₦airaland Forum

chronique:
Hezbolah is not a terrorist group. Hezbolah was founded in 1982 as a result of Israeli occupation of Lebanon and the group fought to push out Israel from its occupied territories. The western media narrative is what tends to portray hezbolah as terrorists. Hezbolah is a political party in Lebanon and has representatives in the Lebanese parliament. Hezbolah doesn't operate outside the shores of Lebanon. Israel has invaded Lebanon at least 6 times since 1978.

Hamas is a resistant movement that was founded in 1987 against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Before Hamas, there was also the PLO(Palestine liberation organization) which also fought against Israeli occupation of Palestine. At some point, Israel started funding Hamas secretly against the PLO(divide and rule tactic) so as to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. By funding Hamas, they successfully created different factions of militia in Palestine and in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas won majority of the seats. At the end of the day, both the Hamas, Fattah group, hezbolah, PLO and other groups, were founded in response to Israeli occupation of the lands of Lebanon and Palestine. A lot of people talk about October 7th without realizing the events that led to that attack. Isreal had been randomly arresting Palestinians, killing and raping the prisoners. The female prisoners were subjected to sexual abuses and even kids were detained/shot dead by Israeli soldiers. Israeli occupation forces also encouraged their citizens to take over Palestinian lands, farms and houses. They were supported with military backing to carry out all these atrocities. While all of these happened, the whole world watched and did nothing. The result of that, was the October 7th attack on Israel. The politics of that region has seen both actors(Israelis and Palestinians) engage in activities that would qualify as terrorists acts in a bid to fight against the other. None of them are completely innocent but the fact is that Israel has been the major cause of the problem. Before October 7th, international efforts were made to allow Jerusalem be owned by both Palestinians and Israelis but the Israelis didn't want that. Israel wanted the whole of Jerusalem as their undivided capital while the Palestinians were OK with having east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestine state. Both sides lay claim to this city and this disagreement, affected international efforts to resolve this conflict.

The Yemeni Houthis too is a resistant militia group in Yemen with similar operations like hezbolah. Iran's support for these groups as proxies initially was to help them fight and stand alone for the liberation of their territories but eventually turned out to proxies used in fighting Israel as the conflict between Israel and Iran deepened.

As for the current Islamic regime, they never imposed themselves on the Persians/Iranians. After the Islamic revolution of 1979 during which the shah who was hated by his people, ran away on exile and never came back, the new leadership conducted an election to create the Islamic republic of Iran and majority of the citizens overwhelmingly voted for the new Iran. Whenever we are discussing issues like this in public, it is important that we have the facts of the matter at hand so we don't misinform others. Islam was not forced on Iranians. They voted for the new republic and chose their fate. This is something that you can research yourself on the internet.

On the issue of Hamas leading Palestine over the Palestinian authority, this is my take. If there is a genuine international effort to mandate Israel to abide by whatever settlement that is just and negotiated by the international community, Hamas would have no option other than to relinquish the control of Gaza. Remember that Hamas only came into existence in a bid to fight for their lands. They were not initially created to rule over territories.

Who would you choose between Iran that only supports Hamas/hezbolah and Houthis(resistant groups fighting for their lands) , and the US & Israel that supports Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko haram, HTS, and Co(terrorists groups carrying out terrorists acts globally across borders)? I hope you know the current president of Syria was once an Al-Qaeda/HTS terrorist that the US put a 50m dollar bounty on initially, but eventually used him to topple Assad(former Syrian president) and is no longer called a terrorist.

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist group by no less than 65 countries. Though some of these countries distinguish between their military arm and their government arm but their leadership arm will never dissociate themselves from the dastardly acts not only against the west but also against counties within the region like Kuwait assassination plot, support for Shiite military groups that cause destabilization in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, weapons smuggling and training of insurgents, aggression towards Sunni led governments in the gulf region.

Israel would argue that the PLO, based in southern Lebanon, was launching rocket and guerrilla attacks into northern Israel, threatening civilian populations as they reason for their occupation. That say that the invasion was aimed at pushing PLO forces away from the Israeli border and establishing a “security zone” in southern Lebanon, etc.

I agree with you that Israel’s funding of Hamas was aimed at ensuring that the region is divided. This along with the activities going on in the West Bank and the sexual atrocities committed by the Israeli army against Palestinian prisoners are the areas that I come hard against Israel. But Hamas should also be called out for their atrocities too. In other words, everything is not all about Israel-Palestine. Hamas’s activities in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and cooperation with extremists groups have led to attacks on Egyptian soldiers and civilians. Their actions have been partly responsible for the destabilization in Sudan and Syria too. Need I say more about the Houthis and their atrocities in Yemen and beyond, including indiscriminate shelling of civilians, arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, recruitment of child soldiers, and cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and Red Sea shipping?

Your point that Israel didn’t want a divided capital a reason for the prolonged conflict is not accurate. Ehud Barak wanted this but his offers got rejected.

