₦airaland Forum

*WIKE AND ABUJA'S CORN SELLERS*

By Lasisi Olagunju

(Published in the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, 28 August, 2023)

The only reason the poor have not started eating the rich in Nigeria is, perhaps, because this is the season of corn. And, I believe I am right. Check your neighbourhood. Except you are in this government, you would know that things are bad, very bad for every home. Every staple food is priced beyond the pocket of the poor. With famine wrecking the urban working class and the toiling village yokel, corn –roasted and boiled – has come as a life-saver. But dealing in corn has been pronounced an act of 'terrorism' by Nigeria's new Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Mr Nyesom Wike. He announced in Abuja some days ago that he would sack corn sellers from the streets of the Federal Capital because they were criminals acting as informants to criminals. He said: “People selling corn will drop their waste indiscriminately and these are the things that cause insecurity. Criminals come to buy (corn) and use the opportunity to spy and give information to criminals. It is imperative we clear street hawkers." It was a sweeping statement, very unfair, reckless, and even rash and incautious.

The same corn sellers that were the toast of politicians during street campaigns just a few months ago are Wike's new felons in town. My people would gasp at what this minister said and say poor melon gave them delicious ẹ̀gúsí soup with which they ate their pounded yam, its peelings (eepo ẹ̀gúsí) have now become a taboo forbidden to be seen early in the morning (A fi ẹ̀gúsí jẹ iyán tán, èpo rẹ̀ wá di oun àìjí rí). When Wike said "it is imperative we clear street hawkers", he didn't apply his mind to the fact that what he wanted to "clear" are not just Marullus's "blocks...stones...worse than senseless things." They are human beings, the broken of all generations, many with dead dreams. The street trader we see daily also desire life in its better form but life happened to them. The sun rises and sets on their heads; the rains start and end on their brows. It is worse for the roasters of corn; their season is the rainy season and, yet, their embers must be protected from being quenched by the rains. Just as the scarred palm trees of Ijaiye forever tell tales of Ogunmola's war, the charred fingers and palms of these unfortunate Nigerians sing the elegy of their unending wear and tear on the streets of life. Yet, we threaten them with eviction without giving them alternatives to where they are.

Was it not condition that made crayfish bend? If the street traders had options, Wike wouldn't find them on the Abuja street. There is nothing cheery in being on the roadside or on the road, running up and down like the unwell. The next time you see hordes of hawkers running after your bulletproof Lexus, look into their eyes. If your eyes still see clearly, you should see sadness in its raw form in those sockets. When they sell to you, they smile and thank you. But the smile is always cold and rancid (erín kí korò). They work very hard but earn very little. Some get knocked down, maimed or killed. Yet, there is no end to their toil and struggle. The state has long left them behind in their struggle against want. We think their existence dents the beauty of our cities; we say investors won't come if we don't lock up the poor. A friend looked at everything happening around us and wondered why the state loved to rub salt into the injury of the people. I told him that salt complements injury in Nigeria. It is, in fact, the state's preferred palliative for the injured.

Instead of Wike criminalising the poverty of Abuja's street traders, his focus should be on what to do to get them sufficiently empowered to trade in safer places. Democracy is preferred because it promises life in its better form. It is not preferred because it allows people to perfunctorily vote periodically. That is why leaders in a democracy are counseled to treat people with respect and seek their welfare at all times. The Kikuyu of Kenya say that "to lead is not to run roughshod over people." Leaders should not be the archetypal Shakespearean "hard hearts, ... cruel men of Rome" who think they have crossed the river of life and should be disdainful of the people downstream. We have them in Nigeria. They do and say what pumped their ego. They even triumphantly rebuke their old mates on the other side of life. There are consequences. When everything failed in 1793 France, including the people's revolution, and leaders became covetous and rude and poverty was perpetuated, renowned political philosopher and one of the leaders of the French Revolution, Jean Jacques Rousseau, made a fiery speech in which he warned that “when the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.” A commentator said “the rich” that Rousseau was referring to was anyone in power. US' John F. Kennedy had a similar warning for big men who appropriate democracy and its dividends to themselves and their cronies and ditch the people: "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

I have read it several times that life is not always fair - but it has really never been fair. The poor cannot pull themselves out of poverty; they need the state. But the state does not think so. That is why some crazy English language users coined phrases that mock the poor. One of them would challenge the unfortunate to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” when it is practically impossible to do so. Try doing it - hold the strap of your boot and pull yourself up. I wish you luck. The poor in Nigeria has become, in the words of Sembene Ousmane, "a leftover from a vanished time, slowly being forgotten.” No one thinks the poor deserves to live. That is why the government of small-big men could not fight the big thieves but are training their guns at street hawkers. If you've ever watched corn sellers at their 'job' literally getting their fingers burnt for peanuts, you won't call them by names their parents did not give them. It is a 'work' no one would do happily. Their sunken life is in the sadness of their sad eyes. One hundred percent of persons hawking on the street are victims of life and its contradictions. It is not like they prayed to be beaten ceaselessly day and night by weather and its inclemency. But it is said that what the world has inflicted you with is what they deploy in mocking you. A vicious band of locusts has siezed Nigeria in the name of democracy. The powerful have been flip-flopping in power for years to the sorrow of all; they've serially changed their masqueraders with tougher whips of many fingers. They have upped the ante in implementing policies that are ruinous to homes and damning to dreams. They now mock their victims.

Women in hijab recently protested against hunger in Rigasa, Kaduna State. I was told the powers-that-be in the locality invited them and they were warned to stop saying they were hungry. Nigeria is not a democracy. It is an odious blend of heartless oligarchy and the worst form of plutocracy. An oligarchy is a small group of people having control of a country; plutocracy is government by the wealthy. The operators of the Nigerian system are overfed men who wantonly misapply Cicero's "hunger is the best sauce" quote in their engagements with the poor. They have desertified the nation's loam. Yet, they insist they have done well and deserve to be thanked. These are very delicate times; the people are hungry and restless. Government officials should carefully weigh their words and actions in relating with the poor. Not every Nigerian will emulate the epicurean patience of the country farmer, Ofellus, in Horace's Satire. The character's farm, his only source of sustenance, is taken away from him by the rich but he is seen celebrating the retention of what he calls the source of his happiness. Street trading is a reaction to lack of opportunity for better ways to earn decent living. Clearing street traders from Abuja cannot therefore be the solution to street trading. It will not even succeed. Wike's predecessors serially sent them away, confiscated their wares and threw them into misery. But they came back because Nigeria has no place for them outside the streets. Their coming back is not pig-headed stubbornness or resistance. It is the resilience you find in every black man where suffering is everyday experience and the options are limited.

