of the North are usually children between the age bracket of 7 and 20 in most cases. Almajiris are so desperate for food that any unsuspecting visitor to the Northern part of the country who goes to a restaurant to eat but mistakenly left his food to wash his hands is likely to lose such to waiting almajiris before he comes back for the food.

I first noticed this ugly trend at a ceremony I attended a few months ago at Ayetoro Ekiti. Elderly and middle aged able bodied women from Kwara, Osun and Oyo states invaded the burial ceremony uninvited and were embarrassing guests who refused to give them money. Also noticeable were children with their begging bowls who thronged the venue of the ceremony soliciting for left over food and alms. The children were a pitiable sight. Poverty was clearly written on their faces. I have attended many social functions after that and the same trend was noticeable. But I became worried a few days ago, when I attended the burial ceremony of a friend's father in Ilesha , Osun State . They came in various groups and employ different methods in soliciting for alms. There were the elderly women who were busy harassing guests in the name of praise singing and would not leave until you part with money, there were the men with their public address system which they use in praise singing but which is disturbance and yet, there were Yoruba children in the mould of almajiris with their begging bowls scrambling for left-over and at the same time soliciting for alms.

Fellow guests on my table at the event who were also journalists expressed their concern in unison about the growing trend of almajiri of various categories in Yorubaland. They all agreed that it has become a social problem. We started discussing and realised that the culture of begging in the mould of almajiris is alien to Yoruba culture. In those days before the advent of the British, the Yorubas are a proud people known for their hard work and industry. They practiced hoe agriculture and were well known as traders and for their crafts. Yoruba artists have produced masterpieces of woodcarving and bronze casting, some of which date from as early as the 13th century. Many of Nigeria 's best-known artists and writers are Yoruba. Other occupation of the Yorubas at that time were drumming and masquerading which would now be called showbiz. They engage in all the foregoing occupation but a Yoruba man or woman (able bodied) would not beg for alms as it is considered shameful and something akin to a curse. The Yorubas cherish their oriki (folklore) which is a poetic version of eulogizing the exploits of their progenitors which is an incentive for them to excel and even surpass their progenitors. The Yorubas have harsh words for lazy people. Such people are objects of ridicule and butt of jokes in the society. With this background, it is understandable why we became worried with the array of beggars at the Ilesha ceremony.

After leaving the party, I reflected on the scenario of the almajiris in Ilesha and I was able to draw a relationship between Political almajiris and social almajiris. I discovered that social almajiri had its root in the advent of the politics of do -or-die introduced into the political lexicon of Yorubaland by apostles of mainstream politics especially ex-President Obasanjo. The grand Patron of political almajiris who recently passed away was Chief Lamidi Adedibu. Many have argued that his dath has led to the profilration of almajiris in Yorubaland. This is because those he hitherto dole handouts to must look for other means of survival since he is no more. These political almajiris are ready to exchange their mothers for few coins. A new political class of men without integrity and anything goes was created and they became political almajiris who survive on crumbs from their masters. They would rig, kill, maim and do all sort of things to acquire political power. With the ascension of these men in power, good governance became a thing of the past. Our collective patrimony was squandered by these political almajiris. Nigeria has never been so blessed with petro dollar with oil selling for $156 dollars per barrel but Nigeria has never been so poor with a chunk of the population living below poverty line. So versions of the political almajiris are the social almajiris that now invade ceremonies in Yorubaland. With these children begging for alms, a ready made market for thuggery and other social vices is assured. The activities of the beggars are not limited to parties. At bus stops in our cities, it is a common sight to see women most of who are still in their mid thirties, who would strap a baby at their backs and approach men with stories of despair to solicit for alms. Many of them would end up in bed with such men. This is another brand of alamajiri and these are Yoruba women. A violent version of almajiri but which is gradually being tackled in Lagos is the 'Area Boys' syndrome. These are Yoruba street urchins who are semi- armed robbers.

The underlying factor in this new trend is failure of the Nigerian State on one part and the laziness on the part of these women. Most of them don't want to work, In those days, when everybody's occupation was farming you dare not beg. You must find something to do. But these days, our women and children are too lazy. It is either they steal or beg. In most cases a mother and child become almajiris at social events. So the question now is can a Yoruba man now refer derisively to a Hausa beggar as almajiri when we have many of them now in Yorubaland? The answer is no! This trend must be arrested before it goes out of hand. The almajiris in the North these days engage in novel forms of drug abuse like sniffing of gutter water to get intoxicated, sniffing of adhesives and other drugs so that they are ever ready to unleash terror on the rest of the society whenever they are called upon to do so by the political wing of almajiris. I strongly recommend that guests at public functions must stop encouraging almajiris by giving them money.

But can government which itself owns the political wing of almajiris arrest this trend? Time will tell.

^muda:
the man is igbo.

How did u arrive at this conclusion?

The man looks more like Edo. But he cannot be anything more than Yoruba, Ibo, Delta or Edo, though it will be preferable to wait and hear his name. Shame to him and his folks