I wouldn’t agree that Israel is the main barrier to peace because if you say that Israel is fighting against lots of countries in the region they’ll say that they are fighting because they are being fought. Thousands of missiles launched against them and what not. They are not fighting against counties that are committed to true peace with them (like Egypt whom they disagree with ideologically but mutually respect). If you bring about the Nakba, they’ll tell you that that event was within the context of war. The Arab states were fully against the establishment of a Jewish state. they claim that the land was theirs and that Jews had been wiped out of the land thousands of years ago but that’s not correct. Jews never left the land, they were only in the minority and legitimately sought to be re-united in parts of their traditional home land. Did they deserve a land of their own? Yes they did but this never sat well with the Arabs who initiated attacks and then cried foul when attacked back.

After the Shah fell, Ayatollah Khomeini and the clerical establishment sidelined or repressed non-Islamist factions, consolidating control under a theocratic model. Secular parties, leftist groups, and women’s rights activists were banned, imprisoned, or executed in the early 1980s. The media was crushed to powder. Even though elections exist, real competition is tightly controlled, reinforcing the sense that clerics imposed themselves rather than allowing pluralism.

Again I say that you want to blame US for support of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko haram, HTS? That’s hypocritical. These organizations publicly declare loyalty to Muslim causes and oppose western causes. US and Israel’s actions or inactions may have directly or indirectly encouraged their spread but fundamentally, these organizations have a mindset of undoing western civilizations in favour of Muslim ones. They do not shout “Jesus is Lord” or “Hail Buddha” but “Alahu Akbar.” It’s convenient to blame the west but what about the clerics that teach them to be violent? What about the creed of some of these organizations that spell out clearly that they are not only in this because of hatred for the Jews but they are in it because they are against the non-believers in general? Or is it America that teaches them suicide bombing?

The moderate Muslims are quick to claim that the fundamentalists are not acting in line with the true creed but they do not call out these fundamentalists when they do their dastardly acts the way they express rage when their prophet or holy book is disparaged. It’s an intellectual dishonesty in my and many people’s opinion.

kmaster007:
That what you think... Have you now heard that Benjamin Netanyahu sponsor Hamas that carried on attack against Israel on that Oct.

I’m no fan of Benjamin Netanyahu but he would argue that he thought Hamas would reform to a responsible government and so tried to encourage it to. While I don’t even buy this excuse from him, does that excuse Hamas from killing innocent civilians on October 7th?

If Israel allowed money to be channeled to them via Qatar and they used to money to develop secret terrorist weaponry, why blame Israel but excuse Qatar and the actual perpetrators - Iran?

HenryWilliams:
And what do you think the CIA is?
Better remove the cotton wool between your ears and think.
The US has been the most war hungry, terrorist making and backing since time immemorial.
Who funded the Sandistas in Nicaragua?
Who created and funded the Mujahadeens in Afghanistan in the 70s to later become Al-Qaeda?
Who stole Mexican land under false flag operation?
Who funded civil unrest that toppled and killed Lumumba?
Who supported the Apartheid state of South Africa?
Can we include Korea, Vietnam, Similar into the mix?
Who is the backer or ISIS?
Who destroyed Libya and plunged Sub-saharan Africa into terrorism?
This same Iran, who do you think toppled the democratic government of Mossadeq in the 50s Just to install a puppet Shah that did their bidding like a willing slave?

The lot of you are just damn slow in the head

There are thousands of religions in the world today. If you say the US are behind these evil happenings, how come the Muslims are always willing tools? From Hamas to Houthis to Hezbollah to Al Qaeda to Boko Baram to ISWAP. Islamists have the most prominent terrorist groups in the world by far. Why are they always willing tools for the west to perpetuate their selfish agenda? Why don’t we have many Chinese or German or Greek terrorist groups causing mayhem to innocent civilians and the regions around them?

The answer is found in the kind of radicalization that happens with young minds in the regions. They are taught by their book and tutors to be radical in ways similar to their most hallowed prophet. This is where the main issue lies.

chronique:
When I say a lot of Nigerian pastors are ignorant, people think I just want to insult them. For those who don't know, the Persians(Iran) were the first set of people to deliver the jews(Israel) from babylonian captivity. The Palestinian cause, is the main reason Iran has problems with Israel. The second reason is Israel's greater Isreal plan where they intend to annex several middle Eastern countries to form a larger Jewish nation. As we speak, Israel is occupying parts of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and intend to go all the way to other countries. Israel has clearly been the one pushing for America to attack Iran for 40 years now(Benjamin Netanyahu himself said that). Iran who they claim are terrorists, have never attacked or invaded any of their neighbors and that is something you can easily verify on the internet. Israel on the other hand has bombed and attacked virtually every country around them. This current war has a lot of ropes to it. Netanyahu is facing criminal charges in his country that would see him go to jail and the only way to avoid it, is to continously wage war so he doesn't have to answer for his corruption case waiting for him. Nigerian pastors are actually very ignorant in geopolitics

Persians were not originally Muslims. The current Mullah regime imposed themselves on the Persian populated state and has oppressed them for almost 50 years. If you are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause for statehood but you can’t get yourself to feel for the ordinary Persians or Iranians, then I wouldn’t trust your moral compass. But all that is by the way.

You talk about the Palestian cause for statehood without mentioning the fact that they were calling for return of millions of people before they can accept Israel’s offer. Also, if Israel should allow Palestine to be a state as it is now, it would mean that the leadership of the state would be Hamas. Don’t tell me that the Palestinian authority (PA) will lead. The Hamas are the ones that have the arms and will forcefully displace the PA and they are publicly committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. So Israel is actually right in saying Hamas should give up their weapons and accept amnesty before they can allow for any statehood.

