₦airaland Forum

With all due respect, I find the writer of this article ignorant, because his question is like asking Why didn't God stop a car accident from happening? the answer is simple: If people are not obeying traffic rules, drink driving, bad roads, faulty vehicle, unqualified driver. etc then God will not comes down to stop car/bus crash since all the rules of safe driving has been violated.

Another question a lot of people also ask is If there is God why are natural disaster like tsunami or the japan flooding that kills hundreds of thousands occur? the answer is simple: Human activities over the centuries  i.e excessive industrialisation is causing sharp climate change around the world, hence we have rising disaster happening around the world, my friend that just came back from Nigeria told me how hot and burning the weather is, why should we be blaming God for all these? there are nuclear disaster happening all over the world killing thousands of people, is it God  that created nuclear reactor for us? No.
Because of greed and power human beings continue to destroy forests, seas and nature in general thereby disturbing the normal flow of the eco-system, we will then be blaming God if disaster strikes, why?

What an interesting debate though! It shows clearly from the article and people's comment that there is a fundamental ignorance of the relationship between God and 'Man'. It is clearly stated in the bible that God created man in His own image and gave man choice and free will, this is to make man responsible for his/her own actions, we have to remember that the earliest men always blame God for everything that happens to them even after God has warned them, that is why God gave man laws, rules and principles to follow and guide them, he also told them the consequences of not following these principles.

Back to the boko haram issue, Jesus Christ told his disciples and followers that as they (the world) persecute Him so also they will persecute them (his followers) for their believe, so there is nothing new in what happened, a pastor was hanged in Iran about 3months ago for refusing to denounce  his faith. The problem in Nigeria is that for a long time our pastor only teaches about the gospel of prosperity and materialism. even thousands of people were killed during the roman empire for been christians, that is why Jesus Christ always tells His followers to make sure they are really ready before they follow him.
REAL christians in nigeria must stand up and confront all the vices in the country, boko haram, corruption, kidnapping, lack of education etc, enough of hiding in churches and crusades just praying for our personal issues, hence our pastors should throw away the messages of materialism and teach people how to be better citizens to be able to tackle our problems not just with prayer but with action, just like pastor Tunde Bakare who took to the street to protest and fight for what he believes in. James said 'faith without work is dead'

BELIEVING IN GOD IS A PERSONAL ISSUE, EVERYBODY HAS A RIGHT TO BELIEVE OR NOT TO BELIEVE, PERSONALLY I BELIEVE THERE IS GOD.

It's just a blatant stereotype that an ekiti person never loses arguments. As an ekiti person the things i will concur with is that an average ekiti person is not very diplomatic, they are very straight and doesn't like to be cheated hence they can go to any length to claim their right. furthermore, an average ekiti person is very honest (which doesn't really pay in nigeria).
Talking about development, we should not forget that ekiti state is one of the youngest state in the country, so to be comparing it to some states that have been created over 30years ago is a bit ludicrous. in terms of human resources ekiti state could hold up her head anywhere in the world.
I dare anybody to tell me a state that is developed in Nigeria!

@Kc3000:
please can you tell me how Awolowo offended the Igbos? don't you think it's high time the igbos take reponsibility for the death and starvation of millions of their children by taking them to a war that common sense should have told them they can never win?
Part of the causation of the civil war started when Major Kaduna (an Igbo officer) killed all the northern and south western leaders in the bloodiest and most senseless coup till date, which eventually led to series of civil unrest between the hausas and igbos through 1966-67, can you remember?
I think trying to lay blames on awolowo is a bit ridiculous.

@Ayowumle:
There is no point in trying to rationalise an irrational situation! Logic and common sense doesn't apply to most things that happens in Nigeria, your question is like asking why MKO Abiola could not become Nigeria's president despite his fame and popularity? My advice to you as per your question is to ask President Obasanjo and his then northern friends.

