₦airaland Forum

You guys need some cleansing: spiritually, economically and politically. I guess you are the only country with "Outbreaks" considering the Outbreak of violence, outbreak of looting, out break of corruption,

That's good to hear guys. You have finally achieved what we achieved 20 years ago. Kudos

whats all the hullabaloo about nothing. The law should and will be applied and thoroughly enforced when and in whatever situation that is called for. I find it really funny the insinuation of victimization by Nigerians over illegalities. In Kenya the country is host to a wide diverse populace of nationalities but non behaves like the Nigerians. In every irregular or illegal venture they are prone to be the major culprits. Its a pity that most Nigerians think that being resourceful or successful needs an illegality to attain it. We will not and never condone such behavior.

The only thing a can say or know about Nigeria is, Lagos, Abuja, 419, corruption, kidnapping, Nigerdelta. Yeah, i think thats about it.

My Lord. At first those buildings i first saw were disgusting. Are there any authorities in the first place in charge of this public facilities. Back here in Kenya such institutions are manned by highly placed professionals each carefully selected by a committee of members and later a panel of top personnel through public vetting. It is strictly professional run like any top organizations. Most of our public facilities are well managed through individual ministries which are ranked yearly by independent media institutions. The least performing ministries are transformed and a complete top managerial changes are effected. Thats how it done and should be done. You guys have a long way to go.

Well you cant blame the south africans for that noble gesture. At least they had the courtesy to return them to Nigeria. Otherwise they would have been left stranded in the airport terminus for ages. Back here at home we are in the process of deporting another bigoted fellow from Naija who is a huge money launderer, drug lord and polygamous. He has tried in vain to use the court system to derail his departure but parliament discussed the issue and soon he will be out of our beloved country.

You guys are acting cheaply and ignorant of issues about the Angolan republic. First of all the attack was mainly pointed on a single lone gunman. Angola is a country i have had the privileged of visiting and can be compared to a paradise in its capacity. After the civil war Angola embarked on a massive restructuring that puts shame to Africas oil producing countries including the big "N" if you know what i mean. Cabinda was a village but due to the goverments policy it is a fully pledged city with the best of infrastructure. Many of this countries can never match that.

Sincerely Nigerians are their worst enemies. A country with a population of 150 million which claims to be 99% religious can not even save its skin even if their life's depended on it. Not even the lord can save you from your own misery. Personally its even foolish to suggest any intervention be it the USA, UK, VISA, GOD, ALLAH and the rest will bring any change of civility in Naija and its people. The apple never falls far from the tree.

Mombasa Central Business District
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Kenya is the only country in the world with the most pimped, state of the art and most comfortable machines for public transport services. They are equivalent to a business class air jet carriers.

Going to mombasa as a tourists can be fun if you consider the mode of transport which includes the century old wagon carriage train which takes you through a number of national parks e.g Tsavo East and tsavo west national park which is famous for the renowned LION MAN EATERS.

mombasa city
[img][/img]

mombasa bamburi beach hotel, serena beach hotel
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Mombasa city
[img][/img]

ELDORET TOWN
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@Mwanamwiwa

I would first like to congratulate you on your personal efforts, determination and zeal to showcase the best of the worlds City, Nairobi. It was recently considered the most anticipated city to visit being the only city within a national park and more than 10 five star hotel within the CBD. It is also said to have the best weather in the world hence coining the phrase "City under the Sun" due to its location near the equator. It acts as the connection to major countries including South Africa, West Africa and north Africa. Recently the American ambassador prided himself to be based in the second biggest Embassy in Africa apart from the Egyptian American embassy. Kenya is also gifted with the second biggest fresh water lake in the world, L. Victoria. The world biggest dessert fresh water lake L. Turkana. The biggest flamingo and biggest flamingo infested Lake L. Nakuru. We have the biggest amount of lakes, Elementaita, Hot springs of lake Bogoria, Underground rivers feeding lake Baringo, Lake Naivasha, Lake Ol jororok, Saiwa swamp and many others. We also boast of the biggest mountain on our southern borders with Tanzania, second biggest Mountain, Mt. Kenya. Other mountains are Mt. Marsabit, Mt. Elgon, Mt . Longonot and many more. We also have the Great Rift valley passing right through the middle of the country which is documented to be the biggest geographical feature visible from the moon. Other valleys include the Kerio Valley. We also boast as a tributary source of one of the longest River in the world R. Nile. We are also commended to be the country with the biggest number of refugee population due to the commitments of the Government to provide a safe haven and opportunities to rebuild for fellow Africans fleeing from war torn countries and opressive regimes, eg Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, rwanda, Burundi,congo, DR. congo,zimbabwe,Central African republic. We are also billed to be the most promising african country apart from the European union to lead an onslaught of establishing an East African community union comprising of 6 countries.

