₦airaland Forum

Even if you are on the Kremlin's payroll, atleast get your facts together.

These have been disproved as false. Russia is known to bomb at will and they use a lot of dumb bombs when they do so which lack accuracy.

This has happened severally during the course of this invasion and I reckon it will happen again. It is unfortunate when lives are lost which is why I wonder how stupid one has to be to take sides in situations such as these.

May God rest the dead.

Dalil8:
Before you blame the Russians, take a look at Ukraine's Aidar Regiment hiding in a kindergarten.

Now tell me why there won't be civilian casualties when Russia decides to shell this kindergarten.

after like 15 years.

a project they claimed would be completed within 2-3 years took 15 years to finish.

with some portions of the road already disintegrating.

Is the pope aware that Estonia and Latvia, former USSR colonies, are also part of NATO however NATO have very limited number of troops there and they did not deploy any heavy artillery there for fear of reprisal by Russia.

Putin is in the wrong with this invasion of Ukraine. The talks of joining NATO and the EU were never going to happen because Ukraine has little to offer those organisations. Putin could have and should have waited out Zelensky and patiently seeked a political solution. This would have been the pragmatic approach, instead he felt it was best for the world to remember Russia as a military powerhouse and hence he chose this moment specifically to demonstrate such.

Unfortunately for him, his Intel was dead wrong. The west knew this would come and they had been convertly training Ukrainian forces in preparation for this. Putin has fallen into the trap the West set for him and he has no choice but to stay and fight. The more he does so, the more the sanctions will pile up and the ever more desperate he will become. He is sick so my guess is his frame of mind is "nothing to lose".

And for some clearly stupid people on here who don't understand what is going on, if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he will come for Poland and other satellite USSR countries. If you keep thinking it cannot happen then clearly you do not understand the history of that part of the world.

Putin comes across as quite unhinged and his actions have really been quite unpredictable this far. The world knows Putin to be a ruthless but pragmatic actor but his actions in the last couple months have mirrored the exact opposite and he has shown that the West is truly ahead of him in a lot of ways and has exposed the weakness of his country.

Ukraine was never an immediate threat to Russia. True there were verbal threats of joining NATO and EU, but it was almost certain that Europe and the US would not grant these demands to Ukraine. So, why attack rather than patiently wait things out and seek a political solution. Before the invasion, Zelensky's popularity had plummeted anyway, he was on his way out one way or the other. Putin had already taken Crimea and some provinces East of Ukraine, I guess he felt this was the best opportunity to remind the world of Russian superiority.

However, whether known or unknown to him the US and Europe had been training Ukrainian soldiers covertly for years to prepare for this exact scenario. This is why the Ukrainians have survived thus far. Every single Western Intel regarding this invasion has been correct. Russia may have alot of nuclear weapons but without it they are a paper tiger. All of their conventional weapons which they boast of have been out to the test thus far and absolutely not one has been found to be invincible as Russia often claims on internet sites. Russia is beginning to find out that war takes more than just nukes, organisation, logistics and most importantly money are important. Their GDP is the size of Spain's and they are finding out gradually that the West still run the world economically and technologically. At the same time, Putin is finding out real time just how corrupt and inept the Russian military really is with him at the helm of this corruption.

All of his plans to keep NATO members in disarray have only led to NATO members becoming more united than ever. True, Ukraine is a pawn in this but at the end of it all, Russia will have bled too. Europe will see Russia for who they truly are and will try to pivot away from Russian energy source (this might take sometime but is achievable eventually).

All of this could have been avoided, Russia is the aggressor here and Putin deserves everything he gets in the wake of this event. Russia under Putin keeps thinking it has the economic might of China and the military might of the USA. But just like the US found out in Afghanistan and Vietnam, Russia is learning the hard way. The US is prepared to drag this war out if it means they keep Russia engaged and distracted.

You cannot help but think this is also payback to Putin for interfering in the 2016 elections as well as putting up bounties on American soldiers in Iraq during the fight against Daesh. Putin has put himself in an impossible situation and I hope he does not order a nuclear strike under some false pretext. He seems like a dangerous man who is unhinged with zero fears as to what to lose.

I take no sides in this and I urge you all as Africans to do same. We must watch out for our own self interests not that of foreign countries who have all their problems sorted.