Prof Soyinka only made his opinion known on a stand taking by pres Jonathan concerning an african state i.e Libya, whether we agree or not with the stand taking by Pres Jonathan is another issue after all everybody is entitled to their opinion.
Prof Soyinka is an international icon, not only has he used his literary skills to fight oppression but he has always been putting his life on the line over the years as well. Both him and Gani Fawehinmi are among the least tribal nigerians public figures who always fight tooth and nail anytime they perceive injustice. He was one of the few Nigerians going all over the world to let the world know the injustice our then military government and the oil company(especially shell) were committing against the people of niger delta even before Abacha eventually killed the Ogoni 9!                   
I can still remember his interview on CNN and BCC over 15years ago letting the world know what the people of Niger-delta were/are going through, where were the nigerians just coming out now  when people like Falana, Gani, Tunde Bakare and Soyinka were risking their lives to fight the military during the dark days of military rule in our country? I don't thinks it's necessary for us younger generation to turn back and start throwing abuses at people like Soyinka, Even if we don't appreciate what He's done in his 'life time'

@Naledi14:
There is no way anyone can please these islamic terrorists, whether through peace or war. Don't also forget that there has been terrorism going on around the world before America finally decided that enough is enough, I'm talking about terrorism even before 9 /11.  People are blaming america for the chaos in Iraq and afganistan but it is fellow muslims from pakistan, iran and the taliban than are blowing each others up! not americans.
Coming back home, is it because of america that boko haram is bombing fellow nigerians!?
Is it because of america that all the religious riots/violence in northern nigerian againts christians since independence has been taking place!?
It is in the nature of these people (islamic extremists) to be violent whether you are nice to them or not, so using america as a reason to be violent is ludicrous.

If convenant university is listed as a christian university i.e a theology university then they are right in admitting only 'christians' but if not then they are not right to deny non-christians admission. I don't think because the founder of an institution is of a particular religion means that every student in that institution must be of that religion.
We should all remember that even the europeans that brought the religion to us built schools, hospital for all: idol worshippers, muslims and even atheist not just for people that only believe in their religion.

@queensmith:
Just to correct you, one account can make a bank close down, it only depends on the type of account in question and the size of the bank. I don't know whether you know about the global credit crunch of 2008 that is still causing economic downturn around the world now? anyway i will tell you, it started mainly because of the collapse of one bank (lehman brothers) and this led to the collapse of most sector/industry they had financial dealings with, mostly the housing markets in America until the problem was spread around the world since most economies are interconnected.
Another point of correction, Ekiti people are not poorly educated.

@gbogboti:
Most words that seems similar between the yorubas and hausas are all of arabic origin. most of these words entered the yoruba vocabulary after the usman dan fodio jihad when islam was brought to some part of yorubaland like ogbomoso and kogi. for example sharia in arabic means law/justice and  seria in yoruba means punishment/justice other examples:

arabic=albarka(blessing), yoruba=alubarika(blessing)
             fitna (agony)                           fitina (agony)

Everybody criticizing this gesture from Ekiti Indigenes abroad should be ashamed of themselves, after all kids might not need to live on aids or charity if we have good government.
We should all start thinking of how we can be a blessing to people that are less privilege Instead of criticizing those that are doing the 'little' they can.

Hin o ra o Ekiti kete.

Shame on all the northern leaders especially their governors and parliamentarians, these boko haram guys are not ghost nor spirits and I believe most of these so-called northern elders including the islamic leaders needs to join hands with the federal government to stop the activities of this islamic terrorist. GEJ cannot solve this problem on his own he needs the cooperation of the northerners.

It's time muslims all over nigeria starts to speak out loudly against these criminals because they are committing all these atrocities in your name.

If care is not taking this might just be the beginning of the end for Nigeria.

Good move Gov Fayemi, I pray that God will continue to strengthen you in the course of actualising your visions for Ekiti state. Ekiti a gbe a oo.