Even if the Palestinian cause is totally just, you cannot take laws into your hand and sent proxies to be fighting another country. That’s against the law too. You send them to kill innocent people on Oct 7. Is that lawful? If you were Israel would you trust that an entity like Hamas would play ball and be committed to peaceful co-existence if they allow Hamas lead a state?

On the issue of Greater Israel, I’d be honest, I don’t trust Netanyahu’s intentions on this. But an average Israeli would argue that countries that are attacking them are the ones they are currently attacking. They have some parts of Lebanon and all but they argue that they are there to prevent constant attacks. Egypt was a sworn enemy of Israel but since they committed to true peace (even though they hate Israel, they stay away from them), there have been no war between both entities in the past couple of decades. You can’t be fighting against them actively and cry when they occupy your land to repel those attacks.

It’s wrong to suggest that Iran have never attacked. They are the largest sponsors of entities tagged as terrorist organization like the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah that not only cause menace to Israel but also cause trouble in the region.

If you think the reason for the endless war is that Benjamin Netanyahu wants to prolong his case endlessly, then Hamas should drop their weapons and take the amnesty deal. If they do and Israel still fights on, it would be clear that your point holds merit.

egunna:
the case of evans is same as the Fulani bandits. I wasn't comparing him with bokoharam.make no mistake about it, the Fulani man doesn't kill for religion. I don't know about you, but for as long as I can remember, I have maintained my stands on this issues.

But clearly there are some armed militia groups that kill in order to cleanse the land off other ethnic groups or religions in order to establish a way of life. This is one form of the problem. Another form of the problem is herder-farmer clashes that lead to violent deaths. Also, another form of the problem is kidnapping. All of them fall under insecurity but to ignore that there are people who claim to want to establish a Muslim caliphate in a particular location while wiping out the population - that wouldn’t be correct. We must all live in unity as one nation. That’s why it’s important that when people kill in the name of God (whether it’s Christians or Muslims) we must be vocal against the perpetrators of the crimes the same way we are vocal with Trump’s tweet.

egunna:
Am not sure, but from your post, you seem to be a muslim. If you are, den am disappointed in your last paragraph. It shows your little knowledge of your religion and of ideas and ideologies. Do you not read the same Quran?y den did you not quote the scripture and kill ppl? Not that I in any way support bokoharam but Christians have fought wars to spread Christianity in the past. You can read about the crusades of the 14th century. Ideologies like bokoharam arise from interpretation. Do you fault me for your own misunderstanding of my statement? Just as there are different denomination in Christianity who all draw from the same message but have different interpretations, so we have Dem in Islam. For instance there is a place in the Bible that tells you to sell your robe and buy a sword, if someone misinterpretes it to means acquire weapons what can another Christian do about it?nothing.so the point a making is the fault is not from Islam or Quran, the fault is in the muslims. Did you not see bokoharam killing a fellow Muslim who is reciting the shahada?or fulanis attacking muslims during subhi prayers? How do rationalize that in relation to the Quran? So you see, humans have the tendency to want to come up with new things and at times it gives birth extreme ideologies. Finally, if the govt. Has failed to do its duties, pls leave Islam out of it face the govt., face the Fulani bandits, face the aboki and pls leave us other muslims alone

Yes even Christianity is not exempt from this. The crusaders carried out atrocities from the 11th to 13th centuries. Yes that’s a good example of people killing in the name of God. The same thing as what ISIS, AlQaeda, Boko Haram are doing today. Trying to establish an Islamic caliphate by destroying different ideologies. Whether it comes from the Christians or Muslims, it is wrong. But the example of Evans is different because he was not doing it for the purpose of entrenching a religious goal. It’s the same way that Abacha did despicable things as the military head of states. He was a Muslim but his atrocities was not for the purpose of entrenching a religiously motivated goal. So that cannot be categorized like Boko Haram.

What I’m simply saying is that as Muslims we need to be less on the fence when someone who carried our identity does an act of terrorism in the name of Allah. I gave the example of Deborah. Many of us couldn’t condemn the act and many others outrightly praised the act.

We cannot then claim that the other religion is overreacting because frankly if they follow our approach, maybe they would wipe out all the towns and villages that have Christian majority population in some places before a solution can be reached. We are not so bothered until Trump sent a tweet.

egunna:
you see y I said you guys are the most difficult human beings to deal with?I just took my time to dissociate myself and others like me from the activities of these murderous humans. I even went further to tell you that my ppl are suffering the same fate as any other person that is a victim to these subhumans. Yet, in all I said, you still went ahead to lump me together with them. So how are we going to solve the problem when the victims themselves are not united to fight their common enemy? Hello sir/ma, if any Fulani or Muslim comes to kill you unjustly, pls kill the person before he kills you. If any of my family members comes to kill you, kill him or her and bring us the body to bury. I am neither a hausa nor Fulani but I am a Muslim and I reject in totality your attempt to blame Islam for the actions of fulanis who do not even know the first thing about Islam. It won't be fair if I blame Christianity for the activities of evans and others so why not do the same for me?about US coming, I wish I had a magic wand to exterminate all the Fulani bandits and bokoharam, I wud have waved it a thousand times over even before you say it coz I want them gone more than any hypocritic Christian. But US is not the solution. They are not coming for the terrorists, they will come for muslims which I am one. Where ever they have gone, that place has never remained the same economically and socially. Libya was doing fine untill dey did regime change, so was Syria and other places. So if we are skeptical about them coming it's because they have left sour taste in the mouth of their hosts. I blv you are educated, it's your duty to enlighten those who don't know about the danger in over generalization.