So the falsehood from Russia is perfectly okay but the ones from US and UK are not okay.

Then there's liberal ideology.

International affairs expert, very obvious you get your news from Fox.

Kazim88:
Very Disgusting. Falsehood upon falsehood.

Especially from UK.

Instead of them to give current humanitarian crisis in donbass and need for Ukraine to surrender, they are still talking about the "blizts of kyiv" and how Ukraine is winning.

Personally I used to think European are intelligent people, looking back, I think I was wrong. They are currently one of the most stüpid people blinded by Liberal Ideology.

It is disgusting to read your odious post.

baralatie:
It is disgusting to read what the West has been reporting about this Russian Ukraine war!

I hate to say this but there is nothing as pitiable as a citizen of a 3rd world country trying so hard to figure out what these 1st world powerhouses are doing and stupidly trying to pick sides.

Many of you here still believe this is Police and Thief, Good guys vs Bad guys. Your ignorance is bliss really.

Officialgarri:
Germany is actually in a tight situation.

To embrace eye service by throwing support for Ukraine or to suffer an economic recession because of the Russian embargo on gas.

They are currently being blackmailed to save Ukrainian lives in exchange for economic decline

Why do you waste your time trying to educate some of these fools on nairaland.
They barely know the history of their own people talk less of world history and geopolitics.

For them it's always good guy Vs bad guy, police and thief mentality na him den dey use view these things. It's no wonder we are so daft and naive as a people in Nigeria.

There is no good cop, bad cop in all of this. All of these actors are both good and bad, only thing that matters to them is shared interests full stop. The minute we as Africans understand this concept, the simpler our lives would be and the wiser we would be especially in our dealings with others.

Nigerians won't bother to focus on Nigeria and Africa, a civil war next door in Cameroon another in Ethiopia, but no na wetin dey go on for Eastern Europe we go dey concerned with. And rather than look at how that affects us as a people, we are busy picking sides in a war that is really not our business.

Kingpin1000:
Don't blame poland,they already have beef with Russia even before WWII, Poland were attacked be Nazi Germany and were overrun by Russians, an average Polish man hates Russians.
So they can freeze with their hatred.

Source: RT

You watch too much Fox news.

Dalil8:
But Russia isn't terrorizing the whole world, is it? Eastern Europe isn't the whole world. As a matter of fact only 40 nations are against Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

We should all be grateful to Russia for helping the world get rid of Nazi elements in Ukraine



It's mostly people like you who have never left the shores of the country that always think the US army is invincible.

In reality, average Americans are scared shitless of Russia's military capabilities.

Have you seen what the other guys have?

Too much talking and chest beating is a sign of weakness.

Truvelisback:
Omo! See weapons of war. Those daring Putin should think twice.

Exactly bro.

If you look at all his businesses
Tesla
Tesla Energy
Neuralink
Boring Company
Hyperloop (which isn't a company per se but an idea for now)
Space X

They all have one thing in common, they are disruptive in nature.

This Optimus robot runs on complex ML and AI algorithms that are usually very data hungry, the more the data the better the algo can train the robot. Where better to get data today than a social media company for a measly $50bn.

His Optimus robot just like his previous projects will reap billions of dollars that will make today's acquisition seem like child's play. And he alluded to this himself recently.

Ofcourse most people here cannot see beyond their noses so they think this is all about their leader Donald J Trump. Elon is not in business for guaranteeing free speech, Twitter just so happens to be a means to an end for him.

Kutunban:
Elon actually bought human data, which is the future.

If you think this acquisition was made because Elon Musk cares so much about free speech then you are dumber than rocks.

czarr:
Elon is a legend.
Futuristic.

A win for free speech.
Let the liberals and leftist go eat shit.

This is what people don't understand with Elon's move. He has a robot that is well underway, ever heard of AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning.

Twitter might seem like a stagnated company in terms of profitability and revenue but one of its assets remains the sheer amount of data it has access to.

Elon is alot of things but stupid. He is first and foremost a businessman, a capitalist. Stupid people out here running around saying he will let Trump back, he will ensure free speech, yea right. I am willing to bet that they have had some serious breakthrough with the Optimus robot and this acquisition is in relation to that project.

