₦airaland Forum

Correct your counries to countries.

https://bukrypt.com/4-websites-where-you-can-create-and-sell-your-nft/

In this article, we will be discussing 4 websites where you can create and sell your Nft. to start with, an NFT is a kind of cryptocurrency asset that deals with art. Like crypto coins and tokens, a piece of art is converted into a digital asset through the process known as minting and afterwards, sold on an NFT market place within the Blockchain space in exchange for a Crypto coin or token.

The process known as minting can be done through so many means after which the Nft will be put up for sale on an nft market place.

The process of making an Nft
Minting or creating an Nft can be done by both the tech savvy and non-tech guys. For the tech guys, a couple of strategies abound from writing some Smart Contracts on Remix IDE with solidity, plus a few others. This often happens under the Ethereum blockchain with the Erc721 network which helps in creating a uniqueness for non-fungible tokens.

For the non-tech guys, a lot of platforms/websites are out there for anyone and everyone who’s got a thing or more for Nfts. Four (4) of those platforms and websites will be discussed in details in this article.

Before discussing these platforms, let’s make a little effort in an attempt to explain the process of bringing an Nft into existence.

How Nfts are created

making a recipeHere, we will liken the creation of an Nft to that of making a recipe. In making a recipe, one will first have to gather and prepare all ingredients required for that recipe, get them in a kitchen, then commence with making the recipe proper.

The same is applicable to making an Nft. Preparation of ingredients for making the recipe in this case can be the creation of the kind of art you intend to use as the Nft. Might be painting, drawing or making the picture (Jpeg), might also be in putting the Mp4 or desired audio together, maybe a poem or any short piece of art.

After the preparation comes the proper making which involves the kitchen and other utensils. In our case, the kitchen is the platform or website (Marketplace) that helps you mint the Nft. All you need do is have some funds in there for what is called Gas fee.

This can be synonymous to paying or buying gas to enable you cook in your kitchen. With the gas fees, your piece of art and a couple of procedures, you convert your piece of art into an Nft. Now, let’s discuss 4 of those kitchens where Nfts are prepared and served by non-techies.

List of 4 websites where you can create and sell your nft.
Opensea
Rarible
Binance
Nifty Gateway

Opensea

opensea LogoOpensea is arguably one of the current largest market places for collectibles. It is a decentralized market place built on the Ethereum blockchain. In other words, one will need some quantity of ETH (the native token for Ethereum) in a wallet to carry out some transactions on opensea.

Opensea is to the creation of an Nft, what the kitchen is to making a recipe and more because it serves as a platform where we can as well, sell and buy Nfts between creators and collectors.

It also gives an opportunity to creator who wants to mint under the Polygon blockchain for no fees at all. Opensea supports a couple of platforms such as, MetaMask, Trustwallet,WalletConnect, Coinbase Wallet, and more.

Rarible

Rarible is another big Nft market place built under the Ethereum blockchain for both creators and collectors. On Rarible, one can mint an Nft and as well sell to buyers on the same platform.

Like every other Crypto assets, Nfts can be transferred from wallet to wallet and from platform to platform although, not outside the network same way a Trc20 token will not successfully be transferred into a Bep20 address.

Binance

Beyond serving as a market place for collectibles, Binance also is the top ranking centralized Cryptocurrency platform according to Coinmarketcap. It allows for P2P transaction of Crypto assets among members of the platform for 0% charges.

One of the topnotch services rendered by Binance is that given by their Nft marketplace. At the moment,the function of minting an Nft with a mobile phone seems out of service for Mobile users on Binance, but with mobile functionalities, one can buy and sell Nfts on the Binance market place.

Binance gas for Nft minting is deducted from BNB which is the native token for Binance or BUSD which is the Binance stable coin. With Binance, the creation of an Nft is usually done under the Bep721 blockchain network which serves a special purpose to a collectible’s unique identification.

Nifty Gateway

Nifty Gateway is another popular Nft market place built on the Ethereum blockchain. You can count on their security technology to create and keep your Nft safe.

https://bukrypt.com/4-websites-where-you-can-create-and-sell-your-nft/

Meanwhile, there's no fixed price, you can get some NFTs for as low as $5 and still sell. Register with those platforms where they are sold, fund your wallet and check out for some good ones to you can buy and sell back

Samken2:
How can I invest from Nigeria and how much is required

Check my comment.

OBALOLA55:
LUCKYSMILLS

This should help you with 4 platforms where you can mint and trade your nft.

https://bukrypt.com/4-websites-where-you-can-create-and-sell-your-nft/

Samken2:
How can I invest from Nigeria and how much is required

An NFT “Non-fungible token” in full is a kind of cryptocurrency asset that deals with art. Like crypto coins and tokens, a piece of art is converted into a digital asset through the process known as minting and afterwards, sold on an NFT market place within the Blockchain space in exchange for a Crypto coin or token.
https://bukrypt.com/what-is-an-nft/

Think of an NFT or Non-fungible token as a piece of art which might be a music, graphic, an act, etc. converted into a digital immutable transferable format. Imagine that NFTs existed during the time of Leonardo da Vinci,Mona Lisa his Mona Lisa’s painting might have been in a digital format where it could be auctioned for the highest bidder to purchase.