Then what is the solution to people dying? If the government are incapable of solving this problem, should Nigerians continue to die?

The reason why many fault our pushback is because we don’t like to publicly call out the activities of extremists in our midst. Even when Deborah was lynched and burnt up in Sokoto, many of us educated Muslims hailed the killers.

Many can see that Muslims who although were victims of the killings too were not nearly as vocal as the Christians but when Trump sent a single tweet, we found our voices.

How do you want us to be United in our fight against our common enemy when the government has been told for decades that these extremists are killing and wiping out communities but they either deny it or they are unserious about this fight against terrorism. Names of Boko Haram sponsors comes out and everybody just moves on. I think we tolerate our extremists far too much. Why the outrage just now?

Finally, when people like Evans commits terror, they do it as human beings. Muslims, Christians, Ogboni, etc all do bad things. But let’s be honest here - Terrorist groups in Nigeria kill quoting the scriptures. They kill in the name of Almighty Allah. There is a difference.

Elvis2kay:
Call out the state governor.not the president

State governments don’t have state police. Security is under the exclusive list. The buck stops at the table of the commander in chief. He is in charge of the whole security infrastructure in the state. I thought you people said Shettima would handle security and Yiubu would handle economy? The buck stops at the table of the presidency.

Image123:
All these people that shout tax payer's money to the heavens and usually dodge or don't pay tax. Lolz. Please can you be specific on renovation of recently renovated facilities to cost of yachts, public vehicles and the likes, to over-bloated public service. Kindly provide the costs, thank you. i never knew that we need to sack people in the public service.
What are your concrete plans to address these consequences of removal of subsidy? Also, show me how i countered the ones that tried to show me that we weren’t going anywhere with PMB government and yet you stood by him. BTW, i didn't throw him under the bus except you don't know what it means. i have maintained my stance that fPMB was and is a better choice than those he contested against in 2015 and 2019. i have also stated that he didn't do well in some areas and was largely disappointing
i guess your suggestion and model is that there should be no more projects in Nigeria since you know how you work and chop. Mr average man, what and who stopped you from using any of fPMB's finished projects? Who stopped you from using the completed rails, Second Niger Bridge, other bridges across the country, Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria–Kano Expressway, Lagos–Ibadan expressway, New International Airport Terminals at Abuja, Enugu and Port Harcourt, Central Ogbia Regional Water Project, Northern Ishan Water Supply, Edo State, Sabke–Dutsi–Mashi Water Supply Project, Katsina State, Diagnostic Centres at Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital and Federal Medical Centre Umuahia? Who stopped you or are these not some of the projects you refer to?

It is not the responsibility of the tax payer to administer the tax regime. There is only one party responsible if there are loopholes in the tax collection process. That’s not to mention various informal tax collection schemes that are meted upon the individuals which neither goes to government coffers nor is used for development purposes but is spent daily in hotels and brothels by government backed touts.

We have N5b for the presidential yacht, N21b for Shettima’s house, N160m per unit of SUVs for the national assemble members, N90b for Hajj subsidy, N1.5b for cars for the First Lady to mention but a few.

When you have a huge populace in the poverty bracket and a strained budget, you need to do things differently. Many of these things aren’t a priority but it just shows that these people are just paying lip service to what they claim they want to achieve. The Oronsaye report which recommended merging and scrapping several government agencies to reduce redundancy and cut costs. Despite widespread support for these recommendations to streamline governance and reduce public expenditure, the government has continued to ignore it.

You need to identify the areas mostly affected by the subsidy removal and deploy resources and a very committed structure to ensuring proper implementation. One of such areas is transportation. If your strategy for removal of subsidy was just to allocate more money to the states knowing fully well that the state governors have immunity and much of the funds don’t really impact the lives of the people, then your strategy was faulty abinitio.
Subsidizing the cost of transport by starting out in major cities by deploying buses and deploying technology for a ticketing system will ensure that people can see something tangible and so they can trust you more to bear with you as you transit a phase. Serious punitive measures to be meted upon people that try to derail the system and everyone will sit up not the padi padi thing they do all the time.

But when they keep borrowing funds every time. The last I read about was the Lagos airport that till consume almost a trillion. We know how things work in this country and the fact that elections are drawing close so how do you expect the average Nigerian to buy into their hope mantra (having learnt lessons from the hogwash sold them in “change” and “next level?”)

Go and read some of your threads like the “My response to the idea that Buhari is already failing one.” I have not said there should not be projects in Nigeria. I am saying something very basic that due process should be encouraged in bidding and the best “man” given the job. Also, all this padding thing we always do is the last thing that a poverty ridden country needs. The result would be substandard work and monies siphoned and then tomorrow we would revisit the same projects again. There is no real motivation to deal the corruption question mark. There is no administration that cannot lay claim to one sort of project or the other but but even in your post yesterday you can see that Buhari brought the economy to its knees.