He is always 200 steps ahead of the pack.

It is common knowledge that our so-called leaders are foreign spies which is no wonder why they all have dual citizenship and work to the detriment of the Nigerian people.

Fani-Kayode is absolutely spot on with his claim.

But asper usual, Nigerians would abandon the message and focus on the messenger. Not saying Fani-Kayode is a perfect role model but have you stopped to ask yourselves why do we go to Europe to discuss Nigeria's problems? Why are virtually all our leaders dual citizens of foreign western and Arabic countries? Why do our leaders act with so much impunity yet somehow foreign governments always certainly choose to ignore?

It is not mere coincidence nor is it something you can wish away. Prayers and Fasting will not deliver us out of what is imminently coming for us all as to consume us. This is not scare mongering, these are facts. Only when the Nigerian people stand together can we have any semblance of hope, anything less is postponing the inevitable.

even though the Queen of England whose people brought to Nigeria the Christianity he practices takes off her shoes when she visits mosques.


and who brought you/they the islam that you practice? surely not Allah himself.

biden can solve this by letting go of his ego and increasing production locally. i understand why he is hesitant but he must do it or be done by it.

is it that there was no contigency at all given that this was surely going to happen.

deploy nuclear weapons on who?
you see this is the problem, Putin has been the one barking off and threatening nuclear weapons.
does he forget that NATO also have their own arsenal and because it is closer they can hit first.
so who is Putin readying his arsenal for? is it Ukraine? if he nukes Ukraine it will spread to western Russia.

you see he cannot do anything in reality, if he gives the order his own generals will take him out. initially i believed he was pragmatic but now i am beginning to see a pattern in his behaviour, clearly he has lost it. The invasion of Ukraine will only make Western Europe unite in the face of this external aggression.

Rollsnjaguar:
Those urging western nations on will be shocked at what Putin is capable of. I know Putin will never loose, instead he will deploy nuclear weapons.

he can make life miserable for them which he intends to do.
don't forget these countries were formerly under the USSR. in many ways some within these countries are still pro-USSR, pro-Russia, especially the older generation, anyone 40 and above.
russia will proceed to annex these countries unto itself and the US will not be able to do a thing about it. oil prices will skyrocket, this may well affect the reelection of whoever is in charge of the white house.

ThEGodFaThEr124:
This Russian invation will only lead to other neigbouring states joining NATO and there's nothing Russia can do about it. That's the game plan of the US and western states. Putin can't fight all those countries at once.

exactly. they already fought way back when russia was under the soviets and the finnish repelled them.

now do not get me wrong, russia is doing all it can to ensure it protects itself, putin is very rational here. it is the USA through Nato's expansion, that is forcing him into these actions.

ThEGodFaThEr124:
Russia and Putin won't dare to attack Finland because they know the Finnish people are a difficult nut to crack.

you are putting the cart before the horse.

Penguin2:
I beg to defer.

This attitude of having everything cheap in this country is the reason foreign investors are not enthusiastic to invest in so many sectors of the Nigerian economy.

These airline operators said they now buy aviation fuel at N410 per litre then add other charges that they pay at airports yet Nigerians want them to be doing Father Christmas for them.

Must you travel by air?

if there is stable power supply and companies raise tariffs gradually and sensibly, i am certain no one will protest.

the problem remains that most of these companies have first been taxed by those high up in government. so ofcourse they want to make their money back by any means necessary. unfortunately the reality on ground is not the same as what is often imagined which only means these companies have no choice but to jack up rates suddenly.
Look at Power Sector, we are against paying the right bills that will allow investors put the right money into buying and installing equipments and facilities that would have improved our light situation.

Now investors are not willing to borrow money and invest in the power sector because they can’t recoup such money since we insist on underpaying.

Same thing with subsidy.

We don’t want subsidy out even as it is totally unsustainable and highly weighing on the nation’s finances.

Please we need to stop that madness.

If we want quality, we must be ready to pay for it.

I’m sure most of those protesting are those who use 25k to book flight and take pictures to oppress people online to feed their fake live.

No value and even worse, no accountability. If you ask him, he will tell you he is accountable to God, who would'nt want to have such a job.