The main thing I will do is to make sure that be you so high the law will always be above you, meaning that no matter who you may be you can always be prosecuted if you do anything wrong, this will make our politicians and leaders to start acting and ruling well.
In addition I will make sure there are always free and fair elections in which Nigerians can always choose their leaders without corruption and imposition.

We should start taking responsibilities for our problems and stop blaming the Americans or the west.  Nigeria is not an island, we live in a global world hence there are a lot of international businesses and trading going on among countries in the world. there is nothing wrong if an american company wants to bid for the power transmission contract in nigeria, it's just like when MTN was bidding for GSM license back then.

The question nigerians should be asking is WHY ARE SOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES THAT ARE DOING VERY WELL IN OTHER COUNTRIES INCLUDING COUNTRIES LIKE GHANA, ANGOLA ALWAYS HAS PROBLEM TO PERFORM WHEN THEY COME TO NIGERIA?   a good example is the halliburton scandal, the answer is simple: our system is corrupt in nigeria.
The problems in our power sector is pretty simple if the government really wants to sort it out, the solution is to do what we did in the radio/tv broadcasting sector and the telecommunication sector that is: give 3 or 4 different power company (local or international) licenses to install generation, transmission and distribution station, this will give nigerians(consumers) the chance to choose between the power company of their choice thereby creating competition among the power companies which will eventually drive down price, then gradually the government can start increasing the number of power companies they give licenses to. In britian there are over 15 power companies to pick and choose from, making it a win win situation for the consumers.

WE DID IT IN OUR BROADCASTING AND TELECOMMUNICATION SECTOR, I BELIEVE WE CAN ALSO DO THE SAME IN THE POWER SECTOR WHEN OUR GOVERNMENT ARE READY. IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, AFTER ALL WE TOO DON GET SATELLITE FOR SPACE NOW.

I have always suspected that the police and the military has hands in a lot of the robberies and kidnapping going on in our country!

@sexkillz:
God is not a man or an object that His existence can be proven, there is even no need to do that, believing in the existence of God is a personal thing, therefore no human being can prove to another human being that God exists or not.

The debate between creationist and evolutionist is a big one in the world today, the evolutionist always base their argument on charles Darwins work of evolution and Professor stephen hawkings work "A brief history of time"  what both scientist were not able to do is to establish how the first living cell came about, remember that a cell is the smallest unit of a living thing (plant & animal), both scientist were not able to establish how the first living cell came about, prof stephen hawking even tried to explain it with the big b.ang theory, which claims the world just came about by "chance or accident" but unfortunately the more He tried the more the whole big b.ang theory looks more ridiculous.

There is no way a big b.ang can produce living cell or cells, there is a universal fact that there is no way a non-living cell can produce a living cell.

Agreed that America should stay away from our security issues, but the question is what is our government (federal) and northern leaders i.e sultan doing to stop boko haram from wreaking havoc on Nigerians. This are the questions we should be asking not just telling America to go away.

@maclatunji:
please don't be over-critical. All businesses or industry requires knowledge to operate with, be it oil, manufacturing or service industry. But a knowledge-based sector simply means a sector that produces what you can refer to as 'intangibles' i.e they are not what you can necessarily hold , like programming/software companies, finance and service industries. from the thread you posted GEJ simply means nigerians should not only focus on the oil sector but other emerging business sectors in the world and this can only be achieved with extra funding in education.

Omotola and Dakore for me, anyday anytime.

@Wizup: you've answered your question in a way, 'spare the ROD and spoil the child'. The 'ROD' doesn't necessarily mean whip/cane, it just mean discipline generally, therefore we can say literarily that if you don't discipline your child they are going to be spoilt and iresponsible. The bible also stated it clearly that 'Teach your child and he will give you peace'.

Britain's problem started when corporal punishment was abolished in their schools and at home, a lot of parents are in prison now for disciplining their child (including a lot of nigerian parents). an average british kid is not respectful of his parents, teachers or even the police! they are authority unto themselves! britain has the highest teenage pregnancy in the whole of europe as well!