Image123:
This talk about living in opulence is becoming trite. i keep wondering what you mean. Most of these people in office are millionaires not to mention billionaires, they are not the cause of your misery. You can't compare billions of DOLLARs and TRILLIONs of naira going down the drain in the name of subsidies to people driving cars or getting salaries that they would get anyway, because i am 99% sure that is what you mean by opulence. What do you expect, you want them to wear hand me downs and use keke and show themselves drinking garri or what? Is it Obi or Atiku that are not "living in opulence" or you think once you're in government, you must begin to live in austerity? Has the government been unable to meet recurrent expenditure? We're talking of stopping trillions of naira going to few pockets and instead diverting such fund to better and lasting projects for more people.
i don't hink i mentioned the last adminstration in my post, nonetheless, i am not in a cult. If an administration does badly in an area, we point it out, and i remember pointing out the faults of the last administration as far back as its first term. Pointing out their wrongs doesn't equate to condemning or abandoning them if there's no better choice. i'll still pick a dead fPMB before a visionless and lying candidate with no performance to verify. You become the hypocrite when you refuse to see the lacklustre past of your alternatives.

When I speak of opulence I’m actually saying that there are no genuine efforts to cut down on government spending. It’s tax payers money I’m talking about here. I’m not too fussed about what they do with theirs. From renovation of recently renovated facilities to cost of yachts, public vehicles and the likes, to over-bloated public service.

And I never mentioned that subsidy removal is bad. What we are saying is that there’d be consequences for it and there must be concrete plans to address these consequences. If you don’t, the people will bear the brunt in a hard way.

You say projects are being carried out everywhere but this was the same argument that was given when we pointed out the financial recklessness going on at the last administration. Where has that brought us. And before you try to revise history, it was eighth years of continuous back and forth between the praise singers and reality check givers and you know where your solidarity stood even if you would have made a few comments in passing to criticize the government. You know how you countered the ones that tried to show you the at we weren’t going anywhere with that government and yet you stood by him only to throw him under the bus now.

We know how things work in this part of the world where contracts are awarded and monies are voted and bloated so that there’d by “egunje” money. Chop I chop system. Yes there will be projects here and there but the average man on the street won’t have been better off.

Image123:
There was going to be hard times regardless of who did it, we know that much, and experts predicted it. If for example, you were being subsidized by your parents by 1million naira yearly to cover rent, children school fees and transportation and you make X naira annually not enough for the bills. If your parents for any reason stopped, you'll feel it. You'll then need to make more to cover up or cut spending. It's common sense, not promax or whatever term you call it.
The country could not sustain the subsidy figures. Debt to GDP was a staggering 97%, we had net foreign reserves of about $3 billion, could not even allow foreign companies like airlines and MTN take their legitimate money because of $7billion backlog. These were real debts sending the wrongest signals to foreign investors, apart from the heavy debt used to sustain the subsidies. i remember some airlines were refusing to fly from Nigeria.
Today, Tinubu has cleared this $7billion backlog, cleared IMF $3billion loan, increased net FX reserves by over $25billion. Yet this hasn't stopped staggering amounts shared at FAAC monthly or payments of salaries across board. We know how it was before except we want to lie.
This hasn't stopped the attempt at restarting the refineries which also cost huge money, and the different ongoing projects even if you don't agree they should be done. At least, they are not done with water or paper. When i cut the man big slacks, it's because of things like the above mentioned. But let's keep playing politics and tribal/religious games.

You cannot preach austerity and you are living in opulence at the same time. The guys in government are having the time of their lives and there is no semblance of “managing” in their lifestyle.

You say “we know how things have been” and mentioned how the last administration performed poorly but this was what honest Nigerians kept telling you for eight years whilst you countered them as a party loyalist. Now that you have another man (who is your man) on the block, it is convenient to throw the man you defended under the bus in order to give credence to this one. This is the definition of dishonesty.

DeepSight:
So you are suggesting the problem is with Islam? If so can you say why?

I have not said that the issue is with the religion but I think practitioners of the religion can do things better. Can Islamic leaders be more vocal about the ills of extremism? It’s not enough to distance oneself from a terrorist attack. The education and campaign against extremism needs to be very loud.

I recall the time when a student made comments about the Prophet, many notable figures in Nigeria were either neutral or supported the burning of the lady. These things can embolden extremists to do worse things even if the religion doesn’t promote such.

In fact the reason for this conversation was my response to someone that said “the blame is with the other party.” I was simply saying that where there is an internal problem, try and take responsibility rather than blame others.

Many people on NL who were hailing Buhari as performing reforms and getting Nigeria on track are now vilifying him because there is a new boss in town and they must blame someone for the woes of the current boss.

DeepSight:
Because there is a clash of cultures / civilizations between the Islamic and Western worlds?

Come down to Nigeria and you get the same picture so this is beyond a West Vs Islamic thing. Many cultures are not in sync with the western including the Hindu and the Chinese.

Adedehinboadebs:
it’s just funny that you could even ask this question! Do you know mossad operatives have a section that learns every religious fate and master it? And also in every country, you will always find sellouts which you can induced with money to carry out espionage attack.
Terrorists works side by side with mossad once they have interest in a country. Now think logically! If terrorism is all about religion, by now isreal should be number one enemy of isis and everyday they would face attacks, but no! isis are always fighting against those against isreal and American interests

I am not indicting the religion but stating what is very clear before our eyes. There are sellouts in every race not just Islamic states.

