₦airaland Forum

I hear TransCorp IPO is also due in the the next 2 - 3 weeks. Not sure what TransCorp shares will go for, but after reviewing all available material, in the circumstances, in my opinion, TransCorp and DSR represents the best value for money in the stock market this side of the year (inspite of the percieved risks).

Therefore, I'll classify both as a must buy.

I like Marwa, he achieved more than most before him as governor of Lagos state. He is shrewed, articulate and pro-reform, that much I can tell from his utterances.

However, his close association to the late dictator, Sani Abacha is one that is likely to hunt him. Under military rule, you do not survice as administrator of a state as strategic as lagos for that long unless you're in consonance with the devil at the top.

If may be that he is reformed, but this association is unlikely to be lost on OBJ who views the Abacha era with utmost disdain, and for good reason too.


However, Marwa is a far better alternative to Atiku, IBB and Buhari though I would rather have a transparent, less tainted, non-military leader like Duke as the next president of Nigeria.

Andy Uba should be investigated to ascertain the source of his stupendious wealth. That's the investigation that interests me and that would be of benefit to Nigeria. He reached a settlement in the US for carrying undeclared funds exceeding the upper limit - this is a common offence for which many many Nigerians are guilty off. Whilst not excusing this criminal act, it does not in itself constitute money laundering which is a more serious crime in the statutes.

I hear he has become stupendiously wealthy since he became OBJ's right hand man, so I'll be happy for him to explain to the EFCC and Nigerians how he acquired his wealth and any ill-goten wealth confisticated.

2007 is fast approaching, therefore, political over-expression and manipulation is rife. I would rather we stay focused lest we play into the hands of the those seeking one vendetta or the other.

I will not hesitate to change my selection if I discover a stronger candidate, but for now IBB is my man

Please support IBB for whatever reason you see fit, but please don't insult our intelligence on this forum. Our memories are not that short. IBB is retrogressive, evil, virtueless, and selfish. Yes he is strong, strength that he applies in subdueing his adversaries and conning the nation at will, he belongs to the gallows,

Duke needs more than what he's got now. He needs maturity in the Nigerian Political landscape

In Nigeria, experience is overated. The leader we need now should be experienced, but should have vission above everything else. Let's focus on that now. We've had 'experienced' leaders in our history that have brought us no joy. Duke will certainly get my full support.

Andy Uba the special assistant to the ugly one(OBJ) and this is the man who smuggle thousand of dollars in presidential plane to USA and use the money to buy equipment for obasanjo's farm.

What has this got to do with the argument here, besides we're talking about 170,000 dollars here, that's nothing compared to what major crooks including Atiku have been known to smuggle into the US under diplomatic cover.

but someone i feel it might be better to wait after the hand over ,what u guys think ,not trying to sound too pesimistic

These are important considerations that should be taken into account by discerning investors. It's always important to weigh all risks as trivial as they may seem, afterall, there could be a coup, Nigeria could descend into a civil war, the stock market could implode, the 'Taleban' in the north may take over Nigeria etc etc, Speculation has been rife since the end of the civil war in Nigeria about this and that, whilst the likes of Aliko Dangote took the sort of risks that have put them where they are today whilst the rest of us sit on the fence,

The higher the risks, the higher the return. I'm prepared to take my chances now.

josho do u really have some details you might point to as the reason why u think the next government would still do favors to dangote ?

Dangote is perhaps the leading business mogul in Nigeria today and has been for more than a decade. Unlike Mike Adenuga who we all know is little more than a front for IBB and Atiku, Dangote cuts accross the political divide and is genuinely wealthy with solid connections locally and internationally. Soon, most of his companies will be part owned by Nigerians, making it more difficult for any goverment to scuttle (Unlike the likes of OBJ farms, GlobalCom) which are essentially one man businesses.

Dangote is also smart, shrewd and more politically savvy than his contemporaries. He may not be directly involved in politics, but his influence runs deep and is likely to remain so for the forseable future.

