₦airaland Forum

Listen to the President of the Senate of the world's largest black nation, a nation which was supposed to have thrown off the heavy burden of "colonianism" grover at the feet of former enslavers. Hear, hear. . .

"Senate President David Mark yesterday went down memory lane that as our former colonial masters, Britain must help Nigeria nurture the present democracy."

This is the same person someone was watching for 2015 all because he lambasted Maku of calling the Senate a mere advisory organ of the FG.

Can anybody else belittle the nation more than this: "as our former colonial masters"?

One truth we must learn in Nigeria is that it doesn't matter whether you are physically enslaved or physically free, you can only be free or be a slave in your own mind.

David Mark and his cohorts demonstrate that they have not freed their minds of slavery, and no wonder they behave like slave masters themselves.

It is a meaningless reversal, and in fact only on such meaninglessness do we see Mr. Jonathan "listening".

When the subsidy removal was on his mind, we moved heaven and earth to let him see the folly. But no, he was "battle-ready" until his battle-dress was torn into pieces by the masses.

Idokojimmy: Only a listening Govt can reverse its position or policy to impact meaningfully on the people. The people Cried and Gej has listened, I feel he should be commended. [/color][color=#006600]

He is not ashamed to say that he has given national honors to possibly questionable characters.

What an unserious fellow for a president.

OBJ did not create much.

He was fortunate to have ruled as oil prices took a skyward trip - that is the long and short of it. All those other things followed from there.

I think OBJ's major economic accomplishment was opening up the communications sector, but indeed the ground for this was prepared by advocates who worked tirelessly for many years. Still, he saw the opportunity and worked with them - kudos there. Kudos also to him for negotiating reductions and paying much of our international debt off, as well as saving some of the excess funds from oil.

He also had a small amount of success in exposing corruption, but that was because of Ribadu.

Otherwise, OBJ was a failure on electricity, petroleum, privatization, infrastructure, administration of justice, education, health and even foreign relations, despite his many travels. His result on security is definitely mixed, which is to say nothing to write home about.

He was particularly a daylight bandit with respect to elections.

GEJ is trying to make a mark with electricity and infrastructure. We don't know what will come of those yet, but he is woeful on security, corruption, petroleum, education, health, privatization, and foreign relations again despite incessant travels.

jp philips: young man it doesnt pay to be dafft, obj's administration created the highest employment in the history of this nation.

He created a vibrant financial sector that gave birth to a multi faced stock market and forex, Which created a pleethora of indirect jobs.

Your ignorance stinks!!

Henhen. . . you don't say?

Nigeria and fake prophets, political and otherwise !!!!!

Where were you when foresighted individuals warned your erstwhile stooge, turned recalcirant omo-odo, about exactly the same thing as soon as it looked like Ghaddafi was about to collapse? Heeeenn?

Where were you when reports showed that rebels from Libya crossed into Nigeria? Heeeennn?

Igbayi la'ro yin sir. Prophet who prophesy only after even the blind man can see what is happening is of no value.

In the mouth of PDP - it just [size=14pt]smells[/size],
. . .[size=14pt]smells like a mouth that has not been washed since 1999[/size].

Sun of god: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South West has called on Nigerians and the nation's financial institutions to curtail what it referred to as excessive spending of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) led government in the region.

This call was made by Lere Olayinka, the media aide to Chief Segun Oni, the PDP national vice chairman (southwest).

Olayinka said the situation is “plunging the region into huge and embarrassing debts.”

According to the spokesman, “It is only in ACN-controlled states that 1km roads are constructed for outrageous amounts ranging from N400m to over N1bn.”

Olayinka's comments were in response to claims by the Oyo State ACN that the Ibadan township road awarded at N5.8bn was not 4km as claimed, but 9.52km, and that the credentials of Chief Segun Oni as an engineer should be questioned.

Olayinka said, “It is ridiculous that [the construction of] a road that already has an existing lane will be called dualisation, while in actual fact what is being added is another one lane.”

He argued that even if the road in question was actually 9.25km, it remained scandalous that a 9.25km stretch of road was awarded to Bola Tinubu’s Hitech Construction Company at N5.8 billion

“Even in waterlogged Niger-Delta, is one kilometre of road being constructed for over N600m, as is being done in ACN-controlled Southwest States?” Olayinka queried.

