₦airaland Forum

LEAVE BOLA TINUBU ALONE I BEG

By Farouk Martins Aresa

Poor Bola Tinubu, they will not let him enjoy his loot in peace. The same culture that created him in a country where anything goes wants a piece of his money by threatening to reopen his case with EFCC. Well, to be fair to those demanding a fair share, there is no reason to be stingy when Oshun, Oyo, Ekiti and even Ghana political thugs were fully sponsored by the “Asiwaju of Yorubaland”. His influence cannot stop here, those across the Niger are still waiting.

From Pointblanknews.com

While Yiminu (leave me) Tinubu loaded himself with a deal for pension that Ghanaians would not tolerate for a former head of State, that even Jakande, the best Governor of all time, can only view with envy, others and former governors will be lu cky to get paid their pension regularly. These cannot be the people Tinubu was crying to for help to be left alone, could they?

As long as they are aware that Tinubu has cornered the major contracts in Lagos State, they know he is still in money no matter how much he relinquished to settle with EFCC in the past. That was during the time of Ribadu. There is a new game in town now. As a Nigerian, we know that the police never stop coming because lucrative cases are never dead cases. So why is a one-eye man complaining in the land of the blind?

It could also be that his political enemies are jealous of his success and his opposition to their free ride in political arena. Those ones finally met a formidable opponent who can challenge them man for man, naira for naira and dollar for dollar.  If he had allied with any of them in the past and they are now in the position to call for his case file from EFCC, the same file they have ignored for so long; it means there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics.

Those who brought Nigeria to this sorry state with heavy yoke of corruption making it difficult for the Country to get up from its knees take us for a fool when they preach to us. Look at the rise of Tinubu in Nigeria politics or his drug peddling activities in the United States: here comes a senator and a governor. As this “success” continues, there will emerge a President of Nigeria.  Whether we like it or not, that is the path to a successful political leader.

Before it became international disgrace, we knew what we were brewing in Nigeria as our tolerance for corruption increased and embraced the slogan of “if you cannot beat them join them”. Tinubu is only a product of his environment and we deserve the leaders we nourished. He is not the worst either. Many of us are still alive as we went from ten percent kickback to fund party activities and personal projects to “family support”.

We are now reduced to throwing our support nowhere or to the least of all evils. When we see highly informed people supporting those they know are crooks, we either provide them with honest means of livelihood or resign to the fact that they may pitch their tents with people of shady characters when their personal interest are at stake. The alternative can be dire and sometimes destructive.

Saint Aminu Kano is dead and gone. His days are over and he did not leave any money behind.

Therefore, only a Nigerian born yesterday would be wondering how we got here. We have now embarked on foreign contracts to support our voracious appetites for kickbacks. These foreign contractors who are at the mercy of our extortionists are now getting into trouble with their governments. As one of the US congressman rightly told Ribadu, if they do not play along, other businessmen from Europe and Asia will displace them from lucrative contracts in Nigeria.

Nigerian politicians feel safe and comfortable with foreign kickbacks. It brings in hard currencies and culprits are beyond the reach of local enforcement or “family support”. That is a perfect avenue for most of the development we desire in Nigeria in terms of mini gas turbines, steel and motor manufacturing industries and of course diverting projects like Tinapa and Lagoon City. It is not an accident that Tinubu happen to be around to explain the benefit of Lagoon City in Lagos.

Consequently, it could be very worrisome for the children, relatives and friends of Tinubu to be calling him from all over the world wondering why this investigation is still hanging on his head since his enemies tried to prevent him from running for second term as Governor of Lagos State. These were the same people who Ribadu was harassing because of gifts from friends of their father. But none of them ever asked him what type of businesses he engaged in to come up with such stupendous wealth in a country where so many are suffering in the midst of plenty.