All investment entails a certain degree of risk, however, make no mistake about it. Whatever goverment comes in will not be adverse to Dangote. His business empire has survived many successive goverments and will continue to do so.

I'm not even worried by IBB anymore, he is a non-issue.

What concerns me the most, is that despite his failings, the list of people in the entourage that accompanied him to pick his nomination form reads like a who is who in Nigeria and makes this evil man look like a goverment in waiting, I can't believe that such prominent individuals will want to be associated with such an accomplished failure,

I fear for our country. We will never learn.

Invest in 2 or 3 solid company stock through a good stock broking firm, I recommend IBTC or BGL -

Spread your money in stocks of Dangote Sugar, Ashaka Cement, TransCorp and watch the value of your investment grow by => 50% in 6 months.

Big BI,

I have to say your comments on IBB are quite interesting, , but I disagree with them nontheless.

IBB is a colossus of a man agreed, albeit an accomplished violator of our nation state.  Even if he were to be my father or grand father for that matter,  his babariga would not be big enough to blind me from the curruption and ineptitude he has entreched in our society.  

I'm not prepared, and neither should anyone in their rightful minds,  to take a chance on IBB, allowing him another clear run of our national conscience, There are many more qualified candidates - Duke, Akinluyi, Odili to name a few -  for anyone to be wasting their time with this wasteful skunk of a man!!


IBB's candidacy should be viewed extraneosly and put in it's proper context -  a non-issue.

There is also the TransCorp shares, which is billed for early December. I believe that too will be value for money.

Statements like that shows the moral deficit in in leaders, this man clearly lacks character and principle. He is so desperate to retain influence whilst campaigning for President that he's willing to "sleep his way" to Aso rock if he has too.

Any sympathy I had for this dimwit dissapeared a long time ago. OBJ is right afterall. Atiku's blind ambition has completely consumed him.

Shame.

4 GODS SAKE TRANCORP BELONGS TO OBJ AND THERE IS NOTIN ANYBODY CAN DO ABOUT IT

This is certainly a tale of extreme intellectual laziness, take time to read the papers and educate yourself,


BTW, had considered investing in TransCorp IPO, but I'm a little concerned they're taking too long too come to market. With competing offers like Dangote Suger (which I plan to invest in) and Intercontinental, TransCorp will have to do a lot of PR and marketing to convince people to take on the offer, I understand the market may be a little saturated at the moment, but I believe delays in taking over Nitel + the stress in the overall takeover process is likely to discourage investors,

Bushfellow,

I disagree with you. I too have nothing but total contempt for IBB and Atiku, and ain't related to anyone in goverment. That these bad fellas represent the worst in our chequerd history is a personal, but popular opinion, one that we are all entitled to. I do not share your view that this adminstration is any worse than the ones before. As a matter of fact I think the opposite is the case.

This administration clearly has intent and conviction, although the execution may have suffered in some respect for various reasons.

Constant vilification of these two rogues, currently positioning themselves for a return to prominence, may help re-focus the minds of the gullible many in our midst ahead of 2007.

So whether or not Odeku is related to Ehindero or OBJ himself, let him be.

I sincerely hope OBJ is probed by this next next year, and if genuinely found wanting, should face justice.

In the meantime though, Atiku, IBB and all the kleptocrats in the AC should be probed and hanged by the balls, as it is 'quod erat demonstrandum' that most are direct/indirect beneficiaries of the continuing criminal enterprise that was/is successive Nigerian goverments.

Therefore, my prayer is that we are sooner rid of this painfully persistent band of vacuous, manipulative, virtueless, incompetent, clueless leadership foistered on our beloved nation by the same notorious cabal,

God help our nation.

We all know what the truth of the matter is, TransCorp has become a convenient whipping dog for our disgruntled and under-pressure politicians - Atiku (ACD), Kalu, PDP faction and their cronnies in the National Assembly. Nab them red-handed for curruption and they'd rather discuss 3rd term and TransCorp than deal with the case at hand.