“When Segun Oni was governor of Ekiti State, he awarded dualisation of 19km Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki, a near-virgin road, for a little above N6bn. The contract was inclusive of street lights from Ado to Ifaki. It is also on record that apart from Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki dualisation, the average cost per kilometre of road awarded by the Oni-led government was N37m. These roads are still being used up till now and they are in very good condition.

“It is, therefore, alarming that even as admitted by the ACN itself, ‘Challenge Roundabout–Efunsetan Roundabout area, measuring 350m, will cost N509, 003,659.36.’ A 350-metre road costing N509 million? That can only happen under an ACN-controlled government!”

The party said it is on record that Ogun State is on the verge of taking a N100bn bond; Osun is owing over N120bn; Ekiti is owing over N30bn and is rumoured to be planning to take another N30bn, while Lagos State government, as at June 30, 2012, had reportedly accumulated an external debt profile of $517,677,672, despite having a monthly revenue of about N23bn.

The party restated that the trend justified its earlier call that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other financial clearing houses should do everything possible to control the rate at which the ACN states in the South West are obtaining loans.

http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/acn-plunging-south-west-debt-pdp

Hehehehehehehehehe. . . Wonderful insight!!!

damola1: Was the rosary made in Heaven?.. China?.. Usa or where?

Both the quran and the rosary were not soaked in blood, yet came from the womb(?)

Stop inserting objects into the hands of babies, and then proclaiming lies people.

Ignorance is a blissful disease, and there is nothing ignorant people would not do to propagate it.

And your brains is a smaller version of what the ant carries around.

Ironi: Nope, Kenya is also a big brother to Nigeria.

Nigeria has a big population and a big mouth and there is no competition about that.

Apart from that Nigeria is a small brother to many African countries.

This man deserves to be sacked.

That's the spirit! Funny

profola2be: it is time to sleep jare,moreover,i am married,and since i don carry am,i don carry am be that.
no going back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know the disobedience traffic law in Lagos is horific - sometimes also caused by unbelievably terrible roads.

Still, I think this is draconian, and Gov. Fashola (still the best governor in Nigeria) would have to bactrack on this one soon.

You cannot put someone in jail for a traffic offense not involving death or injury for one year - in fact you should not even jail them!
Someone needs to take the Lagos State Government to Federal Court on this one.

We should not embark on Sharia-like law enforcement in the SW. A fine, suspended licence, and impounding the vehicle for a period of time are all good options.

[size=14pt]There is no need to start crowding jails and creating hardened criminals by carting working people to jail for misdemeanours.[/size]

What a sad excuse for incompetence and greed!!!

It is probably best to force a standstill & reverse when your driver is speeding towards an on-rushing train without a "damn"

Why won't it shut down? They don't understand the meaning of the media in this administration.

They think it is a tool for propaganda - like in Animal farm - forgetting that you cannot argue AGAINST reason with 150 million people successfully.

olaedo3087: I'm a fan of GEJ like most other fcbk users in Nigeria. I (dunno about u) miss his attires, numerous fans 'likes' n comments few minutes after an update.

These are Mr. Presidents words:

"For one, I would say I was motivated in no little way by President Barack Obama of the United States. His novel use of social media network, especially facebook, starting from during his presidential campaign, has stimulated new thinking on participatory governance across the world."

"I am impressed with the growing followership. I understand I am the President with most facebook fans in the world after US President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy."

I miss Mr. President's fcbk updates. Do you?

Exactly. Those who were born and lived there their entire life are separated and murdered with the coming of those unending religious crisis. Now Boko Haram is conducting an open campaign that will make any religion other than Islam dangerous for your health in northern Nigeria, yet powerless governors are here mouthing empty crap.

Somebody tell Yuguda to find a solution to Boko Haram then may be he will have some credibility when his mouth begins to open and close on other issues.

van bonattel: try and see, by the time they are burning you shops and slaughtering your entire family, screaming allahu akbar! you will know the true meaning of citizenship.

Hey! Fela's Dad

Beko was Fela's brother, both sons of Mama Kuti.