Of course it can be made open for anyone with access to the link to see it anytime like we have in a museum where anyone can have access for a sight. It can also be accessible to the public when it becomes whitelisted in this case by Leonardo who owns it.

Nft Whitelisting
Whitelisting here refers to the process where Leonardo makes the piece public for sales purposes. Making it public makes it possible for anyone to see it and even take a screenshot of it, but it can only be transferred to the highest bidder who will in exchange for a crypto coin or token, get it.

I read your mind trying to ask “hey, what’s up with those guys who got a screenshot, will it not also be theirs? Can’t they as well sell it as NFTs?” well, you got a point too, you know. And I might have tried answering by asking what happens with those real pictures of Mona Lisa flying around the internet, can’t they be printed and called the Real painting of Mona Lisa, but that will be totally off.

The immutability of an Nft
Here is what happens, first off, an NFT is often created under what is known as an ERC721 or Bep721 Blockchain network. This network is usually for Non-fungible assets. It gives what ever you are creating a unique identity. Same way you can’t have more than one individual with a fingerprint, you can’t have more than one NFT within the Blockchain.

This makes it impossible to modify the piece of art once created or minted. Did I also mention that Leonardo can decide to mint more than one Mona Lisa NFT? Like the same painting that can’t be differentiated by anyone but won’t be same NFT. Wow, right? Interesting! Pardon me if I didn’t mention that earlier but you can. You can mint two copies of same NFT, yet they will have different identities within the Blockchain.

What are Nft’s used for?
Wait, I think I heard something! Was that you asking what NFTs are used for? Chill, I will tell you. I am not going to tell you what other people use NFTs for but I will tell you what I use NFTs for. I use NFTs for two major things,

1. For the love of Art
2. For business.
FOR THE LOVE OF ART
Why will anyone want to buy any original painting of Leonardo? Why will anyone want to buy an autographed album of Michael Jackson? Why do I buy collections of paintings from local artists? Probably because I love the paintings and good music. And possibly because I gain some level of pleasure when I fix my eyes on such paintings or because the music helps me get relaxed.

Might be some different other reasons from any other person, might be same with mine. Same thing here is applicable for factors that influence my choice of buying an NFT. This also to a large extent, determines the kind of NFTs that are minted by creators.

They must have to put into perspective, what will be appealing to their buyers/collectors. It must have some aesthetic values. I am saying this so you don’t just pick up and mint any picture that communicates nothing to the mind of the buyer. People might not be interested in bidding for such as NFTs.

FOR BUSINESS
Well, I wouldn’t buy any piece of art that cannot appreciate in price and value with time. If I buy any painting (NFT) of Leonardo for 100 ETH today, I can be rest assured that in a couple of weeks, months or years, that same painting (NFT) might be worth up to 200 ETH.

Of course, art appreciates in price with time, so I am not just buying it for the aesthetics void it fills, I should be buying it for how much more I can make out of it if I decide to list and sell it again at a later time.

Ok

Let's be trading and watching.

You too can trade if you want.

We've heard.

For your crypto trading lessons, you can talk to Ebuka

He should Gettat joor.

I teach crypto trading sha.

HOW MEN OF THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE KILLED MY BROTHER

My brother Okezie Kingsley Chigozirm (KC) recently returned to our family house which is in Agbama Olokoro in Umuahia, Abia State because he enrolled in this theological school (Morris Cerullo Christian University) which is rather closer to home. I am in so much pain putting this down because I cannot explain to his wife who left for Germany in furtherance of her studies, that her husband, my brother was murdered by men of the Nigerian police force who should rather protect his life.

It is even more painful because I also have to explain to the Daughter who is just a year old that the Dad was murdered by men who were meant to protect him on his way to school one fateful morning after he spoke with her on a video call.

By this time, you must be wondering what happened. Here is what happened and how it happened.

A certain man in my community by name Okwudiri God'sday Onukaogu woke up one morning and began to make claims on some community owned landed properties. According to him, his father owns the whole community space. This story he later changed by making the space specific. The community took him to court and won him. I have often heard his eldest brother and Uncle exclude themselves from these claims while making it clear that their brother and son is only being dubious and criminally minded because he made little cash. Through a Video link which will be made available herein, https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4182086125241905&id=100003216754935 you will also see his eldest brother who is a Chief in the community presenting papers that the community got from the court after they won him.