Across Africa, the people are hungry but their governments offer them threats and insults as pain killers. It didn't start today but how it will end is what worries me. Mark G. Wentling is the author of 'Africa Memoir: 50 Years, 54 Countries, One American Life.' His engagement with Africa started in 1970 helping where he could in finding solutions to the continent's existential issues. His bio says he is still involved in interrogating why Africans suffer and smile as the years roll by. Writing for 'American Diplomacy' in March 2014, Wentling recalled his experience of The Great Sahelian drought of the early 1970s and described Africans as "experts at buying time." And that precisely is who we are. The article entitled 'Africa's Hunger' contains a heart-wrenching account of the author's encounter with a group of starving women and children at "a vast barren zone 200 kilometers north of Niamey, Niger Republic." Wentling recalled that these people's animals had died and "they had expended all their few assets. All the men in their clan had long ago migrated south to the coast or to Nigeria in search of work. Many of their children had already died from malnutrition and exposure, and more were likely to die in the days to come. All their old people had already died. They were the survivors, living on the edge of survival in a desolate place where all their usual drought-coping mechanisms had been exhausted and death was a likely prospect." He offered to help move them farther south where their chances of survival were much better; where they could join other drought-affected people who were being assisted by aid agencies. Wentling said they refused, defiantly saying: "We prefer to die here in the place of our ancestors. At least, if our husbands, brothers and sons return, they will know where to find our bodies."

When will suffering end in Africa? The American ended his 'Africa's Hunger' piece asking the same question but answering it with words of frustration: "After over four decades of working in every hungry corner of Africa, I should have some answers, but I don’t. Quite the contrary, I have more questions than when I first set foot on the continent in 1970. Way back then, I expected hunger in Africa to be a thing of the past by now, but clearly that is far from the case. At this late stage in my life, I am at a loss and feel deeply the failure to feed Africans, particularly the children. My conscience suffers because so many children (40% in some countries) are permanently impaired by stunting. I believe the conscience of the world should also suffer. I am worn out and feeling like a casualty of Africa’s ‘hunger wars.’ I am not sure of what needs to be done to end hunger in Africa..."

It is not only the American that is frustrated and unsure; we who live in the crisis are far more confused. The people have no clues; their governments are clueless.

Tell Wike to hold his peace with the street traders. Even before he chases the corn sellers away from Abuja, they will soon disappear from where they are. Their survival is seasonal; the last harvest of what they sell is what they are selling. The farms are drying up. The worries are really very little for the trader. It is the government that should be scared of what is coming. What will the people eat after this corn season? The immediate preoccupation of any government person today in Nigeria should be how to tackle the ravages of poverty and starvation. It is careless bourgeois talk to boast of sweeping the poor off the streets. The people are powerless, hungry and deprived but the government offers threats instead of hope. What will the people eat going forward? Brooklyn, United States-based writer, Talia Lavin, warned in November 2019 that "revolution is usually born of an authentic powerlessness and privation." It was her summation of this age that Rousseau's "eat the rich" is becoming a literal consideration for the poor. We should be worried — and scared.

*DANGOTE, THE SICK, ADOPTED CHILD OF NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT!*

By Sheikh Juma

Earlier this week, news broke that Aliko Dangote was moving 60% of his family investment to the US.
Two days after, we saw him in Tanzania promising to increase his investment in the country because he wants to support the new president, whose business decisions have been investment friendly.

I am happy for him. He has sense.
But as a businessman, I am not sure Dangote is a model.
Don't take my word for it.

Let the data speak:
In October 2016, Dansa, Dangote's fruit juice company packed up because it wasn't making profit.
It closed shop, owing its workers 6 months salary.
He also started a $13 million tomato processing plant in March 2016 and closed shop in August 2017, saying it was because of "importation of tomato paste, shortfall in the supply of fresh tomatoes and power failure."

It is funny that they didn't consider these three factors before commencing.
So they started a tomato farm that will supply fresh tomatoes, then do some kind of backward integration.

After spending $3million to set up a green house, the farm died.
It has been starting and stopping since then.
No money, no tomatoes, no factory.

In November 2017, it was the turn of Dangote noodles to go under.
In his words, they wanted to "focus on pasta and flour."
He sold the noodles factory to his biggest rival, Dufil, makers of Indomie. It was like Coca-Cola buying a Pepsi plant. A business abomination.

Have you ever wondered what happened to Mowa Water, Dangote's bottled water?
Well, it went down with Dansa, or soon after.

Then his Dangote Flour was acquired by Olam in 2019.
He left the noodles business to concentrate on flour. But even the "commitment to flour" wasn't enough to stop Dangote Flour from baking and burning.

At the start of the Ramadan fast, Dangote Sugar wrote a petition against BUA Sugar, asking the FG to place trade sanctions on BUA for *"undermining the National Sugar Master Plan."*
In English, he wanted the FG to tilt the competition in his favour again by grounding BUA.
BUA claimed that he was being blackmailed because he refused to hike sugar prices at Ramadan, like Dangote did.

Here is my point: wherever and whenever there is competition, Dangote would either crop out or try to change the business rules in his favour using his government connections.

He couldn't sell *Table water* because he was competing with *pure water sellers;*

He couldn't sell *noodles* because of *Indomie* :

He couldn't sell *Flour* because of *Honeywell, Golden penny etc;*

He couldn't sell *Tomato* paste because of *Derika and other pepper sellers* in the market.

He couldn't sell *Fruit* juice because of *Chivita, 5-Alive etc.*

*Dangote would only do well where Government policy is in his favour and competitors are given a bad hand by Government Regulators.*

I read a Reuters report some years ago (and it's still online) which revealed that at the height of the naira-dollar crisis of 2016, Dangote bought at LEAST USD $161million in hard currency direct from the CBN between March and May 2016. This amount was 90% of all the USD sold by CBN within that period.
All other manufacturers - 2,000 of them - got the balance of 10%.

He bought the USD at the official rate of N197/199 while other businesses bought from the black market at N320.

Reuters reported that Dangote made over US$100 million from this Forex deal.

Dangote has always been the favourite side chic of every government since the return to democracy.
In 2003, he was alleged to have part-funded Obasanjo's re-election campaign when Atiku was doing anyhow.
Then he befriended Yar'adua, Goodluck, and Buhari.

On the day Goodluck, his former zaddy was licking his wounds from the electoral defeat of 2015, Dangote was alleged to be clinking glasses and performing a lap dance for Buhari, his new zaddy.

*But why would such a "successful businessman" be thinking of moving 60% of his family investment to the US,* and even adding to his capital investment in Tanzania which is already about $770million?
The answer is in Buhari.

In 2015 when this administration took over, Dangote's net worth was US$17.7 billion.
Right now, it IS US $11.1 billion.
Meaning that in 6 years of Buhari, he has lost about 40% of his net worth.

Project two years forward:
what would his net worth be in 2023? My projection is that he might be worth AROUND US $8 billion, or less, depending on what happens to his refinery, and what happens in the security mileu?.

*With all the favours:*.
>Tax exemptions,
> Special status,
> forex allocations,
> special limestone mining licenses, etc,
Aliko's money is still melting like cotton candy on a hot summer afternoon.

