₦airaland Forum

mikolo80:
google "helicopter downwash " if you want to learn
don't if you want to remain ignorant
just pray you're not humiliated in front of your children cos you're too lazy to do a little research

I checked it out, got ur point now, thanks

mikolo80:
google "helicopter downwash " if you want to learn
don't if you want to remain ignorant
just pray you're not humiliated in front of your children cos you're too lazy to do a little research

I checked it out, u get ur point now, thanks

mikolo80:
is there primary school in daura
have you ever tried to land a helicopter inside sand sand as opposed to vegetation cover in south
smalll common sense or asking questions or even google will help make you look less stupid on international media
read una no gree
na to just de yarn opata de go na im unu sabi

with that amount of sand, the people from that area should be flying in the air while going about the normal businesses, I also believe that cars don't move in daura because of "sand sand"
Oga, hw old are u?

PROUDLY UNITED

OKEY NDIBE

friends and fans have pestered me lately with one or two questions. What do you think about the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki for alleged false declaration of assets? Why haven’t you commented on the matter? Are you going to write about it?
Okey Ndibe
My answers have gone along such lines as, “Saraki’s so-called trial is a non-issue.” “It’s all abracadabra.” “Quote me, the charade has merely usurped the name of anti-corruption trial, but it’s meant to achieve other ends.” “No, I am done writing about illusions.”
I realize that some Nigerians are excited, pumped up. They relish the spectacle of seeing the otherwise imperturbable, even brash, Saraki ensconced in the dock, looking rather harried and diffident. For some Nigerians, this portrait of the senator as an accused is demonstration that Nigeria has entered an era when the law has lost its sight, no longer able to respect privilege. They sing the dawn of a new Nigeria.
I wish this were the case. Demonstrably, it isn’t.
Other Nigerians, quite a few of them animated by partisan sentiments, are plying a familiar trade. They ask: “Is Saraki the only corrupt person in Nigeria?” “Why did it take all these years to bring the charges?” “Why is the war on corruption selective?”
I wish we were a country where universal objection to corruption was the norm. We are far, very far from that. On any given day, in any forum with a smattering of Nigerians, there are excellent odds of finding a few zealous apologists for the corrupt—or, at any rate, those accused of grand acts of corruption.
As I wrote in a recent column, Nigerians appear united in their outrage against petty theft, including pickpocketing. We seem to regard such crimes of desperation, often driven by hunger, as capital felonies. In Nigeria, one of the fastest paths to death is to be caught in a public place attempting petty theft.
By contrast, the big thief in Nigeria—especially, the political or bureaucratic expert in funneling billions of naira of public funds into private pockets—is guaranteed a measure of admiration, if not veneration. Flamboyant, if meaningless, chieftaincy titles, church knighthoods, gushing media profiles and front seats at secular and sacred events are only a partial list of the ways we honor those who do most harm to society and the common good. In the rare event that the EFCC calls at the palatial home of such a thief-in-chief, the eminent robber is guaranteed the vociferous, impromptu defense of an army of Nigerians.
Even though all Nigerians—the big thieves included—live out the dire consequences of our national culture of impunity, quite a few Nigerians seem to shudder at the prospect of a former governor or ex-president being jailed for betraying the public trust. So we, the victims, rush to invent reasons why nobody should touch this or that Big Man or, on occasion, this or that Big Woman. We invoke religion: Why must a Muslim or born-again ex-governor be the first to be tried? We dust up ethnicity: Why is the law going after an Efik, Fulani, or Igbo when there are Kanuri or Fulfulde suspects whose sleep no police officer has disturbed? We hoist up the state defense. There are big thieves in all thirty-six states, we say, so why must the Chief Dr. Sir from our own state be the first to taste public humiliation and prosecution?
In a society that takes itself seriously, the first thing Bukola Saraki would have done, before entering that dock, was resign. And I mean not just resign from being the President of the Senate, but resign from the Senate altogether. And most of society would expect, indeed demand, that he do so.
But resignation is the last thing on Mr. Saraki’s agenda, this location being Nigeria. Why resign when there is an ample supply of praise singers to rent, when there are reporters willing to be bought, when there is the sympathy of imams and pastors and justices, retired and serving, to be tapped? At any rate, why retire from the world’s most lavishly rewarded sinecure, the top seat in a legislature whose members, by their choice, are addressed as “Distinguished Senator,” even though their proven distinction is in indolence, mischief, alienation from the deep concerns of Nigerians, and collusion in the manufacture of social misery.
The legislature’s top dog has another reason—in a way sound—for not contemplating resignation. He knows that his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), like the recently bounced ruler, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), does not have a whiff of spirit in any serious fight against corruption. One proof: Several months after Governor Adams Oshiomhole claimed that US authorities revealed the name of a former minister who stole more than $6 billion, Nigerians have heard nothing more about the case. It’s as if $6 billion just evaporated into air, la lala lala! Another proof: the APC recently handed its ticket for the Kogi State governorship to Prince Abubakar Audu, a former governor of the same state. Yet another proof: former Governor Timipre Sylva is one of the top contenders to grab the party’s nomination for the governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Both governorship aspirants are defendants in active corruption cases, but the APC has chosen not to have a memory. In a country of more than a hundred and fifty million people, the self-styled party of change is apparently unable to find any governorship aspirants untouched by scandal or the appearance of it. Saraki, then, must shake his head in bemusement when he hears that his prosecution is part of a new no-nonsense stance on corruption.
The APC’s claim to solid moral funds is founded, solely, on President Muhammadu Buhari’s reputation for restraint and a near-ascetic lifestyle—compared to his peers in the armed forces and public life. But I have always argued that one man’s ethical credentials are far from an adequate foundation on which to build a case for a party’s commitment to real, positive change. There’s a new occupant in Aso Rock, but there’s hardly a new heart and modus operandi abroad.
It behooves Mr. Buhari to articulate a novel and effective approach to fighting corruption. For one, he ought to lend his presidential weight to the cause of ending the corrupt practice called security vote—a system that puts vast amounts of cash in the hands of governors and the president, with no obligation of accountability attached to the disbursement. He also ought to champion the significant scaling back of the immunity clause from the Nigerian constitution. The clause permits certain categories of office holders, including the president and governors, to live above the purview of the law even when they commit crimes.
Like former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Buhari has a predicament. Many of his close political associates are possessed of inexplicable wealth. If the president is fundamentally averse to corruption and the corrupt, he better tell us—or show—his strategy for extending to his own political favorites an invitation to enter the dock. If he fails to develop a blind standard for the war on corruption, then people like Mr. Saraki will run away with the argument that it’s the same old gimmick all over again.
You now know why I would not write about Senator Saraki’s trial. There’s a broader, deeper discussion that engages me!