My take on this tithe issue is simple, anyone who wants to pay should pay, those who don't want to pay should not pay. When you use the bible to threaten people or you use the preaching platform as a bullying pulpit, in my view you have gone beyond your mandate as a Pastor.

There are way more serious issues in the world today than for Pastors to be worried about non-tithers and it is only in Nigeria and Africa you see this type of nonsense, in more saner climes the pastors know better than to spout this type of rubbish.

Enyimbamercedes:
If you demand 10% of an individual’s salary without providing anything of value other than threats of damnation, you are a criminal!

don't forget the man that actively introduced religion into osun state politics by calling for muslims to vote for muslims and christians to vote for christians.
he also did some other stuff which i am not allowed to say here.

obembet:
Aregbesola is the most useless, wicked and stupid man. The only governor who paid half salaries all thru his 8years..

the man that spend billions on naira on Federal Government road that doesn't generate #1 and he called it (ona baba ona)

The man that ask pensioner of they are still alive.

The man that put Osun in 30years debts.

The man that never contribute anything positive to his home town (Ilesha)

The man that does not respect the kings and betrayed the hand that feed him

The man that depends so much on thugs and never empower youth.

He created oyes program that make youth remain poor forever with 10,000 salary

God go punish APC, expecially aregbesola.

This is not an attempt at rewriting history, it is my opinion based on the facts as i read from history books. We may not draw the same conclusions and that is fine but still you cannot ignore the facts i raised. I shall proceed to address your points one by one.

Here you are talking like it was only the north that imprisoned Awo, while zik and his people were the major factor. Awo presented him an opportunity to work together, bro went to north and undid every thing for a decoration post.

After the North-East alliance, Awo's AG became the defacto opposition. Trust me when i say, this was never Awo's intention from the onset however he knew there was no alliance to be made with the Northerners whom he both despised and distrusted at the time. Unfortunately, he could not make a deal with Zik either. Some would say it was payback for the narrow defeat Zik suffered at his hands in the polls to determine the premiere of the west at the time. My conclusion is this, look at this through the eyes of Zik at the time, Awo becoming Finance Minister in a shared arrangement between their parties simply meant Zik's NCNC would not be able to corner the finances and divert for party use. Zik clearly understood the game Awo was upto, Awo did not offer to be Zik's President, no, he wanted to be Finance Minister. If you were Zik, would you have accepted this greek gift. This is politics here and trust me these men were political animals through and through. It was first about their own survival and second about the survival of the people they govern over. So for me, all is fair in love and war so i do not hold Zik in contempt for this just like i do not hold Awo in contempt for using every means at his disposal to win the Western premiere elections, even going as far as to introduce tribal sentiments into what clearly was a very unbiased electioneering process (but this was not when tribalism was introduced into Nigerian politics, it was before then and it was by the igbos).

You blame the British but the Nigerian and Nigerians that betrayed Nigeria when Awo and and bello requested for seccession clause is Zik and his people. This in addition to the fact that zik came all the way from the east to the south west then to tuzzle the premiership of the west with Awolowo, "a region were je had no indiegineous background" coupled with the marginalised coup shows what this people truly wanted was to dominate the whole country.

Yes bro, i will blame the british for this conundrum we are in today as a country because they never wished us well. I will also blame our naive leaders. However, look back at the 50s and try to understand where everyone was coming from. Awo had his own ideology which i support to this day, it was what we should have done in the 50s. Awo was a statist (although when convenient baba abandoned all of that ideology and sided with the same Northerners who preferred to maintain a stranglehold on the status quo) by contrast Zik was a pan africanist. If you read about both men you'll understand why. Now both ideas were right however what we needed then FIRST was strong countries built around ethnic identities then on the basis of that SECOND we could strive for pan-africanism. The Berlin conference of 1884 was where it all started to go wrong for us as Africans, at the very least with all the colonialists weakened from WW2, we finally had a chance to build something for ourselves based on our own input. I was disappointed with Zik for championing this idea, it was simply an idea that was not needed at that time. But he was schooled in the USA and he lived through the build up of black emancipation and civil rights movements, these were some of the events that inspired his politics and such ideas were quite common place at the time even though the practicality of those ideas were not feasible. However what happened afterward? Please do not be fooled into really thinking the North wanted to remain a separate entity, they never ever had such intent thanks to whisperings from the British. The North always wanted a Nigeria where they were dominant and they knew they would have suffered without access to the sea. Awo's ideas on paper and as evidenced from the 50s through till the 60s were the best for Nigeria at the time. It was why even the coup plotters, mostly of southern descent, sought to free him and make him the Prime Minister of Nigeria.
I have mixed feelings about the coup plotters. They were young men who had fought in the DRC and saw how belgians treated their fellow african brothers. They saw what was happening in Nigeria and feared the worst. They were moved to act and they did. Were their actions justified? Maybe. You need to understand at that time, Awolowo the only real hope the average Nigerian had was thrown into prison and what we had were establishment politicians everywhere willing to absolutely milk the nation's coffers dry. Ladoke would have been perfectly happy being a Northern stooge in the west if it meant him holding onto power. He was an elitist and cared less for the mass. Those young men felt they were doing their country a great service, I feel they would have if they successfully carried out their coup. Unfortunately, they allowed sentiments cloud their judgement and the rest is history. As for the war, the north would have gone to war regardless, they were pained by the death of Ahmadu Bello especially and remember they saw the igbos as a threat even before then so the war was more an exercise to cut the igbos to size.