Every crook in Nigeria claim they make money from personal business or stock market but the Country they make the money from gets poorer everyday with very little to show its citizens in spite of  the amount of money made from black gold. In the case of Ghana, we could point to those who stole the gold. In our case, Omo-Akotileta, our traitor-vultures absolved them from responsibilities. These are the dignitaries who have usurped the role of how hard working Nigerians that still toil day and night to provide for their relatives and create=2 0jobs for others.

So please Tinubu do not cry to us. Those that eat with the devil must acquire long spoon. You still have yours that is working well for you. You came up in the system that made you what you are today. If you have to do it all over again, you will surely chose the same course. It is just nauseating when you preach to us about the problems of Nigeria as if you are not a product of the same. The rest of us only chose a different route to make a living.

You rode on the back of NADECO and became bigger than them. You rode on the back of AD and became bigger than AD. You will soon get bigger than AC. Maybe the members of coalition you are calling for are seeing through you realizing where you are going to land. Do not call on the grass to separate the fight between elephants

Don't fool yourself, u must use water after paper. The best compromise when out of the house is to use water soaked paper after dry paper.

Please tell us who the minority holders are and their share %.

[/quote][quote author=deor03 link=topic=106711.msg3804083#msg3804083 date=1241101377]Randle is just the majority shareholder in the company. He does NOT own that company 100 %.

Sapele Guy,

That is how you guys mix up history.

It is true that Oba head was taken to Benin as a result of the truce agreement but one of Omo-onile Oni-Ido in control of Ido, one of Ogunfuminire's sons kicked against it and stoped it. That is another story by itself because before then he was captured by Oba of Benin and another war led to his release.

But hear me out. If taking the head of Oba of Lagos show the power of Oba of Benin who was also Yoruba, what does taking the head of Oba Benin to Ife tells you?

I know the literal meaning of Ashipa meaning a misplaced proverb but the title has a deeper meaning in Yoruba land. You may need to find out your own history and stop lying to yourself about your roots. Sapele is not that far from Wari, can Itsekiri deny their Yoruba heritage as this Oba of Benin is doing? By the way each time an Oba is crowned in Benin, he still has to pay rent to the Ogiso. Ogiso is African, Ogisos is English. We do not have Ogisos in Africa.

[/quote][quote author=SapeleGuy link=topic=266457.msg3794651#msg3794651 date=1240955465]Jara - nice post, however,

Firstly, Ogiso is not one monarch - Thirty-one Ogisos in all ruled the kingdom of Benin between 900 - 1200 AD. There after the title Oba came into use.

Two, Please tell us what ASHIPA means since it is a very old title in yoruba land.

Three. Omo whatever you call them didn't repel anyone. Benin lost lagos to the British in 1850. Up to this time Lagos rulers were returned to Benin for burial.When the ruler Akintoye died, the British authorities refused the body to be taken to Benin City for burial on the ground that Lagos was now a BRITISH TERRITORY. To support their argument, they forced OBA DOSUMU of Lagos to sign the article of ANNEXATION OF LAGOS as belonging to Britain in 1861.

We already have a few cases of boiboi reporting their masters after being fired for theft for robbing him. All you create for the police is a field day where bribes are taken from left and right. This same guy was being investigated by the same police after stealing millioms from his boss. He now turns around, made wild allegation against his boss. If his boss wanted to raid his own company, he could have liquidated it himself and walk.

After Adenike Grange, can anyone tell the difference between a crook and an unwilling participant?

[/quote][quote author=nuzo link=topic=106711.msg3800991#msg3800991 date=1241043572]Are you insinuating that its impossible for a fraudstar to report a fraudstar or that it was cool for randle to rob his own company?

This is how you guys mix apples with oranges, angels with devils.

A former employee he fired for fraud came back and reported him to the police for defrauding his own company J.K Randle & Co. and the same former employee he fired for fraud. How can a former fired employee report his boss for fraud?

Nigeria, wonder shall never finish o!

Softly, softly before you burst some nerves. There was no Lagos before oil, you were living at Agegule, jungle city, before oil now. The same oil mess up Lagos as we know it.