That just to mention a few of what our country can do or will do. who can beat that.

Am proud of Kenyans and being Kenyan.

You know, I work in an environment where there are lots of other Africans, and, irrespective of where they are from on the continent, most of them have got one thing in common which comes across when we are having conversations. That thing is that they find Nigerians to be annoying. I usually refrain from participating in the conversation when it takes that turn because I believe that we Africans have bigger fish to fry and turning on each other like this detracts from the issues we should be facing. However, having read this thread, I am beginning to see why that attitude is widespread. Look at the little gem I have quoted above for, for example. Ignorance, arrogance and a penchant for belittling other Africans seems to be an unfortunately widespread trait among Nigerians. Why is it so hard for you to acknowledge that other Africans can achieve something. The irony is, if you put down someone due to their blackness, you are also saying something negative about yourself.

Style up Nairalanders!

PARTING SHOT FROM A NIGERIAN DAILY NEWSPAPER OPINION LETTERS

Let's own up to the facts ; nigeria is poo compared to most of africa;
we are just big-headed which i dont even know where it comes from.
Since the whites left we have been ruled by monkeys and we exhault loot.

We are just the most populous black monkeys.
Nonsense.
Abuja is completely tacky compared to other countries; abuja should be just a small project compared to how much that dump of a country sees every bleeping day.
infact every state in that dump should have an 'abuja' by now but oh no! we are busy having tribal squabbles.

We should be thoroughly ashamed of our selves.
What our black monkey leaders know how to do is to buy houses in other peoples' countries that have been sensibly managed.
Bunch of idiots.
Nigeria can collapse into hell for all i care!!

It would appear then that:
(a) we are a nation of incorrigible opportunists and thieves; and
(b) we are incapable of learning from history.
Taking a gamble is part of the human condition, but to do so in the face of a direct threat to your life and that of others is criminally insane.

Recent incidents, and WITH ALL DUE RESPECT to the dead and the injured in the tanker fires, mob lynchings,militant attacks, rape victims that have dogged your times — from Abujai to Lagos and now South of the country— it is time you faced up to reality and asked the hard question: What is it about Nigerians that makes them so suicidal?

Tanker fires and the subsequent deaths and casualties have become so much a part of our national fabric that one might be tempted to believe that we are doomed never to learn from history. The worst part about it is that the death and destruction is, in large part, self-inflicted.

The overturning of an oil tanker is simply an event. You have chosen to turn such incidents into a national crisis with a regularity that boggles the mind. A tanker goes down and crowds stream to the scene armed with jerricans as though they were just waiting for the whistle.

From Lagos to Abuja, young people stare brazenly into television cameras and declare that they couldn’t care less if they die as long as they get their share of the loot. It beats logic, but little else does in these crazy times. That there should be a blatant replay of such recklessness beyond Incident One should be enough to raise the red flag in a land ruled by the law.

That it should happen so often is enough reason for us to get blazing mad, if only for the sake of those who suffer collateral damage due to curiosity, or simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Nigerias claims of being a giant is blatant wishfull thinking

[b][center]NIGERIA A DEATH TRAP[/center][/b]

NIGERIANS love short-cuts and will steal everything, from votes to food from the mouths of babies. The cost does not matter as long as someone else pays the price. Only recently, a building collapsed in Abuja, reportedly having blatantly not met the set standards. You can be sure that the contractor and the owner had no plans to occupy it.