It is obvious this people wanted to totally dominate Nigeria, but according to your analogy we should have joined like the good boys we were so that we can be like Singapore, knowing what this same people did to south south that joined them in the war and thkse people are still complaing about the cruelty of biafran soldiers who shoved them aside in their own indiegineous territories , if the Yoruba race had been fooled to joining their loss cause, the south might have won the war but their back stabbing dominatrix traits would have started another war right here in the south, because it was obvious their intention and it would not have been allowed

The coup started out with sincere intentions, don't forget some of the coup plotters were of Yoruba origin too. It is unfortunate the young men allowed themselves to be swayed by some ranking igbo military officers and eventually the entire affair turned out to be a shitshow that looked like it was ethnically motivated. It was not initially but eventually since no igbo politician of note was killed, it sure looked like that. However, we should not say this was a plan by the igbo to dominate. Those young men did not seek to install igbo leaders into office. Aguiyi Ironsi was the most senior military officer at the time, he had to assume power in the wake of the coup, no choice. However, what he did and did not do set the tone for the bloodshed that followed. But the bloodshed was unavoidable because the North was hungry for revenge. It did not matter if Ironsi had executed the coup plotters, Northern military officers (having received instructions from core Northern oligarchs) were going to take out Ironsi regardless. Ironsi just made matters worse by sparing the coup plotters and he committed the unforgivable sin of declaring a unitary government (that very act led us down this slippery slope where we now find ourselves). I understand why he did these things but in hindsight, he should have severely punished the coup plotters and started making plans with immediate effect for some transition government. But there was no time really, all of this happened within 6 months. Nothing from Ironsi's body language proved that he wanted to dominate, he was naive at best.
I still believe the best course of action for the Yoruba people, at that time, would have been to side with the Biafrans to atleast create a stalemate that helped all of us negotiate a real constitution and enabled us all have a real discussion about either co-existing or separating. He tried to have that conversation pre-indepedence, it was truncated by the British. That moment before the Biafran war would have been another good opportunity to hit the reset button and the man who could have done was none other than Awo himself. But as you and I know, he was promised something bigger in his eyes, and as all politicians do, they simply focus on the now and let the later take care of itself. In that instance, Awo forgot the real reason why he so despised the North in the first place. He forgot that Northerners, especially the Fulani, and treachery are like 5 and 6. He felt they were going to repay him and stick to their word. Awo was never really a hard pragmatist anyway and when it came time the Northerners as per usual, showed him just how treacherous they can be. So in hindsight, that very moment before the war, during when Aburi was being negotiated, that moment when Awo was released from jail, in my view, that was the moment Awo had the most power and sway in his entire political career (not when he was coordinating Minister of Economy under Gowon).

No coming to Ojukwu, you stupidly claim he had no choice, well he had one by the time he made the agreement with gowon as at then there was no more killing for revenge, this people could have just counted their loses and look for other means that can aid the secession crusade, but because of his wounded ego as result of Gowon " a military personnel below him" is the head of state, he just could not take it. And proof that his intentions were not pure for his people but to help his ego, showed glarely during the ending days of the war when he ran away to God knows where.