Dhelake: Thats nt Fela o ... Thats Fela's Dad ... Beko Ransome Kuti

I want to believe on face value that Gov. Aregbesola is not allowing this, but again it happened in other states before.

So, let's keep our hands crossed until we hear more from those on the ground.

Meawhile, Osun State/Gov. Aregbesola should not allow themselves to embark on a journey that can only lead to trouble. There is a serious need to recognize personal freedoms in Nigeria, not put it down further. I have heard of university students undergoing corporal punishments (such as kneeling down) in some private universities. This does not bode well for any school, state or nation.

Hurpy007: pls ppl i need to know how i can take ds matter up with d highest authority and pls moderators help us take it to the front page. the governor of osun state has recently implemented a programme of action in which anybody deemed spottin haircut lyk obama, saggin, wearing rosary e.t.c is seriously molested and beaten publicly by the SARS operatives. . . this is all happening in the 21st century my ppl. . . This is a barbaric act of d highest order and i refuse to suffer in silence.

Always seeing a fight between ethnic groups, are we?.
A policy is bad where it is being tested and the people are saying so.
Isn't that the purpose of testing the policy in the first place?
Like Fasehun said, another big commercial capital city like Kano would have provided more data and different environment for gauging the policy.
Also, as he said, the policy around the world is not to limit the amount of cash one can withdraw by fiat.
Instead, after a certain amount of cash is withdrawn or deposited a large cash transaction filing is made to the relevant authorities.
That is the way to go in my opinion.
Let's approach our issues with reason and alternatives for once in this collapsing country.

Zionist movement? Really?

Seeking freedom yet acting out the slave.

These religious clerics are blessed with a massive TUNNEL VISION.
Let them keep fighting phantom wars while Boko Harm is daily destroying their backyard.

CeaserB: Religion Is Politics.
Most Of Them Are Hypocrites.
Be It A Muslim Or A Christian Leader.
Morality Excludes Sharing Similar Belief About A Supernatural Being With Another Individual.
Morality Is Doing What Is Ethically Acceptable In The Eyes Of Humanity.
Anyone Is Capable Of Doing Good Or Evil.
Its A Personal Choice (Religious Or Not).

Shameless excuse givers. If this is true, and I emphasize IF, then GEJ better watch his back.

Did Dasuki lay down such conditions before accepting the post or decided to accept the post and then twist his boss's hands?

There are momentus decisions waiting in Nigeria over the next 6 months. I hope those in charge would finally develop some level of courage.

So what? Does professorship give you the right to misfire with the mouth?
Did OBJ impose "unjust" Sharia on the north too?
Did OBJ seize any northern allocations like he did in Lagos?
When the fools were hiding under their women wrapper the same OBJ risked life and limb to try to settle the BH issue early.
OBJ may have his "many faults", but "under-developing" the north is not one of them.
In fact, if anything OBJ cheated the SW because he was not popular there. The man filled his cabinet with Northerners and Easterners to show the SW.
The chicken is coming home to roost for Nigeria from their decades of misrule, and the only thing they can do is point fingers.
Not that I expected anything more though.

Balyz: You can you ever dream of being a professor, talk much less of a vice chancellor?

Shameful display.
I guess that's what Nigeria's is worth now - a tool for conducting senility tests for so-called "washed-up" statesmen.

Beaf: [size=14pt]Clark challenges IBB to public senility test[/size]
August 8, 2012 by Agency Reporter

https://cdn.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Edwin-Clark-and-Ibrahim-Babangida.jpg
Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark and former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida

Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, on Wednesday challenged former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, to a public senility test.

Clark, who was reacting to Babangida’s description of the Ijaw leader as senile, said the test would determine the reasoning ability of both of them.

Babangida, who was reacting to some recent comments made by Clark, had said the Ijaw leader had lost focus and had become senseless.

Clark had attacked Babangida at a public lecture, where he accused the former military leader of having a hand in the Boko Haram insurgency.

However, his declaration was contained in a statement read at a press conference in Abuja by his lawyer, Mr. Kayode Ajulo.