*He has now activated his Plan B.*
Can you blame him?
Sometime last year a short video was leaked by his side chic and we had the rare privileged of seeing a billionaire butt.
Now we know that even Dangote himself is a side chic, an unfaithful one at that, moving from patron to patron: Obasanjo, then Yar'adua, then GEJ, now Buhari.
On another level, his zaddy was Nigeria. Now he has two new zaddies: the US, where his funds will be protected from melting, and Tanzania where Madam President will help him recover the 40% that he lost in the hands of the Nigerian economy.
Those who are in doubt that NNPC funded Dangote Refinery 100% should go and ask Ex Minister of State Petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu who and who got the $ 25 billion contract that he raised alarm on after he returned from vacation. They immediately removed the office of the GMD from his control and later he was forced to resign as the Minister of State for Petroleum.

You want to know who funded the Dangote Refinery, go to the Ministry of Finance and call for Dangote’s file and tell me even if you give a goat in suit the same concession, the same waiver or the same opportunity given to Dangote, tell me if that Goat won’t be the richest being in Africa.

You want to know how the Dangote Refinery was funded, go to Warri Refinery and Kaduna Refinery, find out who was given an exclusive right to lift Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) for a long time. NNPC claimed it was for Dangote Cement Factories. In fact at a time that of Kaduna Refinery was so exclusive to Dangote that no other marketer was loaded. Every other marketer was referred to Port Harcourt Refinery.

You want to know the sponsors of Dangote Refinery, Go to Kogi State and inquire how many trucks of Coal Dangote moves out of Kogi State everyday, minimum of 200 trucks daily without even paying royalty to the State or Federal Government. Are we not aware that Coal can be an alternative to Petroleum and that through coal liquefaction or coal pyrolysis you can derive various Petroleum products such as Diesel, Gasoline (petrol), LPG and other Petroleum products?

You want to know how Dangote Refinery was funded, go and find out how he petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan as soon as President Yardua died against his competitors in the Cement business like Ibeto, Madewell cement, Bua Cement and others that represented Licensees from the six geopolitical zones. His petition caused the withdrawal of two Licenses from the 6 companies; the Bagged cement and the Bulk cement import licenses leaving them with only the Backward Integration Licence only after he had used the same Federal Government to acquire cement factories even at that he was still importing and others were not allowed. As a matter of fact, the other Licensees lost their fortune as some were still offloading cement at their various jetties when Nigerian customs pounced on them never to bring the Cement into the Country but to ship it back to their countries of origin. This was when the competitors had succeeded to bring down the cost of cement to less than N800 per 50kg bag and Dangote couldn’t compete and wanted to monopolize the cement business at all cost.

You want to know how the Dangote Refinery was funded, go see how he petitioned the Federal Government against the few manufacturers of cement over importation of Clinker which is a major Raw material for cement production the moment he built his Clinker factory at Obajana Kogi State and the Federal Government jacked up the import duty on clinker from 10% to 50% causing those that were managing to compete with him to shutdown their cement factories.

You want to know how Dangote Refinery was financed, go and ask Federal Government how much Dangote realized when they shut the land boarders against every other importer and exporter during Covid 19 lockdown but allowed only Dangote to use the Land boarders.

Finally you want to know how Dangote Refinery is funded? Go and ask the Governor of Kogi State why he had to fall out with Dangote, that for 10 years of Dangote operation globally, Dangote made over 7 trillion Naira out of which over 5 Trillion Naira alone was from his establishments in Kogi State.

You still want to know how Dangote Refinery was funded? Nigerians funded Dangote Refinery without knowing it.

IS TIME FOR RENEW HOPE.

Hello bros did u do the job?

*In 1923, nine of the wealthiest people in the world met at Chicago's Edge Water Beach Hotel*.

*Their combined wealth, it is estimated, exceeded the wealth of the Government of the United States at that time*. These men certainly knew how to make a living and accumulate wealth. *Attending the meeting were the following men*:

1. The president of the *largest steel company,*

2. The president of the *largest utility company,*

3. The president of the *largest gas company,*

4. The president of the *New York Stock Exchange,*

5. The president of the *Bank of International Settlements,*

6. The *greatest wheat speculator*,

7. The greatest *bear on Wall Street,*

8. The head of the *World's greatest Economy*
&

9. A member of *President Harding's cabinet*.

*That's a pretty impressive line-up of people by anyone's yardstick.*

Yet, 25 years later, where were those nine industrial giants?

*Let’s examine what happened to them 25 years later*.
1. The President of the then largest steel company (Bethlehem Steel Corp), *Charles M Schwab, lived on borrowed capital for five years before he died bankrupt.*

2. The President of the then largest gas company, *Howard Hubson, went insane*.

3. One of the greatest commodity traders (Wheat Speculator), *Arthur Cutten, died insolvent.*

4. The then President of the New York Stock Exchange, *Richard Whitney, was sent to jail.*

5. The member of the US President’s Cabinet (the member of President Harding's cabinet), *Albert Fall, was pardoned from jail just to be able to go home and die in peace.*

6. The greatest “bear” on Wall Street, *Jesse Livermore committed suicide*.

7. The President of the then world’s greatest monopoly, *Ivar Krueger, committed suicide*.

8. The President of the Bank of International Settlement, *Leon Fraser, committed Suicide.*

9. The president of the largest utility company, *Samuel Insull, died penniless.*

*What they forgot was how to "make" life while they got busy making money!*

*Money in itself is not evil;* it provides food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, clothes for the needy. *Money is only a medium of exchange.*

*We need two kinds of education*:

a) One that teaches us *how to make a living,*

and

b) One that teaches us *how to live*.

*There are many of us who are so engrossed in our professional life that we neglect our family, health and social responsibilities.*

If asked why we do this, we would reply that *"We are doing it for our family"*.

Yet, *our kids are sleeping when we leave home*. They are sleeping *when we come back home*!! *Twenty years later, we’ll turn back, and they’ll all be gone, to pursue their own dreams and their own lives*.

*Without water, a ship cannot move*. *The ship needs water, but if the water gets into the ship, the ship will face existential problems*. What was once a means of living for the ship will now become a means of destruction.

Similarly we live in a time where earning is a necessity but *let not the earning enter our hearts, for what was once a means of living will surely become a means of destruction for us as well.*

*So take a moment and ask yourself, "Has the water entered my ship?"*
I hope not!

Hope the above story will drive all of us in a better direction in life.

''Alone I can 'Say' *but*
together we can 'talk'.

'Alone I can 'Enjoy' *but*
together we can
'Celebrate'.

'Alone I can 'Smile' *but*
together we can 'Laugh'.

That's the BEAUTY of
Human Relations.

We are nothing *without*
each other.

Let's be careful with life. It is too short to misbehave and get away with it.

One day it will be a story.
We will be left with our good or evil work to face our creator.

reported by Punch, at least 30 areas in the FCT might be affected by the demolition of illegal structures. These areas are listed below: 1. Apo Mechanic Village 2. Byanzhin. 3. Dawaki 4. Dei Dei. 5. Durumi. 6. Dutse. 7. Garki. 8. Garki Village. 9. Gishiri. 10. Gwagwalape. 11. Idu. 12. Jabi. 13. Kado Village. 14. Karmo. 15. Karshi. 16. Karu. 17. Katampe. 18. Ketti Village. 19. Kpaduma. 20. Kabusa. 21. Kpana Village. 22. Kubwa. 23. Lokogoma. 24. Lugbe. 25. Mabushi. 26. Mpape. 27. Nyanya. 28. Piya Kasa. 29. Jikwoyi 30. Galadima FCT Minister Wike sends strong message to herdsmen Meanwhile, Wike has hit the ground running on his first day as minister of the Federal Capital Territory. The former governor vowed to end open grazing in Abuja while noting he would consult with herders.