You need to go back and re-read whatever books you read, I don't even think you read any books at all about this particular subject. Gowon was the one that went back on the Aburi Accords. Gowon and his delegates did not read nor did they understand what was signed in the accords. When they finally got back to Nigeria celebrating, it was an Edo man, a high ranking member of the civil service that called Gowon's attention to the caveats in the accords, clauses for secession if Nigeria failed to hold up to their end of the bargain. Although decree 8 would have given Ojukwu 90% of what he wanted (and this is where i blame him) on paper, you cannot blame him for having mistrust in the Nigerian government who could have easily backtracked on their word. Again, he did what he felt was best (it is possible his ego was at play and he felt overconfident), it is however regrettable the lives that were lost in the war, this could have been avoided since there was still an opportunity to dialogue.

Overall, my own stance is simply this, We Yorubas must unite for the common good of our people. The igbos are free to do same for themselves and so are the Northerners. Nigeria is not working and Nigeria will never work because Nigeria as it is presently constituted was built on a faulty foundation. Unless, we want to continue deceiving ourselves, Nigeria is heading no where positive. The earlier we all can wake up and accept this reality, the better it will be for all involved. We all have potential to be great, but it is clear we cannot achieve that greatness together.

marsman:
So much loop holes and rewriting of history just to prove a point nonsense. Here you are talking like it was only the north that imprisoned Awo, while zik and his people were the major factor. Awo presented him an opportunity to work together, bro went to north and undid every thing for a decoration post. Seriously before saying that it would have been a disadvantage to zik you have to provide proof, you can't come here and just feed our minds with nonsense

You blame the British but the Nigerian and Nigerians that betrayed Nigeria when Awo and and bello requested for seccession clause is Zik and his people. This in addition to the fact that zik came all the way from the east to the south west then to tuzzle the premiership of the west with Awolowo, "a region were je had no indiegineous background" coupled with the marginalised coup shows what this people truly wanted was to dominate the whole country.

I Won't bother wazting my time with a common history revisionist, who only understands it the way it pays him. The sacrifices that has been made since the inception of the Oyo empire is not enough, but we still had to join a senseless war which was totally not a fault of ours, but the fault of the greedy biafrans who their greed affected not only the north but us in the process pre war.

Why should we even join their side, after all they did, the coup they carried out did not only target the north but our own western leaders as well
It is obvious this people wanted to totally dominate Nigeria, but according to your analogy we should have joined like the good boys we were so that we can be like Singapore, knowing what this same people did to south south that joined them in the war and thkse people are still complaing about the cruelty of biafran soldiers who shoved them aside in their own indiegineous territories , if the Yoruba race had been fooled to joining their loss cause, the south might have won the war but their back stabbing dominatrix traits would have started another war right here in the south, because it was obvious their intention and it would not have been allowed


i mean Liberals can be really stupid at times. Its only a fool that wouldn't have seen the opportunities that existed in having an interdependent state like Nigeria then, its a pity visionary leaders didn't have a chance to rule it, but that still does not dispute the bountiful opportunities. Awo saw it but ideas and one man cannot make a nation

No coming to Ojukwu, you stupidly claim he had no choice, well he had one by the time he made the agreement with gowon as at then there was no more killing for revenge, this people could have just counted their loses and look for other means that can aid the secession crusade, but because of his wounded ego as result of Gowon " a military personnel below him" is the head of state, he just could not take it. And proof that his intentions were not pure for his people but to help his ego, showed glarely during the ending days of the war when he ran away to God knows where.

soon enough they will say he invented sliced bread, brought gsm and wifi to Nigeria, he gave sight to the blind and legs to the cripple.
at this point, they'll say anything because it is what they are paid to do.

this is what social media and democracy has enabled. idiots who normally should not have any opinion can be seen spouting bare faced lies all for the sake of personal gain. and we wonder why the country is in the sorry state it is in.

Zorn:
you wish . Now you want to attribute police success to Tinubu when state governors has no control over police show how lame and stupid some of you can be. governors that can't even control the CP?

Let me clear one silly notion from your response, i am a yoruba not igbo. I guess for someone like you someone like me who has done his own research and has the ability to think independently and radically is difficult to comprehend. But that is not my issue, i'll leave you to contend with that.

