₦airaland Forum

Ribadu has played double standard long ago.
OUK's asking him to declare his assets is a good call but probably belated.
I support this call. But we all know that asset declaration like audits in Nigeria now can be doctored. Just like the senate committee doctored their report on the PTDF scam.

To tell you the truth most Nigerians on the street are even indifferent i.e they are not really concerned the moment they are out of the problem spot. Only a few Nigerians e.g the ones in Nairaland political forum are concerned and a few others.

But we must be concerned and make criticisms (constructive though) wherever possible. Nigeria is not working as it is today and we must say it.

We neeed CHANGE AND we are going to bring it to happen.

Atiku as far as I'm concerned is a better option compared to Yar Adua who is chosen by OBJ. Buhari is an anti-people person and a destroyer of humanity.

Both Yar Adua and Buhari will not run tolorable governments, these are from obvious experience of how they have faired in the past. But Atiku can Endure. I'm not campaigning for Atiku, my choice remains Okotie but from the 3 - Buhari, Yar Adua, & Atiku, Atiku would do. That is if only 3 of them were in the race anyway.

But that is not the case, I prefer to vote someone with vision and human sympathy to govern Nigeria especially educated and intellectual persons.

PDP from day 1 had an ulterior motive when they chose no one but OBJ to be their presidential candidate in 1999 and life leader later on.

Calling decampees now amount to a show of this ulterior motive.

The PDP is firmly in the hands of OBJ and nearly all administrative agencies & commissions in Nigeria sing his song. Where there is no opposition, there is no healthy rivalry that spurs decent competition. Today INEC has technically disqualified Atiku unless further facts emerge to rescue him again, Make we dey look. Meanwhile, many Nigerians were not registered and I wonder if we really are going to have an election.

Good job Orikinla!
This is a very credible analysis based on fact. And it comes from no other than one of Nigeria's most noble newsprint organisation The Guardian. Their editorials have been very thorough and absolutely objective since independence.

That said, the PDP have failed and we all know though we do not all agree. We must vote them out. The ANPP are not an alternative now since their candidate is someone who has no respect for human dignity. In his period of governance, humans were treated with the least respect and he had no apology whatsoever. The truth remains that he basically does not believe in democracy and by his track record we cannot trust him.

Atiku is quite corrupt and desparate now. There are two options in Nigeria now that have sound minds- Fresh Democratic Party whose candidate is Chris Okotie and Pat Utomi of the African Democratic Party (I'm not really sure of his party).

Any of this two should be the better option for the federal level (i.e. the presidency). They have addressed issues in their campaigns and they have love for the people. Vote along these lines.

Kano definitely has a lot of people. I have been to Kano before and I reckon it should be Nigeria's second most populous city. But this result is a absolutely a hoax. I don't understand what they intend to gain by manipulating an obvious result. Lagos population should be somewhere between 11-12 million now. During the exercise, a lot of Lagosians were not counted including a council boss of Ejigbo and his family along with all the residents of his street.

The final figure is not even believable. I feel Nigeria should be over 150million. Though I have no facts to make such a claim, going by the growth rate of the last exercise, we should be well over 140. But for heaven's sake, why can't the NPC tell Nigerians & whoever wants to know the truth about our population?

The reason we are the poorest, 2nd poorest or even on the list of poverty is because we have been cursed with bad leadership. We clamoured for democracy and we were made to believe we chose OBJ.

OBJ rather than fight poverty by the best means possible, he prefers to fight corruption not as an issue but as a person. He is fighting individuals whom his scout perceives to be corrupt and not necessarily corruption as an evil. He is also carrying out a faceless reform(s) program. He convinces us he needs to privatise everything. If the role of govt today is not to provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive what then is it? To give licenses or sell corporations?

In 7 yrs plus we are still not where we want or even ought to be. We need to remove the PDP and give some people with ideas a chance. That is the way forward.

@ Izu1

You mean Atiku should be loyal to OBJ even at the expense of Nigerians? Loyalty ought to have a boundary. I cannot be loyal to an unjust cause. Atiku is corrupt but he has been able to gain some credibility simply for standing up to oppose 3rd term. I would not vote for him unless he was contesting an election with Abacha or OBJ as the only alternatives. He is the better of the three evils.