: Festus Keyamo – Minister of Aviation

Adebayo Adelabu- Minister Of Power

Adegboyega Oyetola – Minister of Transportation

Dele Alake- Minister of Solid Minerals

Muhammed Idris – Minister of Information

Mohammed Badaru- Minister of Defence

Minister of State, Defense – Bello Mattawale

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy – Wale Edun

Minister of Works- Dave Umahi

Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare – Ali Pate

Minister of Agriculture and food security -Abubakar kyari

Minister of Youths- Abubakar Mohmoh

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy – Bosun

Minister of Foreign Affairs – Yusuf Tuga

Minister of Budget and Economic planning – Atiku Bagudu

Minister of Water resources and sanitation – Joseph utsve

Minister of Steel development – Shuaibu Audu

Minister of State, Agriculture – Sabi Abdullahi

Minister of Trade and investment – Doris Anieete

Minister of Humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation – Betta Edu

Minster or Sport – John Eno

Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy – Bunmi Tunji Ojo

Minister of Labor and employment – Simon Lalong

Minister of Tourism – Lola Adejo

Minister of Special duties – Zapahnnaih Gazzalo

Nyesom Wike – FCT Minister

If you're looking for a truly confused Country...then you have one in *Nigeria**.

*UPDATES*

* 36 States, 48 Ministers
* 41 of 48 Ministers have corruption cases.
* 9 of 11 Governors who lost elections are now Ministers.

48 Ministers

192 Brand new cars (4 per minister)

720 aides (15 per minister)

240 security personnel (5 per minister)

And we want to reduce cost of governance.

No be juju be dat?

In comparative news, the United States of America, the 4th richest nation in the world has just 15 Secretaries (equivalent of ministers)

The giant in Africa is ironically surfacing again.

We pray for a swift divine intervention for our beloved nation.
But prayer and divinity have nothing to do with our problems.
We Nigerians are the problem of our problems.
All Nations of the World that got it right were never products of PRAYER but either through REVOLUTION or deliberate PATRIOTIC acts of their LEADERS.
I have always have the view that whatever we have in leadership is exactly what we are as INDIVIDUALS in our communities.
What Leadership only does is give the CORRUPT individual the LATITUDE and power to exhibit what he or she is in his or her community.

Hello people I have been seeing many WhatsApp TVs doing giveaways and double payments. I was tempted to send money to them. But I want to ask ARE THOSE GIVERWAYS REAL OR FAKE ?

PLS I NEED answers .

Laugh and learn 😃😄😄😄

*SOCIALISM:* You have two cows, and you give one to your neighbor.

*COMMUNISM:* You have two cows, the government takes both and gives you milk.

*FASCISM:* You have two cows, the government takes both and sells you milk.

*NAZISM:* You have two cows, the government takes them and kills you.

*CAPITALISM:* You have two cows, you sell one and buy a male. You multiply your cows and there is economic growth. You sell them, you retire and you live on your profits.

*MODERN CAPITALISM:* You have two cows, you sell one and buy a male. You multiply your cows and you buy those of your neighbors. Then your neighbors become your shepherds, you pay them in monkey currencies and they die poor.

*AMERICAN SOCIETY:* You have two cows, you sell one and you have to make the other one to produce milk like 4 cows. By stress of producing beyond her capacity, she dies. You hire a consultant to understand this death.

*FRENCH SOCIETY:* You have two cows, you go on strike because you want a third cow.

*GERMAN SOCIETY:* You have two cows, you modify them so that they live 100 years, eat once a month and take care of themselves.

*CHINESE SOCIETY:* You have two cows, you sell milk to your compatriots and you produce plastic milk to export to the rest of the world. You become rich.

*NIGERIA/ AFRICAN SOCIETY:* You have two cows, you eat them all in one month, and you dream that donors or the international community give you more cows. When that doesn't happen, you go to a church / Mosque and hope for miracle cows. You fast 40 days and 40 nights without eating or drinking so that the cows will fall from Heaven. At last You die in extreme poverty

Hello people I have been seeing many WhatsApp TVs doing giveaways and double payments. I was tempted to send money to them. But I want to ask ARE THOSE GIVERWAYS REAL OR FAKE ?

PLS I NEED answers .

Top 5 Most Developed African Countries By Region in 2022

Northern Africa

1. Algeria 🇩🇿 (High Development)
2. Tunisia 🇹🇳 (High Development)
3. Lybia 🇱🇾 (High Development)
4. Egypt 🇪🇬 (High Development)
5. Morroco 🇲🇦 Medium Development)

Southern Africa

1. South Africa 🇿🇦 (High Development)
2. Botswana 🇧🇼 (High Development)
3. Namibia 🇳🇦 (High Development)
4. Eswatini 🇸🇿 (Medium Development)
5. Zambia 🇿🇲 ( Medium Development)

Eastern Africa

1. Mauritius 🇲🇺 (Very high Development)
2. Seychelles 🇸🇨 (High Development)
3. Kenya 🇰🇪 (Medium Development)
4. Comoros 🇩🇯 (Medium Development)
5. Uganda 🇺🇬 ( Low Development)

Central Africa

1. Gabon 🇬🇦 (High Development)
2. Equatorial Guinea 🇬🇶 (Medium Development)
3. Sao Tome and Principe 🇸🇹 (Medium Development)
4. Angola 🇦🇴 (Medium Development)
5. Cameron 🇨🇲 (Medium Developed)

West Africa

1. Cape Verde 🇨🇻 (Medium Development)
2. Ghana 🇬🇭 (Medium Development)
3. Benin Republic 🇧🇯 (Low Development)
4. Ivory Coast 🇮🇪 (Low Development)
5. Nigeria 🇳🇬 (Low Development)

Source : United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2022

*NIGER COUP D'ETAT*: You don’t love coup, but you love “grab it, snatch it, and run with it”.

You don’t love coup, but you enjoyed watching MC Oluomo threaten a whole tribe in Lagos for your candidate and actually carried out the threats.

You don’t like coup, but you loved thousands of blurred election results from various polling units that were doctored in favor of your candidate almost all over the country.

You don’t like coup, but loved when INEC officials were dumping PVCs in drainage and forests in regions where your candidate is unpopular.

You hate coup, but love voters suppression and intimidation so long as it favors your candidate.

You dislike coup, but was very happy to hear that IREV was switched off during the election so results won’t be transmitted in real time so they can be manipulated for your candidate.

You don’t love coup, but you enjoyed watching Mahmood Yakubu continued to collate fake election results even when asked not to continue in error by well meaning Nigerians.

No zone in Nigeria is 100% indigenous because of the error in states creation.