The question i was asking when i was watching some of these 12-17 olds looting at 12mid night is where are their parents? the answer is simple: the marriage institution in britain is broken as well! a lot of them are from broken homes!
The solution to all these problems is not complex, they just need to go back to their old rugged values of discipline, respect and hard work.
I only pity a lot of nigerians that has lost their children to the rotten system.

@tushutt:
I will answer your question directly: No Fela is not a Nigerian Icon, FELA IS A GLOBAL ICON.

I don't know the depth of your knowledge and appreciation about music, poetry, politics and human right and freedom, anybody with an average awareness will know that Fela is a leader in these fields. Just go to America and see how Fela is been worshipped and analysed on the broadway, come to the theatres in UK and see how the british and europeans troop to watch Fela musicals, even I'm always amazed how well known and liked Fela is among my other African friends.

About some of his lifestyles, Fela is not a muslim or christian he's an 'AFRICAN' and I hope you know that polygamy is not an offence in african culture and religions. I'm not saying that Fela is perfect as a human being but just remember that nobody has ever been and nobody will ever be! Winston Churchill was voted for as the greatest briton and the best prime minister ever in the united kingdom in the last century even though he was an alcoholic, but people are still celebrating and appreciating his vision and ideas about humanity till today, JFK is regarded as one of the best presidents ever in America even though it was well known that he was a chronic womaniser, same for Bill clinton, the list is endless.

A lot of people were quiet mainly out of fear when fela was speaking against corruption, human right abuse and bad leadership years ago, today we can all see why fela was so concerned for Nigeria and Nigerians.

'A PROPHET DOESN'T HAVE HONOUR IN HIS OWN TOWN, '

@Southeast:
My friend, I'm not ready to argue or join issues with you, My point is just that most state in Nigeria have failed and instead of arguing about what state is richer or poorer than each other we especially the present generations should start looking for ways of changing things just like youths around the world are beginning to demand for change.

what indices are we using to measure poverty level here? is it how beautiful a state is? or the no of SME as someone was asking on this thread!
I have been to a lot of state in Nigeria, from south to north and I can't see any difference among most of these states, as a matter of fact I was really shocked at the poverty level among the people of Rivers state when I was serving there, despite the fact that they have one of the highest GDP in Nigeria! Even as "rich" as Lagos state is it has the highest homeless and jobless people in the country, a lot of hausas are professional beggars even with all the money the northern leaders have looted over the years

Guys stop arguing about what state is poorer or richer than each other, all Nigerian states have all failed! As a matter of fact I will even say that Ekiti state is a model for other state i.e it's one of the few states in the country that can choose their leaders (governors) without any imposition.
Ekiti state is one of the major state producing the human resource of the country. apart from the professors everybody is talking about go round the major sector of Nigeria economy from the Oil sector, banking, education, Law, civil service, Ekiti people are there, they've done well for Nigeria and themselves.

If care is not taken all these bombing will lead to civil war because if this boko haram or whatever they call themselves should strike anywhere in the south-west or south-east the southerners can turn against all northerners living in the south.
The ripple effect will be unthinkable.

I think it's high time Nigerians starts discussing whether the northern and southern nigeria can actually continue to exist as a federal state.

My main concern is that the so-called moderate or peaceful muslims never speaks against these violence or terrorism! WHY?

No wonder the yorubas over 100yrs ago called it "IMOLE or IMOLILE" meaning the tough or hard religion.

It's really sad to read what a lot of people have been writing on this thread. but I think it's mainly due to ignorance.

Sam Omatseye made a reference about Awo's children not following or carrying the political baton of their dad! But should political positions be hereditary? or are you saying His children doesn't have the right to chose whatever profession or career of their choice apart from politics?