For this reason, it took the community by surprise in the early hours of 25th August 2021, when they saw masked police officers in the community believed to have come from CPS Umuahia who were providing security for Okwudiri and his thugs who came with their sledge hammer and other manual demolition equipment. Now I ask, how do you go about demolishing a man's house without first serving him papers from the court? I ask because everyone whose door and window was knocked off during this process seemed so surprised. How did he even convince the police to provide him security for such an unlawful outing if he did not bribe them? Does it mean that the Nigerian police force is now into the business of selling justice to the highest bidder? So much to be uncovered.

These men destroyed over twelve houses before some youths organized themselves and went to the area to know what was happening. These groups of young people and some elders who went with them were arrested and made to serve some dehumanizing punishments there by those masked men of the Nigerian police force who also encouraged the thugs to continue their demolition. It is necessary that I also categorically state here that looting of private properties by these thugs and demolition was inspected at the same time by these masked officers. (video evidence attached)

The whole community was alerted and youths turned up in their numbers. They came in solidarity against the hired thugs and Okwudiri’s actions which made the Masked police officers release live bullets and tear gas to repel the angry youths. The police officers further observing that the youths were hungry for justice knew that it was not a battle they could win which made them leave the area.

It is however imperative for me to also state that my Brother KC was not murdered within the crisis zone as our landed property within this space was not even in any form of contention. KC was murdered on his way out of the community to school that morning from the junction that links Agbama to the main road (New Heaven junction). An eye witness who was at the junction that morning told my family that after shooting KC, one of the masked police officers with Okwudiri came close to my brother after he was shot possibly to confirm that he is a member of the community whose face Okwudiri knew before they went back into their van zooming off to their office to celebrate their blood shed victory. Another pictorial and video evidence will also be made available to show exactly where he was shot (his heart) to prove that it was aimed at killing him and by no means can be a stray bullet.

I watched in utter amazement the police PPRO who dished out their pre-recorded lies and I asked myself if Justice can ever be found from any wing of the Nigerian police force.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4184675961649588&id=100003216754935
The answer to this is one which I leave to myself to find as #Justice4KC must not be lost. I will find it either dead or alive.
#Justice4KC

Really? This is so wrong of our politicians.

Well, Ebuka will help you list your business on Google even without a website for less.

Chat him up via 08109659037. If government like make them pay, we can survive without them.

K

Dear Lala,

We need to celebrate and appreciate every such individual in our space.

It will not be a bad idea to have this post appear in the front page.

Thank you.

It was an inspiring narration from Ugoma Johnson on Facebook. The young journalist who doubles as an author and a humanitarian gave out hope through her Facebook page on Thursday. After resigning from her position as a content manager in a radio station, many would have expected her to find another job for herself, but she did the unexpected to make out time for herself and her community services. She wrote:

After snapping this picture on Tuesday at my business place at Olodi Apapa, Lagos, Trinity market to be precise, I showed it to one of my customers, he asked if I was going to post it on social media, I replied that I would post it on my Facebook story.

Immediately I said that, he was like, what? You want to post that? Don't!!!!!!!!

I could interpret the expression on his face to mean, "this is too demeaning to post na" ����������

I was like mehn, how do you mean, would you rather that I stand in front of somebody's mansion or car to snap and post as mine? Chai! You see how we don't even encourage people to be real.

Look, for a long time, I tried to hide the fact that I hawk till date, a lot of people thought that I still work with the online radio station where I used to work as the Head Of Content. A job that drained me mentally/physically and still left me broke all the time because the pay was barely enough to even foot my transportation bill. Often times I had to eat on credits at work so that hunger will not finish my life. My colleague Omon Ebhodaghe Esezobor was the one who always came to my rescue ����������

So most people still see me as someone working with an online radio, But no, I resigned a long time ago and went back to my food business, a decision that I would forever be grateful to have made. And that is because I can now easily work around my time to focus on other important things such as my community work and self development.

Though, hawking this food is not easy but I am determined to keep at it till I'm able to get a shop/space.

I have a lot to say about this business of mine and a lot of lessons to draw from it, but permit me not to go into details for now.

I always tell people that I don't view hawking as an end, rather I see it as a means to an end. While many call it hustle, I call it a profession, while they call it hawking, I call it running a company because that is what I see. I already have a business name and I'm working towards having it registered with CAC sef, it is that serious. ��������

If you are reading this and you are not proud of your work, repent today, stop hiding your means of livelihood as long as it is legitimate and it is paying your bills.

With this hawking, I was able to sponsor myself to learn a skill (hairdressing) years ago, with this hawking I also raised fund to publish my first book, #Schooling_Me, and with the proceeds from this hawking, I also started my community work. How about the fact that my siblings and I have not gone begging despite the fact that we became orphaned early in life, all because this food business sustained us. Most of the things you see me do in my community, such as organising events for teenagers, helping them out financially in my own little ways, or giving out sanitary pads to teenagers in my community, all come from proceeds from this food hawking business. And yes! Just so you know, I resigned from my job, hawked the streets of Lagos so I can raise fund to organise my very first big event.