Not joining that war by siding with the igbos or atleast staying neutral, is part of what got us where we are today. Not joining that war because the same people who put him in prison promised to back his presidential bid, is part of what got us where we are today. I don't think anyone in their right minds would argue this nor would they argue that Nigeria is in better shape today than it ever was.

i am yet to find a truly great country on God's green earth where men did not sacrifice for the common good. Our story in Nigeria, particulary in the South west, has always been that of promoting self-interest above the collective good. It is why individually we Yorubas thrive but as a collective especially politically, we struggle. It is always one form of self-sabotage or the other when indeed we should be helping each other for our common good.

Awo was a great man and remains a personal hero of mine but the North saw through him like a skimpy skirt. As for Zik, betraying Awo, my dear perhaps you need to go back and read your history books properly. Zik wanted the same thing Awo wanted, Power. They were two ambitious men who sought to become Prime Minister and it is part of why the British preferred to work with the less ambitious Northerner. There was no way Zik was going to agree to Awo's greek offer, if you were Zik you would have done same it was that simple. Stop being naive. In my view, Zik's failing was that he somehow thought he could get into a pact with the North and manipulate them thinking they were not smart enough. They also saw through him and put him in his place. Awo knew that the way the British had drawn up the map of Nigeria pre-independence, political alliances were going to be a necessity. However, he could not bring himself to make a deal with the Northerners (and rightfully so). He tried to make a deal with Zik but that deal was never going to be in Zik's favour eventually. But i understand your angst and I say true this was a collective failing from both men to not make things work for the common good of the South. But aside this, i don't blame Zik for anything. It was politics, plain and simple.

Awo was the best of the three based on ideas alone but unfortunately ideas alone has never been how politics work. He would have been a great president but he should have known that the Northerners hated his guts and were never ever going to support his bid. He should have known the British would 100% back the North in this. He should have realised early that it was all a stalemate and he should have supported the dissolution of this Godforsaken union called Nigeria.

If he had done so, he would have been the undisputed premiere of the South West. He could have turned us into the Singapore of Africa, no question about that. He would have had everything he dreamed of and his legacy would have lasted for atleast a millenia instead he took the shortcut of empty promises and shady handshakes.

As for Ojukwu, call him whatever you want. I think he should have weighed the costs and avoided war but looking back he did what he had to do, his people were being slaughtered he had no choice.

My main grouse here is the West, East and North were never meant to be as one. Individually we could have had it all and still had mutual respect for one another but the failure of the founding fathers to see beyond their noses is part of what led us down this pit we all are now. Ofcourse the #1 cause will always be the British but trust me our founding fathers did not do us any favours.

marsman:
Awolowo worked against his people, not joining that war was a blessing to Yoruba people and acan be a curse to sore loosers who won't keep shut. AND that is different from people playing politics among them selfs, not even close to the meaning of the word "sold out ".

If we want to talk about people that sold people out, lets talk about Azikwe, who sold Awolowo and the North out to the brits because of his greediness, this same Igbo man in conjunction with his Northern friends put Awolowo in prison, after Awo went to him with an alliance agreement not akintola.

or maybe we should talk about Odumegwu who sold out the the survivals of the civil war, to the Nigerian forces by running away with his wife, to God knows were but it is still worshipped like a messiah because of the betrayer in their DNA.

I hate when people throw words they dont know about, around. Give good examples please, this men knew they were rivals( the ones u mentioned)

Abiola also sold out or shall i say worked against Awolowo who in turn worked against his own people during the Civil war. Akintola and his camp also worked with Northern elements to put Awolowo in prison.

It goes on and on and on and it never ends. Just like the tv series "Game of Thrones".

mancoconut:
The backstabbing Yaribandits have finished Igboho, the poor man was fighting a lost battle for a treacherous people. Like always, history always repeats itself with these people... just as they sold out Abiola to the military junta, Afonja sold Ilorin and his people to Alimi.

spot on bro, spot on.
may i add that tinubu is alot of things but i do not consider tinubu to be a religious zealot however with that being said, the same cannot be said for the likes of aregbesola, who last i checked is tight with tinubu and runs lagos state affairs at his behest. tinubu strikes me as a pragmatist first before anything else. please do not take this as an endorsement, i despise the sort of politics he introduced in South West and you are right in that he will never measure up to the likes of jakande.

i do not know how close rauf is with tinubu these days. ever since he got federal and has been frolicking with the jihadists from up north, he has been singing a different tune.