No matter what happened betwwen Atiku and Obj he is supposed to be loyal to him or resign his position. You can not be a vice president of a country and not be in good relationship with the president. No matter how many wrong things OBj has done but with this one behaviour from Athiefkyu he is worst than him I wonder what president he want's to be.

We should be careful what stands we take. OBJ has demonstrated more lawlesness and crude behaviour than anyone else in leading Nigeria. Atiku has kept quiet all along simply because he wants to be President some day. Both men are dishonorable, have no virtue and are most innoble. I call on the N.Assy to impeach both men speedily before OBJ illegally disolve the N.Assy which I see him doing any moment from now.

Beginning with the basics, I have done some little research.

All the teams must have an acceptable lush green pitch to be inspected before the season commences.

All teams must have a standard jersey which contains the players name at the back, club's badge in front, the league's logo at the arm and must be from internationally reputed kitters - Adidas, Nike, Umbro or Puma. They could also have the advert of the club's sponsor at the centre of the jersey in front.

The ball played must be a unique and uniformed one.

The NFL should improve on the media attention. AIT paid some money for the past season, that was good but should be encouraged. NFL should have its own tv programme of the league, featuring highlights of all premier league matches played weekly and a star match summarised to say 10 mins. This would create a small but steady attention that could bring back the viewers.

The NFL should also encourage the local media to create an hype for the local league games. They should also create a weekly or monthly magazine that publishes all the important details - results, transfers, interviews, reactions, etc. The NFL must also have a website that features all the above. This website must be updated daily and by the minute during matches.

There should also be proper security and crowd control arrangements at the match venues.

Fixtures should be played between 5pm and 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

The abridged league system must stop. It does not encourage full blown competition. These are ok for a good start to ensure we maintain a good local scene that is busy and vibrant.

I'm a centrist here.
Though leaning towards liberal views.
I've always been told by my colleagues that I'm objective. Upon realising that, I've made it my motto. I think I agree with the analysis. I believe in individual freedom of choice - capitalism and also believes in government intervention in protecting the disadvantaged as well as a regulated business environment. I also oppose extremism.

Who invented this test could expand it more. It's a beautiful concept. Very short and largely precise.

Sadam Hussein was a man who brought himself to power for his own good!
Iraq never really faired well under him. He brought terror to the middle-east region by taking over Kuwait, killed a lot of innocent people of another tribe, attacking Israel in the early 1990s and a lot others. He was by every standard an evil and wicked man walking on the face of the earth.

The American invasion of Iraq was largely for 2 reasons. America's fear of such man in possession of a WILL & hatred against the West plus that he possibly had weapons of mass destruction. By every standard, he deserves to die. People should not color justice for whatever reason. Sadam was a mass murderer and put the world in fear and turmoil. He deserves two things, mercy from a merciful God if he wants and death from a ravaged humanity.

This is a lesson to all dictators worldwide and for the rest of us who are non dictators. There is a time for everything and God shall bring to judgement every act whether it be good or bad.

Iraq is an oil rich country like Nigeria. Saddam had absolute powers and could not utilize it to make Iraq a developed country. Much like Nigeria where all former military rulers had absolute powers and made only themselves rich - Gowon, OBJ, Buhari, IBB, Abacha, Abdulsalami. Even in a democracy now, OBJ has become a dictator and he at a time ordered the mass execution of an entire community, then paid the media to hide the event underneath the carpet. He has accumulated more richies than most of us know but his time is coming. We should learn to do good today all of us cause God will bring to judgement all our actions.

You do not need a prophet to tell Nigerians that OBJ does not tolorate dissent of any form. He can even assault you for wanting to eat bread when he wants to eat amala. He is that dictatorial and demands totalitarian submission to his ideals.