A similar situation occurred in Lagos city centre several years ago, and it took a rescue team from Israel a long time to retrieve bodies from the wreck. These buildings did not come up under cover of darkness.

I CAN’T RECALL THE NUMBER OF times my friends and I have debated whether one or another of the huge blocks of residential buildings in Lagos low-income areas is straight or decidedly off-centre. Some of them have no visible fire escapes.

The staircases are uneven and there is no railing to protect those who must climb them in the dark. Yet many are fully booked, even occupied, well before the structure is complete. It gives new meaning to housing at all cost. We destroy the forest then complain endlessly over the drying rivers.

Lagos residents board vehicles that are not roadworthy, full of pickpockets,uncouth touts, stuffy interior and smelly passengers and driven by wild men who treat them like sacks of sand, and then they go into a mourning orgy when the contraptions fall apart and kill more Nigerians than you care to count. You never bother to question the credentials of “doctors” operating in dubious dens, and you set up a hue and cry when more people come out of there dead than healed.

Give me a reason to think contrary.

@ikeyman

I find it hard to convince myself that you are a person of sound intelligence in reference to your comments, which seem to imply your insensitivity to other Nigerians views.

Least of all concerning their perception of fellow neighbors and interacting policy. I deeply hold that whatever you write and think are incoherent views with a larger Nigerian audience.

By referring to other Nigerians "We Nigerians" completely distorts the notion that you you speak from a personal perspective and not that of Nigerians. On point with being on a "straight line" I think you are the one leading us astray from the line in regards to the topic.

And please do make sure you desist as of now from such outrageous sentiments since i doest help but anyway and deeply instill on people why "RE: West African Countries Hate Nigerians?"

Hope you will feel more enlightened
Most welcome

[b][center]The Bare facts[/center][/b]
French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan once remarked that a mad man who believes to be a king is no more than a king who himself believes to be a king. This is precisely the problem with our Nigerians, or politicians in general.

They actually believe that they are the best in leadership and therefore pretend to be such, begging the question whether one should believe in what they already know as a fact or in that which is uncertain. A good lesson in knowing and believing has always been shown at the family level when children are considered.

It is said that the mother knows that the children are hers, but the father believes they are. But with the advent of DNA this may not hold true any more. Unfortunately, there is as yet no DNA test that can confirm to a politician or Nigerian populace that he or she is.

TWO SUCH BELIEVERS OR PRETENDERS who have been in the limelight lately are former and current Nigerian politicians and the critical ego obsessive Nigerians who insists they are still relevant — Nigerians. We all saw it in the media the other day when members of vigilante groups in towns demonstrated round the towns killing and maiming each other senseless and burning there rival candidates effigy. Talk of being Giants when still living in the stone age era.

For all the reasons we would accept that Nigerians are their own worst enemies regardless of intellectualism. Why? Having leaders who instead of running a country resort to drowning it?

Please feel free not to reply
Most welcome

@Ziga

Finally!!!!
I really appreciate your sincere reaction in replying though i had clearly indicated that you should "please feel free not to reply", but you replyed anyway.Back to the matter in hand, lets not jump the gun here, I thought i was clear on my reply that i don't hold any negativity against Nigeria whatsoever. Though i feel you distorted my facts, by implying that i insulted somebody or anybody on that matter, by your emboldened reference"(few exist)". It was just a figure of speech in order to drive my point home. I hope the point is home, or is it?

Please feel free not to reply
Most welcome

@Ikeyman

Since i dont know your intention in on pulling me into this derogatory statements, I will assume you are suffering from acute misconception of facts about Kenya. Above all i would like to insist and persist on assuring you that i don't bore any negative sentiments to Nigeria as a nation and Nigerians as a people. Your assertion to referring to me as a "Kenyan" which i am not, and to the Kenyan people is gross disrespect and abuse to their chosen lifestyle. With all due respect(that is if you deserve any) in respecting the sanctity of to live and let live i would be sure that your actions will be regrettable if you found the time to know Kenyans.