[quote author=*jona link=topic=266457.msg3794228#msg3794228 date=1240949851]bla bla bla[/quote][quote][/quote]

Sapeleguy abi na wethin you call yourself,

You think in this day and age Oba of Benin who is yet to be accepted by the Ogiso is going to rewrite history with the hope of selling others out.

If Ashipa according to you is - Aisikpahienvoborre" which means "people do not desert their home-land.

Where is he deserting? Lagos or Benin? Do you realize that Ashipa is an older title in Yorubaland than Benin itslef, I guess not. You also do not realize that the lingua franca in that palace is Yoruba. Oranmiyan went there established a kinship after Ogiso mess up and his children brought it to greater heights. Nobody knew Benin before Oranmiyan, that was why Oba Benin and Lagos were left alone to battle it out since both were children of Oduduwa.

By the way Beni were repelled by Omo-onile and they came to a truce when Ashipa returned their fallen general. That truce was Ashipa from Yoruba land, a decendant of Ogunfuminire whose children are still the Omo-onlie till today. Olumegbon, Onitana, Ojora, Onisiwo, Aromire and others.

You wish Lagos is no man's land for you all. Sorry o.

The body of this article is not accurate, perhaps this was an oversight, perhaps not. You can't talk of Eko (which means camp in edo language) without mentioning the Binis in modern day Edo State.

"Oba Orhogbua was clearly a strong warrior for he enforced tribute payments from all parts of the empire and in the middle 1550s conquered all the coastal lands up to Lagos where he left a permanent garrison. Tradition in Lagos says that their first Oba, the Eleko of Eko, was a son of the Oba Orhogbua of Benin"

"Now the name "Ashipa has featured quite prominently (and rightly too) in the history of Lagos. After the Oba Orhogbua returned to Benin from Eko, he appointed a commander or an administrator, who was called Aisikpa to look after the skeleton troop left in the camp(Eko) until he returned again from Benin. He could no longer return having seen the situation at home. The name "Aisikpahienvoborre" which means "people do not desert their home-land. "This is how Aisikpa, whom the Yoruba now call Ashipa, came into the Lagos (Eko) history. Eko is still there as the traditional Benin name for Lagos; Ashipa has been retained as a senior traditional chieftaincy title while his descendants now retain the modern name of Oba of Lagos. The interaction of Edo people with others in distant lands must have inevitably resulted in cultural exchanges. "

Una don start?

Who tell you say na barren land without Omo-onile. The slaves that returned had both Yoruba and foreign names. So read the artilce well. As homework, find out who the Omo-onile are.

They all praise Lagos for what they can get from there, not what anyone can get from their own State.

The Obasanjo administration funded the project and paid the entire off-shore component, remaining the onshore component which cost about N800 million. It was at this point that the Yar’adua administration came in and suspended all the NIPP projects in order to carry out proper investigations on them. The Kwara State government felt it cannot wait to get the benefit of the project so it started funding the project.”

This is an intention and planning that translated into reality and worth commending. If you are thinking it is not going to last, I can not blame you. Nothing good last in Nigeria. Someone will come up with greed asking for foreign parts or the power will be short down.

Yar’Adua may not have what it takes to throw out these Yan-Kisan-Raba daylight pen robbers in Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission but give him his due for spilling out some sugar in his mouth on excessive salaries. It’s unbearable enough for looters to go into rage demanding his head. We cannot be seen as fair, feeding into looters’ rage when we condemn any good issue coming from Yar’Adua; because we see it as a ploy to play to the gallery. Of course we know corruption in high places is the big flying elephant but it does not have to be all or nothing just as prosecution of petty thieves must not shield the obligation to go after the king fish.

Many of us cannot figure out what became of the monetization of allowance policy of the past administration. Cars and public housing were sold with the justification that it was too expensive for a government like ours to waste so much on maintenance for a few. Some men of “timber and caliber”, Yan-Kisan-Raba, healthy but lazy, entrenched in the system have sworn that Nigerians will never see the light of the day at their inconvenience. If NEPA came alive, they would smother the day light out of it to make money. It may remind us of Ajaokuta Steel industry. These are progress killers who talk about one Nigeria as long as it is bleed-able.