Clark said both of them should sit at a public debate, without the assistance of aides, to debate issues so that Nigerians could determine whether Clark or Babangida was suffering from senility.

http://www.punchng.com/news/clark-challenges-ibb-to-public-senility-test/

Your well-known self-contradiction is legendary.
Those "two opportunistic clowns" are not intelligence but your lord and master found it necessary to hire Doyin Okupe the man with the "intellectual weight".
I guess Dr. GEJ is wasting Nigeria's money for nothing.
Original blabbering fool.

Beaf: Maybe you don't know Doyin Okupe. He has the intellectual weight to turn both El Rufai and bakare into blabbering fools.
It is only those who aren't smart that equate those two opportunistic clowns with any intelligence anyway.

Dr Doyin Okupe is highly intelligent and well spoken. A man with class and natural oratory.

Here we go again.

Naija & 419.
I can imagine the brisk business going on at those guest houses in the middle of the night all over Nigeria.
All of a sudden they all have information on BH.
Nobody really cares about Nigeria - they are all there to cash & carry.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/northern-governors-nsa-spending-millions-fake-boko-haram-dialogue-facilitators-source
Posted: August 5, 2012 - 23:21
Plateaus Gov. Jonah Jang and NSA Sambo Dasuki
By SaharaReporters, New York

SaharaReporters has exclusively learnt that some Northern State Governors, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki, and other prominent government officials and businessmen are lavishing vast public funds on a series of bogus citizens who claim to have access to the leadership of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnati Lidda Awati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram.

A security source told SaharaReporters they are all being duped by conmen who are exploiting the name of the sect for their selfish ends.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that various individuals, including religious leaders and some members of civil society, have been milling around the state governors and the NSA with strategic proposals on how to reach the sect and put to end the insurgency.

He noted that the continued attacks and bomb explosions by the sect are a clear indication that these officials are dealing with swindlers and insincere Nigerians who are taking advantage of the desperation by the government as an avenue to siphon off their own “share” of the security vote.

The source said, “In all the affected states, the governors have been spending millions and yet there is nothing to show for it. This is holy month of Ramadan but the attacks have even become more frequent than before, in the process the so-called mediators or facilitators have crowed everywhere. They [militants] struck in Sokoto seat of the caliphate and home of the NSA. Where then is the justification from all these middle men who have overshadowed our superiors that they know them and can influence stoppage.”

He added, “If the middle men are real, we will have seen changes but the situation is taking another complex dimension. They have not solved it and have also not stopped deceiving government by collecting public funds. This is purely security issues and must be dealt in that regards. It is all lies there is no any dialogue with real Boko Haram sect under the leadership of Imam Abubakar Shekau.”

He concluded that something urgent must be done and end the ‘jamboree’, saying, “Our suggestion is simple: let government end this jamboree and face reality. If the middlemen are real, why is the Boko Haram still attacking and bombing places with increasingly sophistication? Why? Just last week 10 RPGs were intercepted from the sect in Nigerian-Chad border.”

It will be remembered that President Goodluck Jonathan swore to end the Boko Haram menace by June; two months ago. He also changed his top security adviser, his previous one having traced origin of the situation to the shenanigans in the People’s Democratic Party. Still, the Boko Haram militancy has simply grown.

Thank you.

ArQueBusieR: He shouldn't have replied.

You naive soul. Shehu Sanni is well-meaning but is way over his head here.

Imagine the danger into which OBJ put himself by believing such rhetoric. BH could have easily killed him, and they demonstrated so by killing his host right after he left that latter's residence.

Let everybody be clear about one thing. Once a group becomes willing to engage in suicide-bombing there is no reasoning with that group. It is as simple as that - they have exited the realm of reason. You only play into their hands by engaging yourself in this kind of talk. Withdraw soldiers from the streets of northern nigeria and watch the rest of BH pour into the streets.

The new NSA openly told us the same thing your so-called friend is whispering to you. According to him, he has the BH contacts and would be talking to them. Yet, BH just today proclaimed they are not going to talk to the Federal Government after a campaign of bombings over the last few days.

The agenda is far grander than you can imagine! There is a reason parents admonish their children not to give room to the devil. The original BH and all the other zealots have opened the way for a global terrorist network that is being badly manhandled in Afghanistan/Pakistan, and is looking for a home in Central/West Africa.