The trouble makers will use anybody who offers himself or herself as a willing tool. If these terrorist acts are usually perpetrated by extremists in a particular religion, then we must answer the question about why.

If we blame US or Israel for every terrorist attack by an extremist Islamic group, it means we are not looking inwards and taking responsibility.

DeepSight:
Here is the problem. You probably don't know that the USA trained Osama bin Laden. You probably don't know that the Taliban was trained and supplied by the USA as a former ally. You probably don't know that Netanyahu funded Hamas deliberately. And much more.

So you don't even have the capacity to understand what's happening.

If US trained Osama they also trained other people from other nationalities/religions and they could also use them for their sinister agenda but why are just one section of people being used for these purposes. That is the hard question we must ask ourselves.

Techwriter:
Israel mossad behind the scene. If you no know, I'm telling you now

It’s good to take responsibility your actions.

Adedehinboadebs:
For those who still don’t understand world politics! Isreal and America created different factions of terrorists to create chaos in countries they have interest on and also a pretense to invade countries to stage a regime change and also loot resources. The world sees religion behind terrorism while those who understand see politics, go check it out, every country who is ravaged by insecurities are rich in natural resources.

I have only one question for you. If all these crisis are being sponsored by the West and Israel, why do they always use Islamic Extremists? Why are Islamic extremists always the willing tools for their agenda. There are thousands (if not millions) of religions in the world including Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, Jainism. But Islamic extremists are always used.

Let’s tell ourselves the truth please

MIKOLOWISKA:
when pdp cornered inec, how did a ń then apc wọn elections? Shebí inec was cornered? socialism does not work, only private sector does.
Nothing is stopping you from leading at your level

Nobody is talking about socialism here. Capitalism is not the absence of regulators. There is no capitalism in the world that lacks regulators. For capitalism to thrive and bring about progress in a nation there must be fair regulation. Foreign investors will quickly run away if they invest in landed property and their property can be taken over by someone with influence illegally without consequence. It’s not the business men that will enforce the justice. It’s the exclusive preserve of leaders - the government.

I know you are trying to absolve bad government because you support them, but it is wrong and in your heart you know that. No business tycoon will do the work of government that the constitution has entrusted with state powers and the powers of coercion. No matter how you try to evade this point, it still stares you in the face.

MIKOLOWISKA:
when pdp cornered inec, how did a ń then apc wọn elections? Shebí inec was cornered? socialism does not work, only private sector does.
Nothing is stopping you from leading at your level

You need to avoid extremes. That elections in a country are largely hijacked doesn’t mean that ALL the elections in that regime were hijacked. PDP clearly did a lot of electoral malpractices but it doesn’t mean that all elections conducted under PDP were fraudulent. The same goes for APC. Even in one of the eastern states during the last gubernatorial elections, the REC gave a personal testimony that she was lured into announcing another candidate but decided to go for the truth.

What I’m telling you is that when bad leaders are in power, they will make the electoral process easy to manipulate by ensuring that the INEC is not truly independent. They will seek to make the electoral process more manual because that is easier to manipulate.

This way, no matter how bad they performed they can force their way to power. This doesn’t mean that it is impossible for the right candidate to still emerge but it will be an exception to the norm. It can happen if the electoral umpire either at the federal or regional level decide not to play ball.

MIKOLOWISKA:
The ones you have been entrusting to, how market.

This 40 character nonsense no get head o

Apologies for the long previous post. I see you don’t like to read too much so I’ll summarize as follows:

That someone is entrusted with state power doesn’t mean they will use it for the public good. It just means that they have the opportunity (that a non-state actor doesn’t have) to use it for the public good. Shikena.

MIKOLOWISKA:
The ones you have been entrusting to, how market.

This 40 character nonsense no get head o

I have not said that when leaders are entrusted with power by the state, things will be good. I am saying that when you have good leadership, things will turn for the better. There is a difference so you need to think critically to understand this.

What we have in Nigeria is a case where leadership have made it increasingly difficult for the right type of leadership to emerge (by cornering the INEC or umpire to their side, by cornering the judiciary to their side, by ensuring that the security apparatus works in their favour, by ensuring that laws are not passed to dissuade manual voting, etc).

The result of this is that leaders in Nigeria can do rubbish and get away with it. The right leadership will fix the country not only in Nigeria but anywhere in the world.

Forget about Jets for once. If I am being honest, a cal for electronic transmission of votes is the right thing to do. Everyone knows deep in his heart that this is the right way to go but Tinubu would never sanction it because he knows what the outcome would be.

Godjone:
Jega should get out and stop yearning rubbish. He should allso Direct his attacks to Mahmud yakubu the rigger of 2023 election

If electronic transmission is mandated by law Yakubu would be limited in influencing things so it makes sense for him to call for electronic transmission. Also, if Tinubu is sure of himself he should heed the call.

CaptainGo:
I get the point you made.

But the fact is that Nigeria could no longer sustain the subsidy regime. The country was bankrupt. There is no way to sugarcoat this.