I am sharing this to let you know that you don't have to wear suits and ties to live a purposeful and meaningful life.

Am I asking you to become a hawker like me? Hell no! All I'm saying is whatever your hands have found to do, do it well. Be proud of your hustle. Be real. For now, this is what my hand has found to do and I will keep doing with with pride and dignity.

In all, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and know what He would have you do with your life per time. When I resigned from my work, a lot of people raised their eyebrow, it was like, are you sure this girl is not stupid like this? In fact, a friend of mine said to me, how can you be teaching teenagers in your community to leave hawking and do something more meaningful with their lives yet you are a hawker yourself? That almost discouraged me, but I said to myself, I can also let these teenagers know that one can hawk his way to the top simply by channeling the proceeds from the hawking into developing themselves and having a plan for their lives. Na hawk I hawk abeg, I no kee person. �����������

Many times, I have tried to run away from this business, I only saw it as something that I run to whenever I need cash for any project and once I'm done with the project I would bid it farewell again, but so many things keep drawing me back to it. Whenever I go broke and begin to pray to God to help me, all I keep hearing is, "I have given you a gold but you despise it because it doesn't look flashy, go back to that gold mine and dig", my intuition kept pointing me back to this business until I went back to it and today, I have peace. Yes, I am at peace doing the " difficult/demeaning" thing as a lot of people see it. And I will keep at it pending when I'm able to rent a shop/space or when I'm lead to dive into something else. Today, I have learnt to treat it as a business.

It is foolishness to pretend to be who you are not, why come to social media to pose as a manager in an oil company like shell, when you are selling groundnut oil "ontop" carter bridge, don't you know that you can be so real that you will even be able to package and position your groundnut oil business to look like an oil company as well? If you become that groundnut oil seller who leaves her/his customers satisfied and asking for more, to the point that people line up to buy from you, will you die? ��������

Ask my customers, some of them are on my list here, even though I hawk my food, but if I package my food, put all the "appearances" (designing) and serve you, you will think that the food was delivered from one of the biggest restaurants on the Island. �� No jokes. Does it mean my cooking always turns out right or I don't make mistakes? No, but my customers have known me for excellence that whenever they find a loophole, they can easily make up excuses for me.

This post is already longer than I want it. I will share more stories in the nearest future. The challenges, insults, and all the ups and downs that I encountered at the early stage. Especially all the slaps that I used to receive and how people used to humiliate me until I learnt how to carry myself with pride that I can now command respect even while hawking my food. In fact, some of my customers call me professional (learned) hawker.

For now, I encourage you to always be proud of your work. Na work you work, you no kill person. I pray God will prosper all the legitimate hustlers out there.

Written by Ugoma Johnson

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1135857760206422&id=100013466261563

The YPP's Presidential candidate in the 2019 general election condemned in totality the rearrest of Omoyele Sowore who was captured against Court orders by the DSS.
Kingsley Moghalu in a post he made via his twitter handle said "I condemn the total disregard for rule of law by Nigeria’s present government as we have seen in the DSS desecration of the Nigerian judicial system to rearrest Omoyele Sowore @YeleSowore .
I call for his immediate release. Even accused persons are entitled to due process."

Not good at all.

This trigger happy security personnel will be killing ndi Igbo all in the name of killing IPOB members. It's an opportunity for them to kill every Igbo whose face, they don't like.

You should know the difference between George Moghalu and Kingsley Moghalu. Don't you think that going back to read that previous news on inland and waterways will help your sense?

ozodigboo:
Saboteur !!
One of the igbo who were drafted into the presidential race to divide Atiku/Obi votes in south east.
Now his job is done, he wants to resign.
He has been compensated with chairman of The Nigeria inland waterways corporation.

Igbo presidency ? I'm igbo.....but it won't work.
Saboteurs everywhere

More

A Facebook user today, called out the Abia State government for abandoning their roads and allowing road users to suffer. He wrote,

If the level of Maladministration experienced in Abia represents what governance is all about, why then do we need government? Hobbe's brutish primitive society is worse compared to what Abians experience.

Take a cursory look at what roads look like in Abia. Abians leave home everyday after they must have prepared their massage/first aid boxes. This is because, they don't drive on roads, they jerk on traps and bristles. You know how that can affect your waist? Physiotherapists will understand.

Every mechanic personnel in Abia must be making it big. Do you want to know why? This is because, no car can survive a week without visiting a mechanic due to the terrible condition of roads in this part if the world. Drivers can relate better.

The pictures below are just a few of the millions of death traps in Umuahia the capital city of Abia. You see the pit in one of those pictures, that's at the center of a main busy road (Owerri road). What happens when a visitor speeds along that path? You see why living inside Abia should be included in 1000 ways to die young?