Why do I have to be the guy to tell the kids there will be no Santa Claus this Christmas? Why do I have to be the one to get people out of their insanity or obsession with illusion and face reality? Why do I have to be the chap to break the news to an excited mob of fans of “change”, thereby spoiling the celebratory mood and joyous hymn of “progress”? Do I have to be the person to tell them the so-called “progress” is actually a mirage?
For some inexplicable reason no one else wants to be told the truth. Fellow Nigerians, what we have seen in the last couple of months is troubling, even though many pretend not to see the red flags sprouting all around us. Of course true change is not without flaws, as that will be expecting too much, but when the pathway becomes spotty and smothering, then there is a problem.
It leaves one with that awkward sense that the more they shout change, the more things stay the same. It has been a long symphony and victory dance without the orchestra. Some of President Muhammadu Buhari’s statements and the undercurrents of some of the decisions and appointments he has made so far are remarkably familiar and distinctively chilling – a throwback to his past stint in public offices.
The actions fly in the face of “change” and our sensibilities as a multi-ethnic society and put those who staked their reputations on him being a changed man gasping for breath, even though they will not admit it publicly. They must be pinching themselves now to make sure they are not dreaming. Well, maybe they are still dreaming. Or maybe they have become too obstinate and delusional about the current realities to admit the dilemma they now face.
But more than anything else, the president’s actions so far confirm the fears of those who cautioned that the “leopard never changes its spot; neither does the tiger changes its stripes” no matter the level of rebranding.
Well after 100 days after the president and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), swept to power on the fiery rhetoric of change, massive expectations heralded by high hopes of a national rebirth appear to have crashed and burned. The high voltage fast and furious propaganda that swept them to power is running out of steam. The APC had roused the feelings of many Nigerians into a level never seen before in this clime such that common sense made no sense anymore. The only thing that mattered was blind hysteria accentuated by unrealistic promises that Nigerians of the Twitter and Facebook generation found difficult to resist. It was like some people spread some beer around. The result was sheer madness by nearly everyone who took a sip of that beer. And there was no stopping them anymore; it caught on like wildfire in the Harmattan.
The atmosphere was so infectious that the wind of change that blew across the land made casualty of those who called for reason, insisting on proper vetting of the message and the messengers to avoid the pitfalls of the past. The fierce urgency of the now-now campaign of change has been consumed by the cold hard facts that you cannot give what you don’t have.
More precisely, 170 days after a mandate was obtained, Nigerians are yet to see any concrete sign of the promised “change”. It appears the truth is gradually dawning on the mob supporters of the APC about the deceit and illusion foisted on Nigerians. At least, the APC and the presidency have now officially denied most of the promises they made on the back of which they anchored the change campaign. The fiery tone of the promises during the campaigns has given way to a tepid plea for time and patience from a people who were told before the election that the challenges bedevilling the country required utmost urgency, and that delay in voting out the then incumbent would be catastrophic for the nation. The language and manner of the plea for understanding is now restrained and less confident. They have lowered their voices from the fever pitch of the campaign mode to the quiet urgings for understanding, patience alongside a bag load of excuses on why they can’t deliver.
They told us that Boko Haram would disappear with the “experienced and no-nonsense” ex-general in charge. But the deadly sect has killed nearly two thousand people with multiple explosions since the inauguration of this government.
But what we are seeing and witnessing is not only confounding, it is mystifying to say the least: the mass release and recall to military duty of soldiers who either sabotaged the war against the sect or aided the enemy to embarrass Nigeria – including those who deserted on the fake excuse that there were insufficient sophisticated weapons to match the sect’s. But it has since come to light that many of the weapons being used by the terror sect belong to the Nigerian Army. We watched in agony footages of the utmost humiliation of our fully armed soldiers abandoning their weapons and fleeing from battle from a ragtag band of terrorists.