What was Audu Ogbe's offence? He wrote a letter telling the president to reflect on the mistakes of (1979-1983) democracy and improve on his programmes. This annoyed OBJ so much that OBJ began to seek absolute control of the PDP. He eventually had Ogbe out of the PDP at gun-point. He became its life-leader and gradually began eliminating anyone who was loyal to the old PDP bloc.

Atiku has since then been frustrated. Atiku realised the plan to perpetuate OBJ in power and opposed it vehemently not really for Nigeria's good cause Atiku is equally corrupt. He (Atiku) had become the official opposition within the PDP and OBJ does not like this stance. Atiku knows he cannot no longer control the PDP nor its machinery so he opted to join another party. But this is of no effect as he is still the VP and ought to have resigned first. He must be from the same party as OBJ for him to continue to be VP. But his declaration for another party does not amount to his impeachment or sack. It all boils down to INEC and recognition. INEC already identifies him as the VP, so does the N.Assy and the courts. INEC cannot therefore recognise him as AC presidential flagbearer cause he is still the VP in this term.

OBJ's sacking of his VP is an abuse of the constitution no matter what Atiku has done. It is OBJ's abuse of power and of office. OBJ will not stop there I assure you. OBJ would go ahead to do something worse to prove to all Nigerians that he is not a democratic fellow. I see OBJ dissolving the N.Assy any moment from now. Since OBJ could not win the tenure elongation plot, he will do anything to perpetuate himself in power at the expense of anybody including Nigerians. This he can do by either rigging in a lame duck president in the person of Yar Adua or causing a state of emergency nationwide. We have seen in 7 yrs plus that his best has been privatise this or that and has no real agenda for anything. His anti-corruption crusade has been mere selective justice and he has made a noble cop Ribadu his gestapo IG.

Those behind him (OBJ) are the worst enemies we have now for if men cannot tell their leaders the truth (which does not change their loyalty), then they are equally guilty of conspiracy against society. There is neither honour nor nobility in our political class. Nigerians (the common you and I) make matters worse, we are indifferent and easily satisfied with half-measures and petty presents. Rather than clamour for good governance, we prefer indifference - suffering & smiling. Rather than demand accountability we demand petty presents - rice, N500 apiece and ankara cloth during elections.

We have thrown our consciences overboard. We prefer the present state where anything goes is business as usual. We are benefitting from it so why should it stop? We are happy to see coup plotters in the persons of IBB, Buhari, OBJ run for public offices and we are not bothered. We are happy to see corrupt Atiku become the AC candidate causing a heat in the polity and we are not remorsed. Where, Nigerians have we put our consciences?

No wonder, the North & South laugh at the end of their meetings. They laugh and mock at us Nigerians. The mock and laugh at the media who are supposed to be the watchdog of society. The press is still drunk from watching the handover ceremony of May 29 1999. Else, they would have championed the cause for good governance. They have like the rest of us come to accept the status quo and do thing about it. Atiku ordered his guards to beat up a photo-journalist some time ago and later offered to fix the broken camera or buy a new one. The Nigerian press did not even decry the issue.

Someone reasoned and concluded that Nigeria is a nation of idiots. I now see why. Our society has decayed beyond measure as a result of poverty. Where can we get hope from?

We better rise up for the sake of tomorrow and right the wrongs of yesterday by doing the right thing today.

As for me, I do not vote along individual lines first. I look first at what your party believes in and what it stands for. After that I consider their candidate and his cv. I then look at what issues they are campaigning for that affects me and all of us.

This is my path and line of reasoning.
I have done an extensive lookup and the party and person I will vote is

Fresh Democratic Party and their presidential candidate, Chris Okotie.
The party believes in compassionate capitalism or capitalism with human face that cares for the common people by creating an enabling environment for all to thrive. Okotie himself campaigns these with passion and as far as I can see and tell, there is no other party with their passion for a better Nigeria.

As for me Chris Okotie is the man

Nairaland people wey dey watch football.
What are your suggestions on our own local league?
Our league is the producer of talents. So many talents have been born and raised here before they went to Europe to look for greener pastures.

Today, the league is poorly attended, has little or insufficient media attention and has poor quality football being exhibited by players and managers.