I hope you will not be surprised to know that these other images are pictures of the most publicised Almighty Aba road believed to have been constructed. Anyway, in this part of the world, we build bridges and undertake giant projects on TV, radio, newspapers, and social media platforms through the help of E-warriors. The funniest part of this whole joke is that the same government claiming that they are done constructing these roads don't ply them, they go through another route known as Afara.

I can't help but wish that you understand what people go through in Abia, but that cannot be achieved without you practically experiencing this. One certainty is that no one will want their enemies to go through what is attainable in Abia.

Abia is in dare need of resuscitation, Abia needs help.

Stay with me as I will be taking you through the roads and routes that constitute this God's own State.

This is why all our leaders should die.
But then, we so love and cherish our oppressors. We've been dealt with to the extent of coming together as a people to slaughter these people oppressing us yet, we praise their incompetence.

How gullible you are. So you believed the propaganda of Moghalu stepping down for buhari? Why can't you for once justify the air your breath by being useful?

jrusky:
Look at who is talking? You are a disappointment to yourself and your generation for selling your birth right to Buhari at wee hour in the last election so Moghalu or Anghulu thunder fire you. Amen.

Why talk about what you don't know? Restructuring and privatization was his main manifesto. He was the only candidate to explain why and how to privatize nnpc. Don't say what you don't know because you got access to a phone.

adebayour04:
when atiku said he want to sell NNPC people are shouting. during moghalu campaign he did not mention such because of the critics fear. we are now starting to know the people who truly love Nigeria .NOTE nnpc is a fraud to these country

Waitooh, why not admire the police men behind as well? Is he this foolish?

GUEST COLUMNIST BY Kingsley Moghalu

I ran for the Office of the President of Nigeria in the 2019 elections, campaigning across 30 states of the country in a grueling 12-month marathon of road trips and commercial flights, market visits (with lots of dancing in the public square!), road caravans and town halls, and issue-based messaging across various media platforms. Like several other “alternative” candidates, I lost the election at the ballot box. But we won an important victory: we have changed the political narrative. By challenging the status quo, presenting an alternative vision for our country and bringing hope to many citizens who had lost it, we have begun an important, necessary journey towards our national redemption. Rome was not built in a day. In running (to win, not that “I also ran”) for president I took a bold, calculated risk, sacrificing safety, personal resources and income streams, and quality family life because I was fed up with the failure of governance and economic management in our country. Rising poverty, unemployment and instability remain our agonizing reality. Personal success is increasingly meaningless in such an existential mess.

The 2019 elections were in many locations akin to war. Soldiers, who should defend us from external aggression, were actively and aggressively involved in domestic “special duties”. The process was marred by an orgy of vote-buying, rigging, vote-suppression and violence, all superintended by the chaotic operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Voting at my polling unit in Nnewi North LGA, my home town, opened three hours late as a result of card reader malfunction. At some point the card readers failed again. Voting went on manually, against INEC regulations. I observed that there was no privacy for the ballot boxes, so anyone milling around behind a voter could potentially see his or her voting choices. The “business” of vote-buying proceeded merrily apace in a corner of the voting premises. From several states around the country we received credible reports that votes cast for the Young Progressives Party (YPP), my party platform for the 2019 elections, were being diverted.


Much of this was not surprising. But the elections have left me wondering if Nigeria is truly a democracy. Or do we merely have a four-yearly ritual in which political cabals renew their hold on power by using a form but not the substance of democracy? As the character Archie said in the British playwright Tom Stoppard’s play “Jumpers”, “it’s not the voting that is democracy, it’s the counting”.

We must overhaul our electoral laws and procedures, including institutional reform of INEC by reviewing the legal framework for the electoral umpire. INEC must enable and prepare for our citizens who live abroad to be able to vote overseas in 2023. Nigerians in Diaspora remitted $25 billion home in 2018, not far behind crude oil, our god of small things, and yet they can’t vote abroad. How so? If we don’t reform our voting procedures as an urgent matter, we are not serious. Our votes must be counted and must count. Democracy is rarely perfect anywhere, but in Nigeria it’s in a crisis, and it will die if something is not done quickly.

The best path forward is to utilise technology and move to e-voting. We achieved this kind of game-changing reform in our financial and payment systems at the Lamido Sanusi-led Central Bank of Nigeria between 2009 and 2014, when I headed the Financial System Stability and Operations directorates that implemented several of these reforms. Today, every Nigerian can transact banking business and make payments much faster, efficiently and transparently using several platforms like ATMs, online or telephone banking, PoS machines, and the Bank Verification Number (BVN). We achieved these milestones because we were focused, operationally independent from political interference, and had the political will to improve the economy with a modern financial and payments system that is ahead of those of many developed countries. We can adapt these technologies for the voting process, plugging many loopholes for electoral fraud in the present system that is largely manual and antiquated. Yes, there are risks with electronic voting and collation, but they can be managed with effective risk management. In any case those risks are small beer compared to what happened in the 2019 elections.