You should also take note that running "bare foot" is a misconception and not directly related to being able to run but attributed to raw talent. Facts about athletes winning in major world races are all centered from a Major province of Rift valley and the bread basket of Kenya. The area is agriculturally rich and considered one of the richest in Kenya. Your assertion that people from Kenya are bare foot is being rather cheap and petty.

Since i will assume that i am talking to a level minded Nigerian(few exist anyway) i would furnish you with more information about Kenya, that is if you will accept to stop shooting rhetoric from he wrong end.

Please feel free not to reply.
Most welcome.

[center][b][b]Why Nigerians make out to be what they actually are[/b][/center][/b]

French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan once remarked that a mad man who believes to be a king is no more than a king who himself believes to be a king. This is precisely the problem with our Nigerians, or politicians in general.

They actually believe that they are the best in leadership and therefore pretend to be such, begging the question whether one should believe in what they already know as a fact or in that which is uncertain. A good lesson in knowing and believing has always been shown at the family level when children are considered.

It is said that the mother knows that the children are hers, but the father believes they are. But with the advent of DNA this may not hold true any more. Unfortunately, there is as yet no DNA test that can confirm to a politician that he or she is.

TWO SUCH BELIEVERS OR PRETENDers who have been in the limelight lately are former Nigerian Nairalanders and the critical ego obssed Naijans who insists they are still relevant — Nigerians. We all saw it in the media the other day when members of vigilante groups in towns demonstrated round the towns killing and maiming each other senseless and burning there rival candidates effigy.

For all the reasons we would accept that Nigerians are their own worst enemies regardless of intellectualism.Why

As you can see from the topic its just that Nigerians are not much liked for their inconsideration,ruthlessness and unrepentive.

[center]Typically Nigerian[/center]
As a rule, Nigerians love to whine about nothing. Thus, while everyone is complaining to the heavens about the need to reform the police, no one notices the rebirth that the police force has undergone right under your noses.

Take gender, for instance. Under Yaarduas tenure, fat policewomen have been quietly retired. Instead, they have hired slim, beautiful officers and deployed them to traffic duties.

So pretty are they that roadblocks have now become black spots for male drivers with a roving eye. It’s such a pleasure to negotiate a bribe with these models that one doesn’t even feel bad about passing over bribes. "Heh! Heh! Madam! I only have 200 Naira, but you look very nice in that uniform — madam!"

After all the pretty thing has real needs — salon bills, the baby — unlike their pot-bellied male counterparts who just invest the bribes in the stomach.

The boys and girls in blue have also become noticeably friendlier. At roadblocks, they address you as sir or madam and ask for bribes in such a sweet way that it just breaks your heart. It is also not uncommon to find them exchanging high fives and chatting animatedly with okada riders and taxi touts. That is community policing at its best.

But having said that, there are a few things that we should put in place to support the police efforts. First is to get rid of that colonial uniforms. I just never get it. Is it a raincoat? A jacket to wad off the cold or a stone-proof jacket when fighting hawkers?

cursed apparel

Either way, it’s downright ugly and cumbersome. If you dressed a diplomat in that cursed apparel, he would become mean-tempered in seconds.

The second thing we must get rid off is those military boots. For heaven’s sake, you don’t need jungle boots to file petty crime reports or flag down motorists. If you have worn gumboots in the sun for two hours, then you can appreciate the agony of encasing your feet in jungle boots for an entire career.

The third thing we need to lose is that idiotic whistle that the police chief carries in his pocket. Why would you need a whistle when you are armed with a rifle whose retort can wake the dead?

The fourth thing we need to do is design sweat proof uniforms for the police. If you made me stand in the sun for eight hours, my feet roasting in cheap jungle boots and my body oozing sweat from every pore in that ugly jacket, I would angrily harness bribes from pedestrians.