For investing in N200 million naira in TransCorp, the worst OBJ can be accused of is conflict of interest. Comon!! Even in the US and most western goverments, worse conflicts exist.

I'm not easily fooled. I'm not that gullible. I see desperation.

Rawlings, far from being a saint, was a sinner, reforming his ways and desperate to set his country on the path to reform. He himself became the subject of one probe after another when he left office. He even lost his entire military security detail in the power struggle that ensued.

Despite the size of Ghana as a country, it took a sinner to set the country on this path, as only a sinner would have ever risen to that position (by force or otherwise) and acquired the requisite power to effect change on that scale in the first place.

The case of Nigeria is even more difficult. If one rotten man decides enough is enough, and deals a powerful blow to these ambitious rogues (for whatever reason or criteria applied), then kudos to him.

Let's look at a simple analogy. Say there are a number of viscious robery gangs fighting each other in your neighbourhood for supremacy or whatever other reason, and a dominant one takes out the others. My opinion then would be that there would be two or three less bandits colonies to worry about. And it may make the task of law enforcement easier as they'd have to concentrate on just one.

I can't imagine any of the staunch Atiku/IBB supporters on this forum complaining that the other criminal gangs are being 'targeted' unfairly or the dominant bandit has no 'business' eliminating the competition as he himself is not 'clean'

This may be a rather simplistic analogy, but it's not far from what's currently happening in our polity. All of these guys are thieves and the less of them we have poluting our space, the better for us all.

We will never, not in the forseable future, have a "clean" President. Not if things continue the way they are. In fact the entire National goverment, Assembly, Senate, State and Local goverment are currupt.

Most, if not all (including the president himself) are beneficiaries of the continuing criminal enterprise that is Nigeria. So we have the following options if we must progress as a nation -

1) All goverment officials at all levels are thrown in jail as they are all "currupt". Come on guys. THINK. We know this will never happen.

2) We continue with the status quo, turn a blind eye to all the looting and wait till a "Clean" president emerges as everyone in office today, including the president and vice, are guilty one way or another- In the current circumstances, a clean president will never emerge as the entire system is poluted, manipulated, prejudiced, currupt. So this too will never happen

3) The goverment embark on internal cleansing to usher in a new era. The last man standing himself (OBJ), guilty as he may be, will be subject to scrutiny soon as he hands over the batton. It will be payback time for the President.

So no one is saying OBJ isn't currupt or hasn't benefited from curruption in the past. But the good news is that he represents the past, he'll soon be consigned to history, come May 2006. The same cannot be said of the Atiku's and IBB's of Nigeria. Should they succeed in their devious aspirations, it'll be another 8 years + endured of the same nonsence.

So let's elevate our thinking and depart from the extremely simple, reactionary and unproductive reasoning. Let's look at the big picture and stop this proliferation of narrow-mindedness.

The answer to this is simple. Investment of this scale can only be carried out by Tycoons with plenty of cash, assets and a certain mindset.

Besides the likes of Dangote, a mojority of the super-rich in Nigeria lack the last, and perhaps, most important element. Mindset. Most have not worked for their money so do not know how to create wealth like Mital. They'd rather leave their loot in Swiss vaults. Truely wealthy nations must have manyof the likes of Mital, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Ours is a culture where billionaires often cannot show a descernable source for their wealth.

My point is, 200 million naira in a company worth over 150 Billion naira amounts to less than 0.5 percent. And until there is clear evidence of other funds stashed away by OBJ, let's base our arguments on facts at hand.

OBJ has a simple profile compared to the other thieves. Most of his investments are in th Obasanjo Holdings. At least, there is a semblence of transparency there even if he is not perfect. On the other hand, Atiku and IBB are secretiveness personafied. I don't want to speculate on the exact value of their wealth, but this will soon become glaring.