The political outcome of the polls, reflected in the continuing electoral dominance of the APC and PDP, points to the mindset of our society at this time. Timing and a severe lack of political education in our populace played key roles in 2019. Millions of Nigerians heard my message. Many claimed they loved the message and the messenger. But for sentimental reasons millions, including many of my sympathisers and initial supporters voted for the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari and the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar. PMB voters wanted him to get a second term in office. Those opposed to him voted mainly for Atiku, “atikulating” the view that the Waziri Adamawa was the only one who could take down the incumbent president. So, between the timing of our 2019 run and cynical voter calculations about the ability to win, vision, capacity and policy prescriptions for real progress took second place. Money, of course, also was an issue. I firmly refused to engage in vote-buying, which was perhaps the most insidious plague of the elections. For me though, none of these calculations diminishes the value, validity or impact of my 2019 candidacy.

If the poor succumbed to the weaponisation of their status by politicians, our educated middle class and elite are just as culpable of a warped mindset. These are the men and women who ought to lead a change in voting behaviour. But no. Cynical of the possibilities for real change, they band with the status quo politicians in order to secure economic opportunities in a rentier economy. The reluctance of the middle class to play a positive role towards a paradigm shift is a huge lost opportunity for our democracy.
As for the youth, they made much noise on the overrated social media but did not vote in their numbers in 2019. Many young people also succumbed to the ability-to-win argument, leading the charge for the old establishment candidates. Some were discouraged by the failure of the new generation alternatives to produce a consensus candidate in a coalition. That’s a lame excuse. Coalitions are not formed by force or at gunpoint. Only candidates truly willing to form a coalition (which is very different from “forming” the desire for one) can do so. Behaving as if anyone owed them a coalition or consensus candidate was therefore a cop-out from having to make an informed democratic choice. They should instead have voted for the “youth” candidate of their choice.


I certainly had hoped that a coalition of younger, vibrant candidates could come together. But many shenanigans got in the way. The most important but less obvious reason it didn’t happen was that many so-called alternatives were in fact agents and puppets of the status quo establishment politicians and therefore were not truly independent candidates. Subsequent and recent events in the elections and the run-up to them have pointed to this truth. The puppet masters, who viewed my candidacy as a potentially serious one and were somewhat nervous about it particularly because of the question of its timing, encouraged several of these youth candidates to remain in the race and so divide the youth vote. As it turned out, the youth themselves did not vote in their millions for our candidacies, let alone dealing with the matter of “divided votes”.

Despite pressures, I declined to step down for the presidential candidates of either the PDP or the APC and have no regrets for that decision. I was running on a vision for our country’s future and not for opportunism. There simply was no question in my mind of abandoning my followers mid-stream and cutting a deal for myself. I became the only presidential candidate targeted by a covert fake news campaign on social media by BOTH PDP and APC in the last days of the campaign. The fake news, vigorously distributed to millions of voters in both the northern and southern parts of the country by Whatsapp and other means, claimed that I had “finally” agreed to step down for either President Buhari or Atiku Abubakar. My campaign vigorously rebutted these false propaganda, but as it was already very late in the game, many voters were swayed by these tricks.

Looking back, there were four high points for me in our campaign for the presidency. First, we set the pace. We launched the campaign in February 2018 in Abuja, where I was joined on the stage by my wife and children as I concluded my announcement speech. This was a departure from the norm, as was my precedent-setting choice months later of a woman as my vice-presidential running mate, and setting out my vision in a book, “Build, Innovate and Grow (BIG)” with ideas that were subsequently plagiarised by several other candidates! Second, it was energising to have met with ordinary Nigerians like market men and women, widows and students around the country, and to have been received so very warmly in the North, South, East and West.

A third high point was the official presidential debate. This debate was viewed and heard by an estimated 60 million Nigerians, and turned out a great opportunity to have shared my vision and policy stances with so many compatriots at the same time. Finally, the endorsements and support I received from a number of individuals and groups who courageously went on the public record with their views, was deeply encouraging. I have in mind the endorsements from the Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka and his Citizens Forum group, His Royal Majesty Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria led by Solomon Asemota SAN, the Southern and Middle Belt Youth Forum, and the newspaper columnist Femi Aribisala.
I am glad I stood up in 2019 to be counted for Nigeria. “Do not despise these small beginnings”, the Good Book says, “for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand”. At least I can say to my children: “I did something to make the future of your generation a better one”. I may not be a direct beneficiary of this struggle. It doesn’t matter. To everyone who voted for my candidacy or otherwise supported me I say: Thank you. Daalu. Na gode. Ese gan.

•Prof. Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the 2019 presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), is the Convener of To Build a Nation (TBAN), a non-partisan citizens movement for true democracy.