We know that their allowances and loots are way more than their salaries. Out of about N1.3 trillions, over a trillion is spent on allowances alone, while junior civil servants without housing cannot live on minimum wage. Most Nigerians realize salary and allowance are comparatively small compared to their real loot under the table where all the contracts and deals are made. This has not, by any means daunted the Commission from showering them with money that is not coming from their backyards’ products. If income generation is the criteria by which we pay our politicians, their creativity would be directed to producing multiple income generating sources.

Nigerians have been crying for years that members of that august Commission are worse than armed robbers, yet they remain unmoved and unrepentant. Only heavens know where these crack heads get their “scientific” formula for allocating salaries in an unfortunate Country reduced to perpetual mass poverty.  Some of the indices used to arrive at this senseless salary included but were not limited to the need for a living image, external reserve, oil production, average crude oil prices and inflation rate. The rich are put on welfare while the poor are left on their own.

Indeed, it is why we hardly have enough left for infrastructure, to subsidize budding agriculture, education and youth development that will prepare us for the next generation. If we cannot take care of the present and we show deliberate intolerance for others’ children with the wishful idea that we can steal enough to insulate our family overseas, we are fools. Healthy but lazy brains are now encouraged to go into politics not to serve, but simply to become instant millionaires.

Most of these politicians that are being pampered as if they live in England or United States are so unproductive; they cannot tell the difference between a light bulb and a candle except in their own houses. They lack guilty conscience when they see people on the road, in their villages and those helps who worked for them are paid pittance. In fact some of them take kickbacks from the pay of their subordinates if they are direct employees of the same Government.

You can hardly tell the difference between the politicians and the RMAFC anyway. They shower allowances on one another as if the money comes from a bottomless pit while the masses and the producer of the same income suffer as if they live in hell. It was only last year that RMAFC increased the basic salaries of these legislators to that of the executives and backdated it to a year before in spite of cries and protest from little people like us.

No institution is safe from Yan-Kisan-Raba. We have confirmed that armed robbers, mentally deranged and the well qualified are competing to get into our police and army by no less an authority than a former President. What he forgot to say was that these same qualifications were needed to get into RMAFC. There is no way a rational well qualified Nigerian can outsmart or logically outdo robbers in power. At some point, what we see are some hard working Nigerians throwing up their hands and submitting to irrational behaviors. Join them if you cannot beat them.

Since over 17 thousand public and political office holders will be affected out of a population of 140 millions, some lament that heaven is going to fall on trickle down naira livelihoods. The main reason has to do with the fact that many Nigerians encourage corruption because they gain or wish to gain from it. A few people have come out to tell us the type of activities they see when they visit some political leaders. Bundle of cash are given out about ten times in a single day without counting petty cash. Anyone giving that amount of money out has to get much more in.

The point is that those who have been reduced to beggars of their own money will increase. This in turn will swell into the population of street urchins. However, it is not easy out there on the streets either. For those who have ears to listen and eyes to read, the genuinely disable beggars on the street have declared war on the Yan-Kisan-Raba (healthy but lazy) bodies encroaching on their territories. It is tough enough making a living out there, influx of those who do not belong will dilute their income drastically.

Disable people do not get the sympathy and respect they deserve in Nigeria, as their counterparts in Europe and America, they warned. Any influx caused as a result of cut in salary or allowance must be balanced with adequate compensation for the disables or the Yan-Kisan-Raba invasion of every institution and community will rise. Enough is enough. If we want to prevent another world war and promote peace, don’t mess with the disables. Some years ago before coins went out of circulation; you dare not give them coins if you do not want it pelted on your forehead. We know many disables are World-War veterans with connections all over the globe. All they have to do is call for help. Aren’t you scared already?