OBJ (and Ribadu) are heroes in my book. Not because they are perfect, but simply because they are doing what all the past leaders in Nigeria have failed to do. Our minds have been abused and manipulated to the point that we often support and excuse graft (as can be descerned from comments on this forum, including yours). OBJ and Ribadu are fighting against popular mindset and have their work cut out, but may God grant them the strenght and wisdom to progress this battle for the benefit of Nigeria.

Roscodaddy,

Can you please enlighten us on what you mean by "Sold almost everything to TransCorp". Are your conclusions drawn from the front pages of the Sun newspaper or based on facts?

Allow me to Educate you. Out of the many companies privatized, TransCorp have bought only Nitel and Hilton. The other privatized companies bought by other indigenious and foreign concerns are Eleme Petrochemicals, Marriot Hotel, PAN, Benue Cement Company, Ashaka Cement, African Petroleum, National Oil and Chemical marketing companies, Okomu Oil Palm, National Cargo Handling just to name a few. Over 100 companies have been privatized since 1999. All this information is available on the BPE site so please avail yourself.

OBJ owns 200 million shares in TransCorp, a soon to be publicly quoted company. This amounts to an investment of 200 million naira. Whist this is no small amount, it will not compare with the billions stolen by the likes of Atiku, IBB, Audu Ogbeh, Tinubu, Ahmed Sani of Zamfara state and co. Some like Atiku achieve this through cleverly constituted front companies and direct theft from the treasury, whilst others partake in contract inflation and graft.

Sharper practices abound in our society,

The previous management model was extremely flawed, goverment interferance + lack of professionalism making matters even worse. This has always been the bane of Nitel.

It may be a collosal mess at the moment, but with the valuable fixed/mobile line assets Nitel owns + a dynamic, accountable and effective management team, fotunes should change drastically in 3 - 4 years.

Nitel will not be more Valuable than it's Parent company, but I believe it remains the crown jewel given it's potential. Should Nitel achieve half it's potential, it can grow annual revenues way over N100 Billion naira per annum and this is inspite of competion from Globalcom, MTN and Celtel . Given the Nigerian population, the tele-density is still very low and there is room for market penetration.

I read an article few days ago that there would be seperate IPO's for TransCorp and Nitel, It'll be interesting to see how that works out. Also, if that is the case, I wonder which would represent the best value given that Nitel is perhaps the flagship and crown jewel in the group.

I understand there is a lot going on with valuations and revaluations of assets, but the sooner they start putting out clearer information, the better it'll be for TransCorp as serious investors (like my humble self) would be better prepared.

Also, it was rumoured the listing would be in early October, then I think a spokesman said December,

Deep Soul,

Lets not get carried away by sensational headlines that is now commonplace,

If OBJ holdings bought 200 million shares in TransCorp as alleged, that hardly constitutes "Major shareholding" in a company with current cash and asset value
over 150 Billion Naira. N200 million shares would have been acquired for N200 million.

Besides, TransCorp was always planned as a public entity with OBJ stating clearly he was going to invest in the company. In my book, this transaction compares favourably with the likes of IBB and Atiku's secretive deals. As a matter of fact, I commend Obasanjo for what he has done with TransCorp. What Dick Cheney in the US is doing with Halliburton is no different, yet is accepted even in a country with much higher standards. The point is, the transactions are not hidden from the public. Obasanjo didn't need to be this open with his investment, blind Trust or not.

He could easily have acquired a number of oil blocks through front companies that would never be traced back to him and become a dollar billionaire in the process. This is exactly what the Atiku's and IBB's of the world have done, yet get much less condemnation for it.

Atiku should be impeached. His dubious presidential ambition should be put to a stop once and for all. As for OBJ, impeaching him now is the last thing our fragile democracy needs. We do not need that kind of Chaos at this time. He will not be president past May 2007. That much is certain. After then, he can be brought to justice.

That is a much smarter approach to this issue. OBJ is not the concern at this time. It's the likes of Atiku and IBB with their evil ambitions that is cause for concern.