We are also witnessing the release of terror suspects who carried out heinous crimes against humanity. Many of the soldiers who fought and died to keep Nigeria from being overrun by Boko Haram appear to have died in vain. What about the several thousands of innocent victims killed or maimed by the terrorists? Over 100 days after taking office, this government has not shown any indication that it understands the workings of a modern economy. It appears someone cut power to the engine after a full campaign throttle, and the “witchcraft of change” that had seized the land has crawled to a halt.
All we hear and see now are remonstrations and political infighting within the ruling party such as the “treasury is near empty”, “I wish I was younger, at 72, there is limit to what I can do”, “we will not recognise Dr. Bukola Saraki as the senate president”, etc. We are now being daily bombarded with chilling figures of looted or unaccounted funds by the previous government. The figures are so colossal and mind-boggling that it is either those accused of the alleged crimes were insanely stupid for stealing so much or those bandying these figures are simply lying through their teeth.
Now, let’s not forget that Buhari’s strongest selling point was his anti-corruption posture. However the president committed the first sacrilege to his anti-corruption crusade when in his very first decision after his election he appointed the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, who then had a pending criminal case against him as the co-chairman of the Transition Committee. I was shocked at the news, and that singular act from a man advertised as the face of “change” dimmed the freshness of hope. Naturally, I soon wearied of their message of change. The expected moral rebirth had just suffered immeasurable damage by that first mistake. It prepared me for what was to come and to be more cynical and doubtful of the message.
How can a president whose strongest point was his disdain for corruption in any shape or form, appoint a man with a pending case of corruption and criminal mismanagement of public funds hanging over him to co-chair the transition of power for the rebirth of a new nation? But as usual, some people with less value for the moral health of society jumped in to defend it on the grounds that a man is innocent until proven guilty. That is the law, and I agree. However, a society is not governed by laws alone, but also by moral values. What message was he sending to the Nigerian people by that appointment?
Of recent, the irrepressible Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, who appears to be carrying his four-figure table about with infectious relish, has been regaling the nation with unsalutary tales of missing or stolen monies. Of particular interest here is his claim that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) remitted only N2 billion out of a total sum of N162 billion it generated as revenue in a year, and that those who presided over the affairs of the NPA spent N160 billion. Now, how does it appear to Oshiomhole that the man who was the Managing Director of the NPA, Alhaji Habibu Abdullai, when such humongous mismanagement was perpetrated is suddenly brought back and reinstated to the same position he was sacked from by former President Goodluck Jonathan? Oshiomhole probably spoke too early, or should I say he failed to read the president’s “body language” correctly - which is the new policy direction of this government?
Another contradiction in the change that has rendered the anti-corruption stance a mere sloganeering monologue, unworthy of repetition or the ink it is written in is the emergence of Abubakar Audu as the APC standard-bearer in the upcoming governorship election in Kogi State. For those who have forgotten, Audu, a former governor, was charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for corruption, fraudulent conversion of public property, stealing of taxpayers’ money and money laundering. His case has been in court for 12 whole years, held down by lawyers arguing over technical details, aided by pliant judges, who grant stupid injunctions and a legal system crying for reform.
Now tell me, where in the world does a corruption case go on for 12 years with no end in sight? It is this same man that the APC, the supposed party of “change” has availed its platform to contest the governorship election on November 21.
I am waiting for the day Buhari will go to Kogi State, stand on the same campaign podium with Audu, present the party’s flag to him, raise his hand and urge Kogi people to vote for him and afterwards come back to Abuja and voice sermons against corruption again. If Audu goes on to win, the case will be practically dead, as he will be protected by immunity. Fellow Nigerians, is this the “change” that people talked about?