The Northwest is only 85% indigenous because southern Kaduna is made up of other tribes that are not Hausa nor Fulani

The southwest is about 96 % indigenous because real lagosians are not Yoruba, and some part of ondo state are not Yoruba.

The southeast is 99% indigenous because there are some igalla villages that were erroneously included in Anambra and Enugu. Ette and Orjj precisely.

THEN WHY IS THE FOCUS ALWAYS IN THE SOUTH EAST.?

UNDER former President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s Southeast region, the most peaceful at a time, suddenly exploded in a wave of inexplicable violence.
Prisons, police stations, court houses electoral commission offices and random public establishments were attacked by armed gangs and razed. Individuals were kidnapped, hacked to death or gunned down in broad daylight by hooded men who escaped without trace. Dr. Chike Akunyili, husband of Late Prof Dora Akunyili, one-time Minister of Information and DG of NAFDAC, was gruesomely murdered by these men in an attack which had no obvious aim other than to instill public fear. Many went missing and were never found. Gloom descended on the peoples of five states best known for their industry and enterprise.
For years, not a single one of those crimes was solved. Not a single culprit was successfully apprehended and prosecuted by law enforcement operatives.
Officially, fingers were promptly pointed at IPOB, the Biafra separatist organization, for every incident – sometimes even before investigations formally opened. IPOB vehemently denied these accusations. But government propaganda was too strong. Many soon believed the government and joined to demonize IPOB for mindlessly turning the region into a war front. Gradually though, everyone began to realize that there was something fishy in the official position.
Federal and state authorities had all the means to nab the gangsters, but preferred to issue increasingly sterile press statements instead. It soon became clear that the armed forces, police and other official security agencies were either in cahoots with the criminals or consciously turning a blind eye to their activities. In villages across the Southeast and North Central regions, locals began to notice that whenever the Army and Police showed up for patrols, Unknown Gunmen or armed “herdsmen” followed shortly afterwards.
It was as if the patrols were surveillance missions for the bad guys. So, villagers took the hint and scampered for safety whenever those who were supposed to protect them reported for duty. It was even law enforcement officials who coined the moniker, “Unknown Gunmen”(UGM) to describe criminal elements they were paid to hunt down.
People with experience in security matters soon concluded that Nigeria was dealing with “false flag operations” – crimes deliberately committed (in this instance by secret agents of the state) to incriminate an innocent party in order to achieve some dark political objectives. The problem was: There was no concrete evidence or proof to show the world. Those who were supposed to gather evidence were busy covering the tracks of the criminals.
Well, that mystery lasted until Asari Dokubo, the voluptuous and loquacious Niger Delta warlord, visited the Presidential Villa in Abuja as a guest of the new Nigerian leader, Bola Tinubu. It was only two weeks after the latter’s inauguration. At the end of his visit, Dokubo addressed a press conference from one of the chambers of the villa, a rare privilege accorded only to close allies of an administration.
Unable to control his impulses whenever in front of cameras and microphones, Asari said several things which have since become subjects of controversy. One of the few which almost evaded public scrutiny holds the key to the mystery of the Unknown Gunmen. He said he was “in charge of security in six states of the federation” and his boys were responsible for some of the successes in the security situation of the country for which the Armed forces often get credit.
To add color to this sketchy claim, he recounted an actual operational experience in these words: “… my men and I discovered a camp in Imo with hundreds of vehicles. Where are the owners? If you want me to show you pictures, I will show you. We discovered their camp, kicked their asses, and sent them to where they belong.”
President Tinubu meets Asari D
For the avoidance of doubt, Dokubo boasted: “I am a participant in this war, I fight on the side of the government of the Nigerian state; in Plateau, in Niger, in Anambra, in Imo, in Abia and in Rivers state and in Abuja. Today you’re traveling to Kaduna on this road, it’s not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja, or travel to Kaduna, vice versa. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger.”
In those words, Asari Dokubo blew his own cover. He owned up to working in an undercover capacity or as a non-state actor in a sector which belongs exclusively to the Federal Government. He owned up to extra-judicial killings. He mentioned specific theaters of operation – Imo State and the Abuja-Kaduna highway. He named those who hired and paid him – “the government of the Nigerian state.” It was like a painter framing his own masterpiece.
Three of those states named by Asari Dokubo (Anambra, Imo & Abia) are in the Southeast. Two others and the Federal Capital Territory (Niger, Plateau and Abuja) are in the Middle Belt. Another state (Rivers) is in the South-South. All named territories have one thing in common in the last few years – random, unsolved killings and attacks on members of the opposition, rural farming communities and government facilities. Anambra, Imo and Abia were the epicenter of unknown gunmen activities in the period leading up to the last elections. Niger and Plateau were the main theaters of operation for the so-called “Fulani herdsmen.” Kuje Prison within the FCT was attacked and inmates set free.
So, what exactly was Asari Dokubo’s “security brief” in a region (the Southeast) where Army and Police checkpoints adorn nearly every hundred meters of highway? What was he doing in a state (Imo) where a special military task force was assigned to “crush” separatist agitations? What was he paid to do for a country that boasts of about a dozen security agencies with hefty yearly federal appropriations? More still, what “contract” is Asari desperately lobbying to retain with the new administration of President Bola Tinubu for which reason he broke all protocols of civility to support the Tinubu candidacy and gain his attention before and during the last elections? Why has he been so vociferous with his anti-Igbo rhetoric in courting the Tinubu camp – knowing that Igbophobia is one of the favorite weapons of the APC in its struggle to retain power after the failed Buhari years?
If you read between the lines and fill in the blank spaces, all the fingers point in one direction – Asari Dokubo is the man behind the mask of Unknown Gunmen. He was recruited and paid by the Buhari Administration, working closely with the Imo State Governor (Hope Uzodimma), to help deal with the threat of Biafra in Southeast Nigeria by unconventional means. Asari Dokubo in turn recruited, coordinated and paid the men who carried out all those killings and criminal activities to blackmail IPOB and ESN. Plus at least some of the mysterious attacks on villagers and facilities in the Middle Belt region.
That’s what he meant when he boldly said, “I am a participant in this war.”
The trouble with people who talk too much is that they ultimately talk themselves into trouble. Asari Dokubo has now talked himself into deep trouble – beyond being broke. Not only has he antagonized the armed forces which he was recruited to “help”, he has also given away the identity of the evil masquerade terrorizing the neighborhood.
In trying so hard to corner the next “security contract” after squandering what he was earlier paid for hatchet jobs under President Buhari, Melford Asari Dokubo Goodhead has given away his own secret position. He is like a drunken and unprofessional sniper who uses his weapon indiscriminately. His enemies can see clearly where the deadly shots are coming from. His position in the bushes is no longer a mystery. The sniper himself is now a sitting duck. It’s only a matter of time before he too is sniped. That’s the way the cooky crumbles. – Culled from therenaissance.

dayowunmi:
Please how can I get a graphics designer for my book? I want to publish

I can do it for u DM me

Please people
How Can I use PayPal to receive payments from amazon Kdp?