Win or not, he surely will earn my vote. How will I vote a thief when a competent man like this is there? Moghalu all the way.

The moment Prof. Kingsley Moghalu took his campaign to Nsukka. It was really a memorable moment for the residents of Nsukka, they came out in their numbers to welcome their hope for a better Nigeria.

Lol... I only hear about this guy on naira land oh.
We never see Moghalu and sowere finish. Mtcheeeew

The Presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party took their campaign down to the grassroot in Ariaria market. His campaign so far has made it glaring that he is the third force candidate.

BREAKING: Wole Soyinka’s CITIZEN FORUM Endorses Moghalu For President
CITIZEN FORUM, a group convened by Nobel Leaureate Wole Soyinka, has endorsed Kingsley Moghalu, presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), for President.

The group made the announcement in a statement personally signed by Soyinka and obtained by SaharaReporters very early on Friday.

According to Soyinka, the decision to endorse Moghalu was reached after "months of studying the careers, experiences and track records of most of the presidential aspirants, and most intensely those actually short-listed by the opposition parties themselves".

“Like millions of Nigerians, we watched the debates. I physically interacted with some of the acknowledged top contenders, in some cases several times. We participated in HANDSHAKE ACROSS NIGERIA, where some candidates presented their briefs,” the Professor said.

“Among others, I delivered a keynote address. We watched television interviews. We have exchanged notes with highly respected international Civil Servants. The drive towards Consensus among these dedicated groups sometimes took the form of test questionnaires to the aspirants, including items such as: ‘Who among the contestants would you choose, if you did not emerge as the ultimate preference?’”

He said Nigeria has an “over-abundant but stifled leadership material, and there can be no excuse, now that that potential of high quality is being manifested, for constricting the political space in a population that is nudging two hundred million”.

Soyinka expressed happiness that his personal choice of Moghalu turned out by coincidence to be the forum’s as well, and urged Nigerians to use their votes to say “Evil Spirit, Leave me Be!” in line with the meaning of the name ‘Moghalu’.

THE FULL STATEMENT

NEW DIRECTIONS IN A TIME OF DECISION.

The nation has been brought to her knees. Internally, the blaring media testimony needs no augmentation. Beyond her borders, Nigeria is the tale of citizens designated pariahs of the global community for whom special dossiers are opened, and units of security agencies are specifically assigned. Online transactions are programmed to reject basic usage once the word ‘Nigeria’ is inserted in the Data profile. There are few nation left, within or outside the continental borders where – no matter the codeword – a Nigerian ‘room’ has not been designated. Her humanity litters the sand trails of the Sahara, it lines the Mediterranean sea-bed with the bones of a desperate generation, seeking ‘green pastures’. Lines from my poems have been appropriated and embossed as epitaphs on the tombstones of Nigerians washed up the isle of Catania and accorded dignified burials by total strangers, certainly paid more respect than Nigerians themselves consider due to their own humanity. Other would-be migrants have been slaughtered by religious fundamentalists on the shores of Tripoli, while waiting for their precarious crossing on suicidal boats. Yet others end up as commodities in the slave markets of Libya and Mauritania, hundreds recently rescued and airlifted – credit where credit is due! – repatriated by government.

It was not always thus. Numerous Nigerians believe that it need not remain so. There is always a choice to be made outside any presumptuous orders – in reality associations guaranteed to perpetuate social disorders and the politics of inequality. This is not the thinking of any one individual but of a large section of this populace. If it were not, there would not have been a record number of nearly a hundred political groups aspiring to take over the reins of governance. We do not need any instruction however to estimate that several of the aspiring groups are mere plants, raised to sow confusion. It redounds to the credit of a few individuals, including some of the candidates themselves, who embarked on efforts to winnow down their own ranks, then seek a consensus candidate as standard bearer for the battle against the two political behemoths.

They did not succeed, but that is no cause for despair. They still deserve the gratitude of Nigerians for their uniquely principled efforts. The CITIZEN FORUM – last heard of during the time of the dictator, Sani Abacha - was pulled out of retirement to join in their effort to arrive at peer consensus. The Forum worked peripherally with them. It made no attempt – I stress this – no attempt whatsoever to impose its own preferences, but utilized material from the deliberations of at least four such selection groups. It remained on the fringe, except on invitation. Our mission today is simply to present the result of that effort by Citizen Forum which, I am especially gratified to reveal, coincides with my own personal preference. The CF conclusion is obviously not binding on other groups or individuals involved in the exercise. May I take this opportunity to advise the public that neither Citizen Forum nor myself, belongs to any Third Force or other Consensus seeking councils by any other name. Please ignore any such attributions.