Buhari was in a haste to leave government towards the end of his tenure because he knew the economy was sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

I am not an advocate of subsidy. The only subsidy I endorse is for Healthcare.

I agree with most of what you say here but with the added point that removal of subsidies is only the beginning of the work and shouldn’t be seen as the goal itself rather it should be seen as a means to the real objectives. Economic prosperity, foreign investments, productivity, manufacturing, education, health care, security, etc.

CaptainGo:
You don't know what you're talking about. Floating the naira clearly stopped FX arbitrage which was enriching a few at the expense of the country.

Two things are critical for any subsidy removal policy to make the people better off. They are accountability and empathy. These two factors will not only get the people’s buy-in but will ensure that the policy has a successful outcome. Just like I argued about NNPC way back that if all you do is remove fuel subsidy, without addressing root causes, there would be a spiraling infation and yet the funds derived from the project will just end up in private pockets. At the end of the day the people would be worse off.

Accountability is showing workings to the letter and not just shouting “see governors are getting more money.” The question is isn’t FG getting more money too? When Indonesia started their phased subsidy removal in 2015, they ensured that they showed the use of the funds clearly and unambiguously. That helped the people to gain trust. Furthermore, on empathy, the critically invested in “shock absorbers” in a very transparent manner. This way, people could trust them to implement phase 2 since they had earned trust in phase 1. Before you knew it, the subsidies were all gone but it was done conveniently and transparently.

WizardOfNG:
Sharp guy. Another reason Naira had to be floated instantly, with no easing, is to get the initial battle against the economic saboteurs, who use every angle of opportunism to wrecks Nigeria, out of the way enroute to delivering a single forex rate for the Naira with no profiteering black market counter rate.

What was in place before was official bank forex rate and then a countering black market rate that was hideously much higher.

Anyone who needed foreign currency legitimately, for buisness or education abroad for example, must go to the black market because the amount they want is never available as foreign currency were always being rationed as if we are at war.

Whereas the real reason is that those with access to foreign currency we earn trading crude, I.e politicians and those in the corridor of power, commandeer majority of the inbound foreign currency through their authoritative control of CBN rogues like Emefiele.

The subsidy being applied to the Naira meant, for example, Naira is 300 to 1 USD officially. That is bank rate but not many, who legitimately need dollars, will ever get it at the bank rate.

That is a deliberate scamming ploy same as refineried were never allowed to work to justify fuel subsidy, thr biggest scam against humanity in my opinion, enrinching so many undeservingly preciously.

Those who control CBN, as part of the scam, make forwx scarce by grabbing all the dollars and pounds etal, meant to be available for Banks to disburse to Nigerians, and hand over to their Forex bureau boys (usually Northerners) who would then sell same 1 usd, in the same period bank rate is 300 Naira to $1, for 800 Naira to $1.

A huge 500 Naira profit on each dollar been literally plucked out of thin air and producing several Northern billionaires daily to the detriment of the Nigerian economy and legitimate activities our people require forex for. Evil, condemnable and wicked.

Why do people think so many Northern politician and leaders despise Tinubu? Yet who is wicked, hateful or opportunist enough, like Obi, to play games and say floating Naira, which ends this lunacy, should be "organised" or gradual?

I make bold to say no other nation had similar to our old black market regime under OBJ, GEJ and Buhari in the world because, like fuel subsidy, it is another evil act of sabotage and opportunism making a few hideously rich while our economy, national growth/progress and ordinary Nigerians suffer horrendously because of paucity of forex meaning they had to patronise the black market and enrich some undeserving Alhaji whether they like it or not.

The madness had to stop and had to stop instantly. This is why they fought Tinubu initially pretending they were mad at inflation which we all know floating of Naira will cause initially because import and cost of doing international trade naturally becomes more expensive.

Whereas their real issue is the imperialist anger against Tinubu for having the audacity to stop the huge profit denied them through insider forex manipulation they were getting away with under Buhari and co using criminals like Emefiele etal.

This is why the Yoruba intelligentsia, exposed and well-read class want regional autonomy uncompromisingly today.

They are not saying Yorubas are Saint or 'innocent' but they remain progressive and good-hearted enough to want the many self-destructive practices that is ruining Nigerian, and ensuring she never develops, to stop.

A nation sabotaging itself from inside is dead. Hence best option is for all regions to control their Destiny and direction.

The only problem is that majority of ordinary Nigerians simply don't know what the progressive, knowledgeable, critical-thinking and well-meaning Nigerians discern clearly that makes them unflinchinfly supportive of PBAT they know is bravely pavng the way to a bright future for everyone and not just scammers and opportunists as has been the case throughout virtually our existence as a nation.

May God deliver Nigeria so they truly see what Tinubu is, I.e a brave and resolute President ready to go there for Nigerians and Nigeria to be delivered, and what those who are attacking him, like Obi and Atiku etal, truly are.

If you managed to solve a problem whilst creating many others. Don’t expect the people to clap for you especially when the so-called solved problem could have as well been solved by strong regulatory oversight. Now that the currency is fighting to stay away from the “worst performing currency” bracket, we need to look beyond the fact that devaluation has been done and ask ourselves, what is currently being done to improve the value of the currency because the everyday lives of manufacturers, students, mothers etc are affected by it.