Galacious1:
I had this issue and sent a mail on 29/4/23 and got credited yesterday, fully.

How did you sent a mail to amazon

How can I get reviews for my books on kdp amazon

Pls some one should help.

*Happy Slaves.*
*(Are you one of the few Happy Slaves, if Yes, turn a New Leaf Now and receive sense!)*

It is difficult to control a crowd of slaves in a slave farm but the slave master knows what to do. He targets a few slaves and makes them happy, at least, relatively happier than their counterparts. Make a few slaves happy and they will be loyal to you. They will be happy to defend you with their lives. They will go any length to do so.

Yes! They will defend you at the expense of their own. They will forget that they are slaves too. They will fail to see that they are also having the short end of the stick. They will bring you tales about other slaves. They will snitch on them. They are your loyal foot soldiers and they will help you foil any attempts by other slaves to be free.

Friends, if you are conversant with aspects of the defunct transatlantic and trans-saharan slave trades of yore, you will recall there were such nomenclatures as the "house negro" and the "field negro". The house negro lived in the house, same house with the master, may be in the attic or the basement. Unlike the field negro, he didn't work on the plantation. Neither was he exposed to the full extent of the harsh realities of a slave.

The House negro ate the left over food on his master's table. While his counterpart in the field walked barefoot, the house negro wore his master's used and abandoned clothes and shoes 👟. He became completely assimilated into his master. He saw himself as an extension of him. However, this was only in his head. He was still a slave and had no real path to freedom or an inheritance in the house of his master. His master knew this but the house negro didn't know it.

Whenever the master bought a horse 🐎, the house negro would say "we have a horse". If the master was sick, he'd say "we are sick'. Whenever the master said "it is my turn", the house negro would say "it is our turn'. Hence, he totally forgot his own reality. He worked at cross-purposes with other slaves who were yearning for freedom. He foiled their attempts to be free. Essentially, the house negro forgot he was still a slave simply because of the relative comfort and privileges that could easily be taken away from him.

Friends, from the foregoing, my message ought to be clear. Happy slaves are the greatest enemies of true freedom. They labour to maintain the status quo. As long as they are able to "eat" from it, no matter how bad a system is, they are good. There is nothing as heavenly as having a good system. A bad system beats good people. It makes everyone a victim in the long run.

Interestingly, the happy slaves among us are few but they are sufficiently animated or motivated by the crumbs that fall on their laps from their master's table. Please don't allow any happy slave to gaslight or silence you. Keep making your demands known until we have a better society that works for all and not for a few leaders who have gone rogue.

It is a new day!

*Nigerian Christians As "Useful Idiots!"*

By Moses Oludele Idowu

“My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” ( Jeremiah 4:19)

“As nothing is more easy than to think, so nothing is more difficult than to think well.”

– Thomas Traherne ( Centuries of Meditation)

The tragedy of Christianity in our day is that modern Christians no longer think. It is not that they don’t think well; but that they don’t think at all.

Few weeks ago a Gambian pastor came to Ibadan to hawk his wares which he called “gospel”. He promised husbands for the unmarried women, wives for the bachelors, money for the needy…

Then he asked them to drop their phones/ handsets, everyone. And true to form, they all without exception dropped their sets.

The man has since disappeared with more than 50 sets and money from the Land of Oluyole “where thief gets the better part of the owner.”

The other day a South African false prophet who just repented confessed that church girls are easy to sleep with than even the girls of the world because they don’t resist or ask questions once a pastor is involved. Not so with unchurched girls.

Thus we have come to a tragic hour in the history of the world. The children of apostles, successors of prophets whose forbears defied lions and stood up to demagogues and tyrants, invented the press, spread literacy and universal education, developed newspapers, encouraged cognition, birthed nationalism, abolished slavery, built schools – alas, the very offsprings of thinkers and Reformers, Puritans, do no longer think. Because their leaders and pastors themselves no longer think well.

Devoid of any coherent knowledge of History, ignorant of Logic and Philosophy and even Systematic Theology the average modern pastor goes forth, largely as a plague, to raise others in his own image.

I would feel ashamed if a foreigner should come in my absence and take the handsets of my members away; I would think that I failed in my duty as a Shepherd for Christ.

“Wisdom is justified of his children” but I can’t see much wisdom in modern Christianity and in most of what modern pastors do. And their followers are a living testament to this.

Professor Mark Noll in a seminal book provocatively titled “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” begins with even more provocative sentence: ” The scandal of the Evangelical Mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”

We are known for activity, noise, programs etc., but not for thinking or strategic thinking.

We embark on actions and a course of action without a thought for tomorrow, ten or fifty years’ time or even a century to come.

Here then, is the problem I want to address.

Because Christians often do not think much today they often act as “Useful Idiots.”

It is this counter- conversionary process that I want to investigate in this essay.

It is not certain who invented the phrase that has been popularly translated as “useful idiots”.

It is certain it wasn’t Karl Marx. What we know is that Vladimir Lenin used it and Josef Stalin even used it more.

A “Useful Idiot” is a person who is easy to persuade to do, say or believe things that help a particular group or another person politically…” ( Cambridge Dictionary); “a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda…” ( Merriam Webster)

Nigerian Christians today are used to crying about marginalisation and often express the fear of Islamisation.

Yet if the truth were to be told Christians, or politicians pretending to be Christians, created the very situation which made this fear possible.

They don’t think well about their actions or their strategic interests and they offer themselves to be used for temporary gain and promise of gain or personal benefits.

The Muslims think of their religion in every bargain or transaction and the Christians in public service like antichrists and apostates think only of themselves, immediate family and business interests and security.

Even the one you call secularised Muslims would think first of the implications of a policy decision on his religion. Not so for the Christian!

That is why the Christian public servant is the first to compromise his own religion, values and principles, and sacrifice them on the altar of political expediency and rationality. In that case, he becomes the quintessential “useful idiot.”

It was a Christian, Dr Yahaya Dikko who formed what became known as the Northern People’s Congress ( NPC), the doyen conservative instrument of northern oligarchy, thoroughgoing Islamisation and Hausa- Fulani hegemony. He started it but that was all; others hijacked it and used it for their own purposes.

It was Tunde Bakare, a “fire-spitting” pastor who as a leader of the CPC and a Buhari confidant moved the motion for the fusion of CPC, ANPP & ACN to form the APC.

He played major roles in bringing that fusion to being and bringing the hawks together. But what is his reward today for that?

He could not even muster a single vote at the primary election and all the promises and secret deals about taking over after Buhari has now hit the rock.

His place in APC has now disappeared like soap foams in washing water. He was a “useful idiot.”

All along the players in this “play of giants” know where they were going and Bakare like many other of his co-travellers were just pawns in their chessboard. That APC has now become in the hands of Buhari a vehicle for thoroughgoing fulanisation and, in the hands of Muslim – Muslim ticket, who knows, possibly a vehicle for full-blown Islamisation. What a fate, for an association created by the motion of a pastor.

Most of the strategists and campaigners who brought Buhari to power in 2015 and swore heaven and earth about him were ostensibly Christians.