The sixth thing we must do is issue cops with decent bags for keeping bribes. It’s unfair to expect cops to stuff grimy notes beneath stones, under hats and in their bras. It’s, however, important that cops reciprocate by declaring their bribes for taxation purposes. Treasury is broke and we need every shilling we can lay our hands on, folks.

avoid clever folks

The thing we must not do at all costs is to hire youth with good grades into the police force. Clever people — especially those know-it all boys and girls who missed university by a whisker — can’t follow orders. Let them stick to hanging around banks as watchmen. Solving crimes is a complex matter best left to diligent crime busters with Grade "" on their resumes.

The worst thing we could ever do, however, is to start hiring cops with degrees. To do so is to invite comrade power into police stations where violent riots against the police chief will be the order of the day.

Thats is Naija for you

[center]NIGERIANS AT THEIR BEST[/center]

Some Nigerians are generously mean. They will pretend they are sociable, concerned and caring yet they are out to fleece others.

For example, a friend with a car sees you at a bus park waiting to board an Okada. Without even flagging him down, he stops, hoots and begs you to enter the car for he is going the same direction.

You count your blessings, thanking the Maker for the lift. He drives on as you try to engage him in pleasantries to appear appreciative. He responds with short quick answers. You notice something is bothering his mind but before you query him, he branches into a petrol station.

"Do you have Naira 500 I add to what I have I refuel the car?)" he asks almost in a whisper.

Caught by surprise, you half-heartedly give him the money you have. You steal a glance at the fuel pump and realise he only buys fuel worth the money you gave him. He gets back into the car wearing a happier face and wants to talk about everything under the sun.

You realise that he has conned you. What you thought was a blessing turns into a swindle. You have spent five times more than what you would have if you had boarded a Taxi.

Beware! Next time a ‘Nigerian friend’ calls you for a lift, think twice or else you may end up paying dearly.

Nigerians are a ripoff lot.

As a rule, Nigerians love to whine about nothing. Thus, while everyone is complaining to the heavens about the need to reform the police, no one notices the rebirth that the police force has undergone right under your noses.

Take gender, for instance. Under Yaarduas tenure, fat policewomen have been quietly retired. Instead, they have hired slim, beautiful officers and deployed them to traffic duties.

So pretty are they that roadblocks have now become black spots for male drivers with a roving eye. It’s such a pleasure to negotiate a bribe with these models that one doesn’t even feel bad about passing over bribes. "Heh! Heh! Madam! I only have 200 Naira, but you look very nice in that uniform — madam!"

After all the pretty thing has real needs — salon bills, the baby — unlike their pot-bellied male counterparts who just invest the bribes in the stomach.

The boys and girls in blue have also become noticeably friendlier. At roadblocks, they address you as sir or madam and ask for bribes in such a sweet way that it just breaks your heart. It is also not uncommon to find them exchanging high fives and chatting animatedly with okada riders and taxi touts. That is community policing at its best.

But having said that, there are a few things that we should put in place to support the police efforts. First is to get rid of that colonial uniforms. I just never get it. Is it a raincoat? A jacket to wad off the cold or a stone-proof jacket when fighting hawkers?

cursed apparel

Either way, it’s downright ugly and cumbersome. If you dressed a diplomat in that cursed apparel, he would become mean-tempered in seconds.

The second thing we must get rid off is those military boots. For heaven’s sake, you don’t need jungle boots to file petty crime reports or flag down motorists. If you have worn gumboots in the sun for two hours, then you can appreciate the agony of encasing your feet in jungle boots for an entire career.

The third thing we need to lose is that idiotic whistle that the police chief carries in his pocket. Why would you need a whistle when you are armed with a rifle whose retort can wake the dead?

The fourth thing we need to do is design sweat proof uniforms for the police. If you made me stand in the sun for eight hours, my feet roasting in cheap jungle boots and my body oozing sweat from every pore in that ugly jacket, I would angrily harness bribes from pedestrians.