Over the past few months, we studied the careers, experiences and track records of most of the presidential aspirants, and most intensely those actually short-listed by the opposition parties themselves. Like millions of Nigerians, we watched the debates. I physically interacted with some of the acknowledged top contenders, in some cases several times. We participated in HANDSHAKE ACROSS NIGERIA, where some candidates presented their briefs. Among others, I delivered a keynote address. We watched television interviews. We have exchanged notes with highly respected international Civil Servants. The drive towards Consensus among these dedicated groups sometimes took the form of test questionnaires to the aspirants, including items such as: ‘Who among the contestants would you choose, if you did not emerge as the ultimate preference?’

There was nothing complicated about assessment parameters: mental preparedness, analytical aptitude, response to the nation’s security challenges, economic grounding, grasp of socio-political actualities, including a remedial concern with the Nigerian image in foreign perception etc. etc. not forgetting a convincing commitment to governance and resource decentralization – commonly referred to as Restructuring. The Forum rejected retrograde propositions of a political merry-go-round, which urge the electorate to choose this or that candidate in order to ensure “our turn” at the next power incumbency. Overall, the exercise was exacting but also - therapeutic. It proved yet again that there is over-abundant leadership quality locked up in the nation, and that it is a collective shortcoming that the political space has not been sufficiently opened up to let soar such potential. Well, to cite the Chinese proverb: a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Let me reiterate: there is over-abundant, but stifled leadership material, and there can be no excuse, now that that potential of high quality is being manifested, for constricting the political space in a population that is nudging two hundred million. And that statement is of course specially addressed to those who took part in this exercise, those who deliberately opted out of it, some of whom were assessed anyway. Such potential compelled us to exercise utmost rigour in what proved to be a most daunting exercise. The final determination however is - the flag-bearer of the Young Progressive Party – KINGSLEY MOGHALU.

I shall conclude with a somewhat interesting aside. I met Moghalu again on Monday morning, February 4th, and informed him of the Forum’s decision. During our discussion, I happened to ask him – what is the meaning of Moghalu. I was curious, because it had taken quite some time along the way for me to know to which ethnic group the name belonged. He replied, it means – “Evil Spirit, Leave me Be!” Then I asked him for his other names and he spelt them out: “Actually my full names are Kingsley Chieedu Ayodele Moghalu”. Eyebrows raised, I asked, How come, Ayodele? A piquant revelation resulted: “Oh, that came from Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. She was friends with my father. Mrs. Kuti was my godmother, and she gave me the name Ayodele”.

I was learning this for the first time. Moghalu’s CV is however in the public domain – his publications, record, and vision. The above is just a side-note that contains its own mild, thought provoking instruction, for those who care to examine the distractions of ethnic equivocations, and the rigid mind-sets and stereotypes imposed on products of circumstance.

That immediate task being now completed, Civic Forum will now join forces with those who pray, “Evil Spirit, leave us be!” – at least those who subscribe to the belief that political elections are not a Do-or-Die Affair!

Wole SOYINKA
Convener, CITIZEN FORUM 2019

Lagos, Nigeria
February 2, 2019

FOR PRESS AND MEDIA RELATIONS:
“Fire On, Fire On, and Fire On,” Ooni of Ife Urges Kingsley Moghalu

The Ooni of Ife, His Royal Majesty Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, yesterday, expressed strong admiration and support for Professor Kingsley Moghalu, while receiving the presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) in his palace.

“From the throne of Oduduwa, we are proud of you. Fire on, fire on and fire on,” the Ooni said, praising Moghalu for his “conviction, passion and courage.” “I watched the presidential debate. Every word you spoke conveyed your conviction and passion to genuinely serve the country,” said the Ooni.

“I have followed you and your activities judiciously for many years, you have a clear plan for Nigeria,” said HRM Oba Ogunwusi. “Don’t be surprised that you are the light for even the established politicians.”

He urged the Nigerian youth to know their position and their rightful place in Nigerian leadership. “Moghalu won’t let you down,” said the Ooni, who described the YPP presidential candidate as “young and vibrant.”

The Ooni also spoke of the longstanding ties between the Yoruba and Igbo ethnic nationalities. He told Moghalu: “You are welcome to the land of Oduduwa. We are one. Igbo is spoken here in the palace. The Yorubas plant kolanut because the Igbos discovered it.”

Earlier in his remarks, Moghalu paid glowing tribute to His Royal Majesty, the people of Ile-Ife, and the entire Yoruba race. He described the Ooni as “a great and enterprising leader.” Moghalu said the Yorubas are a people of great learning.

“I am a Nigerian candidate for the Nigerian presidency,” said Moghalu, who served as deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria after a career of 17 years at the United Nations. “I am running for president to unite Nigeria, wage a successful war against poverty and unemployment, and restore Nigeria’s standing in the world.”

Moghalu was at the palace to pay homage to the Ooni, during his seven-day campaign tour of the Southwest states, which kicked off in Lagos on Saturday, 26th January, 2019.

Signed

Jide Akintunde
Spokesman, YPP Presidential Campaign Council
@jsakintunde