The Fayemis, Amaechis, Onus, Sobowales, Osinbajos, Sharon Ikheazors and Tam David West ( who even wrote two books on Buhari). They were the “useful idiots” who brought this disaster of a government upon us.

It was not long before Buhari began to show them his real agenda right from the first composition of his cabinet when he stacked all sensitive posts in favour of Moslems and the North. By then the eyes of our “useful idiots” opened but it was too late.

Then Buhari had surrounded himself with people “he could trust” from the same conservative family of Northern Hegemony including core Islamists, fundamentalists and terrorist- sympathizers like Isa Pantami.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu is following the same trail. Again Christians are his front troopers going around the world defending his questionable mandate and creating enemies for themselves.

The Dele Alakes, FFKs, Festus Keyamos, Bayo Onanugas, Okes etc.

But after the mandate is fully secured I can assure you that not a single of these would make it to his kitchen cabinet.

Not even Sam Omatseye, the master crooner of The Nation newspaper who seems to believe in Tinubu more than he believes in himself.

It is at that time he would surround himself with his fellow core Muslims.

He did it in Lagos as governor. His kitchen cabinet and inner circle consisted of himself, Rauf Aregbesola, Muiz Banire, Raji Fashola – none of which is a Christian.

All the Christians and even PFN agents who railroaded him to power never made it to his inner circle. They were only good as “useful idiots.”

And you think he would be different this time? To think that a 70- year old man will change his ways and that he would do something differently this time requires a leap of faith of which I am incapable.

That was the kind of optimism that brought us under the spell of Buhari; the idea that someone above seventy can change or become a born-again democrat when in all his adult life he has lived as a dictator tutored under an authoritarian ideal; an idea that even, strange as it may seem, deceived a Nobelist too.

Rotimi Amaechi is the very archetype of a “useful idiot.” As the Director General of the Buhari campaign train, he tried hard to sell the lie of a reformer in waiting, a knight in shining armour.

As minister of transportation, he devoted almost the entire budget and even a large chunk of loan to developing Dàura, Buhari’s homestead while his own Ikwerre people and Niger Delta region are still battling environmental pollution.

Today Dàura, Katsina State has a University of Transportation. The construction of a superhighway is ongoing from Nigeria to Niger Republic, Buhari’s roots at our expense – courtesy of Amaechi and a sleepy Federal Executive Council playing with treason.

It is treason to take loans at Nigeria’s expense to develop a foreign land; it is high treason!

Sometimes Christians betray their own people and a written agreement just for the sake of a mere promise of power.

That reminds me of Gov. Okowa of Delta State. He was the one who chaired the maiden Southern Governors Forum where it was agreed that the next President must come from the South. Yet he was the first to jettison the agreement and become a running mate to a northern candidate. All for power.

All the Southeast governors who were present at the meeting and ratified the decision were the first to jump ship and stop attending meetings of the Southern Governors Forum.

It is always like that. In 1959, 1964, 1979…they are the first to ratify agreements and the first to jump out. And they are the first to accuse others of betrayal.

In my viral essay, The Coming Collision I did mention that the North was able to form the first independent government because “some Southern stooges” colluded with them. It is time to now mention names.

Those stooges in NCNC who scored the highest votes who should have stood their ground and refused to be compromised brought us into this problem from which we are still trapped today. At the head of them all was our one and only Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.

He might not like it even in his grave and many Igbos would come for me for this but the truth must be told: he played the role of a “useful idiot.” He had the opportunity to become leader Awo offered him but he preferred to follow instead.

A leader who prefers to follow ( apologies to Bola Ige). He helped to lay a foundation on quicksand of the very first republic and the idea of a nation.

Zik of Africa, what came over you? Nkrumah could not believe it; he was devastated. That someone he held in such esteem should act so shallow without a thought for tomorrow or the future.

Chinua Achebe was right. The founding fathers of this nation are not great when compared with others of their colleagues in other nations; it is we who call them great. They were not.

In 1979 he had the opportunity in his lifetime to correct the error of 1959 by allying with fellow progressives but he again wasted it. Double-dealing. While his party the NPP was meeting with NPN, the northern conservatives about a deal they were also meeting with UPN for another deal.

They would later form an alliance with the same Northern conservative as a junior partner that Igbos accused of bringing pogroms against their people in the 1960s.

I am an eyewitness to this. I have been observing the election since 1979 and been voting since 1983; I know Awo and Zik in person and watched and read their campaign speeches both in 1979 & 1983 and so I am talking of what I witnessed – not just as a researcher but as a participant historian of the Second Republic.

[ So for some of you little kids, 20, 30- year-olds who abuse anyone on the internet about what you know nothing about, be careful because I would return fire for fire and send you to your fathers’ houses for proper breeding].

We can forgive Zik and we must forgive him. What then do we do with his latter-day kinsmen?

Gov. Umahi had no reason to leave PDP where he was welcomed and on whose platform he won the election. Yet he carpet-crossed to APC possibly on the promise that power was about to shift to the East.

Now, no power has shifted to the East from APC. He has only been used – a “useful idiot.”

The June 12 election was a watershed in the history of electioneering in Nigeria. It was the very paragon of fineness and freeness. But it was scuttled by killjoys!

And who were the men and women mostly used for this purpose? It was the “useful idiots” from among Christians and mostly from the Southeast, the Land of the Rising Sun and Sacred Phyton.

Professor Omo Omoruyi in his book “Tale of June 12” neatly categorises the role played by Igbos such as Arthur Nzeribes, Ben Nwabueze, Clement Akpamgo, Humphrey Nwosu, Uche Chukwumerije. Of course, all these are Christians too thus confirming my thesis of “useful idiots.”

The tragedy is that none of these, except Uche Chukwumerije, ended up in the Sani Abacha government which was the chief beneficiary of the annulment of the election for which several ” Christians” served as “useful idiots.”

This is why I salute Peter Obi. He is charting a different path. He is steering away from the path of compromise to be himself and answer his own name. He doesn’t want to be a “useful idiot” to any power or broker!

Southeast has been waiting for a character like this for years and he has launched a national movement, although that movement still has a lot to learn about social engineering and revolution.

I can go on and fill this space with names from every region and district but I have established my thesis.

It was Goodluck Jonathan, a supposed Christian president who took Nigeria fully to OIC and paid all annual dues thinking that would satisfy Muslim North to elongate his stay in office. But they see him simply as a “useful idiot.” All his kowtowing with nomadic schools, etc, changed nothing!

It was under Yakubu Gowon that mission schools were stolen from the Church by government, a Christian and the son of Christians.

It was under him as Chair of OAU that all African nations broke relations with Israel over issues that really don’t concern us. No Muslim leader will lead a body to severe relations with Saudi Arabia. None.

It was under Obasanjo that the Shariyaland seceded judicially from the Union while a military man and general looked on.

Unlike Ronald Reagan who threatened the State of Alabama with National Guard if they failed to allow Luther King’s birthday a holiday.