The sixth thing we must do is issue cops with decent bags for keeping bribes. It’s unfair to expect cops to stuff grimy notes beneath stones, under hats and in their bras. It’s, however, important that cops reciprocate by declaring their bribes for taxation purposes. Treasury is broke and we need every shilling we can lay our hands on, folks.

avoid clever folks

The thing we must not do at all costs is to hire youth with good grades into the police force. Clever people — especially those know-it all boys and girls who missed university by a whisker — can’t follow orders. Let them stick to hanging around banks as watchmen. Solving crimes is a complex matter best left to diligent crime busters with Grade "" on their resumes.

The worst thing we could ever do, however, is to start hiring cops with degrees. To do so is to invite comrade power into police stations where violent riots against the police chief will be the order of the day.

NIGERIAS CURSE
No other word has preoccupied Nigerians more than “reform” over the last few decades. The public consciousness of Nigerians – their zeitgeist – is obsessed with the need for the fundamental restructuring of the state and its institutions. Yet, for all the struggles and sacrifices for change, the Nigerian state remains stubbornly predatory.

The core of the political class forged under the country’s first president, is still in charge. President Ya ardua, the high priest of this class, seems to believe that genuine reforms are unnecessary and dangerous to his rule and his tiny elite.

The question that begs an answer is how long Nigerians can wait for reforms before the country completely descends into lawlessness and anarchy. The cycle of vicious killings by security forces, militias, gangs and vigilantes is clear evidence of a failing state. A state that cannot provide basic security to its citizens is not worth its name. Nor does it have the right to rule.

When a state turns rogue – and bandit – it abdicates its solemn responsibility to exercise sovereign authority over the people and the territory under it. It is only a question of time before such a state fails completely like Somalia.

But I want to focus on the role that Ya ardua– and his betrayer class – are playing in the calamitous descend of Nigeria into barbarism. I am afraid, very afraid, for Nigeria because I can see it going the way of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and other basket cases.

That is sure to happen unless someone stops President Ya ardua and his band of brothers. AreNigerians going to sit and do nothing as the country spins inexorably out of control and crashes? Or are they going to demand that actual, genuine and painful reforms be instituted to save the country from certain catastrophe?

What is most surprising is the myopia of President Yardua and his political class. Where do they think they and their children will live if the country goes to hell? Are they prepared to live in a lonely exile? If not, why can’t they act in their own best interest and institute reforms to save themselves and the country?

Don’t they know that real reforms would actually benefit them more than the common citizen? Sure, the average citizen would reap huge benefits, but history shows that reforms legitimise ruling classes and endear the public to them. Either Yardua does not listen to intellectuals, or there are none to advise him. I agree that real reforms will be painful.

Quite a few members of His political elite will lose more than their shirts in the process. But the purge is necessary and long overdue. No reforms are possible unless a thorough fumigation of the political syndicate is done. I am not talking about a witch-hunt.

What we must understand is that Nigeria will remain on the precipice unless the rot in the political class is cleaned out. This means that the perpetrators of vice and evil in the political class cannot be allowed to perpetuate or reproduce themselves in power. They must be politically neutered and castrated if the country is to see a new tomorrow. It’s either them or the country.

Reforms will dearly cost Yardua political class. The rationale for the protection rackets of certain high ranking perpetrators of human rights abuses and economic crimes is to arrange a suitable successor for Him. Only through such connivance can this political elite reproduce itself.

If my political nose is accurate, the succession stakes pivot on the trinity – not of the holy kind – of the will have to play along or be cast aside.

TYPICALLY NIGERIAN[center][/center]

Amazing is the only way to describe this country. You are too fast with your mouths, refusing to see any context in anything. It’s no wonder that your neighbours have gradually realised Nigeria is all hype. Consider this recent events:

The much touted national reforms are now all the rage. Extra-judicial corruption,assasinations, incoplicity and run away crime should and must be punished. That aside, I wonder if I were a policeman how I would be expected to police such an unruly country as yours has become.

A bunch of squatters squat on someone’s land. Trouble is, the plot has a legally registered owner who, as it happens, is not by any definition what we have come to know as a “land grabber”. When the time comes when he wants to develop it, he orders the squatters to vacate. They refuse, citing some nebulous “rights”.