Sam Omatseye made a reference about Awo coming back to divorce Mama H.I.D after death if it's possible! I think this is rude and uncalled for, Mama HI.D is a mother to most people be it politicians in ACN, PDP or whatever, whoever comes to her house she welcomes, that's what elders do, elders doesn't segregate, so you don't expect a 95year old woman to be partisan.

Thirdly, Sam Omatseye's reference to Late Segun Awolowo (Awo's first son) is uncalled for, it's cruel as well, what's the point of opening old wounds or taunting the old woman with her lost son.

Sam Omatseye should know that Awoism is an ideology not just for the Awo's family but for all Awoist. Harold wilson (a former british prime minister) said it that Awolowo is one of the most visionary human being he ever came across and that he lived ahead of his time, even Babangida couldn't deny the fact that Awo is the best president Nigeria never had.

I implore Omatseye to research on the works, books and journals of Awolowo, he should study what Awolowo wrote about governance, leadership, youth, free education, free health, sport development, media and journalism etc years ago, and how these things are still relevant and will continue to be relevant.

Lastly, people like Awo, Zik, Balewa, enahoro, has done their best for nigeria, instead of trying to analyse or de-humanising their legacies we should be focusing on the legacy we (present generations) are going to leave for our children.

Most importantly, Nigerians needs to act fast and nip this whole islamic terrorism in the bud before it's get out of hand. Look at parkistan, yemen, afganistan, somalia, hardly will a day go by without tens of people dying because of suicide bombing and jihadist, it's going to be very sad if we let our country gets to that stage.

Jonathan should act fast and decisively now before these jihadist turns Nigeria to nigerianistan!

I expect that by now the so-called moderate muslims would have stood up against these extremist (in form of rallying) if they truly don't support them.

@Harakiri:
The crusades you mentioned happened from 1095 to 1291, that is about 720 years ago. I don't see how that justifies suicide bombing, car bombs, Islamic terrorism in our country or around the world in 2011?!

One thing about christian is that they are not afraid to criticize each other or even their pastor if they thinks the pastor is doing something wrong, but one of the things I observe about muslims including the so-called moderate muslim is that they don't see anything wrong in what these islamic terrorists are doing! may be they are scared themselves only God knows.

So I don't think justifying Islamic terrorism in 2011 with crusades that happened over 700 years ago makes much sense.

I'm not making any correlation, I'm only posing a serious and genuine question.

For a pastor to be rich or super rich is not a sin. The question should be that do they acquire their wealth legally or not i.e through giving which will depend on the financial strenght  of their members. for example, if i'm bill gate and i can afford to give my pastor one billion dollar as a gift, it's my choice, and if i'm a pauper and i give the token i have to my pastor as a gift, it's my choice as well.
The question now is what do they (pastors) do with the money/wealth? do they distribute it back to the less privilege in the society in form of charities? if they can be doing that then great!

Lastly, people always say that Jesus Christ was poor when he was alive, this is not true. If we all read our bible very well, we'll see that Jesus always travel with his disciples and  multitude from city to city, He (Jesus) was the one in charge of feeding these multitudes, and he was able to do that with donations from people in those cities. an example was when he blessed two loaves and five fishes to feed the multitude ( Matthew 14:19).
The message Jesus was passing across to us about money was that we should not make money or material things the number one thing or the focal point of our lives, He even promised us the good things of life if we only made Him (Jesus) the number one in our lives: , Seek ye the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added.

Hence pastors collecting gifts or money is not a sin in itself, but it is what they do with the money and wealth that people commit into their hands that we should be questioning.   

LASTLY, IT IS ONLY GOD THAT CAN DECIDE WHETHER SOMEONE OR A PASTOR IS RIGHT OR NOT.

With the recent spate of bombing in Nigeria and around the world always linked with Islamic movements, can we then say that its just an affirmation that Islam is a violent and blood thirsty religion.

NIGERIANS PLEASE SPEAK UP, WHAT ARE YOUR OPINIONS ON THIS?!

Hello guys, what is the difference b/w envy and jealousy.