Yan-Kisan-Raba have now become nuisance to every facet of Nigerian society from the RAMFC, the legislators, the executives to the Disable bodies of the country. They have brought us down to our knees where any amount of money can not solve what other countries with less endowment

Four-month blackout in Oshodi
By Our Reader
Published: Wednesday, 18 Feb 2009
Since October 31, 2008, residents of Igbehinadun and Alade streets in Oshodi area of Lagos State have been in total blackout.

We resorted to self-generated power for this period running into four months now.

Needless to say, it is quite dangerous and expensive, considering the global economic crisis and its effects on the nation’s economy and our individual pockets.

I appeal to the authorities of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Oshodi Undertaking, to kindly do something fast in order to rescue us from this ugly situation.

The suffering is rather unbearable.

Melody Ify,

7, Alade Street,

Oshodi, Lagos.

History, As Nigerian Finds Cure for Diabetes
From Dayo Thomas in Abuja, 02.04.2009

It’s official – a Nigerian scientist, Dr. Louis Obyo Obyo Nelson, has finally found a cure for the dreaded diabetes disease which afflicts over 123 million sufferers all over the world.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Aliyu Idi Hong, yesterday described as “epoch and historical” the production of Antidiabetic Phytophar-maceutical by Nelson in collaboration with the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Research and Development.
Diabetes is a potentially life- threatening condition in mammals brought about by an inability of the mammals to produce insulin. Insulin, a polypeptide hormone produced in the pancreas of the mammal, controls the amounts of glucose present in the blood by stimulating the uptake of glucose by the muscle and adipose tissue.
THISDAY had exclusively reported on May 23, 2003 that Nelson had been granted a United States patent entitled “Medicament for the Treatment of Diabetes”, a feat that raised hopes for millions of sufferers of the disease worldwide. It also exclusively reported on June 5, 2003 a confirmation from the US Patent Office that indeed a patent had been made out to the Nigerian scientist.
Hong said yesterday at the signing of an agreement between Nelson and GDPAU, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, for the commercialisation of an Antidiabetic Phaytopharmaceutical in Abuja that the drug would contribute to the quality of health care all over the world and boost the economy of the country.
The drug, which was said to have been administered on many diabetic victims, has been found to be very safe and highly effective. It was also said to have corrected erective dysfunctions noticed in those victims.
The minister said the drug would expand the landscape of medicare in the world and encourage more researches into herbal drugs in the country.
“I believe that there are so many of such leaves in the bushes in Nigeria that can cure many of these diseases that are proving difficult in the world. This is an epoch and historical day in the history of this country,” he said.
The minister noted that diabetes has posed a serious health challenge worldwide, and is the sixth largest killer in Nigeria.
“There is hardly a house you go to in Nigeria that one person will not be affected by this killer disease,” he said.
He pledged the support of the Federal Government to the efforts of research institutes, especially those who are into herbal medicine research.
Director-General of Nigeria Institute for Pharmaceutical Research, Dr. Ufot Inyang, described as unfortunate the inability of the Federal Gove-rnment to explore the enormous benefits in the herbal market.
He regretted that although the market had the capacity of generating over $100 billion annually, the country was not taking advantage of it.
He said the ongoing global economic crisis would adversely affect the fortunes of Nigerian pharmaceutical companies and stressed the need to focus on the herbal drugs.
“It is an opportunity we have been missing and I don’t want us to miss it again,” he said.
Representative of GDPAU, Prof. Ramesh Pandey, who described the drug as one of the greatest things that will come out of the continent, said it could go a long way in helping to launder the image of the country. He commended the efforts of Nigerian researchers, describing them as one of the best in the world.
The drug will be funded and marketed by a Nigerian company, TREC International Limited. It is estimated that it will cost the company an initial $10 million to deliver the drug to the market.
Nelson recorded a breakthrough in his research for a drug that could cure diabetes when the US government issued him with a patent (No. 6,531,461) for his medication, which can effectively treat Type I and Type II diabetes.
A documented proof of the discovery showed that Nelson, who then resided at Plot 574 Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro, Abuja, filed his application for a US patent June 4, 2001.
The 'Medicament for the treatment of Diabetes' patent with application No. 09/873,560 was approved March 11 2003.
An official of the United States Patent had confirmed to THISDAY on telephone June 4, 2003 that Nelson was actually granted a patent for his invention of a possible cure for diabetes.
The official, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Robinson, acknowledged that a United States patent with number US 6,531,461 B1 bearing application number 09/873,560 and dated March 11, 2003 was indeed approved for Nelson.
The enquiries at the US patent office followed the interest the story of May 23, 2003 had generated. E-mail dated May 25, 2003 to the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking to establish the authenticity of Nelson's claim was replied, but with a directive to call the General Information Services Division (GISD) on telephone.
Unlike insulin which has been used for many decades to manage diabetes, Nelson's "wonder" drug can be administered orally, making it possible for patients to administer it as capsule, tablet or syrup. Insulin can only be injected into the body.
The award to Nelson, a graduate of Chemistry from the University of Ibadan, was made on the strength of his research, which determined the exact chemical structure of the active ingredient. The research was also able to determine the quantity of the drug, which could be tolerated in the human body, and yet be able to stem the patient's condition.
Nelson’s drug had been subjected to two clinical trials the last being at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital (UJTH).
At the first clinical trial, the initial extract derived from Vernonia amygdalina was orally administered to 26 patients all of whom had been previously diagnosed as suffering from insulin deficiency. For control, a group of five were used, who maintained diet discipline throughout the trial. The initial extract was dosed to the patients three times daily in 100mg aliquots for six months.
The blood glucose levels of all 31 subjects were closely monitored. It was revealed that the 26 patients receiving the initial extract no longer required maintaining diet discipline after the first month and examination showed remission of the disease after three months.
Fifteen patients were said to have continued receiving medication for the remaining three months of the trial.
The document that accompanied Nelson’s patent application showed that all those who volunteered for the experiment appeared to have recovered from the disease and have returned to their normal life prior to the diagnosis of the disease.
Nelson, 61, who holds a doctorate degree in Molecular and Computational Chemistry from the University of Ibadan, hails from Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
He served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2001, worked with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council.