Even when a court order is secured, they won’t budge. A police platoon sent to carry out the court order is met with violence and a hail of stones. Woe unto their commanding officer if his men get too liberal with the truncheons. He is dead meat as far as his career is concerned if he orders anyone to shoot.

When the commotion is over, the area Leader strides majestically to the disputed plot and loudly backs the squatters in their defiance. Civil rights groups join in the chorus of support. Such are the daily scenes we see in almost every municipality in the land. No wonder the average policeman is made to feel as despised as the common pickpocket.

Move to Lagos, where in recent days city officials(security guards) and policemen have been struggling to remove hawkers who have flooded the streets and made life sheer hell for pedestrians. The hawkers know pretty well they are violating city by-laws.

They also know very well the amount of inconvenience they are causing everybody. Yet that has not stopped them from violently resisting being thrown out. For several days now, tear gas fumes have engulfed downtown Lagos as police and hawkers engage in running battles.

Not one city leader has stood up to tell the hawkers that they are violating the law. Neither has any civil society group. But once the police over-step, you will hear the chorus that will suddenly erupt. We have become a society where the concept of law and order is losing its meaning.

Perhaps we had just better make up our minds and do away entirely with the police. Then we can organise ourselves according to the laws of the jungle. The policing models of developed countries such as Kenya we hanker after function differently because the citizens there conduct themselves civilly and not in the senseless way we do here.

When those people go out to demonstrate there, they do so with a sense of order. They don’t go looting shops and stoning motorists like the spoilt brats at our universities do. Only in the rare instances when such demonstrations get violent do police there respond in kind. And nobody will complain when that happens.

I would imagine the police are expected to deal with thugs with the kind of delicacy kindergarten teachers treat their pupils.Policemen should probably also be told it’s taboo not to shoot at politicised criminals who go on killing and arson sprees in the name of protesting election outcomes.

After all, haven’t we been told those were “fighters for democracy?” In that case the police should drop their weapons and allow themselves to be shot with guns and hacked with machetes so that they earn the beautiful reward of martyrdom in the world thereafter.

[center]IT ONLY HAPPENS IN NIGERIA[/center]
ATLANTA – Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus. The so-called "Lujo" virus infected five people in Nigeria last fall. Four of them died, but a fifth survived, perhaps helped by a medicine recommended by the scientists.

It's not clear how the first person became infected, but the bug comes from a family of viruses found in rodents, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery.

"This one is really, really aggressive" he said of the virus.

A paper on the virus by Lipkin and his collaborators was published online Thursday on in PLoS Pathogens.

The outbreak started in September, when a female travel agent who lives on the outskirts of Anagbaki , Atako, became ill with a fever-like illness that quickly grew much worse.

She was airlifted to Abuja, where she died.

A paramedic in Abuja who treated her also became sick, was transported to Johannesburg and died. The three others infected were health care workers in Paikon Kore.

Investigators believe the virus spread from person to person through contact with infected body fluids.

"It's not a kind of virus like the flu that can spread widely," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the research.

The name given to the virus — "Lujo" — stems from Abuja and Lagos, the cities where it was first identified.

Investigators in Africa thought the illness might be Ebola, because some of the patients had bleeding in the gums and around needle injection sites, said Stuart Nichol, chief of the molecular biology lab in the CDC's Special Pathogens Branch. Other symptoms include include fever, shock, coma and organ failure.

Genetic extracts of blood and liver from the victims were tested at Columbia University in New York, and additional testing was done at CDC in Atlanta. Tests determined it belonged to the arenavirus family, and that it is distantly related to Lassa fever, another disease found in Africa.

The drug ribavirin, which is given to Lassa victims, was given to the fifth Lujo virus patient — a Johannesburg nurse. It's not clear if the medicine made a difference or if she just had a milder case of the disease, but she fully recovered, Nichol said.

The research is a startling example of how quickly scientists can now identify new viruses, Fauci said. Using genetic sequencing techniques, the virus was identified in a matter of a few days — a process that used to take weeks or longer.