Yes, he is arguably the most effective president so far, given the obstacles and resistance to change that abounds around.

That the benefits are not that obvious at the grassroots level can be attributed to the dept of decay in the system. If Nigeria  steers the current course of reform championed by OBJ and the likes of Ribadu, Ozekwesili, Akinluyi, Ribadu, El Rufai etc, in another 5 - 8 years, standard of living should improve considerably.

It's no news that we've been cursed with bad leaders, hence my fear being that another manipulative and ineffective President like IBB or Atiku becomes President.  The first thing they're likely to do is expend our external reserves on the importantion of rice and every imaginable commodity in order to gain cheap popularity and appear effective. In the process they'll continue to enrich themselves, hence bringing us full cycle.

I fully understand why OBJ is doing his best to prevent these men of the night from taking the nation for a ride yet again. Our foreign reserves and increased revenue is being earmarked for major infrastructural development and a facilitator to Foreign Direct Investment.

Atiku is, without doubt, one of the most currupt men to walk our land. Even his basic profile - incredible wealth without a clear and descernable source - confirms this theory. If Atiku's fraudulent activities are to be revealed, it will shock majority of Nigerians and make all the noise about OBJ look like kindergarten gossip in comparism. This article is just a tip of the iceberg. Many will follow.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200610042544329

He is yet to tell Nigerians about the oil blocks he owned in Sao Tome and sold on to multinationals, with that deal alone, he would have made no more than $3 Billion.
OBJ is no saint, but I tell you from a position of knowledge, that Atiku is an indesciplined, currupt, womanizing and instatiable git!!

"Ribadu is happy with his job, if he is overzealous with his job, he should also apply caution"

It's attitude like that is the bane of our problems. He should apply caution for what? So all leaders in power should 'settle' every dubious opposition or turn a blind eye to curruption and evil so they do not end up in the gallows. Nonsense.

That Ribadu is doing what he is doing in spite of this prevalent Nigerian mindset is the more reason he should be commended. May Allah replenish his quiver with more arrows.

Fellow progressives in the mould of Odeku and Co, we all know the battle to elighten our ignorant, pessimistic and currupt mindset of the mainstream will be an easy one.

Atiku has turned stealing into a fine art. Sophisticated, cunning and overly ambitious, he runs around as though the presidency were his birth right. It's obvious that many members of the senate are on his side, but this is simply an attempt by this shady group to stop the hurricane that is the war on corrution from stoping at their station, but inshah allah, they, like Atiku, will end up in the deep center of this hurricane.

That dim wit Atiku wants to Rule Nigeria, on what credentials. OBJ, inspite of his shortcomings which I'll reserve for another day, is a million times better than him and inshalla, Atiku will end up in the gallows in very short order!!

It's only a matter of time, the doubters will come up with a reason OBJ is going after his enemies, it was anti-third term campaigners that were being targeted, or manybe now he is suddenly anti-south, I'm waiting for the desperate doubters on this forum to come up with a reason for Fayose's travails, come on guys, the pro atiku and pro IBB people on this forum, don't dissapoint us. Or is OBJ / EFCC going after Fayose because they are from different village??

I sympatize with Umar, he was decisively, shut out during the entire OBJ's tenure, despite his desperation for relevance. No taking away any credit due to him, but he is starting to sound more and more like the dis-illusioned man he has suddenly become.

As the elections approach, expect to hear more and more of these rants from those seeking attention, self promotion and relevance relevance in the coming dispensation, something the uncompromising OBJ adminstration failed desperatly to accord them.

I'm however keen to know the 'credible' candidates he refers to are, IBB? Atiku? Ogbeh? Kalu?

These people should learn that national interest should preceed theirs, and accept that time has come for the many quasi leaders and opportunists of yesteryears to vacate the stage for capable and solid leaders, able to chart a new path of prosperity and stability for our beloved nation.

http://www.nigeriamasterweb.com/paperfrmes.html

Need I say more,