In Bayelsa, Sylva, who also has a pending criminal case in court, is gunning for the party’s ticket to contest the gubernatorial election on December 5. And news filtering through indicates the APC cardinals are in support of his quest. Should he also emerge as the APC standard-bearer and proceed to win the election, his criminal trial will be dead. Is this the change that was promised?
I remember, not so long ago when Ayo Fayose won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to contest the governorship election in Ekiti State and Iyiola Omisore contested on the PDP ticket in Osun State, the APC claiming the moral high ground, roundly criticised the decision as an insult to the moral sensibilities of Nigerians and reminded us that Fayose had a pending criminal case in court. Its satellite brigade of lawyers, activists and world-renowned intellectuals joined the fray, condemning the PDP. Now the wordsmiths have all kept quiet as the so-called party of “change” that was supposed to walk a different path is showing its true colours and exhibiting total intolerance of political dissent even within its ranks and re-enacting the very same behaviour they condemned in the PDP. They have all buried their heads in the sand. Why can’t we just condemn the same impunities we all saw in the PDP that are so evidently manifest in the APC, or are we suddenly supposed to venerate these same vices as our moral values and expectations because it is the APC now committing them?
This brings me to the crisis that has been rocking the National Assembly since a set of leaders emerged against the preferred choices of the APC cardinals. Right from the outset, Buhari told the whole world that he had no preferred candidates, and that he would work with anyone that emerged either as the Senate president or speaker of the House of Representatives. At least I bear witness to this. But since Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House respectively, Buhari has not hidden his disdain for them through his now famous “body language” by which we have been governed in the last four months, which clearly gives the lie to his claim.
For defeating his preferred candidate for the Senate top job, Saraki has faced a barrage of retributions from state institutions. I had mixed feelings when the news of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) charges broke: my first instinct was to jump in celebration and say serves him right, but I realised that it was too reductionist a position to take in the face of the clear abuse of the machinery of state power we are now facing in the hands of a man and his party - unarguably the greatest beneficiaries of a tolerant democratic space.
In my article titled, “Gbajabiamila and the ‘True Lies’ About Party Supremacy” published in the August 4 edition of THISDAY, I stated inter alia: “A chill runs down my spine if because he has also now defied his new party, and beat its preferred candidate, his case file is suddenly dug up for retribution. Some have argued that there is no relationship between the developments, and that it was a coincidence. But how many coincidences do we have to get before they stop being coincidences?”
Why is it that it is now the CCB is suddenly interested in the crimes committed by Saraki since 2003 when his immunity lapsed since 2011. As bad as Saraki’s case is, and as much as I want him punished for allegedly bringing down a bank and purportedly looting the Kwara State treasury, it is hard to reconcile myself with what appears clearly and brazenly to be a politically motivated trial. While the APC wants Nigerians to believe it is about the war against corruption, the evidence before the public points to politics. Some have argued that the president has no hand in Saraki’s ordeal. Good point! Maybe, the CCB read his now famous “body language” correctly, which his supporters claim has brought sanity to the country.
What the unfolding Saraki drama has shown so far is that the APC does not take defeat lightly. It supported all the nonsense the former Speaker Aminu Tambuwal did to his former party, but now it cannot even bear for a moment that Saraki had the effrontery to defy it. Where are the human rights activists and the “69 SANs” who were so eager to defend Tambuwal under the silly guise of defending our democracy? Is it not disturbing that they can’t speak up now? To them I say: indifference is not a virtue. Maybe we are now seeing the true colours of the much-talked about change encapsulated in Wole Soyinka’s “Buhari Born Again Phenomenon”. But let me leave you with the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson: “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
All we can see is a re-enactment of the past packaged as change.