Eriokanmi:
Your opinion I guess. In lagos we don't go by any religion in the choice of who governs us. If Lagosians are to go the religious route, it would bring forth confusion and chaos and we don't want that to happen here. We're a more exposed, tolerant and learned people. We don't discriminate. I could be a Muslim while my wife, a Christian.

If candidate selection is to be considered along the religious lines, Christians will always have their way. But we don't work by religion. We're one here and in other parts of the west. Take a look at every street in Lagos and do your statistics, count the number of churches and mosques alike. Look at your neighbor next door, both residents and non indigenes, you can tell which religion is on the majority side, from island to mainland, even up to the alimosho, the largest LG in lagos. You can only find a sizeable number of Muslims in epe and what's the population of epe in total? Come to ikorodu, the Christian size is huge. The support tinubu and fashola got in their terms alone was a proof religion doesn't take precedence in our political space. In my family...the jakande family, we have Christians and Muslims but we don't allow religion to choose for us. We do things as one. All we need is a leader who would bring dividends of democracy to the common man. Insecurity and all manner of vices are growing in lagos per second. We don't even know if we have a leader or not. Too bad. Our politicians, including tinubu should go and learn from baba's( Pa jakande) manner of leadership. They should read some of his books. This was the man who ruled for a few years but left a legacy which hasn't even been surpassed by those who had done 8 years in history.

but some cheap idiots who don't know a thing about international politics or the current world order will come here to run their mouth like they have diaherria.

there is no good or bad guy in international politics, what matters is self-interests. everyone is playing everyone else in a bid to dominate the world, it is that simple.

i am certain Iran knows how to build a nuclear weapon already, they are an intelligent people capable of achieving this feat. but having a nuclear weapon turns them into North Korea, and the Iranian leadership are a lot of things but stupid. they want prosperity as much as they want sovereignty and they are not willing to sacrifice one for the other.

so their only bargaining chip is to keep peddling news of uranium enrichment so as to force the West into granting them concessions. the West still runs the economic show globally, everyone depends on their monetary systems and the almighty dollar is still the global fiat currency.

TheABOMINATION:
I really don't understand all these fuss about a nation trying to build a nuclear weapon. If there are dozens of nations that already possess nuclear weapons, why act as if one or two more nations building a nuclear weapon will lead to the end of the world.

Why did the nations that currently has nuclear weapons build them in the first place, was it not for self protection. Then why not allow other nations build their own nuclear weapons for self protection.

everyone that elxiths from this ealth...

mummy wa, with your butchery of the english language sef na one place sure for you too ma

techmo:
Tinubu had his money majorly from his days in US with compass finance LTD

The story of his first million is here


Bola Tinubu: "I made my first million dollar doing my accounting work in USA"

Mr Tinubu said he was sent on an assignment to help set up an accounting and auditing system for a joint venture between National Oil and Aramco in Saudi Arabia but by the time he returned to the United States, he discovered that his account had been credited in millions.

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu has opened up on how he made his first million.

Many had questioned the source of his wealth, as many urged the APC national leader to disclose it.

In a throwback interview with TheNews Magazine on March 29, 2016, Bola Tinubu had revealed how he made his first million. He said;

“At Deloitte and Touche, I chose to travel more than 80 per cent of my working years there. And that is because if a staff chose to travel, he would make more money because he would get travel allowances,”

Mr. Tinubu said he was sent on an assignment to help set up an accounting and auditing system for a joint venture between National Oil and Aramco in Saudi Arabia but by the time he returned to the United States, he discovered that his account had been credited in millions.

“We had gone there to set up their accounting and auditing system. It was while on that service that I got my financial break. When I returned to the United States, my employers gave me a huge bonus, which instantly turned me into a millionaire.

“The bonus was $850,000, before taxes. My salaries were also being paid into the bank and I was not touching them. At the time, my salary deposits in the bank had risen to about $1.8 million.”

i urge people to eat the plantain chips and use the recharge cards but vote for someone else.