[center]LAND OF THE WEIRD PEOPLE: NIGERIA OFCOURSE[/center]


A breastfeeding mother in the poorest village slam town of Ogudu,Lagos wants her husband punished for forcing her to breastfeed his five puppies.

The 27-year-old Jennifer Amaka of Agidi village, Lagos sub-county said she had been married to Nathan Folasayo for over eight years.

“I produced four children but one of them died last year,” she said. “Now I have a three-month-old baby but my husband has been forcing me to share the breast milk with his five puppies,” she said.

Good Samaritans who have been helping her said the child had begun barking like puppies.

Amaka, who reported two cases of child neglect and assault, said the Police were frustrating her. Asked what punishment she wanted Falasayo to face, Amaka said: “He has humiliated me for long. I want him imprisoned for life.” Activists in addition want Falasayo to be charged with mistreatment.

Amaka is now getting support from ActionAid in Ogudu and the Pentecostal Revival Ministries. The little mud-and-wattle hut, which the church offered her, is a hive of activity as hordes of villagers throng the place to see “the woman who breastfed dogs”.

Narrating her frustration with the Police, she said the Police arrested Falasayo but released him after two days after giving out a bribe of 200 Naira. Apparently angered by the reporting, Falasayo beat Amaka to near death, she said.

“He then forced me to breastfeed his puppies,” Amaka explained. “He told me I had to breastfeed his dogs since he had paid two cows as dowry to my parents.”

Amaka said her husband brings home squirrels which he sometimes roasts in the bush. “That is why he wants his dogs healthy for hunting,” she said.

Rose Ibironke, the ActionAid coordinator, said: “If we didn’t intervene, Amaka would be dead.” She said the baby had begun barking like a dog when the mother sought refuge at the offices of Women Won’t Wait, a charitable organisation which counsels women traumatised by domestic violence in Pallisa.

“Her breasts were swollen and had wounds inflicted by bites by the puppies,” she said.

Rose said ActionAid would ensure that Amaka’s “killer” husband was punished. “We shall support her to get legal redress though the Police have let us down,” she said.

Neighbours confirmed that Falasayo had made his wife breastfeed his puppies. They said His pack of hunting dogs had become “a hazard to the village”, which is why the villagers killed them.

“He bought five puppies to replace the dead pack and wanted them to grow fast using breast milk,” said Festo Majanchi, ActionAid programme officer for Pallisa.

Falasayo, a seasoned hunter, had no kind words for his wife. “If I had not paid my two cows in bride price my dogs would have milk to take,” He told journalists and ActionAid officials at his home on Saturday.

The furious Falasayo chased the group away, threatening to deal with them if they dared step in his compound again.

Reacting to accusations of frustrating Amaka, the district Police commander, Amos Gumisiriza, said Falasayo was released on "bond" as the Resident State Attorney prepared the file for the court process.

He expected Falasayo to face charges of child neglect, assault and “any others advised by the State Attorney”.

Gumisiriza, however, suspected the woman to be mentally ill. But Wilson Otai, the head of the Pentecostal Revival Ministries church, described this as “rubbish”.

“This woman got mental stress due to what she was undergoing,” he argued. “We have been with her for three weeks and she wasn’t like this when she came here.”

The Ogudu child and family protection officer, Florence Amijong, said Falalsayohad hidden the puppies and it was hard to investigate the case.

Commenting on the medical dangers both mother and child may be facing, Dr. Alex Opio, the assistant commissioner of national disease control, ruled out rabies.

“By the time a dog shows signs of rabies, it is mad and it just bites instead of suckling,” he said. He suggested that the baby be taken to a health unit to find out the cause of the barking.

Dr. Vincent Karuhanga of Friends Polyclinic Lagos said the barking could have been caused by associating with the puppies.

“That is why children are most likely to speak the language of housemaids,” he said. “A child does not make noise just because it shared milk with dogs,” he said.

He said the mother needed counselling and to keep the child away from the puppies.

When Nigerians do such things do you expect Ghanaian s to love you in any way whatsoever. Guys plizzzzzz. Just accept the reality, you are all screw ups.