There is need to have a standard local football scene that is equal in quality if not better with the best in our continent (Africa) e.g. Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, & CIV.

What is the way forward?

He must work on the economy by providing infrastructure. To start with, rescucitate all federal roads within the country. Hasten the works on the power stations (if they really exist) and commission them to begin to work. This will make our economy run on electricity instead of diesel engines, employ more people as more local industries will be able to survive as well as compete as the most significant cost of production will drop considerably.

He must ensure there is no state religion anywhere and to improve the police forces (patrolmen and mopol) for the security of lives & property nationwide. The security concern is so serious an issue that he must demonstrate his liberality. I already see him as a jihadist. He supported a sharia case to the stoning of a woman found in adultery. This sign makes me fear for people nationwide. But if he wins or he is rigged in as OBJ before him, he must ensure our people are protected (I mean the common Nigerians travelling nationwide to seek bread).

He should now work on the railways. The current contract by OBJ is far too expensive and does not mention how fast the system would work. Yar Adua should stop this wasteful contract and re-award a more prudent contract to some other company that can deliver a fast and efficient railway service. Lagos-Abuja (connecting the two capitals), Lagos-Onitsha(connecting People from the east / to the west) Abuja-Onitsha (connecting the North to the south-east). Lokoja/Abuja - PH (connecting the north-south/south). All these should not cost more than $12billion or $15billion maximum. This railway service would boost the economy 3 times as people and goods would travel faster to othe region and come back the same day. It would put an end to road accidents & robbery, as well as employ people. When this has been setup and running effectively, he can sell the Railcompany shares to Nigerians on the stock exchange and not to foreigners. It should be an absolute Nigerian owned and run company.

The summary,
The roads (all federal roads & bridges) are in good motorable condition nationwide
The police is retrained & re-equiped to protect people & combat crimes nationwide
Electricity is stable and uninterrupted nationwide
Fast and effective railway network is operational in the country

This is the enabling environment for private sector participation and would no doubt produce an immediate direct foreign investment without need to globe-trot the whole world.

Others are
Work on agriculture to improve food production and ensure we stop importing rice with better local alternatives growing everywhere. Research into improved seedlings and sell them along with quality subsidized fertilisers to farmers. When this is done, Introduce schemes that enable working people acquire homes, cars etc and pay gradually overtime.

With these in place, Nigeria would begin to boom beyond control. Poverty would begin to die with people willing to work and earn a good living, corruption would also take to its heels. But, I ask. Would a PDP led government by Yar Adua do these?

Going by his acceptance speech, the answer is NO. He wants to continue with OBJ's reforms. Big problem dey o. That is why I prefer to vote some one who will do these things and even more. Who is that?

CHRIS OKOTIE!

It is not because we hate either OBJ or Atiku that make us condemn either or any of them. We believe in due process. I for instance believe both men should be impeached with automatic allacrity on January 14th when the National Assembly resumes seating in the new year. Why? Both men have lost the moral integrity to run this country and have been evidently wasteful.

I do not hate either OBJ or Atiku as persons but I dislike their actions and policies as leaders of Nigeria as these actions and policies have not benefitted Nigerians.

Nigerians are going to be disenranchised if INEC does not change to another system for this registration. There should be a plan B where plan A has failed.

Forza Milan!!!

Good results are back again.
two 3 nil victories away and at home and I feel we can do better when the season resumes.
We still need more defenders to pair Nesta and another strika to partner Gila and Olivera.
Na champs league we go do well.
Forza Milan!!!

Our people have been fooled by OBJ. See how this man has made corruption an issue of national importance. We have forgotten our problems simply because EFCC pulled some stunts with Tafa Balogun and everyone seem to sing OBJ's song

"I'm the anti-corruption hero,
there's no one like Ribadu and I
Together we shall fight corruption
till our fatherland know it no more"

Our problem before this government came to power in 1999 was a depressed economy, fear, insecurity, food scarcity and unemployment. Poor health system, failed education, etc. No one ever heard corruption. OBJ came and convinced all of u that corruption was the cause of these problems and his solution was to bring anti-corruption campaign and reforms, what are the results?