West African leaders need to come together and mark the boundaries of this evil group and then declare total war on it. It is like Jesus H. Christ said, the leaven may be tiny, but put it inside a bowl of flour and watch it take over the entire thing.

warripekin: Kukah concedes that Boko Haram invokes militant Islamic rhetoric, but insists that "the mere use of this language does not make their criminality religious in any sense."
In terms of an exit strategy, Kukah argues that civil society rather than the military is the key.
"The federal government should set a target for the withdrawal of the military from our streets," he said. "The political class must be encouraged to find a solution to what is clearly a political problem and not a religious one. Community leaders, not necessarily religious leaders, must be encouraged to take charge by embarking on initiatives that aim at bringing communities together."

For me, I believe Kuka is right. From my experience in the north in the last two years, boko haram is a political as well as an economic problem that has hijacked islam as a megaphone to voice her opinion be it negative or violent. Their's a growing class of educated but yet unemployed young northerners who are aggrieved with the political class and northern elite for corruptly enriching themselves at the negligence of the hoi poloi.These set of persons are some of the initiators of boko haram. A business associate of mine, a kano prince once told me that the solution to boko haram is not military but the civil society,the political class in the north, the religious body in the north such as the council of Ulamas' can effectively bring about a peaceful resolution to the boko haram crisis. According to this associate of mine, they know some of the key men in boko haram and can easily negotiate with them to stop the violence. Same thing Bishop Mathew Kuka is saying,same thing Shehu Sani said last month in a press interview but from the forgoing, the political class in the north are cashing in on boko haram to position for 2015 instead of doing something to quell the situation.

New to you agreed. It is certainly not new to NLers. I was happy to see the headline and thought this was an update on the same story from many years ago.

When the story opened with: "A team of British scientists may have rediscovered the centre of one of Africa's greatest kingdoms" it is relevant to know that this was from 23 years ago and not today.

As for adding to the story, that is exactly what I did - perhaps you don't see that, but I see it as germane information.

You simply overlooked the date of the article, and there is no issue with that. Mine was a friendly comment anyway.

ndu_chucks: This story is new to me and most NLers. Whether the achaeological discovery was made this year or 30 years ago is irrelevant. I did not know about this story, saw it on twitter today, and posted it. shi ke na. I don't know what contextual value would have been added if I had stated that I just saw the story on twitter but it was first published in 1999.

If you can add to the story in any meaningful way, we'd appreciate it.

If I were a muslim I would worry less about some, at best, street-level orchestration, and more about the real damage to the image of Islam from the murder of innocent lives in the hand of supposed muslims (including muslim lives).

It doesn't matter what area of life we are talking about a group, person or thing is generally defined by its most prominent feature. Understand that and u will understand why Islamic terrorists are the real problem for Islam today.

nagoma: Boko Haram has grown to be a very serious security and polical quagmire in Nigeria . BH maintain that they want to islamize Nigeria and attack churches among other institutions. All politico- criminal gangs are in desperate need of noble intention to legitimize their terror. Unfortunately we have no intention of removing the cloak of Islam that BH draped themselves in order to expose them for what they are - criminals and murderers. As a point of fact Nigerians , primarily non Muslims insist on accepting BH as the spokesmen and the representatives of all Nigeria or at least all northern Muslims. This belief is not based on real conviction but based on political expediency and international political " correctness" for the criminalizing Islam and Muslims as a body. There are not many who can detach themselves and think out of the box of this often unjustifiable orchestration.

Matthew Kukah makes important points here. However, it is dangerous for him to suggest confronting BH bombs with words. Such timidity is how GEJ allowed BH to fester in the first place.

For all who have ears, BH has a far grander agenda. So lets cut the chickenery.

@ndu_chucks
This news is not new. The story you posted is 23 years old (circa 1999).
It is your right to post it, but could have been labeled with the date to give readers context.

Yeah, a $200m gift after exploiting billions off the continent.

All I know is that while the West might be an exploiter of African resources, China is way worse.

The General: It was actially built by china as a gift to Africa. It cost them $200m