YAR’ADUA DUMPS NORTHERN PROGRESSIVES FOR SURVIVAL

by Farouk Martins Aresa

The conspicuous pursuit of Northern progressives who had worked across the Niger with their fellow Nigerians is disturbing to say the least. There is a message here. No matter whom you are, even if you have blue blood in you and you play what they characterized as some Robin Hood, the conservatives will catch up with you and deal with you severely.

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These are the same people who were complicit or sat idly by as Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’adua was wasted. They, including Obasanjo, also dictated to Babangida not to hand over power to Abiola. Immediately Gowon took over, the first thing he did was to reassure them. Though a flagrant display of power obvious to all, it has to be restated to emphasis their influence in our memories.

The debate has gone on for a long time about who are the progressives in Nigeria. Generally they belonged to Aminu Kano’s PRP or Tarka’s camps in the North and those who were in Azikiwe or Awolowo’s camps; some of whom later became Governors of their respective mini states. But that in itself can be a simplistic classification, in view of those like Wada Nas who was one of the disciples of Aminu Kano that later became a staunch supporter of Abacha until the end.

In the same vein, the South-south of the Country became part of the conservatives out of fear of domination by their neighbors while the North-central generally voted as progressives. But the military rulers from the same North-central had alway s aligned with the conservatives. So any attempt to generalize has its own fault lines. It may be fair to say that most of the Northern progressives are themselves products of conservative North that have defied that tag in place of pragmatic politics, trying to unite the Country by democratic means.

It is in light of this we must view where Shehu Yar’Adua the brother of our present President belonged. There is no doubt that Shehu Yar’Adua, and Atiku as one of his disciples were progressives who had extended their hands across the Niger in SDP. It is not even a stretch to say that the death of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in the hands of Abacha and his colleagues in the Army created a sympathy vote for his brother that led to his selection as the PDP Presidential candidate.