We are worse than in 1999. He claims he gave us GSM. But we all know that MTN, Econet, Glo and even govt owned Nitel (now Mtel) paid $385million to the FG for licences. Nigerians on the other hand paid for every service they get from using this subscriptions. What is their achievement in selling license?

Corruption is caused by other problems especially frustration. You must tackle these root causes and corruption will go.

Okotie na im we want, Okotie na im we want1
Did u see Okotie last night?
Brilliance per excellence.
Hear a man take the issues head on cause it concerns him as it concerns u and all of us.
This is a man who believes in compassionate capitalism. Capitalism with human angle that cares for the people.

In case you missed, grab a copy of the Vanguard today 27-12-2006. I bet you he is going to do wonders if we give this man the chance. At least I am certain the FDP will not go about chasing shadows called corruption but focus on issues that affect the entire Nigerian people by carrying out projects that will improve the battered economy beginning with electricity, then agriculture and then security.

Okotie naim we want, Okotie na him dey reign!

My deepest sympathy and condolences to all the families of the bereaved at the explosion. I pray God grant you the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.

This is a sign of the failed state. Fuel has been scarced for over a week now and our PDP led FG has not done anything visible and feasible to address and arrest the ugly trend which has put transport fares at nearly unaffordable rate.

A people frustrated sometimes lose their sense of right thinking. They took risks to ensure they survived and in the end they did not survive. Poverty too much and too bad in our land. The NNPC and Police were informed some days earlier and nothing happened. Lagos state is even overdue for a public-complaints line(s). Perhaps another body controlled by the Lagos state government would have been more responsible than the two (police & NNPC) controlled by the FG.

Deep loss it is. But it is a pity, the scarcity continues and nothing will be done to prevent this kind of loss in the future. I guarantee you, this government enjoys to see people die.

@ SBU Career.
Do not mis inform the public by feeding them some excerpts from GB.

The British practice parliarmentary democracy while we practice presidential system.
There, the parties choose their PM and he chooses his cabinet from their fold. They are his ministers and he can sack them. It is applicable here in Nigeria as well but not in the case of the VP. OBJ can sack any minister who errs or even reschuffle the cabinet at will.

Dem no born am well, him and him party, to sack the VP. He has no right whatsoever to refuse the man the aircraft. That is an illegal thing to do and amounts to a breach or infringement on the rights of the VP. It is even an impeachable offence for OBJ to do a thing like that.

Now on the part of Atiku, he is the only 1 human being our 1999 constitution mandates to be from the same political party as the president. If he wants to contest the office of the president, during this 2007 election, he must either seek to contest within his constitutionally bound party which is the PDP or resign his post as VP, join another party and contest.

Legally speaking two errors have occured and must be corrected. Atiku has been nominated the candidate of the AC while he is still VP which is error number 1. OBJ has sacked him which is error number 2.

INEC will not and cannot recognise Atiku as AC's candidate because he is still the VP until he resigns, is impeached or dies. This is a very simple conclusion explained to us by our learned friends. It is either he resigns as VP so that INEC can recognise his nomination as AC candidate or he offers his unreconisable AC candidature to someone else or better still to the party. Se fi ne, shi ke na.

Both men are thieves and corrupt fellows.
Both men should be impeached and detained for trial by the next government.
OBJ wanted to perpetuate himself in power but Atiku foiled the plan and this has made OBJ mad and uneasy. OBJ expects absolute command and apply principle or obey the last order paradigm of the Army but hello OBJ, this is democracy and you must give room if not even respect dissent.

To tell you the truth OBJ in 79 put in Shagari, a lame duck to cover his arse. Shagari did a good job. He covered the guy's arse, he had OBJ well covered. Now, after his tenure elongation plot failed, he wants another Shagari in office. Guess what, it won't work. OBJ as a farmer failed before May 29 1999. But his farm is doing well now he is in power, improvement or coincidence?

Nigerians now know. We know, OBJ awards contracts worth billions and nothing happens e.g. Electricity, roads etc. We now know he owns 200million shares in Transcorp. We now know he owns Nigerdock and Delta Steel Company. There are still others and counting. We now know he spends millions buying Prado jeeps for his female friends.