Like many other things in Nigeria, corruption accounts for at least 70% of the problem. Whose function is it to ensure that CBN is not an apron of the political idiots? Didn’t we have CBN governors like SLS fall out with their presidents or wasn’t the subsidized regime happening then too when Soludo marshaled the system? At least people were able to get forex much better than compared to Buhari’s era. It wasn’t perfect but because Buhari left Emefiele to do whatever he wanted with zero supervisory control, why won’t corruption decimate the whole arrangement and ensure that forex became an outright mirage?

Again I say, yes we have floated the currency but what’s next? Are you content that 1500-1600 is the place it should be or what measures are being put in place to ensure that naira becomes a strong currency?

WizardOfNG:
Absolutely bro !!! I am not even an economist yet I am progressive enough and genuinely desirous of a Nigeria that will be as great as the many nations I have had the privilege to experience first-hand, to the extent I have read and researched extensively to gain knowledge that will allow me understand the problem and then discern the obvious solutions.

Solutions would always become apparent, as would always be the case, if one fully understands the cause of the problem to begin with.

This knowledge make me confident I can stand before any expert, because the issue to be discussed is not Rocket Science anyway, and make a coherent case for why subsidies in the petrol, education, electricity currency and even religious tourism sectors etal are directly detrimental to the growth and development of Nigeria.

The subsidies for fuel and the Naira, in particular, are glorified and self-destructive scams a rapacious and ruthless gang of opportunists wish to keep using thereby forever retrenching an ultra-promising and blessed nation to the level of Somalia while they keep swimming in billions they and their family cannot exhaust in 10 lifetimes.

If you don’t address root causes, the people will be worse off and yet you wouldn’t have realized the benefits of what the people are supposedly suffering for.

Removal of subsidy is a necessity but the question is how are the funds being used? Don’t hail the man for removing subsidy but rather hail him for the impact of the removal of the subsidies.

You ensure that cost of education is now more pricey whilst handing out student loan. However we hear that 75% of these monies are embezzled. At the end of the day there wouldn’t be any significant progress in education except that the average family would struggle to pay up for basic levels of education.

You say prices of fuel should be at market rate so that government has more money to fund development. I have no problems with that but at the end of the day the reality on ground is more funds to embezzle whilst the inflation hits every sector causing stagflation because the average Nigerian is not even equipped to swim through the heavy tide.

Amidst all these, the members of the executives get increased FAAC, the members of the judiciary get staggering perks, the government functions are getting even more bloated, spending by executive on lavish frivolities is unabated, the legislators are signing and sending prayers to email boxes. Which begs the question, if we are to sacrifice now and enjoy later, should it be only the people? What role will the leaders play in tightening their belts?

Cost of living, employment, inflation, out of school children, insecurity, poverty, healthcare, etc. These are some of the things to look out for when assessing performance rather than just posit “Tinubu removed subsidies.”

MIKOLOWISKA:
so a mechanic or teacher cannot lead? Are the"leaders" you "entrusted" (they volunteered, not entrusted) ensuring justice?

Go tif bread for area and you will learn that mechanics can dispense justice same as any judge[i][/i]

Depends on who steals the bread. If a random guy does, he’s in soup but if the child of a political office holder does the very same thing, he’ll get away with it pretty easy. The application of laws is differentiated according to a number of factors.

When the teacher or mechanic becomes an office holder, then he is no longer just a teacher or mechanic but he is now a political leader within the jurisdiction he functions in. At that point, he is entrusted with state powers and the right to exert coercion for the public good. His fellow teachers/mechanics at that time cannot lay claim to this privilege.

Gerrard59:
Blame Buhari who initiated the crude for loan scheme. Blame Buhari who squandered the Excess Crude Account with the likes of Oshiomole, Amaechi and Fashola who harassed Jonathan and Okonjo-Iweala (Peter Obi was the only governor who opposed the extravagance) for saving money. Blame Buhari who backed massive insecurity across the country.

Most of you, including the OP, campaigned and voted for Buhari in 2015. Why are you lots complaining?

To be honest most people who were cheering Buhari on then are the ones trying to exonerate Tinubu now whilst throwing the same Buhari under the bus.

Also, most of the people pointing out the issues in the governance of Tinubu today are also the ones that were doing so under Buhari.

MIKOLOWISKA:
is law a living thing

I never said law is a living thing. I only said that it’s not mechanics or teachers that will ensure equitable and just systems of law and order. Leaders are not entrusted with state power for no reason.

PHOENIX0007:
If we like make we get saint as president, corruption go still full everywhere. Our legislators and corruption na 5&6, then you see 90% of civil servants in all the different ministries, departments and agencies are all corrupt.
Nothing wey go change for this country with the type of system we operate.

The reason why ordinary people will continue to be corrupt is the lack of incentive to be incorruptible. That is, the civil servants you mention know that it pays to be corrupt. The system makes it profitable for corrupt practices.

So long as you have the right funds or connection, you can do any malpractice and get away with it. The system encourages it. On the other hand someone can decide to be just and get punished for it. Someone can decide to not collect a bribe and get witch-hunted and severely punished.

The good guy would have lost and the system wouldn’t correct this anomaly. You cannot expect a good society when the systems of justice, law and order are faulty. And it’s not a mechanic or teacher that will fix that system. It has to be fixed from the top.