Welcome to Nigeria, where typing amen to pastor's prayers on facebook will save you from your village witches and make you a billionaire...
Welcome to Nigeria, where Jesus Christ sends you a WhatsApp and Facebook message and threatens to kill you if you do not send it to 20 people. The most annoying thing in all, is that graduates and supposed learned people send these ''miracle messages'' to their friends everyday. These messages carry lots of threats; Some of the messages say you will suffer or go broke for a week if you don't send them...
As Christians, we need to keep an open mind and be discerning and also open our hearts and minds to healthy discussions. We need to think... God will punish you if you refuse to send those messages? Do you think your destiny is tied to a message on social media? Do you believe
We claim to be children of God but we are scared of the future, scared of little things. You relay a message to 20 people on social media and believe in your heart that you will wake up tomorrow a billionaire...What is wrong with us? Like seriously, what is really wrong with us?
...Without prayers, hardwork,determination ,purpose,& grace of God ''miracle messages'' on social media are not invisible hands that can instantly make us rich...
Stop spreading your fears on social media because we are not gullible...Our God is too big to send threats to make people obey Him. Our God will never do that. We need messages that will transform souls and not messages that will threaten people to create unecessary fear and panic.
''IN HIM ALONE IS LIFE".

OK

APC Should leave this saraki issue alone before it gets out of hands, Governance is what I care about, so that it won't affect the country, NIGERIA has enough issues already, personal issues should please be handled personally please.

Saraki will still escape this one. APC should just forget this issue and do what they were sent there to do.

who exactly do SR work for?

for me, i see nothing wrong with what abati said back then and who he is now, mind u, he might have given his opinion to his boss and it was rejected, the problem is that we dont even undastnd things inn context b4 we begin to talk, that is the african man's mentality,always biased in his statement because of sentiments. do u come out publicly to fight ur boss in the office over and action he is determined to take just becos u dnt fancy the idea?Even if abati is unhappy with certain things, he wont say them nw i believe,(using Olusegun Adeniyi as an instance,Goand read his book"power,politics and death), If u are put in his postion(Abati's)i bet u wont do any better than him.Period