Atiku is no better. We know he is part of this wasteful regime. We know he sold up nearly all the oil blocks under his supervision. We know how much of PTDF money he has up his sleeve. We know he owns too many choice property all over Nigeria which he did not previously own before May 29 1999.

N.Assy. Help us get rid of these wicked people. We want our country to progress and not to watch power play of Tom & Jerry continue to play out by these two conmen.

First, for Nigeria to get forward in a democracy, we must have political parties with STRONG IDEOLOGIES and PRINCIPLES, then CREDIBLE elections.

The private sector cannot participate in anything for the good of Nigeria but for profit making sake. Do not ever forget that principle from capitalism. For the sake of Profit only.

The government must become responsible to the people by embarking on honest developmental projects. To start with, our newly elected govt (cause any PDP led govt will neva do it) should build power generation houses or dams or whatever enough to generate 5 times what we need now. With that done, have the refineries fixed and upgraded. Build another two to refine DPK and another for just PMS.

Begin resucitation of federal roads nationwide. Restructure the police such that they are responsible and committed to the protection of lives and property. Equip them. Improve agriculture by researching into improved seedlings, providing farmers with these seedlings at a highly subsidized rate, as well as fertilizers and machinery as well as training. This will create food boom and end the importation of rice. Begin work on the railways. Ensuring that the speed is fast enough to compete with what obtains in Europe. This will enhance & facilitate inter-state movement of people and goods. The FG can begin with Lagos-Abuja, Lagos-Onitsha. Abuja-Onitsha

In summary, if this is done, this is the picture of what you'll get for a Nigeria

Leaders with principle and spirit of fair competition in various elected offices like we have in Europe & America.
Stable & uninterrupted power supply which will ensure industrialisation and productivity
Motorable road network within the country
Refineries to ensure our local demand for petroleum products are met & exceeded
Improved police force with infrastructure to protect lives & combat crimes
An improved agricultural scheme that mass produces foods for internal consumption & good storage to prevent waste
A fast working railway network that can take people to one geo-zone and back same day

With this done, the economy would jump and bloom, private sector participation would then be noticed. This is what everyone calls an enabling environment. The private sector can now contribute its quote of social responsiblity by assisting in funding education, healthcare, etc. These are the brief of the state governments.

The FG can do these as projects.
On the issue of corruption, it will die gradually when people are less frustrated by the unavailability of these goodies above and more policies can be introduced to reduce it even further. Example,
Schemes to encourage working people own their own homes, cars & pay gradually for these neccesities which have become luxuries.
Even in the super capitalist worlds, they grew by government's creating the prevaling enabling environment. The US govt built & financed the railroads which connected America. The US govt provided lots and lots of facilities nationwide that promoted proactivity to work and not to redundancy. I disagree that we must sell all our parastatals for them to work.

When this enabling environment has been put in place, an equitable tax system must be put in place to control the economy. When we get to this level, we can begin to discuss privatisation and deregulation, we cannot jump the line or put the cart before the horse like we are doing now.

@ Ono

Exactly, the constitution categorically states that "security and welfare of the people shall be the primary concern of the government."

This government is doing just the opposite. The state of the roads are pretty terrible and are anything but vehicle worthy. This country is nearly a failed state. It is only hanging on a few ghana-must-go bags going round now that elections are here. The state of the nation is a sorry state. OBJ claims he has put in over $10billion into electricity and till today, there is still no electricity at the busy commercial centres (Lagos, Kano, Abeokuta, Onitsha, Aba, PH, Calabar, Kaduna) to last at least 18hrs a day.

Central or FGs in other countries undertake projects that benefit the entire country. Nigeria is different. Ghana did not spend more than $3billion to get constant electricity. Ask whoever you can. OBJ claims he has spent 10billion and still the situation is the same or worse. Abacha gave this same contract with all these specifications to this same Chinese company and what happened? OBJ is doing the same thing again.