Some of the finders of PRP’s Umaru Yar’Adua as Presidential candidates are themselves young Northern progressive by the lose camp defined above. Moreover, these finders were young, educated and popular in the North and South. For exactly these reasons, they are not trusted in the North by the conservatives. Many of them are seen as rebels who are ready to give, take20or bargain power away in favor of the Southern progressives.

This alliance between Northern and Southern progressive youths had been taking shape for a long time. It came out of university movements where professors and students combined their affinity to define the future of Nigeria as they had hoped. Some of these graduates, as Ojukwu, joined the military. However, the conservative climate in Nigeria cannot be easily displaced. In view of this analysis, we wonder what went wrong with the great prospect of PRP’s Umaru.

Judging by what is going on in Umaru Yar’Adua Administration these days, it is very difficult to say that he has not been magnanimous and forgiven those who took the life of his brother, Shehu. According to Islamic doctrine, it is written that his brother would die the way he did, Insha Allah. Nevertheless, some of us cannot but watch in amazement under his reign how he has deserted these courageous progressives of his brother and the young progressives that are being hunted.

Politics have neither permanent friends nor foes, your enemy’s enemy may become your friend.

It must be hastily added that chasing the supporter of Obasanjo is not necessarily an unwise prosecution because we want each administration to balance the prosecution of its predecessor but not out of blatant spite. What we do not want is using firing squad to eliminate small petty thieves while the crooks get away. That insult our intelligence in the name of due process. We are not sure if the President is loyal to his colleagues as a former governor, those who threatened him with a coup d'état or both against the interest of Nigeria. Speculations were rife if Yar’Adua had lost his election on those who were ready to take over, before Supreme Court’s confirmation.

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The bottom line may be his survival. All through the different camps we know who the winners and the losers. The most prominent among the winners are Babangida, a special goodwill envoy to Guinea glorifying coup d’état he had said was old fashion in Africa. Ibori who is identified as fun ding his campaign with Niger Delta allocation, predicted each stage of prior EFCC downfall. Tinubu who was the first AC member to support him against the wish of the party he co-funded, now parading himself as a Yoruba leader. Etc . No matter what, this cannot be in the interest of Nigeria because these are spent forces that never benefited our Country in the past.

The impression in many parts of the Country is that EFCC is no longer after these former governors whose immunity have expired but we are now chasing what can be considered lesser petty criminals. It must be pointed out that during the time of Obasanjo some people felt that way too, except that the victims and fear of EFCC were equally spread across Nigeria. Now sacred cows are back bigger than ever and nobody dares touch any friend of Yar’Adua like EFCC did to those of OBJ who were slammed. After all, their defense lawyer is now the Attorney General.

We can spare Yar’Adua this guilt by association, but show me your friends and we can make our own assumptions. There may be comfort in silver lining of the association, friendship or party amongst Atiku, Tinubu and Ojukwu to check PDP spread if it turns out to be true. They will find their match in Ojukwu as a formidable, equal and opposite force to reckon with as in Aburi.

It was Balarabe Musa who had warned us not to expect anything better from Umaru Yar’Adua. For one thing, he deserves the name of Baba-Go-Slow. It seems Nigeria has not moved forward and others claimed that we are moving backwards. The triple headed evil of corruption is still with us and former governors are walking majestically free to emulate. The fear of being caught for corruption by the powerful and the mighty is gone. We are back to status quo that has never worked in our interest. How much Nigerians can take before the last straw breaks the camel’s back is anybody’s guess. The camel has been carrying too heavy a load for a very long time.

The progressives in the North like those in the South supported Yar’Adua because he is the least of all the other evils lea ders. We justify it by the fact that he is the first educated Executive Head of State Aminu Kano PRP Nigeria has ever produced. Those progressives in the North and South think that he would be a thoughtful and pragmatic ruler based on his academic substance. Others wonder about what makes him tick and if he is aware of what is going on around him. I bet he is.

It is a pity that jobs that should be provided got lost in power play

Ribadu deserves what he gets?