Our own general looked on and pretended not to see. But when some YORUBAS defended themselves against Northern aggressiveness in Mile 12 Ketu or when the ODI people show their heads he did not hesitate to call the same ruthless force to shoot at sight his own people. “Se bi omo ina la nran s’ina” ( It is the child of fire that you send on an errand to fire).

Christians need to learn to think of the future in their decisions and decision-making and not just immediate gains and temporary comfort like prostitutes.

Power is ephemeral. It is the reason today that none of our rulers can work the street alone unaccompanied without security agents.

I have said before that even though in Nigeria Christians are more educated than Muslims on average but Muslims think better and more strategically than Christians.

I don’t see a Christian contesting for president on the Platform of APC for many years to come regardless of what anyone may say. That vehicle is now lost at the upper level. It is bad if you can’t see that.

A Christian who hopes to rule Nigeria must now think of Labour Party or possibly a reformed PDP. Not APC. An idea is lost. That is the importance of thinking proactively.

CAN & PFN do not understand this game. It is far from them. It is one reason I suggested that clergymen should leave these organs and face their missionary assignments and allow professionals – bankers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and writers to take charge.

They can then serve a purely advisory role. Even as a trade union, it is ineffective. An association that cannot enforce its own order among its leaders.

Even when the ink on the ban on Muslim- Muslim ticket was yet to dry some past executives of CAN violated the ban to join the Presidential Campaign Committee of Emilokan in disobedience to their own religious leadership and authority! Why would anyone or a politician take such an association seriously?

Sometimes even CAN belittles itself and acts like a “useful idiot” as when it offered itself as enforcement police to shut down churches and apprehend pastors during the COVID-19 lockdown. How about that? It is time to stop acting on impulse and without thought and planning.

Most pastors today don’t read and if they do it is so poor they read, worthless things devoid of logic and sound reasoning.

And it shows in the way pastors enter into debates quoting the Scripture to people who neither believe in God nor His Word.

Because that is the only thing they know; they can’t employ logic, history, experience and other devices that even Paul and Christ used in their days.

And their followers reveal the incompetence of their leaders by their lack of reason like those Ibadan parishioners who surrendered all their phones to a total stranger.

The Lord Jesus said in one of His last statements that the Last Days would bring woes to those who are nursing children or carrying babies. What was he talking about? He was talking about children in understanding, people who still remain children in knowledge and understanding, and the leaders who keep their own people in such a condition would suffer much in the days in which we are.

Worse things are coming to people who cannot think beyond the present time. It is for these that Paul warns us:

” Brethren be not children in understanding; howbeit in malice be ye children. But in understanding be men.”

Nnewi2:
Go to tollgate at 9pm you will see them

What of ojoo. Can I see them at ojoo by that time

Where in Ibadan can I stand to get a luxurious bus that is going to abuja.??

Where in Ibadan can I stand to get a luxurious bus that is going to abuja.?

Its funny to see people that don't have marriage experience and does not understand the dynamics and nature of women to be accusing others of immaturity or children ’ here.
If you have been married u will know that sometimes actions speak louder than words.

The nature of women is mostly driven by emotions ( fear, love, jealousy, hate,fantasy etc) not beating, compulsion,or physical threat)

When words fell, emotional actions can reset a woman's brain.

Some eboes are very foolish. You are boasting of buying of another person land , u forget that charity begins at home.
How many yorubas own estates in the south east? They don't because they know that a religious or ethnic was may happen one day and they have to leave any of their property and flee back to their zone.

I received an email that I have won a parcel that contained a laptop and iPhone from a foreign software company . They say they have paid for everything except the clearance fee at the warf. They also sent me a picture of the laptop and the receipt.
3days later they said my prize have arrived Lagos warf so I should pay 9,500 for the clearance fee.

Is it genuine or a scam??

One thing I observed in this election is that majority of youruas don't just like the idea of a third force. They don't like the progress of LP and the obedient movement.
They see it as a threat to Jagaban APC.
After the presidential election, their plan was to make sure the LP will not win any state there by limiting it's relevance. But their plan failed.

This is how the global press described what we did with ourselves called elections:


*The Economist* said a _“chaotically organized vote and messy count”_ gave Nigeria a new president.

*The Financial Times* said in an editorial comment that our presidential election was _“deeply flawed”_ and the winner _“a wealthy political fixer.”_

*The Guardian of U.K.* described the winner as _“an immensely wealthy veteran powerbroker trailed by corruption allegations which he denies.”_

*The New York Times* described him as _“a divisive figure in Nigerian politics.”_

*Robert Rotberg,* founding director of the Harvard Kennedy School's programme on intrastate conflict, wrote an opinion for *Canada's influential Globe and Mail*; its headline: _“Bola Tinubu's election is another triumph for Nigeria's corrupt old guard.”_

*The Times of London* was the most disrespectful. It used this very bad phrase: _“a wealthy kleptocratic 'godfather' of politics”_ to describe the person who will replace our very clean Buhari on May 29, 2023. As bad as those characterizations are, they are not as damaging as the Financial Times' revelation that it personally _“witnessed armed men remove a presidential ballot box in Surulere, Lagos”_ on Election Day.

*The CNN* last Friday played back a part of Bola Tinubu's acceptance speech where he described what he got as _“a serious mandate.”_ A CNN anchor then asked if it _“was really a mandate”_ with less than 10 percent of the registered voters behind it. He must be wondering what kind of people are these? The CNN and that anchor were not the only ones bemused by our electoral culture, our elections and their outcomes.

One of *Germany's* largest newspapers, *Sueddeutsche Zietung*, had unflattering words for the winner; it also queried the legitimacy of a mandate that was spurned by 90 per cent of the voting population.

*Aljazeera* ran a special report on how the election was disrupted in Lagos last Saturday. The headline is: _'How violence robs Nigerians of their votes.'_

*The Washington Post* quoted Matthew Page, associate fellow with Chatham House’s Africa Program, as accusing INEC of making both deliberate and unintentional mistakes: *_“They raised the hopes about the election and its transparency, and then they dashed them. When the opposition says the process was broken, it’s hard to argue with them.”_*

*Other Newspaper Headlines from around the world*

*Austria:*
_A drug baron wins the presidential election in Africa’s biggest economy._

*Poland:*
_Nigeria chooses a known drug lord as LEADER._

*Canada:*
_"Depression, anxiety, uncertainty be-clouds Nigeria’s political space a drug-kingpin wins the election."_

This is stinking!

Jones4190:
From Peter Obi’s petition at the Tribunal, as revealed this yesterday by his Lawyers, and for not asking the Tribunal to declare him as the winner as threatened initially, it is absolutely clear that Obi has no other results apart from the ones declared by INEC, he also knows he lost the election despite all his multiple bigotry tactics, his interest at the moment is how to tame his rabid followers who he can only control by giving them a false non existing hope to hang on so as not to turn the altar merchants to fake prophets and also to prevent total frustration from being the lots of endsarsprenuers whose hope is to hijack public treasury.

GAME OVER for Peter Obi, his petition is watery!

U are as dull as your agbado master.
Get the full copy of the petition and read.
There are alternatives that where not listed in the summary u read.

Pls did anyone know