Well, I am not satisfied with mediocrity or half measures. My boss often insists on customer satisfaction. I have learnt it a a policy and have also made it my culture. What is worth doing is worth doing well. OBJ's best achievement is handling of Darfur crisis.

Let us change this government to one that has focus and loves the people. In my opinion there are only two parties now in Nigeria with ideology and principle, The FDP and the NCP.
I will vote along these lines.

OBJ has no rights whatsoever to do that.
OBJ can ask the senator representing his district to begin the impeachment reading or whatever against Atiku.

For the avoidance of doubt, Both men OBJ/Atiku have breached the constitution severally with absolute impunity.

I have said before in this forum, at newstands, called in on TV shows / Radio shows to demand the impeachment of these corrupt leaders. I say it again without equivocation, Nigeria would fair better if these men are removed as leaders of this country.

Both men are morally incompetent. Their partnership have not produced any credible result. The N.Assy should impeach them b4 they commit more harm on us. Sen Pres. Ken Nnamani should take over as president and ensure we have a credible, free and fair elections come 2006. If it does not happen this way, Yar Adua, Atiku, or Buhari may win and God alone knows what hell may be unleashed if that happens.

Yar Adua,
From whence cometh thee to become the president of Nigeria?

The PDP says it has got us $50billion in foreign reserves. The PDP knows like I do, that this money did not come from a policy of theirs but as a result of high oil prices. What is the achievement in that? Now, how does it become a good thing for anyone to say that Yar Adua would manage the fund well?

In a democracy, power belongs to the people through their political parties. The parties package manifestos and carry them out if they win. What is the manifesto of the PDP? Has it been done? Why on earth should we not look at their candidate from a personal angle?

Yar Adua is a jihadist. He is not just a Muslim. Muslims are kind hearted people but not jihadists from amongst them. This country has not been safe in the hands of a man who claims he is a Christian, how much will it fair in the hands of a man who supported a woman caught in adultery to be stoned to death? This is a security question. The PDP have not done anything to stop the high rate of robbery caused by their economic blunders and they want to bring someone who promises to continue their reforms.

Yar Adua, as a person has no liberal principles for which we should not fear. I wait to be corrected. Atiku is not my alternative cause he's corrupt neither is Buhari who is in the same vein with Yar Adua.

The PDP is not the National Assembly. They are unprincipled and when it comes to matters of the law, they do not consult. They let power blindfold them. I have read it now and as far as I can tell with my limited knowledge I feel Atiku should resign. He is even very corrupt as a VP to start with. The AC should have known better than give him their ticket. The political parties running in Nigeria (PDP, ANPP, AC) all lack one thing , leadership by proper consultation.

Apart from that, OBJ and PDP have erred by declaring his seat vacant. Atiku like OBJ can only be impeached, die or be too unhealthy to continue else, the comments from OBJ/PDP shows their crassness.

Atiku , oh Atiku, I weep not for you
for you were never one of us
You were with them and not for us
You had your chance to be on our part but
you refused and preferred to be part of them
Now, the truth has been revealed - there is no honour amongst thieves.

What ever happens now, history does not change the truth that PDP did nothing for all Nigerians.
The PDP says it has made Nigeria the largest producer of cassava worldwide but check out garri price in Nigeria under PDP.
The PDP says it has made banks secure and more stable for depositors, but has lending rates dropped and interest rates increased?
The PDP says it has built 10 power stations. Do you have light more often now or less? I am opportuned as a systems engineer to travel far within Lagos and sometimes without. Nearly every office I go to run a generator and almost all the time.

In fact, I was running network cables at an office complex recently in Lagos. It took a full week to complete and in that period (10am-3:30pm) daily Tuesday to Thursday except Sunday the next week, there was no single time, the generator was put off.

The PDP is wasteful. They are lawless. They do not respect court orders. They are uncaring and they are unqualified to rule again. Their reforms are not at all in the interest of Nigerians else, they would have fixed the refineries and upgraded them to meet and exceed local demand for petroleum products. The PDP is primarily concerned about privatising everything and selling it their members or friends of their members.

Vote them out for the good of Nigeria. Vote them in again, if you like the way things are going. But I assure you, you are guilty of each other policy they make in their continued stay in Federal offices.

Did you see Yar Adua at the convention? He basically read the script of acceptance without passion. No zeal.

The railway, is a good project but costing far too much. The FG should have built in stages connecting the regions (geo-zones) one at a time. Starting with Lagos-Abuja, then Lagos-Onitsha. Then, it can run Abuja-Kaduna, Onitsha-PH / Calabar. This will make it faster and cost effective. The important thing ought to have been the speed so as to reduce the rate at which we fly planes, go by luxury buses, all pointing to giving comfort to the people.

Power to the People, which people have really benefited? Who are the people they are talking about? I guess you know now and if you don't, vote PDP. I do not believe in personality politics beyond the person as an issue. I believe rather on the issues, their root and immediate causes, etc. The PDP does not even want us to register to vote. How? PDP led FG appointed its chairman and he was approved by PDP led N.Assy. Up till now only a few Nigerians have registered.

This issue of railway made the editorial in The Guardian and you can see how authentic it is.
The offer by the Canadian firm was to build a brand new track from Lagos to Abuja, supply brand new engines that run on LNG and the trains will run to Abuja in a record 3 and half hours from Lagos. It would take the company 11 to 14 months to complete the work, install the engines and coaches. It would cost $2.5Billion Dollars.

Our FG rejected this offer but prefered to award another contract to a Chinese firm that cost $28billion, and would take years (over 3 years) to complete. There is no talk about the speed of the engines.

Rather than look at the details and their value, we are busy praising a waste of tax payers money making a "State of the Art." For the record, after Nigeria rejected this contract, other countries took the offer namely Ghana, Kenya and they will likely begin after parliamentary approval of the funds. Worldwide, no body is giving railway contracts to the Chinese. How fast is the system they are offering?

In essence, the PDP led federal government is very wasteful. During the All Africa games, there was a contract scandal that was reported by Tell and it exposed the ineptitude of OBJ as president. OBJ reacted, bought up those papers so that you and I won't read them. But other publishers put it in print. Many of us don't even remember the story.

What I am saying is that , we can achieve so much by spending only prudently and wisely. The current railworks being undertaken by the Chinese is too much money down the drain. No one will travel in slow trains. Nigerians need an efficient railway system that can provide fast, secure and reliable means of transport and not a waste of tax payers money. In case, you are still in doubt , purchase a copy of The Whole Truth, a collection of choice editorials from the Guardian about Nigeria.

Let us learn to think not by emotions or other feelings but from facts. Ghana today has electricity that does not fail. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Egypt, etc and a host of others embark on projects that benefit their people (the entire nation) without spending exorbitantly. What project has our own FG done that benefits all Nigerians in their 7 years of office. The National ID card was a flop, The GSM companies paid for everything and are earning their profits from us. Just what national project has this PDP led government done to benefit all Nigerians? Then at the last moment of their tenure, they award a contract of over $20billion when a better contract was worth only about 10% of that sum.

Why do we think good things must be paid so much for? Have we never heard of cost effectiveness as a concept or principle? Let us not be deceived. The PDP and OBJ have no intention for Nigeria. Their interest is power to the PDP NEC and loyalists.

Nigeria is my country and I insist on good governance. I want a better Nigeria.

The Nigerian constitution never envisaged a situation like this is therefor silent on the issue.
However, the constitution is clear, The president or Vp can either resign, die or be impeached. These are the only ways by which either of the two offices can be vacated.
Atiku's act is shameful. He should have thought his decision carefully and made wide consultations with professional lawyers who would have counselled him properly.

This is going to be a serious issue coming. The OBJ led administration is a lawless executive and has practised selective justice since coming into power. OBJ in particular has breached nearly every alphabet of the Nigerian constitution and nothing has happened.

Gani is right by saying, it is the National Assembly's call or say to determine whether Atiku's act amounts to misconduct. As far as I can see, it does not. It is joining another party to contest another election. So it is a personal choice. The PDP is just to hasty with words and actions.